Chapter 41: Earthquake

With the addition of a Nine-Order Mage as an assistant, those orcs naturally had no chance of escaping.

However, the moment the Blind Elf used the wood element to bind them, the orc warriors transformed completely.

Upon realizing they could not break free, they chose to commit suicide without hesitation.

It was only then that Isabella realized who had been spying on her from the shadows.

“Two Red Wolves, one Hunter Hawk—all high-level soldiers around the sixth rank. If you include Azman, the seventh-rank War Guard, why would the orc tribe send half their forces to the library? What exactly are they after?”

Due to years of internal strife, the orc tribe was extremely small; every surviving adult warrior was a precious resource.

The orc tribe had only sent 8 people in total, and now half of them had fallen here.

Knowing the orcs’ nature, they would certainly not let this go.

It was a pity these orcs were already dead, otherwise, she might have extracted some clues from them.

Isabella felt regretful for a moment, then shifted her attention to the Blind Elf, whom Winnidith had ordered to clean up the blood.

A faint shimmer passed through her eyes.

This was a Nine-Order Mage, a powerhouse rarely seen anywhere in the world.

If only Wendy could control him.

To them—and to the Empire—he would be a formidable combat force.

“Bella, Bella! I can really order him around just like that!”

Beside her, Winnidith hopped over like a child with a new toy, showing off with a triumphant, adorable expression that made Isabella want to pinch her cheeks.

She hadn’t even managed a pinch before Wendy pulled away, which was a bit of a shame.

“Yes, I saw it, but how did you do that, Wendy?”

Isabella was curious, and judging by Wendy’s expression just now, this outcome had clearly exceeded her expectations as well.

“Hmm, I think I have a guess.”

Winnidith pointed to her own eyes, where a thin, transparent film—invisible to Isabella and the others—was lingering.

“When I activate Elemental Vision, a transparent film appears around my eyes. I thought it was just a normal side effect of the vision, but now it seems that it must be manifestations of spiritual power.”

“The Sacred Tree uses spiritual power to control these elves, but the Sacred Tree cannot constantly focus on every single elf every second of the day.”

“So, when the Sacred Tree isn’t paying special attention to certain elves, they simply repeat their previous movements until they receive new instructions.”

“Evian said that her commands didn’t work on these elves before; that must be because she lacks spiritual power. Only those with spiritual power can control them.”

“The ultimate authority belongs to the Sacred Tree, followed by the Light Elves and Dark Elves who inherited the Sacred Tree’s power. Since I have acquired spiritual power, I also have a certain degree of authority to command them. I just don’t know if my priority is higher than that of the Light or Dark Elves.”

This was an unexpected stroke of luck.

With the Blind Elf joining them, the possibility of entering the third floor was much higher.

Furthermore, as the Guardian of the Historical Archives, the Blind Elf would certainly know where books related to the War of Divine Fire were located.

“Every generation of the Elven King strictly monitors records related to the War of Divine Fire. There are no such books in the Historical Archives.”

The Blind Elf’s words were like a bucket of cold water that extinguished their excitement.

‘Then what is in my hand?’

Isabella was not convinced and flipped through the document she held regarding the orc tribe’s records of the War of Divine Fire.

It was the same: they were pushed to the brink of extinction by the Saint-Vienne Empire; the same War God descended upon the orc holy ground, Mount Yamang, to grant the tribes great power and physique; and the same destruction of the Saint-Vienne Empire ending with a peace treaty signed between the newborn Robert Empire on the Hillaber Great Prairie.

In the orc tribe’s records, descriptions of both the Demons and the Elves were pitifully scarce.

Let alone finding the weakness of the Sacred Tree, they hadn’t even found a single elf other than the Elven King.

Isabella gave up on that lead and shifted all her focus to reaching the third basement level.

They walked down the stairs to the second level.

The staircase was very, very long; Isabella estimated the vertical distance between the two levels was close to 10 meters.

