The blood-red humanoid rune sank into the jungle and disappeared without a trace in an instant, as if it was absorbed by the forest.
Xiu sat on Yafjie's shoulder, holding his chin and watching all this. This was the fifth time he had called back and released the blood pact beast. He knew the person he was looking for was inside. Although the contract could pass through without any obstacles, people could not. The entire Elven Forest was like a large magic circle, asking all unwelcome guests to leave.
In that case, let's destroy all of this.
The linen-haired dwarf stood up, looked at the lush forest in front of him, and patted the mechanical puppet's head.
From now on, there will be no more Elf Forests in Chaos Continent.
***
Light shone directly down from the intertwined branches and leaves, hitting the stone wall of the altar, illuminating the strange and beautiful runes and statues. This is an open-air altar, with flowers paving the road and branches and leaves forming the walls. On the circular altar, a golden branch grew in the small pool in the center, with the top hanging down naturally. A golden liquid oozed out from the top bit by bit. After a long period of gathering, it finally formed a small drop of water and fell into the small pool. The small pool was not large, with a radius of about 3 meters. It was filled with golden liquid - the sap of the tree of life. According to legend, just one drop of the sap of the tree of life can restore a person to his peak state and greatly strengthen his physique.
Kneeling under the altar was a beautiful elf with long golden hair, a flowing white robe, and a white and gold headband on her forehead, indicating her identity as the Queen of Elves. The Queen of Elves crossed her hands and placed them on her lips, closed her eyes, and assumed the most pious posture. After a long prayer, the Queen of Elves looked up at the Tree of Life. Except for the emerald green branches around the altar, the rest of the tree was completely black.
The leaves rustled, and the Elf Queen stood up, with some displeasure flashing in her golden eyes. She walked outside and soon saw her most loyal guard, Simon, and the disgusting necromancer. They came with a black-haired human, who was pale and in a coma. As for Ariel, who was the last one, she was ignored by the Elf Queen.
"Your Highness, I have something important to report." Simon saluted the Elf Queen and spoke hurriedly. "The dwarf I told you about last time seems to have signed a blood contract with this human. He should come here soon."
The Elf Queen was slightly startled. Simon had reported to her everything he encountered in the dwarf ruins after he came back. Although the Elf Queen was surprised by the sudden appearance of the dwarfs, she did not think much about it. The most important thing now was to heal the Tree of Life. The dwarfs and elves had always kept to themselves. The Elf Queen believed in Simon's ability. The dwarf would never find out that all this was done by the elves. However, now because of the blood contract, the dwarf with the five-star and six-star mechanical puppets came to her?
For the elves who have three war gods and two magic gods, a sword master and a war god can't shake them, but they are also a big trouble. The elf queen turned her eyes to Anat: If it weren't for this undead...
Anat noticed the Elf Queen's gaze, she stroked her red lips with her hand and smiled charmingly. "Why are you staring at me? How would I know they signed a blood pact?"
"When will you remove the 'dirt'?"
"That depends on when you can bring me the person I want. I want that dwarf. As long as you catch him, I will naturally fulfill my promise." Anat smiled with an ambiguous smile. "Anyway, a dwarf is nothing to the elves, right?"
It was nothing, but even if she was the Queen of Elf, she couldn't recklessly order the Elf elders who no longer cared about the affairs of the state.
At this moment, the ground suddenly shook. The Elf Queen held onto the branches and looked into the distance in surprise. The Elf Forest seemed to have been hit by a huge meteorite. The raging fire turned the sky blood red. A green ball of light flew over from afar. It was the soul of the War Tree. The elves planted hundreds of War Trees in the Elf Forest to protect the Elf Kingdom. When the War Trees died, their souls would pass on information to the elves before dissipating.
The Elf Queen reached out her hand to touch the light ball, sensing the information in it, and no one could tell anything from her expressionless face. In the end, the green light ball disappeared, and the Elf Queen still had a calm expression, but it was more like the calm before a storm.
"Simon." The Elf Queen's voice was icy. "Go and invite the Third Elder and the Fifth Elder over."
