The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

Du Feiya pursed her lips when she saw his expression. Although she had understood through the previous analysis that bringing Li Yin to her family was not a wise choice regardless of whether Cassia could get out alive, she still felt more and more annoyed.

"Also," she thought for a moment and reminded again, "If you continue to stay with her, if one day she finds out that you are using charm to influence her, you will be in danger. Then we will be in different places -"

She paused and said in a serious tone, "Even if I wanted to rescue you, it would not be easy."

"Have you really thought it through?"

Li Yin was silent for a while, his eyes wandering, his lips moving...

Du Feiya knew what he was going to say when she saw him stuttering. She turned around and said unhappily, "In that case, let's take her with us."

Li Yin followed quickly, feeling both nervous and relieved.

"However," Du Feiya curled her lips in front of him and said coldly, "All this is based on the premise that the goddess's revelation is really effective - we can still find her again through the way you came here."

When Li Yin heard this, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Du Feiya has only one pathfinding scroll in her hand, and this scroll can only be used to find the exit of the maze, which means that they must rely on themselves to return to Cassia's location.

Whether all this can be accomplished seems to really depend on the so-called "God's will".

------

More than ten hours had passed. In the camp where the Borginia family was stationed, Cassia's silver-white brows gradually showed a hint of worry.

None of the three teams sent out to find a way out have returned. All this seems to indicate that this operation will have an even more tragic ending than the previous one.

The soldiers in the camp were also whispering.

However, Cassia, who had been sitting quietly on the ground with her eyes closed, was not worried about this.

First of all, the scene in front of her, as well as the three advance teams, were all shown to her by the Spider Goddess herself during the divination connection. As the priestess of the Spider Goddess and the person who initiated this spell, she had no need to question her own spells, and it was even more impossible for her not to believe in the power of the goddess.

Secondly, even if this operation really failed, it didn't matter. It was not something unexpected. Cassia thought so not because she was a priestess of the Spider Goddess and her faith was not pious enough. On the contrary, it was because the Spider Goddess was a goddess of deceit and betrayal. It was the greatest disrespect to the goddess of betrayers to expect her to respond to the prayers of believers completely and truthfully and give them the favors they wanted. Therefore, Cassia did not doubt the power of the Spider Goddess, but she really believed that her god might play tricks on her for the purpose of playing tricks on her.

But even so, it didn't matter - she still had one last plan.

But if that's the case, why is there still a lingering worry in her heart?

That idiot... I clearly used my eyes to signal him to behave himself and not to do anything rash. But it would have been fine if I hadn't looked at him, but once I looked at him, he got excited...

Cassia got a headache whenever she recalled the scene where Li Yin volunteered.

According to her understanding of the Spider Queen's oracle, only one of the three teams can find a real way out, and the other two will become victims and sacrifices to the Spider Queen.

Originally, except for a few people, she didn't care who was sacrificed...

Maybe... She closed her eyes slightly and her eyelids became tighter and tighter... She should calm down and not think about it anymore.

She shouldn't focus on him.

——The Spider Goddess is the goddess who is best at seeing through and playing with people's hearts. If I pay too much attention and worry too much, it may backfire and make Li Yin... become a more delicious sacrifice in the eyes of the goddess...

Her heart trembled violently, and she forced herself to cut off her attachment to the figure in the distance.

After clearing all distracting thoughts and calming her mind for a while, Cassia's eyes suddenly moved slightly, and a series of subtle but dense sounds came to her ears.

The sound came from the other side of the tunnel, and - she listened carefully, then looked up - it was coming from the cave entrance on the right.

A hint of joy appeared on her brows.

However, in the next moment, this trace of joy suddenly froze and immediately turned into astonishment.

"Enemy attack!" She immediately shouted, "Everyone stand up and prepare to fight!"

Although the sound came from the cave chosen by Li Yin, its density and complexity far exceeded the scale of the advance team!

It’s not the third advance team, but a larger group of unknown creatures approaching!

At Cassia's shout, the troops quickly gathered and pointed their spears and crossbows at the hole on the right.

Cassia also held the holy emblem of the Spider Goddess in one hand and the hilt of a sword in the other, ready for any eventuality.

Some slow-reacting slaves and dark elf soldiers did not understand what was going on at first. Although they gathered together at the command of their superiors, they still had confused looks on their faces. But as the low and powerful voice in the tunnel became more and more obvious, their confused expressions were gradually covered by fear, and they looked at each other in panic.

The more experienced soldiers stared silently ahead, holding their weapons tightly, waiting for the next order from Cassia.

The approaching roar suddenly stopped. After a brief silence, sporadic footsteps were heard in the tunnel, along with heavy gasps.

A figure staggered out from the depths of the tunnel.

"Stop!" Cassia suddenly shouted.

This order was not directed at the figure running towards her, but at her own troops.

But it was too late, several arrows were shot at the figure who just came out of the tunnel.

"Puff", "Puff"... a series of sounds of arrows piercing flesh and blood.

Severe pain came from all over his body, Li Yin's eyes widened, he wanted to scream, but the scream was blocked in his throat by the cloth strips stuffed in his mouth, and he could only moan. He tried hard to maintain his balance, but his hands were tied behind his back and there was no room for him to stretch, so his body could only sway forward and backward, and finally fell forward with a loud bang.

"Li Yin?" Cassia was stunned.

The soldiers who had just shot the arrows withdrew their hands in dismay amid the scolding and whipping of their superiors - to be honest, they did not recognize the strange guy in front of them. The higher-ranking officers who often interacted with Cassia might have noticed this slave who had an unusually close relationship with Cassia, but for most of the lower-ranking soldiers, the existence of Rein was still too far away, and they did not remember or bother to remember this lowly human slave.

At first, they subconsciously thought that this was some kind of trick of the enemy, such as dropping a human bomb.

Li Yin, lying on the ground, wailed in his heart.

Killed by Du Feiya…he thought.

Chapter 139: Princess' Reunion

This was the plan proposed by Dufiya - she said that for no reason, she would take the initiative to go through the numerous tunnels and take risks to meet Princess Cassia, and then very kindly take her out with her - this was completely inconsistent with the style of the dark elves, and would not only cause her to lose prestige, but would also definitely cause Cassia to suspect the relationship between her and Li Yin, which would be detrimental to their subsequent contact.

So, she decided to let Li Yin cooperate and pretend that the negotiations had broken down. She knocked Li Yin to the ground and ordered her soldiers to tie him up. Then, in front of many soldiers, she bluntly said that a lowly and stupid slave had no qualifications and no intelligence to talk to her. She wanted to find Princess Cassia and talk to her in person about her sending people to follow them and plot against them!

As for the other members of the third advance team, in the face of the huge gap in strength, they wisely did not put up any resistance and were captured without any suspense. They were taken together by the soldiers of the Denitya family and set out on the journey back to find the main force. As the leader of this detachment, Li Yin was naturally forced to walk at the front of the troops during the march.

The reason why Du Feiya sent him to show up first was, of course, to let this familiar face go out and shock the situation first, so as to avoid a head-on collision between two unrelated groups of people, which would directly lead to an armed conflict.

However, she had never expected that many dark elves in the Borginia family's army would not recognize this "slave leader"...

"Li Yin!" Cassia called out again as she saw the familiar figure falling to the ground. She turned her head, and before she could give a formal order, two of her personal warriors, who saw the opportunity quickly, had separated the elves and quickly ran to the open space in front of the formation, carrying Li Yin back.

"Tsk tsk," a cool and unrestrained voice came from the tunnel, with a hint of deliberately artificial surprise, "As expected of a priestess favored by the Spider Goddess, Princess Cassia, I didn't expect that you would be more ruthless than us when dealing with your own people!"

"We just tied him up, but I didn't expect you to kill him as soon as we met!"

Cassia was stunned at first, and then quickly identified the owner of the voice based on the timbre of the voice.

"Princess Dufia?"

The rumbling and heavy footsteps sounded again. Rows of fully armed dark elf soldiers formed a square formation and walked out of the tunnel in a tight formation. After about three rows and more than ten columns of soldiers walked out, the front line spread out from the middle of the stone hall. A female dark elf with long silver-white hair and a dark blue silk robe walked out from the middle of the square formation, accompanied by several dignified female dark elf warriors. She raised her lips slightly and looked at the Borginia family leisurely. The most eye-catching thing was the pair of sparkling violet eyes hidden under the silver-white hair.

