Elven Archer
The green light dissipated.
A tall, slender elven woman stood there, wearing soft, comfortable green leather armor. Her long, pale golden hair, reaching her waist, was bright and colorful, with the sides and front combed back. Her bangs made her look gentle and refined, as if representing the ultimate elegance and beauty of an elf—but when paired with her languid expression, she lost all her charm.
"Phew... I was sleeping so soundly. What time is it now?"
The woman yawned and stretched without any regard for her image, then casually adjusted the longbow slung over her shoulder before turning her gaze to the Elder Brain in front of her.
"Huh? What is this?"
She squinted, carefully examining the ultramodern artwork that looked like a combination of water and tofu, with tadpoles swimming inside.
"It looks disgusting... Nia should know what this is... I sense that she and Your Excellency are nearby, hmm..."
As she spoke, the female elf walked towards the door with lazy, leisurely steps.
"Stop!!"
Just then, the Elder Brain, which had been silent and disguised as a "bonsai," finally spoke. The entire space began to tremble due to its mental power, and invisible energy shot towards the unsuspecting female elf from behind. Faced with this sudden attack, the female elf made no attempt to block or dodge, allowing the potentially lethal energy to penetrate her body. Only when the energy dissipated and the trembling of the space ceased did the female elf slowly turn around and reach for her longbow.
"I thought it was something else, another octopus head?"
She raised her bow and aimed at the Elder Brain before her. Arrows, previously invisible, gradually appeared on the bow. A gentle breeze danced and condensed between the elf's fingers. Then, she released her grip, and the arrow, composed of wind elements, transformed into a bolt of lightning, shooting towards the Elder Brain.
The Elder Brain was naturally having a major headache dealing with this female elf. In fact, she had caused immense destruction when she entered the Mind Flayer's city. This slender elf, who seemed unlikely to withstand even a single attack, was completely immune to their psychic abilities. No matter how powerful the force, it couldn't damage her brain or tear her body apart. Although tangible spells formed using psychic powers could pose some threat, this elf seemed very strange; psychic abilities had no effect on her, and even magic was greatly diminished against her. Moreover, this woman's strangeness didn't stop there. She could shoot arrows without limit, completely disregarding the consumption of arrows. Initially, the Elder Brain thought it was because of her magical weapon, but after ordering the Mind Flayer to seize the weapon at great cost, it discovered that the woman had conjured a bow out of thin air and resumed her attack... In the end, if the Elder Brain hadn't opened Astral Plane portal and summoned its four most capable assistants to confine her within space, who knows how much chaos this woman would have caused.
As a result, after painstakingly capturing her and intending to devour her brains and turn her into a lowly slave, the female elf suddenly transformed into something the Mind Flayer had never anticipated. Only then did the Elder Brain finally understand why she had shown complete resistance to psychic energy... she wasn't a true life form at all.
How to deal with her became a concern for the Mind Flayer. Although she could be completely destroyed, they couldn't find a way to destroy her within their known methods. Selling her was even more inappropriate. Although a strange Mind Flayer weapon like the Book of Light would surely attract merchants from other planes, considering her danger, it wouldn't be a worthwhile deal if she were to return and launch a surprise attack. Ultimately, the Elder Brain decided to place her in its room and use its own power, along with that of the four Mind Flayer elders, to suppress her.
It must be said that this method has been effective for hundreds of years. The Elder Brain can clearly sense that the Magic Power of this magical weapon is almost exhausted. It will soon become a pile of junk. At that time, dealing with her will be much easier.
But it never expected that someone would learn from the female elves at this time and launch another attack on the Mind Flayer's city.
Moreover, the death of one of the Mind Flayer Elders caused a flaw in the originally perfect closed space of the mind. And, for some unknown reason, this magical weapon, which was about to become a piece of junk, actually transformed back into human form!
This is such a hassle!
The mental barrier withstood the wind blades fired by the female elf, but at this point, neither side had any other option but to confront the other. The Elder Brain Flayer had nothing but its brain; unlike a Mind Flayer, it didn't have hands or tentacles to aid its attack. Moreover, its enormous, tofu-like head was its entirety, leaving it with no way to escape. Furthermore, the Isolation Barrier cast by the mage outside completely cut off the Elder Brain Mind Flayer. Currently, it had no choice but to face this enemy head-on.
"This is troublesome; it looks even harder to deal with than those octopus heads."
The female elf grumbled to herself, then raised her longbow again, aimed, and fired.
