The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

The dark elf warrior immediately and obediently retracted the whip, "Yes, Princess."

"Did you hear what our princess said?" She turned around and said to the beggar fiercely, "Thank her for her kindness, beggar. Take her alms and get out of here. The farther away the better."

"By the way," she said after a brief pause, as if she suddenly remembered something, "You should know what our princess means, right? Don't show up on this street again."

"If you dare to pollute our princess's eyes again next time," she said viciously, stretching out a hand and slowly exerting force, clenching it into a fist, "I will first crush your throat so that you can't bark and disturb the princess's peace, and then I will whip you to death!"

The skinny figure of the dark elf beggar trembled, nodded desperately, then hurriedly lay down on the ground again, and picked up the silver coins on the ground with his lips and tongue.

After a while, until there was not a single coin left on the ground, he spat the coins he had bitten into a rag bag on his chest, then stood up, with dust and dirt all over his head and face, not even bothering to wipe them off. He shook his two half-broken arms, staggered away amid the laughter of many dark elves, and fled like a flash.

Li Yin watched all this from behind and couldn't help but be amazed.

He had long been aware of the cold-bloodedness and cruelty of the dark elves, but this was the first time he had seen one so cruel and domineering.

That beggar—Lein rubbed his dark-vision eyes at the peak of the day, when the light of the Nevre Hour Pillar was the brightest—if he saw it correctly, he had been begging silently on the side of the road, and had not rushed to the middle of the street to block them. The place where he was begging had no intersection with the route of the princess of the Denitya family. He was subjected to such humiliation and brutality just because he appeared in the other party's sight...

Moreover, in fact, these days, following Princess Cassia through here many times, Li Yin has seen the beggar several times. The other dark elves who came and went, whether nobles or commoners, ignored him. As for this princess of the Denitya family, she couldn't even appear in her field of vision?

Li Yin shook his head and could only say that this second most powerful family in Nevelle had indeed refreshed his horizons with their cruelty and brutality.

Just as he was sighing inwardly, he suddenly heard the sound of saddle friction. He turned his head and saw that as the procession of the Dinitya family in front of him started to move forward again, Cassia also pulled the reins, driving the giant lizard under her crotch forward. So he also hurriedly pulled the reins, squeezed his legs lightly, and carefully followed.

Chapter 1: Little Du Flying Knife ()

About ten minutes later, Li Yin arrived at the Nightblade Hall. The full name of the Nightblade Hall is the Night's Edge Hall. It is the only tavern in the entire city that is officially run by the Nevvell Municipal Government. It is also the designated place for the ruling council to issue expedition missions.

Unexpectedly, the princess of the Dinitya family, whose cruelty and brutality refreshed his understanding of the dark elves, was heading to the same place as their destination.

At this moment, she was sitting about ten steps away from where Li Yin was standing. Her identity was easy to identify. First, she was in the center of the crowd of dark elves from the Denitya family. From time to time, dark elves standing or sitting next to her would talk to her in a flattering manner. Secondly, her appearance was also very different. Dark elf warriors were used to wearing chain mail or leather armor, especially in such an adventure, almost everyone was fully armed, and she was the only one among the elves present who was dressed in casual clothes and looked careless. If she was not a "master of the house", she must have been scolded by her "master".

"Du Feiya", Li Yin learned her name from Mircella.

She was wearing a slim-fitting outfit that was a mixture of black and white, with occasional dark gold carvings. The arms and legs of the outfit were very tight, showing a clean and neat style, while the short front and the long, swallowtail-like back were quite loose, making the overall look not too rigid and restrained due to excessive tightness, but rather exuding a sense of elegance and grace in the relaxed and balanced contrast.

Her hair was the same as other dark elves, shining white like silver. Her forehead was lightly banged to the level of her eyebrows, and her straightened and ironed hair on both sides spread over her white face and fell to her shoulders, looking both unique and elegant. Her thick and lush long hair was tied up high with a crown, and was also quite unusually divided into two strands, which were picked from the back of her neck to her chest and draped on both sides like ponytails.

