CHAPTER 286: CAPTAIN’S TROUBLES

The sound of battle reached Grim’s ears before he saw the source. Steel rang against steel in the distance, punctuated by shouted orders and the distinctive crackling of elven magic.

He spurred his horse toward the noise, following the sounds through a dense grove of trees that opened onto a rocky hillside.

What he found there made him pull up short.

A small group of Yanyu soldiers had made their stand on a natural stone outcropping, using the elevated position to defend against a much larger elven force.

But the defense was clearly failing. Bodies of humans lay scattered across the rocks, and only three soldiers remained standing.

At the center of the defensive position stood a woman in captain’s armor, her sword flashing as she fought with the kind of desperate skill that came from knowing death was inevitable.

Blood ran down her left arm from a deep gash, but she continued to shout orders to her remaining troops while fending off multiple attackers.

"Hold the line!" she commanded, her voice carrying clearly across the battlefield. "Make them pay for every step!"

Around the base of the rocky outcrop, nearly twenty-four elven warriors pressed their attack with methodical precision.

They moved in coordinated groups, using their magic to suppress the human defenders while others climbed the rocky slopes from multiple directions.

But what caught Grim’s attention weren’t the combatants. It was the row of iron cages positioned behind the elven battle line.

Inside each cage, he could see human women in Yanyu military uniforms, captured soldiers who watched their comrades’ final battle with expressions of helpless desperation.

"Slavers again," Grim muttered.

[The captain’s good,] Caius observed, watching the woman’s swordwork. [But she’s outnumbered four to one, and her people are exhausted.]

"Not for long," Grim replied, dismounting from his horse.

He drew Echo from its scabbard and considered the tactical situation. The elves held the low ground, but they had the numbers and magical support.

The humans held the high ground, but they were nearly finished. A direct assault would alert the elves to his presence and give them time to prepare.

Better to even the odds first.

Taking careful aim, Grim hurled Echo with all his strength. The blade spun end over end through the air, crossing the distance to the battlefield in seconds before embedding itself point-first in the rocky ground at the center of the elven formation.

"What—" one of the elven warriors began, staring at the sword that had suddenly appeared among them.

Thick fog began pouring from Echo’s steel, the fog expanded to cover the entire area in a matter of seconds.

The elves immediately began calling out to each other, trying to maintain coordination as their vision was completely eliminated.

Some began casting wind spells to clear the mist, while others switched to area-effect attacks that didn’t require precise targeting.

"What’s happening down there?" the Yanyu captain called from her position on the rocks, though her tone suggested she suspected divine intervention.

Grim didn’t answer. Instead, he fed mana into his legs and launched himself from the hillside in a leap that carried him clear over the elven formation. His new strength made the impossible jump seem effortless, and he landed in a crouch directly beside his embedded sword.

The elves around him spun toward the sound of his landing, weapons raised and spells prepared, but the thick mist made targeting impossible.

They could hear him, but they couldn’t see him clearly enough to coordinate an attack.

Grim grasped Echo’s hilt and pulled the blade free in one smooth motion. As he did, he fed aurora energy into the steel until it blazed, cutting through the mist like a lighthouse beam.

"Aurora Flash: Sundering Slash," he shouted wuth a smile on his face.

The technique that emerged was far beyond anything he had achieved before.

Instead of a single small cutting arc, the aurora energy expanded into a horizontal wave that swept outward from his position in all directions. It carved through the mist, the rocky ground, and everything else in its path with surgical precision.

Seven elven warriors who had been converging on his position were caught in the technique’s radius. The aurora energy passed through them at waist level, cutting so cleanly that for a moment nothing seemed to happen.

Then the upper halves of their bodies began to slide away from their legs.

Silver blood fountained upward as the severed elves collapsed, their death cries cutting through the mist-shrouded battlefield.

The remaining elven forces immediately began falling back, shouting warnings to each other as they tried to locate and identify the new threat.

"Unknown enemy!" one of the elves called out. "Identify yourself!"

"Grim van Ambrose," Grim replied, his voice carrying clearly through the fog. "And you’re trespassing on human territory."

"We’ve heard of you. You killed Talyra."

"Then you know what’s about to happen," Grim said, beginning to move through the mist toward the remaining enemies.

The elves tried to mount a coordinated response, but the fog made their usual tactics impossible.

They couldn’t see each other clearly enough to coordinate spells, and their enhanced senses were overwhelmed by the spiritual energy radiating from Grim’s blade.

What followed was more massacre than battle.

