Chapter 121: Poisoned Once Again ( Bonus - )

After a few hours of sleep and rest, they finally got up and walked to the river’s edge. The two sides of the river weren’t too far apart, and one big jump was enough to cross it.

They jumped over one by one and reached the other side.

"You are now officially inside the territory of the Dark Elves," the skull-headed skeleton said.

Daniel raised his guard slightly. He didn’t know much about the Dark Elves’ abilities, so it was better to stay cautious.

They kept moving, trying to stay hidden as much as possible, though Daniel had a bad feeling.

"Hope their home isn’t too far away," Kaisen said, sounding a bit tired.

"Well, they’re elves. Finding their home won’t be that easy," Daniel nodded. Unfortunately, they weren’t dealing with a weak race.

They were practically searching for beings who were masters of stealth, concealment, and assassination. Daniel honestly doubted they’d be able to find the Dark Elves so easily.

"It’s best to avoid fighting if we can. But if it comes to that, make sure to end it quickly. Elves never move alone. They always fight in groups," Liara warned.

Daniel activated his spiritual senses to monitor a wider area. Honestly, unlike the other three, he wasn’t that worried.

Even if there was an enemy he couldn’t handle, at worst he’d just call Zargorth for help. But ideally, he wanted to handle it himself to gain all the EXP.

Besides, if there were skilled fighters among these Dark Elves, he would definitely try to turn them into Fallen—especially since his army of Fallen needed an assassin.

"Hm?" He suddenly stopped, sensing something. He looked around and frowned.

"What is it?" Andreas and the others stopped too, looking at Daniel.

"I think we’re surrounded."

"What? How? I don’t sense anyone else at all."

Daniel didn’t reply. Even with his spiritual senses, he couldn’t detect or see anything. But his danger sense was warning him.

"Are you sure? You’re not mistaken?" Liara asked suspiciously. She trusted her ability to sense presences.

Suddenly, an arrow shot down from a tree toward Andreas. It was fast—so fast that none of them had a chance to react.

Except for Daniel, who caught the arrow instantly.

"Yeah, I’m sure." The arrow scratched Daniel’s skin a little, but it wasn’t anything serious.

Before throwing it away, he took a closer look.

"Damn it," the three of them cursed and immediately entered battle stance.

Above them, on the tree branches, several figures appeared. Their skin was dark, their clothes even darker. More importantly, their faces were covered too.

But their long ears made it clear—they were elves. Some of them had daggers, and some carried bows.

"Humans, by what right did you enter our territory?" a voice echoed, but Daniel and the others couldn’t tell which Dark Elf was speaking.

"Oh, this is your territory? Sorry, we were heading toward the ghost zone," Daniel raised his hands innocently.

"You think we’re stupid? The ghost zone is in the opposite direction."

Even though only one of them seemed to be speaking, it felt like they were all talking at once.

"Well, I guess we got lost," Daniel replied without hesitation, all while scanning their power levels.

They were all rank C.

That surprised him a bit—but also made him happy. Not only were they potential EXP, but they were all good candidates to be turned into Fallen.

"What do you want to do?" Andreas whispered to Daniel. There were a lot of Dark Elves.

But if they fought, they would definitely win. The Dark Elves stood no chance.

"Lost or not doesn’t matter. You entered our land. Now, you must die," the same voice echoed again.

"Whatever you say. I tried being nice." Daniel shrugged and raised his hand.

Back when he was destroying the undead tribe, he learned that he could use mana essence to create mana bombs across his entire spiritual sense range.

He used the same trick now—creating dozens of daggers around the Dark Elves’ heads and sent them flying.

The Dark Elves instantly retreated into the shadows upon sensing the blades, making Daniel frown.

"Hm?" Suddenly, some of them emerged from the shadows beneath Daniel and the others, attacking from behind.

"Cowards," Daniel growled and sent his daggers after them.

Andreas immediately pulled out his sword, but before he could do anything, he saw Liara and Kaisen collapse.

"You two okay?" He rushed toward them to help, but suddenly his breath stopped. His lungs locked up. His entire body’s functions began to fail.

He collapsed, eyes closing.

Daniel glanced at them and frowned. He quickly pulled all his daggers close, forming a defensive circle.

Then he walked over to check Andreas, Liara, and Kaisen. They were still breathing—just unconscious.

But how? He didn’t even see the Dark Elves attack them.

"What did you do to them?" Daniel looked at the Dark Elves. Some had returned to the trees, and the rest were clearly hiding in the shadows.

The Dark Elves didn’t respond. One of them simply pointed upward with his finger.

"Up?" Daniel looked up, but saw nothing.

"Wait," he frowned and began sniffing the air. He couldn’t detect anything specific, but the smell in the air had changed...

"You poisoned the air... but when?"

"This air has always been poisoned. Like we said, this is a forbidden zone. No one’s allowed to enter. If they do, they never leave," one of the Dark Elves replied.

"Too bad for you—it doesn’t work on me," Daniel growled and got ready to attack again.

"We know. We could feel how strong you were from the beginning. That’s why we used a stronger poison. Its effects should be kicking in now."

Daniel frowned harder. But before he could do anything, he suddenly coughed up blood.

"What...?" His eyes, now red, stared at the drops of blood. He felt a wave of electricity surge through his body.

When? When did they manage to poison him? Daniel went through each moment in his head until he found it.

The arrow—the one that scratched his skin—it was poisoned.

Before long, he couldn’t feel his body anymore. He collapsed, eyes slowly closing.