The tracks were quite easy for them to follow since they were very uniform.
It didn't take long for the elven hunters to find them and to follow them.
It was so easy that they almost couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed about not finding them sooner.
However, they all knew that it would have been impossible for them to find it sooner.
After all, not a single one of them would have thought that these scratches on the ground would be the tracks of anything. It was only when they saw the uniform way that these things led somewhere that they believed that these were indeed tracks.
So even if they felt a bit embarrassed, that embarrassment quickly disappeared.
As for feeling inferior to the human who had told them about this, that would never happen.
As they were following the tracks, there were many who started pulling out maps to also track where they were in the forest. At the same time, they started creating marks on the different trees to mark their way just in case anything happened.
Of course, as elves, they didn't carve the marks in and formed them with magic.
But magic marks lasted longer, so it was the better choice to begin with.
As they slowly made their way through the forest, Moon was by our side showing us on the map where we were.
It seemed that it was leading a straight line through the center of the ring of the depleted magic area zone. It was right in the center as well, as if…it was marking something which just made it seem even more suspicious.
However, no matter how long we went, we weren't able to find anything other than these tracks.
By this time, we were already halfway across the forest and on the exact opposite side of where we started.
It was as if we kept going, we would eventually reach the point where we had started from.
At this point, there were a few people that started having doubts about these tracks and their mutters could be heard from around us.
Apollo was one of those people even though he was the leader.
He kept staring back at us as if he was blaming us for wasting their time, but with Moon by our side, he had no choice but to keep pushing the group forward.
Still, no matter how one looked at it, there was a tense atmosphere around us that just became worse and worse the more that we travelled.
Finally, when we reached three fourths of the way, they couldn't take it anymore.
Apollo suddenly stopped and turned around to look at us. Even if Moon stood there in his way, he walked over and said, "Look at what you've done. We've wasted all this time chasing after these 'tracks' of theirs when we could have been doing something more efficient. This has been nothing more than a big waste of all of our time!"
As he said this, the elves around him couldn't help nodding in agreement since this had been a waste of time, but they couldn't say anything without offending Moon. Apollo was the only one that could speak up for them in front of her.
Moon came forward and said, "This was better than not doing anything at all. Plus, we're not at the end yet."
This time, Apollo didn't back down as he narrowed his eyes to look at her before saying, "Moon, you know that this is all a wild goose chase. Instead of wasting our time playing around with these humans, we should focus on finding a way to solve the problem of the magic power being drained. You know how important this is."
Moon just calmly said in a firm voice, "We're still not at the end yet."
Apollo looked like he wanted to say more, but then he suddenly gave a sigh and said, "Fine, we'll do as you say. I hope that by the end of this, you'll realize that the humans aren't anything good."
Without waiting for her to say anything, he turned to lead the group forward again.
But before any of them could do anything, one of the elves suddenly collapsed.
When this elf collapsed, everyone turned to look at them. The ones that were beside the elf quickly came forward to check on them.
Then after being stunned for a bit, Apollo suddenly turned around to look at us.
He pulled out his bow and notched an arrow that he pointed right at me as he said, "What did you do?!"
I couldn't help taking a step back when I saw the arrow being pointed at me, but then I calmed down and said, "Stop panicking and look carefully. The enemy is nearby."
A vein popped out on Apollo's forehead when he heard this before he shouted, "The enemy is nearby? That's right! The enemy is right in front of me! I'll give you to the count of three to reverse what you've done before I put an arrow in between your eyes!"
When the other elves heard this commotion, they couldn't help acting in different ways.
The hunters that followed Moon just stood there not knowing what to do while the warriors that followed Apollo also took out their bows to point at us humans.
I raised my hand and said, "We haven't done a single thing. The enemy is hiding in the area around us and if we're not careful, we'll all be taken out."
Apollo wouldn't listen as he started counting down.
But before he could shoot his arrow, Moon came forward to raise her bow to point at him.
When Apollo saw this, his chin dropped before he said, "Moon, what are you doing?"
Moon was about to open her mouth to say something, but then she also felt dizzy.
She couldn't stand firmly on the ground and she stumbled forward, as if she was about to fall.
Apollo wanted to help her, but he felt the same thing and he almost fell to the ground as well.
It wasn't just the two of them that were acting this way…it was the entire group. That included the humans.
Even my eyes started to blur as I had no idea what was happening.
I tried looking around to find what was causing this, but the weakness of my limbs and the growing exhaustion that I felt made it hard for me to do this…
Finally, I couldn't help stumbling forward and falling to the ground.
At the same time, most of the others had done the same.
Apollo had forced himself to stand, but it was clear that he wasn't doing better than the rest of us.
The last thing that I was able to see was Moon looking at me with a disappointed look.
It seemed that even she believed that I was the one that was responsible for this…
But I couldn't say anything as my mouth felt like I had just come back from the dentist. All I could do was remember the way that she looked at me in that final moment.
Then the last thing that I heard was…
"I never thought that it would be this easy to trap them all."