Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 74 Extinction
The fastest route from the River Bend Province of the Empire to the Jungle Sea inhabited by the Wood Elves is to travel upstream along the Long River, passing through the Long River Province and the Valley Province, and then crossing the border of the Empire southward.

The first half of the route, which involved traveling by riverboat, was relatively comfortable and efficient; however, the second half required traversing numerous mountains, which was difficult, time-consuming, and involved dealing with a constant stream of bandits and savages, making it extremely troublesome.

Therefore, Raine chose to bring Dia along this time, so that she could serve as a flying mount in critical moments, making it much more convenient to traverse mountains and valleys.

At first, Dia was very excited, but as soon as she entered the Valley Province, she was immediately ordered by Rein to transform into a dragon and carry her. Her little face immediately fell down.

The Val-de-Valley province is mostly mountainous and continuous, with uncivilized savage tribes everywhere.

More than 90% of the Valley Nobles live in the valley surrounded by mountains (hence the name of the Valley Province). However, Raine and his party deliberately avoided the valley and took the air route south in advance, so they were not afraid of being spotted by the dragon and attracting discussion and attention from the noble circles.

Berthalia sat on Dia's back, quietly gazing at the western horizon.

The mountain ranges in the valley rise steeply to the west, eventually transforming into a vast, cloud-covered plateau—the homeland of the dark elves.

Further into the plateau, the land gradually turns red, becoming the Red Soil Plateau.

Berthalia closed her eyes and told herself: Now is not the time for revenge.

Then she lazily stretched her waist, and her flirtatious and charming smile returned to her face.

Ellina, standing beside her, suddenly said:
"I don't think resurrecting Aurora is a good idea."

"Why?" Bersalia asked with a smile. "Wouldn't her superb archery skills be tactically valuable for long-range sniping of elite White Walkers?"

“She is different from you. She died to protect her country,” Ellina said slowly. “She died with honor and without regret. She died without resentment and has now passed away peacefully.”

“Such people should not be dragged out of their graves, manipulated like slaves, or driven like cattle.”

Bersalia sneered, because Ellina meant, "You want revenge, I want atonement, so we both deserve to be dragged out of our graves and enslaved by this necromancer."

“Well said.” She gestured impatiently behind her. “Go tell our master, dear undead princess.”

Ellina looked at Raine.

"Don't jump to conclusions." Rein leaned against Dia's dragon horns and said lazily, "Resurrect Aurora first, then ask her what she thinks. What you said is just your speculation."

"If she doesn't want to be resurrected, would you allow her to return to eternal slumber?" Ellina's eyes were stern.

“No,” Renn said.

Berthalia burst into laughter, nearly tumbling off the dragon's head.

“That would be meaningless,” Ellina said softly. “Even if good results are achieved through wrong means, the stain they leave behind is enough to tarnish the glory of saving the world.”

“Well said,” Raine said impatiently. “Go tell the White Walkers that I can do without your so-called ‘wrong methods.’ Ask them if they can voluntarily exterminate themselves.”

Ellina fell silent, gazing into the distance.

“Don’t worry about her.” Bersalia moved closer to Renn and smiled. “Back in Bloodswamp Town, the Allied Forces’ supply lines were often harassed and cut off by the Corpse Worshippers. Later, I took the initiative to suggest at a meeting that we just kill all the lizardmen around here, so we don’t have to worry about any Corpse Worshippers infiltrating them.”

"Ellina started arguing with me right then and there, saying things like 'Innocent people shouldn't shed blood,' and 'Why should we be angry at others for their crimes?' Ugh, what she said was really hard to understand. I felt like I was talking to a philosopher... Um, you asked me what happened next?"

"What happened next?" Renn asked casually.

"Later," Berthalia said with a chuckle, "Charlotte asked her directly, 'If we don't carry out indiscriminate slaughter, is there any way to get these lizardman civilians to voluntarily report the corpse worshippers mixed in among them?'" "Ellina was speechless and could only change her vote from 'no' to 'abstain' in the end."

