Overlord Volume 15 (Travel in The LOTR Forest)

Meeting with the elder

Although the dark elves called the Black Forest of Lotrs their home, in reality their base wasn't in the trees or on the ground. Due to the five demonic beasts that rampaged through the forest with each claiming most of it as their own territory, there was no way for the dark elves to survive if they stayed and slept in the woods.

The true home of the dark elves was the mountains. At the foot of the mountain there was a small waterfall formed by the water that poured from the mountain. Beasts rarely came to this place as it was right on the border of the demonic half-dragon's territory. Of all the beasts that got corrupted by the demonic energy, the half-dragon was the most territorial of all and would kill anyone that tried to set foot or come close to the mountain. But it was precisely because of this that this place was the perfect hideout for the elves.

Behind the waterfall was a sizeable hole that one would not detect unless one searched for it. Only by walking on a steep path that was just wide enough for one person could this hole be reached. It was through this hole that one entered the home of the mountains Dark Elf Tribe.

The cave in which the elves lived could not be called a cave anymore, it was a cavern. The size of the cavern was much larger than one could imagine with the ceiling stretching out more than dozens of meters high. Giant stalagmites and stalactites could be seen all around, inspiring wonder at just how many hundreds of years this place had existed. The overall size of the cavern was like a secret underground city.

There were no torches needed to explore this place. Incredibly, the cave was permanently illuminated by mysterious red and purple crystals that shone with fluorescent light day and night and provided a mystical feeling to the cavern overall.

It was not difficult to spot the homes of the dark elves as they were literally all over the place. Some had chosen to build their house on the ground while others had etched their houses into the walls or even into one of the giant stalagmites and stalactites. There were so many houses that it was easy to lose count, but peculiarly some seemed abandoned and looked like they could collapse at any time. Disregarding this, it was still a marveling sight to say the least.

Even Ainz could not help but admire the beauty of this natural phenomenon as they entered this place. The way this cavern looked would bring geologists back in his world to tears. The colorful lighting of the crystals combined with the jaw dropping rock formations made for a truly marveling sight. Although it still paled in comparison to the underground lake on the fourth floor of Nazarick, one could hardly compare something artificially made to something that had been created by Mother Nature herself over the course of hundreds - perhaps thousands - of years.

As the group walked seemingly deeper and deeper into the cavern, Ainz and the twins began to see the frightened faces of the other inhabitants of this place. From out of the various houses inside the cavern, faces began peeking out through small cracks in their wooden doors or from behind windows. It wasn't difficult to comprehend why most were so frightened; it had probably been ages since any of them had seen an outsider.

Finally, the group halted in front of an underground lake that existed in the deepest parts of this cavern. It was about the size of a football field and had a calm clear surface with untainted waters that made even the bottom of the lake visible. At the very center of the lake was a single rock that stuck out proudly, atop of which was a single large house that glowed with a mystic aura and made it all the more mysterious.

Camus gestured towards a couple of rowboats that were moored at the rocky shore of the underground lake. Since Hamsuke was way too big to take across in a row boat, she was left at the shore guarded by some of the dark elves that had ambushed Ainz's group back in the forest.