Grim moved through the mist like a ghost, his enhanced speed and cultivation allowing him to strike and disappear before the elves could respond. Echo flashed blue in the thick fog, each strike precise.

An elf tried to cast a binding spell and found his concentration broken by a blade through his heart. Another attempted to retreat toward the cages and discovered that escape was no longer an option.

A third began a wind spell to clear the mist, only to have his casting interrupted when his head left his shoulders.

"Fall back!" the elven commander shouted. "Retreat to the treeline and regroup!"

But retreat required knowing which direction led to safety, and the mist had disoriented the surviving elves completely.

They stumbled through the fog, trying to find their comrades or their way to safety, only to encounter Grim’s blade instead.

Within minutes, the sounds of combat had faded to silence.

Grim dispelled the mist with a gesture, revealing the carnage he had wrought. Nineteen elven bodies lay scattered across the rocky ground, their silver blood gleaming in the rain.

The iron cages remained intact, their captives staring at him with expressions of disbelief and hope.

On the rocky outcropping above, the surviving Yanyu soldiers looked down at the scene with similar amazement.

The captain who had been fighting so desperately moments before now leaned heavily on her sword, exhaustion and blood loss finally catching up with her.

"Lord Ambrose?" she called down, her voice hoarse from shouting orders. "Is that really you?"

"Captain," Grim replied, wiping Echo clean before sheathing the blade. "You fought well."

"My unit," she said, gesturing toward the cages. "They took my women prisoner. Said they had special plans for female soldiers."

"Not anymore," Grim said grimly, moving toward the cages.

Grim freed the women from the cages.

"Captain Zhou," one of the freed women said, rushing to embrace her commanding officer. "We thought you were going to die up there."

"So did I," Captain Zhou admitted, accepting support from her subordinates as they helped her down from the rocks. "Lord Ambrose’s arrival was... timely."

"What’s your unit’s status?" Grim asked as the soldiers began checking on each other and gathering their scattered equipment.

"Decimated," Captain Zhou replied bluntly. "We started with thirty soldiers yesterday morning. Now we have eight, counting the rescued prisoners."

"Where were you headed?"

"Back to the capital with intelligence about elven movements in this sector," she said. "We’ve been conducting reconnaissance for three weeks, mapping their patrol routes and supply lines."

"What did you learn?"

Captain Zhou’s expression grew grim. "They’re not just raiding for supplies or territory. They’re harvesting our people. Every village they hit, every patrol they capture, the survivors get shipped east in slave caravans."

"I’ve seen evidence of that," Grim confirmed. "How large are their main forces?"

"Larger than our initial intelligence suggested," she admitted. "We counted at least three full companies moving toward the capital, plus smaller raiding groups like this one operating throughout the countryside."

"Three companies," Grim repeated, doing quick calculations. "That’s what, six hundred elves?"

"At minimum," Captain Zhou said. "And these aren’t raiders or mercenaries."

Grim considered this information while he moved among the dead elves, collecting their ears with the same methodical precision he had shown at the village.

The soldiers watched this process with expressions ranging from approval to queasiness, but none questioned the necessity.

"Captain," he said as he finished his grisly work, "I’m traveling to the capital to meet with Emperor Yanyu. Your intelligence would be valuable to include in my report."

"You’re offering to escort us?" she asked with obvious relief.

"I’m traveling alone," Grim corrected. "But I can clear the route ahead of you and eliminate any patrols between here and the capital."

"That would be incredibly helpful," Captain Zhou said. "My people are exhausted, and we can’t sustain another engagement like this one."

"Rest for an hour," Grim advised. "Tend your wounded and gather what supplies you can from the elven equipment. I’ll scout ahead and make sure the road is clear."

"Lord Ambrose," Captain Zhou said as he prepared to remount his horse. "Thank you. Without your intervention, none of us would have survived this day."

"You held out long enough for help to arrive," Grim replied. "That takes courage and skill. The emperor should hear about your unit’s performance."

His collection of elven ears now numbered thirty, proof of thirty enemies who would never threaten human civilians again. But for every elf he killed, how many more were moving toward populated areas?

[You’re thinking like a general instead of an individual warrior,] Caius observed. [That’s good. This conflict is too large for personal combat to resolve alone.]

"But personal combat can still make a difference," Grim replied. "Especially when it’s applied at the right time and place."

[True. And your reputation is growing with every engagement. Word will spread about what happened here.]

"Let it spread," Grim said with cold satisfaction. "Let every elf in this kingdom know that humans can fight back effectively. Fear is a weapon too."