Ember Dragon

Serenya, Soul Bell Tree Sea.

Under the soft moonlight, all kinds of plants glow silvery, and translucent silk-like branches float in the air, which once touched will bring forth illusions of memory.

When the wind blows, the crystal bells hanging on the branches will play the deceased's favorite melody.

This is the tomb of the Silvermoon Elves.

When the elves' long lives come to an end, they will take the initiative to throw themselves into the sea of ​​soul bell trees, allowing their bodies to return to the sacred trees and their souls to return to the moon goddess Shahanni.

This is also one of the few places that can directly lead to the center of the sacred tree of elves - the Holy Court of Verance.

The Elf Queen Catherine and her followers are on the outskirts of the Soul Bell Tree, preparing to march towards the sacred tree, capture the Holy Court of Verance, and regain power in Serenia.

Catherine used her scepter to manipulate the branches of the sacred tree to create a hidden area as their secret base.

At this moment, the elven queen, wearing silver light armor and a crown on her head, was riding gracefully on the back of a pure white unicorn, scanning her soldiers with her eyes.

There are thousands of personal guards following the queen, known as the "Silver Moon Followers" Legion. This legion is composed entirely of professionals. It is the most elite force under Catherine and her greatest reliance for launching a sacred coup.

These elves also wear light armor, most of them hold longbows, silver swords or staffs, and ride horses, deer and other elegant and spiritual animals.

When they looked at Catherine, their eyes were full of admiration, trust and loyalty.

In the eyes of many Silver Moon followers, Her Majesty the Queen is gentle, kind, yet resolute.

They firmly believe that Catherine will win the upcoming war, regain the long-lost power, become the true master of Serenia, and lead them to a glorious future.

"We will be victorious."

Catherine raised her head and looked at the huge tree in the distance that blocked out the sun.

She stroked the crescent moon pendant on her chest and whispered, "The great guardian of life, the moon goddess Sehanine, I swear in the name of Katherine Moon Chaser that I will get Serenia back on track."

At this moment, the half-elf Rhea stepped forward quickly and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the reinforcements of the Harper Alliance have arrived, but they were ambushed by an unknown enemy on the way and suffered heavy losses."

Catherine's expression suddenly changed, her brows furrowed, and she leaned forward: "What? Let them in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Soon, the branches slowly opened up like living things, making way for a path. A team of nearly a hundred people appeared in front of the elves, most of them were humans, but there were also some half-elves, halflings, and dwarves.

In this team, many people were seriously injured, breathing weakly, and groaning in pain.

Seeing this, Kaiser waved his scepter and chanted an ancient elven spell.

Those translucent silk-like branches emitted a faint light and released pure energy, wrapping up the wounded of the Harper Alliance and gradually healing them.

The harpist leading the group was a human woman in her forties.

She was thin, wearing a ragged dark green cloak, with a slender wooden bow on her back. Her abdomen was stained with blood and there seemed to be traces of arrow wounds.

"You are Lady Melisandre?" Catherine asked with a hint of surprise in her tone.

Melisandre Wildpath, a legendary ranger, is known as the "Whisperer of the Night".

More than ten years ago, Melisandre broke into the heavily guarded palace alone with a longbow and assassinated a king who believed in evil gods, making her famous.

But now.
This famous legendary ranger was actually seriously injured!
"It's me, Her Majesty Catherine."

The woman pulled back her hood, her face pale and she looked at the Elf Queen solemnly: "Those enemies are as dangerous and cunning as the evil green dragons."

"They disguised themselves as your guards and shamelessly attacked us when we let our guard down. We lost hundreds of people just outside the Elf Forest."

"How shameless." Rhea said coldly, and then she continued to ask: "Then how did you escape here?"

Melisandre replied: "I killed more than fifty enemies, then opened the passage to the etheric plane and temporarily got rid of the pursuers."

"Uh-"

Melisandre covered her abdomen and spat out blood.

Catherine walked forward and looked closely at her wound. She was horrified to find that the flesh near the wound was rapidly turning black, filthy and corrupt, emitting an evil aura that was difficult to conceal.

