Chapter 5 – An Elven Night.

“Half-Elves? Are you fucking serious?”

When Lantis reached the marked location on the map, he was expecting many things to see and learn from the Mion tribe and its people.

But what he totally didn’t foresee was to see the entire tribe consisting of only Half-elves and he being a human player was one of their supposed-leader.

Thus, that was how he right now found himself in the middle of a war camp being stared upon by at least thousands of those supposed-mythical beings.

One can’t ever go wrong differentiating elves from the humans and half-elves itself from the other two. Half-elves stand taller than humans but shorter than elves. They inherit the lean build and comely features of their elven lineage, but their skin colour is normally dictated by their human side. Their eyes tend to be a mix between their human and elven heritage and feature an exotic range of colours like amber, violet etc. Their ears also almost always tend to be elven like in general and right now Lantis could find all of these features among the crowd of people standing before him, looking at him curiously.

He truly found himself getting in a “deer in the headlights” situation.

“My lord, where have you been? We were waiting for you since nightfall.”

One of the elves asked him respectfully with his Celtic accent. He seemed well-off from his looks. If you could ignore his large scar on his face and the long poleaxe he was holding. He seemed a pretty amiable guy to talk to.

Too much respect! Too much respect!

“Ah, I…I got lost. I guess that’s it.”

Lantis somehow gave the answer, although he didn’t believe the way he said it someone will actually believe him.

At that time, another elven ‘man’ came to the front and laughed at him, “My lord must be tired. You should sleep; we have come a long way from home. Tomorrow will be a bloody day, wouldn’t want you to get up late for the work.”

The other man looked at him and scornfully laughed, “Get up late? Alyth, last time I checked, you were the one who woke up late and went into the front lines during the last hours of the battle. Don’t let your dick smell get rubbed off on our chief. We are already having a bad time; the last thing I want is you having a bad influence in the army.”

The man named Alyth now looked back at him and replied in disdain, “Lucis, so what if I got late? I might have been busy with your girl down on my bed. For the record, I am not like a certain someone here who spends an hour thrusting, then directly jumps to the sleep like a fucking pig.”

Their nonsensical rambling continued, but Lantis, on the other hand, was thinking about more logical things while looking at the campfire.

Bloody day….Far from Home…Tomorrow….Battle….Frontlines…Objective….

It doesn’t take a genius to understand what this is all about.

The last two trials are probably linked with each other.

Lantis walked towards the campfire and bent down on his knees. He spread his hands wide to get the heat on this cold night.

Ahh, finally feels good!

The light of the fire radiated his charming face and his blue eyes that didn’t look any worse than an elf.

He looked at the soldiers training, dining and singing songs, then at the two men quarrelling. What were their names? Alyth and Lucis, huh;

He directed his gaze towards the tents and sighed deeply.

When other players play VR games, within the first hours itself they get to meet beautiful bombshells, those lasses will then have a crush on the player, then the player will form a harem with them and suck ball. And here I am with a host of men. Why can’t I ever enjoy such treatment, even though I am much better at playing games? Sigh, these days being a nice guy in this world sucks hard; pitiful, too pitiful.

Anyways, the timer is not running. I wonder why though? Could it be I have not progressed enough to trigger it?

Then, I should probably finish this soon as I can. The battle objective is gonna take an ass long time; I don’t want to stay in the tutorial for too long. Otherwise, I fear I won’t even have the dignity to show my face in front of Raphael and others.

Time to truly get serious now, yep;

Looking at them, Lantis found they are pretty well-armoured for a tribe. Most of the men were wearing heavy mail, while the two men who came to Lantis were wearing partial plate armour with runes upon them. Looks like the game interprets “tribes” a bit differently than the real world.

He shrugged and gave a simple command that he found while looking upon one of the guides.

“Show character sheet and player details”

Ting!

//You can’t open character sheet in this section of the tutorial.

//You can’t open player details window in this section of the tutorial.

Huh?

“Open skill and traits window.”

//You can’t open skills window in this section of the tutorial.

//You can’t open traits window in this section of the tutorial.

Fudge! You can’t open this, you can’t open that. Fuck, how do you want me to play then?

Lantis didn’t give up, “Open focus tree.”

//You can’t open focus tree.

//Warpath mechanic is not enabled.

Alright, cool down, cool down. Let’s just try another command.

“Show army details.”

Ting!

//You are currently a “War Chief” of the “Mion Tribe” under the high elven clan “Elfina”.

//System has allowed you to lead an army of 3000 units, but you can’t control them yet.

Your army (Brigade) currently consists of:

War chief x1 (You)

Generals x3 *

Elfina Hunters x1500 (Light Infantry)

Elfina Noble Knights x500 (Heavy Cavalry)

Elfina Battlefield Maidens x500 (Heavy Infantry)

Elfina Forest Rangers x500 (Archers)

*King’s guard, Royal Guard, General’s Bodyguard doesn’t count in the standard army and thus aren’t included here.