‘Why would it be designed like this?’

Isabella didn’t know, and she didn’t intend to find out right now.

The second level did not house books but stone slabs and murals, inscribed with stories from thousands of years ago in Ancient Elvish.

At that time, even the Sacred Tree did not exist.

Isabella glanced at them briefly and then looked away.

The reason was simple: this obscure, ancient Elvish language had long been lost, and it would be hard to find even a few people within the entire Elven race who could understand it.

The Blind Elf was clearly not among them, and since he didn’t even have eyes, she shouldn’t make things difficult for him.

“Where is the entrance to the third basement level?”

Winnidith asked the Blind Elf.

“The third level is a top-secret area for the Elven race; only the Elven King knows how to enter.”

Fine, it seemed they had to find the door first.

The three of them spread out again.

However, this time there were no other tourists on the second level, so Isabella didn’t have to worry about anyone threatening her safety.

There was nothing on the second floor that looked like a door, so the three had no choice but to touch and examine these fragile historical artifacts to see if there were any secret mechanisms.

Considering the third level might be protected by magic, Winnidith even activated her Elemental Vision, hoping to find a clue.

“This is?”

Winnidith stopped in front of a stone slab.

It wasn’t that she had found an entrance, but rather she felt a strange sense of familiarity with the carvings on the stone wall.

It depicted a lake, with lush green grass surrounding it.

A dozen or so elves dressed in simple white robes were dancing around the lake, appearing to perform some kind of ancient ritual.

But that was impossible.

She, Winnidith, was not a history enthusiast; she barely even understood the history of the Empire, so how could she have seen an ancient elven ritual site?

If anything, she had been sleeping ever since she arrived at the City of Emerald Shadows.

The only time she had gone out voluntarily was to obtain survival magic from the Fountain of Memory.

The Fountain of Memory…

‘Right!’

This was exactly like the murals carved into the palace in the deepest part of the Fountain of Memory!

Memories flooded back like a spring.

Winnidith suddenly realized that it wasn’t just this slab; even the surrounding artifacts shared similarities with the murals she had seen.

The inscriptions on the stone pillars, the identical artistic style, and the lake present on both stone walls.

Winnidith could be almost certain that this was from the same era as the murals in the palace deep within the Fountain of Memory.

‘So, is that palace actually a product of the ancient Elven period? Why would it be in the deepest part of the Fountain of Memory?’

Linking this to Isabella’s comment that the third level of the Great Historical Archives might have existed previously, Winnidith formed a few theories.

But before she could share her thoughts with Isabella, her body suddenly began to sway uncontrollably.

It wasn’t just her body; the stone slabs around them, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling, and the entire Great Historical Archives were shaking!

The entire City of Emerald Shadows was trembling violently!

“Earthquake!”

It was unclear who shouted the terrifying name first.

In an instant, the entire Silver Moon Palace fell into extreme chaos.

When had these nobles, who lived pampered lives in the Imperial Capital, ever experienced such a disaster?

They began to scream and shout, and the Silver Moon Palace fell into total disarray.

In the end, it was only when Hiberton, the second son of the richest man, and Aaron, the 8th-rank warrior, came forward together to restore order that the situation finally stabilized.

“Mr. Aaron, what is happening? Is the City of Emerald Shadows really experiencing an earthquake?”

Although Hiberton could maintain basic judgment, he belonged to the most pampered group himself.

Facing a natural disaster that ordinary people could not resist for the first time, he was trembling just by standing.

At this moment, he could only trust the experienced Deputy Commander of the Silver Eagle Legion beside him.

Aaron carefully felt the tremors beneath his feet and shook his head.

“No, the source of the tremor is not the Earth’s core; it is coming from somewhere else.”

Suddenly, all the experts in the City of Emerald Shadows above the seventh rank, including him, looked toward the Elven Royal Palace.

They could feel four extremely powerful forces flying out from that direction.