Her unique dress and elegant temperament gave people a feeling of being out of this world, as if she did not belong here; in terms of her beauty, among the many elves present, only another princess, Cassia of the Borgia family, could be compared with her. However, none of the above was her most eye-catching feature.

There was only one thing about her radiant appearance that particularly caught Li Yin's attention.

Those were her eyes that were looking around, taking in everything around them wantonly and frivolously. They were bright, slender eyes with slightly upturned corners, making them look spirited and exceptionally sharp and attractive. Their color was not the usual scarlet of dark elves, but a lavender color similar to violet.

Those violet eyes once again gave Li Yin a real feeling that this guy did not belong here.

The waiter came over with a tray in his hand. Li Yin hurriedly walked up to him and helped him distribute the wine on the tray to the dark elves at the table. Then he picked up the last glass on the tray, stood beside Cassia, and took a sip.

As a slave, he could only stand here, but Myrcella, a commoner, could sit with him. But it didn't matter, as long as there was wine to drink, Li Yin comforted himself. The slightly sweet and mellow wine soaked the tip of his tongue and slid into his throat. The icy feeling made his skin have a layer of small bumps, which was very comfortable.

In fact, Cassia treated him very well. According to Li Yin's observation, although mercenaries of other races occasionally appeared in this hall, they were all free people who had obtained legal residence. As for the slaves of other races, Li Yin was the only one staying in this hall, and the others... basically stayed in the same place with their mounts - the stable. So, he was lucky to be able to stand here and drink a cup of wine, otherwise he would have to stay by the trough and fight with other slaves and livestock for water...

While drinking, he looked around with interest.

After his eyes wandered for a while, Li Yin's curiosity soon returned to the dark elf with purple eyes. Purple eyes, he thought, is it a mutation, or a hybrid? He secretly glanced in the direction of the princess of the Denitya family.

Then he glanced twice more.

He raised the glass, took a sip of the wine in the glass... and glanced twice.

The female dark elf was also looking around like him. But compared to a timid slave, her gaze was much bolder and more direct. Her bright eyes glanced left and right unscrupulously, looking at every corner of the hall, and cast an undisguised and persistent gaze on the part she was concerned about...

Then, suddenly, Li Yin found that the pair of bright, violet eyes were directed at him.

Li Yin's heart skipped a beat and he subconsciously turned his head to the side.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but at the last moment before he looked away, he caught a glimpse of the elf's mouth corners slightly raised, revealing a cruel and cold smile.

Li Yin's heart was trembling with fear. He wandered around for a while with lifeless eyes. His ears didn't catch any sound of anyone walking towards him. His pounding heart finally calmed down.

Fortunately, he comforted himself that it was probably just an illusion. He just secretly looked at her twice, and she shouldn't cause trouble for him. Otherwise, a princess of the second family would deal with a slave like him. Even with Cassia's protection, the consequences would be very troublesome.

After giving up the idea of ​​continuing to pay attention to the princess of the Dinitya family, Li Yin refocused his attention and began to observe the hall carefully.

Now this magnificent hall is almost full, and many dark elves can't find a seat at all, so they can only stand aside. All the guys are waiting for the city government staff to come and announce today's expedition missions. Generally speaking, such announcements are made twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Now it's just after noon, so the afternoon one hasn't started yet, and the staff haven't come yet.

Since the "main course" had not yet begun, the dark elves gathered in groups of three or five, communicating closely and discussing various topics. The noise was deafening and the atmosphere was extremely lively.

On Li Yin's left hand side, near the wall on the east side of the hall, there were particularly many elves gathered, and the sound waves were particularly loud, one after another, spreading around like a tide, attracting more dark elves to gather there.

"Shoot! Shoot the fuck out! Shoot now!"

"Oh yeah!"

The crowd cheered loudly.

After a while, a sarcastic voice penetrated the noise of the elves:

"Eugenie, if you could shoot so accurately at home, wouldn't you have a lot of children and grandchildren by now?"

Chapter 2: Little Du Flying Knife ()

This obscene joke immediately caused the group of elves gathered there to burst into laughter.

Li Yin's mouth curled up slightly.