“You see, as long as reality is there, she will accept it sooner or later. At most, she will just be unable to get over her own moral values ​​and chivalric code, and torture herself for it. The court education of the ancestral elven empire must have taught her that ‘ideals cannot surpass the foundation of realism.’ She is a smart person.”

“I don’t think sticking to ideals is foolish.” Dia, in her dragon form beneath the crowd, suddenly said, “Besalia, I think that idealists who know reality doesn’t allow it, yet still do their best to fight for that sliver of possibility, and never regret it even if they fail, are not unintelligent. Rather, they have something more noble in their hearts than practical benefits.”

“Little Dia, you’re still too naive,” Bersalia said with a smile. “If Renn hadn’t interfered with your fate, you might be among the refugees on the rainforest peninsula right now, struggling on the brink of life and death every day.”

“Perhaps,” Dia insisted stubbornly. “But I still cherish the moral principles in my heart. Even if I am forced to cross its bottom line many times, I will not give up on myself and trample on it in the dust.”

Renn looked thoughtful.

Dia did have the confidence to say that—in the game's storyline, she was hunted down, deceived, and betrayed, experiencing the torment of various desperate situations. Countless people sacrificed themselves because of her poor decisions, yet she still managed to lead the lizardman refugees in their desperate struggle, wandering from place to place. Rather than saying that players admired her because she was the daughter of a true dragon, it would be more accurate to say that they were deeply impressed by her indomitable spirit.

Every experience pack she acquired was filled with endless regret and tears!

"Blacksin City is just ahead," Renn suddenly said. "Everyone, get ready."

"You've been here before?" Bersalia keenly realized that Rein's ability to recognize the distant Black Forest City from the air meant he must be very familiar with the surrounding scenery.

“I’ve been here before.” Raine didn’t intend to say more, but simply instructed, “Dia, land in the valley over there.”

A few minutes later, the group trekked out of the valley and encountered several wood elves who were gathering firewood.

In the game world, lumberjack NPCs of other races are clearly labeled as lumberjacks, but wood elves are called "woodcutters".

Because of the sacred Green Covenant, wood elves are forbidden from harming any plant life, and logging is obviously among the prohibitions, so they can only collect branches that fall naturally from trees to burn.

What if you see someone harming plants? Moderates will pretend not to see it because the green covenant is for self-discipline, not for others, but extremists will unreasonably intervene to stop or even attack the other party.

Therefore, many players who like to exploit the situation will go to the vicinity of the Wood Elf town and deliberately start a fire to burn down the forest, luring these environmentalists to risk their lives to rush into the fire to put it out, and then go and loot their burned corpses afterwards.

This once caused the Wood Elves to become extremely xenophobic, and the Druid Elders even issued a bounty, offering a reward for scalping a person of another race... As a result, these players changed their strategy, each creating a human alt account to kill their teammates' Wood Elf alt accounts, focusing on "scalping heads" and fleecing the Elders.

Upon seeing the appearance of the aliens, the wood elf woodcutters immediately tensed up and instinctively gripped their axes.

“We are travelers passing through,” Renn stepped forward and asked, “Is this the city of Blacksin ahead?”

“Yes.” The wood elves looked wary. “Who…are you looking for?”

"The Florella family in the city," Besalia asked with a smile, "who's in charge now?"

"The Florella family?" The wood elves looked confused. "We've never heard of that name. Are you sure you're going to Blackwood City?"

"Wait a minute." Ellina also sensed something was wrong. "You said you've never heard of this name, so which family does the current lord of Blackforest City come from?"

“The Talos family,” a wood elf woodcutter replied. “They were the rulers of Blackwood in my great-great-grandfather’s time. We’ve never heard of the Florella family.”

The group exchanged glances, thinking to themselves that this was a real problem.

The target of this journey, Aurora, whose remains are known to the Florella family, is likely long since extinct.

(End of this chapter)