Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 404 The Best Prey
The Ignivas are masters of the realm of consciousness. They don't even care about the soul, devoting themselves entirely to the development of the realm of consciousness. This directly leads to them often appearing as mages, even though they all claim to be warriors.

As for the elves, although their development in the realm of consciousness is somewhat inferior to that of the Ignivas, the difference between the two is only in their individual combat ability—but the elves do not actually advocate pure individual combat, and even if they are alone, they will be covered with magical equipment.

Perhaps the individual strength of these elves is far inferior to that of the Ignivas, but when they are adorned with amulets and crystals crafted by those highly skilled mages, their power has already surpassed that of an individual.

Moreover, they never fight alone.

If we're going to fight, then let's all fight side by side.

"Go! Make your move!"

With a command, the five elves in the distance crushed the crystals in their hands, and the blazing light shot straight up, instantly striking the figure in mid-air.

The dark flames blocked the deadly light, but the ensuing massive impact blasted the figure engulfed in black flames backward.

Yes, this is the culmination of wisdom, and also the most commonly used combat strategy among the elves.

That is, to hide a second, completely different attack within a first attack.

In that instant, the elves had begun to understand the person emanating black flames. This unfamiliar guardian might possess formidable strength, but his fighting style was more straightforward—in other words, although he was powerful, he was not particularly cunning.

"This is our opportunity."

Without prior arrangement, the elves all thought of this.

Immediately afterwards, more than ten elves tore open the scrolls in their hands.

The blinding light still blasted past, and the pitch-black flames still blocked it. But this time, the impact was absorbed by the fire shield—clearly, after the bombardment, this guardian emitting black flames had started to get its brain working.

It must be said, the reaction was very quick.

However, the elves' calculations came much earlier.

"Om-"

Although the fire shield absorbed the impact, a piercing scream exploded on it. It was no ordinary sound, but a howl that struck the soul. Even from such a distance, the elves all felt a splitting headache.

The guardian amidst all this howling, engulfed in black flames, fared even worse.

The howl tore apart the fire shield and even ripped apart the old animal hide.

"Still wearing animal skins...how primitive."

One of the elves offered its assessment.

Where did such great power come from?

"Some planets are like this, they worship that the older the better, so it's not surprising that someone wearing animal skins can have great power. No wonder they become the guardians of this planet."

The other elf explained, then thought for a moment, but instead of drawing the magic sword from his waist, he waved his hand and pulled out a chain out of thin air.

"But now that we've successfully subdued them, let's not kill them, let's just capture them alive."

Upon hearing this, the other elves who had come to join the siege immediately nodded in agreement.

After all, they all knew that the reason why this person, who was currently covered in black flames, was so powerful was probably because of the power of the earth. If they simply killed him, the power of the earth would dissipate on the spot, and they would only have killed an ordinary primitive man.

But if they could bring it back, that would be a completely different story. Bringing it back alive would mean that the earth's power within the other person had not yet dissipated; in other words, it would be equivalent to bringing a portion of the land on this alien planet back to their homeland.

If this guardian is killed in one's homeland, then this power of the alien land might be captured by the land of one's homeland and become a part of it.

"Right, that is it."

With that thought in mind, the elves summoned chains and bound the alien guardian.

Perhaps the banshee's howl was too effective, for the guardian was still not recovered. However, for safety's sake, the elves quickly placed more than twenty restrictions on the guardian before returning together.

With a flash of light, these suicide squad members returned to their hometown, where they were even given a collective welcome because they were the first to capture prisoners.

Of course, not everything can be called a prisoner. To be a prisoner, one must first have value—but a guardian of an alien planet, who seems to be carrying the earth's power, is an extremely valuable target.

So, in order to uncover the secrets of those alien planets, the elves immediately imprisoned the guardian emanating black fire.

What followed was endless interrogation.

However, this alien guardian seemed to be even more resilient than the elves. Despite the elves' severe torture, the guardian, wreathed in black fire, did not utter a single word.

This forced the elves to stop pinning all their hopes on torture and instead go about their own business.

The local faction continued to send out suicide squads, and the astral faction continued to try to communicate with the distant lands. After several attempts, the green, life-giving light reappeared in the summoning circle—but the elves who were in charge of the summoning seemed to have forgotten about it and only knew how to pray for the salvation of civilization.

This forced the Seed of Creation in the distance to once again articulate its theory of peace, which its wooden head had almost memorized by now.

The elves were naturally extremely grateful, thanking the distant being who had given them civilization.

However, it was at this time.

The singing bowl, which had been silent in the dungeon, suddenly opened its eyes.

"No wonder, no wonder you suddenly appeared to cause trouble..."

Feeling the familiar vibrations that had just emanated from afar, the singing bowl narrowed its eyes.

"I knew it! That's how it should be done, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find you!"

Yes, at this moment, Songbo clearly knew that the cunning ancient serpent did not only dwell on the homeworld of the Ignivas.

Even on this alien planet, there are followers of the evil ancient serpent.

Furthermore, the alien planet even possesses interstellar jumping technology, meaning that even if it destroys its home planet, the evil ancient serpent can still jump to the alien planet and escape.

"So all the previous battles were a deception... it was all a conspiracy by that scourge!"

As for the purpose of this conspiracy, Songbo had not yet figured it out, but in any case, he had already seen through the conspiracy and even used himself as bait to infiltrate the enemy's ranks.

The best hunters often disguise themselves as the best prey.

Now, he's going to hunt all of these prey.

(End of this chapter)