Chapter 15: Goddess

Hundreds of silver armored figures were congregating on the ground where there were still corpses and pools of blood scattered about. The stark contrast between them and their surrounding made a spectacle that was truly disturbing yet intriguing to the eyes.

The silver figures appeared to be elven soldiers as Tristan could clearly see the obvious trait of the elongated pointy ears. Filling almost one third of the dome, each and every one of them had a longbow on their back and a sword of multitude kinds on their side. The bright luster shone from the bows told Tristan that those things weren't the average factory-manufactured bow on Earth. For a moment, Tristan was entranced by the appearance of those elves, but he quickly schooled his expression back to normal.

Currently, a portion of them had surrounded and were fighting against the remaining orcs, some were just standing on guard, while a group of them was walking towards Tristan's direction.

One particular figure at the helm of the group caught Tristan's attention because of how striking they looked. A massive white tiger with a female elf sitting on top of it.

Long beautiful golden hair and verdant green eyes. She wore body armor that only covered half of her body, revealing her fair skin and captivating body. Simply put, the figure of a goddess.

For a second there, Tristan forgot about the situation he was in as he was enchanted by the elf's beauty. However, he quickly woke up from his reverie.

The female elf gazed down at Tristan from above the massive creature with such charisma. From her expression, Tristan could tell an inch of confusion. Before she spoke, Tristan said his words first

"Thank god you all are here… Those bastards, they are all back there. Catch them!"

Tristan's words seemed to make the female elf even more confused. With an annoyed tone in her voice, she said, "Who the hell are you?!"

Upon hearing the unexpected yet expected reaction, Tristan sighed inwardly. It was clear to the eye that the female elf was the leader of some sort. Hence, his plan to redirect them towards the damned goblin and the space knights before running away amidst the chaos seemed to not be going as smoothly as he thought.

With his unconscious and fragile sister in his arm, Tristan would not resort to fight unless it was the last choice. He then decided to gamble on the situation by saying something that confused the hell out of the female elf.

"Who the hell are you?"

The female elf became even more confused when she heard Tristan asking her back. At the moment, Tristan was trying to bluff her.

The important key to a successful bluff was to stare at the target with even more emotion, expressing it directly to the eyes of the adversary. Tristan needed to have perfect confidence in his bluff in order to make others eat it.

The female elf was stunned as she was silent for a while, and then she said, "I am… Serene.."

Tristan's mouth curled a little before it returned to its stoic state, thinking that his plan of dominance worked. But then, she was suddenly angered as she took out a whip-like weapon and proceeded to lash it on the ground, causing a deep gash on it.

'Damn… She's not weaker than me, apparently…' Tristan inwardly thought.

"I am Serene! The first valkyrie of the Vanyar Kingdom! Now, you tell me elf! Who are you and what are you doing in the forbidden ruins of Aesir?!"

Tristan's brain quickly went into overdrive as he tried to think of ways to react. In an instant, Tristan changed his attitude, he bowed his head as a sign of respect and calmly said, "My honorable valkyrie… I-I honestly don't really know. I...I was taken here not by choice... That.. goblin creature... I heard them fighting, and then… I managed to run. I heard they are about to run away, hence I hope you catch them. Do not let them get away."

The best lie was the one that had half the truth in it. Well, actually none of what Tristan said was a lie at all. He just roughly compiled the event and omitted some details.

Tristan sneakily cast a glance at the female elf and it looked like she was unconvinced.

"What about that human girl in your arm?"

Of course, Tristan had prepared the acceptable response for Leyla's presence, "She.. she was helping me escape and got hurt. I owe her my life, thus I at least need to see her recover." Tristan said as he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, acting like he owed Leyla his life.

This time, it was clearly nonsense, but the female elf didn't know that. Sure, it was not a masterpiece-type of a lie, but his lifelong experience, especially the time in the prison, perfected his talent.

The female elf moved closer to Tristan as she pulled the tiger leash in her hand. Immediately after, the huge tiger creature roared loudly so close to Tristan's face.

Such a loud and intimidating roar from a scary beast should make anyone wet their pants, but surprisingly, Tristan didn't feel fear at all. Tristan just stood there unmoved and wondered if he was still human.

The female elf stared at Tristan with a piercing gaze, "You can't fool me, you know…" she said with confidence.

"Mina here.. She can smell fear. And she couldn't smell any from you.."

Upon hearing her words, Tristan thought he got caught lying. He probably needed to use the sword, after all. However, before Tristan could grab the sword, Serene said something that made Tristan freeze his hand in the air.

"Only people with guilt are afraid... Therefore you… I believe you are telling the truth."

"..." Tristan smiled wryly in his heart. It was fortunate that he was hesitating for a moment, or else he would be digging his and his sister's grave!

Moreover, perhaps it would be true if he was intimidated by the tiger creature, but he just wasn't, or rather, couldn't.

Serene finally stepped down from her mount and looked at Tristan closely. This time, Tristan could see a different side of her, a sincere and caring look. To be honest, he was quite surprised by the glaring differences.

While inspecting Tristan, Serene said, "One of your ears.. your eye.." she sighed, and continued, "You poor elf... What did they do to you? ...Don't worry, for I will not let them get away."

Tristan was quite shocked by the attentive feeling coming from her words. Adding with her being so close to him, letting his senses feast on her alluring body and smell; Tristan felt kind of guilty that he fooled her right now.

Serene quickly gave some simple gestures towards the elves behind her, and they immediately ran towards the entrance Tristan came before. Serene was about to follow her subordinates when she turned around and asked, "What's your name, elf?"

"You can call me Tristan"

With Serene and her elves hunting the damned goblin and those knights, Tristan now just needed to find a way to quietly escape without anyone knowing.