Chapter 010: Night Elves

“Hmm, sir, do you have any available rooms? I’d like to book an entire floor,” Du Fan said right away upon meeting the innkeeper.
“Of course, of course! The fourth floor is mostly empty—only two rooms on the east side are occupied. I’ll arrange for those guests to be moved to other rooms right away,” the man with sideburns replied, his face lighting up at Du Fan’s request.
An entire floor meant a big customer.
“Bring me anything delicious in each room. Also, prepare food for tomorrow that we can take with us,” Du Fan added.
These past two days, Shuiye City had been the first city they encountered. It had grown to a size comparable to the capital of theKara province thanks to the lack of larger cities in the vicinity.
After arranging for the care of their horses, Du Fan and his group went upstairs and checked in.
After two days of travel, everyone except Du Fan, Naixiu, and Rob was extremely tired. After dinner and washing up, they fell asleep immediately.
In the middle of the night, Du Fan was suddenly awakened by loud screams!
Pricking his ears, he realized those screams were coming from his own soldiers!
“An attack!” Du Fan immediately reacted. Before he could confirm this, ripples suddenly appeared in the air behind him, and a gleaming dagger was thrust at his back!
Feeling a chill behind him, Du Fan didn’t dodge. Instead, he turned around and, based on the dagger’s position, swung his hand in that direction!
With a soft sound, the dagger stopped right in front of Du Fan, as if hitting an impenetrable barrier. Meanwhile, where his hand had struck, a burst of blood mist erupted!
After the blood mist cleared, a corpse fell down.
“Night elves!” Naixiu exclaimed loudly upon seeing the corpse.
Hearing her cry, Du Fan remembered—a mysterious place existed on the continent called the Underground World!
This Underground World was even deeper than the dwarves’ underground cities. It was perpetually dark, inhabited by night elves, spidermen, goblins, subterranean monsters, and other creatures adapted to living in darkness.

The Dark Elves also belong to the elf race. Unknown to us, tens of thousands of years ago, this group of elves left their ancestral lands and entered the underground world. After a long period of development, they adapted to the environment there and even became a powerful force in it!

The Dark Elves are not the same as the Dark Elves—the latter are degenerate members of the elf race who willingly embrace darkness, while the Dark Elves are normal elves who have lived underground for so long that many of their traits have become completely different from those of elves on the surface.

The most obvious difference is that Dark Elves are not dark; in fact, they are even fairer than elves in the forests. Living underground for years, they almost seem to be suffering from albinism! Their snow-white skin gives them an extremely frail appearance.

The magic of the Dark Elves has also undergone drastic changes. The original elves were mostly skilled in nature-based magic, but in the underground world, there were not enough plants for them to gather natural energy. As a result, the elves who stayed there gradually realized something was wrong. Although it was difficult to sense nature-based magic here, the earth magic and dark energy in the underground world were very strong.

Thus, many magicians specializing in earth or dark magic emerged among the Dark Elves. Combined with their long-term life in darkness and their status as dark magic users, assassination became a profession perfectly suited to them.

Looking at the snow-white-skinned corpse with its pointed ears, these were unmistakable signs of a Dark Elf.

“Naixiu, quickly use your Elf King Ring,” Du Fan said urgently to her upon seeing the corpses of Dark Elves on the ground.

Hearing Du Fan’s words, Naixiu promptly put on her Elf King Ring. Its energy activated, and a red-green protective shield enveloped her entire body.

Seeing Naixiu activate the protective skill of her Elf King Ring, Du Fan immediately pulled her outside. The two ran straight to Rob and Lily’s room.

“Du Fan, what is this?” Rob asked, pointing at the two corpses on the ground after seeing Du Fan.

