Chapter 28: The Infiltration Plan

"Where's Elder Gwendolyn? Didn't she come in first?" 

Cyra asked quietly, afraid to disturb others. Since entering the village, her eyes had been darting around, maybe because the familiar place brought back memories.

"She's probably with the chief. Follow me!"

Irene pointed to a house at the top of the elf tree and waved at us. The light was still on in that house. Without a word, she flipped and climbed up quickly. Her movements were so smooth and fast in the dark night, our eyes could barely keep up.

What amazing agility! As expected of a light elf who just changed from a dark elf. Normal light elves definitely don't have such strong physical abilities. Otherwise, they wouldn't need so many ladders for climbing up and down.

When Cyra and I landed in front of the house, the door opened from inside. Elder Gwendolyn came out, looking very happy as she told us:

"Hurry up! Didn't you want to investigate the military base on the border? Looks like there's a chance!"

"Really?"

I couldn't help feeling excited and rushed into the house. But I saw two unfamiliar middle-aged light elves sitting at the table.

"This is the chief of this tribe. His name is Kalati!" 

Elder Gwendolyn pointed to the tall male middle-aged light elf and introduced him. Then she turned to the younger-looking female light elf next to him.

"This is Betty. She's the only elder in the village and was the chief before. But she's retired now."

How strange. The former chief who stepped down is much younger than the current chief? It seemed quite odd no matter how you looked at it. But after learning more, we found out Betty was actually much older. She was 156 years old, while Kalati was less than 80.

Light elves are a very special race. Like angels, they're totally immune to the side effects of light elements. But they live much longer than humans. Plus, light and dark elves can switch between each other in special situations. That's why you can see an 80-year-old looking older than a 156-year-old.

"Kalati's story is very similar to Irene's. He used to be a... dark elf with very strong kung fu skills. He's been here for about 50 or 60 years now? We're old friends!"

Elder Gwendolyn introduced him, sounding very experienced. The people here seemed quite familiar with each other.

"Nonsense! If you hadn't forced me to become a light elf, I would never have come to this super damp southern continent in my life!"

Kalati rolled his eyes. Unlike how light elves usually respect angels, he seemed more casual. Though he said this, he had a big smile. Clearly he was just joking with Gwendolyn.

Their chat didn't have much substance, but I got a lot of useful info from bits and pieces. 

It turns out Irene is here because Sifur is in the southern part of the continent.

The Dark Continent is at the far north of Eldoria Continent. It's been the home base of dark element creatures for thousands of years! The closer you get to the Dark Continent, the higher the dark element concentration in the air. Luckily, even after years of monster invasions, they only occupied the Barren Lands part of the continent. The whole southern region is much safer.

That's why those southern countries usually don't care much about fighting monsters. Most of them have never been hurt by monsters, so of course they lack motivation to resist.

In the south, wars mostly happen between humans fighting each other. It's totally different from the north.

The strong light element environment in the south actually makes monsters uncomfortable. The further south you go, the lower the dark element ratio and the fewer monsters. For dark elves who just changed from light pollution, dark elements are like drugs. Even after becoming light elves, they can easily relapse if exposed too much. So people like Irene who were taken in are usually brought to southern forest tribes far from the Dark Continent to start new lives and avoid accidents.

"Has this day finally come? Monsters have really snuck in here. I wonder if they'll find us hiding in this forest?"

Back to the main topic. Talking about the monster threat, Betty sighed worriedly. She was clearly much calmer than Kalati. Before we arrived, Gwendolyn had already told them why we came. Of course she also warned them about the Cycle coming to this area soon.

"No wonder yesterday someone reported finding very clear dark element traces in the forest. Good thing I told them not to spread it yet, or it might cause a big panic among others."

Kalati's expression also got serious. But he didn't dwell on this. Instead, he turned to the main reason for our visit and asked us:

"I heard you want to rescue someone. You need to find a way into that empire military base?"

"Yes!"

I nodded without hesitation. That military base was sealed up too tight. Such a big area was almost all covered by solid buildings, with only one or two exits in the front. The guards were very strict. There was no way to sneak in directly.

Of course there might be other ways, but it wasn't realistic to find them in such a short time. That's why we had to ask for help.

"Didn't you just have a conflict with the empire army there a few days ago?" 

Betty seemed to remember something and turned to ask Kalati.

"That's because the military base suddenly expanded a lot, totally unreasonable. The empire soldiers cut down trees all over the forest to clear the ground. Not only did it take away many animals' homes, it also affected the international passage we worked so hard to set up. We had no choice but to try to resist, but we couldn't stop them..."

Kalati said frustratedly. Who knew they had fought the empire army recently? Though the result wasn't good, some details made me confused.

"What do you mean by international passage?"

"It's an underground tunnel that the light elf ancestors here dug long ago to contact their people on the Crestvale Republic side! Through the tunnel, you can go directly to Sylvanvale Wood in Crestvale Republic, bypassing the border defense line."

Sylvanvale Wood is where we are now, right next to Sifur city near the border. It's a huge area, spanning the most sensitive regions of both the empire and the republic. Betty sighed and explained.

"Actually, before the new emperor of Ilandra Empire took power, this tunnel wasn't really used. Back then, even though there were national borders, the border defense was very loose. We light elves could secretly move freely between Crestvale Republic and the empire through this forest! But sadly everything changed later. The empire soldiers built a tall, long border wall along the border line, guarding it strictly all day and night. They also built a military base nearby and started a war, blocking normal contact between the two countries. We had no choice but to reopen this abandoned underground tunnel. But we didn't expect the military base to expand its area without warning a few days ago. It just happened to cover the tunnel entrance on the empire side. Now our contact with the republic is almost completely cut off!"

"Did the empire army find that tunnel? Can it still be used again?"

Hearing this, my eyes lit up. Isn't this the perfect way to sneak in?

"Yeah! Although we filled in and hid the entrance when we retreated, the exit on the republic side should still be fine. If we can enter from that side and clear out the blockage inside, it might really work..."

Kalati immediately realized what I was thinking. He started muttering to himself thoughtfully. For light elves, they never considered this because they can't freely go into Republic territory. But angels don't have this worry! As long as we can fly, the border guards can't stop us at all. We can easily cross over.

"If that's the case, let's go with this plan! Empire soldiers are humans. They're usually a bit less alert at night. So I suggest you set the infiltration time for tomorrow night!"

It was already past midnight, so the "tomorrow night" Elder Gwendolyn mentioned was actually tonight. After discussing the details, everyone finally agreed on this plan.

Even though it was late at night, we couldn't find enough people to cross the border and start digging on such short notice. So we had to wait until dawn to begin work.

Of course the light elf tribe would handle all the manpower. Light elves and angels have similar body rhythms. They usually get tired easily at night but are full of energy during the day when light elements are abundant. Our plan was to take a few light elves to fly to the republic side during the day to dig. A whole day should be enough to clear the blocked underground tunnel. Then we could start the infiltration plan right away.