A mass healing spell would be a very useful boon in a fight like this, but for Tristan, it spelled bad news.

Just when victory stood right in front of the eyes, the elder cast such a spell, turning the tides of the hard-won victories from the orcs' hard work in an instant. Now, the elves had started to regain their footing, and they were able to push the orcs back.

​​

The elves' second wind was followed by attacks using multiple forms of magic. Plant magic caused the leaves and grass all around them to shift and vibrate with energy before they absorbed it into their body, water magic formed whips flowing all around their body like tendrils, and earth magic pulled chunks of the ground to form some kind of shield all around the elven warriors. Those are the three elements mastered by the wood elf.

At first, Tristan thought about not focusing on the warriors and tried to take the battle right to the elder, but so far, the elder has not used any offensive spells. All he saw the elder use was multiple buffing and healing spells.

Considering the situation, it would not be the smartest move to face him, and Tristan decided to try for a different target. He rushed forward and decapitated an elf who was distracted from fighting the orcs.

He alone had managed to personally kill eight elves. Unless the elder has the ability to bring dead elves to life, he has no need to worry about them.

Right now, the best thing he could do for his force was to thin out the opponents' forces to make it easier for his team and with it render the mass healing spell useless.

After he killed his ninth elf, two elves tried to charge at him together, but they made a grave mistake, for no one there could match Tristan's speed nor strength.

"AARGGGH!!" Tristan shoutout all his rage toward the coming elves

With such speed unable to be stopped by the elf, he pierces one elf's heart with his blade. while the blade was still stuck on the elf's chest, he used his arm to grab onto the second elf and break his neck.

He glanced at the corpses all around his feet with eyes full of disdain, before casting [Blood Synthesis] multiple times. Small blades made of crimson mists formed all around him before dashing towards the direction of the group of elves fighting the orcs.

He saw the blades scratch and nip at the elves' skin, disrupting their concentration. As he expected from his experience in Vanyar, the blades made from [Blood Synthesis] would not be enough to do any significant damage to the elves with body protection spells. However, although it could only scratch, the multiple distractions was enough to give the orcs the chance they needed to overpower them.

Tristan was very satisfied when he saw a mere grunt was able to kill an elf with the help of his skill.

Just like he predicted, within minutes there were now only about a dozen elven warriors left. With this, the mass healing spells won't matter much anymore.

Now that the balance has tipped to favor them, the elder's expression twisted into one of utter rage. the wrinkled elder raised his hand to cast another spell. On his command, three pillars of water rose from the ground, before it squirmed to form humanoid creatures of water.

They are water elementals, a creature made of pure water whose size was about twice that of an adult human. In place of hands, those creatures have a pair of blades made of hardened water.

The elven elder pointed at the orcs, and in an instant, the three creatures ran amok, attacking the orcs without thought. For Tristan, this was his cue to charge towards the elder.

But, as soon as he reached around five meters away from him, the old elf turned invisible. It was a [Mirage], a tier 4 water element spell.

"That is cheating!, you coward!"

Tristan attempted to taunt the elder, but he received no response. One of the water elementals returned and started attacking him.

The monstrous water elemental swung its blades all around, but dodging a creature without its own thought was nothing. The problem was this water elemental seems unable to die. Multiple slashes only made them easily reform back.

Seeing one elemental not enough to stop Tristan, the second elemental turned away from the orcs and started to approach him

Now that there were two elementals against him, dodging became much harder. He kept on moving, trying to find the invisible culprit.

Tristan decided to activate his Katra, and lines appeared within his field of vision, a dim glow indicating the direction and speed of movement. Unfortunately, whenever he managed to sense movement and tried to track it, his invisible opponent was always quick enough to escape, resulting in the lines changing too quickly for him to properly react.

It is time for a different approach.

The two water elementals dashed forward again to attack, and this time, Tristan didn't try to escape. Instead, he approached them, dodged the blade-like arms, and quickly touched its chest while casting [Heat Touch]

Extreme heat quickly turns the two of them instantly evaporated into white water mist.

With the help of the white mist of little water droplets that fill the area, the elder was no longer invisible. The old elf looked like a bulky, armor-shaped distortion amidst the white mist.

"There you are!" Tristan exclaimed and dashed as quickly as he could.

Without wasting time, he jumped at the invisible form before it could turn away again and swung his sword to the side.

Swishhh!

Clank!

To his surprise, his sword was blocked, his 200 battle power was stopped.

The elder started to appear in front of him. Although he looked old and wrinkled, he wore a seemingly heavy metal armor decorated with golden highlights. Two small crystal blades blocked his attack, and from the feeling they exuded, Tristan could tell both the armor and the daggers were magical items.

Their eyes met, and the elder smirked at him. All of a sudden, blood gushed out from the left side of his waist.

"What the fuck?!" Tristan glared at the elder. The attack did not hurt too much, but what worried him was the elder's ability to make the cut without him seeing it.

"Haha, did you think I would just run around waiting for you to find me?"

----------------------------------

Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,