The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

"However, in Nevre, just over a hundred miles away, we have never heard of any information regarding the activity of a large intelligent biological colony."

"This means," she finally said with a gleam of wisdom in her ruby-like eyes, and she confidently gave her own judgment, "even if this large intelligent creature was once active, it no longer exists."

"So their reality is actually good news - you can imagine how powerful, dangerous, and brilliant they were, but remember that these are all things of the past. Just treat these imaginations as historical anecdotes, and there is no need to panic about them."

After Cassia said this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, looked at each other, and expressions of joy appeared on their faces, as if they had just escaped from a great danger.

At the same time, Li Yin couldn't help but secretly admire her sharpness and insight, and silently added in his heart: The older you are, the wiser you are.

Of course, according to the common standards of earth elves, Cassia, who is only in her forties, is still a minor who is less than half the standard adult age (110 years old), not even a young adult. At best, she is just a "child". However, Li Yin, who is already eighteen and a half years old, is a very standard "adult". It is hard to say who is "older" between the two.

However, that is only the standard for the elves on earth. The elves are a race with a very long life span. Their average life span can reach more than 700 years. In addition, their outstanding intelligence and the advanced civilization accumulated over a long period of time give them an incomparable survival advantage over other intelligent races. Therefore, no matter what they do, they seem to be calm and at ease, even in terms of adult standards. In fact, the age of physical maturity of the elves is similar to that of humans, which is around 20 years old. However, the social culture of the elves generally believes that physical maturity cannot prove anything. An elf must have rich experience and a perfect mind to be truly "mature".

Therefore, they set the age of maturity at one hundred and ten years old, which seems incredible to the short-lived human race!

However, that is only the standard for the elves above ground; the dark elves underground are completely different.

The harsh living environment, coupled with the constant conspiracy, betrayal, oppression, and struggle within their own race, requires them to do their best for the survival of themselves and their families almost from the moment they are born. According to Li Yin's own personal experience, despite having the same long life and developed civilization, they are far from being as comfortable and relaxed as their cousins ​​on earth. Under the huge pressure of survival, their tension and anxiety are even far greater than that of short-lived and backward humans. Therefore, their view of age is much more radical than that of their cousins ​​on earth, and is closer to other intelligent races in the world above.

Like humans, they regard the age of physiological maturity as their adult age. The age of adulthood for dark elves is 20 years old. Reaching this age means that they have "matured" as a biological resource and can maximize their role, or "be used" - the latter is a more straightforward way of saying that a consumable has finally grown to the point where it can be fully utilized.

Therefore, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. From the perspective of the underground elves, Princess Cassia, who is only in her forties, is indeed much more mature than him.

Under the guidance of this very mature young princess, the expedition team regained their confidence, reorganized their formation, and prepared to move forward.

The entire army retreated five or six meters, leaving a space in front of the pit.

Li Yin stood alone in the open space, holding the end of a long rope in his right hand.

The two ends of this huge pit directly reached the sides of the tunnel, so it was impossible to bypass it, and the six-meter depth meant that even the agile elves could not jump over it. Therefore, this important task was handed over to Li Yin, who had amazing jumping ability.

He took a few steps back, lowered his body, then suddenly bounced his legs which were in a lunge position, exerted force suddenly, and took a few steps to reach the edge of the pit. He leaped up and landed steadily at the other end of the pit six meters away.

He found a protruding rock on one side of the tunnel and wrapped the rope around it, thus creating a simple rope bridge across the pit.

Crossing this "rope bridge" that is almost like juggling is not an easy task for humans, but it is very easy for the elves with excellent body balance. The well-trained dark elf soldiers reached this side of the pit as if walking on flat ground. It was just a pity for the slave soldiers from various races. Although the dark elves were kind enough to increase the ropes that made up the rope bridge from one to three, all the slaves were still trembling and swaying on it. In the end, at the cost of a clumsy orc and a dwarf who was afraid of heights, the entire army completely passed through the pit.

