The atmosphere among the allied forces was depressing. There weren’t many casualties, but it didn’t change the fact that they had lost the first battle. Furthermore, their opponent’s reinforcement forces and the strange masses of fire demoralized them. Nonetheless, the war was far from over.

The elves quietly equipped themselves and prepared for the next battle—it was the same for Zich and his companions. They sat in a circle around a bonfire. No one was heavily injured, but they couldn’t escape from the fatigue of battle; Hans fought elves on the frontlines, Lyla shot out magic from all over the place, and Snoc made and maintained a gigantic tunnel. Yet, no one was sleeping.

Whoosh!

A great wave of mana whirled near them. Hans and Snoc quickly got up.

Thud!

Zich walked out of the wave of mana.

“Welcome back, sir!”

“Yeah,” Zich responded to Hans and handed Lyla an artifact. It was what could be said as Lyla’s ultimate item: a teleportation artifact. Lyla let Zich borrow it since he said that he needed to check on something in Mentis. This action also signified how much Lyla trusted Zich by letting him borrow a rare artifact without any qualms.

“I used it well.”

“How was it?” Lyla...