The ringing hammer blows in the workshop stopped abruptly.
Every elf, guard and craftsman alike, froze in place.
The sound seemed to carry a literal freezing effect, chilling everyone's blood from the crown of their head to their heels.
Lin Mo paused.
"Who's that? Blowing that thing at mealtime?"
"Sounds like bad luck!"
But when he saw Fendona's face turn deathly pale in an instant, his heart lurched.
Damn, it's the Demon Clan!
"The damned Demon Clan is back!" Fendona clenched her teeth, hatred seeping through them.
Clang!
The vernier calipers in Master Elder's hand struck the floor with a sharp clatter.
The old elf shook all over, his lips trembling.
"Impossible... this is absolutely impossible... according to their attack patterns, the next assault... the next assault shouldn't come for at least another two weeks!"
Before he finished, an elf scout covered in blood tumbled into the workshop. One of his arms was twisted like a rope, and his face was smeared with black blood and ineradicable terror.
He screamed with all his strength.
"Princess-"
"The Demon Clan is invading!!!"
"Their vanguard... has already broken through the first wooden wall!"
The workshop erupted.
"Quick! Get to the armory!"
"My bow hasn't been calibrated yet!"
Panic spread among the elves like a plague.
Fendona whipped around to look at the pile of brand-new weapons in the corner of the workshop.
Five hundred and fifty Compound Bows.
Six hundred and twenty Repeating Crossbows.
That was everything they had produced over three days and three nights.
Would this handful of weapons be enough against the Demon Clan's army?
But it was better than what they had before!
Fendona forced herself to regain a little confidence.
As the elves descended into chaos, Lin Mo stood up.
Without a word, he walked straight toward the new weapons and picked up a Repeating Crossbow amid the uproar.
Click.
A crisp, distinctly mechanical sound rang out.
Expressionless, he slid a fully loaded magazine into the crossbow.
Every elf's gaze involuntarily shifted to him.
Lin Mo hefted the Repeating Crossbow in one hand, his calm gaze sweeping over every elf present.
"Panicking won't solve anything!"
"Weapons are made to kill. Now that the enemy's here, it's the perfect time to test how sharp they are."
Fendona stared at him in a daze.
This human... didn't he know how terrifying the Demon Clan was?
Why didn't he look afraid at all?
Lin Mo pointed the crossbow outside and raised his voice.
"Your fear is exactly what the enemy wants. Calm down and pick up your weapons."
"Distribute the equipment. Move out in squads and find the fighting positions that suit you best."
"Let those monsters see just how well your new weapons work!"
His words jolted Master Elder awake. He shuddered, the fear and confusion in his mind swept away in an instant.
That's right.
What good would fear do?
The weapons were right here, and the enemy was before them.
Fendona immediately came to her senses and issued her orders loudly.
"Leon! Assemble your sharpshooter squad! Give them priority for all the new weapons!"
"Yes!"
An agile elf darted forward and dropped to one knee.
"Everyone else, take up your longbows, staves, and shields, and defend the line!"
"The Goddess of Nature is watching over you! For the glory of the elves, fight to the death!!"
With their orders given, the elves finally had someone to rally around. They sprang into action as the horn sounded the counterattack.
Bwooo-
In the distance, thousands of monsters crashed like a black tide into the hastily assembled Elf Defense Line.
Blood and flesh flew.
Ill-suited to close combat, the elves crumpled beneath the claws and fangs of those twisted monsters.
Screams rang out without end.
"Hold the line!!"
Lin Mo shouted, but his voice was swallowed by the deafening battle cries.
A young elf guard, his face as white as paper, dropped his longbow with a clatter. His nerve broke, and he turned to flee.
Lin Mo frowned and lunged toward him.
He forcibly spun the elf guard around, making him look at the brightly lit workshop behind them.
"That is your workshop. That is your hope."
"Do you want Master Elder to execute a coward with the tools he made with his own hands?"
The elf went rigid.
Lin Mo released him and paid him no further attention. Instead, he raised his Repeating Crossbow and smoothly swapped in a fresh magazine.
Resting the Repeating Crossbow on his shoulder, he tipped his chin toward the branches of the world tree above, addressing the sharpshooter captain named Leon.
"Sharpshooters, take the high ground."
"Set up positions for suppressing fire and get a clear view of the battlefield."
"Don't waste the time the front line is buying you."
Leon understood.
He glanced at the composed Lin Mo. His elven pride stirred a refusal to let this weak human look down on him, and he shouted.
"Sharpshooters! Follow me! Take the high ground!"
Fendona raised her staff high, her voice clear and firm as she dispelled the panic.
"For our home! Fight!!"
Lin Mo nodded slightly. This young princess was stronger than he had imagined.
He followed Leon's sharpshooters, scrambling up the thick branches and vines of the world tree with both hands and feet.
He soon found a fork with a clear view and settled into a half crouch.
Below him, the two armies fought fiercely.
A wise man didn't stand beneath a crumbling wall.
For a human like him, too weak to truss a chicken, the safest place was beside these ranged fighters.
Once he had found his position, Lin Mo did not rush to fire. Instead, he swiftly surveyed the entire battlefield.
His gaze passed over the chaotic front line, and he realized that the attacking Demon Clan forces were not simply charging mindlessly.
They were deliberately gathering toward the hillside to one side, apparently clearing space for something.
Suddenly-
Rumble... rumble...
A dull, teeth-grating noise rose as the earth began to tremble.
"What's that noise?" Lin Mo looked at Leon beside him, his brow tightly furrowed.
Leon's expression instantly turned grim, and he stared fixedly at the shaking hillside.
"It's... it's an Earth Python! Damn it!"
"An Earth Python?"
The question had barely left Lin Mo's mouth when his pupils abruptly contracted.
The earth groaned.
The soil and rocks on that hillside churned violently as though alive, then suddenly collapsed inward, tearing open a hideous, enormous hole!
Thick black mist, laden with the stench of sulfur, gushed from the opening.
Then a massive python-like creature, more than a hundred feet long and resembling a human-made tunnel-boring machine, slowly heaved its way out of the ground.
It had no eyes, only a huge circular maw that occupied its entire head.
Inside its mouth, densely packed rings of razor-sharp teeth spun at high speed, grinding hard rock and the roots of the world tree alike to pieces!
Just like that, a tunnel had opened from beyond the defense line straight into the heart of the elven city.
The elven city, which had only just managed to steady itself, plunged into even greater chaos like an anthill pierced through.
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