Larat: “What the hell is going on here?”

First an earthquake, then goblins started to show up out nowhere and started to attack the elven people.

And for some reason, instead of easily overpowering the goblins with their magic, elves were practically at their mercy.

Since he was the hero from another kingdom, Larat chose not to interfere, but whenever a goblin would get too close to him, he would slice it into pieces.

But even then, the goblins numbered in hundreds if not thousands.

What was happening at the moment would be best described as a festival of pillaging, murder, and rape.

Elves were only left able to use their weapons, which did not do them much good.

Being dependent on magic for so long had made them rather poor physical combatants.

And the goblins they were up against were anything but ordinary.

These goblins were Dark Lord’s foot soldiers, so he invested a lot of effort into making them as powerful as possible in such short period of time.

And the fruits of his labor had paid off rather spectacularly.

Even if Larat fought them all night long, he would not be able to beat all of them.

Instead, he chose to find the culprit behind this.

Then, he heard the words of elves.

Elf: “Look! The lights have ignited in the royal plaza! Our King has come to save us!”

Their momentary sense of hope was replaced by despair when they saw their king naked, gagged, and tied by his neck and chest to a diagonal cross, for all eyes to see.

His arms were amputated below the elbows, and he was missing his legs below the knees. Apparently, the ones who did this made sure to cauterize his wounds in order to keep him alive.

Behind the king on a cross, were several masked individuals.

A sole masked figure stepped forward.

Dark Lord: “Hello, hello, elven kingdom! I am your host, the Knight of Death, Hero of the human Kingdom.”

Dark Lord: “And this gagged sack of idiocy, is your king!”

Some elves tried to charge at Dark Lord.

Elf: “Free our king!”

Elf: “You bastard!”

But they were easily repelled by Shadow Lords.

Kyra:

A low level spell, but since none of the elves could use magic at the moment, it was extremely effective. Anyone who tried to aid the king got instantly cooked on the spot.

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Dark Lord: “What you shall witness now is an end of an era!”

As if on signal, Lake pulled out gardening shears from the bag on his back.

Spitting out the gag, Elven King felt dread pass through his spine.

Elven King: “Wait! Wait! What are you going to do?! No, no, no! Stop, stop, stop! I beg you, please…”

But since he had no limbs left and he was without magic, he could only helplessly watch as the gardening shears snapped off everything, root and stem.

Now the organ fell on floor.

A loud scream mixed in with crying resounded for all ears to hear.

To add an insult to the injury, this was done in public, right before all his subjects. Perhaps the most humiliating part of the whole ordeal was the fact that Elven King was left alive.

Kyra:

With a snap of her fingers, the mutilated organ was set aflame and quickly reduced to ashes.

Larat: ‘What in the name of Noiluna did I just witness?’

As he looked closer at their leader, his right eye momentarily took on a blue glow. His Supremacy was warning him of something.

The man looked familiar, too familiar, the flamboyant way he acted, that cocky confidence….and the way he seemed to be too prepared…..Larat’s mind finally put the two and two together.

Larat: ‘No way…. That man ….It’s HIM!’

The man who drained him of mana and almost defeated him in the last battle.

From the reports from Knight of Light and Knight of Mind, Larat knew that this man was none other than the Dark Lord.

But amidst all the confusion it took him a little while to realize that the man causing this commotion in the Elven Kingdom was none other than the Dark Lord.

Larat: ‘So that’s what he was planning to do, to cause another war between Elven and Human Kingdoms while we are still have our hands full with demons…I can’t let him succeed!’

With a mighty leap, Larat jumped into the fray, fully intending to strike Dark Lord down with his Black Blade.

But apparently, this Dark Lord had a hero level subordinate of his own.

Before coming to the plaza, Dark Lord had Morphus possess Meros.

Since Meros was a high Holy Knight level warrior, with Morphus’s aid, he would be able to reach the level of a hero.

Armed with crystal dagger, now transformed into a full sword, Meros/Morphus clashed against Larat’s Black Blade.

Larat: ‘He has hero level subordinates as well?’

Their blades clashed against each other, but neither side could land a decisive blow.

Swords were locked against each other, with neither side able to move.

But Larat forgot one crucial fact; Dark Lord was not a man of honor.

Using the moment Larat was held at a stalemate by Meros/Morphus, Dark Lord snuck up and delivered a mighty uppercut to Larat’s chin, sending him recoiling backwards.

Dark Lord: ‘We got everything we came for. It is about time we bid adieu’

Larat: “LIKE HELL WILL I LET YOU ESCAPE!”

To that, Dark Lord simply tossed a mana stone filled with explosive mana.

Using his magic, Larat managed to shield himself from the brunt of the blast, but it gave Dark Lord enough time to step towards the portal made by darkness magic.

All of Shadow Lords entered the portal, one by one, until only Meros/ Morphus and Dark Lord were left.

Dark Lord: “It was nice to see you here, Larat Lemuri”

Larat: “I will hunt you down!”

Dark Lord: “Good luck with that. Rather than follow me, you might want to retrieve the three heroes this idiot had captured, don’t you think? They are in the hidden chambers inside the throne room; I would hurry up, if I were you. Chao~”

With that said Dark Lord and Meros/Morphus entered the portal and disappeared.

As he looked at the blaze and the sobbing stub that used to be the Elven King, Larat had to begrudgingly admit that this time, he had lost. Big time.

The peace their human Kingdom tried to so desperately uphold was now destroyed in a single swoop.

No matter what he did now, Dark Lord’s actions could not be reversed by Larat’s efforts.

Now the war between the kingdoms was inevitable. And from the looks of things, that was exactly what Dark Lord had planned.

The only thing Larat could do now was to rescue the captured heroes and bring them back home. Even if he was being manipulated by Dark Lord at this point, Larat had no other choice.

Goblins rampaged for another few hours before disappearing, abducting countless females and brutally murdering or eating any males.

Combined with what happened to their king right before their eyes, this day would be forever known as the biggest tragedy in Elven Kingdom’s history.

The captured heroes were exactly where Dark Lord said they were, beaten, raped, and traumatized to the point they could not talk. As soon as he found them, Larat contacted the Holy Order.

Larat: