Philosophers have wondered how a planet with so much vibrancy and life could cause so much pain and death. After everything humans knew about elves, courtesy of all the media in circulation about them, it was beyond crazy that all they could do was bring death and destruction, it was an apocalypse of biblical proportions.

I ducked under the low hanging branch of what seemed to be a banana tree and came across a sight that left me quite wary. There was an open drop pod in front of me. I looked around a bit, moving my gaze to the trees as elves were fond of hanging on their branches.

Thankfully the branches within this part of the forest were exposed due to the trees not being too close together. There were no elves in sight, but then again they had more magic and mastery than we do, what's to say they weren't camouflaged and hiding somewhere.

I stopped my advancement and placed my back to a tree, before moving behind it so that tree was between me and the pod. I dropped down to a crouching position and looked around a bit. There wasn't much I could really do here but to find out what was off about the scene in front of me.

Perhaps I was being a little bit too paranoid, but it was protocol to self destruct once leaving a pod, and the pod itself would self destruct after noticing no vital signs, not unless the vital signs monitor was damaged just like mine, but then again that has to be a coincidence, lightning doesn't strike twice, does it?

I took a closer look at the pod, it was a bit far from me, and out of the other members of my cohorts my vision was actually the worse. I was near sighted, a result of my silver eyes genetic mutation, I couldn't see as clear as everyone else, and the pod was about 12 meters away from me, it was practically a blur.

But I noticed it, there on the edge of it's open hatch was a bloody handprint. The print trailed to the side and was abruptly cut off, so it's either whoever was inside the pod dragged their hand across the frame of the pod or they were dragged out.

I was speculating, but we were trained to address every scenario no matter how ridiculous it might seem. After all we were dealing with Gods and elves and magic, the kind of shit that at one point could only be found in the pages of a novel or on our TV screens. Weird was now our new normal, and it was what I grew up in so it stood to reason that I would paranoid as shit. My uncle made sure to beat that caution into me regardless of my well known reckless attitude.

There was a glint off the side of my eye, and it wasn't coming from the direction of the drop pod but from the left of me, through a cluster of dense bushes that immediately seemed weird to me the moment I saw them. I quickly jumped to the left, my heart stuck in my throat as mere moments later the space once occupied by my head had an arrow flying past it.

There was a draft of wind from the arrow's path that pushed me backwards. But I couldn't stop, I knew elves were the best marksmen in all of history, it was why shit got so bad when they learnt how to make guns too.

*Bang! Bang! bang! Click!*

I emptied the clip of my hand gun to the bushes, chipping of a few branches, but getting a chill when I noticed a curtain of shimmering blue light and a figure behind it. That was a standard attribute less Mana shield skill, and it was a skill only the elves could master.

I looked at the elf, face to face for the second time in my life. We've seen them on screens, in pictures, on drawings and reports.....on the day my mother was killed and my face and the back of my neck was scarred. They were monsters of the worst sort, not the Noble, regal face that all those fucking stories made them out to be.

'Emotions are the enemy Samson. It's okay to be a fierce lion, to be king of the battlefield, but always remember even a lion is still just a big cat, and cats tend to be too smart for their own good. Discover, observe, assess and then act! That's the lion's way.'

My uncle's voice rang out in my ear at that moment. I almost lost control, this wasn't some random monster I was dealing with, this was the enemy, an elf. And frankly speaking I was fighting on it's home ground, letting my emotions get the best of me. I would die before I knew what was up.

"Light Heal!"

My leg and arm were not fully healed and I was about to get into combat, I couldn't focus so I had to spread the healing evenly to both injuries. I might have had a concussion or other Injuries from the crash, but those were dealt with a long time ago with the amount of general healing I had already done.

I looked at the elf, the grey skin and fanged grin left me feeling hollow. There were different races of elves, and the one in front of me was a dark elf. Malevolent, sinister, and stealthy. I noticed a drop of red dripping from the side of his skull, staining his silver hair as he held a broken how and glared at me.

The first or second bullet must have broken his bow and clipped him by the side of his head. But even without a bow all elves were still extremely dangerous, magic was the biggest and most dangerous weapon in their arsenal.

