Chapter 206 – The Secret Realm of the Elves

Quel’Dani is an elven colony nestled under the Eagle’s Nest Mountains, so it’s not far in a straight line between the two.

Except that it was surrounded by a forest so dense as to be unnatural, and at dusk Jace could see this seemingly lavender roof from afar, but once he entered this forest, there was not a trace of it to be seen.

As a half-decent mage who had been exposed to arcane magic at the Sorcerer’s Sanctuary, Jace clearly sensed that there was quite powerful arcane energy surrounding this place, which had inevitably been transformed by the elves.

“The elves may have set a trap here, Grid.” He warned.

Grid agreed, “Amani trolls rarely dare to invade this forest directly, there must be a reason.”

The two had been walking through the forest for half a day, and although they had been heading in the direction where they had seen the purple roof, it felt like they couldn’t get anywhere for a long time.

Just as Jace was about to suggest a different option to continue finding his way, he suddenly noticed a figure in front of him.

“Hello, we’re lost.” Jess tried to say.

“We’re not lost!” Grid yelled.

“That’s not lost?” Jace pointed to the sky, “It’s almost dark, have you been here Quel’Dani or not ……”

“Of course I’ve been here!” Grider licked his lips and added, “But not by myself ……”

The person stepped closer, an elf indeed, dressed in a short dark green robe and carrying a silver spear in her hand, her eyes keeping a wary eye on Jace’s staff.

“Hello, ma’am, can you take us to Quel’danny?” Jace asked.

The elf said, “State your intentions, both of you, even if we are allies now, that doesn’t mean you can come and go here as you please.”

“Come on, Jace, tell her who sent us.” Grid said as he patted Jace’s big heart.

“Ms. Winressa Windrunner told us to come here to look for a botanist named Vinaleel Sunseeker.”

Jace was kinda glad he remembered the name.

“I see.” The elf’s eyes pranced back and forth between the two men for a moment and said, “State your names.”

“Jace Sesso.”

“Greedy Thunderfist.”

The elf nodded and said, “Follow me.”

“Surprisingly, it really ……” Grider looked surprised and whispered closer, “That little aunt-in-law’s words really work!”

Jace gave him a look and asked, “Which means you didn’t really believe me until now?”

“You have to admit …… you don’t trust it 100% either, do you?!” Grider said, “That Winressa Windrunner, she doesn’t look like she’s very trustworthy.”

“Do you have a grudge against her ……,” Jace said narrowing his eyes, “Don’t you forget that if it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t even see a solution to your problems.”

“Ouch I am thankful for her la, truly thankful.” Grid scratched his hair and said, “But that’s just it, I always thought she wouldn’t go to such great lengths to help us, but I’m getting more and more convinced now.”

“Maybe it’s just the people!” Jess muttered.

He recalled that night, when he had turned back some of his energy and Shadow energy with the life diversion that was not many times scarier than the game, it seemed that Winressa had seen herself with her afterglow during the fight.

He had been in such a rush to get a spell out on Talon Bloodmagic at the time, concentrating on holding his staff before he was grabbed by the other side again, and then he had been so busy for days afterward that he hadn’t had time to properly recall the situation, and he had almost forgotten the look of shock in her eyes at that moment.

I don’t know if she was surprised at the evilness of this sudden outburst of Shadow energy, or if she was worried that she would be tortured to death by the Shadow, or if it was both.

At that moment, Jace remembered what Grid had told himself earlier in the ancient troll ruins, and also felt that he shouldn’t keep anything to himself anymore.

“Actually, there’s something I haven’t told you yet.”

“You keep a chimera?” The dwarf asked.

“Huh?” Jace stared at him and said, “Not …… I don’t have any other demons. I’m talking about the other night, the night that dealt with Talon Blood Demon.”

“You, indeed.” Grid said, “I knew that according to you, Windwalker couldn’t have helped us so much.”

Jace lowered his voice and said, “I know one other spell, besides Fear Magic, Weakness, and Life Sucking, a magic that even that demon you just saw felt was a bit evil, and that is to trade your own life energy for the power of the Shadow, to get a chance to fight for your life in the most extreme situations. I used this spell the other night, and I wasn’t going to tell you about it, Grid, but you did, and it couldn’t be kept from you.”

Grid was silent for a moment, chanting, “Trading your life for the power of the Shadow is evil even to demons. Your description gives me a bit of a bad feeling, Jace Sesso ……”

“I know it’s not good either, but it’s Talon Blood Demon, Grid.” Jace said, “I was prepared to pay a huge price when I was asked to deal with a being like that, or I wouldn’t be able to stand here.”

“Well, it’s just a matter of surviving.” Grid said, “I haven’t faced Talon Blood Demon directly, but I’ve heard of his evil reputation countless times, if it were me, I would definitely fight for my life by any means necessary, and since Winressa is willing to help you, she must also understand what you’ve given. Not bad little girl, knows how to repay kindness, I thought this quality had long since gone extinct in Quel’thalas.”

As the elf moved forward, it didn’t take long to leave the forest and come to a delicate gravel road.

Jace and Grider couldn’t find this place by driving around in the forest, and for a moment the two thought they were going to be stuck in there all night.

So, the so-called magic trap might be that forest itself, a place where one could never go without a Quel’danian elf leading the way.

Quel’Dani seemed much more austere than the exaggerated buildings in the elven areas of Dalaran, like an elven village built from materials taken from the local area of Sintran.

The main building of this village is a rather tall, two-story elven wooden temple built on the edge of a pond, and underneath it some elaborate wooden houses forming a square with a stone pillar shrine that still emits a faint fluorescent glow even at night, as if a swarm of cocooning firebugs were surrounding it.

A sword-wielding elven guard exchanged a word or two with the female elf leading the way, glanced at Jace and Grid, and moved out of the way.

Jace noticed a couple of beautiful logs at the back of this hall, and on one of them was squatting a beautiful giant bird, quite a bit larger than even a griffin.

It coiled its entire body around the wood like a jumble of gold and red vines, and two curved horns grew from its huge, bulky, vulture-like head.

The way it hung on that log inexplicably reminded Jace of the black dragon on that sentry tower.

It’s a dragon eagle.