Sunlight dappled the forest. Even the midsummer noon sunlight was greatly reduced after passing through the exceptionally lush branches and leaves. In the Forest of Demons, even at the edge, it was always cold and damp.
More than thirty knights silently made their way through the forest. Most of them wore fine half-body knight armors and carried shiny halberds. About half of the knights also had longbows hanging from their horses. This group of knights was Roger's "Dragon and Beauty" mercenary group. When they were still more than 200 miles away from Cyrus Fort, which was occupied by thieves (or mercenaries), Kate, who had some military experience, led the team and plunged into the Forest of Demons. After a painful day of marching in the forest, the mercenaries were less than 100 miles away from the destination. The journey was very smooth, and they didn't encounter any fierce magical beasts. After all, the mercenaries were only operating at the edge of the forest.
There were quite a lot of mountains around Cyrus Fort, but most of them were low hills. Due to its remote location, poor resources, and Ophirok's intentional neglect, Cyrus Fort had been occupied for half a year without anyone's concern. Only the common people in the surrounding areas suffered. But these were all outdated intelligence, and Roger and others finally had to conduct this reconnaissance based on the map provided by Ophirok.
In the afternoon, the mercenaries estimated that they were less than 70 miles away from Cyrus Fort and approaching the patrol range of the enemy's cavalry scouts. At Kate's order, the mercenaries spread out and advanced slowly in a dispersed formation. Four experienced mercenaries dismounted and quickly began to search forward.
Among the middle and rear of the team, a cavalry in a black half-body knight armor was Roger. This fat man, who didn't have the slightest awareness as a mage, was still holding a short battleaxe in his hand. The battleaxe adhered to the always magnificent style of "War God's Hammer", with beautiful lines, and even made people feel delicate. There were magic inscriptions engraved on the back of the axe, and a rare black crystal was prominently embedded at the handle. After the malicious Franco saw Roger's appearance for the first time, he said, "I don't think the battleaxe mage is funny."
Most mages, due to spending years buried in magic books and being exposed to various harmful substances (for humans, most parts of magical beasts are more or less poisonous), don't have very good physical strength, and wearing heavy armor is definitely a big burden. Moreover, it has been proven that metal has a great hindrance to the gathering of magic power. Even if a mage just stands still and wears a full suit of armor, the chance of magic failure will exceed 50%. In a battle, this is a matter of life and death. For Roger, neither of these is a problem. His mental power is overly abundant, and it is extremely easy to control that meager amount of magic power. And he doesn't know if it's because of the body's transformation. Roger's mental power has very little loss in gathering magic power through metals. With the amount of magic power he has, which is only enough to cast third-level magic, even if he is sealed in a metal ball, he can still cast magic.
Since entering the Forest of Demons, Roger has often been in a trance-like state. In his eyes, everything around often turns into flat paintings one after another, and all kinds of strange shouts often ring in his ears. Roger looks around blankly, as if standing in front of a huge landscape painting. Several times he impulsively wants to pierce this layer of painting paper with his battleaxe to see what's behind. He seems to see Kate coming over and shouting loudly at him, and he is like a fish in the water, only seeing the mouths of the people on the water moving, but not hearing exactly what is being said.
Roger shook his head vigorously, just like breaking a mirror, and the flat world was broken. Sounds and colors all returned to this world. "Roger!! What's wrong with you??" Kate shook him vigorously. "I'm fine. What happened?" Roger felt as tired as if he had just had sex. Kate stared at him for a while before saying, "We found the trail of the other party's patrol team. I think it's best for us to ambush here and capture a few people to ask."
The place where Kate found the patrol team was only ten miles away from the outer edge of the forest, with very clear hoof prints, a mixture of new and old. Judging from the number, it was a team of about seven or eight people. These traces indicate that teams of the same size often pass through this path. Perhaps this forest path was originally trampled out by the patrol team.
As the sky gradually grew darker, the mercenaries set up traps and then rested in the forest throughout the night. In the early morning, Kate arranged for new scouts to keep watch at the forest edge, while the others continued to take a rest. The group with extremely limited military knowledge actually didn't know how to carry out an ambush. Fortunately, among the hired mercenaries, there were a few who were fairly familiar with this aspect. After some arrangements, it seemed rather decent.
