35

The Witcher: The last King of the elves

Chapter 35 - News

“I will have to remind the elves later to be more careful when they go out to gather firewood. They may only take trees that are less than a hundred years old.”

Thranduil did not want to deforest this forest; that was not his intention. Besides, he reserved the best trees for his troops. “Trees older than a hundred years must not be cut down. The task of summoning them to become Treants will be left to the elven clerics.”

Thinking of this, Thranduil asked Laila, the elf who led the cleric troops, “If it is a millennial tree, what level of tree warrior can it summon?”

Laila, the elven cleric, replied respectfully, “Ancient trees between five hundred and a thousand years old can summon high-level Treant warriors. Ancient trees over a thousand years old can summon warriors who can easily defeat Warlocks in single combat.”

“Their combat power is so strong that it is comparable to that of a dragon on land, battling entire battalions of knights!”

After a pause, Laila continued: “If the ancient tree is more than three thousand years old, the Treant summoned will be a powerful being capable of creating catastrophes!”

“At that level, a three-thousand-year-old Treant could easily kill a dragon.”

Hearing this, Thranduil could not help but feel shocked.

A Treant—just one—could become a guardian of the elves’ territory. Records said that Warlocks, created by humans to suppress magical creatures, were the most complete warriors.

If a two-thousand-year-old Treant could fight against a Warlock, what would an army of Treants do on the battlefield?

Once summoned, these trees would be at the disposal of the elves’ territory, ready to enter battle if the forest was disturbed by unwanted invaders.

If the entire elven empire was filled with Treants, there would be little need to worry about borders. These warriors would cleanse the forest of dark creatures, which would greatly aid his people.

Thranduil’s burning gaze fell upon Laila’s delicate and beautiful face. In the ruins at the center of the city, there were some ancient trees more than three thousand years old.

Even older specimens were available.

Under normal circumstances, a tree so ancient should have already transformed into a Treant long ago. But perhaps it had been “suppressed” by the lack of hope in this land, or perhaps there were other reasons that prevented its transformation until now.

If the elven priests under his command could transform them into Treants, would that not mean he could directly obtain several guardians available at any time?

“Your Majesty, we still do not have the ability to summon powerful Treants...”
Laila seemed to understand what Thranduil was thinking.

So, after saying that, she explained their limitations in detail: “Summoning Treants also has restrictions. The level of the tree warriors summoned can only match that of their summoner.”

“With our current strength, we cannot even summon an ancient tree of three thousand years. That is why we must now focus only on Treants between five hundred and a thousand years old.”

“No matter, it is only a matter of time!”
Thranduil was not disappointed either.
He truly did not expect these elven clerics to be able to summon ancient Treant warriors just yet.

After all, they were all still adapting to their abilities.

If he could summon large groups of Treants immediately, there would be few things that could stop Thranduil.

Taking a modest stance, Thranduil said without the slightest irritation, “If you work hard, in time those limitations will disappear. Whether one or two Treants, you will be able to summon as many as you wish.”

“When that time comes, I hope to see all the other clerics summoning those millennial trees from the ruins to become Guardians of our lands.”

“Your Majesty, rest assured we will do everything possible and we will not disappoint you,” Laila said with a serious expression.

“Very well!”

Thranduil looked at the other clerics assembled silently and said, “You may leave and join Haldir. He will assign your battalion and create a new tactic using your abilities.”

“As you command, Your Majesty, we take our leave!” Laila withdrew along with the other nine elven priests.

Thranduil then said to the Hippogryph Knights: “Go hunting as well! Improve yourselves, you must adapt! When the War of the Blood Moon ends, you will be on the battlefield that truly belongs to you!”

The hippogryph knights were his trump card against those powerful forces of evil.

After all, they were aerial cavalry. If they could defeat their enemies, they could fight with total freedom. If not, they could easily retreat.

“As you command, Your Majesty the Great Elven King!” The hippogryph knights bowed in salute.

Then they turned and mounted their hippogryphs, soaring into the sky in a gust of wind. Another burst of shrill cries rang out, and the hippogryph riders had already vanished into the distant darkness.

In terms of speed, the Hippogryph was definitely not slow.

With just a flap of its wings, it could reach the skies.

…

“The troops are now much more diverse. The other types of soldiers have their uses, but only a certain number of energy crystals can be gathered each day. It is not enough to become wealthy overnight, so there must be a priority in training each type of soldier.”

“The Treants summoned by the elves—I must invest heavily in them. We can appropriately reduce the training of elven swordsmen.”

“As for the others...”

The elven priests and the hippogryph riders were absolutely indispensable; after all, they were troops never before seen by humans. The elven mages were artillery on the battlefield, so they were also essential. The elven hunters played a vital role as well.

Finally, there were the Elven Archers. It seemed that their training volume could not be reduced. As one of the easiest types of soldiers to train, they had already slain an elven swordsman, and certainly could not be outmatched by an elven archer.

“Too much to think about.” Thranduil, standing before a stone table, looked at the map of the continent and the human kingdoms.

“I must see if they are worth destroying.”

These days, humans who had not found a common enemy were massacring one another.

On second thought, Thranduil might not even need to kill the humans.

“Your Majesty, the wall is built!”
At night, just as Thranduil was about to go hunting, an elven mage approached him to report.

“Very well, let us take a look.”
Thranduil followed the tall elf mage to the wall.

The entire wall had been repaired and built with rubble and earth magic. Impressively, the repaired sections were identical to the rest of the standing wall.

On top of the wall, a parapet over a meter high had been constructed. This was to further strengthen the defense and make it easier for the elves to strike at incoming monsters.

Haldir, at Thranduil’s side, said: “There are twenty thousand elves along the wall, all of them on night duty.”

“See that food is brought to them; the others must rest.”

“As you command, Your Majesty.”