**This army is currently well-fed, satisfied with their leaders and thus are in high Morale.

***This army is currently in low maintenance and are resting for the day. Thus, they are prone to taking heavy damage, should an ambush happens.

“Wow, this one is so detailed. And there are girls too, why didn’t I saw them? Could they have gone for a bath?”

Lantis unknowingly spoke out loud, but when he looked around no one seemed to hurt him.

It seemed War Chief is a very complicated title in the game- What is this title about? It should be something he could ask Luna later on, so he kept it in the back of his mind for now.

He clapped loudly and went towards a table with food, “Hey, you two. Come here quickly, this noble one here wants to ask you some questions.”

He got into the character really quickly. Alyth and Lucis came towards him with haste wondering what he might want from them.

“Who are you two? By that I mean, what is your position in this army?”

Alyth and Lucis looked at each other in confusion, signalling each other with their eyes, then with their hands.

Lantis looked at them in wonder tilting his head. What the fuck was wrong with them? Could it be….they both were gays?

Alyth was the first to spoke up, “Forgive us, my lord. We forgot that you had been recently promoted for a due time. Let me introduce ourselves, my name is Alyth Thethyra. I am here as a general and also as well to serve you. This person here is Lucis Waesmoira, he too is a general here, second in line, actually. We also have another general who….err...is currently busy.”

“We were going towards Yuriel Mountains when we were struck by an ambush from the enemy. Those dogs, Capote had the insolence to attack us in broad daylight. Humans indeed can’t be trusted, those barbarians. Except you, of course, my liege, you are number one heavens.”

Lantis could sense the fallacy in his talk and coldly replied, “You know, I can sense flattery very well. Keep talking to me like that and I might actually reduce your pay at the end of the month.”

Alyth fell to the ground and replied with a crying tone, “Forgive me, my lord.”

Lantis picked up a bottle of sake and began to drink.

“Alright, get serious. Tell me, did they take any hostages?”

That immediately made both Alyth and Lucis serious. One can sense the true elven auras coming out of their bodies from miles away.

Truly an elf with experience, this was Lantis new remark upon knowing them.

Lucis bitterly laughed and told him the story,

“You know my liege, how humans are. Their fickle nature and their ability to “envy” anything they can’t achieve by themselves and resorting to any methods to obtain them. We are just half-elves, banish from both of our heritage where we are born from but we get to see the best of both worlds has to offer. If there is anything fully common between us all three and makes us similar in a way, that will be the thirst for blood and the need to defend our own kind. Our army was passing through a human village and we were in need of supplies, the people residing there in that village gave us the necessary supplies. They gave us the supplies and we gave them their rightful coins, even though they were not willing to accept it. Later today, our scouts told us that the very same village we had taken supplies from was razed to the ground by those barbarians. No, not the capotes, but mercenaries, that were hired by them. Initially, we were willing to help but we didn’t have much Intel about them. They looted the village and took some hostages; a few eight-year-olds were taken as well. Those who resisted were…”

Lucis stopped, Alyth continued speaking, “and those who resisted were impaled. But such is war. Without necessary Intel, it would have been foolish to engage with them directly. We are already far away from home, a needless battle is the least of our priorities here. We skirmished and managed to release some of the hostages. But most of the barbarians managed to flee.”

Cold silence reigned between the three for a while; Lantis was the first to broke the silence,

“Where did they take them?”

Alyth spoke bewildered, “My lord, could it be you are planning to rescue them at this dark hour? Not to mention the fact that we don’t know anything about them, their numbers, who they are even?”

“It is only because of the fact that it’s this late at night. I am willing to take such a task, you fool.”

“You shouldn’t do such a reckless thing, my liege. It’s dangerous.”

Lantis spoke in a voice with firm resolve, “Look, whatever I am doing. I have my reasons to do so; you are telling me that you feared to engage head-on with the enemy because you lacked Intel. I am cool with that; actually, I should praise you for that. But, what I am gonna do is different. All I need to you to do is guard this camp, tell me where they are and that’s it. “

“But, my lord…”

“No, buts, tell me where they are now?”

The temperature here was quickly decreasing below the freezing point, at this moment a feminine voice suddenly rang out from behind the three.

“They won’t be able to tell you anything because they themselves have very little knowledge where the barbarians went. Expecting something out of them is a futile waste of time and effort.”

The new guest was a woman from the looks. She too had all the features of a half-elf but this time with a few anomalies. For a first, her height was taller than a half-elf, her eyes which was pointy like an elf but thick like a human had two different colours – scarlet and blue, thus Heterochromia, Lantis concluded. She kept her fingernails abnormally sharp and she was wearing dark-violet fur armour, probably of a large wolf or something she had killed before.

But the most abnormal problem with her according to Lantis was- those Mother fucking boobs.

Jesus, are those the fabled legendary E cups or are they DD cups? Whatever they were, they looked distracting. Lantis quickly forced his brain to move on.