"Is this... a poison from the drow elves, or some unknown dark curse?" The elf frowned slightly, his expression becoming serious: "What a sinister method, they are indeed related to that group of fallen ones!"

"Lady Melisandre, please relax. I will immediately remove the poison and lift the curse for you."

Catherine raised the scepter and chanted an ancient elven spell. A soft light shone on the ranger's body, causing black smoke to rise from the wound and a hissing sound to burst out.

But then, the black smoke condensed into a hideous face, and let out a strange laugh.

"Found you"

Rhea's expression suddenly changed. He immediately grasped the hilt of the sword at his waist with his hand and said anxiously, "Not good, Your Majesty. The enemy is deliberately letting these allies of the Harpers escape!"

"They want to use this opportunity to find our location!"

"Quick! All troops on alert!"

In an instant, all the Silver Moon followers present drew the silver swords at their waists, pulled out arrows, and guarded Catherine like an airtight wall, looking around with vigilant eyes.

Melisandre looked at the Elf Queen, her tone full of guilt: "I'm sorry, Your Majesty Katherine, I didn't expect that we would be a burden to you."

"This is not a problem of your Harper Alliance. I am already very grateful that you can send people to support me," said Catherine.

Melisandre wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, took off the longbow from her back, and looked into the distance with sharp eyes: "Your Majesty Katherine, please give me a chance to make amends."

"of course can."

Catherine said solemnly.

For a moment, the air was filled with tension.

Just then, a voice came from a distance, low and hoarse, making people feel chilling.

"Your Majesty Catherine, you could have lived in a luxurious palace and enjoyed a peaceful and wonderful life - why did you choose to rebel?"

I saw a male elf in a robe walking out of the shadows. He was wearing a white robe and holding a mithril staff. His face was as handsome as other elves, but there was a strange light in his eyes.

After he appeared, hundreds of elven archers drew their bows and drew their arrows, and dozens of druids, mages, and priests also cast spells, aiming at the suddenly appearing elf.

"Elder Selian."

Catherine gnashed her teeth and said coldly, "Am I going to watch my people being dragged into the abyss by you and become the spoils of the Spider Queen?"

"You won't even call me uncle."

Serian shook his head gently and sighed, "Little Catherine, you don't understand anything. You are just a flower in a greenhouse. How can you understand the good intentions of the elders?"

"If it weren't for our hard work, Serenia would have been divided up by various forces long ago. This is your last chance. Return to the royal court, disband the guards, and we can discuss in detail."

"The elders don't mind changing to a more obedient queen, Her Majesty Catherine." "I have nothing to discuss with you. You are already hopeless."

Catherine's face was as cold as ice. She raised the elven scepter in her hand and ordered: "Attack! For Serenia!"

In an instant, countless arrows dragging silver light shot towards Serian like a torrential rain, and spells such as fireballs, ice blades, and thunder poured out, forming a terrifying elemental storm.

But Serian still stood there, and said gloomily: "You don't know what's good for you. If that's the case, don't blame us for being merciless."

Selian raised the mithril scepter, and a black light spread out, turning into a huge sphere that wrapped him up. All arrows and spells were blocked by the black sphere of light.

He smiled grimly, waved his hand and said, "Blades of the Holy Court, go ahead! Strangle these rebels who are colluding with foreign enemies!"

The sound of metal rubbing against each other and heavy and orderly footsteps were heard.

In an instant, thousands of armored elven soldiers walked out of the darkness, holding long swords and huge shields, and surrounded Catherine and others.

What was different from the ordinary Silver Moon Elves was that this group of elves had dark cracks on their fair skin, as if it was about to shatter.

"Blasphemers, you don't deserve this name!" Catherine shouted in extreme anger.

Blade of the Holy Court.

This was once an army dedicated to guarding the roots of the sacred tree. Their armor was engraved with ancient purification runes and their swords could cut off corrupted energy.

But now, the name of the Holy Blade has been taken by a group of corrupt and degenerate people, which makes Catherine feel extremely sad.

"Your Majesty Catherine, why did you rebel?"

