Mercenaries and Adventurers

While the four bandits on the opposite side were busy preparing to eat, Zhao Ji jumped out from the shadow behind the small tent, and before the bandits could react, he slashed at the one closest to him with a long sword in his hand. On his bandit head.

The long sword hunted and chopped off the small leather hat and head of the bandit, and in the crackling flames of the fire, a lot of things splashed out of the bandit's head.

Being splashed with red, red and white things, Zhao Ji didn't have time to clean it up. He kicked the dead bandit behind him, kicked the dead bandit forward, and knocked down the other bandit. live.

A little bit of what flowed out of the severed head fell into the overwhelmed bandit's wide open mouth, which made the bandit and the frightened and disgusted bah bah bah turn his head and spit wildly.

The other two bandits realized that someone was attacking them, and immediately picked up the weapons beside them and the weapons pinned to their belts, and swung their teeth and claws to attack Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji dodged sideways, using the flames of the fire to separate himself from the bandits, allowing only one bandit to fight him.

When the swords intersected, the old machete of the bandit jumped out of a big hole just as soon as it collided. The strong force was transmitted from the machete to his hand, and he immediately realized that his strength was not as strong as the person who attacked them.

Just as he was about to retreat, the opponent's long sword deftly swung around and knocked, hitting the palm of his hand that was holding the handle of the machete.

Although it was just a slight knock, the **** of the bandit who were holding on to the handle of the machete were cut off by that kind of collision, the flesh and blood turned over, and the bones were dug out.

"Ah, ah! Broken finger, ￥#￥, hit it!" The bandit immediately took two steps back, and at the same time took out a piece of clean cloth from his clothes. Pieces wrapped around the machete handle and bloodied palms.

He hadn't been crushed by the pain yet, knew that now was the time to fight, and the fight came first.

After exchanging attacking strikers with the finger-severing bandit, the new bandit swiped out sideways with a small iron ax for combat.

This kind of iron ax for combat is different from the common logging axe. It does not have the relatively wide blade surface of the logging axe, but the thickness of the main body of the ax increases sharply. Wherever you live in the body, it can kill people all at once.

Zhao Ji did not receive this attack, because he used an ax himself, and he knew that when attacking with such a heavy weapon, it is best not to receive it hard, otherwise the hand that bears the force is injured. The weapon with one blow was smashed and deformed, and it was over.

With one blow out of the way, Zhao Ji immediately took advantage of the ax's weakness in returning power and the long interval between re-attacks, and directly charged forward. By resisting the offensive, there is no possibility of attacking again.

Zhao Ji's several slashes were blocked by the opponent with the ax head and the wide hardwood handle, but Zhao Ji put the long sword in an offensive, and did not withdraw the sword, and directly pressed down with one hand, forcing the opponent to use both hands. Hold the ax handle tight.

In this way, the distance between the two was extremely close, Zhao Ji pulled out the steel dagger from the right side of the belt with his free left hand, and stabbed the dagger into the opponent's stomach while the opponent's attention was focused on the confrontation.

"Uh uh, ￥%%..." The bandit barely opened his mouth, and couldn't bear the pain and howled, but he didn't relax his strength at all, probably because he wanted to create an attack opportunity for the other two companions behind him.

How could Zhao Ji let him get his wish? He clenched the handle of the dagger with his left hand and pulled it down.

Pull the handle up at an angle and stir it a few times. The bandit opened his mouth, but he couldn't make a sound. The cold sweat on his face seemed to have lost its temperature, and was frozen into fine particles by the cold air.

Obviously feeling that the opponent's hand had lost strength like a cliff, Zhao Ji stepped back half a step, stretched out his long sword, and drew a semicircle with the tip of the sword. Most of the bandit's neck was cut off from the front.

"Rick! ￥%%￥! Kill you!" The bandit whose finger was severed by Zhao Ji before saw his friend walking out of a village was killed. Tight together, roaring and rushed forward.

Zhao Ji stepped back, using the flames of the fire to deal with him. The two chased each other around a fire for half a circle. Zhao Ji kicked the bandit on the head who was crushed by the corpse, knocking him out of his head.

Maybe it was because of being overwhelmed by anger, the bandit who was chasing Zhao Ji just wanted to rush up and chop the attacker into pieces, but lost his observation of the things on the ground, and was directly given by the corpse of the bandit who opened the ladle earlier. tripped.

Just like that, the bandit yelled and threw himself on the ground. Seeing the opportunity, Zhao Ji jumped up diagonally, lowered his body, and drew a stretch mark on the soil with his long sword, and accelerated all the way along the road. The ground fell on the bandit's neck.

This sword, Zhao Ji used all his strength.

A sword slashed across the ground, taking away not only a little soil on the ground, but also the screaming head of the bandit.

The head with the fur cap rolled twice by the fire, and the angry look in the eyes lost, but the extremely excited expression stayed with the death.

Zhao Ji glanced at the expression on the bandit's head, as if he didn't like it, kicked the other party's head lightly into the fire, and as the flames burned, the other party's head caught fire, the flesh and blood cracked, and then gradually Grilled as charcoal.

