Chương 18: An Unexpected Guest

'Come on, give me the reins, I can take 'em!'

"You can not take them!" Vin hissed, earning himself a raised eyebrow from one of the closer elves. Clearing his throat, Vin smiled at his ambushers, thanking the System once again for offering him the Polyglot passive.

"Hello! I'm Vin, an Explorer-""Silence!" One of the elves in the back shouted, pulling his bowstring back a few more inches and raising his aim from Vin's chest to his head.

"You have trespassed in the Sacred Forest, and for that you shall be punished!" Vin noted how the elf speaking to him had the longest ponytail of the entire group; his hair dangling down almost to his upper thigh. The other elves seemed to defer to the words of the shouting one, so either the hair was a total coincidence, or some sort of mark of seniority.

Vin wasn't sure how to argue his case when he'd been ordered to be silent, so he was thankful when the elf that had heard him muttering to Alka spoke up, glancing at their leader.

"Smohl, the human speaks the forest tongue. Perhaps we should bring him to the Ancient Ones? He clearly came from beyond the Sacred Forest. Maybe he can help us."

"Or maybe he is part of why we need help in the first place!" Smohl shouted, directing his fury toward the elf speaking in Vin's defense.

"Hold your tail, Puwen, or you shall be punished right alongside this interloper!"

"At the very least, he should be sacrificed," another elf, this one female, spoke up. Lowering her bow, she eyed Vin from top to bottom and licked her lips with a grin that sent shivers down Vin's spine. It was only now he realized the elves had sharp, pointed teeth that looked like they'd be more appropriate on a shark than a person.

"If the Ancient Ones like the taste of him half as much as I think I would, they will be quite pleased."

"It has been some time since we last had a proper sacrifice," another elf, this one older with a thin scar across their face added calmly, lowering their own bow.

"Perhaps that is why the kingdoms once again believe they can enter the Sacred Forest uncontested." The apparent leader, Smohl, looked like he was about to blow a gasket at everyone questioning his decisions, and Vin wondered if he was about to have a brain aneurysm right then and there. But after a few tense seconds, he seemed to calm a bit, gritting his sharp teeth and nodding.

"Fine. We bring the interloper to the village and sacrifice him as a fresh warning. Sending the kingdoms the proper message takes priority over my righteous anger after all." During this little discussion, Vin had been waiting for an opening to try and escape, but the hunting party showed their experience.

Despite the discourse within the group, there wasn't a single point where he didn't have at least three different arrows trained on his chest, and he didn't doubt that each of them would find their mark if he tried to make a move. Even if he turned his body over to Alka, she might be able to stop one arrow mid-flight with her insane skills, but he wasn't willing to bet his life on her stopping all three. Not when the archers were standing barely a dozen feet away.

"I think we should go with them," he muttered as quietly as possible.

"Their Ancient Ones might be more reasonable, and they sound pretty powerful. Maybe they have the divinity needed to help you as well." He could practically feel Alka hesitating inside of him as the younger looking elf and the one with the scar on his face strode over and stripped him of his pack and sword. But in the end, she didn't argue. The younger one grabbed his sword and freed it from its sheath, staring at the glowing blade with wide eyes as he lifted it up.

"Ancient One's sap this thing is nasty!" The elf with the scar slapped him on the back of the head, causing the excited elf to blush as he returned the sword to its sheath and fell quiet.

"He has a second object of power in here," the female elf that had given him shivers said curiously, removing the teaching stone from his pack. Flicking her thin tongue in the air like a snake, she gave him a strange look.

"It is odd enough to find someone with two objects of power in their possession, but even stranger still is that they have different tastes. The human already has a unique flavor I've never encountered before."

"Then we are making the right move bringing him to the Ancient Ones alive," Smohl said, turning and motioning for the party to follow.

"But that doesn't mean I am willing to listen to the words of an interloper. Myrn!" The leader barked, earning a jump from the young elf that had taken his sword. He'd been busy admiring the hilt of the weapon and hadn't been paying attention.

"…If the interloper so much as speaks, use that blade you seem so interested in to remove his tongue. He'll probably still live long enough to make it to the Ancient Ones after all."

"Of course, Smohl," Myrn said, nodding quickly. Not wanting to risk the young elf's willingness to follow his elder's orders, Vin could do nothing but walk between the hunting party as the seven of them made their way deeper into the crazy forest. He was pretty certain the first rule of kidnapping was never let yourself be taken to a secondary location, but he wondered if that rule still applied when your kidnappers were heavily armed and planning to sacrifice you to their ancient God. …

You know, that's probably exactly when the rule applies. Vin hadn't expected them to make great time traversing through the thick forest of strange trees, but the party of elves surprised him once again. His captors somehow seemed to glide over the difficult terrain, traversing over roots and gliding between branches like they weren't even there. Vin swore he saw a few branches literally move a couple inches on their own at one point to allow the elves to squeeze through them more easily.

Just as he was beginning to think they'd make it to the supposed Ancient Ones without issue, a roar erupted from up above them, and a monstrous ape descended from the tree tops like a plummeting boulder. The leading elves dove backwards not a second too soon, as the large ape crashed directly into the ground where they'd been standing just moments before, smashing its fists into its chest and letting out a second ear splitting roar that seemed to freeze the very blood in his veins.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. New elite monster discovered! 500 exp gained. Well that can't be good, Vin thought, staring at the hulking form of the elite monster before them. The ape had to be nearly 10 feet tall standing on its hindlegs, its arms the size of tree trunks. It was covered in a thin layer of black fur and had huge fangs jutting out of its mouth that looked like they would tear through Vin like butter.

Its eyes were bloodshot, and they narrowed at the hunting party as the beast began charging toward them like an out of control gorilla.

