Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Like writhing tendrils, the conjoined energies surged and lashed out the instant the arrow came at a grinding halt, targeting the other elves.

Fighting spirit and mana mixed, formed into a blast that struck one off the branch they were perched upon, another was struck by a tentacle-like motion of the energy, slashing them across the forearm, whilst another was instead pierced right in the thigh.

What had been added upon the arrow was far from precise, it was instead a chaotic mess which Litrakq had only manifested with a single,vague order, which was to maim anything alive wherever the arrow was going to land.

Dimios had once told her that purposefully making something to be fallible, or requiring the person in charge not to commit a mistake could empower the final result, some sort of 'rules' and 'conditions' thing.

She wasn't sure that she had truly understood the nuances, but it looked like it was having an effect, somewhat…

At the very least, the elf party was being targeted like she had wanted.

However, the effect of surprise could only last so long, after a few of the elves were injured by the unexpected attack, they all reacted swiftly, and the arrow was partly shattered, taking apart the conjoined energies attached to it.

But Litrakq had already directed her troops to encircle and attack the elf party whilst they were distracted whilst she herself fired more arrows toward the group, specifically targeting those who had already been wounded.

The first one to be hit and the one with a hole in their thigh in particular were most vulnerable, their mobility and agility had been greatly reduced by their injuries, the first one that had been hit had managed to free her forearms, but had to leave the arrow stuck in her throat, otherwise she would just start losing blood like it was a water fall.

And with blood already pouring out from her forearms, it was best to avoid it.

Firing several more arrows to little effect, Litrakq clicked her tongue as she noticed other elf parties approaching to provide reinforcement, there was no way her soldiers would be able to do anything about those, so she dropped the bow and quiver, focusing energy into her legs before launching herself into the jungle.

Unsheathing her sword as she reached the trees, ascending upward by jumping off against tree trunks, and with a burst of fighting spirit, sent a large dose of it to the nearby soldiers, enhancing their capabilities to a dangerous degree, not only for the enemy, but for themselves as well.

With their aggressivity rising through the roof in a moment, the elves all around were momentarily thrown aback, especially as the nearby lumberjacks, in particular, seemed to increase in size so greatly that their armours could no longer properly contain them, swinging their axes with tyrannical strength, they brought down several trees in just a few moments, adding to the chaos as the elves lost some of their high grounds, and the falling trees got caught into other trees, and into vines as well, branches and leaves showered the areas.

The sounds of collapsing jungle trees was deafening, the shouts of the dirt-bloods resounding with stop, but despite it all, the elves were still maintaining an advantage, the dirt-bloods were resourceful and plentiful, but several elf parties were here, although that didn't give them the numerical advantage in the slightest, this still strongly tipped the balance of battle into their favour.

A single kick from the weakest elf present could send a much taller and bigger dirt-blood flying backward with several bones broken.

But moving amidst the chaos was Litrakq, her presence was frighteningly going unnoticed by both sides, she didn't attack aggressively, knowing very well that this would only cause all elves present to turn their attention to her, and although she was strong, fighting so many elves at the same time did not sound realistic.

So she hung low, and when the occasion presented itself, she pounced for one of the wounded elves, tackling into them from behind, unceremoniously, knocking them unconscious using the pommel of her sword, and without wasting any time, picked the elf up and then promptly took off running toward the camp.

"Stop her!" one of the elves took notice of what had just happened, but Litrakq poured fighting spirit into her soldiers, this time, so much that they would definitely die once this was done, but the results were impressive, for a few seconds, some of the soldiers could almost match the elves, and when one of them died, it triggered a chain reaction, as that soldiers exploded upon death, the excess fighting spirit within was allowed to burst outward, causing all of the other soldiers to erupt as well.

The elves were thrown around, utterly deafened and blinded as the jungle around them was turned upside down.

And meanwhile, without an ounce of remorse for getting her own soldiers killed, Litrakq arrived into the camp, carrying an unconscious elf on her shoulder, a satisfied grin adorning her lips.

She wished she could have gotten a few more killed, but beggars can't be choosers, there were just too many elf parties nearby to do much, attempting an actual fight would have just ended poorly.

"Hey, bring the medics over to my tent, I don't want our new prisoner to die" she called out to one soldier, who hastily nodded and took off running to fulfill the order.

And with that, Litrakq entered her tent, and put the elf down, it was tempting to forget about taking a prisoner and just eat that one as well, she had not forgotten what had happened last time, even if it had been impossibly painful, it had also been incredibly satisfactory, even if it was twice as painful this time, she wouldn't hesitate to go for it.

But no, she needed to think about fulfilling her duties.

She only ate the first one because she killed that guy in a single blow, this one was more valuable alive, elves were a cohesive group, far more so than humans, their connection to nature united them closely, it was like they were just one big family in a sense.

So they would be very willing to negotiate now that one of theirs had been taken prisoner, at least, most would want to get her back no matter what, whilst those with good heads on their shoulders probably already realise that there wasn't much that could be done now.

"Hopefully, this will get us somewhere"

The commander smiled.