Operation Commence

Elid, Lostin Forest.

Located deep in the heart of the dense forest, the 18,000 dunirrs carry out their daily activities as usual.

Similar to other dunirrs' settlements, the economic activities in Elid revolve around hunting and gathering. Without a foreign presence like Adrian, these dunirrs aren't aware of mana's existence. As such, they're totally defenceless to attack.

"The weather today is nice." said one of them happily.

"Hello~ Do you have extra..." The woman greets her friend.

A man brags, "Look at what I hunt today..."

"...Let's play over there." A boy pointed in a certain direction to his childhood friend. A cute girl next door.

Chatter and laughed filled the crudely made settlement. The adults are hauling the game. Housewives are doing some bartering.

Children running around freely. Occasionally, they stumble toward adults and resulting in getting scolded.

It's a peaceful place to live.

Everyone is unaware of the danger which is just around the corner. The event of this place getting attacked never crossed their mind for once.

Historically, Elid is a very safe place since its establishment. While the settlements near the outskirts of the forest are being attacked, the remnants of dunirrs who manage to escape run deep into the forest.

As they moved inward, they came to find this place. Due to the successive occasion of the attack, the number of refugees balloons up to the current population.

Near the river, a group of dunirr's hunters are trying their luck in fishing. The fish they caught the other day is surprisingly delicious.

So, they wish to taste that flavour again.

They were immersed in their activity that they were late to notice the casting shadow that darkened the area.

He raised his hand up to the sky.

When they look up, five floating vessels filled with humans are moving towards them. Among the humans, one man stood up majestically at the deck.

"Arrhh!! Arhhh!!" Forget about big fish, something bigger is coming. "EVERYONE RUN INTO THE FOREST!" Shouts the dunirrs.

Alas, it's too late to run with their tiny legs. Looking behind, the hand of that particular human began to glow.

"Piiiiuuuu...Boom!!!"

Fire rises from Randal's palm to several meters in the air and explodes. The airspace above Elid vibrated.

....

Somewhere in the forest,

Team 1 to Team 10 covered a total distance of 32 kilometres in just four hours from the landing site, Point 1. An astonishing feat that was unachievable by modern humans.

After walking non-stop, they finally reached the outside dunnirs' circle of activity.

Apparently, the area of four kilometres radius from Elid is the space where these tiny people are the maximum distance dunirrs explore. Going near this boundary will increase the chance of stumbling with them. Subsequently, alert them of the approaching knights.

"Do we actually arrive earlier than the commander expected? Should we split now?" asked team leader 1 to the other team leaders. All team leaders are holding a quick meeting.

"Hm... I think we should split and prepare just as planned. We can use our fire magic to communicate, so we'll be fine." Team leader 2 gives his opinion.

Team leader 3 nods without any hesitation, "I don't see why not. Preparing earlier reduces the risk of failure."

"Same here, I agree. I wouldn't want to be a joke because of failing to capture dunirrs." Team leader 4 added.

All ten leaders reached an agreement. They lead their respective team to split in different directions. According to the plan, they are to hold at the assigned position until Randal launches a signal.

Time passed by.

Perhaps due to the tense situation that the knights were in, they only consumed a small portion of the ration. A clear indication of their low appetite.

Compared to hunger, the amount of water is much more detrimental. Adding the heat and full armour into the equation, most of the knights are on the verge of being dehydrated.

Most of them rely heavily on solaria to lessen the effect. But, this method won't last long. The forest lacks the type of mana they require. At some point, they need to get out of this torturous situation.

"Why hasn't the commander arrived yet?"

Team leader 1 complains with frustration. He doesn't want to die because of dehydration.

"Piiiiuuuu...Boom!!!"

The sky suddenly became brighter.

"...!!!" Hearing the sound of the explosion, the knights recognized it. They subconsciously had their eyes on the rising pillar of fire.

It's a Fire Flare Shot spell.

A signal they're waiting for.

"CHARGE!!!"

Ten teams move forward from their initial camping position. The four kilometres radius was breached in an instant. One or two dunirrs were found along the way. Sadly, they were stomped to death by the knights.

From dunirrs' perspective, the earth literally shook. The cause was a hundred humans rushing towards them. Dunirrs screams but it was intertwined with humans.

A sudden mayhem broke out unexpectedly. Forget about poison and retaliation. They had to save their life first and foremost.

"Throw the cloth!!" said the knights after seeing the knight commander throw a fireball at the centre of Elid.

In the first stage, the blockade was completed. It's time for a second stage, entrapment.

Dunirrs looked up. Large jet-black clothes were cast above their head from every cardinal direction, blocking any sunlight from penetrating.

The day suddenly darkens. The only source of light left was the fire conjured by that human. However, that is no good news at all. Smokes produced by that fire are going to suffocate them to death.

If they stay, they die. Then, wouldn't it be better to take a risk?

The cloth descends to the ground rapidly. At this point, all they see are the legs of humans surrounding them.

In the midst of chaos, they see one spot with no human legs. Excited, they hurriedly sprint to the exit. To put it in analogy, dunirrs found a light at the end of the tunnel.

Dunirrs cheered up upon escaping but it didn't last long. They're not free as they expected but instead, they walk straight into the third stage prepared by humans. Apprehension.

"Look at these idiot dunirrs. They walk straight into the cage." The knights chuckled.

"To think I simply had to sit back and wait...I feel like an idiot for worrying about this operation."

With panic, dunirrs knocks the wall around them but to no avail. They tried to turn back but the cage door mechanism would not open no matter how hard they tried to peel it.

"Hey, hey, it is okay to let them be. What happens if they successfully peel the door off."

The knight sneered at their futile effort, "Let them be, that to was enhanced with mana."

In the end, they slumped to the ground in frustration and despair.