Chapter 1094: Elven Territories and the Black Industry Chain
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1094: Elven Territories and the Black Industry Chain
Tuliweia Village was a settlement under the jurisdiction of a Transcendent Academy dominated by the Dark Elf race.
The surrounding environment consisted primarily of mountains and jungles, encircled by the Tuliweia River.
The Transcendent Academy led by the Dark Elves pursued places of gloom; the Mother Goddess World Tree they worshipped was a massive symbol hidden within the shadows.
The darkness cast by the World Tree shrouded nearly half of the territory. It was no exaggeration to say that those who never left their birthplaces might live their entire lives without even knowing what the sun looked like.
From the moment they were born, their sky was draped in shadow.
However, this had little impact on their daily lives. After all, their ancestors had lived here for generations and had long since grown accustomed to it.
The Dark Elves maintained close ties with branches like the Shadow Elves and the Dark-Devouring Elves, and the business they preferred to engage in was similarly unsavory.
In the Void, the concept of a Transcendent Advancement System was simple, yet it wasn't something any race could just stumble upon at will.
A lifeform that encountered transcendent power would invariably link it to the occult, eventually forming primitive sacrificial rituals and life blood sacrifices.
After all, life was the cheapest and fastest-acting transcendent material.
Thus, for races below the transcendent level, advancement systems either relied on the brute-force strengthening of bloodline power or... constant fumbling through bloodshed.
Every shred of their power was stained with filth and cruelty.
If one were to flip through the history of many transcendent races, one could see that indelible, bloody past written between every line.
This was a philosophical problem that had to be faced within the Void.
Civilizations within a world did not appear overnight. Every race progressed from bloody barbarism toward civilization; even the Abyssal Demons had their own framework of civilization.
However, the starting times for world development in the Void varied, which meant that civilization and barbarism were destined to collide.
What right did a lifeform representing civilization have to criticize the barbarism of a primitive race?
It was a question that required no pity and offered no answer.
And in the Main World...
This situation didn't even require the distance between worlds.
Even across different continents and Academy territories, entirely different social developments could emerge. It was difficult for many to imagine—if they were all human, did they truly live under the same sky?
The Dark Elf Transcendent Academy was a small-scale academy comparable to the former Sun Rock Elf Academy, occupying a territory even smaller than the Sun Rock Territory.
In such a place, it was incredibly difficult for people to survive. Expecting the Dark Elves to help them?
Impossible!
In this region, there weren't even the common family factions; there were only stockades and villages hidden within the jungle.
This was a territory extremely dependent on imported resources. In a land with almost no modern industrial foundation, the only way to create productive value was to rely on illicit industries.
Thus, any mention of the Dark Elf territories was inseparable from the black industry chain.
In Transcendent Academies where the transcendent system was incomplete, two things were most common among the extraordinary mediums required to study supernatural power:
Fresh living Soul Essence and fresh flesh.
Life was the most primitive and effective extraordinary material, but such things could not be "legally obtained" under the general environment of the Main World. What happened when there was demand?
Naturally, transactions were carried out in secret. As long as one wasn't caught, it was fine.
After all, the one thing the Main World never lacked was people.
Tuliweia Village was the most typical settlement within the Dark Elf Academy's territory.
Because of its excellent geographical location and terrain, they operated with total abandon, completely disregarding any social repercussions.
And today, another batch of fresh "cargo" had been shipped into Tuliweia Village.
A dilapidated cargo ship sailed in along the Tuliweia River. Upon seeing the village contacts waiting for them, the people on board showed the joy of a successful harvest.
This was a massive village built along the water.
Looking closely, one would notice that the people here all possessed elven features to some degree, and some even wielded extraordinary power.
This outward appearance alone revealed that this was a village with a Transcendent Academy background. With Academy students possessing extraordinary power stationed there, their security and arrogant attitude were plain to see.
"Smiling so wide, you must have had a good haul. How many did you bring?"
"Heh~ I lost count! They're tossed in the hold, sleeping like dead pigs. Give me a hand with the inventory later. Anyway, we definitely hit this month's quota. Anything extra is pure profit! I'll be getting a nice cut of the money."
"Really? I'm jealous, brother~ Remember to treat us later!"
"Don't worry, don't worry~ It's on me!" The youth, who had delicate features and long elven ears, leaped off the boat and familiarly hooked his arm around the middle-aged man who had met them.
"By the way, I noticed more checkpoints on my way in today. What's going on? It's almost like we're on high alert."
"Hah~ don't even get me started. Word came down from the Academy—we're being watched!"
"Huh? Who's so suicidal they'd come looking for trouble here? Or did we catch someone we shouldn't have? Which idiot was so blind they didn't check identities before bringing them back?"
"No... that's not it!" The middle-aged man shook his head, then looked back at the boat on the river. "Did you verify this batch?"
"Of course I did..." the youth said, feeling a bit guilty. After all, he hadn't even recorded the count; how could he have checked their identities one by one?
Moreover, he knew that people of status rarely wandered into their neck of the woods. It would be hard for them to catch someone like that even if they tried.
"You should be more careful next time," the middle-aged man said, shaking his head. "But this time, it's not about catching the wrong person. We're being targeted by the Witch Academy!"
"The Witch Academy... hiss! That large-scale Transcendent Academy that starts Academy Wars everywhere? Those crazy witches?!"
Clearly, the youth knew a bit about current events in the Main World, but not much.
"Exactly! According to the grapevine, they've set their sights on Afuhemi Academy, so we subsidiary elven academies are the first to suffer."
"Ah? Then... what do we do? The Village Chief..."
