Almost at the same time, the High Elf commander Yefugeni, along with a mere four Moonshadow Assassins, charged back to the coast with a resolution to die in battle.
As a result, they stood agape, just like Drow Hiatt before them, staring at the empty sea where only their ship remained.
The immense psychological shock even made the adrenaline-fueled Yefugeni momentarily dizzy.
However, unlike the weeping Drow, the High Elves couldn't help but feel an unexpected surge of delight by instinct and began to hope for the best:
Could it be that I guessed wrong?
Actually, are no Drow Elves involved?
Or is their landing spot not here?
That's not right either. The nearest natural harbor deep enough for docking is at least twenty kilometers away.
Or perhaps I still underestimated those two dragons? Could they still devour all pursuers in that state?
All sorts of conjectures surfaced only to be dismissed. The heavy mental load soon made this High Elf, repeatedly tormented physically and mentally by David, feel hungry. She let out a wry laugh and said to her few subordinates behind her, "It seems fate has played a cruel joke on us."
"You've all worked hard today. Let's go back to the ship and get something to eat."
"Trust me, as long as we find those two dragons, a bright future awaits every one of us."
"Yes, Commander!" The four Moonshadow Assassins lacked Yefugeni's mental fortitude. The thrill of swinging between hell and paradise left them too excited to speak, merely exchanging foolish grins.
But just as the elves, dreaming of promotions and riches courtesy of the dragons, stepped onto the deck and approached the cabin door, Yefugeni, leading the way, suddenly halted.
Though the attentive Yefugeni found no traces of the "Magic Alarm," "Magic Trap," or "Watchdog Guard" having been triggered, she was shocked to see the wooden frame of the cabin door... it was covered in cracks and scrapes, as if something had stretched it wider.
Could some beast have broken in while it was unguarded?
But what kind of creature of that size could enter the cabin and leave the Magic Alarm, Magic Trap, and Watchdog Guard intact?
Dragons...
Those two dragons!
Had they shaken off all pursuers, anticipated my 'misjudgment,' and circled back to ambush me on my own ship?
This almost inconceivable possibility plunged the danger-sensitive Yefugeni into an abyss of dread. Without further hesitation, she drew her sword and shouted, "All hands, to battle stations!!!"
The words had barely left her mouth when a volley of fluorescent arrows and a viscous green magical ray erupted from the cabin door, which suddenly swung open on its own. Another small figure emerged, almost tailing their shadows.
Amidst sharp CLINKING sounds, Yefugeni only managed to deflect two arrows aimed at her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a subordinate beside her take an arrow to the eye socket. The powerful impact nearly tore off the top of her skull, yet her face still bore the lingering smile from Yefugeni's description of a beautiful dream.
"No!!!" The extreme emotional reversal was like a cello bow sawing at her nerves.
But the string of her composure, though still trembling resiliently, was tested. The charging figure had already feigned an attack, tricking her into using her life-saving spell, "Flash," to create distance. This maneuver allowed Yefugeni to witness her other three subordinates, who had barely managed to roll aside, get cleanly beheaded by the enemy, showing little pain.
And these maneuvers, they were all too familiar, so familiar she wished she could flay the assailant with her gaze alone.
She practically spat out the attacker's name through gritted teeth, "Spider Nest City's Shadow Dancer, Krista Xiyate!"
"Dewensen's Sword Dancer, Kiara Yefugeni," Hiatt announced, standing poised like a crescent moon, her blade resting by her side. She looked up in mild surprise, then a smile touched her lips.
"I was wondering why this all-or-nothing fighting style seemed familiar. I never expected... no, it really is you, isn't it?"
As she spoke, she slowly rose, sheathing her blade and tilting her head slightly. "You've lost. Surrender. This time, you have no chance to escape."
"Even if I am defeated, it won't be by your hand, you whom I've defeated before!"
But Yefugeni showed no sign of surrendering. Instead, her gaze fell upon the Red Dragon insignia on the Drow's lower abdomen, and she sneered, "It seems I was right after all. I just didn't expect that even a Drow like you would choose to become a dog—a hunting hound for a Red Dragon, no less."
Before Hiatt could respond, Yefugeni lifted her chin proudly and continued, "Have your Red Dragon master come out. I wish to meet him."
"Oh? Why do you want to see me? Do you really think I'd take on another High Elf as a pet? You must be daydreaming! Fuck, I'm stuck again! Tania, give me a push from behind!"
David had just managed to squeeze his upper body through the narrow Elven doorway when he found his considerable backside wedged again. His disdain for the High Elves' stinginess grew another notch.
It's a perfectly good doorway! Couldn't you have made it a bit more grand and dignified? Huh?!
[Wrath]
"Alright! I'm pushing, little brother, put some more oomph into it!"
Then there was a loud BANG.
Finally, after repeated abuse from the two collaborating dragons, the doorframe was forcibly torn from the cabin structure, ending up around David's waist like an orange Elizabethan collar.
Except cats wear theirs around their necks; David wore his around his butt.
The deck, moments before a scene of life-and-death struggle, suddenly fell silent.
After a pause, David broke the silence. However, the inadvertent Elizabethan collar somewhat diminished his previously imposing presence when he spoke, "COUGH, COUGH. Alright, if you have any last words, say them now. I'm listening."
Embarrassed at being seen in such a state, David decided to just get it over with and kill her quickly.
As if a jammed film reel had started turning again, Yefugeni, pretending not to have seen his predicament, continued her plea, "I wish for you to kill me personally."
She paused, then added, "And then, eat me."
Hearing this, David recoiled, a look of profound suspicion and disgust contorting his features. "You haven't secretly taken poison, have you? Hoping to give me a bad case of diarrhea?"
So that's her idea of revenge, huh?
"...Of course not."
Her head was spinning. Yefugeni took a deep breath, finally managing to steel herself and return to her earlier resolve to face death. She was deeply moved by her own tragic plight. After glancing at the Silver Dragon, who watched impassively with folded claws, she once again lifted her passionate gaze to David and said, "Do you know? Although I still don't know your name, from the moment I first saw you, I knew..."
"You are the embodiment of my dreams, my childhood fantasies brought to life."
"How I long to ride upon you..."
"Stop, stop, stop! What in the blazes are you talking about? Are all you Elves this shameless? Trying a last-minute seduction to cheat death? What kind of dragon do you take me for, huh?" David interrupted, growing impatient. He waved a claw at the Drow.
"Hurry up and deal with her. This long-ear talks way too much."
Continuously interrupted, Yefugeni's composure finally crumbled; the tightly wound string of her nerves snapped.
She collapsed to the ground in a heap, tears streaming down her face, even choking on her own saliva. She looked at the Drow, who seemed lost in thought, and cried out, "GUH... Kill me."
Anyone, please, just hurry up and end it. Destroy me.
This filthy, ugly world...
I've truly had enough of it.