Chapter 823: Moon Blade Guards

The young Elf ladies stepped out of the oval spatial door hovering in midair, lining up neatly in their lightweight glass armor. They had a sword around their waist, as well as an exquisite glass bow on their backs. Just like Gracier, they wore a white robe with the hood concealing their faces. Their pointy ears poked out of the two holes in the hood, revealing their true identity.

Bow Knights?

Rhode widened his eyes while Celestina snorted and turned around. It seemed like she knew clearly who these heroic spirits were.

Rhode was knowledgeable about the Bow Knights. Within the Elf race, they were second only to the Carlesdine. They were experts in using bow and arrows, and also strong in close-combat. Not only that, but they were also experienced in manipulating magic and could be considered all-rounders. However, on this continent today, Bow Knights could no longer be seen among the Elves anymore. The reason for their extinction was unlike the Carlesdine, where the Carlesdine disappeared during the Creation War due to grave damage. Moreover, the Carlesdine had also erased their existence in this world, so there was no heir to continue their legacy. Therefore, as the White Elves vanished, the Carlesdine were also completely gone.

From a certain perspective, the Bow Knights were special units of the Elves just like the Carlesdine. However, the reason for their disappearance was simple—during the Creation War, only one type of Elf was capable of becoming a Bow Knight.

Moon Elves.

Only the Moon Elves, who were second to the White Elves, were perfect and possessed abilities for magic and combat in the Legendary Stage. Even though they were mostly in the Basic Legendary Stage, their threat on the battlefield was magnified with their numbers.

After the Creation War ended, the White Elves were wiped out entirely while the Moon Elves took a huge hit. Then, the royal Moon Elves carried on the responsibility of leading the Elves from the White Elves. They could no longer roam in heavy armor and bows anymore. Moreover, even though the Bow Knights were powerful, they were still cannon fodder in battle. But using the royals as cannon fodder... of course, it was impossible.

The Elves had fully lined up before Rhode at the moment. Even though they appeared young, their coordination was neat and disciplined. This was something that Rhode had never seen in Elves before. After all, Elves mostly sought after the beauty of nature. Back then, they merely sacrificed themselves for the sake of protecting their race. Although they had received powerful strength in exchange, they still held onto their Elf nature. But it seemed like these Elves had been in battles and were veterans, judging from their sharp battle aura.

"Greetings, Sir Overlord."

Shortly after, a Bow Knight who apparently was their commander stepped out and saluted respectfully. Along with her movements, the remaining Bow Knights behind her stood up straight and saluted formally. Then, the Bow Knight took down her hood and gazed at Rhode silently. She had gentle-looking features unique to the Elves, but the determined expression and tightly curled up lips displayed her seriousness.

"Elf Guards First Army—Moon Blade Legion. Reporting!"

"Elf Guards?"

Rhode knitted his brows. It was only now that he realized how overly strong these Moon Elves were. He remembered that in the game, the Moon Elves should be in the Basic Legendary Stage. But now, they were basically hovering around the Intermediate Legendary Stage! Although they were spiritual creatures and couldn't cast their Order Dimensions, they were still very strong. The few Moon Elves standing before him had almost reached the Peak Legendary Stage!

Although he knew that the Bow Knights who joined the Creation War were insanely strong, it wasn't until now that he realized it was to this extent.

"Yes, Sir Overlord."

The commander nodded lightly after sensing his doubts. Then, she gazed at the summoning card in his hand with a complicated glint.

"We're Her Royal Highness Princess Gracier's direct guards and I'm their commander. You can call me Nightingale."

Her Royal Highness Princess Gracier?

Rhode's eyes glinted in curiosity and shifted subconsciously to the card in his hand. Even though he knew that Gracier and Madaras were extraordinary beings, he didn't expect them to be this powerful. Royal White Elves... They were legendary beings created by the Creation Gods and the ones closest to the Creation Gods. Rumors had it that every royal member possessed strength in the Peak Legendary Stage and reached the levels of the Creation God after becoming an adult. If it weren't for the problematic reproduction of Elves and for the fact that the White Elves took the hardest hit during the Creation War, who knew who would be ruling the entire Dragon Soul Continent now.

Of course, Rhode predicted that this army of Bow Knights would definitely attract someone's attention. However, he wasn't too concerned because compared to the trouble of summoning a Battle Angel Army, the problems with an Elf emissary like Corina were less critical. Moreover, the Land of Atonement was miles away from the Country of Law, so they could do nothing about him even if he formed a team of Moon Elves as Bow Knights. Besides, since the Queen Elf had already recognized Gracier and Madaras, she shouldn't be too mindful of the Moon Elves as Bow Knights.

No matter what, it was still better than producing a bunch of demons and angels out of nothing.

"She is..."

At this moment, Celestina approached them. Nightingale gazed at her and paused blankly. Then, she lowered her head and gave a bow hurriedly.

"Apologies for my rudeness, Your Highness Celestina. I didn't expect to see you here."

"You two know each other?"

This piqued Rhode's curiosity. Nightingale raised her head and nodded lightly.

"Yes, Sir Overlord, Her Highness Celestina and Her Royal Highness Princess Gracier have once..."

"Cough!"

Celestina interrupted with a harsh cough. Then, she stared at Nightingale with widened eyes and let out a snort. She turned to Rhode. "Alright, Master, since the troublesome matters are done, I'll be heading back to rest now. This ridiculous place is freezing. How annoying!"

Celestina stomped her foot on the ground before transforming back into the card in the puff of black smoke.

Rhode wasn't surprised by her behavior. But, what annoyed him was that whenever he mentioned the relationship between Celestina and Gracier, she would always say that they were once close friends. On the other hand, Nightingale had also sealed her lips on how a demon lady like Celestina met the royal White Elves and even became friends.

Without a choice, Rhode switched the topic and talked about the heroic spirits with Nightingale. Then, he learned from her that they were the same as the elemental creatures. He could lead Nightingale and the Bow Knights to any place and their strength wouldn't be weakened from being too far away from the Astral Temple. However, as heroic spirits, they needed to replenish spiritual powers in order to maintain their physical form, which would require Lesa's help. In other words, at the end of every battle, Lesa had to extract spiritual powers from the surroundings to restore their strength. If the heroic spirits depleted too much spiritual powers, they would disappear entirely.

But, there weren't any problems for them to restore spiritual powers in the Astral Temple due to the magic spring that Rhode had built in his territory, where they could extract spiritual powers directly from the magic spring. Of course, if the situation was dire, he could also replenish their spiritual powers. But Nightingale didn't mention how he could accomplish that.

What left Rhode in disappointment was that even though Nightingale mentioned he could train others into becoming Bow Knights after building the Astral Temple, she also said that only Moon Elves were qualified to be Bow Knights. This instantly shattered his plans to mass produce them. How could he even find a bunch of Moon Elves to be trained into Bow Knights? Perhaps even the Elf Forest had less than a hundred of them...

Rhode's head started hurting...