After advancing for several hundred meters, a thick black shadow suddenly appeared from the side, piercing through the bodies of five slaves with a whistling sound, and impaled them on the other side of the stone wall, swaying. At first, everyone thought it was a spear, but when they got closer, they found that it was a giant arrow. The cross-section of the tip of its arrowhead was almost as thick as Li Yin's waist. Among the five slaves hit, a slender lizard man was not even brought to the stone wall, but his body was directly divided into two parts by the wide blade.

Many dark elves looked at each other. The existence of this giant arrow undoubtedly confirmed their previous speculation. This kind of weapon could not be used to deal with ordinary creatures. However, with the insight of Princess Cassia, they did not show any fear on their faces at this time. Instead, their scarlet eyes were full of excitement, as if they were more curious about these huge creatures that had disappeared in time.

Chapter 1: Labyrinth ()

They whispered to each other, discussing enthusiastically what kind of creature the giant arrow was originally intended to target.

"Ogre?" asked a dark elf with a little confusion.

"Not likely," replied the other dark elf.

"Given their habit of stuffing anything into their mouths, they can indeed do it without leaving any traces - swallowing the bodies of their companions as well."

"However, their brains, which are not much bigger than almonds, and their stomachs, which seem like bottomless pits, only allow them to maintain minimal group organization. Their scale is completely impossible to threaten the rule of a dark elf city-state, let alone overthrow and destroy it."

"So... stone giants?" asked another dark elf.

"Or a giant."

"And the earth giant..."

There were voices of discussion one after another.

"It could also be some mysterious creature we've never seen before." Cassia's lips curled up slightly. "In any case, if we can reach the lost city, we should be able to reveal the final answer."

"But," a dark elf asked anxiously, "Princess, didn't you say that those guys no longer exist?"

Maybe they have disappeared, Li Yin smiled slightly and thought to himself, but judging from the traps he has seen so far, the dark elf city attaches great importance to these creatures, and they are very likely their number one enemy.

"...For enemies like this, it is impossible that there is no record of them in their carvings, paintings, and documents." Cassia spoke calmly.

A dark elf stepped forward to investigate, and after making sure there were no other traps around, the troops set out again.

The troops continued to march for two hours, then rested for an hour, and then marched for about six more hours.

The long journey caused the slaves to complain, and even many dark elves showed impatience on their faces.

As for Li Yin, he was fine. His ghoul-like physique made him tireless. If necessary, he could keep walking like this without any need for rest or food. Therefore, he was just feeling a little bored because he had been walking in the seemingly endless tunnels that all looked the same for too long.

The troops came to an oval stone hall again, and opposite the stone hall was another three-way intersection.

Li Yin rubbed his eyes. His eyes were not actually tired, he just had a kind of phantom pain in his mind after seeing this seemingly identical intersection too many times.

"Come to think of it..." He stared at the cave entrances that he seemed to have seen countless times, as well as this oval stone hall, and couldn't help but mutter in his heart, "Isn't this too similar?"

If he had not seen similar scenes too many times, he would almost think that he had taken the wrong road and returned to a section of the road he had passed before.

He turned his head and looked around again to make sure there was no trace of an axe on the stone wall.

But...if it is not man-made, but formed naturally, such a tunnel is too strange, right? The height and width of the cave have remained almost the same, and the topography of each fork in the road is similar. Even the number of forks is almost the same, all three!

If it is a natural creation, isn’t this shape a little too neat?

However, if we say that these tunnels were created by the dark elves who lived in the lost city, it would be somewhat contradictory. Let alone the fact that there were no traces of human processing on the walls of these caves. They made so many large traps to deal with those unknown large creatures and prevent them from approaching their city-state, but at the same time, they chose to open the tunnels so wide, as if opening the door to welcome guests? Isn't this inviting wolves into the house?

