Tristan continued his act of domination in the battle, killing hundreds of Uruk by himself until finally Dios arrived at the top of the hill. The elf stopped in his tracks for a moment as his mind tried to take what had happened in this place.
A few moments later, after repressing the shock he felt, Dios once again rushed toward Tristan with his chains brandished. The masked elf clearly intended to bind the latter again, but unfortunately, Tristan now knew better than to get close to the large elf.
As a result, a sight akin to a cat and mouse game unfolded in front of Illiana, the dark elf king, as well as the dark elf elders’ eyes. Tristan took advantage of his mobility and maintained the distance between them while killing as many Uruk as possible.
On the other hand, Dios tried his best to catch up and bind the other party. This time, he vowed he would not let the latter go again. Alas, no matter what he did, Tristan was slippery as an eel. He could only watch as Tristan kept killing his own Uruks.
A few minutes later, no more Uruk could be seen standing, both Tristan’s and the other party’s. They were all on the ground, either dead or decapitated so severely that they were inconsequential.
After confirming that there were no more existences that could threaten his flag, Tristan turned and faced the huge masked elf who had been chasing him since his arrival to the top of this hill. He took his fighting stance while his fervor burnt passionately; Tristan was ready for another round with the other party, now that the distractions were removed.
He was about to dash and attack when the female dark elf, Illiana, suddenly flew off the balcony she was at and landed right in front of the large elf.
“The battle is over, Lord Tristan. Unfortunately, it ended with a draw for both sides.” However, she didn’t even attempt to hide the victorious smirk on her face as she said that.
Tristan’s face turned dark when he heard her words. For him, a draw was not enough. Especially with him killing more than half the enemy force with his own strength. Hence although Illiana said it was a draw, it was obvious she actually thought it as her win.
The female elf once again smiled when she saw Tristan’s apparent dark face.
“Let’s not take it to heart, Lord Tristan. It was, after all, just a game.”
Tristan, however, suddenly smiled. This unexpected reaction left Illiana stunned.
“Are you sure it was a draw?” If Tristan’s smile threw her off, then what he just said made her question if the other party was alright. After all, the Uruks had all died, which signified the end of battle.
Then, a thought occurred to her. She quickly scanned the surrounding area and surprise immediately wrapped her face when she perceived half a dozen Berserkers coming out from the cracks within the walls of one of the paths.
These Berserkers were what remained of the thirty Berserkers that Tristan had left here with the task of protecting the hill.
Illiana was dumbfounded and stiffly turned her head toward Tristan. She couldn’t help but exclaim when she saw the wicked smile on his face. “How is this possible?!”
Tristan was actually pretty fortunate, a stroke of luck even. When he gave order to his group of defenders, he had sternly told the Uruks to defend the flag with everything they had, even their own lives. However, the same couldn’t be said with the Berserkers, as he had specifically told them to prioritize their lives, to survive at all costs. As a result, being the very obedient soldiers they were, as soon as things went south they decided to retreat and hide in one of the paths.
Hearing such an explanation made the female dark elf speechless beyond belief. She stood there with mouth wide open as her mind tried to comprehend the reason she lost.
With this, Tristan still had troops in his disposal. This also meant that the battle was not yet over.
“What do you think, Dios?” Tristan said as he eyed the masked elf. “Should we go for another round?”
Tristan’s provocative words successfully made Illiana let out a loud laugh. She quickly raised her hand, signaling Dios not to accept the other party’s offer.
She quickly calmed her heaving chest due to laughing and looked deeply into Tristan’s eyes. Then, under the eyes of everyone who was important in the kingdom, she slightly bowed and said, “Congratulations, Lord Tristan. You’ve won the battle, and subsequently, the bet.”
Tristan could hear sincerity in her words now, something he didn’t detect from what she said before. However, although he won the battle, he actually didn’t feel proud at all. The one thousand Uruks given to him, now only six of them were still standing; this display was certainly not good evidence that he is a good leader.
Hence in the end, this female dark elf was still successful in proving her point that Tristan was still lacking in leadership, or rather, commanding an army.
The battle made Tristan realize a shocking fact. The dark elves were willing to kill two thousand Uruks, just to prove a point.
Afterward, Illiana invited him to an audience with the king again. But Tristan, shameless as he was, told Illiana to wait as he had something he wanted to do.
After all, he couldn’t just watch and see all those precious sources of Blood Essence – the dead Uruks – went to waste. Resources had to be used efficiently, and that was exactly what Tristan would do.
Tristan walked toward the center of the hill, where hundreds of corpses covered the ground with their presences. Then without further ado, with an excited look on his face, he proceeded to extract all of them.
[5000…]
[10000…]
[20000…]
[A mix of 31000 low quality blood cells were found]
[Extracting and filtering the blood cells…]
[15200 Blood Essence gained]
Tristan’s face couldn’t help but grimace when he saw the amount of Blood Essence he gained. Apparently, the Uruks had the worst quality of blood when compared to other living creatures he had encountered till now. Around two thousand bodies only gave such lacking amount of Blood Essence.
Illiana, on the other hand, was excited. She was finally able to see for herself Tristan’s [Blood Extraction] ability. The sight of red mist diffused out of dead bodies and entered Tristan’s body really drew various reactions from those who saw it for the first time.
Several minutes later, Tristan was done extracting and was quickly led to a group of dozen dark elves.. Evidently, everyone in the group was the most prominent figures among the dark elves.