Mercenaries and Adventurers

The next day, today is the agreed deadline for return.

It was midnight yesterday, and we woke up early today. The people in the construction fed their stomachs with processed wolf meat, and then each brought a roasted radish, chewed a few mouthfuls of snow, and then continued to build the second line of defense.

When it was almost noon, there was a thunderous sound of horseshoes from the open space outside the rocky mountain.

As soon as everyone heard the sound, they knew that it was the sound made by Knight Lanisa's horse galloping at full speed.

"Master Knight is back, everyone put down the work in hand, and greet you quickly. By the way, you two boys hurried back to the stronghold, took out all the food and prepared it. It must have been a few days since they went here. Tired and hungry, I didn't have a good rest. Hurry up and get ready." The old hunter rubbed his hands, and hurriedly let the two young hunters in the team return to the stronghold to eat and drink, and the rest of them went out from here to meet them.

Go down from the second position that is about to be built, it is very close, not far. Kiel followed the two old hunters to the first line of defense, lifted the entry and exit logs placed behind the wooden wall of the position, and quickly put them on the outside of the wooden wall.

-

Knight Lanisa held her belly with her hands, and rode her horse back to the rocky mountain in a dejected manner. Behind her war horse, the hunters on the four skis, young and old, were just like her. Although they didn't seem to be injured, they were mentally exhausted, and they didn't have the strength to stand on the skis. A section of rope was tied to the belt around the waist, and the whole person didn't care if the vibration was not cushioned when dragging. When passing by undulating terrain, the whole person was shaken and bumped.

It's not that they don't want to, but the four of them are like the knights. During the two days of returning, they didn't eat a single meal. They were so hungry that they endured it for a long time before returning to the Rock Mountain stronghold.

"Cheer up, everyone! I can go back soon! The stronghold is full of food, and I can fill my stomach immediately. Damn, if it weren't for that thing, how could I be in such a mess!" Said here, riding on the saddle Knight Lanisa was staggering because of hunger, and she whispered a lot of cursing in the innermost part.

As a knight, she not only has to cheer up and fight the chasing northern land wolf after everyone has lost their food, but also because the knight itself consumes much more energy than ordinary people, so she needs food supplements even more.

Her war horse is fine. When it rests at night, it will dig the snow near the resting place to find dry grass under the snow to eat, and it can barely replenish some food. But humans don't have the good appetite of horses, and dry grass is not food that can be sufficiently ground by human teeth. Although it is not possible, it is not impossible to swallow to satisfy hunger.

But knights and hunters are not wandering farmers without land. They would rather go hungry for a while than try to eat grass. Because dignity is on the one hand, on the other hand, eating a bad stomach can be troublesome. After all, this is not a field near the city, and you can find a church priest for treatment at any time. Here is at least five days' trek distance from the nearest human settlement, and it would be too bad to get sick from eating it by mistake.

After half a circle around the rocky mountain, she finally saw the entrance to the rocky passage.

It's very different here than it was when she set out.

There were two deep and long ditches built on both sides of the entrance of the originally unsheltered passage. When she rode on the horse and looked around, she could see that the ditches were covered with short, thick, sharp wooden thorns. It was difficult for unprotected enemies Just step over from there.

Pulling the reins to slow down the horse, she decelerated to the passage in the middle of the ditch, where all the metal clips near the entrance of the passage were densely packed, it was impossible to ride the horse, and she had to dismount and walk.

"I'm back!" Seeing the old hunter and Keir coming out to greet her, Knight Lanisa breathed a sigh of relief, stopped the horse, then carefully lay down on the horse to catch her breath, and then slowly dismounted sideways.

She was cautious when dismounting, because she was exhausted and she was wearing heavy armor. If she jumped off the horse rashly at this time, she might be directly crushed to the ground by the weight of the armor.

"Damn." She muttered like this, how could she have imagined that after becoming a knight for so many years, she would feel that the armor on her body was in the way.

After dismounting, she simply sat on the mound of the ditch beside her and watched the old hunter and Keel approaching.

"Is there anything to eat?" She took off her helmet and put it on her lap, asking the subordinate who came over weakly.

Keel touched the pocket of his clothes, but embarrassedly missed the carrot that was one for each of them in the morning. After working for a while, because he was thirsty and didn't want to eat snow, he thought it was cold, so he slammed the radish a few times and ate it in a hurry.

The same was true for the other two young hunters, who were exhausted physically and had to eat something, so the three young men had already eaten the carrots.

But the two old hunters were not there yet. Seeing the sluggish spirit of the knight, they took out the morning radish from their clothes and handed it over. Because the two of them are relatively old and their physical strength cannot keep up with the young guy, Keir did not assign any heavy physical work to the two of them, mainly responsible for cutting the concave and convex wooden grooves connecting the wood, or pouring ice water. I didn't eat the radish in the morning.

After receiving the two cleaned white radishes, Knight Lanisa ignored the dining etiquette, and directly bit off the tail of the radish and chewed it.