She waved gently behind her, and the sound of footsteps arose again. The soldiers of the Borginia family looked closely and saw that behind the enemy's army, there were obviously more soldiers gathered in the dark tunnel, but the soldiers who emerged from it were not all with their chests puffed out and their heads held high. Instead, there were shadowy and slightly hunched figures who were escorted by soldiers one by one from the rear of the army along the stone wall, and finally came to a place close to the front of the two armies. Only then did they see clearly that those escorted figures were the other members of the Third Advance Team.

"Your Highness, Princess..." At this time, Li Yin was also brought to Cassia by two of his personal warriors. One warrior reached out and took off the cloth from his mouth, while another warrior went around to untie him from behind. He slumped on the ground, looking up at Cassia, gasping for breath, and murmured very weakly.

"Don't talk yet." Cassia frowned and warned softly.

Then she held the sacred emblem of the Spider Lady, chanted the holy name, and squatted down, her white palms emitting a soft light.

Seeing this, the dark elf warriors on the side reached out their hands without Cassia's command, grabbed the arrow shaft on Rein's body, and pulled out the arrow that was stuck in his body in a few seconds.

Suddenly, another wave of piercing pain came from all over his body, and blood spurted out of his body. The pain was even more severe than when he was hit by the arrows before. Li Yin suddenly realized that the crossbows of these Borginia family soldiers had barbs! Pulling them out directly would cause more damage than stabbing them in!

However, I guess they have seen Princess Cassia's healing skills, so they are not afraid and just hope to hurry up...

As Princess Cassia's white and tender palms pressed on him, the sacred power surged into his body, and Li Yin immediately felt a pleasant coolness spreading through the wounds all over his body. The severe pain suddenly disappeared, and soon, the blood arrows stopped spurting, and the wounds gradually healed.

After doing all this, Princess Cassia stood up slowly. Her cold eyes first glanced at the other captured soldiers of her family, then swept towards the army of the Dinitya family, and asked calmly:

"Princess Du Feiya, could you please explain what's going on?"

"Princess Du, Du Feiya misunderstood us..." Before Du Feiya could say anything, Li Yin, who was lying on the ground, spoke first.

"Her troops, like us, got lost due to the constantly changing road signs, so they mistakenly thought we were the enemy who followed her and secretly tampered with the path markings."

"I tried to explain to her, but she first said I was talking nonsense, and then she refused to listen to my further explanation. She also said... slaves were not qualified to talk to her, and she wanted to come to you to argue in person."

"This is all my fault, Princess." He lowered his head and reflected on himself earnestly, "I betrayed your trust and didn't explain it clearly to her."

"This is not your fault." Before Cassia could speak, Du Feiya's cold voice penetrated the army formation.

"You have so many outstanding dark elf warriors, but you sent a slave as your representative," she said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "I'm afraid this is not a mistake that a slave like you can afford."

"As for you..." She looked at the soldiers of the Borgia family with her bright eyes, sized them up unscrupulously, and smiled, "Brave soldiers of the Borgia family, would you like to consider joining the ranks of a leader who knows how to use people better?"

"Princess Du Feiya's love for talents, I appreciate it on their behalf." Cassia grinned and then raised her chin slightly, looking behind Du Feiya, her deep eyes full of meaning: "However, instead of favoring soldiers from other tribes, I suggest that Princess Du Feiya take care of the warriors of your family. After all, in my opinion, they are also rare talents."

"Don't just keep looking outward, or you'll make your own family members feel cold."

Du Feiya pursed her lips and was speechless for a moment.

She had come here to rescue Li Yin in response to his expectations. So there was no hostility, she just teased him to pretend to be cold and mean. Cassia's sharp and uncompromising rebuttal caught her off guard and made her feel a little embarrassed.

She tried her best to rack her brains, trying to come up with something that wouldn't put her at a disadvantage, but she had no ill intentions in the first place, and for a moment she seemed unable to come up with that kind of quick wit.

"Forget it, let's stop talking about trivial matters, your honorable Princess Dufiya." Fortunately, Cassia did not argue with her for too long, but quickly changed the subject.