Simon was ordered to retreat. Anat saw the Elf Queen's cold eyes turned to this side. She knew that after a slap, she should give a sweet date. Anat snapped her fingers and a bat flew over.
"The child I gave you last time is almost dead."
Anat flicked his fingertips, and the bat flew to the Tree of Life. It lay on the trunk of the Tree of Life and began to suck the "dirt". The Elf Queen watched all this, and a hint of helplessness finally flashed across her calm expression. If it weren't for Anat's bat, the Tree of Life would have been completely contaminated by the "dirt".
The beautiful vampire smiled with great joy.
“It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
***
The fire phoenix flew over the forest, sweeping its long tail feathers. The rich fire element landed on the trees, like a red flower. The fire phoenix landed on a tall tree and saw that the surrounding green was replaced by red. This was all the result of its hard work. The fire phoenix spread its wings happily and chirped, then seemed to think that "Mom" could not see its masterpiece, and folded its wings in disappointment.
"Water cage."
By the time the Fire Phoenix realized something was wrong and wanted to take off, it was too late. The water elements in the air formed a water rope and tightly wrapped around it. At the critical moment, a figure jumped to the top of the tree and grabbed the Fire Phoenix and rushed out of the water prison. It was Old John.
A figure gradually appeared in the air. It was a male elf in a blue robe. He looked at the fire phoenix in Old John's hand, then looked at the forest ravaged by fire. Finally, he decided to solve the problem of the Elf Forest first, and then capture the beast that had not yet recognized its master.
The elf took out his staff and uttered three simple words: "Rainstorm."
A large number of dark clouds gathered over the Elven Forest in an instant, and heavy rain poured down, putting out the forest fire. Xiu looked up at the elves in the sky. The ability to use high-level magic just by reading the name can only be a magic god. For magic gods, magic has become an instinct like breathing, and they can even cast intermediate and low-level magic instantly.
"Yafjie."
The mechanical puppet heard the order, stopped slaughtering the ancient trees, and raised its head to aim at the elf in the air. The elf didn't seem to mind being targeted by the mechanical puppet, and continued to control the water element to put out the fire in the forest. The mechanical puppet jumped suddenly and smashed into the elf. At this moment, it was as if the slow-motion button was pressed. The hand of the mechanical puppet approached the elf little by little, and then was shot through by a beam of light the moment it touched the elf.
Xiu turned around and saw another elf appear on a tall tree behind him. The elf put the arrow on the bow again, aimed at Yafjie who was struggling to stand up, and let go. "Don't get in the way."
Xiu looked at the second pierced Yafujie. Two glaring holes appeared on the silver-white shell of the mechanical puppet, destroying the beautiful curve. Only a martial god could cause damage to a six-star mechanical puppet. Attacks below the martial god level could not break the defense of the martial god. It was obvious that the elf on the tall tree was a martial god.
Being stared at by a god of magic and a god of war, Xiu had a very strange expression. He raised his head, raised the corners of his mouth high, and grinned a strange and mysterious smile.
"Finally someone comes to play with me." Water drops fell on Xiu's hair, turning the chestnut color into dark brown. He stretched out his small hands and bent them down one by one.
"The blue team's elves 1 and 2, a total of two people; the red team's mechanical puppets 1, 2, 3, 4..."
The elf on the tree began to tremble with his bow in his hand. He had never felt such despair and fear since he became a war god. As the dwarf counted, mechanical puppets appeared one after another. The suppressed power could be felt in their actions. There were six stars painted on their chests. They were all... war gods.
"…9, 10, a total of ten people." Xiu put down his hands and announced softly: "We can start the game."
…
Xiu poked the air in front of him with his hand, as if he had popped a bubble. The unchanging forest in front of him disappeared, and a beautiful dream world appeared before him. Xiu summoned the blood contract beast again, and the red humanoid rune began to run towards the lake in the distance. Yafujie put Xiu on his shoulders and followed the blood contract beast with other mechanical puppets. Behind them, the charred land was mixed with strands of blood. The horrible color was like someone mixed minced meat into the soil and crushed it hard.