Last night, after discussing all night long, Roderick and the others felt that this patrol team might not be so simple; otherwise, the two experts sent out wouldn't have just disappeared. But after discussing back and forth, except for strengthening precautions, they couldn't come up with any definite results.
After a night's rest, Roderick's energy was fully restored. He gently stroked a green ring on his hand and softly chanted an activation spell. A small, unremarkable light ball gradually formed and rose into the sky. Roderick diverted a bit of his mental power into the light ball, and it seemed as if another field of vision opened up. As the light ball slowly rose and stabilized at about ten meters above the ground. This magic of the wizard's eye was not very high-level, and its duration was very long, which was a convenient scouting magic. However, the disadvantages were equally prominent. The mage needed to constantly focus attention, so in battles, mages couldn't take care of maintaining this magic. Another drawback was that the fluctuation of this magic could be easily detected by another mage, often revealing the mage's position as a result. And this was often a fatal threat to the mage.
A clear chirping of birds came from the forest edge, and the mercenaries sitting on the ground jumped up one after another and entered the ambush positions. The mercenaries' horses had already been placed five miles away, and in the forest, cavalry couldn't play a significant role. As the calm sound of horse hooves gradually became clearer, the palms of the noble scoundrels began to sweat. This was different from the previous fights and brawls; this was for real. Roderick didn't move and was constantly observing the surroundings in the wizard's eye. Of course, the prerequisite was that he comfortably placed himself on a big tree with lush branches and leaves.
Six scouting cavalrymen walked slowly along the path. The cavalrymen were all dressed in leather armor and armed with knight swords, patrolling casually while chatting and laughing. It seemed that they hadn't encountered anything for many days. Apparently, there used to be some kind of mark on the chest of the leather armor of the patrol team, but now they had all been scraped away. Roderick on the tree suddenly felt a burst of palpitations, as if there was a poisonous snake in the dark that had already set its sight on him. The fat man promptly withdrew the wizard's eye and instead closed his eyes, fully sensing the magic fluctuations around him. The fat man with outstanding mental power instantly sensed that there was a faint source of magic power two miles away from the mercenaries and was approaching this side. Judging from the fact that he didn't notice him at all with the wizard's eye just now, this mage had cast invisibility on himself and was at least a mid-level mage.
Roderick was instantly at a loss. Mental perception could only find the general direction of the other party, and the true eye that could break the invisibility was a fourth-level magic, and he couldn't cast it now. But there would always be a way. The fat man thought for a moment and gave a sinister smile. While the mage still had some distance to get here, he quickly discussed with Eter who was closest to him, and then disappeared in the forest with the unique agility of a monster.
The patrol cavalrymen were leisurely digesting their breakfast, but it was a bit of a pity that the scenery of this forest was really not that good. They didn't worry too much about their own safety. After all, a mid-level mage was secretly protecting them. The thick-lined cavalrymen didn't think about the problem from the perspective of the bait. Several people talked about the young and single village girl they met during the patrol last month, and the laughter grew louder and louder.
Death always comes at the most unexpected moment. A swarm of arrows suddenly flew out from deep within the trees. Twenty short bows and three crossbows were all aimed at the first three cavalrymen walking in the front. These patrol cavalrymen were quite skillful and quickly deflected the arrows, actually managing to block a small portion in a rush. But each of the first three still got several arrows and fell off their horses. The three cavalrymen who were not hit by arrows reacted extremely quickly and rushed into the forest promptly, not giving the mercenaries a second chance to shoot arrows.
