487 Encounters in the Forest

Hilde was fidgeting in her seat while she avoided eye contact. Ren realized that the woman was holding something back.

"What is it?" Ren pressed on.

Hilde paused, seemingly weighing her words before she decided to speak about what was holding her back.

"It's just that . . . Amilia came by less than an hour after Aimon, which seems a bit too soon to be worried. And she came back fast too, so either she wasn't doing a very good job looking, or she'd already found him . . . I don't know. It's just weird, is all."

[The Quest, SAVE ELDERMILL, has been updated!]

"Thank you for your hospitality," said Ren.

[Your Relationship Level with Hilde has increased!]

When Hilde didn't have much else to offer, Ren went on his way after the woman said that he was free to crash at her place if he needed a place to stay in the night.

After which Ren went to the forest, moving in between the various locations in the Verdant Forest. It was still afternoon at that time, with the sun high up above the sky.

As Ren traversed the map, clinking metal and shouting alerted him that there was something going on further up the trail. As he approached, he saw three lean elves armed with knives and crossbows edging closer to two young, sword-wielding dark elves.

One of the dark Elves had a crossbow bolt protruding from the back of their thigh, and one of the white elves was bleeding from a cut hand.

A prompt then appeared in front of Ren.

[The lumberjacks saw the dark elves sabotaging a watermill near the lumberyard and chased after them. The dark elves would have gotten away if it wasn't for a lucky crossbow shot that caught one of them in the leg.]

"Hey! Right on time!" An elf said. "These blasted dark elves are sabotaging our mills! Help us get rid of them!"

Ren looked over at the dark elves while they didn't offer any explanation for themselves.

Ren was then given four choices.

[Help out the Elves]

[Help out the Dark Elves]

[Intervene with both parties]

[Do nothing and go on your way]

Hmm . . . it looked like option number three was ideal though Ren didn't know where it would lead.

Not caring about the consequences of his choice, Ren pressed the third option, and both parties had suddenly turned against him.

"What are you doing?" the elves hollered. "They're enemies."

"They're the reason why our town is suffering in the first place!"

Ren didn't know how it happened, but the two sides were pointing their weapons at him now. He didn't have qualms about it, though, since his ATP was high compared to the elves and dark elves in front of him.

If they wanted to fight him, so be it. It was faster than words, anyway.

Ren stood ready, his hands at his sides, his eyes fixed on the eight elves before him. The four dark elves were cloaked in shadow, their eyes glinting with malice, while the four white elves looked nervous but determined.

Ren knew that he had to act quickly, or he would be overwhelmed by their magic. Eight to one, he threw an area dud to paralyze his foes before shooting [Sunrays] at them.

A blinding light exploded around Ren, enveloping the entire clearing. When the light faded, half of the elves lay unconscious on the ground, their bodies smoking.

But they didn't die. Apparently, his choice prevented him from killing the elves or them at each other. Once their HP was reduced to one, they slumped on the floor and couldn't move.

With a flick of his wrist, Ren summoned a bolt of lightning, which crackled through the air and struck the nearest dark elf. The elf staggered, but the others recovered quickly, unleashing a wave of dark energy that slammed into Ren's [Shamanic Ward], sending him stumbling backward.

Seizing the opportunity, Ren summoned a series of [Flames], which streaked towards the group of elves. They scattered, but two were not quick enough, and the fire exploded on impact, engulfing the elves in flames.

The remaining elves closed in, their eyes blazing with anger. Ren held his ground, weaving intricate patterns with his hands as he chanted a spell. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath the elves' feet, and they stumbled and fell as the earth opened up beneath them.

Ren turned to face the elves and smiled grimly.

"Do you still want to continue?"

The others grumbled under their breath while looking over at him from the ground.

Eventually, Ren convinced both sides to lay down their arms using brute magic. The white elves were lying unconscious on the ground, and only the dark elves stayed awake for questioning.

There were three questions that Ren could ask that showed on his screen when he faced the Dark elves.

He then inquired the dark elves. "Why are you sabotaging the logging operations?"

The dark elves looked at each other before one of them answered.

"It's to stop them from cutting down the northern forest. They're borderline into our home."

Ren recalled that the Dark Elves lived in the rolling mountains passed the forest. But he guessed that some created their homes at the edge of their borders.

While some of them chose created a home in the forest or even hid in the forest. Maybe because the forest was abundant compared to the mountains.

Ren didn't know. One thing was for sure, every race wasn't bound to a single territory in COVENANT. They were spread out and the players would even stumbled upon them in the most unlikely places.

"Are the Dark Elves behind these curse?" Ren asked straight to the point.

"NO." The dark elf vehemently shook his head. "We are not behind this curse. But only the druid Kail'ithal knew what is happening."

"How about Aimon? Do you know where he is?" Ren asked further.

The dark elves looked at each other and said, "We don't. Kail'ithal's own son went missing a few weeks ago too."

[The Quest, SAVE ELDERMILL, has been updated!]

Since Ren chose the third option, where he sided with no one and no one died because of his choice, the dark elves offered to guide him into their home, which Ren readily obliged.

He only hope that he was making the right choices here.