Longing

A giant bear was running wildly down a grassy hillside, letting out an angry roar as it ran.

Its shoulders bear runes unique to Wood Elf. The moment its sharp claws touch the ground, its body curls up tightly before it springs back up. Although it looks like a clumsy giant bear, it can leap seven or eight meters in a single bound.

Behind Woods, to his right rear, is Sabrina holding the Serugi Longsword, and to his left is Roy carrying the Hammer of Judgment Book under one arm.

The chains attached to the Hammer of Judgment Book were connected to Roy's belt, but the heavy Hammer of Judgment Book swung around inconveniently when Roy was running, so Roy could only hold it in his arms.

The three of them ran in a triangular formation.

Following behind was a somewhat timid Moira, her large, bright blue eyes filled with tears...

Klayr, on the other hand, seemed quite excited. He had even pulled out the Long Dagger strapped to his thigh and stared at the Elf Headhunters riding on the backs of argali sheep opposite him.

Miss Tiffany rode behind everyone on horseback, holding a very short magic wand in her hand. A Magic Rune Array appeared in front of her, and then three Ice Shield appeared on Woods, who had transformed into a giant bear.

The hunters rode on the backs of argali sheep, pointing their bows to the sky, and the arrows they fired flew in parabolic arcs toward the Adventure Group.

The giant bear charged forward despite the arrows raining down from above. Two arrows struck its back, shattering an Ice Shield. One arrow was deflected, while the other grazed Woods, barely scraping the skin...

Sabrina deflected a falling arrow with her longsword and followed closely behind Woods.

Roy simply put the Hammer of Judgment Book on his head...

Klayr and Moira also managed to dodge the falling arrows thanks to their agile movements.

The distance between the two sides was reduced to less than 100 meters, and then the headhunters' second wave of arrows came flying in...

The two remaining Ice Shield on Woods blocked two arrows, while the other three arrows stuck in Woods' body but had no effect on him.

Just as the hunters were about to unleash a third volley of arrows, Miss Tiffany flew in from afar, manipulating a giant ice spear. However, before the ice spear even reached the Elf Headhunters, it exploded in front of them.

The headhunters, whose faces had turned pale with fright from the ice spears, breathed a sigh of relief and rode their argali sheep straight into the mist formed by the ice spears.

Above them, a griffin broke through the thick clouds like a meteorite falling from the sky, swooping down towards the not-so-large patch of ice mist.

A golden aura appeared on the griffin's body, somewhat dazzling in the sky...

The Elf Headhunters were shrouded in icy mist and did not see the griffin. By the time they emerged from the mist, the griffin had already swooped down on their heads.

The griffin crashed onto the overgrown hillside like a giant cannonball. One headhunter was caught off guard and was smashed to pieces by the griffin's 'dive,' leaving a large crater in the hillside.

Kaka grabbed a hunting bow, jumped from the griffin's back to a hunter, nocked an arrow, and shot a blood-soaked Elf Headhunters to the ground.

The other hunters swarmed around Kaka, while Woods charged up from the opposite side, slamming a thick claw into the crotch and neck of an Elf Headhunters. The argali let out a miserable cry as its neck bones shattered, and it collapsed onto the grass.

The hunter riding on the back of the argali sheep tumbled out in a sorry state.

Two headhunters rode up to Woods' Woods on argali sheep and raised their blades to stab him in the ribs...

Woods had no time to dodge and could only turn his head to bite the Elf Headhunters on his right.

At this moment, Sabrina caught up from behind. She used her longsword to block the blade of the Elf Headhunters to Woods' left. The argali under the Elf Headhunters suddenly swung its huge curved horns and charged towards Sabrina's chest. Sabrina quickly dodged, and the Elf Headhunters's blade slashed across Sabrina's shoulder.

Fortunately, the Dwarf Chain Mail was sturdy enough that it only cut a small gash, from which bright red blood immediately flowed out.

Woods, in his bear form, pinned the Elf Headhunters to his right under his giant paws, and the headhunter swiftly slashed a gash at the base of Woods' right forepaw.

The argali's massive horns struck Sabrina in the chest again, and this time she had no chance to avoid it, being knocked away by the argali.

