Alright folks, here is another chapter. I wasn't planning on releasing another one for a qhile, but since Greeman asked politely and Rancholo did dogeza, I decided to give you all another chapter (but it's a bit shorter because of it). Also, to address Pale Rider's concern (Love the name by the way, Sword Art Online 2 if I'm not mistaken) not every person he comes across will be added to his harem. I'm not going for the ending where he ends up with a gigantic harem. Every person is a gear in his rise to power. So yeah. Enjoy, comment, and rate.

Abrum sat clutching his ribs looking up at his tormentors. Even though the blow was insignificant, he needed to keep up the act to find the activation parameters for the Dominating Shadow. While they were kicking them, Abrum calmly used telepathy with the guardians.

‘Do not fire yet. They have yet to do any real damage. However, if they begin to use swords, you have my permission to restrain them. On a different note, who are these Three Swords of the Elvish nation?’ asked Abrum curiously as he endured the kicks.

‘Well, the big breasted one that kicked you first is Ti-era. Of the three, she is the most skilled in the way of swords and axes. The thin one, Liba, is the one that is the most skilled in bows of the three. She is also skilled in earth magic. The one with generous proportions all around, Veila, is a mystery. She was only dubbed a Sword of the Elven kingdom a short while ago.’ Communicated Jula.

‘Why are you describing them exclusively by their proportions?’

Ignoring the question, Bothir continued ‘We don’t really have any knowledge Veila.’

‘So, what would happened if I retaliated to this terrible treatment?’

‘They hold a high level of influence in the Council of Trees. Because of this, they possess a degree of arrogance. At least they know their place when speaking to us. OUCH! Are those steel tipped boots?’

‘Anyway, they are, in general, annoying. They’ve been asking us to join their separate factions for a few decades now. However, they wouldn’t even help us when the madness the madness spread. Those are steel tipped boots!’

‘Maybe our master has that type of hobby.’

‘HECK NO. I DO NOT! Show yourselves to them, but take no aggressive action. Also, feign ignorance about my position. Now that we know we know who they are, we may be able to enter a civil conversation. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take without taking aggressive action.’

“Elves of the Loihon Nation. What do you think you are doing beating a traveler in our territory?”

The three elves turned and looked in the direction of the voice and their eyes were immediately widened.

Standing there, at the mouth of the forest, was Ugothir in human form. He stood tall, a toned and muscular body standing in the forest. To Abrum’s surprise, there were quite a few scars upon his body. His tail swayed slowly in between his wolf like legs, and his ears stood upright. Behind him, multiple wolves were coming out of the forest. The elves immediately changed their composure and dropped to one knee.

“Lord Ugothir. This peasant tried to hinder our journey to aid you in the fight against the madness. We had feared you had already fallen, but it is to our great relief that you are well. But it was our distress for your well-being that led us to act so rashly.” Said Veila

“Does that make sense at all? Instead of hurrying, you attack this poor traveler to assuage your arrogance.” Ugothir says with a cold look in his eyes.

“Since the forest is not completely dead yet, it seems we have arrived in time to combat the madness.”

“Direct us as you will.”

(Author Rant: Now, as you all know, in stories, sometimes the protagonist gets beaten down. This happens in nearly all anime and manga and novels and basically all story telling in general. Now, there is nearly always a turning point in these stories. The part where the protagonist shows awesomeness, completely stunning those around him or her. I, personally, call those “Screw You Moments.” I love these moments and they give me a happy feeling inside. There are actually quite a few of those in the Bible, cuz you know, God and all. Anyway. Welcome to the “Screw You Moment” chapter!)

This is when the other guardians came out of the forest. They came behind Ugothir, showing a side of majesty. Abrum was a tad bit awe struck that the bickering fluff bundles could give off such and aura. They looked the part of the noble forest guardians. They looked majestic.

Then, the bomb dropped.

“Lord Ugothir, you did not have that marking on your shoulder the last time we met.” Commented Ti-era. “Nor did you Lady Orthir.”

“A-all of you have markings.” Stuttered out Liba.

The guardians looked at each other and smiled.

“We have found a lord worthy of our service.” Said Ugothir with a hint of pride in his voice.

The elves were dumbfounded by this. It was all over their faces. The way their eyes were widened, the slight slackening of their lips. They couldn’t believe it.

“L-lord Ugothir. We have heard nothing among the elves of another Allegiance entreaty.” Ti-era stuttered out confused.