Cassia paused for a moment, then waved her hand and ordered the troops to rest again, so the entire army temporarily settled down in this huge stone hall as a base. After dispatching several scouts to continue moving forward and explore the area the troops would pass through next, she unexpectedly gathered with Rein, her personal guards, and several mid-level dark elf officers in a separate open space.

"Your Highness." As soon as several dark elves met, one of them spoke immediately. Li Yin noticed that there was a strong sense of worry in her accent.

"According to the route map compiled by the family's cartographer from the scout's notes, we should have arrived at the 137th marked location three hours ago."

Li Yin was shocked when he heard this. He turned his head and looked around, but saw that each of these middle-level dark elf officers had an unnatural expression on their faces.

They all looked up and focused their scarlet eyes on the leader of the expedition, Cassia.

So, Li Yin also subconsciously turned his head and looked at Cassia's face.

However, this usually calm dark elf princess now had a trace of worry on her face.

"After a short rest, we will continue exploring for another three hours," she pursed her lips, then spoke in a rare cautious tone.

"If we still can't find the 137th marked location in the next three hours, then we will return the same way."

Return the same way? The dark elves were all surprised. Not to mention them, even Li Yin was slightly stunned.

Three hours plus three hours equals six hours. Six hours of exploring the maze without any signs...

"We," a dark elf paused, seeming a little nervous because of questioning the princess's authority, "can we still find the way back?"

Cassia chuckled, "Of course."

"From the beginning, I didn't fully count on this route map," she weighed the blueprint in her hand, "There are always unexpected events in everything, let alone a route map of a complicated maze inferred by a cartographer who was not present at the scene, based on the dying notes of a scout who died at the entrance of the maze?"

"So on the way here, I was prepared for this situation, and I sent soldiers to leave our own marks at every key point we passed."

Upon hearing this, the dark elves couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Your Highness, you have thought it all out." A dark elf praised from the bottom of his heart.

Many dark elves also nodded in agreement with smiles on their faces.

They wisely did not ask why no elf had known about Cassia's important arrangement before.

Because it was obvious that the princess was not some stupid novice. Since she had considered the possibility of "errors" in the route map, she could naturally consider that the same error might "appear" in the marks she left behind.

"That road map," Li Yin followed Cassia and asked cautiously after the small gathering of mid-level officers was disbanded, "could it be possible that it was intentional?"

"It's possible," Cassia curled her lips slightly, not seeming to care much, "but it's not certain."

"After all, the soldier died shortly after escaping the maze. It is hard to say what state he was in when he was running in the maze, so it is possible that he made wrong records in his confusion. In addition, the cartographers were not present at the scene in person, so there may be some minor problems in their analysis of the notes..."

"In short, for now, I am still willing to regard it as a small accident."

After a short rest, the team continued to march. Rein was still with Cassia, at the center of the main formation. After more than ten hours of long trekking, the faint perfume of the female dark elf warriors became rich and fragrant under the fumigation of sweat, filling his nose. But at the moment, he could not have any romantic thoughts in his heart. He stared at the dark tunnel in front of him, feeling uneasy.

Did the 137th marked location appear before their eyes soon, or did they return empty-handed after their exploration?

More than half an hour later, the troops arrived at another oval stone hall, facing three other forks in the road.

Li Yin looked at this monotonous fork in the road, and suddenly a strange feeling arose in his heart. For some reason, this fork in the road was particularly similar, as if he had been there before.

The three teams in charge of exploration paused for a moment, and the three dark elf instructors walked to the three forks. However, this time, the team did not immediately enter the correct tunnel entrance under the command of one of the instructors. One of the instructors suddenly reached out and scratched his head, while the other two instructors stood still in front of the cave entrance, seemingly stunned.

However, the three instructors turned their heads and looked at each other. From their profiles, Li Yin could see the puzzled expressions. The three instructors then gathered in the middle. The three dark elves gathered together and talked quietly for a while, then each walked towards a cave entrance. Li Yin suddenly noticed that they were not walking towards the tunnel they were facing originally.

