CHAPTER 289: AMBUSH

Grim had been riding for two hours when he spotted the torchlight ahead. A small patrol of Yanyu soldiers was making its way along the main road, moving cautiously through territory that had become increasingly dangerous.

As he approached, the patrol’s leader raised his hand in a halt signal.

"Identify yourself," called out a sergeant whose voice carried the strain of too many sleepless nights.

"Grim van Ambrose. I carry imperial authority." Grim dismounted and approached the group on foot, showing the scroll General Chen had provided.

The sergeant examined the document, his expression shifting from suspicion to relief. "Lord Ambrose.Twenty men in my patrol, all that’s left of the eastern reconnaissance company."

"What’s your current mission?"

"Mapping elven patrol routes in this sector. We’ve been tracking a group of raiders that hit a supply convoy yesterday."

"How many raiders?"

"Fifteen to twenty elves, moving north toward the hills. They took prisoners from the convoy; mostly civilians who were trying to evacuate."

Grim felt his interest sharpen. More prisoners meant more information about where they could be located.

"Show me their route."

The sergeant spread a rough map on the ground, pointing to several marked locations. "They passed through here yesterday evening, then here at dawn. If they’re maintaining their pace, they should reach this valley by..."

The arrow hit the sergeant through the throat before he could finish speaking.

Green-fletched elven arrows rained down from the surrounding trees as twenty elven warriors emerged from concealment. They had been tracking the patrol, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Ambush!" one of the surviving soldiers shouted, but half the patrol was already down.

Grim drew Echo in one smooth motion as chaos erupted around him. The elves had chosen their position well. Elevated terrain on both sides of the road, with clear fields of fire and multiple escape routes.

"Aurora Flash," Grim called out, releasing the technique at maximum intensity.

The brilliant light illuminated the entire area, temporarily blinding the elven archers and the yanyu soliders. But these weren’t the disorganized slavers he had faced before.

The elves adapted quickly, switching to area-effect spells that didn’t require precise targeting. Bolts of green energy lanced down from the hillsides, forcing the surviving patrol members to scatter for cover.

"Form up on me!" Grim shouted to the remaining soldiers. "Stay close and keep moving!"

But it was too late for most of them. The initial volley had killed twelve men outright, and the follow-up spells were picking off the survivors one by one.

An elven warrior dropped from a tree directly behind Grim, his blade wreathed in the same green energy as their magic. The strike would have killed a normal human instantly.

Sparks flew as Grim’s blade met the elf’s sword. The elf’s eyes widened as he realized his opponent was far more than he had expected.

"You fight well for a human," the elf said as they exchanged a series of rapid strikes. "But you cannot save them all."

"Watch me," Grim replied.

He fed aurora energy into Echo until the blade blazed like a miniature sun. The next cut carved through both the elf’s weapon and his chest, dropping him in a spray of silver blood.

Around the ambush site, the surviving Yanyu soldiers were being picked off one by one. These elves were professionals, not raiders. They worked in coordinated teams, using magic to pin down their targets while others closed for killing strikes.

"Celestial Mist: Drifting Steps"

Grim ran across the battlefield in an instant.

The first elven archer died without knowing Grim was there. The second managed to turn around before Echo separated his head from his shoulders. The third began casting a binding spell that shattered against Grim’s aurora aura.

"Unknown human! Identify yourself!" the elven commander called out from his position on the eastern hillside.

"Grim van Ambrose," Grim replied, his voice carrying clearly across the battlefield. "The one who’s been collecting elven ears."

"So you’re the butcher we’ve heard about. Killing elves like some kind of hero."

"Someone has to clean up the trash."

The commander laughed with genuine amusement. "Look around, human. Your noble soldiers are dying while you waste time with banter. How many can you actually save?"

Grim glanced around the battlefield. Only four Yanyu soldiers remained alive, and they were pinned down behind inadequate cover while elven spells rained down on their positions.

The elf was right. He couldn’t save them all.

But he could make the elves pay for every human life.

"Aurora Flash: Sundering Slash," Grim called out, feeding massive amounts of energy into the technique.