This time, however, she did not unleash the wind arrows as before. Instead, with her movements, the air in the entire room began to swirl wildly, transforming into wind blades that attacked the Elder Brain from different angles.
A trivial matter.
The Elder Brain once again released its psionic field, firmly enveloping its massive "brain" (not its body), preventing the wind blades from harming it in the slightest. Just then, the female elf suddenly raised her arm, aiming her bow above the Elder Brain. Several wind arrows shot out from her hand like lightning, narrowly striking the stalactite hanging downwards at its tip. The female elf then swiftly retreated and left the room. As she disappeared, the stalactite, struck from its base, began to fall.
Faced with this enormous and heavy boulder, the Elder Brain preemptively used its mental abilities to try and redirect its fall. However, the weight of the boulder was clearly greater than the Elder Brain's mental power, so the Elder Brain had no choice but to concentrate all its defensive power to try and dodge the attack. But it completely overlooked the fact that the wildly swirling wind blades throughout the room had not disappeared.
A wind blade grazed the Elder Brain, and the intense pain that followed affected the Elder Brain's mental power. The previously gathered psionic barrier collapsed instantly, and at that moment, the huge stalactite fell completely into the cultivation pool where the Elder Brain was located, smashing it into pieces.
The Beholder collapsed.
Li Lin breathed a sigh of relief. These creatures were indeed difficult to deal with, but their behavior was somewhat sluggish. If these Beholder could coordinate perfectly with each other, they might pose a certain threat to Li Lin and Nia. However, they seemed completely unable to cooperate, even standing still after their companions launched an attack, showing no intention of helping. The Mind Flayer's thought control abilities could indeed make others obey their commands 100%, but the price to pay was naturally heavy.
Taking advantage of the opening in the battle defense between the Beholder, Li Lin once again used magic runes to unleash eight spells in one fell swoop, defeating one of the Beholder. However, this action also consumed a significant amount of his energy. While magic runes do offer advantages such as stealth and instant casting, Li Lin's current body is not that of the Arcane Mage he once was. Forcibly using the same high-level spells on a large scale caused some damage to his body.
"Li Lin, stop casting spells."
Noticing the strange behavior of Li Lin's body, Nia couldn't help but speak. Then, the Eternal Library flashed with brilliant magical light, transformed back into human form, and stood in front of Li Lin, holding a staff.
"With your current strength, it's difficult to deal with a monster like the Beholder. Perhaps I should..."
"You are a magical weapon, so you have even less resistance to Beholder."
Li Lin shook his head, rejecting Nia's suggestion.
Because of the death of their companion, the Beholder seemed less clumsy than before. They waved their eyes, occasionally releasing deadly rays from them. Although Li Lin and Nia completely blocked these rays, the Antimagic Field they possessed forced the two mages into a situation where they had to replenish their magical defenses while waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.
"I really shouldn't have left Angela behind."
After dispelling the gravity fog cast by the Beholder with a Dispel Magic, Li Lin sighed helplessly.
"If she were here, we could simply sit here and chat over tea."
"If it were the old you, dealing with these monsters wouldn't be a problem."
Nia showed no intention of moving aside, and her warning was quite clear.
Li Lin's strength has not yet recovered to the level of Arcane Mage. Otherwise, he wouldn't need to go through so much trouble to find his weapon.
At that moment, the Isolation Barrier began to dim.
"Oops."
Sensing the loss of power from the barrier, Li Lin's expression darkened.
These Beholder are actually starting to weaken his barrier? If they succeed, things will get even worse.
It seems we have no choice but to use that one.
Li Lin reached out and grasped the staff that Nia was holding, and then blue flames appeared in his palm.
"Li Lin!?"
Nia was visibly surprised by this sudden action.
"You're going to do this?"
"Don't worry, I've done this before. You know it's not difficult."
Just as Li Lin was gathering his strength, intending to finish off the remaining Beholder, suddenly, several arrows flew in, piercing through all the eyes of the Beholder. The controlled Beholder, who were completely focused on Li Lin and had slowed their reactions, did not have time to react to the attack. They fell to the ground with a wail and were then riddled with holes by another round of arrows.
Only then did Li Lin breathe a sigh of relief.
Looks like we're in luck.
He spoke casually, glancing in the direction from which the arrows had come, where the beautiful elven woman stood leisurely, waving lazily at them, as if she had just woken up.
"Oh... it's been so long, Nia, what are you doing in this godforsaken place?"