There wasn't much organizing to do. We had our best and highest-level fighters in the front, everyone with unevolved classes would lag.

"Are we ready?" I still didn't like the idea of attacking them. I drew out Tranquility. She was already glowing blue. Not because they attacked us, but because they weren't open to not attacking us.

Her blue glue meant she was ready to exact my judgement.

Durkil loomed next to me holding his Warhammer in two hands, thick blue armor covering him head to toe.

"We're ready."

I set their leader firmly in my crosshairs. "Let's go then."

With Mischief gone somewhere else my agility was the highest in our faction, but Durkil held his own. We sprinted forward at speeds that would rival a supercar. With mental action I moved the dome of protection to cover the area directly in front of the elf raiders.

It wouldn't be an effective long-term strategy, but it would keep the bulk of their attacks stifled for the seconds it took us to charge their lines.

There was an immediate explosion once the change was made.

My goal was to place the wall of the dome directly between the first and second row of elves.

The hope was that some of the area of effect magic attacks might detonate on the barrier causing some confusion during our charge. It would also isolate a group of enemies to fight with at least some protection.

To my delight, It worked better than expected.

A fireball detonated against the barrier, sending a wave of elves tumbling backward. The best part was that the commotion pulled the attention from our charge right as Durkil, and I arrived.

He roared and leapt high into the air bringing his hammer down in an attack that sucked in the air around it.

Whooommmm!

The hammer crashed down with concussive force. The elf's eyes widened, and it raised a spear and shield reflexively. There was a strange brief buzzing noise like static, and the hammer suspended in the air just for a heartbeat—just long enough for the elf to realize its fate.

The hammer crashed down driving the elf into the dirt.

The earth became the anvil to Durkil's hammer.

Shield, armor and the chest inside all collapsed with a grinding squelch. If the elf survived it wouldn't be for long.

Durkil's attack did more than just kill his enemy. He brutalized the elf in a single attack.

Everyone around him noticed.

Including the dark elf leader. His eyes bugged out, smug grin falling slack.

What?

Isn't this what you wanted?

He would have a barrier spell active. I guess I'd get to see how well Tranquility handled it while glowing.

My gut told me that even though the raids were going to be harder, the real threats would be coming from the open dungeons.

We hadn't cleared anything above level 25. That meant even though these raiders were better equipped and more professional then the others, we'd have levels on them.

I was right. The leader saw my attack and prepared. It went about as well as his soldiers did.

Tranquility, glowing with its power up, bit through everything.

The leader of the elves raid tumbled into two pieces.

You have killed Dark Elf Marauder (Faction Leader) Level 29

This whole fight was such a waste. That would mean the rest of these elves would barely be evolved. They'd all die just after having a taste of true power.

And for what? The elf leader was dead. I watched his life fade away, ignoring all the chaos around me.

My training took over and I fell into my sword forms.

A massive hand grabbed me on the shoulder.

Huh?

Whoever grabbed me, would have to be friendly. We learned that barrier somehow understood intent, or maybe who I considered threats. Meaning if someone was touching me, it was definitely an ally.

My eyes caught the fingers of an armored blue hand.

I looked up.

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Durkil?

His face was covered by his dark blue helmet.

"Look" He pointed with his head.

It was quiet. I turned and looked back toward the fighting. All along the lines of the elves they were dropping their weapons and kneeling with their hands behind their heads.

I gaped.

What on earth?

Surrendering?

Was I so locked into killing the faction leader that I hadn't noticed the rest of the Elve's giving themselves up?

The grass shuffled behind me. I didn't need to look. It would be Ellison. My attention was on the water wizard.

He knelt twenty yards away, hands locked behind his head like the rest. He watched me, lips pursed, concerned.

"Layton." Ellisons voice was low. "Can you believe this?"

***

The dark elf's weapons were collected, and we herded what was left of them into a tight group.

Unbelievably, only twenty of them had been killed before they began to surrender.

"Still, no completed objective." I said scratching my chin.

"What do you think we're missing?" Nick waved his hands at the gathered raiders. "They've clearly given themselves up. What is the system waiting for?"

It didn't really make sense to me. We all agreed that disarming and subduing the enemy would be sufficient for the system to close the raid if anything was. So far though, no dice.

