"...fuuuck... this is seriously the last time I'm helping some fucking idiot who thinks he could just go sightseeing in the fucking Envys territory, seriously..."

Olive, the oldest elf in the hidden elven village in the heart of the Great northern forest sighed with exhaustion and stretched his back before leaning back against the bark of a millennium-old tree.

The old elf who still looked as if he didn't reach anywhere near thirty years old for human standards was doing his duty as the sole guardian of the elven village set up in the very edge of the territory of his species's worst enemy.

Sometimes the ways of the system are truly hard to comprehend, and the reason why in the ancient past Olive and the few other escapees of the Envy tyranny received a quest to settle in such a dangerous area was definitely one of those times.

Nonetheless, despite the many hardships, such a location was truly the perfect hiding spot that not even a single human has figured out through the years.

Yes, not a single human...

That's why it was so annoying when a completely random stray elf found his way and decided to pass by bringing the unwanted attention of the Envys lackeys right to Olive's enclave.

Olive didn't even bother interacting with that traveling elf – judging by their gear, he was an adventurer on a mission, certainly not someone that the old elf wanted to give a hint about the village's location.

Not that adventurers were bad people in Olive's opinion, but they do tend to prefer not to stay in one place, and they themselves are in potential danger of being caught and interrogated by the Envys.

Oh, if the news about a hidden elven village concealed within the borders of their very territory reached the noble house...!

Olive shuddered at the mere thought.

Therefore he restrained himself only to concealing the traveling elf's presence and instead set up an illusion that made the humans, who came after the elf almost instantly, lose track of him.

The elven adventurer was already gone from the forest, unaware of the danger that he was spared from, but the humans still thought that he was on the premise of the forest.

Olive wanted to continue fooling the potential pursuers for at least a day or two more, just to give the elven adventurer a little bit more time, before he would make the illusion escape, sending the Envys' agents on a wild goose chase after a phantom that never existed.

…

Or that was supposed to be the plan.

"...? the fuck...?"

One of the dormant illusions he had set up around a mile away from the forest entrance, off of the path that the lumberjacks from the nearby village used, has triggered and started draining energy from the elf's vast mana pool.

"...just as I was getting fucking comfortable too..."

The old elf rolled his eyes and stood up with a sigh that was not very appropriate for his appearance but more than deserved considering his actual age, and activated a few skills at once – both the mobility and detection ones.

"...huh...?"

He tilted his head and blinked a few times in surprise.

...and it certainly wasn't a good kind of surprise...

The one triggering the illusion was a fat human was running ahead with all his might while desperately trying to dodge a flying sword that seemed to have a mind of its own bouncing off the ground and trees without ever losing speed!

The illusion was rather simple also extremely effective - it created countless copies of the vegetation in the area and reassembled it into a maze that only had one exit, the very same way that the victim entered.

Since that skill never affected the actual victim's mind and relied on the optical illusions of the highest quality, it didn't trigger the reaction from the victim's MDF nor any of the defensive skills and was only noticeable if someone used an extremely high-level detection [sight] skill to find the truth.

But that alone wasn't the problem.

Even the odd sword was something that Olive could ignore, even though his curiosity was piqued instantly – oh, the possibilities for strengthening the defenses of the village if he got his hands on the weapon were almost endless!

But no, the problem was in the identity of the plump man running for his life!

It was most definitely one of the descendants of the Envy family! There was no doubt about it - Olive has spent most of his life protecting his friends and their descendants from that accursed family that held a certain degree of power over all elves, so he could tell without even the slightest chance of a mistake on his part.

"Fuck! No! No! No!"

*BOOOOM*

The elf cursed and blasted off from his resting spot causing an explosion to blow off a big chunk of the ancient tree's bark.

That man must have entered the forest with the intention of capturing the elven adventurer – or rather, the illusion that Olive had created to protect the elven adventurer – if something happened to him while he was hunting for the potential slaves, it would be way too suspicious for the Envy family to not send more people! The more people came the bigger was the probability of someone skilled arriving and noticing the traps!

No!

Just no!

For the sake of the hidden village, no one even remotely related to the Envy family can be allowed to die within the borders of the Great northern forest!

Olive gritted his teeth and used the full extent of his physical abilities for the first time in ages.

As he travels tens of yards per second, he never stopped observing the situation.

The wing-shaped blade was actually much faster than the fat Envy and even reached his body a few times, but each time it caused only a flesh wound that didn't actually prevent the man from running.

"..."

Olive frowned and gritted his teeth so hard that they made a creaking sound.

It was clear that whoever was controlling the sword was either not very skilled with using such an attack, or far too skilled and sadistic at that.

None of those options meant well.

Who was it?! Who was going after the member of the Envy family?!

Olive focused on the detection skills without ever slowing down.

The sword... it had some odd red strings connected to its pommel that extended at an outstanding distance and lead straight to a small human child with a very nasty smile, standing by the carriage at the very entrance of the forest...

"...who the fuck...?!"

Olive gasped in pure confusion.

The little human looked like he was at most six or seven years old!

No...

Impossible...

It was actually impossible!

"!!!"

Olive took another look at the boy and shuddered.

That kid's eyes...

Those weren't the eyes of a little boy!

"Fucking exiled dwarf?! Fucking hell, what is going on here?!"

The old elf cursed nastily and bit his lips until he felt hot blood gushing inside his mouth.

"!!!!!"

In a very unfortunate coincidence, that was also the same time that the blade of the flying sword cut through the left leg of the fat man, causing him to fall down and tumble right into the illusion of a large tree.

The man crushed into the illusion which meant that his MDF wasn't strong enough and got overpowered by Olive's skill, but that wasn't good either – now the sword had all the chances in the world to finish its victim!

And Olive was still literal miles away from them!

"FUCK! Why haven't I ever bothered to gain the fucking teleportation skill?!"

The old elf cursed at his own incompetence and jumped over a stream, praying to make it in time.

...at the same time, the boy which even the ancient elf mistook for a banished dwarf, made his move and followed the trail left by the crimson strings – straight to the fallen man from the Envy family.

Regardless of Olive's huge speed, the physical distance was still too much to ignore – the supposed dwarf would get to the wounded man much faster than the old elf...