About an hour later

Team 18 arrived at the front line

"Old Li, this area is up to you now."

Captain Lu Hao of Team 9 patted Li Canghai's arm with a weary look, and advised:

"Recently, the dark elves' offensives have become increasingly fierce, and another batch of mercenaries has been converted into evil god followers. The pressure on the front line is immense. If the situation really becomes irretrievable, I think we should retreat early. There's no need to leave our lives here for resources."

"Okay, Old Lu, I understand."

Li Canghai nodded seriously.

In the struggle between the Elf Race and the dark elves, the elves initially had the upper hand, but why the dark elves couldn't be annihilated and instead grew stronger, continuously encroaching on the elves' lands.

The reason is simple

The dark elves can capture elves, humans, giant beasts, druids, and many other creatures, and convert them into their own through evil power, whereas the elves do not have this ability.

The number of elves fighting became fewer and fewer, while the dark elves increased. This is the fundamental reason why elves turned from offense to defense and continuously lost territory.

The only way to solve this problem is to find the dark elves' war tribe headquarters and destroy the Evil God Altar in one decisive strike.

However, the dark elves are extremely cautious in this regard. Anyone who is not an evil god follower and doesn't control evil energy would be detected and surrounded upon entering the Dark Forest.

Locating the Dark Nest is almost impossible.

Now human mercenaries are also aware of this. They no longer entertain the notion of helping the elves quell the internal chaos. Most are just thinking of doing a few jobs, gathering enough resources, and then leaving.

This also results in great mobility among the mercenaries, making the manpower shortage more severe.

"Qin Tian, Alan, you two are in charge of this area."

Li Canghai assigned tasks to Qin Tian and Alan.

Team 18 will be divided into three lines of defense, with the strongest groups stationed at the front to intercept the fiercest first wave of assault. The second line of defense acts as a supplement to the first, killing as many enemies as possible. The final line serves as a fallback, ensuring no dark creature crosses the frontline.

In Li Canghai's view, Qin Tian and Alan were relatively weaker and not qualified to fight in the front or hold the rear, hence they were placed in the second line to protect themselves while maximizing their kills.

"Yes, Uncle Li, we promise to complete the task."

Alan saluted, albeit not very formally, with an excited and eager smile on his face.

This silly boy

Li Canghai shook his head helplessly, hoping after this round of battle, he could still hear him call out Uncle Li.

Li Cangdong left, leaving only Qin Tian and Alan.

"Qin Tian, soon all the enemies will be mine to handle."

Alan gripped his longsword tightly, eyes shining, "I want to kill all these dark creatures, to avenge my family and friends."

Qin Tian took Shadowstrike out from the black box, glanced at him, and asked:

"Your family and friends were killed by dark elves, so that's why you're here?"

Alan pursed his lips and nodded:

"Yes!"

Qin Tian loaded his bullets, looked ahead, and said nothing.

Roar!!!

From the front, came the furious roar of beasts.

Qin Tian and Alan's expressions tensed, knowing the enemy had arrived.

Bang!

Roar!

The sound of energy explosions and beastly roars kept coming, the ground trembled. Alan gripped his longsword tightly, slight beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

Meow!!!

At that moment, a shadow appeared before him.

It was a tiger-sized black cat, its eyes gleamed with a ghostly light, emanating a sinister dark aura. As it saw Alan, its fur stood on end, kicking back with its hind legs like a black lightning bolt pouncing toward Alan.

Alan took a step, his body technique surprisingly agile, dodging the black cat's bite with a sidestep, his longsword glowing with a soft green light, slashing a nearly-meter-long wound on the black cat's flank.

Splurt

Foul-smelling blood gushed out, splattering on Alan, dyeing half of his body red.

This sudden change left Alan momentarily unprepared, looking at the sticky warm blood on him, he felt his soul tremble, an uncontrollable nausea rising within him.

Meow!!

Seeing Alan freeze, the black cat turned and clawed at him, evil energy surging, aiming for his face.

Just as the claw was about to hit, the black cat's head exploded with a bang, red and white sprayed, some landing on Alan's face.

Alan couldn't hold it any longer, vomited violently, bending over uncontrollably.

Qin Tian jumped down from the branch, looking at Alan vomiting miserably, raised his hand and shot another black beast's head, frowning as he said slowly:

"If this is your level, don't think about avenging your family and friends, go home and find your mom sooner."

As soon as these words fell, Alan's body visibly stiffened, he straightened up, face alternating between white and green, looking up at Qin Tian.

When their eyes met, Alan felt a deep stinging pain. This pain wasn't due to anger or dissatisfaction with Qin Tian, but disappointment in himself.

In front of a real warrior, his performance just now was simply disgraceful.

"Sorry, I won't do that again!"

Despite his still pale face, there was a hint of determination in Alan's eyes, as if he had matured significantly in a few short minutes.

Qin Tian's brow relaxed, he threw Alan a black cloth and calmly said: "Wipe your face, more powerful enemies are on their way."

Alan took the black cloth, quickly wiped the bloodstains off his face, along with his sensitive and fragile nerves.

Howl!!

Howl!!

Five black wolves walked out of the forest, standing over two meters tall, their muscled bodies covered in flowing ebony fur. With every step, they oozed a tar-like viscous liquid, burning charred marks emitting black smoke in the wet soil.

Their crimson slit eyes were like fiery coals, the emitted dark evil energy condensed into thin blades in the air, withering vines and corroding fallen leaves in their wake.

"The one on the far left is yours, I'll handle the remaining four."

Qin Tian said in a low voice, "This time I won't save you, it'll all be up to you."

Seeing Alan, he recalled himself when he first arrived in this world — similarly young and inexperienced, feeling nauseous and uncomfortable after killing a shadow cat. But back then, the Earth Dragon Team was quietly helping him, allowing him to swiftly evolve into a fine warrior.

He would give Alan some help, but the battlefield is no child's play. If Alan couldn't overcome this mental barrier, he wouldn't watch Alan die, but neither would he allow him to remain on the battlefield.

Alan took a deep breath, gripped his longsword, eyes unwaveringly determined:

"Alright! I will slay it."

"I definitely will!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.