The Elven Cultivator

Chapter 337: Chapter 310: I Want to Destroy Nine Nether City More Than You Do

SHHFF!

With a soft whoosh, Cuirning’s shortsword sliced through the chest of the ethereal monster before her.

Where the blade passed, the translucent body split in two like torn gossamer.

The two severed halves disintegrated in the air, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye as if they had never existed.

As the last monster completely dissipated, the sudden skirmish came to an end.

The tunnel fell silent once more, leaving only the sound of everyone’s heavy breathing and the faint dripping of a few yet-to-dry beads of blood from the rock wall.

Cuirning sheathed her sword and turned to survey her team, her expression immediately darkening.

Several of her clansmen were wounded.

Another lay motionless on the rocky ground five paces away, their pupils dilated and their chest no longer rising and falling. They were clearly dead.

The enemy’s attack had been too sudden, coming without any warning.

The ethereal monsters had emerged silently from all directions—from the ceiling, the floor, and the walls—as if seeping out of the very rock.

Even though she had reacted quickly enough to strike and kill them first, she still hadn’t been able to protect all of her clansmen.

Cuirning wasn’t heartbroken over her clansmen’s deaths.

In Vion City, the death of the weak was a perfectly normal occurrence, not worth wasting emotion on.

What she truly cared about were the monsters themselves.

After all, the Dark Elves she had brought with her were the clan’s elite.

In any other city-state, a single one of them could handle three to five ordinary soldiers of the same tier.

But against those bizarre ethereal monsters, their much-vaunted combat skills were almost useless.

If she, a Golden Tier, hadn’t been there to hold the line, the squad would have likely been wiped out.

Even the elites of Vion City had suffered losses; one could only imagine how the armies of other city-states would fare against these monsters.

No wonder the alliance’s forces had been suffering defeat after defeat, losing over ten thousand soldiers in just one month.

Only Casters or Silver Tier Warriors who could imbue their weapons with Magic Power could inflict any real damage on these monsters with their ethereal properties.

If ordinary soldiers engaged them in close combat, they wouldn’t even be able to wear them down. They would just be slaughtered in droves.

’Puppets with ethereal properties...’

Cuirning muttered to herself, her brows knitted tightly together.

From what she knew of the surface Elves, the pointy-ears’ style had always favored nimble, precise craftsmanship and the natural application of Magic Power.

But these monsters were completely different from her impression of the Elven style.

They were more like the natural products of shades and wraiths from the Dark Nether Realm.

But Cuirning had no more time to dwell on it.

She took a deep breath, pushing her heavy thoughts aside for the moment. Looking up at the remaining members of her team, she gave a cold command, ”Pack up. We’re returning to the city.”

The team quickly regrouped and quietly retraced their steps.

After passing through the last arched fissure, their view suddenly opened up.

The ground became relatively flat, and dense colonies of moss began to appear on the rock walls. Layers upon layers of faint blue patches of light spread out, illuminating the space ahead.

They had arrived at Vion City.

Cuirning led her team through a web of paths winding between stalactites and stone pillars, finally entering the main building of the Vion Clan.

Without lingering, she ordered her clansmen to go and rest. Then, pulling her cloak tight, she bypassed the antechamber, went down a narrow corridor lit by dark red torches on both sides, and walked straight into the deepest hall.

The hall was not large. A few tapestries woven from animal hides with silk thread hung on the stone walls.

In the center was a low table of black stone. On it rested a half-extinguished bone-oil lamp, its flame flickering twice on the wick, casting shifting shadows.

Marais sat behind the table, her head slightly lowered as if studying something spread out before her.

Hearing footsteps, she merely lifted her eyelids slightly without speaking.

Cuirning walked to the table and knelt on one knee.

”Mother.”

”Speak,” Marais said succinctly.

In a low, rapid voice, Cuirning recounted the encounter on their journey.

She included the ethereal monsters’ appearance, attack patterns, and their ability to regenerate their bodies.

Marais listened, then fell silent for a moment.

The flickering firelight cast dancing shadows on the side of her face, making her exquisite features seem all the more inscrutable.

After a long moment, she finally gave a slight nod. ”Understood.”

”Mother, what should we do next—” Cuirning began tentatively, but Marais cut her off.

”Go and rest for now,” Marais said, her tone flat and devoid of emotion.

Cuirning pressed her lips together. She asked no more questions, rose, and left the hall.

The stone door slid shut behind her with a dull, grinding sound.

Only Marais remained in the hall.

She leaned back in her chair, the faint veneer of composure on her face vanishing as if wiped away, revealing an undisguised gloom beneath.

”How do you explain this?”

In a shadowed corner by the stone wall, a gray-black silhouette stirred slightly.

Two dark red points of light emerged from the shadows, their movement heavy with hesitation as if weighing its words.

”I was also surprised. Silver... Nine Nether City has never before displayed such strange puppets.”

Marais stared coldly at the shadow. ”Do you have any idea how many soldiers we’ve lost during this time? All because of your intelligence failure, and the immense losses it has caused us.”

The two points of light on the shadow flickered, as if it were smiling. ”The other city-states are the ones who suffered heavy losses. Vion City has been preserving its strength. Your casualties haven’t been that great, have they?”

Marais said nothing, only continuing to stare at it coldly.

The shadow softened its tone. ”At this point, complaining is useless. I suggest you abandon guerrilla warfare and move the battlefield to the Fertile Soil region.”

”In open terrain, the ethereal puppets’ advantage will be greatly diminished, making them easier to deal with.”

”Without the cover of rock walls, they’ll have to approach head-on. Casters can take them out with focused fire from a distance.”

Marais lowered her eyes, as if weighing something.

After a while, she spoke slowly, her voice laced with a cold calm. ”You had better have a way to deal with Nine Nether City, just as you claimed. Otherwise...”

”Rest assured, I want to see Nine Nether City destroyed even more than you do.”

The shadow’s voice was full of confidence.

But only it knew how much of that was just a bluff.

What it didn’t say was that on the battlefields where those ethereal monsters had appeared, its own organization had been completely unable to collect any death energy.

This was undoubtedly a very strange situation.

But this was something Marais absolutely could not know. Otherwise, given the cunning and suspicious nature of the Dark Elves, she would tear up their agreement without a second thought and might even backstab them.

Regardless, they had to collect enough death energy as soon as possible, or their subsequent plans could not move forward.

And on an open battlefield, the rate at which death energy was generated from massive casualties far surpassed what could be produced in small-scale skirmishes.

Even if the ethereal puppets still consumed a portion of it, the remainder would be enough to support their plans.

After receiving a firm answer, Marais paid the shadow no more mind.

She lowered her eyes again, her gaze falling upon the crude map spread across the table. A faint glint flashed in the depths of her pupils before it was quickly swallowed by the flickering lamplight.