Hao Yun believed that Eliana was merely putting on a show here, so he ignored her display of valuing life and continued to ask, "What about those giant beasts? Do they also belong to the undead legion?"

Eliana, disappointed that Hao Yun didn’t respond to her sentiment, pouted and said, "Of course, those big guys were handcrafted by the Dark Elf craftsmen. Hmph, those crude Dark Elves have no skill for fine craftsmanship. Look at the monstrosities they created; they are truly hideous!"

Eliana said this with a disdainful sneer.

She continued, "Sure, they’re ugly, but their combat effectiveness is remarkable. Look at how those Light Elves were struggling; without my timely intervention, this camp would have fallen to the Dark Elves eventually."

"Oh? But the warriors outside look quite vigorous and not to be trifled with," Dao Lao said, raising an eyebrow. Hao Yun could tell that while Dao Lao praised the spirited appearance of the elven soldiers, he actually did not regard their combat abilities highly.

"Ha!" Eliana scoffed, "Those elf soldiers are just good at maintaining appearances, always trying to look battle-hardened. In reality, they are a bunch of spoiled, self-important weaklings."

"Take the cavalry regiment following me, for instance. With several areas of the Light Elf territory occupied by the Dark Elves and constant attacks on the remaining regions, a Light Elf army on a mission should be ready for combat at any moment, scouting ahead as they march. But these guys? They brazenly marched through the valley bottom instead of taking the safer route over the hills, just to save some effort."

"They could have easily taken a bit more time to go around the top of the valley, but they didn’t. This laziness and the unwillingness to send giant eagle scouts to fly overhead led them into a devastating ambush by the Dark Elves," Eliana criticized.

Clearly, the ambush she described was the same one Selwyn mentioned to Hao Yun and Dao Lao, but from the perspective of the rescuer rather than a survivor.

"Without my timely intervention, they would have all perished in that valley. This incident alone made me realize why the well-equipped Light Elves still suffer defeat after defeat against the Dark Elves," Eliana said with resignation.

"But even so, didn’t you, under your leadership, still manage to defeat the undead legion that attacked Misty Town?" Dao Lao asked, emphasizing "under your leadership."

"Ah, Master Dao, you give me too much credit!" Eliana waved her hand dismissively. "You know, although I am a priestess, my powers are still quite limited. After using a powerful spell to save that regiment in the valley, I had to go through a long period of recuperation. During that time, I couldn’t use any more powerful magic to destroy the enemies. Besides, frequent use of divine power could destabilize the local spacetime continuum, which would be counterproductive for me."

Dao Lao nodded, acknowledging the plausibility of Eliana's explanation. However, he still doubted the part about the spacetime continuum stability.

Eliana continued, "Under such circumstances, I could only lead the rescued elf soldiers into direct combat with the undead legion. But believe me, these elf soldiers were no match for the undead. Each squad of twelve undead soldiers had the combat power equivalent to four times their number of Light Elf warriors. Compared to the total strength of the undead legion attacking us, the few hundred cavalrymen under my command were insignificant."

"These undead soldiers were created by the Dark Elves using black magic, which imbues their attacks with magical damage. Once injured by them, your wounds would suffer continuous burning from the black magic, rendering you completely incapacitated, even from a mere scratch."

"If that’s the case, how did the undead legion at the cliff get defeated?" Hao Yun asked, holding on to a tentative belief in Eliana's story.

Eliana shook her head and replied, "I don’t know either. By the time we arrived, the battle was already over. According to the surviving soldiers, the Dark Elves launched an unusually fierce assault. Misty Town’s forces threw everything they had to stop the enemy from entering the Misty Forest. Despite this, the Dark Elves' overwhelming power forced the Light Elf warriors to retreat to the forest's edge."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Taking a sip of wine, Eliana continued, "Just as the second round of the battle was about to begin, the sky over the Misty Forest was suddenly covered by dark clouds. Then, an energy surge, accompanied by ghostly wails, erupted from the top of the cliff. This surge of energy swept across the forest edge, instantly killing all soldiers of both races caught in its path."

Upon hearing this, Hao Yun and Dao Lao exchanged a glance. The attack Eliana described was clearly a highly destructive spell. Based on her description, it undoubtedly involved black magic. But if it was the Dark Elves who cast this spell, what was their purpose? After all, according to Eliana, the Dark Elf undead legion already had the upper hand on the battlefield. Why would they resort to such an extreme method to eliminate the Light Elves' resistance? It didn't make sense. As for the Light Elves, both Dao Lao and Eliana were certain that their white magic wouldn’t cause such a horrific scene of wailing ghosts and a darkened sky.