The last bandit got up coughing, but before he could see the situation clearly through his nose and tears, he felt a pain in his chest, and found that a long steel sword had pierced his heart just like that.

After taking a quick breath, the bandit got up, and then fell down again weakly.

This time it was impossible to get up again.

After killing the last bandit, Zhao Ji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The pressure and tension that had been accumulated since sneaking into the bandits' lair in Luobagdong seemed to follow the death of these bandits. They disappeared together.

He knew it was a good thing for him to kill these bandits. After all, he still vividly remembered the tragic situation of the people who were imprisoned before. He also saw a lot of what happened to the women who committed themselves to bandits after being captured while sneaking.

These bandits are to be damned, that's all.

If it weren't for the burden of the lives of more than 20 people on his back, he might have just defeated, wounded and captured these bandits, escorted them to Bingxun Pass, and exchanged them for fame and money.

But he didn't have the opportunity to capture the bandits now, so he had to kill them hard.

That's it, Zhao Ji opened his eyes and stood by the fire, only then did his eyes come back to his senses.

He confiscated the weapons of several bandits and put them into a sack he found. He remembered that there was a dinner just prepared by the bandits by the fire. Finish these rare liquid foods.

Wiping his mouth, Zhao Ji checked the bandit's tent, but found nothing useful, so he had to disassemble a tent, use its windproof and warm tarpaulin as a big burden, and put some bedding and bandit's clothes he found, Put it all in one go.

Barely made into a load that can be carried, Zhao Ji carried the half-person-high load behind his back, and while hanging the frozen water bucket on his waist with a rope, he carried it on his back. It looked big, but it was actually not very heavy. With his baggage and the seized weapons hung in a bag on his left waist, he set off to return to the ranks of the people.

Presumably these much-needed thermal supplies and ice cubes are what they need urgently now.

While returning, Zhao Ji counted dozens of copper coins in his hand, which he found while picking up the clothes of the robbers. After not counting much, Zhao Ji put these blood-stained copper coins into his inner pocket on his chest, bulging .

Behind Zhao Ji, who left here, was a violently burning fire, and in the middle of the fire were four corpses of bandits who burned together.

---

The return trip was not as fast as the departure time. Fortunately, the pot of bread soup that he drank before made Zhao Ji very comfortable. In this cold winter night, it brought him a lot of physical recovery.

After walking slowly for more than three hours, Zhao Jicai judged the terrain while walking, and returned to the crowd gathered together.

Hearing the sound of heavy footsteps approaching slowly, before falling asleep, a man on guard tremblingly asked into the dark mountain forest: "Yes, who is it? Ki, is it you, the Kiel warrior?"

"It's me!" Kiel gasped and said as he walked over.

Hearing that it was Keel's young and loud voice, the man finally breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn't the horrible walking corpse he saw during the day. This person had never believed in the story told by the herdsmen, the God of the Dead in his hometown, that the dead would be resurrected as walking corpses. He always thought it was compiled by the shepherds to scare the people. It is estimated that those shepherds have never seen what the walking corpse looks like.

But what happened during the day frightened him, and the appearance of those walking corpses wandering in the deep pit, raising their hands and longing for the flesh and blood of the living, made him unforgettable for the rest of his life. Especially the other people in the team were blindfolded and couldn't see the appearance of those walking corpses from the beginning to the end. Only they, the strong men who were forced out, suffered from this.

Fortunately, although the Kiel warrior is about the same age as his younger brother who stayed in his hometown to farm, he is already a very reliable person. All of them are able to move forward from the terrible bandit lair to the this. It seemed that as long as he obeyed the young man's words and commands, it was very possible for him to lead the group of them out of the cold mountain forest ravaged by bandits.

Because there was no fire, the surroundings were pitch black, and the noble moons sank to the horizon early today to rest. In the dark mountain forest, everyone had no choice but to feel in the dark to unload the supplies that Kiel had snatched from the bandits.

The weapons that can still be used are distributed to strong men. After all, there are still many people who do not have a weapon in their hands, which makes Kiel not at all at ease.

Only when everyone has at least one weapon, Kiel feels that these people can protect themselves a little while he is out. After all, in this sparsely populated mountain forest, animals are the real masters compared to bandits.

Fortunately, it is cold winter now, and many ferocious beasts either hibernate or hide in the deep mountains with more food. This kind of mountain forests that are closer to the boundaries of human beings is still safe for the time being. If Keir's expectations are correct, spring is the most dangerous time in the mountains and forests. Those beasts that have been hungry all winter will definitely attack everyone they find, no matter if the person is a bandit or someone else What.

Thinking about it this way, the robbers are not very easy to do. In winter, there are few people, and it is difficult to rob people. At the same time, there are a lot of militias paying off. In spring, ferocious beasts are rampant. Not only are carnivores hungry, but also some herbivores When they are in heat and attack randomly. Looking at it this way, only summer and autumn are the time when bandits concentrate on attacking passing business travelers and pedestrians.

