Moran nodded, "Everyone, check your equipment and prepare to set off. We’ll leave here and move southwest along the ridge first, where the woods are relatively dense and suitable for concealment."

Duke also organized his equipment along with the others, but his heart sank slightly.

It was too quiet. The sound of the wind and the insects outside the cave sounded very natural, but his intuition sensed a slight discord.

It was a meticulously disguised, overly standard natural atmosphere, lacking the true wilderness’s chaotic vitality and small surprises.

"The Commerce Association and the Empire... won’t act slowly, it’s very likely..." An alarm softly rang in his heart, but just like everyone else, his face showed the relief of escaping with a hint of worry about the future; he couldn’t reveal any abnormalities.

Just as Instructor Moran gently parted the vines at the cave’s entrance, stepping out first and cautiously surveying the surroundings, confirming temporary safety and signaling for the others to follow, a sudden change occurred.

The third person, Lelandra, had just stepped out of the cave no more than five steps when the seemingly ordinary rocky ground beneath her feet suddenly lit up with a circle of pale purple, complex magical runes.

"Trap!!" Instructor Moran’s roar and the high guard’s scream sounded simultaneously.

But it was too late.

Centered beneath Lelandra’s feet, a hemisphere-shaped pale purple light barrier with a radius of fifty meters instantly rose, completely enveloping the six people who had just exited the cave.

Inside the barrier, the air instantly became sticky, and the moonlight energy was violently suppressed and disturbed, as if caught in an invisible quagmire.

Lelandra stifled a groan, nearly severing her weak connection with the Mithril pouch.

"Miss!" The trapped guard tried to rush towards Lelandra, only to find his movements dozens of times slower than usual, as if bearing a heavy load.

Almost simultaneously, several other areas inside the cave and near the entrance lit up with magic array glows.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Silent sniper spells from high and far in the darkness came almost silently, precisely targeting the sluggish-moving high guards and Moran within the force field.

One high guard barely managed to raise a dim moonlight shield but was directly pierced through the shoulder by a refined arcane piercing, collapsing with a scream.

Instructor Moran narrowly dodged the fatal hit with his rich experience, but his left arm was grazed, bleeding heavily.

"For the clan!" Grey Leaf’s eyes turned crimson, roaring as he tried to throw a dagger toward the direction of the spell assault, but within the suppressive force field, the dagger flimsily flew for only a short distance before dropping.

Around Duke, yellow sand floated, and suddenly, from nowhere, a mass of dark golden, extremely fine grains of sand surged around his previously empty form without warning.

These grains were not created out of thin air; rather, it seemed they instantaneously precipitated from within him and the rocky soil beneath his feet, coalescing and swirling as if alive at high speed.

A thick, dense dark golden sand shield instantly congealed to his left, precisely blocking two acid arrows and a paralyzing shock.

The acid made a sizzling, corrosive sound but only left a shallow dent on the sand shield’s surface; the electric light jumped between the grains and dissipated without a trace.

At the same time, with a wave of his right hand, another plume of sand arced skyward, not blocking directly, but cleverly wrapping a falling rock to deflect its trajectory, causing it to crash and raise a cloud of dust on the open ground beside him.

Most of the attacks directed at him were nullified by this suddenly appearing, deftly manipulated dark golden sand defense.

The entire process happened in the blink of an eye. Duke’s figure was faintly visible amidst the swirling sand, the grains emitting a metallic sheen that combined with the earthy texture, which clashed starkly with his dark green elf uniform and the silhouette of his silver-haired, violet-eyed elven appearance.

"What?!"

"Ying Ye! You..."

Cries mingled with pain and disbelief sounded all at once.

Others, barely surviving the first wave of attacks and struggling to evade or resist, including the injured Moran, the fallen guard, and another surviving retainer by the cave entrance, could not help but cast horrified gazes at Duke. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

What did they see? A fellow companion they had been with day and night, an elven warrior known for agility and moonlight affinity, was manipulating sand.

Moreover, in such a never-before-seen, seamlessly innate manner of sand control, it was neither any known elven talent magic nor the result of some enabling tool.

Doubt, shock, and a hint of instinctive wariness arising in their desperate situation momentarily replaced some of their fear of the ambushers, surfacing in their eyes.

Grey Leaf even forgot to continue throwing daggers, his mouth agape.

The events that followed shattered their understanding completely.

They saw Ying Ye, who had trained, patrolled, and fled with them, bearing the standard night elf appearance with cold pale skin and silver hair with violet eyes, begin to undergo an eerie distortion and ripple, accompanied by the dark golden grains spinning around.

It was as if an invisible, exquisite mask was melting and peeling away.

The silver hair rapidly transformed from the roots into a deep, jet-black color, the cold pale skin changed to a common human’s healthy, ruddy yellow-white tone.

The distinctive pale violet eyes, like faded amethyst, shifted to a calm, deep brown.

His slender but graceful elven form slightly expanded, conforming more to the skeletal structure of a human male, with broad shoulders and long arms, still elongated but exuding a different sense of force.

Within just two breaths, standing there was no longer the night elf Ying Ye.

It was a young-looking human male with black hair, brown eyes, carrying an air of composure and sternness that belied his age.

He wore an ill-fitting dark green elven retainer uniform, around him dark golden sands flowed gently like loyal guards.

"You’re... you’re not Ying Ye! Who are you?!" Grey Leaf screamed, his voice distorted by extreme shock and a sense of betrayal.

Instructor Moran clutched his bleeding left arm, his face pale as paper, his eyes initially filled with incredulity before turning into immense rage and profound despair.

He understood, understood everything!

Why the invaders could trap Ysera so precisely, why their evacuation route was pre-empted and ambushed...

An insider! This peer whom they trusted, even pinned some hopes on, was a human infiltrator disguised to the bone.

Lelandra trembled violently within the suppressive force field, her pale violet eyes locked onto the unfamiliar human male. The initial shock was swiftly replaced by an icy chill and hatred.

It was him... He caused the clan’s downfall, endangered Mother’s life, drove them to flee like wandering spirits, only to end up in a trap.

The fury of betrayal and the grief of destruction intertwined, almost suffocating her.

"Traitor!!" Another wounded retainer roared, struggling to rush forward, only to be paralyzed completely by a precisely shot paralytic beam.

Duke was indifferent to the hatred, shock, and despair in the elves’ eyes.

He tossed the Thousand-Faced Instrument in his hand lightly, then put it away.

The dark golden grains around him did not dissipate but continued to swirl like living sand at his feet, forming an invisible circle of defense.

His gaze passed over the still-struggling elves, directly targeting those emerging from behind the boulders - the Viper, and the Imperial hunters and war puppets closing in.

"Duke, mission in progress, target Lelandra and her possessions confirmed present." Duke’s voice was steady and emotionless, speaking in the standard Wizard Plane language, devoid of any Elvish dialect.

His words, like a final judgment, utterly extinguished the last glimmer of hope held by the remnants of the Moonmark Clan.

The Viper’s face, scarred by a magical burn, twitched slightly, revealing a smile mixed with satisfaction and cruelty.

He indeed had a fleeting doubt about the sand-based ability, but when the other party voluntarily removed the disguise, everything made sense.