"Trunkback!" Smohl shouted, as though the rest of the party had somehow missed the giant monster snapping branches and literally pushing small trees down as it rampaged toward them. Immediately, Smohl and the three elves that hadn't been forced to dodge the monster's initial landing drew and let loose their arrows so fast Vin barely saw them move. Unfortunately, their bows that had seemed so threatening just moments ago weren't quite so dangerous when it came to an elite monster.

The elves had clearly trained for situations like this, as all four arrows were aimed directly at the monster's eyes, and Vin found out very quickly why that was the case. Showing some insane reflexes, the monster threw a muscular arm up to shield its face as it continued forward, intercepting all four of the elves' shots. And while the arrows did thud into the flesh of the monster's arm, they barely drew even a trickle of blood, doing absolutely nothing to slow the monster down.

Vin and the elves dove to the side of the steamrolling monster, but the youngest one with Vin's sword was just a second too late. Finally reaching them, the monster swung its massive fist, connecting with the young elf as he attempted to dodge and caving in his ribcage, sending his body flying into a nearby tree with a sickening crunch. Vin had no doubt that the elf had died instantly, and his party seemed to come to the same conclusion.

With guttural roars of grief, the five remaining elves loosed shot after shot into the monster as it turned and began charging once more, this time targeting the elf with the scar. The hunting party must have fired over two dozen arrows into the monster in those brief seconds, but none of their shots were powerful enough to do more than tickle the horrifying monster.

Reaching its second target, the monster showed off its yellow fangs with a grin as it lashed out and caught the scarred elf by the leg as he tried to dodge away; the leg looking like a twig in the monster's massive hand. Spinning, the Trunkback turned and threw the elf at a different member of the party with such force that Vin heard numerous cracks as the two collided and were sent tumbling in a heap to the ground.

"Shia, hold it still!" Smohl shouted, continuing to pelt the monster with arrows in an attempt to draw its attention from the two downed elves. As if she'd been waiting for her cue, the snake-like elf quickly threw out a hand toward the monster, shouting with a wild grin." Entangle!" Vin was startled as he somehow felt the woman's mana for the first time reach out of her body and imbue itself into the surrounding forest.

Instantly, the forest came alive, bending to the woman's will and attempting to slow the beast down. Roots erupted from the ground, lashing around the monster's feet and legs while branches twisted from above, ensnaring its head and blocking the Trunkback's vision. In a single breath, the forest had been brought into the fight and immobilized the monster. But it wasn't enough.

Letting out another bone shaking roar, the monster showed its incredible strength by reaching up and tearing the mass of magically empowered branches from its head in a single tug, throwing the wood aside before yanking a foot out of the pile of roots on the ground. Vin stared in horror as the monster quickly freed itself, the magical prison only able to halt its movement for a few seconds. Thankfully, that was apparently all Smohl needed.

Carefully lining up a shot on the stationary monster, Smohl sucked in a deep breath and let his arrow fly." Piercing Shot!" He screamed as the arrow shot forward toward the monster's face with such force Vin could hear the wind whistling around its shaft. Just like the previous arrows, the monster's unnatural reflexes kicked in, and it threw up a hand to block the projectile.

Unlike the previous arrows however, this one tore straight through all the layers of muscle making up the monster's arm, and continued forward to lodge itself deep in the monster's eye with a sickening thud.

If Vin had thought the Trunkback's roars had been loud before, that was nothing compared to what came out of its mouth after being injured. The force of its roar was so powerful Vin's vision went black for a second and he stumbled, barely managing to stay on his feet. Glancing at the party of elves, he saw Smohl drop to a knee, blood dripping from the elf's pointed ears as Shia collapsed to the ground unconscious.

The only other elf still standing, Puwen, if Vin remembered correctly, was leaning hard against a tree, his legs shaking and eyes half closed as he fought to remain conscious.

'I think now might be a good time to use your trump card.' Alka said, sounding far too casual for the situation. His head still reeling, Vin nodded, focusing on his title and suddenly finding himself watching his body move like he was an outside observer. Alka only had 60 seconds… But that would prove to be far more than she needed. The moment the ability activated, Alka dashed to the fallen elf that had taken their sword, grabbing the blade and spinning to meet the monster that was now leaping at them.

The Trunkback must have somehow realized what she was going for, because it had immediately ripped its other foot free of the elf's spell and used its incredible strength to cross the distance between them in a single bound.

Putting the elves' graceful movements to shame, Alka twisted his body in such a way that not only did she dodge the monster's earth-shaking landing and subsequent smashing of its fists, she flicked her sword with disdain, lopping off the monster's left arm at the elbow as if all the thick cords of muscle running through it had been made of paper. From his backseat, Vin stared at the monster's stump in shock as blood began pumping out of it.

The Trunkback itself seemed just as surprised as he was, its eyes widening as it held up its arm and stared in confusion at where its missing hand should have been. Alka didn't give it a chance to realize what had happened however, stepping leisurely forward and lashing out with her sword. In two quick slashes, the monster's legs were severed from its body, and the Trunkback crashed ungracefully to the ground.

Before the monster could even cry out in pain, Alka stabbed forward, piercing its throat with her blade before yanking it to the side, decapitating the monster and sending its head to the ground with a wet splotch. In only a handful of seconds, Alka had taken the hulkish monster apart like a child playing with an old action figure. Cleaning their sword of blood with a quick flick, Alka turned and grinned at the wide eyed Smohl who was only just now pushing himself shakily to his feet.

"Well that was fun!" She said, eyes flicking between the remaining elves as she effortlessly spun their sword, showing off her dexterity with the blade.

"Who's next?"