"I think that in the current situation, we don't need to be angry with each other, but should focus on solving some of the problems we face together."

"From my servant's explanation, I roughly understand your intention."

"Could you explain why you firmly believe that we are your enemies?"

Cassia asked calmly. There was a faint smile on her fair face, and she seemed not to be annoyed at all that the other party had offended her captors and caused the injury of her most beloved servant.

But in reality, a raging fire of anger was burning in her heart.

No elf dared to treat her so lightly without paying any price. Looking at the members of the third vanguard team tied up in a long line opposite, she thought, not even the princess of the second family could do that. Moreover, she had injured her most beloved servant.

However, now is not a good time to turn against her. Because her soldiers are still in her hands. Moreover... Cassia's mind raced, and combined with the revelations she had received from divination, she understood that the menacing appearance of Du Feiya and her army here did not necessarily mean a disaster.

The other two teams that went to explore have not returned yet. The team brought back by Li Yin is the only one that has returned, so they are likely to be the team chosen by the Spider Goddess. As the only new variable brought by this team, Du Feiya and her team may represent the only elusive hope of life between the fingers of the goddess!

"Explanation? You want an explanation from me?" Du Feiya gritted her teeth and repeated aggressively, then she laughed instead of getting angry.

"Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

"Princess Cassia," she said with a slightly angry look in her eyes, her voice suddenly rising, "Can you please explain to me why your Seventh Family appeared in the maze that our Denitya Family recently discovered?"

"And, as luck would have it, we got lost in the maze, and the road signs were tampered with. Just as we were hesitating, we suddenly discovered that there was a group of soldiers from the Seventh Family following us?"

"Do you want me to believe that you sent them to bring me warmth?"

Cassia's expression froze slightly.

In fact, the same confusion lingered in Cassia's heart the moment Dufia and her soldiers appeared.

Why did the second family appear in the maze and ruins just discovered by the Borginia family?

However, before she could ask this question, she was attracted by the obvious hostility of the second family. Unexpectedly, they used this question to turn the tables on her.

"I've already told you!" Li Yin yelled at her feet, "It was our Borgia family who discovered this maze first, but she just wouldn't listen!"

"Not only that, she slapped me in the face and falsely accused me of stealing their information from a spy planted in the Dinitia family by our Borgia family."

"Oh, do you think I should listen, Princess Cassia?" Du Feiya sneered twice and asked back.

"Do you think I will believe that it was your Borgia family that first discovered this labyrinth, and that I and my troops followed in your footsteps by virtue of your kindness?"

"Of course not." Cassia paused and smiled.

Of course this couldn't be the case. If such a large-scale army had been following her and she had never noticed, she could have committed suicide...

However, if she could return alive this time, she would need to go to the family meeting room to report the matter to the mistress, and then launch an internal investigation into the Dinitya family's spies!

Of course, now is not a good time to directly bring these issues to light. So, she just pursed her lips, smiled softly, and then said:

"Maybe this is just a coincidence? Perhaps it was a gift from the Spider Goddess that allowed the scouts of our two families to discover this maze at the same time. Perhaps she had foreseen the difficulties we were about to face, and in this way, she linked the troops of our two families together, telling us that we must work together to overcome the dangers here and finally gain something."

"In fact, I happen to have sufficient evidence for this." Cassia paused slightly, her eyes bright and she said confidently.

"Oh?" Du Feiya pretended to be surprised and looked puzzled.

So Cassia explained to her again what Li Yin had already explained to Du Feiya in the tunnel, about the same difficulties they had encountered in the past few days, and about the oracle that was born because of it.

"Now, the unit led by Li Yin is the only one of the three units to return, and he brought back your unit."

"I think we have sufficient reason to believe that the meeting of our two families was arranged by the Spider Goddess. She wanted us to gather together and use the power of the two families to overcome this maze and enter the great ruins. In this case, it is not surprising that the scouts of our two families were able to discover this maze at roughly the same time."

"After all, this is also the arrangement of the Spider Goddess." Her eyes were firm and her words were passionate. Although she was facing Du Feiya, she seemed to be talking to a mysterious third party.

"——Everything can be arranged by the goddess, right?" Du Feiya secretly complained in her heart. She had no feelings for the fanatical look of the Spider Queen Priestess in front of her.