Keel ran behind the horse and untied the four hunters, who were also languid, from their skis. The four of them didn't even have the energy to say thank you, they were limp, and they didn't even have the slightest bit of strength in their bodies.

"My lord, what's the matter with you? I didn't see any injuries, why are you in such a mess?" Kiel put the four of them on the ditch mound aside, and asked him and the two elders who stayed here. Hunters have problems.

Knight Lanisa ate the crispy radish with big mouthfuls, and swallowed it into her stomach without chewing it carefully.

After quickly eating two radishes, she said angrily: "It's all because a tall humanoid monster stole the supplies we were carrying! Damn it! Ah! If I see that thing again, I have to dial it!" skin, hang it on a treetop to dry!"

After resting for a while, the four hunters gradually woke up from their daze, and they also briefly explained.

It turned out that everything went well at first, and the skis worked surprisingly well. All were excellent hunters and quickly learned how to balance on the skis. The two old hunters with excellent skills even mastered the skill of tying the rope around their waists and shooting on the skis with both hands free.

Without the trouble of walking, the five men and one horse all maintained the high-speed mobility of the horses. It took only two days to pass through the gathered traces of the northern land wolves and find the location where the northern land wolves gathered.

It was a place full of mud in summer, and the original owner was a large herd of wild boars. The huge wild boar occupies a favorable position, and other animals in the forest will not disturb them.

But in winter, the wolf king needs to gather all the northern land wolves, which is different.

The mud was frozen hard, making it impossible to walk. The wild boar family that originally lived there was also ordered by the wolf king to kill all the wolves, and used them as food for all the northern land wolves who came over.

The old hunters roughly judged the direction in which the northern land wolves gathered, so they directly judged the specific gathering point of the wolves, and then rushed over quickly. Along the way, they managed to kill every scattered northern land wolf they saw. Finally, after approaching the main body of the wolf pack, he was discovered by the wolf king.

After discovering it, I found that Knight Lanisa could not defeat the wolf king. Considering that there were too many wolves, it was not suitable to fight against the wolf king at this time. Sneak attack outside the group and kill the northern land wolves who rushed to gather.

This undoubtedly greatly annoyed the wolf king and all the northern wolves, so not only the northern wolves pursued, but even the huge wolf king followed suit.

It's a pity that although the wolf king is big, he doesn't run very fast. There may be other factors. It doesn't have a strong willingness to chase down the knights who harass them. It just makes a large number of northern land wolves move. Run around the rally point, driving off the harassing gang of knights.

At night, Knight Lanisa and the others rushed to a place where the northern land wolf could not keep up, and rested there.

However, a strange wolf howl in the middle of the night disturbed the knights who were resting and fighting at any time. The strange thing was that a **** bear in the forest that would have been dormant in the bear den and no one dared to disturb it suddenly rushed out of the darkness.

Knights and hunters had no choice but to fight this crazy **** bear.

But this kind of overlord of the forest is obviously not easy to defeat. Firstly, it was night, and as human beings, everyone couldn't see clearly. Secondly, halfway through the fight, everyone realized that everything in their camp had been carried away by a tall humanoid monster.

At this moment, Knight Lanisa knew that the other party was thinking of a strategy to divert the tiger away from the mountain. While they were fighting against the tenacious forest black bear, they stole their food supplies.

After slightly repelling the forest black bears, Lanisa Knight herself went straight to the monsters that stole their supplies.

But the other party was very cunning, and ran all the way to the direction where the northern land wolves were, and when chasing them on the road, they made strange wolf howls all the way, attracting a large group of northern land wolves that disturbed them in the distance.

In the end, the other party ruined their food and scattered it all over the ground. Knight Lanisa had no choice but to retreat back to the camp.

When Lanisa Knight went out to chase, the hunters also relied on the campfire to give several blows to the invading forest black bears, and drove away the forest black bears that could not be seriously injured by arrows.

Unfortunately, since that day, the knights and hunters haven't eaten much.

Because he didn't know if the situation on his side was known to the cunning northern wolf, the wolf king divided the adult northern wolf into several teams and chased them all the way day and night.

The knight had no choice but to lead the hunter around a large circle from the outside, and hurried back to the rocky mountain within the agreed time.

Although only a dozen northern land wolves were killed along the way, and more northern land wolves were not killed, at least the matter of delaying the gathering time of the wolves was well done.

In the back, the adult wolves of the northern land wolves were sent out in large numbers to chase them. The knight hunters did a good job of keeping the northern land wolves in place for at least a few days longer.

-

After talking about these situations, everyone started to walk to the stronghold on the mountain.

Kiel picked up an old hunter on his back, and the other old hunter barely slumped on the knight's horse. The other two young men were supported by the old hunter who stayed here.

Everyone bypassed the metal clips all over the floor in the passage, and were careful not to step on them with their legs and feet. After all, it is a trap, and that thing ignores the enemy and the enemy. If you accidentally step on it, your legs and feet will definitely be lost.

Although returning to the city later would definitely allow the priests of the church to heal him, it would be difficult to participate in the next battle.

Kiel introduced Knight Lanisa and the hunters as they walked. Knight Lanisa didn't comment on anything else, but praised Kiel for the rockfall on the side of the passage.

