He considered her words and nodded his head in agreement. So he continued felling trees and didn't sign up for the rescue mission.
The rescue mission should be easy because Command knew the location of the kidnapped soldiers; they had geographic knowledge and even visual images of their surroundings through their marks, and they also knew how many and how powerful the guards around the soldiers were.
So it should be very easy for a rescue mission to be planned and executed as they had all the necessary information for a successful rescue. But Kelvin still didn't join them because of the uncertainty known as demigods.
Sure, there will be a lot of rewards for the abducted soldiers and those sent to rescue them, but no one would be able to earn those rewards if a demigod shows up and wipes them out.
It is like Wrath said; the large amount of merit points being offered isn't for free. They are directly proportional to the danger involved in the missions.
While the rescue operations were being planned, the elves continued to kidnap soldiers scouting their position and movements.
They were intoxicated with success and were not ready to give up yet. So even though the soldiers they kidnapped were sickly, weak, metallic, and weird-looking, they were still happy to bundle them up and bring them back to their bases.
This was one of the rare moments that Kelvin took a break from cutting trees. He wasn't the only one to do so. Many soldiers dropped their work to sit down and watch the video stream from the combat bots that had been kidnapped.
Kelvin sat on the ground with a drink in his hand and his other hand raised so that he could watch the video.
Wrath, who was beside him, as always, rubbed her shadowy arms in glee and said, "I am going to enjoy this."
The elves didn't know that what they had kidnapped were not humans or soldiers, but combat bots. So instead of bringing home a confused and panicking soldier, they brought home a killing machine.
The combat bots were put in jails or whipped or arrayed before a council of elf judges to be judged and executed for their crimes against the world of Lignum.
The video he was watching was one that showed the public trial of a combat bot.
The bot was tied up with vines that nullify physical strength and magic. Then it was forced to kneel down in front of a large crowd of elves.
Six royal elves sat on trees in front of the elves and took up the position of judges. They would determine its fate.
One of the judges said, "Do you know your crimes?"
The combat bots said nothing.
The royal elves didn't care that they were being ignored. This trial is just a public show that would either succeed in breaking the enemy's spirit or succeed in appeasing the masses with the public execution of an invader.
There was no option for failure, so they couldn't ask the bots questions and continued accusing him of crimes it couldn't hope to acquit itself of even if it could speak.
The court had been rigged against the human soldier, so to say. They were just going through the formalities.
Unfortunately, despite the outcome being set, the elves had too many procedures and traditions. Their long life meant they weren't usually in a rush to wrap things up.
Even now, they still wanted to go through several days of procedures just to condemn a person that they had already condemned within their hearts. The humans didn't have that much time. So they gave the combat bots the permission to kill.
This was not a D-rank robot. It was an X-rank robot specifically designed for this operation.
This was a robot that could have resisted abduction if it was ordered to. But Command wanted a source of entertainment for their soldiers, so they came up with this elaborate prank.
As a robot, its strength wasn't obvious because it didn't have life force or mental focus. Normal methods of threat assessments will only fail, so the combat bot felt like a sickly and weak human to the senses of the elves.
So it came as a shock when the robot exploded with power. It ripped the vines apart, removed its outer shell to reveal the blades, guns, and missile launchers that it had stashed for the special occasion.
Then it went on a rampage.
It was a massacre. The bot avoided fighting strong elves and instead focused on killing the weak ones running away.
It refused to be held down by fighting and instead focused on killing. Its guns blazed, and launchers fired, causing explosions everywhere.
Eventually, it was put down and destroyed. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. Now the elves consider the humans demons that couldn't be trapped and are afraid to face them in battle.
The combat bots dealt significant damage because they were all activated at around the same time, so they fully utilized the element of surprise to shock and demoralize the elves.
Wrath was clapping as she watched the live stream. She said, "I bet this will be a trial to remember in the history of the elves."
Kelvin chuckled because of her comment. But he was cursing the next day because a demigod showed up to the human camp angry as hell.
One of the commanders went to block the demigod. As the two of them fought, the sky changed and the earth shook.
Only Wrath was in the mood to watch the show. But even she became pessimistic when another demigod showed up and the remaining commander had to come out to fight it.
Despite the bravado of the elven kings, one of them almost died in the fight. Both of them had to rush back in defeat.
If not for the fact that there were other elven kings that hadn't taken action yet, the human demigods would have pursued the enemy and made sure to kill them.