"Say that again."
Tabby crossed his arms and hissed at the elf from last night. In addition to their nightly visitor, he could sense other elves hiding in the nearby branches and bushes.
Rosie and Phoorumph looked nervously at the stare down between the bristling cat and the stoic elf. Despite being surrounded with hostility, Lee paid the elves no heed and continued sipping on his coffee.
"We will not guide you to Drumagah unless everyone is blindfolded," the elf said.
"Oh for f.. sake, why the heck do we need to be blindfolded?" Tabby yelled.
"We will not guide you to Drumagah unless everyone is blindfolded," the elf repeated robotically.
"Lee, I am very tempted to zap this guy." Tabby looked at Lee for support, but huffed when Lee shook his head.
"Fine, it's not like we need your help anyway. Let's go," Tabby swished his tail and turn around.
Creaaaak.
"Please stay," the elf said in an insufferably annoying tone. Tabby raised a brow when he noticed the arrows pointed at them.
Seeing that the group had no intention to listen, the elves pulled their bowstrings even tighter.
Thwump.
Someone fired an arrow towards Lee who was still nonchalantly sipping his drink. Rosie yelped and closed her eyes.
Without missing a beat, Lee raised a finger and intercepted the incoming projectile. Instead of a gruesome and bloodily punctured finger, the arrow disintegrated into ashes as it pushed against his finger.
Lee puffed the ashes off his finger before rubbing it against his jacket. The elves were too stunned to react immediately.
"Kill them!"
The elf leader hastily retreated after shouting a command. Instead of using a bow and arrow, he dashed forward with a sword in hand. The elves were initially spirited, but quickly grew dismayed when they saw their opponents' swift reactions.
Sparky enlarged its body and wrapped itself around Rosie, whereas Lee remained sat and merely flicked the incoming arrows away. Tabby meanwhile planted his four limbs firmly on the ground and breathed in deeply.
"ROAR!"
A massive and thunderous roar unbefitting of Tabby's small body rang throughout the jungle, causing physical shock waves to blast the incoming arrows out of the air. The force was even strong enough to uproot the surrounding trees and soil.
All the elves screamed as they were flung away, either by the force from the shock waves or from the trees. The elf leader had it worst, as the shock wave didn't just throw him back, it actually pressed his chest inwards and suffocated his lungs.
The elves were now in complete disarray. Tabby sat down and scratched his ear in a cat-like fashion, visibly pleased at his work. Meanwhile, Sparky huffed and shrank back to its usual size.
Slightly miffed that he had spilled some coffee, Lee stored his mug and casted a minor cleansing spell on his clothing.
As Lee was cleaning his jacket, he continued to vigilantly observe the elves. While some were mostly unscathed, there were many who were heavily injured. Their leader was being dragged away by two other elves.
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"Down," Lee said.
That one command from Lee caused all the elves to buckle from an extremely heavy presence. Before any of them could resist, they were already pressed down on the ground due to the sudden weight.
"I don't remember elves being this bloodthirsty," Lee said to the elves. "You lot used to be more amiable. What changed?"
Ignoring the hostile glare from the elf leader, Lee carefully sidestepped the vomited blood and squatted beside the elf. After stretching his palms, he slowly but firmly clamped his right hand over the elf's head.
Lee's eyes and hand glowed brightly. However, he quickly felt a strong rebound push his hand away.
Frowning, Lee released the now unconscious elf. Ignoring the elf's groans, Lee stood up and looked into the forest.
"What is the meaning of this, Shiloth?"
A human-size whirlwind of soil, leaves, and branches appeared at the edge of the wreckage and headed towards Lee. Several moments later, the wind subsided to reveal a golden-haired female elf.
While she was certainly beautiful, her lithe physique was marred by her visibly deformed right arm. In addition to her arm being unnaturally wrinkled, there were also black patches which leaked faint wisps of black smoke.
The impression she gave was certainly not gentle, as the sharpness of her green eyes and the thin purse of her lips gave the impression of an animal on the verge of losing control. Her ferociousness was reinforced by her bloodshot eyes and nervous trembles.
"I... am... sorry... but it's... not... fully... his fault," Shiloth said as she gritted her teeth. Saying that seemed to take a huge toll on her, as she fainted immediately after responding to Lee.
* * *
Lee swiftly dashed towards Shiloth and caught her before she hit the ground. Careful not to touch her right arm, he gently laid her down and beckoned Tabby to come over.
Lee took a closer look at Shiloth's right arm. He noticed that the black patches were wriggling ever so slightly and started to encroach on her right shoulder. Despite being unconscious, her painful groans and cold sweats meant that Shiloth was under intense suffering.
Tabby quickly conjured a magic circle to underneath Lee, Shiloth and himself. The three of them found themselves floating midair inside a white spherical space. Tabby also pointed towards Shiloth and conjured white chains from the barrier walls to bind her tightly.
"ARGH!"
Shiloth started screaming and trashing around as she was bound. After struggling for a few moments, Lee and Tabby relaxed slightly when she stopped struggling and fell unconscious again. Her previously contorted expression now seemed much more relieved.
"Are you going to read her memories?" Tabby asked.
Lee positioned himself over Shiloth's head and pressed his hands against her temples. His fingers and eyes glowed as he tried to read her mind. However, he released his grip a few moments later and shook his head.
"Shiloth's mind barriers are much stronger than I imagined. I can brute force my way through, but I don't think it's a good idea given her state now."
Lee pressed a finger on the centre of her forehead and drew out a small ball of smoke. The smoke seemed to be alive as it was pulsating and emanating unnatural noises.
"Shit, she's corrupted?" Tabby frowned.
"Unfortunately, yes." Lee gravely replied. After observing the smoke for a bit, he snapped and set it on fire. "Whatever is corrupting her brain is also the same thing that's corrupting her arm."
Tabby loosened the chains around Shiloth's right arm slightly. "Isn't this smoke similar to..?"
"The smoke from the In-Between." Lee answered. "We seem to be running into this pretty often."
"This also explains how she got corrupted," Lee continued. "Elves are inherently susceptible to chaos influence from the In-Between."
"Still, Shiloth's strength should be more than enough to withstand most chaos influence," Tabby remarked. "And it's not just her, the previous elves from Drumagah were also unusually irascible just now. Seems like a big pile of shit is involved."
The two of them stared silently at Shiloth. Tabby loosened the chains slightly to observe her arm. Even though the marks briefly subsided after Tabby's purification spells, both Tabby and Lee knew that this was just temporary.
"You know we can't just ignore this right?" Tabby asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I know, I know," Lee groaned and massaged his forehead. "Damn it, why is there more and more shit on my plate nowadays?"
Tabby released the barrier spell and brought them back to the destroyed forest. He was tactful enough to lower Shiloth gently on the ground.
Rosie rushed towards Lee while Sparky flew towards Tabby. After a gentle embrace and series of cusses from Lee and Tabby respectfully, everyone sat down on nearby rock.
The beautiful lakeside scenery from last night was nowhere to be seen. Instead, they were surrounded by uprooted trees, piles of loose soil and debris, as well as tens of wounded and unconscious elves.
Lee stood up and stretched his back.
"Well, let's clean up this mess first."