At that moment Luther, the dark elf, was about to kill Ebony with his dark magic that poisoned both the blonde's body and soul.
However, Kaly, the leader of the hunters, appeared trying to stop the elf with a direct punch to his face, but he stopped the blow with a single hand.
But just when everything seemed lost, in the distance the trees began to break apart as Lucian, the green-haired elf, appeared. He ran urgently toward the hunters' camp where everyone was in the middle of battle.
Behind the elf, the ruler of the lake, a giant black serpent, followed him in a rage, for it still had the green-haired elf's sword embedded in its body.
"(Not the best idea of my life, but not the worst either… At least I made it in time.)" the elf thought as he looked ahead, where he could see Ebony tied to a trunk in the middle of a bonfire burning intensely.
Luther, upon seeing the ruler of the lake, had to lower the hand with which he was channeling dark magic into Ebony's body, thus stopping his invasive assault on the blonde's soul.
Kaly, without losing a single second, spun her body and aimed a knee strike at the dark elf's ribs, forcing him to raise his guard and receive the impact, which was charged with small reddish lightning bolts.
"You are far too stubborn for your own good," Luther said before grabbing Kaly by the throat and beginning to squeeze with the intention of ending her life.
But at that moment Lucian had already reached Luther's back.
The young green-haired elf could feel the dark magic emanating from Luther's body. However, Kaly, the leader of the skin hunters, had kidnapped his friend.
He had to choose which of the two to attack, but the decision weighed more than he could imagine, for it would decide the fate of his life and his friend's.
"(This guy is a dark elf… I thought they had gone extinct, but I guess plagues aren't that easy to wipe out… Attacking is the right move. If we don't defeat him, he might end up killing us all. Even if we run, he could catch us.)"
Lucian thought with every step he took, until, feeling Luther's darkness, he couldn't hold back any longer and a whistle escaped his lips.
{{Forest Magic: Oak Muscles}}
Magic began to emanate from his body as his muscles filled with energy, strengthening his power and endurance in a single second.
Now face to face with Luther, the green-haired elf drove a punch into the side of Luther's body, just below his ribs.
The blow was so strong that a small shockwave of wind shook the nearby leaves scattered on the ground.
But Luther merely turned his head and, looking at Lucian directly, formed a smile.
In that instant, the dark elf threw Kaly's body like a projectile at Lucian, sending both of them crashing into a tree, which split in two from the impact.
The black-haired elf then focused his attention on the other predator before him, the serpent that with every movement seemed to carve a small river through the earth due to its enormous size.
The serpent, sensing Luther's energy, paused for a moment and stopped opening its jaws. It stood before a predator perhaps even more ruthless than itself, so when it reached Luther, the serpent activated a spell.
{{Water Magic x Spiritual Magic}}
{{Abyss of Tears}}
The gigantic serpent, upon reaching the dark elf, lowered its head and submerged its body into the earth, which seemed to give way like liquid. Once its entire scaled body had passed through, the ground returned to normal.
Seeing how the serpent swam beneath the earth, Luther decided to search for his objective so he could leave quickly.
But recalling the situation, he remembered the necklace was in the possession of the hunters' leader, a leader he had left sprawled on the ground after smashing her through a tree with her back.
Yet to his surprise, where the tree had been split in two by Lucian and Kaly's bodies, there was no trace of either of them.
At that moment he clearly heard electric sparks on the ground, as if something were trying to circle him.
"It's a good effort, boy, but you'd better not try anything stupid. Give me the necklace and I promise I'll leave without killing anyone," the dark elf said.
"Promises from a murderer and a monster are worth the same as a baby's diaper, it's full of shit inside," Lucian shouted while hiding behind a tree.
Hearing that challenging tone, the dark elf decided to dash forward, drawing his black sword and preparing to slice the tree where Lucian was hiding into several pieces, along with the green-haired elf.
The moment he arrived, he swung the strike meant to cut both the tree and whoever stood behind it, but beneath him he felt a brief tremor accompanied by a presence filled with rage.
The ruler of the lake, the massive serpent of black scales and reddish eyes, burst from the ground, shattering and splitting the dry earth as its jaws opened wide, attempting to devour Lucian for having wounded it.
Luther successfully dodged that attack from below with a swift leap, but before he could even land, Kaly appeared behind him in a blink.
This time the hunters' leader managed to land a blow on the dark elf's back, a strike charged with so much spiritual energy that it generated red lightning.
After the impact, Luther's body was sent flying toward the serpent's body, crashing hard against its scales.
That serpent, despite its massive size and vast magical energy, did not wish to kill the dark elf. It had only come for the one who had wounded it, Lucian.
But the green-haired elf had other plans. He rushed to help his companion Ebony, who was on the verge of unconsciousness in the middle of the green flames of the bonfire where she was tied.
"I'm here now, it's okay, let's get out of this place!" Lucian said as he reached Ebony, climbing onto the bonfire and using a small dagger to cut through the bindings that restrained her.
"Idiot… you took too long… We need to leave, fast," the blonde muttered weakly, her exhausted body resting in her friend's arms.
The young blonde had been exposed to the spiritual fire of the bonfire and now to the dark elf's energy that sought her death.
All those interactions had begun to wear down her body. If no one healed her, she would die.
"(If I heal myself here there are too many witnesses… it would definitely be our end… But I guess I don't have any other choice.)" the blonde thought, enduring the pain.
After all, in that world Healers could not heal themselves, but due to a glitch in the system she was capable of such a miracle.
But before she could even say a word, the remaining skin hunters appeared. Only twelve of them were left.
Ten surrounded the pair, trying to protect them, while the remaining two began covering Ebony with deer hides under Lucian's astonished gaze.
{{Spiritual Magic: Healing Dew}}
Despite their cuts and wounds, despite their fear of the imminent death brought by the monsters fighting before them, they decided they would not bear the death of an innocent young woman.