Elven Modification

“Adela is dead. One of our friends of hundreds of years, dead at the hands of those brutal Great Devourers. They say her body was torn into fifteen pieces, making it incredibly difficult to even gather her remains.”

“...”

“By rough estimates, over a million monsters are now swarming down from the north. They seek to devour the entire world. The longer and more fierce the battle to stop them drags on, the more of our companions will perish.”

The collapse of the Third Legion, the Fifth Legion beginning its battle against the oncoming Great Devourers—all of this triggered immense chaos and panic throughout the Elven Empire.

The once-invincible Elven Empire, which had conquered and occupied every surrounding power, was no more.

Now, just like any other race, they had to fight to the death against a powerful enemy that sought to consume them, plagued by constant anxiety.

If they lost, survival was not an option.

They would be brutally slaughtered and turned into food.

Sarel had gone out of his way to tell Lisette all of this, though she remained bound to the tree roots where she had been left since Celia's previous attack.

With a look of confusion on her face, she asked coldly, “Why on earth are you telling me all this?”

Sarel sighed and revealed the truth. “The growth of the Great Devourers and the resulting defeats have alarmed the gods. They have hastily bestowed a new technology upon us, but those compatible with it are extremely rare. You are one of them. Therefore, for the greater good, and for everyone's sake, please join the fight willingly.”

“Have you all lost your minds?”

Lisette's face twisted in shock; she found the entire situation utterly absurd.

“You are the traitors, the ones who murder and abuse our own kind! And now that our race is on the brink of extinction, you ask me to fight? Wake up! The ones who deceived and slaughtered our people aren't the Great Devourers—it's you!”

Unable to contain her rage, she writhed against her bonds and screamed.

Lisette had been betrayed by Sarel and these new elves who ruled over the elves by divine decree, costing her the lives of everyone close to her.

Because of Sarel's twisted obsession and selfish desires, she herself had been bound and subjected to endless torment, unable to live yet unable to die.

Thus, to her ears, those high-sounding phrases like “for the greater good,” “for true values,” and “for our kin” were nothing but sickening justifications and hypocrisy.

Furthermore, her claim that “the ones who killed our people are you” was not without basis.

In fact, if the new elves were not servants under the gods' divine protection, they wouldn't even have had to fight the Great Devourers in the first place.

No matter how Lisette cried out in her exhausted, hoarse voice, Sarel turned a deaf ear.

“Lisette, you are too short-sighted. Once you learn and experience more, you will understand. I didn't want this either. But... the greater good, yes, everything is for the great Elven God...”

Sarel firmly believed that his path was the correct one, and he sought to correct and force those who failed to understand or dared to oppose him.

“Take her to the laboratory. We must complete the preparations as much as possible before the Great Devourers advance any further and reach the Great Forest.”

After Sarel handed down his orders to the guards, Lisette was finally freed from the tree roots, screaming weakly as she was dragged away.

“Bind her tightly. Once she undergoes the Sacred Modification Ritual, she won't be able to disobey orders anyway.”

Once dragged inside, Lisette was gagged by her own kin and bound securely to the examination table.

Celia and the Lictors, who were referred to as her subordinate units, had grown far too powerful, playing the role of a special task force to perfection.

In response, the gods of the elves hastily used their interference force to bestow a new technology.

That was to modify the highly adaptable elven bodies, transforming them into holy warriors that inherited the power of the World Tree.

Of course, how painful this process would be, and the fact that the modified warriors would become disposable combat weapons incapable of disobeying orders, were deliberately ignored.

Besides, other than Lisette, everyone else was willing to endure this and sacrifice themselves.

“We will carve runes across her entire body, implant spirit core stones, and then inject sap containing the power of the World Tree into her joints and bones.”

Such a horrific and painful modification process—just hearing about it made one feel that death would be a mercy.

Lisette's eyes filled with sheer terror.

But her cornered kin completely ignored her gaze.

Parroting the same words over and over, they pressured and forced her, insisting that everything was for the sake of their kin and that she must make this sacrifice.

“Begin.”

Watching the needles plunge into her body, Lisette let out a silent scream.

Meanwhile, facing the tidal wave of Great Devourers, the Fifth Legion—which had attempted to resist—suffered a crushing defeat, abandoned their defensive lines, and began to retreat.