Roy took the opportunity to open the Hammer of Judgment Book, and a small hammer formed of holy light appeared in front of Roy.

The argali sheep charged at Sabrina, who had fallen to the ground, again. It lowered its head, and the headhunter on the sheep's back took the opportunity to bend down, intending to kill Sabrina with one blow. Roy's Hammer of Judgment struck the Elf Headhunters's shoulder, causing him to fall off the argali sheep's back...

Roy lunged forward with the Hammer of Judgment Book in his arms, wrestling with the Elf Headhunters. He slapped the Elf Headhunters across the face with the Hammer of Judgment Book, instantly turning him bloody and causing him to see stars.

The Elf Headhunters held the sharp blade tightly in his hand. Roy smashed the Hammer of Judgment Book into his wrist, and the blade fell from the Elf Headhunters's hand onto the grass.

Sabrina, who was standing nearby, plunged the Serugi Longsword into the neck of the argali sheep, and a spurt of blood spurted out. The argali sheep immediately collapsed to the ground.

Just as another Elf Headhunters rode up on a argali sheep, aiming his blade at Roy's neck, Klayr, who had been waiting nearby, pounced on the sheep's back and plunged Klayr Long Dagger into the Elf Headhunters's lower back, piercing his kidney.

Although the battle was extremely chaotic, the Adventure Group members maintained a firm advantage.

An Elf Headhunters lunged at Moira, Moira quickly dodged. She was as agile on the battlefield as a butterfly in flight. The Elf Headhunters's slashing attacks failed to even touch the hem of Moira's clothes.

Moira was somewhat timid, and although she had several opportunities to counterattack during the battle, she gave them all up.

Finally, Miss Tiffany caught up from behind, unable to bear it any longer. She used an Ice Bomb to freeze the Elf Headhunters in place, Kaka shot an arrow from afar, which struck the Elf Headhunters right between the eyebrows.

Sabrina turned around with her longsword in hand, and while Woods was tackling the Elf Headhunters to the ground, she pressed the Serugi Longsword against the neck of the last Elf Headhunters. The battle lasted only a quarter of an hour before it subsided.

Of the six headhunters who rushed at him, five were dead, and the last one was pinned down by Woods and appeared to be on the verge of death...

The Elf Headhunters coldly surveyed his surroundings. With his last breath, he reached for Sabrina's longsword and pressed it against his own neck...

The grass was stained with the headhunter's blood...

Kaka, who was standing by, helped the griffin take to the sky again.

Roy originally intended to leave two survivors, but the last headhunter, seeing no hope of victory, decisively chose to commit suicide.

Roy could even see a kind of indifference to life and death in his eyes.

Woods transformed from his bear form back into an elf, with two arrows hanging on his back. He sat on the grass, almost exhausted, panting heavily.

Sabrina and Moira crossed the grassy hillside and found the captives that the Elf Headhunters had left in the grass.

Two adult Half-Elf and six young elf children.

They were tied together in pairs with crudely made hemp ropes. When Sabrina and Moira found them, they were still looking at Sabrina with horrified expressions...

Both adult Half-Elf were injured, and the six elf children all appeared very weak.

Sabrina used her longsword to cut the ropes binding them, ignored them, and turned to walk back with Moira.

The adult Half-Elf silently flexed his wrists and ankles, then checked on the elf children. Finding that they had only suffered minor injuries, he cautiously approached.

The Adventure Group members are still cleaning up the battlefield...

Four of the Elf Headhunters's eight argali sheep died in the battle, but the remaining sheep did not run far and were grazing on the hillside.

Woods and Sabrina sustained minor injuries that only required Roy to treat them with a minor ' Minor Healing '.

The most unexpected thing about this battle was Kaka; he was actually able to use the griffin's ' Iron Will ' to perform a dive...

If Kaka hadn't rushed forward first, Woods, Sabrina, and Roy might have all been injured.

These headhunters were all quite skilled; they were simply blinded by the ice mist and didn't notice the griffins in the sky. The swooping griffins broke up the headhunters' formation, giving Woods an opportunity to strike.

The weapons these headhunters carried were almost all of the lowest quality magical weapons, which were worthless on the magical market, and their leather armor was also severely worn.

