ALL NOVEL Volume 2 Chapter 1
The forests of the human kingdom and Midgard are indeed quite different in many ways.
If Siegdrida were to describe it, it would feel like a domesticated environment. Like capturing a wild animal and trying to replicate its natural habitat as closely as possible, but it’s fundamentally different from pure nature.
Only elves who are born and die in nature could understand the difference.
Reflecting on her experiences in the human kingdom, Siegdrida couldn’t help but ponder the unpredictability of fate.
Due to various incidents, primarily humans poaching sacred beasts, elves have a very poor impression of humans. Elves are already xenophobic by nature, and this only amplifies their negative views towards humans.
When leaving Midgard, Siegdrida herself had some prejudices against humans.
Even real-life contact with humans didn’t change Siegdrida’s views. She couldn’t tolerate humans who desecrated sacred beasts for their own selfish desires.
That was until the day she met Anastasia, and Siegdrida began to think differently.
She initially thought Anastasia was a wicked woman coveting the horn of a sacred beast. But it turned out she was a maid taking care of an injured loli, Lily. Hearing Lily’s laughter made her feel as if killing Anastasia would make her the villain. Anastasia not only let her go but also returned the horn of the sacred beast.
“I chose to stay by Anna’s side not to be taken care of by her…”
Hidden among the trees, Siegdrida drew her dagger, a cold glint flashing in her dark eyes.
On the forest path, three adventurers were searching with torches in hand.
Adventurers and NPCs look the same, but their public profiles are clearly different. It’s easy to distinguish an adventurer from an NPC by checking their profiles unless they are using some disguise skill.
“Have you found anything on your end?”
“Didn’t see anything… Do you really think Amelilis would be in the forest?”
“I think it’s more likely than her hiding in the town.”
“We might hit the jackpot if we stumble upon her, hehe…”
They’re looking for Lily.
Since adventurers can respawn, she can afford to be a bit heavy-handed.
The three adventurers aren’t wearing heavy armor. Anna said that the forests near Baron Bilan’s territory are safe from bandits and dangerous beasts, so they dared to venture out at night probably based on this information.
I won’t let them get their way.
“Night Vision” is a racial talent of moon elves, especially those that are said to blend in with the night. In Siegdrida’s vision, there is no difference between night and day, and in some respects, it’s even clearer.
Without any intentional hiding, Siegdrida simply walked behind the three adventurers without them noticing. With the environment aiding her, Siegdrida’s “Silent Steps” skill was fully utilized.
They were getting close to the warning line around the cabin. Neither Anna nor Lily can be allowed to get hurt.
“Stay alert, don’t miss any rustling. We—”
The leading adventurer looked around and inadvertently glanced back.
He froze. Behind him lay the bodies of his two companions.
One lay ten meters away, and the other was even farther.
“……”
Wait, what? When did this happen?
Adventurers can respawn after death, so the lead adventurer wasn’t shocked by the sight of his companions’ bodies.
—If he hadn’t glanced back, he would never have noticed that his companions had already passed away.
The vision suddenly turned black and white.
[System Notification: You have died. You will respawn at the nearest respawn point in 24 hours.]
[Suffered Damage: Throat Slit (Loss of 100% HP)]
[Damage Source: ??? (Unknown)]
Siegdrida sheathed her dagger. The first strike coming out of “Stealth” deals extremely high damage. Striking the vital parts of units without armor could be described as one-hit kills.
The adventurers’ bodies won’t disappear immediately after death, but Siegdrida has no interest in looting or guarding the corpses. It doesn’t mean much. The old Siegdrida would have stopped here, but considering the people she has to protect now, she believes she has other things to do.
“Goddess of Nature… please guide me to remove the evil marks the invaders left in the forest…”
Her vision lit up with several red lights as if it were daytime. Siegdrida quickly moved to the closest tree root, where she saw a very concealed small magic circle.
For Siegdrida, the Bilan forest is no different from her backyard, but for humans, this forest is quite large. Rashly entering the forest at night, they couldn’t have been searching aimlessly.
“Coordinate Mark”—set a coordinate at a certain location, maintain it for a certain period, and the person who set the coordinate can feel its direction from anywhere and head straight towards it.
It’s probably to ensure where they’ve searched and also to avoid getting lost in case of danger, so they can find their way out of the forest.
Although “Coordinate Mark” isn’t easy to learn, it’s very convenient to use once learned. Not all skills’ costs are proportional to their difficulty to acquire.
Siegdrida casually destroyed this “Coordinate Mark.” It would be bad if they found their way back after respawning. Adventurers can’t share coordinates while dead, so they won’t be able to find out where they were attacked.
Besides… they never saw Anna and Lily. From their perspective, they simply took a wrong turn and met an untimely end…