Castian, the strongest high elf, along with the rest of the group members led a total of 64 elves to one particular side of the Mist.
There was nothing like a post or guards stationed here. In fact, the whole 5-mile area between the mountains was open for anyone to enter.
However, for dozens of years, no one dared to even get near the area, let alone enter the Mist. As Tristan followed their lead, he quickly realized why.
The air inside the mist was so dense and polluted to the point that it was nothing less than poison to normal humans. Even stronger humans would still at least fall sick if they breathed in the air here, but fortunately, that did not apply to the elves present.
They walked through the thick smoke, and after a while, a vast, lifeless forest greeted their sight.
As far as the eyes could see, there were only dead trees and plants veiled by gray mist, but as they walked deeper inside, they suddenly heard a distinct sound of crunching from beneath their feet. Upon hearing the sound, the elves reflexively looked down.
Beneath their feet were hundreds and thousands of brittle gray bones varying in shapes and sizes. Tristan closely observed the bones. He was trying to figure out whether these bones were from humans or some other creatures, but they were so corroded by the mist that their forms had become too unrecognizable.
"This is only the outer layer of the Mist. We should speed up, but remember to keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary," Castian said, his eyes still vigilantly looking around the deep forest.
When Tristan heard the high elf lord's reminder, Tristan rolled his eyes.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAnything out of the ordinary?
As far as the eyes can see, everything here is out of the ordinary!
"These are the remains of the battle between humans and elves more than 4,000 years ago," Leena explained when she noticed Tristan scrutinizing the bones on the ground.
Tristan nodded. In truth, he had studied about the place before coming here. Illiana also informed him that Castian and her father Vizier also went together with the first group 50 years ago, but they decided to only stay at the outer layer and never went inside.
So even though some of the people here had been to this place, none of them had actually entered the inner layer before.
At the moment, being in a group with the most powerful elves on the planet, Tristan decided to just stay in compliance. As a newbie, there are always benefits in listening and learning, and he would not be disadvantaged by doing so.
However, his first goal was always on his mind.
Spirit souls.
While these elves were dashing through the dead forest and looking for any signs of danger from the outside, they did not think the main danger to come from among them.
Tristan knew that the saint elves would not have any spirit souls, hence he only had his eyes on the magus elves.
There were four half-moon magi elves among them.
The half-moon magi were Castian, the high elf lord and the strongest among them with [3,290] spirit force, and Vizier with [3,050] spirit force.
The two other half-moon magi were both high elves. One was a skinny high elf with [2,810] spirit force name Kolvar, and the other one was Osgiolath, a slightly muscular high elf with [2,575] spirit force.
The rest were peak crescent moon magi. Among them were Queen Leena and Illiana, both of them at peak crescent stage with [2,000] spirit force and had been unable to break through for hundreds of years.
There was only one crescent moon magus who had not reached peak crescent stage; it was Haladar, the old Mirkwood king with [1,545] spirit force. Even the one aide he brought, a younger magus with green hair, had reached peak crescent stage.
Except for Leena and Illiana, Tristan thought of all 11 magus-level elves as potential targets.
After dashing in full speed for about an hour, they were finally out of the dead forest. However, now in front of them replacing the forest was another area covered in thick mist.
Castian stopped in his tracks and turned around with a serious expression.
"I have never been past this place. 50 years ago, the best of us went in, but none of them returned. If any of you have second thoughts, this is your chance to turn back."
Tristan thought that there would be at least one elf who treasured their life. But to his surprise, when he looked back, the expressions of both Leena, the Queen of Vanyar, and Haladar, the old king of Mirkwood, were actually filled with excitement as they readied along with the other elves.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmKing Vizier approached Tristan.
"I would feel better if you had not chosen to come here. I might not be able to protect you two."
Of course, the dark elf king's message was ultimately for Illiana, his precious daughter, but instead of being touched or anything of the sort, the dark elf princess smirked when she heard his words of concern.
"Don't listen to him, he's only trying to tease you."
The dark elf king wanted to laugh out loud, but he only shrugged with a casual smile in the end as he remembered the place they were in.
These two certainly had a weird relationship.
Seeing that none of the elves had any intentions of backing down, Castian turned around and once again shouted.
"Well then, let's enter!"
After walking past a hundred steps, the group finally heard some growling noises.
This made everyone take out their weapons. The moment the growl sounded, Castian swiftly charged out of the mist.
Tristan quickly followed suit, and the moment he caught up, he saw the elves fighting against hundreds of black furry creatures as big as an adult man.
"Dark wolves!!"