However, Serian just smiled contemptuously and said coldly: "Face the reality. We are the masters of Serenia, and you are nothing."

"Kill them all!"

"Destroy the rebels! For Serenya!"

The elven soldiers of the "Blade of the Holy Court" shouted in anger, and countless black arrows shot out from behind them, overwhelming and falling into Catherine's position.

Each arrow was tempered with drow poison. As long as it pierced the flesh, it would cause bleeding from all seven orifices and cause the body to explode and die in just a dozen seconds.

Only a powerful professional like Melisandre can hold on and hold on for a little longer.

"careful!"

"The arrows are poisonous!"

In just a moment, more than a dozen elven warriors vomited black and red poisonous blood and fell one after another with painful groans.

"Despicable!"

Catherine held up the scepter, and the silver light condensed into a giant shield, blocking the sky and repelling all the dense poisonous arrows.

"His Majesty!"

Melisandre shuttled across the battlefield, shooting arrows with powerful force, instantly piercing through the giant shields and killing several fallen elven soldiers in succession.

"Go! Kill them!"

"The Supreme Mother Goddess is watching us!"

The elves of the "Blade of the Holy Court" rushed forward. This group of elven warriors wearing armor and holding huge shields came like a torrent and launched a fierce charge.

"Shameful cultists."

Rhea snorted coldly, rushed forward, and swung the silver sword violently. The blade cut through the air, emitting a twilight light.

"Shh-"

A light blade several dozen meters long flew out and instantly cut the fallen elves in the front in half. Even the giant shields in their hands were split in half, with neat cuts.

"It's Twilight Blade! She's a troublesome creature, get rid of her first!"

The fallen elven wizard in the distance raised his staff, chanted a spell, and emitted evil waves, preparing to cast a sorcery on Rhea.

Before Rhea could make a move, Melisandre stepped lightly onto a rock, jumped several meters high, and shot more than a dozen arrows in the air.

"Swoosh! Search, swoosh!"

Accompanied by dense sounds, streams of light pierced the air and instantly pierced through the heads of several mages, killing them on the spot.

The remaining wizards reacted and tried to fight back, but Melisandre had already vanished into thin air, traveling through the spirit world.

Catherine released her magic, allowing the blessing of the Moon Goddess to cover every friendly soldier, and said in a cold voice: "To these fallen people - kill them without mercy!"

Soon, the situation on the battlefield became increasingly chaotic, with the followers of Silver Moon fighting with the Holy Blade, and the former compatriots now becoming enemies.

The followers of Silver Moon are not only loyal and fight to the death for Queen Catherine, they also have excellent equipment and superb combat skills.

Even facing the elite troops of Holy Fadlan, they are capable of fighting.

But their opponents were extremely strange. The so-called "Blades of the Holy Court" all had fanatical expressions on their faces. Even when they were hit by the blades, they did not change at all, as if they had no sense of pain.

After they fell, something even stranger happened.

The skin of the elf's corpse actually broke along those cracks, and a half-human, half-spider monster covered in slime was born from the discarded skin.

For a moment, the elven warriors of Silver Moon's followers showed horror on their faces, and even began to retch - that was disgust and loathing from the bottom of their souls.

"What is this? It was born from a corpse!"

"Damn it!"

"What an ugly monster!"

Catherine stared at the monsters intently, muttering to herself, "It's the half-spider people. They can actually do this!"

"Unforgivable!"

Silver light flashed in the Elf Queen's eyes. She raised her scepter and silver beams of light fell from the sky, turning those twisted monsters that resembled spiders into ashes.

But the number of fallen elves increased rapidly, and soon reached tens of thousands, which was more than ten times the number of the rebels. Even the Silvermoon Followers and Harpers found it difficult to cope with them.

If it weren't for the existence of two legendary powerhouses, Rhea and Melisandre, they would probably have difficulty maintaining their defenses.

At this moment of despair, a fierce roar came from afar, echoing in the chaotic battlefield, accompanied by a scorching wind and extremely strong pressure.

"Roar--"

People looked up and saw a tall golden figure appear in the sky, emitting a hazy glow. (End of this chapter)