It swept across the entire eastern hillside, cutting through trees, rocks, and elven warriors.

Seven elves died, their bodies severed cleanly as the energy passed through them.

The surviving elves immediately began falling back, their coordinated assault dissolving into individual survival as they realized they faced an opponent beyond their ability to handle.

"Retreat!" the commander ordered. "Fall back to the secondary position!"

But Grim wasn’t finished.

He launched himself up the hillside. The retreating elves found themselves caught between the need to escape and the impossibility of outrunning their pursuer.

Echo flashed in the darkness as Grim caught the first fleeing warrior. The second tried to cast a teleportation spell and found his concentration broken by a blade through his heart. The third made it almost fifty yards before an aurora-enhanced throwing knife brought him down.

"Stand and fight!" the elven commander called out desperately. "He’s only one human!"

"He’s not human," one of the surviving elves replied with obvious fear. "Look at his eyes. Look at what he’s done to our people."

Grim’s eyes had indeed taken on the distinctive glow of someone channeling significant aurora energy. Combined with the silver blood coating his blade and the collection of ears at his belt, he must have looked like some kind of vengeful spirit.

The remaining elves broke and ran.

Grim let them go. Chasing down every survivor would take too long, and he had other priorities.

He returned to the ambush site to find only two Yanyu soldiers still alive. Both were wounded, one seriously.

"Lord Ambrose," the less injured soldier said with obvious relief. "We thought we were all dead."

"How bad are your injuries?"

"Captain Yung took an arrow through the shoulder, but he’ll live. I’ve got some cuts, nothing serious."

Grim knelt beside the wounded sergeant and examined the arrow wound. The green-fletched shaft had punched through the man’s shoulder armor, but it had missed the major blood vessels.

"This is going to hurt," Grim warned before snapping off the arrow’s fletching and pushing the shaft through.

The captain screamed as the arrowhead emerged from the front of his shoulder.

"Clean wound," Grim observed. "You’ll be fine if you can avoid infection."

"What about the rest of my men?" the captain asked weakly.

Grim looked around the battlefield at the eighteen bodies scattered across the road and hillsides. "I’m sorry."

The captain closed his eyes and was quiet for several moments. "They were good soldiers. They deserved better."

"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The elves were hunting your patrol specifically."

"How do you know?"

"They knew exactly where to position for the ambush. They had intelligence about your route and timing."

"Inside information again?"

"Most likely. Someone in the capital is feeding information to the elves."

Grim began moving among the dead elves, systematically removing their ears with the same methodical precision he had shown before.

The two surviving soldiers watched with expressions mixing approval and revulsion.

"How many is that now?" the uninjured soldier asked.

"Forty-six," Grim replied, adding the new trophies to his growing collection. "Though these were higher quality than the slavers I’ve been hunting."

Grim finished his grisly collection and turned back to the wounded soldiers. "Can you make it back to the capital?"

"With help, yes."

"Then go. Report what happened here to General Chen. Tell him the elves are using military trained units now, and they have detailed intelligence about patrol schedules and routes."

"What about you, Lord Ambrose?"

"I’m continuing east. The elves who escaped will report back to their commanders about what happened here. That should create some interesting discussions."

"You’re going alone against a force that just wiped out most of our patrol?"

"I’m going alone because a force that just wiped out most of your patrol won’t expect me to keep coming." Grim mounted his horse and checked his equipment. "Sometimes the best strategy is the one your enemies consider impossible."

The sergeant struggled to sit up. "Lord Ambrose, how many more elves do you think are out there?"

"Hundreds. Maybe thousands." Grim gathered his reins and looked toward the eastern hills. "Which means I have a lot more hunting to do before this is over."

"Be careful."

With that, Grim spurred his horse forward, leaving the two survivors to make their way back to the capital while he continued deeper into enemy territory.

[You’re starting to enjoy this too much,] Caius observed.

"I’m starting to be very good at this," Grim corrected. "There’s a difference."

[Is there?]

"We’ll find out when I locate their main camp."