Before the two Half-Elf could even say thank you, Roy waved to them, pointed to the argali sheep on the hillside, and said, "Go and bring those argali sheep back, then come with us."

After saying that, he picked up a War Blade and dug a pit on the rocky hillside. After the pit was dug, he buried the dead Elf Headhunters in it and weighed them down with some stones.

They did not abandon the bodies of these fallen Elf Headhunters in the wilderness, nor did they bury them under the trees according to elven funeral rites.

Moira was somewhat downcast. With several elves dying in the past two days, she had become reluctant to speak...

She even whispered something to Sabrina in the morning:

"Sis, I'm a little homesick!"

"Once we've sorted out this trouble, I'll take you home..."

Sabrina agreed without hesitation.

Now that the troubles were resolved and the elf children were rescued, everyone rode back to the temporary camp in the forest, where the badly injured Half-Elf was still lying.

Along the way, the two adult Half-Elf kept thanking Roy and the others.

Roy didn't say anything until they arrived at the temporary camp and the two Half-Elf found their seriously injured but still alive companion. Only then did everyone realize that they had truly survived a calamity...

A campfire was lit in the camp, Roy took out some apples and Breadfruit to distribute to the two Half-Elf and six elf children.

These elf children are all Half-Elf, four boys and two girls.

These elf children... if judged by the appearance of human children, would probably be about five or six years old.

In reality, these elf children are much older.

They were still children at heart, their eyes filled with innocence and ignorance...

In the past decade or so, the population of the Elf Continent has been declining year by year. In addition to the low fertility of elves, another reason that cannot be ignored is that the growth period of elves is too long.

Everyone sat around the campfire, each of the elf children holding an apple, and they were all quietly munching on their apples.

The older Half-Elf wanted to say a few words of thanks, but Roy stopped him with his hand; he didn't want to hear their explanations...

"How many elves like you live on the Pagisto Plateau?" Roy asked casually.

"We know... probably close to a thousand people, but recently the headhunters have been on a killing spree, and now there are less than five hundred left," the Half-Elf said after a moment's hesitation.

Do you have a map?

"Yes." The Half-Elf pulled a tattered animal hide from his robes and placed it in front of Roy.

Roy unfolded the animal skin, revealing a simple map drawn with a stone pencil. Although it wasn't a complete map of the Pagisto Plateau, the southwestern corner of the Pagisto Plateau was clearly visible. The distribution and direction of these mountain ranges were almost identical to the map in Roy's hand, but the map in Roy's hand was much more detailed.

Since it was of no use, Roy returned the animal hide.

After thinking for a moment, Roy asked the Half-Elf, "Do you know the location of the mine?"

The two Half-Elf exchanged a glance and replied, "We can probably find two mines..."

"There's more than one mine on the Pagisto Plateau?" Roy asked, somewhat surprised.

The younger, older Half-Elf replied, "There are probably more than a dozen. The headhunters are quite aware of these things."

"So your social circle is only in the southwestern corner of the Pagisto Plateau?"

The older Half-Elf looked slightly embarrassed and replied, "Actually, the real area of our living space... is even smaller, it's just here!"

He unfolded the leather map and pointed to a small area on it.

Roy nodded.

The campfire dispelled the darkness and cold wind. Several elven children sat obediently in front of the campfire. Roy paused for a moment and introduced himself, "We are Adventure Group from the Padesto City. We came here because we want to see the Pagisto Plateau. If possible, I would like to ask you two to be our guides and take us around the plateau."

"No problem, but we still need to complete the smuggling and get them to Rampart Town!" said the older Half-Elf.

Roy suddenly turned his gaze to the faces of the elven children and asked:

Why are you going to Rampart Town?

One of the elf children, holding a half-eaten apple, answered innocently, "Because you won't get caught by the hunters there, and there are apples to eat!"

Five days later, on the morning.

Roy and the other members of the Adventure Group stood in the misty woods, watching the six elven children run quickly towards Rampart Town...

Roy did not return to Rampart Town this time. They only stayed outside the town for a while before heading west along the Griffon Bulwark Mountain Range with the three Highland Half-Elf.

It was only then that Roy truly realized something:

Despite its many flaws, Rampart Town, as Roy sees it, is a place many Half-Elf yearn for...