Dark Elves

A group of Dark Elves glared menacingly, looking as though they wanted to rush up and tear Richard apart at any moment.

Yet they did not attack immediately. Malekith turned his head and seemed to say something in the Dark Elf language to a tall, armored figure beside him. The giant nodded calmly, and Malekith abruptly drew his blade and viciously stabbed him.

Blood streamed from the tall Dark Elf's wound, a horrifying sight. The giant's facial muscles twitched faintly from the pain, but he stood ramrod straight and did not move.

Malekith leaned close to his ear and whispered, "All for the future of the Dark Elves."

Then he took out a tiny shard and, without a word, pressed it into the giant's wound. The Dark Elf warrior shuddered violently and threw back his head with a furious roar, as though enduring unbearable agony.

Dark-red veins spread over his entire body like molten lava channels. His whole frame seemed to swell by a size, making him look like a miniature giant.

Others promptly fitted him with armor and a helmet, making his appearance even more ferocious. But the erosion of those dark-red markings on his body seemed to lessen somewhat.

Richard could clearly see the energy building within this Dark Elf. It was an extremely unhealthy enhancement achieved at the cost of his life force.

He guessed it was some kind of ancient forbidden magic. The object Malekith had stuffed into the man's body was similar to a shard of Aether, containing a portion of the Reality Stone's power. The Dark Elves used black magic to wield Aether's power, injecting that energy into a Dark Elf through the shard as a medium and achieving an explosive increase in strength.

They called warriors who gained such power through this near-sacrificial