A complicated expression floated on Alz's face as he closed the door behind him. The meeting had gone smoother than he had expected, but it left a bitter taste in his mouth as he recalled the captain's display at the end.

It seemed like the situation here was more out of control than he had thought before, a finding that left him slightly concerned. However, he didn't brood over this for long, as this was something that was clearly out of his hands, and something he didn't want to bother with.

"Finally, I got it!"

He shoved the negative thoughts away and started walking towards the exit with budding excitement. Upon exiting the guardhouse, Alz looked towards a small building nearby with two guards by the entrance, the military library.

Unlike the communal library, the information in this library was classified and access was restricted to the captain and a select few individuals here at the southern guardhouse and was not openly available for everyone to browse through.

When he couldn't find the information at the communal library, he had suspected that it was probably here. However, he still held some uncertainty towards it before this, that is until he exchanged words with the captain earlier, feeling a huge weight lifted off his chest.

"Time to head back!"

Alz stared at the building deeply as vivid sights he had seen in the archives played in his mind, his eyes shining with anticipation. After a few moments, he shook his head lightly and started heading towards a different direction, back to his field.

While he was very interested in the library, he didn't want to break his promise for this, especially when he would be spending most of his time in future there anyways, and there was no real reason for him to rush since the captain had already given him his word.

Hence, Alz slowly strolled back to the field with a wide smile on his face, the happiest he had been since his arrival.

It felt like only an instant had passed before Alz stood before the familiar field, occupying himself with various thoughts along the way, ranging from the story he would tell later to the plans he had the future.

"I'm going to miss this place."

Alz's pace slowly halted to a stop after he exited the trees, directing a lonely smile at the sunflower field. Perhaps because he was leaving soon, he felt some melancholy as he looked at the sight before his eyes, feeling some attachment to this place he resided in for eight months.

Before long, Alz snapped out of his melancholy and was about to continue moving forward when he suddenly heard noises coming from the back,

His expression immediately hardened as he dashed forward several steps before looking behind with an exceedingly serious expression, catching a glimpse of a sight which sent chills running through his whole body.

There were three stout elves close to where he was standing before, eyeing him with fierce gazes that he recognised from his years of hunting, eyes locked onto a prey.

"Is it Cruz!?”

A name appeared in his head the moment he set his eyes on their attire, but three elves didn't give him more time to think as they started running at him from three different directions.

To make matters worse, their movements were clearly well-coordinated with adequate space between each other so as to not interfere with each other's movements, an extremely bad piece of news to Alz.

Alz instantly ran away towards the hut, preparing to get some cover for some time to prepare his weapons. However, the three elves chasing behind merely revealed smile of ridicule when they saw this as they continued to chase from behind.

Seeing this, alarm bells immediately rang off in his head as he looked towards his door with a serious expression, changing the direction of his dash.

Just as he did this, the sound of someone clicking their tongue rang out from behind the door as it slammed open and four elves walked out.

"Cruz!"

If he was only ninety-nine percent sure before, he was completely certain now as Cruz was among the four who just exited the hut, looking towards him with a cold, sinister smile.

"You trash! Get on your knees and beg for mercy!" Cruz shouted, laughing maniacally after he was finished as he glared at Alz with hateful eyes that containing glee.

Alz gritted his teeth and started to run away from both groups, but two elves suddenly walked out from the trees in his direction, blocking his path forward.

In his blind spot behind, another two elves also appeared from the opposite direction he was running, adding up to a total of ten elves who surrounded him from all sides.

Alz's face turned ugly as he saw this, but his feet didn't stop, continuing to dash forward with a decisive look on his face. These two elves looked at him seriously as they widened their stance, prepare to stop his approach.

Even though Alz looked young, they were all briefed on his fight in the bunk before the mission and knew not to underestimate him.

While most of them still didn't really take the briefing too seriously, they were all well aware of the consequences that awaited them if they failed, so none of them were willing to take the risk.

Yet, just as Alz was about to reach the two at the front, he suddenly sprinted left in the direction of the three elves who had been chasing him from the start, moving faster than the speed he was showing earlier.

These three elves were the most exhausted of them all, trying to keep up with him from the start. They were also focusing entirely on catching up to him and were caught off guard by his sudden actions, causing their reactions to be slightly delayed.

This delay ended up being fatal, as when the closest elf to Alz finally reacted by trying to catch him, it was already too late. A sharp pain shot through his neck and his vision began to darken as he struggled to raise his trembling hands.

Within seconds, he fell strongly on his knees, his eyes wide with shock, but there was no longer any light in his eyes, losing his life to a green-tipped arrow that pierced directly across his neck.

However, dying was not enough to spare him from the fight, as Alz grabbed onto his corpse without hesitation and threw it directly between the other two elves, resulting in them separately dodging to two different sides.

"Dirk!" one of the elves shouted, glaring at Alz murderously as he placed his hand on the dagger by his waist.

"Capture him alive!" the leader's face also glared fiercely at Alz when he saw one of his man fall, but still shouted out immediately when he noticed his subordinate reaching for his weapon.

"They don't want me dead!"

Alz's eyes lit up for a moment when he heard this, moving up to the elf who attempted to draw his weapon with another glass arrow in hand. When he got close, he immediately lunged it at the elf's neck, but it didn't go too well this time.

The elf grabbed onto the arrow tightly and threw a fierce punch at Alz ribs, looking towards him with a cruel smile. However, his expression did not last long before it morphed into a look of shock, as he was assaulted by a sudden weightless sensation.

Alz had released the arrow the moment it was grabbed and stuck his body to the elf, pulling along the punch he threw and lifting his body into the air.

He then proceeded to slam the body onto the ground while drawing another arrow glass with his right, stabbing it deeply through the back of the elf's throat.

After this was done, he immediately left the arrow behind and jumped away, narrowly avoiding a pair of arms that tried to grab onto his body.

Despite avoiding this successfully, there was no joy reflected in his expression as he could hear the other five elves closing up to him from behind.

His eyes burned with determination as he raced off in a slight opening created by the two elves falling, recalling the memories from when he escaped from the wolves back during the attacks.

Back then, he could only escape helplessly from the wolves, praying for safety with no ability to retaliate, but things were different now, as he had grown. He was confident that he would be safe as long as he could make it into the trees, rather, he would show those who dared follow behind who the real hunter was here.

However, his hopes were quickly dashed as he felt a sharp pain in his left leg, tripping heavily onto the ground. In the distance, the leader was glaring at him fiercely with a bow in hand, having just let an arrow loose.