So, besides Eliana, who else could have used such an indiscriminate killing method to abruptly end the battle outside the Misty Forest? At this thought, Hao Yun and Master Gu both considered the possibility of a malevolent energy. But who could have wielded this energy to cast such a powerful destructive spell? Their primary suspect remained Eliana, who appeared innocent. Even after repeatedly using their malevolent energy detection system on her, they couldn’t find any trace of such energy on Eliana.

Since Eliana kept denying any involvement in the deaths of the soldiers outside the forest, and Hao Yun and Dao Lao had no evidence to prove otherwise, Hao Yun decided to avoid further pointless deadlock on this matter. He changed the subject and asked, "Uh, I have another question. Why didn't the army of Misty Town simply let the Dark Elf army enter the Misty Forest? Didn't you say this forest has a strong concealing power against outsiders? If so, why not let them in and then destroy them one by one once they are trapped inside?"

"Hmm, Lord Hao, you make a good point. But it's not just you and the garrison here who thought of this; the Dark Elves did too. That’s precisely why they sent a powerful undead legion to attack Misty Town," Eliana explained, spreading her hands.

"Because those undead soldiers are just soulless, mindless bodies, the Misty Forest's concealing power is very limited against them. Thus, the undead became the most effective weapon for the Dark Elves to assault Misty Town."

Eliana paused briefly before continuing, "However, the efficiency of the Dark Elves in creating undead legions isn’t very high. This makes the undead legion a valuable unit for them. And in every attack on Misty Town, the Dark Elves can only deploy a limited number of undead soldiers to cooperate in the battle. Otherwise, it would affect the distribution of undead soldiers on other battlefronts. So, although the Dark Elves frequently send troops to try to invade the Misty Forest, their achievements have been very limited."

"Ha! I really don't understand what drove the Dark Elves to suddenly dispatch such a large undead legion to attack here. But it’s beneficial for us; the Dark Elves lost a significant amount of their forces in this surprise attack. As a result, their offensive against the Light Elves will likely slow down, giving us more time to breathe."

"So, according to you, the Dark Elves' sudden large-scale deployment of the undead legion this time must be due to some special reason," Hao Yun pondered, furrowing his brow.

Suddenly, Hao Yun seemed to have thought of something. He lightly tapped the table and said, "Hey? We’ve been talking for so long, but why exactly are these two elven races fighting?"

"For this question, we might have to start from the beginning," Eliana said, tilting her head as if in deep thought. After speaking, she elegantly nodded behind Hao Yun and Master Gu.

Following her gaze, Hao Yun and Master Gu turned around to see several servants silently entering the hall with trays, preparing to serve the dishes under Eliana's instructions.

"Finally, the food is here! I apologize for keeping you waiting. Let’s eat and talk, hmm?" Eliana said, putting down her wine glass and eagerly picking up her utensils.

Honestly, given last night's experience, Hao Yun had little expectation for this delayed breakfast. But upon seeing the large portion of fish, emitting a peculiar yet appetizing smell, placed before him, his taste buds were stirred once more.

"Gentlemen, don’t just stare. Eat while it's hot! This dried, marinated fish is a specialty of the Light Elves, and it tastes great!" Eliana said, enjoying her own fish and urging them to try it.

Seeing Dao Lao digging into his fish without hesitation, Hao Yun cautiously forked a small piece of the dried fish and put it in his mouth. The taste was indeed good. Eating this dried fish was like eating stinky tofu: it smelled a bit unpleasant, but the meaty texture became more delicious with each chew, making it instantly addictive.

"Haha! This fish is really good!" Dao Lao praised, raising his glass to Eliana.

Eliana raised her glass to Dao Lao, a bit proudly saying, "I’m glad you like it. These fish were specially fetched from the seaside early this morning and made into the freshest dried fish! Hmm."

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Hao Yun froze with his fork midway to his mouth, suddenly becoming alert. He cautiously asked, "Did you say these fish were fetched from the seaside this morning? Which seaside are you referring to?"

After swallowing a piece of fish, Eliana replied contentedly, "Where else? Of course, it’s the seaside you two visited yesterday! It’s the closest seaside to the camp, so we naturally fish there and sun-dry the fish there too!"