“Night elves, assassins from the underground world!” As soon as he saw the corpses on the ground, Du Fan immediately recognized them. The features of these two corpses were exactly the same as those of the night elf he had just killed.
These night elves only had level 8 combat skills, yet even experts like Du Fan and Naixiu could only detect their presence when they got close!
“I’ve heard of the underground world too. I think its entrance is somewhere in the Unordered Alliance, right? It’s guarded by human troops. How could these night elves have made it here?” Rob asked in confusion.
The Unordered Alliance was a loose alliance located in the southern part of the continent, with mostly marshes or jungles. It was said that a mysterious place within the alliance led directly to the underground world. However, that entrance was guarded by a mysterious human army, preventing anything from escaping and stopping humans from entering.
“I’m not sure either,” Du Fan replied, equally puzzled after hearing Rob’s question. “Rob, with your skills, can’t you sense these assassins’ movements?” he asked in astonishment.
If even god-tier experts couldn’t detect the night elves’ movements, then their ability to hide and ambush was truly formidable!
“I can only sense them when they make significant movements or get within five meters of me,” Rob replied seriously.
It was clear that even a god-tier expert like Rob couldn’t easily detect the night elves’ hidden movements, which meant their assassination skills were extremely deadly.
“Rob, Du Fan, go save those soldiers!” Seeing how fierce the night elves were, Lilith immediately reacted, determined to save the soldiers in the other rooms.
“It’s too late; there’s no time left,” Rob said right away. Hearing this, Du Fan realized that all the soldiers escorting them to the capital had already fallen victim to the night elves.
As the night elves took action, Du Fan clearly remembered the sharp sounds of knives piercing flesh coming from the other rooms from time to time!

“I have a way,” Du Fan said. Among the three forbidden spells of the gods, one was the Eye of Truth. With his current level of cultivation, using the Eye of Truth to see through the actions of the night elves wasn’t difficult at all. Soon, a golden light flashed in Du Fan’s eyes, and the skill of the Eye of Truth was unleashed. “Rob, follow me. We’ll search room by room,” Du Fan said, turning to Rob. “You two should come too; otherwise, those night elves could easily hurt you,” Du Fan added with a smile. With the Eye of Truth active, Du Fan was confident. They searched room by room, and in a few more rooms, Du Fan and Rob killed three night elves. As for the other night elf, Du Fan had intended to capture it for interrogation, but unexpectedly, once captured, the night elf bit through the poison in its mouth and died from poisoning! In total, seven night elves died, none of them surviving. Looking at the dead night elves on the ground, Rob stared at Du Fan in confusion. “Du Fan, how is it that I can’t sense anything, but you know where those night elves are hiding?” “Haha, Rob, this is a family secret technique of mine. With it, I can see everything that’s hidden,” Du Fan said with a smile. “It’s that amazing?” Rob asked, still skeptical despite Du Fan’s proud demeanor. “What’s so amazing about it? Actually, once explained, it’s quite simple. It’s just that if I don’t tell you, you’ll find it strange. Think about it—these night elves also only have a cultivation level of seven or eight, right? Yet their stealth skills allow them to remain hidden from you.” Du Fan used the night elves as an example. Indeed, after hearing this, Rob felt much more reassured. “So, Du Fan, your family secret technique seems quite powerful. Can you teach it to me?” Rob suddenly asked. Rob had also been hunted by Gelmu and the tribe he belonged to many times, so he really wanted to learn Du Fan’s skill. With his insight, he could easily see how useful it was. Being able to see through any disguise would give him a huge advantage if assassins tried to kill him in the future.

“Rob, since it’s a family-secret technique, how could it possibly be passed on to you? Otherwise, when I go back home and my family finds out, things won’t go well for me,” Du Fan said, clearly troubled.
Hearing this, Rob laughed awkwardly.
To be honest, Rob really wanted to learn that skill.
After thinking quickly, Du Fan gradually came up with a plan.
“Rob, if I pass that skill to you, will you keep it a secret?” Du Fan asked seriously.
“Of course, Du Fan. I won’t mention it to anyone else,” Rob replied immediately, sensing that there might be potential here and rushing to assure Du Fan.
“Hmm, Rob, if I risk betraying my family and facing punishment just to teach you that secret technique, do you think you can do the same for me?” Du Fan suddenly wore a strange expression as he spoke to Rob.