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However, the elves would not allow this bloodshed to continue indefinitely. Soon, the formation of the elven army shifted as the warriors began to move towards the flanks. With the continuous flashes of magical light from the rear of the battle line, tens of thousands of armored elemental creatures were summoned and surged through the central path opened in the formation, charging towards the human army. These elemental creatures were extremely formidable and numerous, immediately taking the place of the elven warriors and inflicting heavy casualties on the humans.

"No wonder the elves have been hiding in the Fragrant Leaf Peninsula for nearly a month. They were preparing these things," a noble who understood magic exclaimed in realization.

Elemental creatures refer to intelligent entities originally from the elemental planes, summoned by the elves to the material plane. Essentially, they are composites of magical elements. Though they may resemble humans or animals (such as phoenixes), they lack internal organs, bones, blood, or souls. Even if shattered into pieces, they simply return to the elemental plane to recover, making them troublesome opponents. During the millennia-long war between the elven empire and the orcs, these intelligent magical entities served as substitutes for the elves themselves in battle, significantly reducing elven casualties.

In theory, every elf can summon elemental creatures, though the strength and number vary. However, the elemental creatures summoned by professional mages and ordinary elves differ greatly in terms of quantity, power, intelligence, and duration. For instance, in the earlier battle, most of the elemental creatures blocking the front lines were only at the level of second or third-tier magical beasts, whereas the armored humanoid elemental creatures now pouring forth were mostly at the level of fifth or sixth-tier magical beasts.

Additionally, elemental creatures summoned by mages and ordinary elves have another characteristic: they can be sealed into special magical formations for a period, roughly one or two months. The fact that the elven mages could summon elemental creatures so quickly now was likely due to the preparations made over the past month.

Yet, as the flood of elemental creatures surged forth, the commander of the Southern Alliance sneered, "Hmph, these arrogant elves have gone mad. Using elemental creatures as their main force? Do they think they're still fighting the foolish orcs? Tell the masters of the mage corps to begin the counter-summoning immediately."

Indeed, unlike the orcs, who are nearly immune to magic, humans, though fewer in number, possess mages of comparable quality. Thus, while the orcs had to rely on brute force against elemental creatures, humans had another method: counter-summoning. After all, elemental creatures are entities from the non-material plane, lacking the ability or desire to cross planes and have no inherent desire to remain. By using minimal magical energy to disrupt the elves' summoning frequency, the elemental creatures would automatically return to the elemental plane, consuming only a fraction of the summoner's magical energy.

Of course, capturing the elves' summoning frequency is no easy task. In a one-on-one scenario, the human mage would likely exhaust themselves first. However, in large-scale warfare, thousands of mages working together can cover all summoning frequencies, driving every elemental creature back to the elemental plane.

Sure enough, after the human mages launched a large-scale counter-summoning, the first wave of thousands of armored elemental creatures vanished in a flash of white light. As the human mages continued to increase their magical output, soon, tens of thousands of armored elemental creatures at the front lines of both armies returned to nothingness. The human army's morale skyrocketed, and all the warriors roared as they charged towards the retreating elves. Although the mages in the rear of the elven formation continued to summon new armored elemental creatures, none could remain on the battlefield for more than ten minutes. Thus, it wasn't long before the human vanguard once again approached the front lines of the elven position.

However, just as the two armies were about to clash for the second time, some observant warriors noticed that the elves across from them showed no signs of panic. Instead, they seemed to be smirking faintly. Unfortunately, before they could react, the elves' hidden trump card was already in motion.

Suddenly, the front line of tens of thousands of elven warriors simultaneously drew arcs of magical energy and chanted, "In the name of the most loving Mother Nature, embrace all lonely wanderers, return to the embrace of the origin, come forth, armored warriors!"

In a flash of light and shadow, the tens of thousands of armored elemental creatures that had been counter-summoned materialized once more, now adorned with elegant patterns on their colorful armor. As the human army had charged forward, these elemental creatures now found themselves deep within the human ranks, like a guillotine suddenly splitting the human vanguard in two.

"What is this? The counter-summoned elemental creatures have returned?" exclaimed the allied commander, Christo, in shock. He immediately ordered, "Send the command at once! All masters must increase the intensity of the counter-summoning. We must drive those damned elemental creatures back as quickly as possible."

Yet, the situation on the battlefield remained unchanged. Soon, the messenger returned, reporting loudly, "Marshal, the masters say they have already increased their efforts, but the elemental creatures seem to have become immune to counter-summoning."

"What?" Christo was utterly astonished.

The situation on the battlefield seemed to confirm the human mages' suspicions. Not only were the nearly 100,000 old armored elemental creatures standing unharmed in the counter-summoning zone, but the tens of thousands of new armored elemental creatures pouring from the elven rear also appeared completely immune to counter-summoning. Thus, the nearly 150,000 human vanguard found themselves sandwiched between two forces of elemental creatures, with no way to advance or retreat. Each armored elemental creature was as powerful as a gold-tier warrior, and with the barrage of magic and arrows raining down, the humans had become nothing more than targets for slaughter.

"It's a trap—this is a trap!"

Marshal Christo at last comprehended why the elves dared to re-enter the continent after four hundred years. With this technology, the elves could summon millions of elemental creatures immune to counter-summoning. On the battlefield, the elves' numerical disadvantage could be almost entirely negated by the sheer number of elemental creatures. What force could possibly withstand these graceful yet fearsome beings in the future?