Elves were pacifists.

No matter what happened, they were averse to violence.

And even in the case of necessary violence, they never crossed a line.

… The line of death.

********

"We need to disable them somehow!"

"Yeah! Let's utilize the Skills at our disposal. For those who know Spells on restraints, you should utilize them now!"

"If you have the [Sleep] Skill, use that too. A stronger Skill is also preferable!"

"Hurry!"

The Monsters were already closing in on the Elves, so the ladies began to raise their voices a lot more.

This was so their instructions wouldn't be drowned by the countless grunts of the approaching Monsters, and also because they were slightly anxious.

Sure, they had a wider room to operate on, but if they dawdled for too long, the Monsters would fill up the space.

That would be bad for everyone.

Thankfully, the combined barrier that they had was around A-Tier, and none of the Monsters could penetrate it.

At least, not yet.

"On my mark, everyone!" Lila yelled, not willing to wait and find out if their barrier was more durable than the countless attacks they received from the surrounding beasts.

"Prepare to release your Spells and Skills at once!"

As Lali's voice echoed out, determined expressions formed on the faces of the young Elves.

Even though the hundreds of Monsters—most likely C-Tier and some B-Tier—surrounded them, they were certain that their combined mental attacks would be enough to knock them out for good.

That way, they could freely explore the Warehouse without any further interference.

The Monsters got closer, the brimming lights from the eyes and hands of the Elves grew brighter.

And after a second of silence, with everyone holding their breaths—

"Now!"

—The attack erupted.

~VWUUUUUUUSSSSSHHHHH!!!~

A wave of powerful Mana swept through the room, releasing a strong mental wave of Skills such as [Sleep], [Enchant], and [Charm]; as well as Spells of the same caliber.

The goal was to simply render the Monsters invalid or incapable of action for a long period of time.

Afterwards, they could take their time restraining them with Magic, or sealing off the room so they would be trapped in it.

Once that was done, they would be free from all interference.

The only problem was…

"E-eh…?"

"W-what is this…?"

"W-why…?"

"WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!"

Their eyes slowly began to widen as they noticed that the Monsters weren't stopping.

"B-but they're only C-Tier…"

The combined might of their abilities was easily A-Tier.

So why weren't the Monsters falling down?

"They're getting closer!"

Anxiety began to rise, and some other emotion that the Elves hadn't really felt since the mission began started to creep in.

It

Was

FEAR!

"Eeeek!"

"It's not working! Why isn't it working!"

"Let's try again! AGAIN!"

The Elves did the exact same thing one more time, expecting something different to happen.

… They were disappointed.

The only difference between the current moment and the moment before was that the Elves now had less Mana to work with.

None of their mental abilities were working on the Monsters.

Panic spread among the ten, and the eight weaker Elves began to look up to the two talented ones.

They were the ones who had the most responsibility, so it was only natural for this to happen.

Lila and Lali had to be held accountable.

"C-could it be… an effect of the Dragon?"

"Maybe Mind Control! It's Mind Control that allows them to work together!"

That was the only answer that Lila and Lali could conjure up.

There was no other explanation.

"For it to resist our A-Tier combined mental effects, it means the Dragon's Mins Control Skill must be higher."

No one was surprised to hear that.

Dragons were especially powerful, so one having an S-Tier Skill wasn't particularly uncommon.

In fact, it was a prerequisite for a Three-Horn to have an S-Tier Skill.

'This is bad…' Lali thought to herself as she watched the Monsters approach.

'None of us have S-Tier Skills. Only Lady Aurora does.'

The most they had were A-Tier Skills.

'Lali and I are not experts in Mental Skills and Magic, so we can't utilize much in that regard. This is really bad…' A bead of sweat fell from Lila's forehead.

The only option now was to use Binding Magic to somehow render them immobile, but even that option was a bit iffy.

'They're too many of them to capture.' Lali thought to herself.

'And even if we did capture all of them, they could escape from our binds given enough time.' Lila was also thinking along the same lines as her sister.

Ultimately, they were in a difficult situation.

The Elves had to make a choice eventually.

"E-everyone! Let us proceed to bind them!" Lila and Lali shouted at the same time.

They had come up with the most effective strategy for the current moment.

"We'll restrain them and seal off this room. It's going to take a lot of Mana and concentration, but you all have your emergency Potion supply, so we'll use that once we're done!"

There was no guarantee that they wouldn't encounter even more Monsters the deeper they went, but this was the best they could think of for now.

"Once they're sealed here, we'll have limited time to search for the goods and secure them for ourselves."

Spatial Rings were among the Items they paid for, so the Elves were simply going to use the Rings to collect all the Items and then leave the entire Warehouse.

There were certain Items that Spatial Rings could not be used on, so they could always come back for those with Lady Aurora.

With that as their current game plan, the Elves all nodded in agreement and ignored their fears.

"Get ready!" Lali and Lila yelled out, prepared for their next counterattack.

They couldn't help but think of their Big Sis and wonder how she was handling the disgusting and conniving humans.

They already knew she would succeed, just as always.

That meant they couldn't fail either.

'We will do our best here, Lady Aurora! None of us shall fail you!'

*

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Thanks for reading!

Sorry for this entire long tangent.

We are going to go to the main event; which is Aurora against the Mercenary Gang.