Chapter 1774: Surrounded - 1
Chapter 1774: Surrounded - 1
In no time, Max and the others arrived at the base of the Witch God Tree.
However, just when they reached the base, a golden sword flashed toward them out of nowhere.
The sword was not held by anyone. It appeared from the air itself, formed from condensed golden light, and it moved so quickly that several of the injured third faction elves did not even realize they were being attacked until the light had already crossed half the distance. Its target was not Max.
It was Caroline. The blade carried a sharp bloodline-suppressing force, and the moment it appeared, Caroline’s Heavenly Luminance Royal Bloodline trembled faintly, clearly reacting to the power hidden within the attack.
Max immediately moved forward and slashed Dragonheart at the incoming golden sword.
Boom!
The golden sword shattered into countless fragments of light, and the impact spread across the base of the Witch God Tree like a golden storm. The surrounding dust and dead leaves were swept away, the huge roots beneath their feet trembled, and several nearby stone ridges were sliced open by the stray sword light.
Max stood in front of everyone with Dragonheart lowered slightly in his hand, but his eyes had already become cold because the scene before them was much worse than they had imagined.
They were surrounded.
All around the base of the Witch God Tree, dozens upon dozens of elves stood in formation, each one wearing armor marked with the symbol of the second faction. Some stood on the giant roots spreading across the ground, some floated in the air with wings of light behind them, and some stood silently in the gaps between the ancient stones surrounding the tree’s base.
Their auras were far stronger than the ordinary hunters Max had encountered before, and unlike Lumine’s group, these elves had clearly come prepared. Light formations were already active beneath their feet, golden chains hovered in the air around the battlefield, and several bloodline-suppressing talismans had been placed around the base of the tree, forming a wide sealed region that trapped Max’s group inside.
Seraphine and Fin stood among them.
Both of them had revived after being killed in Witch God Valley, but their faces were no longer arrogant like before. Seraphine’s expression was icy, yet there was still a trace of fear hidden deep in her eyes when she looked at Max.
Fin’s usual mocking smile had disappeared completely, and although he still held his sword, his grip was tighter than before, as if his hand remembered the feeling of being cut down by Max’s Emotion Severing Path.
Their hatred was obvious, but so was their caution. They had already learned that Max was not someone they could handle alone.
At the center of the second faction formation stood a golden-haired elf woman.
The moment Caroline saw her, her face changed.
"Max," Caroline said in a low and tense voice, "be careful. The elf woman with golden hair standing at the center is Selene Vaeloria, the Divine Daughter of the second faction."
Max’s eyes shifted toward the golden-haired elf woman.
Selene Vaeloria truly looked different from the others.
Her golden hair flowed down her back like liquid sunlight, and her eyes were a clear, sacred gold that carried both nobility and coldness. She wore a white-gold battle dress covered in delicate divine patterns, and behind her floated a faint halo of Heavenly Luminance power.
Compared to Seraphine’s bloodline aura, Selene’s was far purer and more oppressive. The light around her did not simply shine. It seemed to command the surrounding radiance to kneel, and every second faction elf around her looked at her with unmistakable reverence.
She looked at Max calmly.
"So you are Max Morgan," Selene said, her voice soft but filled with authority. "The human who killed Seraphine, Fin, Lumine, and many others of my faction."
Max did not answer immediately.
The small cursed eye on his left shoulder blinked once, slowly turning its pupil toward Selene, while Dragonheart gave out a faint hum in his hand. Max noticed Selene’s Heavenly Luminance aura and felt something strange inside his bloodline stir faintly, but the reaction was not one of kinship. It was closer to disgust, as if his bloodline itself rejected the presence of the second faction’s divine radiance.
Caroline stepped closer to Max and whispered, "She is dangerous. Seraphine and Fin are powerful, but Selene is one of the true cores of the second faction’s younger generation. She was trained directly by the Bloodline Hall and the ancestors."
Jessica’s face was pale as she looked at Selene. "I did not think they would send the Divine Daughter herself."
Selene’s gaze moved from Max to Caroline, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. "Caroline, you truly are troublesome. Even after hiding inside Witch God Valley, you still managed to come out alive. I suppose I should thank this human for bringing you out instead of forcing us to enter that cursed place again."
Caroline’s eyes turned cold. "You should have stayed away."
Selene smiled lightly. "And allow you to escape? No. The remnants of Caelira’s faction belong in the Elf Prison, and you, more than anyone else, should return there."
The words made the third faction elves behind Caroline tremble with anger.
Max’s gaze became colder, but before he could speak, Nancy suddenly looked toward the other side of the battlefield.
"There are others here," she said quietly.
Max turned slightly.
On the opposite side of the base, away from the second faction formation, another group of people stood gathered beneath the shadow of the Witch God Tree. They were not part of the second faction.
Their armor and robes were different, more refined, and bore the emblem of the Lunarian Kingdom, one of the strongest first-rate forces in the Divine Realm. At their front stood Princess Rosaline, her white and rose-gold gown moving gently in the wind, her golden-pink hair shining faintly beneath the dim light of the Eternal Hourglass.
The young man who had stopped the Sword God Palace disciples earlier stood beside her, along with several powerful Lunarian experts and other followers.