Freya was conflicted.
As she watched her hometown burn in fiery purple flames, she couldn't do anything but watch.
Even as she was clad in her silver armor, and her white hair fluttered with the wind.
She bit her lip in anger and frustration.
"Evil Demons..." Was all she could mutter.
The cliff she stood on was far enough that the Beasts could not hear her, and her voice wasn't loud enough to agitate anyone.
This was simply the spite she carried within herself.
The Elf Kingdom's Eastern Border had fallen prey to an onslaught of Demons.
An approximate amount of three hundred had struck them, rendering their flimsy defenses obsolete.
Unlike the Humans and Dwarves, Elves were not very keen on technology and Magic engineering.
They believed in the free Gift of nature.
And so, while they excelled well at Potions and Alchemy, they were never able to fully master the aggressive natures of Magic.
But, even with that, their race had a higher affinity for the arts compared to any other—coming second only to the Fairies.
Elemental Magic was their forte, and many Elves had attained a level of utilizing Original Magic, and Mana Field.
Yet, none could fight back against the horde of Demons for one specific reason.
—Racial Weakness!
Miasma was extremely harmful to the genes of the Elves.
Being exposed to pure Mana had its advantages. Longevity and youthful exuberance was a free gift of nature, given to the Elves thanks to their direct interaction with positive Energy.
Their high affinity for Magic was also a result of this.
But, alongside those advantages came a critical consequence.
The Elves were very weak against Miasma.
Their bodies nearly gave out if they so much as got a whiff of it, and exposure to the energy for ten minutes would kill an Elf.
No, if the Miasma was strong enough, five minutes would be plenty to live.
That was why their efforts to defeat the Demon Beasts had been utterly crushed.
In the end, the beings of nature could only resort to the second option—containing the threat.
They had erected barricades with Earth Magic, and strengthened the structures with Mana.
It took the combined efforts of all the Elf Soldiers to achieve this result.
Yet... they were barely able to keep up the defense.
As Miasma ate through their Mana defense, they had to keep supplying energy to maintain the barrier.
Still, how much longer would they be able to last?
At their current rate, not much longer!
"When will reinforcements come...?" Freya murmured, once again staring at the horde of Demon Beasts.
They seemed to be up to something, but she didn't take their movements too much into consideration.
No matter what they did, the barrier would hold.
The problem was what would happen once the Elves ran out of Mana.
As for her question on backup, Freya knew it was useless to ask.
It would take about three days, at least, for the Elf Capita to dispatch the appropriate level of reinforcements to handle the threat facing them.
In fact, perhaps she was being too optimistic.
Still, hope was the only thing she could give herself in such a situation.
Even though she had been the one managing security on the Eastern Border, Freya had failed her mission woefully.
As a result, countless of her people suffered casualties.
Powerlessness and frustration.
Those two emotions could only be sated by the feeling of hope that help would soon arrive.
However—
>BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!<
In a burst of malevolent energy, all the Demon Beasts roared and poured their blasts in one direction.
The ground shook, causing Freya's eyes to bulge as she took proper note of what had happened.
"N-No—!!!" Her voice matched the shock in her green eyes.
The enemy forces... had broken down the barricade everyone had worked so hard to erect.
'H-how could this...?!'
Her grinding teeth were displayed as she hatefully glared at the Demon Beasts from the cliff where she stood.
"General Freya!" Someone called out to her from behind.
The white-haired Elf sharply turned in the direction of the one who called for her.
It was one of her subordinates, wearing a distinguished armor that glimmered with bronze.
It was her deputy—Maya.
"General Freya, the Demon Beasts have—!"
"I am well aware, I saw it! Did anything happen to the ones maintaining the barrier?"
"Not at all. It came as a surprise to us all."
Freya was trying to understand how they were able to break free.
Nothing was wrong with the entrapment, so what could have gone wrong?
"T-that—!" Her green eyes bulged the instant she realized it.
That was what they had been up to all along.
The density of Miasma in the atmosphere had vastly increased, strengthening the Demon Beasts.
Not only had their destructive blasts gotten much stronger, but they had all focused their attacks in a single direction.
That was the last straw.
The spread-out barrier couldn't have handled such a bombardment and ended up falling.
"W-what do we do now?" Maya asked her leader.
At this point, they had run out of options.
"Can another Barrier be erected?" It was a foolish question to ask, but Freya's optimism was not to be underestimated.
"N-no. Everyone is tired just from maintaining the fallen Barrier. Erecting a new one is... not possible."
That was the obvious answer. Freya, as an insightful Elf—as well as their leader—should have been aware of this already.
"I see..." She spoke bitterly.
Reality is often disappointing, and so the Elves had to face the cold truth...
"We have to hold out until reinforcements arrive!"
... And sacrifice themselves for the greater good.
Maya knew what her leader meant by 'holding out.'
She realized that death—an excruciating one—awaited them all.
Yet, she did not argue.
This was the only choice at this point.
"Understood!"
In a flash, Maya shrouded herself with Mana and flew at full speed, most likely assembling the troops to form an orderly brigade.
Until they were organized enough to barricade the Demon Beasts, though, Freya knew it was her duty to buy them more time.
"Haa... Wicked Demons..." She spoke, now having an angry look in her eyes.
Death was right beneath her.
Should she leave the cliff, only one end was certain for her.
Still, Freya plunged into the abyss.
"FOR THE ELF KINGDOOOMMMM!!!"