There were no living creatures along the way. The elves probably hid themselves. Xiu had no time to care about them now. His mind was full of finding that person. The blood pact beast ran across the grass, crossed the lake, and finally began to climb up the big tree in the middle of the lake. Yafjie followed it to the top of the giant tree, and finally jumped in from a place with sparse branches and leaves.
“Boom!”
The mechanical puppet landed heavily among the flowers, and the wind pressure blew the petals into a shower of flowers. Xiu stood up and stared at the altar opposite.
On the altar, that man is there.
杜澤被阿納特抓在手中，他依然昏迷着，臉色還有一些失血過多的蒼白。看到杜澤的那一刻，修的眼瞳瞬間就紅了。
“碰！”
精靈女王和一衆精靈不由自主地倒退了好幾步，即使機械傀儡的攻擊被光膜攔住，但那簡直要将他們碾成肉泥的可怕壓力依舊直透而下。
“碰！碰！碰！”
越來越多的機械傀儡加入了對光膜的攻擊，精靈們驚恐地看着趴在光膜上的機械傀儡，那無機質的紅光冷冷地俯視着光膜底下的他們，仿佛随時都可以讓他們消失在這個世界上。
幸好，将祭臺籠罩的光膜雖然搖搖欲墜一副随時都要破開的模樣，但它依舊頂住了所有機械傀儡的攻擊。精靈女王維持鎮定的模樣，她走向前去，對亞夫結肩膀上的修說：“你打不開它，這是生命女神布下的屏障。”
修終于将目光從杜澤那裏轉向他人，精靈女王看到那雙色澤鮮豔的眼睛，不知為何感到窒息，連說話都變得艱難起來。
“我們……之間也許有某種誤會。”
“把他還給我。”修的聲音柔軟甜美，卻讓人不寒而栗：“那不是你們能碰的人。”
“我的學生也不是你能殺的人！”阿納特突然插了進來，自從她看到修後，從契約裏傳來信息告訴她，眼前的這個侏儒就是殺死她心愛的學生的人。阿納特仇恨地盯着修，指尖劃過杜澤的下巴，鮮紅的指甲刺破了表皮，挑起了皮肉。“讓你的那些金屬疙瘩離開！否則我直接摳穿他的喉嚨！”
修沉默了一陣，他拍了拍手，所有機械傀儡都從光膜上退下來。阿納特對着精靈女王咯咯地笑起來：“你們為什麽要怕他？這個人在我們手中，他根本不敢輕舉妄動！”
“阿納特，”精靈女王冷漠地說：“如果可以，我希望從未見過你。”
“嗯哼？你确定嗎，我親愛的女王殿下。”阿納特嬌笑着：“如果不是我，你們的生命樹早就沒治了。”
十個六星機械傀儡走了四個，剩下的停在門口。修站在亞夫結的肩膀上，問：“剛剛那算是威脅嗎？”
阿納特冷哼一聲，精靈女王沒有說話，她看着那守住入口的機械傀儡，心中的不安越發濃郁。
“那我也說一句好了。”修凝視着以精靈女王為首的一衆精靈：“如果你們不把他給我，你們現在就會失去生命樹。”
轟——
從生命樹的底部傳來劇烈的震動，像是有人要将生命樹連根拔起，那動靜實在是太大，以至于傳到上方也不見減弱幾分。在精靈們驚恐的目光中，修微笑着。
“他死了，我就讓生命樹陪葬。”
在修說出最後一句話之前，阿納特已經察覺出不妙了，但她依然被精靈從手中搶走了杜澤，自身也被精靈族的兩個武神壓制住。精靈女王的表情第一次出現了裂縫，她驚恐地對外面那個惡魔高喊：“快住手！我們會把他完好無缺地還給你！”
修看着這場鬧劇，拍了拍亞夫結，機械傀儡眼中的光閃爍了一番，像是傳達了什麽信息，底下的動靜停止了。精靈女王幾乎快癱倒在地，她強撐着讓西蒙把昏迷的杜澤帶過來，阿納特擡頭看着這一切，她尖笑道：“你以為把人還給他他就會放過你們嗎！別傻了！我能看出，他是比我還邪惡的魔鬼！”
精靈女王雖然沒有回應阿納特的話，卻也受到了影響，她盯着修。“你必須向神起誓，否則我們不相信你。”
修沒有絲毫遲疑。“如果你們把他還給我，我不會以任何手段對生命樹出手。”修偏頭想了想，露出意義不明的笑。“向光明神起誓。”