I held the assault rifle tightly in my arms, the seven inch wide and meter long weapon gleamed a dull grey as I aimed at the elf. He smiled at me, giving me a look that to me seemed like an obvious admittance of his enjoyment, he was hunting me.

He moved, I didn't see him move, I just saw the grass in front of him rustle as his form vanished. I reacted immediately, taking a step back just in time to evade a short sword to the throat and at the same time I opened fire.

*Ratatatatatatata!*

The sound of gun fire resounded across the entire forest, but annoyingly enough they all bounced of his Mana shield that had suddenly appeared after his charge. I didn't waste time on that as I struck my foot forwards against the shield, only to feel a rebounding force that pushed me backwards.

He surged at me, short sword poised for a final move, but it was a trap. The Mana shield was a well known and commonly used spell by the elves. We couldn't use attribute less magic, but we've made variations of the spell with other elements, and to do so the source material have been extensively studied. I probably knew more about this bloody shield then the elf himself.

"Wind Blast!"

Still caught off balance I unleashed my first wind skill and in such close proximity as a compressed ball of sir rapidly formed in front of my outstretched palm and exploded with a loud thud.

We were both thrown backwards from each other. My back impacted a tree forcing a cry out of my mouth as I shifted my gaze to the elf who quickly scrambled up to his feet with a surprised look on his face. I guess he didn't expect me to be able to use a skill.

The Skill worked against him because the Man's shield had one very important requirement. To use it you had to be stationary, and while it afforded many elves an unbreakable defense, it also completely eliminated their mobility and made them sitting ducks in most cases.

Never the less for him to attack, he has to deactivate the Mana shield skill, and to activate it he has to be completely stationary. Never the less, I had him right where I wanted him, or at least I thought so as I raised my gun an attempted to bring an end to this dark elf.

"Arggghhh!"

I let out a scream of pain that resounded loudly within the forest.i quickly looked down at my ankle to see that a root had actually snaked it's way into and out of my foot back into the soil. It was painful as hell and it really drew my attention away as the elf shot towards me again.

There was no time to raise my gun up, so I let go of it and moved my hand to the back of my waist.light bounced off the body of the elf's Blade as he sent it stabbing towards my defenseless chest, however....

*Clang!*

The battle tool had been transformed into a long sword, which I had used to block his strike. His eyes narrowed to a pinprick in surprise, I've literally been surviving his assaults by the skin of my teeth, and this recent offset seemed to have shocked him once again. He took three steps backwards, but there was no way I would let him recuperate, I was immobilized and at the moment I had the upper hand.

"Wind Drag!"

He wasn't too far away from me, so the weak suction force from my left palm was able to draw him back in towards me. The force of this skill would only last for about a second, and it's range was extremely limited, roughly at one and a half meters. But he was close enough as his body was dragged forwards.

He was caught off guard again, his feet digging into the forest floor and making small furrows on the ground as he was dragged towards me. To be honest with the amount of cards I've pulled out, it was enough for almost anybody else to be dead. But this elf reacts really quickly to everything I threw his way, and this next move didn't seem like it was going to be any different, except of course I already had a plan.

"Quick Draw!"

The battle tool swung upwards, having a longer range than the elf's short sword my attack got to him earlier, and just as he was coming out of the drag from the wind Drag skill. He defended, but the longsword sliced through his forearm giving him a superficial wound.

I knew what would come next would be his Mana shield, and I couldn't allow that. This close to me and he could utilize another spell to cause even more damage, I couldn't give him enough to retaliate.

"Wind Blast! Wind Drag!"

Those two quick movements did not just catch him off guard, they left him a little bit disoriented, which was what I was aiming for. Weak we I was, I wasn't ready to face off against an elf, usually new recruits are sent to dungeons to level for limited time before being sent to the battlefield, but neither I nor the rest of my cohorts got the chance, we were shot out of the sky and now struggling for survival in a forest that can kill us, and with stronger enemies that knows said forest better than we ever could, we were set up to die right from the very beginning, our minds and will are the only thing that could possibly keep us alive at this point.

