When one fell, a second followed, then a third.
Up in the treetops, the Elf sharpshooters' Compound Bows were the King of Hell's ledger of life and death. Every muffled twang of a bowstring meant another Demon Clan artillery unit had been dispatched with deadly precision.
Arrows tore through the air, precise and lethal.
In moments, all the marked Demon Clan artillery units, along with the Tower-Shield Demon Soldiers wearing "Corpse Armor," were eliminated one by one amid utter chaos.
Fendona stared blankly at it all, then slowly turned to look at the man beside her, who had been swearing up a storm while calmly directing the battle just moments earlier.
Lin Mo grinned, his teeth strikingly white amid the smoke of battle, and flashed her a V sign.
It worked!
A textbook-perfect team fight!
"We... we did it?!" Fendona watched the dramatic turn of events, her face filled with incredulous joy.
Without ranged artillery pinning them down, the remaining demons were nothing but lambs to the slaughter.
After being suppressed to the breaking point, every Elf's morale erupted at that moment!
They no longer fought individually. Instead, they instinctively executed a perfect set of coordinated tactics.
The Earth Mages kept casting, turning the ground beneath the demons into a hellscape of mud and Earth Spikes to control the battlefield.
The Compound Bow squads picked off targets with precision from above, eliminating any mid- or high-ranking demon creatures that posed a threat.
The Treant Guards steadied their lines again, while the Wood Elves chanted spells behind them to heal their wounds.
Meanwhile, the far more numerous Repeating Crossbow wielders formed overlapping webs of metal fire, ruthlessly mowing down the low-ranking demon creatures trying to break through their defenses.
For a time, the menacing Demon Clan army was pinned firmly at that pitch-black tunnel entrance, unable to advance a single step!
For the first time, the Demon Clan tasted what it meant to be beaten senseless while "spawn-camped."
After Leon put an arrow through the head of the last Heavy Armor Demon Soldier attempting a counterattack, a shrill, defiant horn sounded from the Demon Clan army.
They abandoned mountains of corpses and fled in disarray back into the underground entrance.
The battle... was over.
The Elves who had survived stood stunned for a second, then burst into earth-shaking cheers.
Many threw down their weapons and embraced their companions tightly, weeping with joy.
"We won! Gods! We actually won!"
"Hahaha! The Queen watched over us! We survived!"
Fendona strode up to Lin Mo and removed her helmet. Her sweat-soaked silver hair clung to her forehead, and her leather armor was covered in black bloodstains and scratches.
Tears shimmered in her emerald eyes as she gazed at Lin Mo in excitement.
"We... won..."
"Yes, we won." Lin Mo let out a long breath. He had finally made it through alive.
Fendona spoke excitedly:
"Sir, every previous time we faced a surprise attack on this scale, we suffered three times, even five times as many casualties. We had to throw lives at them just to barely drive them back."
"A result like today's... an almost flawless victory... this... this is a miracle!"
As she spoke, she could no longer contain her emotions and burst into tears of joy.
Lin Mo immediately found himself at a loss:
"Hey, hey, hey, don't cry! Look at you, you're ruining your makeup... oh, you're not wearing any. Never mind, then."
Just then, a large crowd of excited Elves gathered around him.
At their head was Master Elder, the once notoriously stubborn old craftsman. His aged face was flushed red, filled with fervor and adoration.
He walked up to Lin Mo and dropped to one knee with a thud!
Lin Mo jumped in surprise:
"Holy shit! Get up first! Why are you kneeling?"
"Sir Lin Mo!" Tears streamed down Elder's face as he wrapped his arms around Lin Mo's leg.
"You are no mere traveler from another world! You are the Saint sent by the Goddess of Life to save us!"
"You are holy light walking among us! A living miracle!"
Elder's gesture acted like a switch, instantly igniting every Elf's enthusiasm.
A moment later, the fervent Elves surrounded Lin Mo, completely engulfing him.
"Yes! Honored Saint!"
"Please accept our humblest and most heartfelt thanks!"
Rare fruits, glittering magical gems, fragrant wooden carvings... all of them were shoved into his arms at once.
"Honored Saint, this Starlight Stone has been passed down in our family for three hundred years!"
"My lord! Try these Sweet Berries I just picked! They can boost your magical power!"
"Honored Saint! Here's a grass wreath I just wove! It keeps mosquitoes away!"
Lin
Mo's arms were stuffed full, and someone had even forced a handful of grass of unknown purpose into his hand. He felt like a walking trash can.
"Thank you. Thank you all for your enthusiasm..."
Before he could finish, several bold young Elf women squeezed to the front, blushing, their pleasant fragrance wafting toward him.
Together, they carefully placed a garland woven from fresh flowers around Lin Mo's neck.
Before Lin Mo could offer a few polite words, he felt several groping hands reach out from the crowd and roam all over his body.
Lin Mo: "???"
"Holy shit! Who just grabbed my crotch?!"
Every hair on Lin Mo's body stood on end. He felt like the monk Tang Sanzang after stumbling into the Spider Demons' Cave.
"Stop it! Hey, cut it out!"
Lin Mo was jostled from side to side, the jumble of gifts in his arms nearly forming a mountain.
"Everyone! My Elf friends! Calm down! Everyone, please calm down!"
"I appreciate the sentiment, but a personality cult is a bad idea! We need to believe in science... no, wait, in magic!"
He tried to break free, only to find more and more Elves crowding around him, every face blazing with an "I want to have your babies" kind of fervor.
"Fendona! Help me! Please, save me!" Lin Mo cast a pleading look at Fendona, the only one who still seemed relatively normal.
Fendona's pretty face reddened. She pushed through the crowd, hoping to rescue Lin Mo.
"Everyone..."
But the moment she spoke, Master Elder interrupted her with righteous conviction.
"Your Highness! Please do not interrupt us as we give thanks to the Saint!"
"If not for the honored Saint, we might already be dead." Master Elder looked like a zealot now, his eyes blazing.
"Exactly! The honored Saint's wisdom will lead us to victory!"
Caught between laughter and tears at the spectacle, Fendona could only stand to one side.
She watched as her enthusiastic kin swallowed Lin Mo up.
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