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“Of course. It is not an elf that we have sworn allegiance.” Bothir said with a smug look upon her face.

At this, Liba stood up quickly, her face containing am unbelieving smile.

“Of course you have sworn allegiance to an elf. No other race possesses the majesty required to command such noble beasts as yourself.” She said in a sincere manner.

“Your ‘noble’ race only sent help 3 months after we requested assistance. So you can drop the pretentious bull about you being here to help us. If I had to give a guess, your Council of Trees sent you to see if you could procure the land our ancestors have protected for centuries.” Said Bula

“Every one of our fair propositions were ----“

“I’ll stop you right there. You were interested in our land to expand your kingdom. You would have cut off the villager’s food source. And your ‘fair’ reparations amounted to little under the forests monthly income from trade alone.” Orthir interrupted with an unhappy expression on her face. “The only elves who offered us a fair trade were Trelay Moon. If I’m not mistaken, that’s your Trelay Veila.”

(Author’s Note: a Trelay is the elven equivalent to a human royal house.)

Veila nodded and spoke up for the first time.

“Indeed it is. My father and father before him all made entreaties to you and your ancestors throughout their entire lives. I had planned to continue their work; however, hearing that someone beat me to it…” Her eyes flashed dangerously, a cold murderous glint in her eyes. “I would love to meet this lord you see as better than the previous heads of Trelay Moon.”

‘Oh, the head of the Trelay Moon? This could be an opportunity to make a show.’ Thought Abrum. ‘Alright Ugothir, reveal the identity of the lord.’ He said telepathically as he procured his katana from the bush.

“Even if you haven’t realized it yet, you already have met our lord.” Ugothir said dismissively

“Impossible, we haven’t met anyone on our journey here.”

In response, Ugothir slowly raised an arm. His finger extended at an excruciatingly slow speed until it pointed directly past them. They turned and looked behind them, expecting something that would stun them.

Instead, there was Abrum, brushing himself off. When he realized the elves gazes were on him, he gave a big old grin.

“This idiot? You must be joking!” Said Ti-era

“How could such an imbecile be the lord of all of you?!” Liba nearly screamed.

‘Master, what in the world are you doing?’

‘Letting them genuinely attack me to show the power difference. Also, it will make it their fault if they are beaten to badly.’ Abrum communicated with a smirk.

This was when Veila finally spoke up.

“My father, and his father before him all dedicated their lives to expanding the Loihon nation…They were wildly successful, but failed to get your territory. And ignoring my ancestors’ entreaties, you hand the territory… OVER TO THIS IMBECILE?!” Veila raged. “I won’t accept it!”

Before any of the guardians could stop her, she had turned around and started to run at Abrum. Her arm blurred for a second and Abrum bent backwards. He saw three bo shuriken, iron throwing darts, hit and stick in the tree. Coming back up, he readied himself for a strike, but he found that it was unnecessary.

Veila Moon was fast, she had closed the 2 meters in less than a second. She had already drawn a ninjato and was closing in quickly, and finally stepped upon his shadow. The world seemed to slow down in that one moment. Her once calm face twisted with rage, she drew her arm back to strike. But her strike never came.

“Ah. So those are the activation parameters. Killing intent.”

Veila turned and saw her arm. Coming up from Abrum’s shadow was a long tendril constraining her arm and it slowly spread up her arm. Before she could, she felt something cold and slimy coming up her thighs. Looking down, she began to realize how grave of a mistake she had made. She could no longer see her feet. They were sinking slowly into Abrum’s shadow and numerous tendrils were coming up, dragging her deeper and deeper. A tendril with a sharp tip came up, and hovered above her head, ready to end it.

“Non-lethal methods preferably.” Abrum said a bit panicked. The tendril disappeared into the shadow.

Ti-era and Liba watched dumb-struck as their comrade began to sink.

Struggling, she stayed defiant until the very end before her head disappeared into the shadows. A box appeared in front of Abrum and a disturbed look came across his face.

{Prisoner 001: Veila Tal Moon} has been obtained

Abrum looked up slowly, his clear, ice blue eyes met the eyes of Liba and Ti-era.

“Now, do tell why you are really here.”

Liba gulped and answered first.

“We received reports that a slave shipment consisting of primarily elves was passing through the region. We were sent to stop it.”

Abrum nodded and grinned slightly. Time to wreak some havoc on the slavers.