Chapter 136: Elf Conflict (Five)

On the gate tower, the Dark Night Elves once again repelled the goblins' attack, and one of them suddenly saw thick black smoke rising from deep in the valley where the Tree Elves had emerged (hand‑typed by Shouda8. Com, first release).

「Moon Goddess Cave…… it's on the other side of the Moon Goddess Cave, how could that be……」

Based on the direction, that place must be the settlement of the Dark Night Elves, and since they mobilized all their forces to attack He Rui Peak, their nest was left empty; the Tree Elves came out from there, hearing her shout, everyone suddenly felt an ominous premonition.

At this moment, the goblins outside the gate tower ceased their attack, all staring at the battlefield below the mountain.

Everyone looked afar at the mountain base, only to see the Tree Elves' long formation suddenly open, over 200 Tree Elves gathering around an elf war chariot marching out from the formation; on the chariot was conspicuously placed a huge stone-carved head, and from the fracture marks on the neck it was clear that they had chopped it off alive.

「Moon Goddess! 」

「Moon Goddess! 」

「Moon Goddess! 」

Everyone couldn't help but cry out in shock; that head was the skull of the Moon Goddess idol worshipped by the Dark Night Elves, buried deep underground in their secret cavern, now damaged by the Tree Elves, who also brought the goddess's head to the front of the formation, signifying that their tribe had been destroyed and also shattering their hearts; at once many stood frozen there, even their weapons slipping from their grasp.

With the roar of a leader from the Dark Night Elves' formation at the mountain base, unable to contain his anger, he led all the Dark Night Elves to charge at the Tree Elves' single-line formation.

The Tree Elves' tactics were almost the same as those the goblins had used before, except that the Dark Night Elves were not cavalry but infantry archers, and their formation usage had also changed somewhat; when the Dark Night Elves charged forward, the Tree Elves quickly shifted from a single-line formation into four dense wedge-shaped formations, the two middle ones concentrating all archers who fired simultaneously, and under the pressure of the rain curtain they split the Dark Night Elves' formation into four long, thin units; the wedge formations on both sides also fired arrows, pressing the divided enemy's four small units together into two, then swiftly flanking from both sides to create a surrounding posture.

When the two Tree Elf units had moved to the rear, the original two central units also passed through the middle, though suffering heavy casualties.

Tree Elves always resort to any means to achieve their goal; a single-line formation of 2000, when it had moved behind the Tree Elves, in the counter‑attack against the enemy arrow barrage, was reduced to over 600; while the Dark Night Elves, eager for revenge, also fought fearlessly, losing nearly 1000, and together with the few hundred guarding against the goblins, still had over 2000 troops.

The Tree Elves had three long formations; when the first formation had successfully moved behind the enemy lines, the second formation had already split into two, flanking the enemy's wings and cutting off their ability to divert troops to either side; meanwhile the third formation had also closed in, leaving the Dark Night Elves tightly encircled in the middle.

What makes matters worse is that both elf races are skilled archers, almost all of them being bowmen, and they traditionally keep an arrow's distance from opposing lines; thus, for the Dark Night Elves to break out, they must first pass through a dense arrow zone, cross that distance, then engage the Tree Elves in melee before they can successfully break through.

However, the Dark Night Elves were inside the enemy encirclement with only a little over 2000 troops, whereas the Tree Elves had nearly 4000.

But at that moment, the goblins surged out from the village gate, hurling javelins at the Dark Night Elves guarding the gate while joining forces with the Tree Elves; thousands of goblins rushed out like a flood, and the mere 300-plus Dark Night Elves could not stop them; after only a brief standoff they were scattered, most struck by javelins and slaughtered on the spot, only a few seeing the tide turn, realizing they could not rescue those surrounded, and fled in different directions.

The goblins detached some forces to pursue, while the bulk gathered outside the Tree Elves' encirclement; at this moment the encirclement had just closed, and both sides were still in a stalemate, not yet engaging.

With a command from the Tree Elves, goblins poured through the gaps beside the Tree Elves, first using the goblins to launch an assault.

At this time the Dark Night Elves, trapped in the circle, had shifted from a square formation to a round one, protecting each other.

As the goblins surged in, everyone loosed arrows at once, instantly felling several hundred goblins; just as many people released their first arrow and needed time to nock another, the crossbow, unlike the bow, is slow to load, so the Tree Elves used this gap to quickly advance into range, nocking their bows all at once; the Dark Night Elves had only a few arrows left on the string, and the two sides exchanged fire— the Tree Elves, positioned outward with a larger area, could not achieve a covering density with their crossbow barrage, so the exchange only wounded fewer than a hundred enemy soldiers, yet they were drenched in the Tree Elves' arrow rain; many could not dodge in time, and another six or seven hundred were struck down by arrows.

The Dark Night Elf leader was still in the formation; she was the chieftain of the Dark Night Elves, and the person in Wangyueku was her daughter. Seeing her clansmen fall one by one, she knew that holding out would only lead to total annihilation, and the vengeance for the destroyed idol could no longer be exacted, so she ordered a breakout.

Within the inner circle of archers, with their current strength a breakout could only be attempted by splitting into two echelons, front and rear, to minimize being shot from behind; however, the Tree Elves' circular encirclement was highly flexible, and when the Dark Night Elves sent troops forward in two waves for a fierce thrust, they simply fell back, until the Dark Night Elves' formation had been torn into two small units; the Tree Elves then broke their original huge encirclement, splitting it into two, and once again surrounded the Dark Night Elves with two separate rings.

Each of the two Dark Night Elf units now had only five or six hundred left, unable to split further, yet the goblins again divided into two and charged into the encirclement; outside, the Tree Elves' arrow rain suppressed them, while inside, goblin sword‑and‑shield fighters tangled them in melee, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not break out of the thicket.

……

「We… we are about to be wiped out……」 The battle below was laid bare, and the Dark Night Elves on the gate tower now showed despairing expressions.

「Could it be that Heaven wishes to exterminate my people……」

The situation below had almost been decided; that force would inevitably be annihilated, giving the goblins assaulting the gate tower a huge morale boost; they turned back and prepared once more to launch a fierce attack on the gate tower……

At this moment Li Bucai held aloft a torch, gazing at the pile of firewood before him; if he lit it now, the entrance to Wangyueku would be engulfed in a sea of fire, cutting off the retreat of those inside; if he did not light it in time, Yue Ji could not quickly bring reinforcements to disperse the enemy forces, and the Dark Night Elves at the mountain base could not hold out long— once the Tree Elves had wiped them out they would storm the summit, making escape even harder; but even if he lit the fire now and Yue Ji's party arrived promptly, with only this small force they would suffer heavy losses upon encountering the Tree Elf army; it is clear that the leader of the elf forces below is a necromancy priest, as evidenced by the staff in her hand inlaid with a human‑shaped skull, showing that her undead followers fear no archers yet are powerless against a necromancy priest……