Furthermore, unlike the very first deep forest squad that had appeared, they were all wearing armor woven from emerald-green translucent silk threads and dense scales.
They were no longer a squad of pointed-ear, muscular bros composed entirely of naked men…
This was the fully armed elven military!
Neil secretly pondered that although this was his first time seeing the armor on the elves, it wasn’t hard to deduce that its production volume was absolutely extremely scarce.
Because those green silk threads should be the fairy feather-silk robes that Sister Ya’er had mentioned before, produced from little pixies.
That was a miraculous creature that possessed two pairs of transparent wings, and though they looked like elves, their body size was less than twenty centimeters!
Only they could raise the Sacred Tree Silkworms—or rather, the Sacred Tree Silkworms were originally the larvae of the little pixies.
The Sacred Tree Silkworms only ate the newly sprouted tender leaves of the Ancient Tree of Life, and after spending a long period of time inside their cocoons, they could finally break out.
The robes woven from the fairy feather-silk made from the silk cocoes they left behind were the only garments elves could wear; however, the production volume of fairy feather-silk was terribly and appallingly low!
Although he didn’t know Sister Ya’er’s exact status, Neil guessed it shouldn’t be low; even so, Neil had never seen Anxiu Ya’er wear a garment made from fairy feather-silk even once.
Therefore, this was the first time Neil had seen a real fairy feather-silk robe.
Even so, the armor woven from fairy feather-silk and unknown scales on the elven military tightly covered their torsos, while on their arms they only had a pair of bracers, and on their legs, only the area of the calves was covered.
Fortunately, their crotches were finally covered up, though it was estimated they were going commando and wouldn’t be wearing any underwear…
A total of thirty Deep Forest Knights across three squads came galloping fiercely on swift red deer, and subsequently, without a single word from either side, they directly commenced the battle!
This time, the elven military was much more vigilant than the first time.
After the three squad leaders looked at it, they even believed it was caused by a dragon’s breath, leaving them with no choice but to be highly vigilant.
Nevertheless, the elven military, taking advantage of the cover of the dense forest, quickly gained the upper hand.
The red deer knights nimbly leaping through the dense forest shot arrows like continuous thunderclaps, incessantly firing fast, fierce, and accurate lightning arrows around the circular phalanx formed by the human guards.
In contrast, the human side’s counterattack appeared somewhat weak and futile.
Even for human veterans, it was highly difficult to achieve a single hit against the red deer knights who were incomparably agile and excelled at using the large trees for cover, jumping and moving about like forest fairies.
Even if the crossbow bolts fired by the humans hit, the elves, who had powerful defensive magic applied to them, would only suffer minor flesh wounds even if they were struck in areas not covered by armor.
Unless they were hit multiple times, it was unlikely to cause significant damage to an elf.
If it hit a portion covered by armor, they couldn’t even achieve a minor injury as it was directly deflected away!
Even the magic of the spellcasters in the black hooded robes wasn’t so effective anymore.
Even if a tattered-winged monster beast hit, it would be deflected away by an electric shock, unless multiple monster beasts hit simultaneously to produce a noticeable effect!
After the two sides engaged for a while, the elves consecutively killed more than ten human guards, while their own losses amounted to mere three individuals—one dead and two heavily injured.
Neil was also highly shocked; the true combat effectiveness of the Deep Forest Knights was indeed astonishing.
Why hadn’t the first squad worn armor, causing their combat power to be drastically reduced?
After thinking back and forth, Neil could only attribute it to the fairy feather-silk armor being entirely too precious; the elves would probably feel heartbroken even over the slight wear and tear of daily use, which is to say they couldn’t bear to wear it…
It was indeed somewhat leaving one speechless.
Come to think of it, the elves had also created the most ancient and resplendent civilization, so it was indeed impossible for them to like being stark naked all day long.
If the ancestors of the elves from tens of thousands of years ago knew that the elven race had already degenerated to this point today, they would also sigh with emotion.
Easily throwing away a lifespan originally as long as a thousand years for the sake of temporary frugality was indeed a trick of destiny.
The human guards, who numbered less than a hundred, had lost close to half their numbers after two battles.
Their corpses, looking as if they had been struck by large-caliber sniper rifles, had blood flowing freely, while their circular phalanx grew smaller and smaller.
However, the one Neil paid the most attention to was the young noble right in the center; though several hours had already passed, it was very obvious that he was still highly listless and did not seem to have recovered.
Yet having witnessed him deploy that evil, destructive power before, Neil still did not dare to lower his guard in the slightest, lest he be caught in the path of the destructive pillar of light.
Fortunately, even as the guards continuously suffered casualties, the young noble consistently made no movement.
After another moment passed, the losses of the human guards grew greater and greater, to the point where the circular phalanx could barely enclose the black hooded robed spellcasters and the young noble inside anymore.
Even for elite, battle-hardened veterans, such losses were still entirely too massive.
What was even more critical was that they could see no hope of victory.
Unlike the first encounter, the casualty ratio this time was simply too vast a disparity.
Even with the assistance of the spellcasters, the casualty ratio reached an astonishing dozen to one.
What’s more, once they were hit by an arrow, they were almost bound to die, whereas the elves’ torsos could not be harmed, and only their limbs could be injured.
Therefore, the elves had only lost a total of two people.
Although the injured were relatively numerous, those who sustained injuries to their limbs so severe that they could not fight amounted to a mere three individuals; the other wounded elves could even take to the field despite their injuries.
However, the losses of the spiritual deer were far greater than those of the elves; even with the addition of defensive magic, a third of them were injured or lost.
Consequently, some elves who lost their mounts retreated on foot into the depths of the dense forest, unable to do anything but conceal their figures and fire cold arrows from the shadows.