From Slave to King: My Rebate System Built Me a Kingdom With Beauties!-Chapter 193: The Fight Begins! [FIXED!]

Elves suddenly came into view, appearing right in front of Byung and the dwarf as if materializing from thin air itself. One moment the forest clearing was empty, the next it was occupied by a figure whose presence made the air itself feel heavier. The elf they had managed to escape underground had caught up with them, her violet eyes burning with cold fury, silver-gold hair catching the dying sunlight like precious metal.

Byung looked visibly distressed by this development, his enhanced senses screaming danger as he took an involuntary step backward. His hand moved instinctively toward the bone dagger at his belt, though he knew deep down that conventional weapons would be useless against someone who commanded magic.

The dwarf, however, seemed almost resigned rather than surprised. He stopped his cautious advance and turned to face the elf directly, his red eyes meeting her violet gaze without flinching.

"Aelindra," he said, her name rolling off his tongue with familiarity that suggested previous encounters.

"I’m genuinely shocked you managed to catch up so fast. The time-compression runes should have bought us more distance."

The elf—Aelindra—looked utterly disgusted hearing her name from his lips, her beautiful face contorting with revulsion as if the very sound of his voice was pollution. She spat on the ground between them, a gesture of contempt that transcended language. But this reaction made Byung question something fundamental: who was the bad guy here?

He had hoped, in some naive corner of his mind, that the dwarf was some misunderstood creature—an outcast seeking redemption, a refugee from injustice, someone whose goals might align with Byung’s own survival and prosperity. But watching the elf’s reaction, feeling the atmosphere shift with the dwarf’s presence, there was no doubt this being was evil in some fundamental way. The energy oozing off him was malevolent and dark, a wrongness that made Byung’s skin crawl despite the dwarf never having directly threatened him.

Aelindra had received the new orders from her Queen already—kill the goblin, avoid the dwarf if possible. But circumstances had changed. The dwarf was right here in front of her, standing within range of her magic, presenting an opportunity too valuable to waste. She could kill two birds with one stone, eliminate both threats and return triumphant rather than merely successful.

Byung knew talking would be pointless—the elf’s expression made clear that negotiation wasn’t on the table. But he remembered what Kraghul had told him in that chamber deep underground, words mouthed without voice but read clearly on cracked lips: "That dwarf is from the dark continent."

Aelindra didn’t wait for further conversation. Her hands moved in those intricate patterns, fingers weaving light into form, and suddenly arrows materialized from nothing—dozens of them, shimmering constructs of pure arcane energy hanging suspended in the air around her like a crown of death. Then she released them.

The elf immediately rained down arrows in a barrage that filled the air with whistling death. Byung managed to deflect a few with sword, the weapon’s edge meeting magical constructs and somehow dispersing them in bursts of light. But the overwhelming volume and power made sustained defense impossible—there were simply too many, coming from too many angles, each one tracking his movements with unnatural precision.

However, he had his armor to thank for survival. The dwarven-crafted plates that had seemed almost delicate earlier proved their worth as arrows struck and bounced off harmlessly, the metal absorbing impacts that would have punched through steel and bone. Sparks flew where magic met enchanted metal, creating a light show that illuminated the darkening forest.

The elf was visibly surprised by this, her violet eyes widening fractionally before narrowing with understanding. She looked at the dwarf with even deeper disgust than before.

"This must be your doing," she hissed, her melodic voice carrying across the clearing. "Arming this creature with enchantments beyond his understanding."

The dwarf was not engaging her directly, notably taking a step backward to allow Byung to handle the confrontation alone. The tactical withdrawal spoke volumes about his strategy—let the goblin test the elf’s capabilities, exhaust her magic, perhaps even land a lucky blow, all while he observed from safety.

Byung knew he had one shot at turning this fight in his favor, and it had to involve the weapon crafted from Vrognut’s bones and teeth. The bone dagger had already proven it could paralyze some of the strongest foes. If he could get a nick on the elf—just one small cut to introduce Vrognut’s residual poison into her system—that was all it would take to shift the balance.