The mercenaries cast aside their bows and drew out their long swords to commence a hand-to-hand combat. The patrol cavalrymen were all rather skilled in martial arts, especially one who held a greatsword being even more outstanding. He maneuvered his horse to skillfully bypass two big trees and charged into the midst of the three mercenaries who had just drawn their long swords. He swung the greatsword, knocking down one mercenary, and then thrust swiftly like lightning at the second mercenary. The mercenary parried with his sword, and with a clang, his long sword was deflected. He was instantly terrified. He raised his left arm and used the knight's steel shield on his arm to safeguard his heart. The tip of the greatsword and the steel shield sparked and produced a screeching, teeth-grinding noise. The curved shield surface compelled the tip of the sword to slide to the side. The mercenary was sent flying by the tremendous impact, and a crisp cracking sound emerged from his arm. Immediately, the greatsword knight grinned fiendishly, shook his wrist, and let the greatsword sink down, stabbing a deep, bone-exposing gash in the thigh of the mercenary where there was no steel armor protection.
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The third mercenary turned around and hid behind a tree. The greatsword knight glanced with his eyes and found that his armor was much more magnificent. He promptly set aside the two injured mercenaries and spurred his horse to chase after him. That mercenary was Rence. At this moment, with his life at stake, he, fully armed, demonstrated an agility no less than that of a thief, running back and forth among the trees, and the knight behind could never catch up with him.
The other two patrol cavalrymen were not so fortunate and skilled. One was chasing after a mercenary on horseback when suddenly two halberds were swung over from the top of the tree. He was greatly startled in his heart. In his haste, he crouched on the horse and clamped the horse's belly. The warhorse galloped more than three meters away, barely avoiding a disaster. However, another halberd came silently from behind and easily chopped through the leather armor, nearly cutting him in half. Kate jumped down from the tree gently. Without having time to check the corpse, he quickly carried the halberd and headed towards the place where the fighting sounds came. The other patrol cavalryman was surrounded by Eter and five mercenary groups. Even a ferocious tiger couldn't resist a pack of wolves. Soon he was surreptitiously attacked and chopped in the thigh by a mercenary from behind, and then was chopped down by a flurry of swords.
The greatsword knight followed Rence and made a few more turns. The two screams coming from afar caused him to change his mind. He then pulled his horse around and was about to flee. Suddenly, the horse reared up with a crossbow bolt stuck in its rump, and the knight was thrown off. He remained composed in the face of danger, rolled and stood up, only to find that Kate was blocking the way ahead with a blood-stained halberd. Behind, Eter also emerged holding a heavy sword. Franco with a hand crossbow and Rence who was just running away with all his might also showed up. The knight's palms sweated, and he couldn't help but curse, "Where on earth did that damned mage go?"
The mage's situation wasn't good either. After discovering that someone was using the Wizard's Eye, he cast the Invisibility Spell and quickly and carefully approached the battlefield. At this time, the sound of fighting in the distance rang out. Luckily, he spotted a clearly armored knight lurking in the woods thirty meters away, looking like a commander judging from the attire. The mage was secretly satisfied with his luck and sent a bolt of lightning over, hitting the target precisely. Watching the knight collapse with tiny electric sparks all over his body, the mage who revealed himself swaggered over. He had great confidence in the power of his spells, not to mention that he had prepared a second lightning spell as a backup.
That knight struggled to stand up once again. The second bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and hit him once more. But this time the knight didn't fall, but instead turned around. Under the helmet, there was only a skull, with pale flames flickering occasionally in the deep eye sockets, staring fixedly at the mage. The mage looked at all this in horror, and that skeleton seemed to have even smiled at him. The mage felt his mouth dry and his palms sweating. The instinct formed from years of fighting made him quickly activate the amulet he was wearing. A white pillar of light rose from under his feet and then vanished. But the invisible magic force field had already covered the mage. The second-order spell "Magic Armor" was economical, practical, and easy to learn, and it was definitely a must-have for mages when going out traveling and protecting themselves.
Already being a mid-level mage, he still had to activate this second-level spell with the amulet. The main reason was that he still needed to hurry up and chant the next incantation. On the battlefield, time was like the mage's second life. With the same amount of magic power and the same incantation, the one who finished chanting first would gain the upper hand. The time it took for different people to chant the incantation was also different. After all, accent, language habits, and even whether the mood was pleasant that day could all affect the performance of the incantation. Just as it was commonly known on the mainland, a stutterer couldn't become a great mage. But the incantation wasn't necessarily the faster the better. Not to mention that the higher the failure rate with the faster chanting, the more advanced the spell, the often longer and more difficult to pronounce the incantation. Just the fact that important syllables in many incantations couldn't be shortened was a big problem. Which syllables could be shortened was often the greatest secret of a mage, and not even the closest disciples might be informed.
