A few days passed in a flash after Kuina's awakening. Maria and the others learned about her awakening and were happy but they couldn't meet up as they got a different mission assigned to them.
Most of the group got a new mission to head onto the elven continent, the dark region most precisely. The Dark region is under the dark elves, a pretty hostile race, several weird things keep happening so the group was sent to investigate. Maria, Luna, Sakuya, Gracier, Saeko, and Pandora were sent on this investigation mission. Alice and the remaining members of Alex's family were on another mission.
At the border of the elven continent, the group stopped for a while before heading northwest. The whole elven continent was a giant forest in itself. Countless forests grouped together to form a bigger green forest.
In the forest located in the northwestern part of the elven continent.
The forest was far-reaching, thick, and diverse. Its canopy was competed for by cottonwood, fir, and alder, and twinkling lights bursting through their crowns allowed for a mishmash of ferns to monopolize the brittle leaves on the ground below.
Bundled branches waved from a couple of trees, and an array of flowers, which were common to this area only, added playful elements to the otherwise green view.
A variation of sounds, which were caused by insects, echoed in the air, and were in harmony with the swaying of tree tops in the wind.
Maria's group entered this normal forest but they did not progress too far as they got surrounded by a sudden black mist at the entrance of a cave. The enemy has surrounded them using the mist as cover.
As the leader of the group, Maria was the first to notice this followed by Sakuya and the others.
The Ice Empress' icy blue eyes turned ruthless as she could feel killing intent from the enemy surrounding them, the will to slaughter them was so strong that it makes one skill crawl.
There was no hesitation in Maria's following order.
''Show them no mercy.''
Upon hearing Maria's command, Pandora lunged forward immediately. She flipped her right hand around and a white, green longbow appeared in her hand.
''Light show me your brilliance.''
She pulled the bowstring and aimed ahead. She released her finger and a dazzling brilliance erupted from the bowstring, penetrating the gap between the foliages and tree, flitting across in a trail of afterimages.
"Woah———!"
The instant the brilliance vanished, the group heard a blood-curdling scream. A dozen black figures sprung up from the surrounding shadows. They held specially-modified and non-reflective bows, pouncing on the group like poisonous scorpions.
The moment the dark elves jumped out of the shadows, they released the arrows, specially-modified and smeared with lethal poison, on their bows. They glided toward the group swiftly and silently. The arrows were as slim as needles.
Without taking a closer look, one wouldn't be able to spot them. If Maria's party were a group of ordinary people, perhaps they would have crumbled entirely in this wave of attacks. Even if they survived, they could never resist the next, wild ambush.
But it was a pity that the dark elves weren't taking on a bunch of naive adventurers or dazed, ignorant idiots who were caught in their trap. Since Maria's group was here to investigate this dangerous region, it went without saying that they were powerful enough for that.
Before the poisonous arrows unveiled their effects, they were deflected by an invisible barrier, before getting burnt to a crisp by holy flames, erupting in sparks, and vanishing into dust. At the same time, Luna raised her hand and shortly after, a glaring, sacred brilliance exploded and proliferated with her in the middle, dispersing the black mist released by the dark elves and blinding their eyes. The dazzling radiance enfolded the dark elves' sight instantly, robbing them of their vision.
In an instant, the situation turned around. Before the dark elves leaped out of the darkness and struck their prey, they were hit by glaring, holy rays and had no choice but to close their eyes and retreat in panic. Strong rays of light were the fatal weakness of underground creatures. Moreover, the rays of light were holy flashes of brilliance from Luna that would cause additional harm to evil creatures. The dark elves were caught off guard. Their eyes hurt as though they were splashed with sulphuric acid. Even though they had been through strict training, they couldn't tolerate the agony. They let out horrific screams and hid in the darkness one by one. The dazzling arrows of light that were almost indiscernible to the naked eye punctured their skulls, ending their pain instantly.
"Stop making that hand gesture, Gracier. It's unsightly for a woman to make that gesture.''
Pandora pulled back the bowstring while staring in displeasure at Gracier, who lifted her middle finger. Upon hearing Pandora's lecture, Gracier rolled her eyes at her before she sighed.
''Tch! It's my mistake, I shouldn't have told you the meaning of this gesture. You're no fun big sister Pandora.''
She crossed her arms afterward, but around her many small fireballs levitated, but she didn't attack yet.
Upon hearing Gracier's sarcastic remarks, it was Pandora's turn to roll her eyes.
''I'm not a performer, of course, you'll say I'm no fun.''
Her attempt to joke back was met with the remaining members of the group rolling their eyes. There was no tension in the air despite them being surrounded and attacked by the dark elves.
Gracier not wanting to be outdone said.
''Let's see if you understand this one.''
After saying those words, Gracier gave a taunting thumbs-down to Pandora. Then, she sandwiched her thumb between the index and middle fingers, swaying it before her. Looking at this hand gesture, Pandora was taken aback. She revealed a dubious expression. Sakuya and Luna were holding their laughter back.
"What does that mean?" Pandora questioned.
"Hahaha, you don't know, right? I won't tell you this one. Hehehehehe!"
"Alright, both of you shut up. Now isn't the time for a quarrel. Pandora, come here."
"Okay, leader."
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