Like the taverns in the aboveground world, the taverns in the underground world also have an important business: gambling. It seems that the gambling nature is the same for all intelligent creatures, whether they are aboveground or underground.

However, there was a slight difference. In addition to some similar gambling tools, the dark elves who were good at martial arts and archery also had a very unique gambling item popular in the tavern, throwing knives. This was almost their most popular gambling item, bar none.

Although Li Yin's current position was blocked by the group of elves and he could not see clearly, his sensitive hearing allowed him to penetrate the noise and clearly capture the "thump thump" sound one after another, which was the sound of the flying knife hitting the target.

The sound made him feel itchy. If the situation did not allow it, he really wanted to use the giant transformation technique to fly over the heads of the dark elves and take a good look at the situation on the field.

The elves have sharp eyes and long, slender limbs that are very agile, so they are particularly good at throwing and shooting, which require both insight and physical coordination. In this regard, there is no difference between the elves on the ground and the elves underground, they are all very skilled in this. Just watching them engage in such activities and appreciating their extremely smooth and harmonious body movements is a wonderful visual enjoyment.

However, there is a misunderstanding that needs to be clarified, that is, creatures of other races who are completely incompetent in martial arts, such as Li Yin's fellow race, humans, often have a wrong perception that these guys who are good at shooting are all weak and skinny bamboo poles - it must be said that their slender and slender figures do provide persuasiveness for this stupid prejudice - they dare not confront others head-on, so they can only hide in the distance and shoot arrows secretly. They even believe that as long as they get a chance to get close, a strong human or orc warrior can knock down several of these "muscle-weak sissies" in the blink of an eye.

But in fact, only those who have no combat experience and no knowledge of archery, such as farmers who work in the fields all day, would think so. Real shooting is actually a very physical sport. If an elf can easily shoot you with a longbow from a distance, then of course, she can also chop you in half with a long sword if you get close to her. Their slender limbs contain strength that cannot be ignored, and the heavy elven curved blades used with two hands are no less "weak" than swords and battle axes when splitting a person's skull.

Anyone who dares to underestimate this will pay a heavy price.

The fight in the tavern was quickly decided. The one named Eugenie easily beat all the other contestants. Judging by the noise from the crowd, it seemed that her throwing knives always hit the bull's eye.

Amid the cheers of many dark elves, she jumped onto a table joyfully and raised her glass to greet everyone - only then did Li Yin realize that his name should be Eugenius instead of Eugenies. After being in the dark elf community for so long, he made an empiricist mistake, thinking that all strong people should be women instead of men.

This male dark elf named Eugenius proved that men can outshine women, at least in certain areas.

The game was over, and the dark elves that had gathered in a group gradually dispersed, so Li Yin was able to observe the winner through the increasingly large gaps in the elf group.

The male dark elf with neck-length hair and wearing black leather armor took a sip of wine, then jumped off the table, stretched out his hands with a smile, and collected the silver coins scattered on the table.

At this moment, a clear voice suddenly sounded from behind Li Yin, passing through the crowd and coming towards him.

Then, just as he was happily preparing to collect his gambling money, a clear voice came, full of interest.

"You are quite skilled, how about betting with me?"

Li Yin turned his head and saw the dark elf with purple eyes. At the same time, the group of elves that were about to disperse suddenly burst into boos and cheers, as if they were all looking forward to the proposal of this female dark elf. Li Yin turned around and looked at Eugenius who was lying on the table in the distance, and found that the face of the winner suddenly became ugly.

Myrcella, who was standing beside him, suddenly leaned over from her chair and moved closer to him. Her tone was filled with deep interest. "Princess Dufia is very good at throwing knives, and she is a frequent visitor to this sport in all the taverns in the city, so she is quite famous in this field."

The princess of the Denitya family seemed to have a very special reputation in this regard. Because from Eugenius's doubtful face and hesitant lips, Lein could tell that he was trying to find a way to reject the princess' proposal. Lein guessed that at this moment he must be considering what kind of words he should use to reject the princess without angering her.

Suddenly, a sound of breaking air was heard, and with a bang, a brocade bag passed through Li Yin's sight from behind and hit the table in front of Eugenis.