The mage's incantation was quickly completed, and a summoning array emerged on the ground. In the shining light, a magic creature was slowly taking form. At this moment, Rorge had quietly sneaked up from behind and chopped at the mage with an axe. Just when it seemed that this mage was about to be beheaded, Rorge felt as if the axe had suddenly chopped into a big chunk of butter and involuntarily veered to one side. As a rookie who had only held an axe for a few days, he still couldn't control the axe that he chopped out.
The mage was startled and dodged sideways. The battleaxe still left a long bloody gash on his shoulder. Rorge then kicked up with one foot, but changed his favorite crotch-kicking move to a sweeping kick. Sure enough, it was like kicking into a cotton pile again. But the powerful kick still sent the mage flying.
"Roar!" A roar rang out behind Rorge. Rorge looked back and saw a black tiger was about to pounce. "Damn!" Rorge secretly cursed his bad luck. Originally, after the successful close combat, that mage had no chance to chant well anymore, but he didn't expect that his pet was actually a rare combat type. And after Rorge put the armor on Fengyue, he only had a cloth shirt on his whole body. It didn't look like it could resist the black tiger's teeth at all. "Whoosh", an axe-spear chopped at the black tiger from the air. It turned out that Fengyue, dragging that cumbersome armor, finally caught up. The black tiger quickly shifted its target and pounced towards Fengyue.
Roge wiped off a cold sweat and then turned with a hideous smile towards the mage who was humming and struggling to get up from the ground, chopping at him with an axe. Even under the protection of the magic armor, how could that mage be a match for the brute force of Roge? Soon, he kept bleeding continuously. After several incantations were interrupted, the mage gritted his teeth and threw a handful of colorful gems at his opponent. This precisely hit Roge's Achilles' heel. Roge's offensive slowed down abruptly, and he began to hesitate whether to pick some up first to check the quality. When seeing an opportunity, the mage tried to escape by rolling and crawling, but unexpectedly a branch on the ground suddenly rose and made him trip and fall with a big somersault. With all the wounds on his body aching together, the mage almost fainted.
Fengyue was at a disadvantage in the fight against the black tiger. This armor was really too heavy, and the axe-spear was not handy either. For a skeleton with limited strength, the equipment of a knight was not very suitable. Corresponding to the mage's level, this black tiger was rather powerful. Unfortunately, its teeth couldn't do anything to Roge's carefully crafted steel armor. Compared to a few months ago, Fengyue's bones were now well-proportioned and solid, with a soft and bright hue, and the joints between the bones were dense and smooth. At a glance, it was a top-quality skeleton. In the fight with the black tiger so far, Fengyue only chopped the black tiger with an axe at the expense of its exposed leg bones and cut off half of its tail. The black tiger left several tooth marks and several cracks on Fengyue's thigh bone.
Sensing the faint sense of anxiety coming from Fengyue's direction, Roge recalled the battle situation there and looked back. Just at the moment of this distraction, a faint incantation sound came from behind. Roge promptly turned around and saw a scroll burning in the hands of the grinning mage, and a fireball as big as a bowl was already right in front of him. Roge had no other choice but to use an axe to block his face and lie prone on the ground.
"Boom!" The violent flames erupted. The black crystal on Roge's axe handle emitted a soft hum, and a faintly black shield protected Roge in the middle. However, this shield couldn't completely block the fire waves, and a smell of roasted meat spread in the forest. As for that mage, since he had already been severely injured, how could he withstand the power of this fireball spell any longer and had been turned into charcoal.
The black tiger returned to its space, and Fengyue also returned to the otherworld due to Roge's serious injury. The fragrant Roge struggled to get up but then fell down again. Before fainting, he swore that he would never let go of a drowning dog ever again.