What were we missing?

"What if we need to do more? What if we chain them up or build a prison or something?" Durkil already recalled his armor and wore baggy leather pants and a white shirt.

"Yeah…Maybe." We still had the chains from the slaver dungeon, but there were only thirty cuffs. There were over 500 dark elves sitting in the grass. "That seems like a lot though."

We technically didn't even know if it was possible to take prisoners or not. But I was sure it was. Otherwise, what would happen?

It's not like the world would just stop turning. Would it? Most likely we would just miss out on the objective reward and in one week the next raid would come just like normal.

"Sooo…we're still going to need a prison though…right?" Alex raised a good point. It would have to be a big prison.

"You know, we could always see what they have to say about this whole situation."

Typical Ellison, being the voice of reason. The water mage hadn't stopped watching me since they all surrendered. It was getting uncomfortable. Was she mad that I had killed their leader?

She didn't seem all that mad, more like curious.

"I think that is a great idea." I agreed, pointing to the water mage. "Let's start the conversation with that one." She recoiled slightly at me, noticing her.

Now that we weren't actively trying to kill each other, it was hard not to notice how pretty the tall dark elf was. She had dark green almond eyes and high cheekbones with long dark flowing hair that fell from her hood over her shoulders.

Durkil and Alex parted the few elves sitting in front of her gesturing for her to come forward. She pushed herself up, straightening her robe. She really was tall, at least half a head taller than me.

She was gently ushered forward and didn't resist.

I noticed Ellison fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Was Ellison actually nervous?

"You know I trust you."

He let go of the hem and clasped his hands behind his back. "Thank you, Layton. Let's hope for a better outcome this time."

I nodded.

This time, whether they liked it or not, we had their undivided attention.

"We hoped to have discourse under different circumstances." All signs of previous nerves gone. "My name is Ellison. This is Layton, our faction leader." He pointed his hand toward me.

The dark elf shifted her eyes onto me. I waved a hand in a wide circle. She cocked her head.

"If you're willing, we would like to understand what your expectations are of us, now that you've surrendered."

Her eyes bore into me, narrowing. She spoke. Her voice was soft and airy.

I didn't understand a single word. No surprise there.

"Unfortunately, Layton is unable to understand you. I have his full confidence to speak on his behalf however, if you'd like I'd be happy to translate."

She nodded. And spoke slowly. Ellison waited for her to finish.

"She wants to know why you tried to negotiate with them in the raid if you knew you had the superior force."

To be fair, I wasn't one thousand percent sure we were the superior force, but I was pretty sure.

Goatee boy had also felt the same way though. I just happened to be right.

I shrugged. "That's easy. Our priority is peace whenever possible."

He translated. She responded in one word.

I didn't need Ellison to translate her response. She wanted to know why.

"We view strength differently here in our faction. Just because we can kill doesn't always mean we should."

She waited to hear the translation. Her eyebrows scrunched up. She looked annoyed. I didn't get it, why would that bother her? Shouldn't that be a good thing?

She pointed at me, her words sharp.

"She says 'you didn't seem to feel that way when you cut our leader into two pieces'"

Ouch.

Yeah, I could see how she might feel that way. But also, it wasn't exactly fair. We had offered to resolve the conflict peacefully before I cut him in half.

"Your leader chose that fate. Like I said, we prefer peace, but we aren't going to lie down and die either."

I sighed. This back and forth was getting exhausting already. But Ellison did his job admirably. She folded her arms.

"What's her name?"

There was a brief back and forth.

"Enora."

Yeah, that's a great elf name.

"Ask Enora if her faction leader would have surrendered if I hadn't killed him."

Arms folded she gave me a flat stare.

"She says most likely not. She also asked if there was any way that she could speak directly with you."

There was a way. "Not unless she is willing to join our faction. Right?"

"Unless we want to spend the money from the relief fund to buy it."

I scratched my chin. Eventually we would need to buy it. But I didn't want to waste the relief fund after just barely starting it.

"I know it's a long shot but let her know what she'd need to do."

He did. And a moment later, I was hit with a system prompt.

A potentially hostile party, Enora Lymrah, has requested to join your faction.

Wow. That was easier than expected. I accepted the request.

"Welcome to the faction Enora."

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