He rushed toward her with all the speed his evolved body could muster, legs pumping with power that ate up ground in blur-fast strides. She fired more arrows in response, but he moved in a zigzag pattern, breaking line of sight and trajectory predictions, doubling his speed through technique rather than just raw power. Left, right, forward, diagonal—unpredictable movements that made targeting difficult even for magic-guided projectiles.

The elf was surprised by the tactical sophistication, but this wasn’t outside of her calculations. She had fought warriors for centuries, studied every combat style that mortal races had developed. Speed could be countered.

Byung reached within close proximity—ten feet, five feet, close enough to lunge with the dagger extended—and then Aelindra moved. A casual swipe of her hand, barely visible in the fading light, and suddenly Byung felt force hit him like a giant’s fist. The kinetic blast sent him flying backward, his body ragdolling through the air until he crashed into multiple tree trunks with bone-jarring impacts. Wood splintered. Bark exploded. His armor absorbed the worst of it, but pain still flared through his ribs and spine.

In that moment when she focused on Byung’s trajectory, the elf had momentarily lost track of the dwarf. A critical mistake against someone who had survived centuries through being deceptive.

The dwarf used this opportunity well, his dark-skinned hand reaching into his cloak and launching something into the air—a small object that arced high above the clearing, spinning end over end, catching no light because its surface seemed to absorb illumination rather than reflect it.

Aelindra’s attention snapped back toward where the dwarf had been standing, and she saw him clearly now. But not the weapon he had thrown—her eyes tracked the obvious threat, the figure in her direct line of sight, missing the descending object above.

The elf looked almost ecstatic, her beautiful face lighting with predatory satisfaction. Before she knew it, the dwarf was fully within her sight, standing in what appeared to be confused panic, and he sold the deception beautifully. He pretended to be horrified by his exposed position, eyes wide, hands raised defensively, stumbling backward as if trying to flee but too slow.

The false vulnerability instilled a sense of confidence within the elf—finally, after decades of hunting this creature, she had him cornered. Her hands began weaving the killing spell, power gathering around her fingers in visible ripples of distorted air.

But before she could complete the casting and attack, the weapon the dwarf had thrown reached the apex of its arc and fell. It hit her directly in the back of her head with a wet crunch that echoed across the clearing, the impact perfectly timed and angled to strike at her most vulnerable point. The blow didn’t pierce—her natural magical defenses prevented that—but the kinetic force was sufficient.

Aelindra’s spell dispersed unfinished as she crashed forward into the ground below, her lithe form hitting earth hard enough to crater the soil. She wasn’t unconscious, wasn’t dead, but she was stunned, disoriented, her concentration shattered.

Byung watched from afar where he’d landed against the trees, pulling himself upright despite protesting ribs. He wanted to have an idea of what he was actually dealing with in this dwarf, and the tactical display answered that question definitively. This creature fought with centuries of experience, with patience and deception that made Byung’s own cunning look childish by comparison. The dwarf would prove to be a problem—not an ally, not really, but a manipulator using Byung for purposes he couldn’t yet fully understand.

However, before Byung could decide whether to press the attack on the fallen elf or confront the dwarf about his true intentions, he couldn’t escape what happened next.

A hand clamped around his mouth from behind—slender fingers that shouldn’t have been there, that his enhanced senses should have detected approaching. But there had been no sound, no scent, no disturbance in the air. Before he could even speak, before he could struggle or activate any defensive instinct, Byung felt reality twist around him.

The forest disappeared. The dwarf vanished. Aelindra’s fallen form blinked out of existence. Everything dissolved into rushing darkness and then reformed into completely different surroundings—an open field of white stone, glowing runes on the surface they were on.

This was teleportation. Instantaneous movement across space through magical means that shouldn’t be possible according to everything Byung understood about this world but he was relearning what was possible or not.

And standing behind him, hand still covering his mouth to prevent sound, was another elf. Not Aelindra, but someone else—older perhaps, with hair like spun platinum and eyes that glowed with power that made Aelindra’s magic look like candle flame compared to wildfire.

"Silence, goblin," she whispered directly into his ear, her voice carrying absolute authority. "You have been removed from the board. What happens next depends entirely on whether you’re smart enough to listen."