“How did you know? And who are you now? Wait, don’t answer that, I know. You must be the third general here or should I say the first in command.”

“Correct. I am Lllorva Beitoris Dmitria Valentinovich. Long name, I know but people like to call me the “Blood Huntress”. You on the other hand, as our temporary liege, can call me any way you want. Just don’t go overboard, will ya.” She gave Lantis a fine wink.

That instantly made Lantis feel butterflies in his stomach.

Lantis silently quickly in his mind issued a command to the system.

“Helix, open feedback and reviews panel”

//HELIX- Do you want to send a feedback to Squaresoft Assembly and GIGA for “Total War Online”?

“Yes.”

He wrote in the feedback log.

“God damn it, you developers. You all are fucking killing me. A Russian elf with Heterochromia? Fucker, how can you all be so ruthless? Do you realise just the idea of this shit can make those single guys empty their sperm tanks for another 100 days? Next time, make a sperm insurance policy, ok?”

“Send.”

The feedback window closed and Lantis looked at her once again.

Little did he know that not more than 50 seconds later, a reply was sent to his inbox about the feedback from one of the content developers in the team-

“( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Enjoy, this is the 866th complaint we have received today concerning her. Don’t worry we are working on it.”

"So Lllorva, do you know where the mercenaries are?” Lantis asked her with a questioning gaze.

“As a matter of fact, I do have an Idea where they might have gone.” Lllorva sat opposite to Lantis, picked up an apple from the bowl and nibbled at it slowly with her snow teeth.

Alyth and Lucis looked at Lllorva with surprise in their eyes, “Lllorva, could it be you went to search for them this late at night?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, why will I do that?” She rolled her eyes and continued.

“I sent my scouts to do some rough work on the terrain. They saw those barbs near the mountains pitching their tents and wooden walls across the forest near a ruined castle. The scouts say they even heard the pitiful wails and cries of the fallen and kidnapped. Probably, they raped the girls and beheaded the lads.”

“I want to go there and now. “ Lantis urged.

“You sure?” Lllorva smiled at him.

“Definitely”

“Do you have any plan?”

Huh?

Lantis looked at her with confusion and blandly asked, “What do you mean?”

“I just said, they are decently fortified and it will be a bit tough to get rid of them so easily. Do you have any plan?”

Lantis thought hard for a long while, he had by now played many VR games. Thus naturally he had met many NPC's with good AI's too. He needs to convince this girl anyhow into making him leave and possibly provide him with some help. But the question is how?

Lantis looked into her deep eyes with wonder. He slowly replied with a fair bit of uncertainty in his voice.

“Actually, I have three, no four plans. I go alone and do the work, clean stuff. The best course of action and it suits me well. But I think you won’t allow that to happen. Another is to blitzkrieg their asses, by taking all our army. That will be a quick but reckless action, might even have a chance to cause casualties. That leaves us with only two choices. Both of which are beneficial to us, if I may say so.”

Lllorva and Lantis both looked into each other’s eyes deep trying to read each other. Their intentions unclear, their thinking divided. Both of them seemed like demon kings from deep down hell-bent on conquering the world.

“And what they might be?”

Lantis took a drink of cold water and told her,

“Divide and rule. Hit and Run.”

Lllorva silently nodded and stood up, pulled down her armour to make it neater and unsheathed her long sword.

“Alright boys, playtime is over! Bring me my ride and get one for him too.”

“What!!?”

“Holy shit!! You too, Lllorva?”

Alyth and Lucis screamed at the unexpected decision. They were so surprised that they even thought if they were dreaming.

This vixen wants to go out this late at night to catch some bandits. It was alright if you want to go for hunting or to search for a treasure. But to go to such a fortified place this late at night. Surely, she must be going through her periods.

“You two are to stay here to look after the camp. I and he are more than enough for them. “

She then looked at the practice grounds where soldiers were training. She pointed her fingers to various men and women to call them up.

“Hey!!You, you, you, you too and you, come over here. Bring me your companions too; we are going for a hunt.”

Lantis looked at her and felt really great. At least he managed to convince someone, that too one heck of a bombshell.

He sincerely thanked her, “I owe you one, girl.”

“Don’t mention it; I was getting bored here anyway. War-chief.”

But even though Lantis looked really thankful from the outside and one might think of him as a pervert at first glance, no one knew at this very moment if he was given a chance he would have laughed loudly at all of those people until his throats would have hurt.

Girl, You are just daydreaming if you think you can trade terms with me. At the end of the day, I will be the one to rule and I will be the one to divide them all.

Ting!

You have managed to convince "Lllorva" to give you a "company" of 60 troops!!

You have gained "intel" and "knowledge" from Lllorva.

You have a much better understanding of the surrounding area now giving you +0.5 tactical advantage.

At least 30 troops should survive this mission.

You are to reach the next checkpoint to begin your trial.

Lantis thought of only one thing.

Meh, it was a piece of cake.

Let’s begin the hunt.