Under the violent impact, the rope at the mouth of the bag broke apart the moment the bag hit the table, and several colorful gems of red, blue, yellow and purple overflowed from the mouth of the bag, spinning several times on the smooth obsidian table.

"If I lose," the princess of the Dinitia family said casually, "you can take everything on the table now; if you lose, I will only take everything on the table now, how about that?"

Li Yin saw that Eugenius's face suddenly froze, and through the noise of the elves, his keen ears could catch his suddenly heavy breathing.

The booing around the hall became louder and louder.

"Eugenius, you're an ovary-less idiot. You don't want to take advantage of such a great deal right in front of you. You might as well just put your head between your ass and get out of here!" A rather vulgar and sarcastic voice of ridicule came from a female dark elf in the group of elves.

The elves' booing became louder, and it was obvious that they all agreed with the dark elf woman's point of view.

Eugenius ignored the ridicule around him. He just lowered his head, his eyes fixed on the brocade bag on the table - it was an irresistible temptation. Li Yin knew that the value of the few gems scattered on the table alone was more than ten times the gambling money Eugenius had won before, not to mention that the bulging belly of the brocade bag indicated that there were even more immeasurable wealth hidden inside.

Chapter 3: Little Du Flying Knife ()

If he failed, all Eugenius would lose would be the proceeds from an everyday gambling game, which he could win back the next day; and if he was lucky and won the game, the proceeds would probably be enough for a commoner like him to live a life of food and clothing - well, Rein paused, and revised his point of view very rigorously. This "lifetime" was calculated based on the human concept of lifespan, which was not suitable for elves. But in any case, for a commoner dark elf, this was indeed an unimaginable fortune.

Eugenius slowly raised his head, his two scarlet eyes looked over here, and licked his dry lips, "Your Highness, Princess, Eugenius is very happy to accept your invitation."

Having said that, Li Yin could not see a trace of happiness on his tight face. This could only mean one thing - although the temptation given by Princess Dufiya was strong enough, it was still not enough to completely eliminate Eugenius's perception of the difference in strength between the two.

He recalled the several shiny silver coins that flew out of the Dinitia family's convoy on Blackthorn Street. They were neatly lined up and accurately inserted an inch in front of the disabled dark elf beggar. Looking back on this scene, Li Yin had a real understanding of Mircella's previous evaluation. The throwing technique of the Dinitia family princess was indeed unique.

Besides - while thinking this, he suddenly noticed the table in front of Eugenius. On the table, the brocade bag thrown by Du Feiya was scattered, and a few gems were scattered around the brocade bag within a few palms. He realized that this was not easy - the impact of the throw must be enough to make the gems in the bag break free from the restraint of the rope, and at the same time, the residual force after the offset should not be too strong, so as not to let the gems rush out of the bag and shoot in all directions. In fact, Li Yin recalled that no gem rolled off the table. All the gems that overflowed from the bag, after rolling a little, stayed on the slippery obsidian table in an extremely peaceful and harmonious manner, as if they had agreed with someone in advance.

When you think about it this way, the throwing technique of this princess from the Dinitya family is simply incredible!

As Eugenius agreed to the bet, the dark elves watching immediately shouted excitedly.

After the dark elves stopped shouting, Eugenius bowed to the princess of the Denitia family from a distance, stretched out his hand, and made an invitation gesture: "Princess, would you please go first?"

Du Feiya sat in his original position without moving, and just smiled: "You first."

Eugenius didn't say much, just nodded, then turned and looked at the target behind him.

The target was about ten steps away from him, which was usually the starting point for the knife throwing game. Eugenius took a deep breath and then slowly... stepped back.

One step, two steps, three steps... Under the astonished gazes of many dark elves, he retreated ten steps before he finally stood still, then drew the throwing knife from his waist.

The group of elves suddenly burst into exclamations.

Throwing at a distance of twenty steps away was something that had never happened in this tavern. It was obvious that Eugenius had decided to give it his all and use all his skills to win the bet on the table.

Thanks to the princess of the Denitya family, no one dared to block her line of sight while she was still sitting in her seat watching her competitors' performances. The crowd automatically split into two sides along the direction of her line of sight, and Li Yin happened to be not far from this straight line, so he was able to get a glimpse of the entire picture of the competition at this moment.