"Rapid Thrust!"

The battle tool....well the longsword glowed a deep green as it left streaks behind in it's journey into and through the elf's body. The force from the wind Drag hadn't dissipated so the momentum carried the body of the elf forward until the hilt of the sword was stuck firmly within his body.

There was a lull, a silence that at the moment seemed to offer sweet relief to us both. I could feel his blood slowly pump out of his body, staining my hands and uniform red, staining the forest floor red. I swallowed hard and looked up to meet his face, there was still a smile on his lips, I felt cold.

He moved his head forwards until his forehead was against mine, his eyes glistened as his knees grew week and he fell to the ground on them, taking me with him.

"I don't want to die boy.....but you have bested me in combat!.... that's a scenario I never thought possible."

His breathing was erratic, and I was a bit shocked he could speak English. Elves had a language and alphabetical system that was completely unique to them, and them alone. We've been taught how to speak and use them, but not as well as the elves ever could. But to hear him speak in English, it made me realize that perhaps he was not as simple as I thought he was.

"This war will never end.....as long as Gods exist, the wars will continue.....even if you defeat the elves.....there are many more races out there and many more gods that created and watch over them. And they want your blue planet, and they won't stop until they get it. After all, your earth is the centre of all creation, of all universes, the nexus point of power and the place where gods can be born, remade and unmade.

I pity you child of Man......you have slain Teflon Barit Cormoleol. Crown prince of the dark elves.....you will forever have a target on your back and eventually just like me, you too shall embrace death."

And then he was gone, just like that. It was a rather weird way to die, but in the end he was still dead. I let go of the longsword and stepped back, my hands were shaking as the root stabbed into my foot withered away and came out of it. I fell back on my ass, leaning my back against a tree as I looked at the dead elf and the rapidly spreading pool of blood around his body.

"I killed him."

Nothing else matters, nothing at all.

"what's done is done. If there are consequences to be had for defending myself, then I will face them with sharp mind and a strong back. I will not be shaken.....I'm not shaken.....I'm okay....Right....God help me."

My descent into a panic attack was cut short by notifications from my system. It was just what I needed to pull me out of the abyss I was about to spiral in to.

(Wind Blast has leveled up to 2! +1 to magic)

(Wind Drag has leveled up to 2! +1 to magic)

(Quick Draw has leveled up to 6! +2 to movement +3 to physique)

(Swift Thrust has leveled up to 4! +1 to movement +3 to physique)

(Mana Control has ranked up to E+ all skill cost reduced by 20%, +20% to damage, efficiency and speed. +25 to magic)

(Druid class has leveled to 5! All energies refreshed +5 to magic +3 to movement the skill Morph(Choose Animal) has been generated.)

NAME: Samson Michaels

AGE: 19

MIRACLE

?????/????

GODS

???/????

CLASS: Combat Officer

MANA CLASS: Druid (Lv5) 39%

RANK: Battle Acolyte

ATTRIBUTES

Wind (Lv1) Light (Lv2) Water (Lv1)

STATISTICS

Physique 27

Movement 27

Magic 101

PASSIVE SKILLS

Firearms Mastery (E+)

Blades Mastery (C+)

Terran Combat Series: Lion Fist (D+)

Mana Control (E+)

Night Vision (E-)

ACTIVE SKILLS

Charge Shot (Lv5)

Quick Draw (Lv6)

Swift Thrust (Lv4)

Lion Stomp (Lv4)

Lion Strike (Lv2)

Lion Claw (Lv2)

Wind Blast (Lv2)

Wind Drag (Lv2)

Light Heal (Lv5)

Morph:(????) (Lv1)

(Please Choose Suitable Animal From Current List To Morph Into)

Here was something that could take my mind off the fact that I was just in a fight for my life. I also needed to heal my injuries, my arm and leg were hurting, I should fully heal them now that I have a few more magic to my prowess. If any other elves are as dangerous as the one laying dead in front of me. Never the less I should find a safe place to hole up, but before that I should probably initiate the self destruct sequence for the drop pod, it was standard proto......

"He-lp...H-elp!"

"Huh!"