They each looked around in front of a new tunnel for a while, and then gathered together again.

After a while, after a brief discussion again, one of the instructors turned around and ran quickly towards the main group.

Cassia noticed something was wrong and separated the group and came to the head of the team.

"What's wrong?" When the dark elf instructor approached, she opened her mouth and asked calmly.

"Your Highness," the instructor's voice was a little timid, but more panicked, "You...you'd better go and take a look yourself."

Cassia's expression changed slightly, but she didn't say anything more. She walked forward as she was told, followed closely by Li Yin and several of her personal guards.

"Your Highness," the instructor said stumblingly as he led the way, "According to the instructions on the blueprint, we should arrive at intersection No. 137 next. But, but——"

She did not continue to speak, and everyone had already come to the entrance of one of the tunnels under her guidance. She pointed out to Cassia the simple spider-shaped mark hidden on the side of a rock, and below the mark was a number written in the language of the dark elves: 98.

"Where are the other two entrances?" A smart guard immediately asked as a matter of course, then turned his head to look to the side.

Li Yin's expression changed slightly.

At the same time, Cassia stretched out a hand and stopped the warrior from walking towards another tunnel.

"One is No. 107, and the other is unmarked." At the same time, the instructor answered.

The guard who asked the question stopped and said, "So, we took the wrong road? If that's the case, then we can just go back the same way."

She looked at Cassia and said humbly and respectfully, "Your Highness, don't worry."

"It's not that simple," Cassia, who was surrounded by elves beside her, lowered her chin slightly and her eyes narrowed.

"Number 98 is the correct marked intersection, have you forgotten—"

Li Yin looked at her nervously and opened his red lips:

"We've walked this before."

The dark elves looked at each other, shock and panic written all over their faces.

Cassia turned around and walked to the other side of the tunnel. Following her gaze, Li Yin quickly found another form of simple marking on the other side of the tunnel.

This was probably the mark that Cassia had secretly ordered to be made, he thought.

In this case, the fact that they had passed this road was certain.

But, on the bright side...

"At least this proves that we are not lost," he said slowly in the silence, "Your Highness."

"Now that we have found Marker 98, we will continue to move forward according to the previous instructions and reach the intersection before the intersection marked 137, which is..."

"Number 125," a dark elf added in a low voice.

"Yes, after we get back to Junction 125, we can find out the true location of Junction 137."

"Get back to intersection 125?" Cassia looked at Li Yin with a twinkling look in her eyes. She seemed to want to say something, but in the end she just closed her lips, thought for a while, and then nodded: "This is the only way."

The troops continued to move forward, and after about half an hour, they arrived at the next fork in the road.

Cassia led the large army to stop in the oval stone hall, waiting for the dark elf instructors of the three slave detachments ahead to send back news.

Li Yin watched from a distance and found that after the three instructors went to a tunnel entrance to explore, a strange expression appeared on their faces again.

They looked at each other, gathered together, and after a brief whisper, one of the elves hurried towards the main group. Her face was full of undisguised doubts, and her pace was even more urgent than that of the previous instructor.

"Your Highness," she called out before she even got close.

Immediately, in Cassia's cold and calm eyes, she suddenly realized something and looked at the countless dark elves and slave soldiers around her who were paying close attention to her because of her shout.

She immediately closed her lips, rushed to Cassia, and spoke softly, but her face was still filled with fear that could not be concealed:

"Your Highness, something is not right. Please go and take a look yourself."

Chapter 2: Labyrinth ()

"What's wrong again?" Cassia stepped out and asked casually after she was some distance away from the main force.

"According to the blueprint, after we pass the 98th mark, the next correct mark is the 99th mark. I, we passed it this way before..."

Before Cassia could finish her words, her expression changed slightly.

"What?" She lowered her voice and interrupted the dark elf instructor's words, "Is there any problem?"