The night passed quickly, and there were no more massive attacks after the one that occurred at midnight.
In no time, daylight arrived.
The number of elven troops under Thranduil's command grew by three hundred elves.
At night, scouting units led by Haldir killed some undead creatures near the central square, and Thranduil used the collected energy crystals to train new elven troops.
Aside from military training...
Thranduil increased his numbers rapidly, creating a true battalion of elven forces. His goal today was to train all one hundred elves that were born today so that they would become elven soldiers.
By then, the number of elven troops under his command would exceed three hundred.
Early in the morning, the elves went out to hunt.
Haldir divided the one hundred and ten elven soldiers into ten teams. Each team was basically made up of four elven swordsmen and seven elven archers.
This combination includes both melee and ranged attacks. And their levels were by no means low.
Everyone had to be careful during their scouting missions—after all, these were abandoned lands.
If one made a mistake, they could easily lose their life.
Thranduil also left early in the morning. His hunting zone today was still the forest he hadn't cleared yesterday.
There were many monsters in that forest, and the vampire mosquitoes that attacked last night had also come from there. Thranduil planned to find their nest and destroy it completely so his troops wouldn't suffer under the attacks of those pests.
As a fire mage, he greatly enjoyed hunting monsters like these that came in large numbers and had low defenses.
Once those enemy swarms were exterminated, a large area would be cleared, and the troops coming from afar would have a much safer path.
Before leaving the territory, Thranduil also assigned a task to the newly born elves who weren't combat experts, and that was to clean the surroundings where the ancient trees were settled.
As more and more elven soldiers were trained, Thranduil also had to consider building houses for them.
They couldn't continue sleeping outdoors all the time.
The way elves gathered wood was quite peculiar. They could be seen in groups of three or five, circling the trees they had chosen to build their homes. These would disappear at a speed visible to the naked eye, leaving only the lower part of the tree with a smooth cut.
Once they had gathered almost everything, the elves would automatically fly back to their territory.
Then, in a way that seemed like a summoning from the void, they would create homes in tall trees that stood at the center of the city.
Soon, a large amount of wood was neatly piled up in the square.
"This is really efficient." Thranduil couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
…
In the dense forest.
Scorching flames engulfed everything around him. Centuries-old trees, over a hundred meters tall, were set ablaze and burned with furious fire.
Thranduil was quite rational in his actions. His purpose was only to hunt the monsters hiding in the forest, so once he achieved that goal, he would take the initiative to control and extinguish the burning flames.
The ancient trees of the forest could be used to build residential houses in the future.
This forest was very large. All kinds of monsters were hidden within.
Thranduil started from the southern area of the forest, eliminating the monsters on the outskirts before slowly venturing deeper.
By noon, he had killed more than two thousand monsters, including dozens of level-five and higher monsters.
Thranduil checked the task progress. The number was getting closer to completion. It seemed that not only he, but all the elven teams, had also made good gains.
"Without a doubt, numbers really do matter. If I keep this up, I think I'll soon complete the hunting mission and unlock the Temple of God's Gift." Thranduil thought as he wiped the blood from his sword.
Then he picked some wild fruits in the forest, ate a few pieces of roasted meat, and continued hunting.
Speaking of eating...
Elven soldiers also needed to eat. But it's worth mentioning that elves only eat vegetarian food and do not eat meat.
Fresh fruits and honey are the favorites of elves. Of course, Thranduil was not included. Even though he had become an elf, he couldn't change his habit of eating meat. He always felt unsatisfied with the fresh fruits he picked from the forest.
The elven team needed to solve the food problem on their own for now.
But it wasn't a big problem. There were many fruit trees growing in the ruins. Because this place itself was the ruins of the ancient elven city.
Many fruit trees had even been growing for hundreds or thousands of years, and the fruits they produced were not only abundant but also delicious.
In the short term, Thranduil didn't need to worry about food for the elves.
…
Thranduil's hunt went smoothly. With his strength as a high-level mage, combined with the magical talent of a sun elf and his sacred magical weapon of royal quality in hand, he had no rivals in this forest.
A high-level magic beast he came across by chance was instantly killed by his flaming spear.
"I don't know how long I've been hunting, but I think I've found you." Thranduil finally heard a familiar buzzing.
It was the sound of a large number of vampire mosquitoes flapping their wings together. Thranduil followed the sound and soon found the vampire mosquito nest.
It was an ancient tree at least 200 meters tall, with huge black mosquito nests hanging from its branches. Dense swarms of vampire mosquitoes flew around each nest.
It was estimated that there were at least tens of thousands of them.
"If I manage to wipe out this plague of vampire mosquitoes, I'll undoubtedly reach new levels in my magic!" Thranduil was extremely pleased, but he didn't act rashly.
Because the ancient tree where the vampire mosquitoes gathered was very strange, with countless hanging branches. Even though there was no wind in the forest, those branches swayed slowly.
A large number of bones could be seen piled on the ground in a radius of hundreds of meters around the ancient tree.
Thranduil also sensed the magical power fluctuations of that ancient tree. "This is a demonic tree! Its level of magical power has reached troubling levels. If my people still ruled these lands, something like this would never have happened."
Compared to demonic monsters, mutated trees like magical trees are much rarer. But at the same level, magical trees are usually stronger than monsters.
Their magical power reserves far surpass those of magical beasts.
Especially the great magical tree in front of Thranduil—its magical power was even greater.
That's why Thranduil didn't act recklessly. He was trying to calculate whether he could deal with the demonic tree with his current strength. As for those vampire mosquitoes, he didn't take them seriously.
"Die…" Thranduil, burning with rage against those demonic creatures, struck first and much faster.
He lit a fire and burned as many low-level monsters and vampire mosquitoes as he could find.
At that moment…
Thranduil faintly heard a sound. The sound was very weak and intermittent, not very clear.
He released his mental thoughts and immediately the sound became clear. "Elf, this is my territory. Please leave immediately. I won't make things difficult for you if you continue on your way!"
"That demonic tree!" Thranduil's heart ignited with fury.
In response to Thranduil's attitude, the magical tree hundreds of meters away swayed its hanging branches even more quickly.
Thranduil immediately communicated with it through spiritual thoughts: "All ruins belong to my elven clan. You have rooted yourself in my clan's territory and dare to speak with such arrogance. In my presence, do you think you can intimidate the elves?"
The demon tree replied: "The elves can no longer rule this land. Now it's too much territory for so few of your kind."
"That was before. Now I am the master of this land, and I reclaim it!" Thranduil raised the magic staff in his hand and instantly condensed a huge fireball with a diameter of more than two meters.
He planned to test the power of this demonic tree.
After all, it was hundreds of meters away, so his safety was at least assured for now.