精靈女王看到一道光照在修的身上，這代表了光明神公證了這場誓言，若有違反則會受到神的制裁。她松了一口氣，走向祭臺的中央，用一片葉子從池子中取出一滴生命樹樹汁。精靈女王小心翼翼地将那滴金黃色的液體倒入杜澤的嘴中，幾乎是入嘴的那一霎那，杜澤的臉色就恢複了紅潤，人也清醒過來。
杜澤有些迷茫地看着周圍，他的眼前一片模糊，看得他有點頭暈，像是剛開始戴上眼鏡時的那種感覺。杜澤不得不取下眼鏡看看是不是出了什麽問題，在取下的那一刻，他僵住了，從未那麽清晰過的視線中，修在對面注視着他，他甚至能看到那雙眼睛中他自身的倒影，小小的，卻裝滿了整個眼睛，再也沒有餘地去裝其他人和物了。
杜澤不知道是先該思考他那高度近視的眼睛為什麽突然好了，還是思考現在到底是什麽情況。這時候，他聽到修對他說：“過來。”
幾乎是反射性地起身向修走去，沒有精靈阻擋他。阻絕的光膜被打開，杜澤爬上了亞夫結伸過來的手，機械傀儡将杜澤送到修面前，某個蠢萌看到修那熟悉的亞麻色頭發和小臉，突然緊張得不知道說些什麽好。
這個是修，是一個活生生的人。
這時候，杜澤看到修向前傾着身子攬住他的脖子。
“你最終還是會回到我身邊。”
那一瞬間杜澤的心中溢滿了感動，其實被帶走也不會驚慌，是因為潛意識中早就篤定了修會來找他。某個蠢萌呆呆地想，他早已忘記了擁有朋友的滋味，但抱着他的這個人，用行動告訴他什麽才是真正的友情。
杜澤剛想伸出手回抱，就聽到修在他耳邊說：“因為我會将分離我們的東西統統都破壞掉。”
轟……咯吱……吧唧……
那是一種類似骨骼被碾碎、血肉被壓成肉末的聲音，就像是一腳踩到蟑螂，然後不停地轉動腳底碾壓屍體的聲響。
杜澤曾有無數次想過，如果他那時候沒有回頭，是不是就不會看到機械傀儡腳底那灘逐漸溢出的血了呢？是不是就不會那麽清晰深刻地意識到，一切已經不一樣了——無論是修，還是他看待這個世界的方式。
精靈女王瞪大眼睛看着機械傀儡從天而降，如果不是兩個武神的速度足夠快，被碾碎的就不只是阿納特了。機械傀儡移開腳，血水蔓延，阿納特如一片破布般鋪在血水之上，然而即使她的頭顱扁了，全身的骨頭碎成粉末了，她依然還活着——殺死一個吸血鬼除了用銀器，就只能切去它的頭顱。于是機械傀儡将阿納特拾起來，死靈法師的身體軟綿綿地垂下，她發出奇怪的嗬嗬聲，不知在嘲笑自己，還是在嘲笑即将步入同樣後塵的精靈女王。在所有人的目光下，機械傀儡用拇指和食指撚住了阿納特的頭——阿納特的頭對于它來說只有它的手指尖那麽大——然後輕輕一撕。
咔噠……
漫天的血雨落了下來，許些血沫飛濺到精靈女王臉上，她僵硬地伸出手拭去那些猩紅的液體。當精靈女王發現機械傀儡轉頭看向她時，她憤怒而驚恐地大叫：“你背叛了誓言，你将會被光明神制裁！”
“我只是說不對生命樹出手。”修的手指插入杜澤的頭發中，安撫地撫摸着。“并沒有說要放過精靈族。”
精靈女王不可置信地看着那名侏儒露出了充滿嘲弄的微笑，甜糯的聲音中透露了一種極度的藐視和憎惡。
“呵……光明神算什麽。”
精靈女王終于了解到，阿納特最後的嗬嗬笑聲是怎麽回事——那是在嘲笑即将步入她同樣後塵的精靈族，愚蠢地相信了一個魔鬼。她呆呆地站立在祭臺上，完全沒注意機械傀儡向她揮過來的手。
“殿下！”
溫熱的血滴在精靈女王的臉上，才讓她猛然驚醒，她最忠誠的禁衛長對她說：“殿下，請你先逃跑吧。”
精靈女王看着西蒙斷了一半的胳膊，什麽話都說不出來。此時光膜已經無法打開了，現在精靈長老們別說救精靈族了，連他們都自身難保。
原來越混亂的局面終于讓杜澤回過神來，他強忍着翻騰的嘔吐欲望，努力去說服修改變主意。
“不至于要、殺了他們。”
要知道污染精靈族和殺死精靈族完全是兩碼事，後者更極端啊！
修松開了杜澤，在杜澤的目光下，他一點一絲地劃開了笑容。
“讓我不高興的，死。”
兩名機械傀儡将一名精靈從中間撕開，血肉內髒落了一地。
“阻礙我的，死。”
一名機械傀儡雙手合攏，直接将一名精靈碾成了肉末。
“沒有價值的，死。”
在杜澤不能置信的目光下，修彎着唇說出了最後一句。
修為什麽還能笑？
不對、不對、有什麽不對！修不該是這樣的，這簡直就像、就像是——
杜澤茫然地想，游弋的目光落在了下方的老約翰身上。老約翰察覺到杜澤的目光，擡頭對杜澤無奈地笑着搖搖頭，做出了口型。
小主人失去理智了。
杜澤盯向修鮮豔的瞳孔，那其中，沒有絲毫理智。
"!"
Xiu was caught off guard by Du Ze. The black-haired young man jumped off the mechanical puppet holding the dwarf and rushed to the small pool in the center of the altar with all his strength.
“Blah——”