Eugenius held the handle of the throwing knife with his thumb, middle finger, ring finger and little finger, extended his index finger forward and placed it lightly on the spine of the knife, and slowly raised his entire arm.

The gazes of the many dark elves watching also slowly rose along with his arm.

When the flying knife was roughly level with his line of sight, he stopped raising his arm, and threw the flying knife forward a few times in vain, as if trying to find the feel.

During this process, the audience's eyes were drawn back and forth by his feints, as if they were afraid that the flying knife would slip out of his hand if they were not careful.

But he did not shoot the flying knife immediately. After a few feints, his arms and wrists stopped shaking and regained stability. Then, his chest rose and fell slightly and he took a few deep breaths.

Then, his arm holding the knife suddenly relaxed for a moment and fell down naturally - the audience was in astonishment, and the next moment, the already relaxed arm suddenly raised up again, with a sharp sound of breaking through the air, a silver light shot out, and in the blink of an eye, there was a dull sound of "puff", and the handle of the flying knife was already swaying at the center of the bull's eye.

All this happened in a flash. The elves were first stunned, then exclaimed, and after they finally reacted, some of them began to complain dissatisfiedly that Eugenius was deliberately keeping them in suspense, pretending to give up and then throwing the flying knife in an instant.

But the memory of Turner in Rein's mind told him that this was not the case. In addition to skills, strength is equally important in throwing a flying knife. Especially at a distance of twenty steps, relying solely on the wrist force is definitely not enough. The reason why Eugenius had to relax his arms before throwing was to allow his arms to exert force and transfer the strength of his arm muscles to the flying knife through the swing. This was a complete and scientific throwing action, not a deliberate show of skill.

Although there were some complaints, the loudest cheers from the elves were applause and cheers. Throwing a ball at a distance of twenty steps was already "unprecedented", and being able to hit the bull's eye at such a long distance, Eugenius's skills impressed the dark elves.

Eugenius's mouth twitched slightly, revealing a relieved smile, and then he stretched out his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It can be seen that this difficult action is not 100% easy for him to succeed. This matter itself is a gamble for him.

However, Li Yin admired his courage. Since he was already in the gambling game, he should take all risks to win. If he was timid, it would be better not to gamble in the first place.

"Good!" A cheer similar to that of the crowd sounded, but it was very clear to Li Yin's ears. Because of its source, Li Yin turned around and saw that it was another participant in the gambling game and the initiator, Princess Du Feiya of the Dinitya family.

She was still sitting in her seat calmly and leisurely. She stretched out her slender white hands and clapped them vigorously. A brilliant smile appeared on her originally proud and frivolous face, and she did not hide her admiration at all.

Chapter 4: Little Du Flying Knife ()

Eugenies was suddenly praised, and the praise came from a noble princess. What was even more strange was that it came from a rival princess. A hint of red appeared on his fair face and he seemed a little at a loss.

"I'm sorry for making a fool of myself in front of Her Royal Highness." He bowed hastily, with a flattered smile on his face. Then he stood up, walked aside with that smile on his face, and looked at Princess Dufiya implicitly.

His meaning was very clear. Next, it was the princess's turn to perform.

Princess Dufiya did not respond immediately, but looked at him with interest for a while.

Then, she slowly said, "Excuse me, could you please step back seven more steps?"

Eugenius was stunned for a moment, then looking at the violet eyes that were still looking at him, he realized that the princess was talking to him personally.

Although he didn't understand why, the dark elf tradition of hierarchy prompted his body to react before his brain understood, and he took seven steps back as he was told.

After seven steps, he stood still, then looked at Du Feiya with some doubt, and couldn't help asking: "Princess?"

"The distance between us just now was eighteen steps. Now you have retreated seven steps, which is twenty-five steps." Princess Du Feiya looked at him, raised the corners of her mouth slightly, and said leisurely.

"If I hit the mushroom on your head at this distance, does that mean I win?"

"Mushrooms?" Eugenius was surprised and touched his head. "Where are the mushrooms on my head?"