After Kiel made his inference, Mr. Simmons Jr. confirmed the correctness of Kiel's words with a wry smile. A businessman like him who has been doing business all year round knows this kind of thing, and some people in the team are It was the first time that they knew the season when the bandits were often active. Some people wept silently and regretted, talking about what would happen if they hadn't been able to travel in autumn.

But now it's like this, the dead can't come back to life, what happened has already happened, and it's useless for them to regret it any more.

Everyone was given some clothes and quilts of the robbers, and the large tarpaulin of the tent was left behind, spread out and covered the heads of the people.

Everyone also brought some food, which can barely last two days, so Kiel didn’t bring food at the bandit stronghold before. After all, compared with bread, the dried meat they brought out from the bandit’s lair is smaller in size and has less calories. and better satiety.

The water that was frozen into ice cubes in the bucket, Kiel chopped these ice cubes into small pieces with a wiped dagger, distributed them to everyone, and let everyone drink the water. A bucket of water frozen into ice cubes is only enough to quench everyone's thirst. It seems that if you want to move on, finding a source of water is imminent.

Kiel asked the women in the center of the team to bring the water bags that the bandits carried with them, and gave them a drink if they were really thirsty.

After finishing, Keel also squeezed into the crowd and took a rest.

----

After dawn, the people in the team discovered that the Kiel warrior who went out to attack the bandit stronghold last night came back covered in blood. It was too dark last night, and no one could see the blood stains on Kiel's body, but smelled a strong smell of blood .

After dawn, everyone saw the large blood stains splashed on the wolf-fur cloak of the Kiel warrior, and then they understood what kind of battle Kiel had experienced last night.

As a last resort, Keir had to show everyone that he himself was not injured, so that everyone in the team could rest assured. After all, he is now the only support for these poor people. If he is injured or dies, these people who have been hanging in their hearts must no longer have the energy to escape.

Maybe some people with a strong desire to survive can set off again, but most of the twenty people probably won't have the energy or thought to escape.

They probably either found a place to commit suicide, or with the intention of dying, they headed back to the bandit's lair in reverse, looking for the bandit and trying to get revenge.

Fortunately, Kilna's ability beyond the level of bandit combat could not make the situation like that.

After setting off again, in order to cheer up the people, Kiel told everyone about his previous trip to Doral Forest Village to fight against goblins.

After talking about the story together, although the people in the team did not believe that Kiel could deal with dozens of goblins by himself, at least in their minds, monsters are scary, and goblins are also monsters A sort of. Since Kiel Warrior can fight against dozens of goblins by himself, although he uses traps, he must be able to deal with those teams of bandits.

Obviously, Keir found that after he told the story to everyone in the team, the confidence of the people improved a lot, and even their walking speed increased.

Fortunately, they discovered a frozen water pool in the mountains at dusk that afternoon.

Although the pool was covered with a thick layer of ice, the thirsty people still waved various metal weapons excitedly, knocking down a large number of ice cubes with a thunderclap.

Everyone will wrap an ice cube with a piece of waterproof leather, and hold it in their arms, and wait for some ice cubes warmed by body heat to turn into water rich in body temperature, regardless of whether the water can be drunk, everyone He drank the water in small sips.

Kiel cut open the ice with a dagger, filled every water bag in the team, and then filled his stomach with clean water filtered through linen and fine cloth~www.readwn.com~ That night, the team left We stopped not far from this water pool. After discussing with everyone, we decided to go out tomorrow morning after drinking enough water, so that we don’t have to worry about the water problem that day. Counting the food and water bags in the team, there will be no need to attack the bandits' stronghold all day tomorrow.

Of course, not today.

Although Kiel's attack on the bandit's stronghold can obtain important supplies for the team, it is also a double-edged sword, which will reverse the direction of the team's advancement.

It was only the first attack on the stronghold, and the bandits probably couldn't determine their location and the direction they were going. And if they attacked the nearby strongholds they encountered every day, no matter how stupid they were, they would be able to judge from the location of the attacked strongholds where they escaped here and the direction they were about to go.

In this way, if those bandits take advantage of the familiar terrain and abundant supplies to intercept them in front of them first, then they will be finished. Although Keir is confident that he can run away alone, the seriously injured Mr. Simmons and the other rescued people must surely die.

In this way, everyone discusses and decides. Tonight and tomorrow night, don't attack the nearby bandit stronghold. Wait until the night after tomorrow, after they have fled to the edge of the bandits' territory in Luobagdong, before attacking the bandits' stronghold.

In this way, even if the bandits find out that the stronghold has been attacked, and then send people to come, it will be too late for news and time. When the bandit pursuers arrived, they should have already passed through the territory of the Yaguijing bandit gang, and were about to approach Bingxun Pass.

Looking at it this way, their hopes of escaping are now greatly increased.

Everyone is cheering each other on, the situation is very good now, although there are still several days of hard work to be done, but now the hope of life is no longer dim, but is shining brightly.