The golden liquid splashed up and down, as if it had put an end to madness.
The mechanical puppet waved its hand and threw Simon against the stone wall. It looked at the Elf Queen who was sitting on the ground in a daze, and raised its fist high. A slender figure trembled in front of the Elf Queen, but it was Ariel. The mechanical puppet did not hesitate at all and smashed down with its fist.
Ariel closed her eyes tightly. The fist had already blown her hair away, but it stopped abruptly. Ariel opened her eyes carefully. The huge fist was right in front of her, but the mechanical puppet tilted its head and looked in one direction. Not only it, but all the mechanical puppets seemed to have been paused, and all looked towards the center of the altar.
Ariel covered her lips in shock. The sap of the tree of life in the pool had disappeared completely. Sitting in the middle of the pool were Du Ze, whom she knew, and a strange elf. The elf had long silver hair draped behind her, and her green eyes were like the newest buds in spring. Her delicate face was so perfect that it was suffocating. Although the elves were always beautiful, it was unprecedented to see one so beautiful.
The silver-haired elf propped himself up with his elbows and looked up at the black-haired young man quietly.
Du Ze sat on Xiu's body, his hand slightly loosened Xiu's torn collar, and asked softly.
"Calm down, huh?"
Xiu stretched out his right hand, and the cloth slipped down his arm, revealing his fair skin. He pressed Du Ze into his arms, his long eyelashes drooping.
"kindness."
******
******
I send you sunshine to weave into your hair.
I give you moonlight, and let it become your skin.
I give you flowers to depict your beauty.
I gave you trees to build your house.
I give you the harp, that it may embellish your voice.
I give you the bow and arrow, let it be your strength.
I gave you Elf, and let it be your name.
——Excerpt from Half-Blood: A Fairy Song