Elven Village Defense Operation ①
【Elven Outpost Beyond the Barrier】
When asked what task elves consider most dangerous, most would answer the outpost patrol beyond the protective barrier surrounding their village.
The barrier encircling the village has never been breached in its long history—absolute defense.
Yet, this does not permit complacency.
Even in peacetime, elves station patrols beyond the barrier, conducting routine sweeps to detect anomalies.
This task is considered the most perilous for elves due to the presence of a certain creature dwelling outside the barrier.
The creature is known as Queen Tarract.
A mythic-level entity, said to number five across the world.
One of these five.
Queen Tarract resides within this forest.
Closer than one might expect—directly adjacent to the Elven village.
Queen Tarract produces subordinate monsters through her Skill: Oviposition.
These monsters target Elves relentlessly and attack without pause.
Lower-tier specimens possess no notable strength.
However, Tarract-type monsters experience exponential increases in power through evolution.
Evolved, mature Tarract-type monsters become凶悪 creatures comparable to Dragon-kind.
Within the forest beyond the barrier, evolved specimens of the Tarract species lie in wait.
Even lower-tier individuals occasionally construct nests. Those captured within such nests perish—sometimes even seasoned Elves cannot escape.
The barrier provides safety. Outside, the forest becomes a spider's hunting ground.
The most dangerous location for Elves.
Yet now, a different threat had gathered beyond the barrier.
Human Alliance forces.
An army centered on the Lengzant Empire.
In a place normally dominated by the Taratect species, human forces had established positions and awaited.
The form of the Taratect was invisible.
The Elves presumed it had been driven out by the legion.
They doubted the Queen could be defeated—but the Queen rarely moved of her own accord.
She appeared to be abandoned.
The entity that had threatened the Elves until now had been overcome by the entity currently threatening them.
Only the nature of the threat had changed. To the Elves, either outcome remained unwelcome.
The Elf watcher observed the legion.
Notable was the presence of a mage group encircled by rigid defenses, actively preparing large-scale magic for several days.
Elves, possessing long lifespans and deep intellect, naturally held skills and knowledge equal to or exceeding those of humans.
Even when compared to known systems, no matching spell pattern emerged—this was an unknown magical construct.
Its scale exceeds even tactical-class magic, classified as a great spell, by a factor of approximately double.
A preparation period of several days is abnormal.
The outcome of such a massive spell being cast was beyond prediction, even with elven knowledge.
The elven watcher considered how to exploit a gap, attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
However, it was never carried out.
Basic tactics in the elven forest involve ascending trees and raining magic and arrows upon ground-level opponents from above.
The Garam Woods are formed by great trees, resulting in wider spacing between trunks than in ordinary forests. Yet, being a forest, the terrain remains narrow and complex compared to open ground.
A difficult location for maneuvering a legion. Movement inevitably slows. Formation breaks apart as units avoid the trees that serve as obstacles.
If attacked from above, the formation would collapse entirely.
Elven tactics rely on guerrilla warfare. They are intimately familiar with forests and trained specifically for combat within them.
They move independently, yet coordinate to corner the enemy.
The observers had dispersed, watching the legion from multiple angles.
Their heads fell almost simultaneously.
No understanding of what occurred.
No awareness of their own deaths.
"Huh. So easy to take them from behind? Elves aren't that impressive, are they?"
The boy who severed the elven heads was one.
To any observer, he would have been called a ninja.
Black garb. A sword at his waist.
The blade had severed the elven heads.
"Damn old man. Always dumping trouble on me."
The boy scratched his head with genuine irritation.
The magic crafted over several days activated within his eyes.
"Anyway, winging it's best. It's just a farce, anyway."
The boy had eliminated every elf in the scattered formation—single-handedly.
He watched the barrier fracture violently as magic struck it, bending unnaturally.
It appeared as though the barrier broke only because the magic had hit it.
Yet the boy noticed the unnaturalness.
Something other than magic had broken the barrier.
He perceived it that way—and he knew, factually, that it was so.
"Then, I’m off. Sorry, Kyō. But I value my own life more."
The boy looked down upon the advancing legion.
With contempt. With disdain.
"Handled this part well enough. Should manage the rest too. Or is there even a chance it won’t work? This setup?"
The boy vanished into the woods, unconcerned.
Following his departure, the monsters concealed within the darkness stirred as well.