"Eh~ why worry about that?" the middle-aged man interrupted. "When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. What use is it for witches to come here?"
"Don't forget what kind of place Tuliweia Village is. With our defenses and the Academy's garrison, no matter how many witches come, they're just easy pickings! Witches? They're just women who know how to throw fireballs."
"You really think Tuliweia Village hasn't taken in witch students before? When they die, they're no different from any other woman. Same when you use them."
"For real? How come I've never heard of that?"
"You weren't even born yet!"
"Huh? That long ago?"
"What else did you think? We don't border the Witch Academy. High-quality goods like that don't come around every day."
The two chatted casually about these topics before starting to tally the day's harvest with another group.
They didn't take the ultimatum issued by the Witch Academy seriously at all. They even used their lewd thoughts to fantasize about what a witch would taste like.
Their confidence stemmed from their terrain, which was easy to defend and hard to attack, as well as the powerful students dispatched from the Dark Elf Academy to guard them.
Furthermore, their territory did not border the witches' land, so the enemy couldn't possibly launch a large-scale encirclement against them.
Their thinking and perception remained stuck on hearsay about witches.
But they couldn't be blamed. Even ordinary people in the witches' territories didn't truly understand how terrifying the Witch Academy was, nor did they know how much power a single student could wield.
While they were still fantasizing about using the terrain and the powerful Dark Elf students to play guerrilla games with the academic witches...
Disaster struck.
The "cargo" they had just brought in—the ones they thought were at their mercy—showed their fangs the moment they arrived at Tuliweia Village.
The "girls who only know how to throw fireballs" they had mocked slaughtered these people in the blink of an eye.
Before they could even react, death had already arrived.
Killing didn't require flashy spells, and they hadn't come purely for slaughter; they had come with other objectives.
As the members of the No. 13 Free Warband Squad blended into Tuliweia Village, they tore open pre-prepared isolation spell scrolls.
This was an isolation spell massive enough to shroud the entire village, ensuring their actions wouldn't be exposed too early.
The rest... was simply cleaning these people up.
The Free Warband combat squad had known exactly what kind of place Tuliweia Village was before they arrived. Having done their "homework" in advance, these girls felt no psychological burden even as they killed.
Because every single person here deserved to die!
Clearing out the people of Tuliweia Village and destroying the black industry chains within took less than a day.
The conceited people of Tuliweia paid the price for underestimating their enemy—though even if they hadn't, it wouldn't have changed their fate.
Originally, the Free Warband could have used more direct methods, such as large-scale area-of-effect spells to simply wipe the slate clean, sending these filthy lives and evil industries away together.
While they didn't necessarily have such powerful spellbooks, sealed scrolls of such spells were available for purchase.
The reason they didn't do so was to preserve the village as a temporary base for the Free Warband in this territory.
They would continue to shine here, dedicating their strength to the upcoming arrival of the Emerald Forest World.
Similar events were unfolding across various territories.
For a time, the elven lands were gripped by panic.
They didn't understand the significance of the Witch Academy's move, but the Three Top Academies, watching everything unfold, understood perfectly.
This was the first stage of preparation for the descent of the Emerald Forest World!
In response, the most furious was Afuhemi Academy.
After all, all the elven branch Transcendent Academies in the Main World were subsidiaries of Afuhemi Academy.
For the witches to take such large-scale action right under their noses was a massive slap in the face to the elves.
Furthermore, based on the arrangements of the United Club, they knew the approximate location where the Emerald Forest World would descend.
Thus, Afuhemi Academy was the first to react.
To ensure they could get a piece of the pie in the so-called Emerald Forest World, they had to intervene personally.
Not just Afuhemi Academy—the Holy Angels and Wizards felt the same, but they couldn't move as conveniently as the elves.
In an instant, the elven territories became the contested ground of the current situation in the Main World.
Probing, harassment, ambushes, expulsions...
As the saying goes: a new semester, a new atmosphere.
The Witch Academy United Club had dealt a heavy blow to all the Transcendent Academies.
Although the United Club seemed to have fallen into another long-term stalemate in the elven territories, they had made significant progress compared to the past.
After all, even now, the Nine Major Core Combat Sequences hadn't moved a muscle. They had merely offered some incentives to hand the matter over to the Free Warband sequences.
They looked at the map, where red dots representing temporary bases were embedded like nails deep within the chaotic elven territories.
And everything...
Only awaited the arrival of that one opportunity.
Then, they would use thunderous methods to seize the gate to the Emerald Forest World without hesitation.
The United Club had its own considerations for choosing such a time to "show their hand" to all the Transcendent Academies.
Three full days passed.
Enduring harassment from various elven branch academies and the intervention of the top academies, the final nail in the elven territory had been placed.
They had made it just before the deadline.
On the night of the fourth day, along with abnormal weather occurring in the elven territories...
The material space fluctuation monitoring alchemy instruments carried by the Free Warband sequences issued an alert.
This meant... the collision between the Emerald Forest World and the Main World was inevitable!
Even with Transcendents maintaining the Main World to mitigate the aftershocks, the violent collision of worlds manifested as celestial anomalies!
"Sisters! Stop tangling with those disgusting guys. Remember why we came here?"
"To welcome the Emerald Forest World!"
"Move! It's time for the real work... keep a constant watch for Void Rifts in the vicinity!"
With the issuance of the new orders, the members of the Free Warband sequences were instantly revitalized.
The United Club had promised that the first warband squad to discover a Void Rift would receive a lavish reward. If, on top of the discovery, they could open a spatial channel for the United Club and guide the Core Combat Sequence members to the rift, the United Club would certainly not treat them poorly!