Cordelia POV:
Muffled sounds of our footsteps was the only evidence of our rapid movements through the dark forests. The elves, who have been raised in this kind of environment and thus developed great skills in traversing it, were initially shocked at how effortlessly I could keep up with them.
That shock soon changed to happiness as I would not be holding them back during the operation. The wind and plant magic blanketed our fall and made it easier to follow up with minimal energy loss.
'Their footwork... it's really incredible,' I thought as I used more mana to keep up with them. The only reason I could do so was because of my superior strength. The elves were moving far more efficiently than one could imagine.
'I suppose Jude would be more efficient though,' I silently giggled at my thought before finally stopping when I noticed the elves's movements getting slower and coming to a halt.
I walked to the edge where Arion was looking through and saw a pitch black fortress looking like the lair of an evil scientist wanting to take over the world.
'The fuck is that? The guy is not even trying to hide how evil he is,' I thought before signalling to Arion to begin the operation.
The plan we came up with relied on ancient networks of tunnels that lay below the giant fortress. This is because the fortress is build upon the destroyed Royal Palace and these tunnels were part of that palace.
These tunnels have some complex runes that block sensing from even the Chamrior King, being the reason he hasn't found them. Not only that, the access to these is quite complex and very few important elves know about them.
In fact, these tunnels were used to evacuate everyone when the Royal Palace was attacked and the old king died.
These tunnels can be very hard to navigate as well, however, there are four gold compasses that allow us to do just that.
"Elnora, Avery and Falwin, each of you will lead your separate teams through the tunnels to distract the guards of the King. Use these compasses to do so."
Arion handed them the golden compasses. The three of them gave a solemn nod with eyes full of determination.
'Good thing these guys aren't chickening out,' I thought before turning to Arion.
"Now, let us advance and end the reign of the monster tyrant!" Arion bellowed as he raised his rapier into the air.
The elves all yelled zealously while I had to use wind magic to blanket all the sounds.
'Gee, thanks!' I said to myself sarcastically before following Arion as he went down the side of the cliff.
"There isn't much security outside of the fortress as the Chamrior King is quite arrogant. So it won't be difficult to enter it."
I nodded my head alongside the nervous yet brave dozen powerful elves who followed us. They were all above retainers in strength and a team of them could defeat a Scythe.
Arion took us through a long winded path before we finally found a small door with an aetheric rune. He put his hand against the rune and I could make out the aether going haywire. Before I could say anything, the world turned white and we entered the tunnels.
Entering the tunnels was instantaneous yet a weird experience. My senses completely blocked and I couldn't even sense the elves behind me. It was only when I turned around to make sure they were still there that I calmed down.
'This is weird,' I thought as I touched the walls pulsing with aether. The texture of the wall felt smooth, quite unlike its rough outer appearance.
"Let's go," Arion's voice snapped me out of my thoughts as he led the way with his golden compass.
Even though I was following the old elf who was just a few metres away, it felt like I was going to get lost any second I lost focus.
This feeling of dread and of feeling lost caused me to focus completely on where we were going and suppress my distracting thoughts.
"Stop! We have arrived!" Arion sharply said as he raised his hand to stop everyone. My focus disappeared and I could hear the nervous, laboured breaths of the elves following us.
"Now, let the plan commence!"
(A/N: I really had to cut this chapter short since I am appearing for my SAT test this Saturday. Wish me luck! I will upload a 2000 word chapter to compensate for this next Thursday, look forward to that.)