Boom!

A sound of an explosion took away her hearing for a moment, and Ilyana immediately became deathly pale. Panic rolled over her.

'Why?! Why would he do this?! It definitely heard it, we are doomed!' She turned towards Gerald hatefully, determined to drag him down with her when the beast came.

However, what surprised her was that the human was giving her a mocking smile. He was clearly gloating at her fear.

"Sound Barrier, stupid!" he grinned. Indeed, no sound came to them from the outside. "But your expression was great, want to see?" He showed her a piece of paper he had just taken out of somewhere and on it was a realistic fearful expression of her image.

"You-!" The Elf realized she had been tricked, but she was too angry to come up with anything to say. She could only grit her teeth and squeeze her fists in frustration.

Gerald returned to the stone house and threw out another Sound Barrier before sitting down and taking out a Mana Potion. His reserves were nearly empty so he had to quickly fill them up again.

The Elf used some Water magic and cleaned herself before cautiously entering the house again. Seeing no reaction from Gerald, she also sat on the floor and glared at the distant shadows moving in the rain.

The earth was still trembling rhythmically and showed no signs of stopping. In fact, it was getting only stronger as time went on. However, with the Sound Barriers in place, no movement could be heard, making the situation even more nerve-racking for Ilyana.

"What are you looking for out there?" Gerald asked with still closed eyes.

"The Giant, obviously," she answered without turning around.

"The Giant?" Gerald was surprised. 'Is that the same Giant we are talking about, I wonder?'

"Who are you anyway, and what are you doing in these parts? I don't think there are many Elves in Myrtana. Even Dark Elves are rare here…"

"Tsk, comparing me to Dark Elves," Ilyana murmured under her breath in irritation. However remembering her situation, she refrained from saying anything that could be perceived as aggressive. She sighed, deciding to go along with the human. It was not like what she was doing was an important secret anyway.

"As I said before, my name is Ilyana Felle. I am one of the seven Elf mercenaries tasked with keeping an eye on your stupi- Ahem, your great Kingdom. I must say though, I'm quite disappointed."

"How so?" Gerald queried. He was getting a little bit interested in this Elf's story. He might as well take this opportunity to learn a few things.

"Well, for starters, releasing the monsters from their Eternal Sleep, especially the Giant, was the worst possible action I have ever seen your race do! And then thinking you can control it?! What kind of a fool would come up with such a plan?" she said with obvious disdain towards human lack of awareness.

If he wasn't already expecting to hear some crazy shit, Gerald would probably jump up at the news. "Wait, are you telling me that humans are releasing these monsters?!"

"Well, duh! What do you think, they free themselves? Okay, sometimes that happens, but it's rare. I have seen mostly those lunatics from the Blood Sun Viper sect dig around and search for Orcs and the like… I guess they do have a way to control them... to a certain extent."

"Are you serious?! Blood sun Viper sect again? And you knew that the whole time?!" Gerald exclaimed. Didn't he hear somewhere that the sect originated from the Empire?

"Oh, fuck! Now it makes sense!" he came to a realization.

"What does?"

"The Empire! They are using the Blood Sun Viper sect to sow discord here! They are trying to weaken us from within!"

Ilyana opened her eyes wide, "Oh… Ooooooh! I get it now! They aren't stupid, they are actually pretty smart! They are pretending to be spreading their teachings and are instead trying to ruin the Kingdom from within. And I figured it out, I'm such a genius!"

Gerald rolled his eyes.' You are a fucking idiot, that's what you are! I literally just said that! And besides, since when was the Blood Sun Viper spreading their teachings?! They were clearly here to make trouble since the very beginning!' This Elf was clearly incompetent and it wouldn't surprise him if she was sent on this mission just to get her somewhere where she couldn't do much damage to her community with her 'superior intellect'.

Rumble!

The Sound Barrier ran out and the sound of heavy stomping traveled to their ears. In the distance, among the raindrops and fog, they could see a tall figure stroll among the trees. It must have been at least twenty meters tall, if not more.

"My god, it's huge!" Gerald exclaimed in a whisper, but the sound of his voice was quickly suppressed by the rain.

Then without further ado, he took another piece of meat from the Ring and heated it up on the flames above his hand. Yum! Watching a giant monster roaming the land while eating good food felt great!

"Are you serious?" Ilyana frowned at his actions. "How can you eat at a time like this?! And you even- Wait…" Cogs in her brain slowly started turning as she stared at the flame. 'Fire? And then the Sound Barrier was... Wind? And he used Light as well?! And that weird feeling that made me feel so heavy was… Actually, what was that?!'

"You… How many Elements can you use, if you don't mind me asking?" she eventually asked, unable to keep her curiosity in check any longer.

"All of them," Gerald answered her nonchalantly. It was not a secret anymore and neither did he care to hide it any longer. It was a pain in the ass, honestly.

The Elf audibly gulped, and he could see her becoming nervous. "Do you… Are you a part of the Royal Family perhaps? Or do you belong to one of the four Guar- I mean the four generals?"

"None of the above."

Ilyana frowned slightly, but then continued to ask timidly, "Then, do you perhaps practice…? Are you…?"

"Am I what? Just spit it out already, why are you so nervous? You are suddenly acting like some little school girl," Gerald scolded her as he ate. "How old are you anyway?"

"I'm forty-seven," the 'girl' answered.

Gerald nearly choked on his food. He looked her up and down once more. Tall and graceful figure, good athletic body proportions with a sizeable chest. Her skin was smooth and without blemishes, and he could still remember the softness under his hand when he held her.

Her hair was silver in color and draped over her shoulders, though being wet diminished its beauty somewhat.

'How is this woman nearly half a century old?! She looks like a young twenty-something!' Gerald secretly complained in his heart. In contrast, he was aging at the speed of light. All that damage he sustained didn't help one bit! Those that didn't know him would even think he was middle-aged already! Injustice!

"Damn, lucky Elves!" He was suddenly in no mood to speak any longer.