Round 26: The Empire’s Attack (Part 1)

“Oh!” The old holy warrior suddenly struck his right fist against his left palm. “There’s a shortcut—though it’s not easy to get lost… But Agus’s troops are moving around a lot over there; it seems they’re preparing for a major attack—be careful to avoid them!”
These words stopped Forty-Seven in his tracks, but nearly drove him mad—Agus?
“I’ll be careful, but not to avoid them. There’s no such thing as liking or disliking battle, nor is it necessary to judge whether it’s necessary. I have reasons to act—that’s what matters.” As he spoke, Forty-Seven thought to himself, This must be a white lie—maybe not, but it’s none of your business, old man.
“Hmm, okay… Go from here to over there until you see two big trees… No, these two trees are different; they’re special. Then follow the edge of a brown forest. If you’re going in the right direction, the bark of those trees will become rougher and rougher… Don’t rely on the position of the moon or stars—they’re completely unreliable…”
Even if Forty-Seven couldn’t forget a single word, he still felt dizzy.
“What’s your name?” Finally, after ending the lengthy directions, Forty-Seven suddenly turned around and asked.
“Anton, Saint Antonio Colchas Montijaghar Khan. You can just call me Anton! What about you?”
“Forty-Seven. But you can call me Galileo Space Aristotle 18th Legion AK-R-5 Mechanical Assault Model Number Forty-Seven.” Forty-Seven turned and left.
Anton seemed to have no reason to keep Forty-Seven any longer. As Forty-Seven was about to be swallowed by the dense forest, Anton loudly blessed him, “May you achieve your goal soon!”
Of course. Forty-Seven didn’t turn around, seemingly not hearing those words at all.
Anton watched as Forty-Seven disappeared from his sight, then headed toward the elf village along the path Forty-Seven had taken.
To his surprise, the path Anton indicated proved very convenient for Forty-Seven. Although some parts seemed like detours or even backtracking, leaving that path revealed it to be the only correct route—otherwise, one would truly be stuck wandering through the trees forever.
As dawn approached, Forty-Seven heard noises ahead—though distant, he could still hear them.
It was the sound of battle.
As Forty-Seven quickened his pace and even began to leap through the forest, the sounds of fighting grew clearer. He could now clearly hear the clash of weapons and the whizz of arrows. From his infrared vision, the area ahead was completely red—perhaps that was the color of a battlefield.
Forty-Seven began climbing trees. Despite his impressive weight, this didn’t affect his agility or jumping ability. Moreover, he had unfolded his black steel wings, acting like a giant bat. He quickly used branches and vines to climb upward. Fortunately, the plants in the Sleeping Forest were quite resilient, allowing him to reach the treetops in just a few attempts. Soon, the entire battlefield appeared before him.
It was a clearing in the forest—a terrain that was quite rare in the Forgotten Forest.

At first glance, Forty-Seven saw four towering black steel statues—nearly twenty feet tall, bulky like iron barrels. Their thick, sturdy black iron armor deftly withstood the elves’ arrows and offensive spells. Gems embedded in their heads and shoulders rotated back and forth, emitting blinding light that swept across the battlefield like searchlights, rendering the night elves’ innate invisibility useless. It seemed the creators were well aware that although night elves could hide in darkness, they lost this ability in light. Each arm of the statues held two huge iron balls connected by chains, covered in spikes, which were deadly whether rotated or thrown.

Armored in full plate, the Agus warriors fought against the elves under the cover of these four statues. Though on the defensive, they were far from at a disadvantage. Wearing bright silver armor and wielding twin swords, they created a shield of light, clashing with the charging elves. Although their movements were still much slower than those of the elves, their exceptional defense made up for it. The elves’ scimitars seemed to have little effect on their armor, and the arrows flying from the forest could hardly disable them unless they precisely hit the unshielded eyes. Fortunately, this wasn’t too difficult for the elves, which is why their attacks weren’t in vain. The warriors’ armor was fully metallic even at the joints, yet it felt as soft as cloth and didn’t hinder their movements at all. Most astonishingly, their twin swords were not only extremely sharp but also retractable and could even bend to some extent. Forty-Seven witnessed an elf leaping into the air to avoid a sledgehammer thrown by a black giant statue being pierced and torn apart by several suddenly extending swords.

These Agus soldiers guarded a structure with sharp edges but overall a circular shape. It wasn’t really a building, as from Forty-Seven’s perspective, it was just a wall. But no one had built it; it was growing on its own—the iron shells folded and then unfolded, automatically rising upward. Inside the iron walls were people in white robes, but they weren’t building anything. Instead, they simply took out square iron blocks from somewhere unknown, and those blocks, as if alive, unfolded and assembled themselves into the structure… The building rose rapidly, soon surpassing the height of trees.

The night elves’ commander, the female druid Fado, stood anxiously in the forest, watching the battle. The other druids had already unleashed all their offensive spells, but with little effect.

“This won’t work! The warriors are suffering heavy losses!” A muscular elf druid rushed to her side, furious. “These bastards who desecrate nature! It seems we can only summon the power of beast souls to fight hand-to-hand!”

“I’m afraid that won’t help…” Fado said through gritted teeth. “Those giant statues’ armor is too strong! Gather the druids… We need to concentrate our efforts to summon tree elves!”

“Tree elves?” The druid frowned. “There are no tree elves nearby! If there were, we would have asked them for help long ago—”

Suddenly, his expression changed. “Are you trying to force out the spirit of these ancient trees and combine them to create tree-like beings with only a short lifespan? No! That’s a grave violation of nature! Such evil magic was abandoned thousands of years ago! The Tree People will never tolerate such actions!”
“But there’s no other way!” Fado shouted. “Look! The enemy is using their evil powers to make our warriors bleed! We simply can’t fight against Agus’s mechanical weapons with our own strength! Stop thinking and get ready to act! Even if the gods see this, they’ll forgive us!”
Fado silently added in his mind—If they don’t forgive us, they’re not gods.
It seems Agus’s bastards want to establish a permanent stronghold here. This strategy of sowing seeds for the future is indeed clever. Forty-Seven sat in the tree, watching, with no intention of interfering for now.
Although he felt anger whenever he saw those mechanical weapons—especially when watching the Agus people use them—it was like seeing a thief using the money stolen from him to invest, looking proud of it all.
But the elves probably weren’t that simple.
The elves continued to launch attacks relentlessly, though their tactics gradually shifted toward harassment.
As Forty-Seven wondered what other cards the elves had left, suddenly his body tilted, and the branch beneath his feet cracked with a snap. He gripped the tree trunk harder, digging his fingers in deeply, without changing his posture at all, even though the branch beneath him had broken.
The branch didn’t break because of Forty-Seven’s movement or extra force.
Forty-Seven noticed the leaves around him turning rapidly yellow—unnaturally yellow—and the branches and trunks were also withering and cracking, as if these ancient trees, which had lived for hundreds of years, had suddenly reached the end of their lives.
The yellowing spread, affecting many trees.
Agus’s soldiers seemed to have sensed something as well. The white-robed mages inside the high walls climbed onto the walls, their bodies glowing with magical defenses. They waved their hands and recited spells, and soon over a dozen killing spells formed in their hands. At the same time, the black iron giants guarding the buildings also began to move, heading deeper into the forest, seemingly to attack something…
But it was already too late.