Because she felt that this was the only thing that could hurt the wolf king of the Northern Land Wolf.

After all, if she was hit by a huge rock of that size without protecting herself, she would be smashed into a pulp. Although it's hard to be defeated by their level of strength for nothing, if it's in her battle with the wolf king, it's a little bit possible.

Or, use this thing to distract the wolf king and give her a chance to gain an advantage in battle.

One by one, they climbed over the wooden wall of the first position by stepping on two wooden ladders. Humans were lucky, but it was difficult for Lanisa Knight's war horse to pass.

As a last resort, she had to let the old hunter on horseback help him, and then the knight Lanisa rode the horse. After manipulation, she made the horse jump on the spot, directly crossed the two-meter-high wooden wall, and landed heavily on the wooden wall. In the open space behind.

Boom!

As the horse's hooves fell, a huge sound echoed in the middle of the rock passage, and the sound made Keel's ears hurt. Keel worriedly looked at the stones on both sides of the rock passage, fearing that if they fell, it would not only damage the passage, but also the metal clips that hadn't functioned yet.

Fortunately, although the sound in the passage was loud, the vibration caused by it was not great. At least the stones on the sides of the passage did not move, but some snow was shaken off.

At the wooden wall of the second position, although the wooden wall has not been repaired in the end, it still cannot go directly there. Their team still has to climb over the wooden wall through a simple wooden ladder made of two logs.

Knight Lanisa still rode her horse and jumped over the wooden wall in one jump. And Kiel made two trips back and forth to carry the two old hunters, who were weak from hunger, over the wooden wall.

The third position has not been built at this time, so everyone bypassed the timber materials blocking the way and returned directly to the stronghold as the fourth position.

The two young hunters have already boiled the food. The radish and potatoes cut into pieces are all nutritious and filling root food, plus some dried meat cut into small pieces, not wolf meat, they are from the river mouth expensive bacon bought in town.

There is no need to add salt to the food cooked in a pot, and the salt in the jerky is directly enough.

The aroma of the food was overflowing, and the taste made the weak knights feel much better.

Seeing that they had eaten, Kiel and the others briefly reported the status of the defense line construction these days to the knights who were eating. Basically, Knight Lanisa is still satisfied, so Keir revealed his entire defense plan, and hoped that they could rest for an afternoon and follow them to build the third line of defense and transform it into the fourth line of defense at night. stronghold.

The knight agreed, and also approved their permission to use the northern land wolf skin as a belt strap, and said that she would join in, but she would not be needed to build the wooden wall. Traps are more interesting.

Although this is not in line with the fighting spirit of the knights, the enemies of the team at this time are not human beings, so there is no need to care so much.

It's enough to kill more northern land wolves.

-

After a full meal, the knights and hunters who had gone out before rested in the stronghold tent. All of a sudden, Kiel asked his companions to build the wooden wall of the second position, while he removed the armor of the knight's war horse, and fed it a lot of hay and food, so that this guy would also be full.

Then, Keir took off the rope that connected the horse and the skis before, and walked to the top of the rocky mountain with the rope on his back and the weapon.

Out of the rock passage, the last section of the road to the top of the rock is really suitable for establishing the final fifth line of defense. The road here is narrow and steep enough, and it can be sealed off with only a small amount of wood, which is enough to cause a lot of damage to the northern land wolf attacking here.

The rocky platform on the top of the mountain is still very windy. Although it is invisible to the naked eye, the wind will quietly take away all the heat here. When people realize it, they will freeze.

Kiel wrapped his wolf fur cloak tightly around his body. He didn't wear his own armor, because there was the first line of defense in front of the stronghold, and he was safe enough on the rocky mountain.

Walking around the platform at the top of the rocky mountain, Keel carefully poked his head out of the platform, observing where it could be safely dropped to the bottom by the rope.

This will be an evacuation point that is safe enough and beyond the expectations of the northern land wolf. Their resistance in the rocky passage all the way will give the Northern Land Wolf and the Wolf King the illusion that there is no way out, and this is the way out to survive.

Humans are different from wolves, wolves have no hands, they cannot use tools, so there are too many things they cannot do. Humans can do many things with their hands.

Sliding down the cliff along the rope is something that the northern land wolf can't do anyway.

Gere circled the summit twice and found a suitable spot. The top of the mountain looks high and steep. In fact, there are still some places to settle down from the edge of the platform.

Kiel pulled out the long sword here, and used the long sword, which was much stronger than the rock, to make two gaps on the edge of the rock platform, and then hung the long rope down from here, and waited until the rope reached the bottom where a person could stand. After the small platform. Kiel marked the rope, then pulled the rope up again, and cut it with the long sword at the marked place.

He did this to save the ropes. After all, they brought these strong enough ropes from the town, which were far from being comparable to the belt strips cut from wolf skins. This thing was the last escape route, and it had to be reliable enough, and Keel wouldn't dare to do it with a homemade belt strap.

If it is cut off at a critical moment later, it will be over.

Kiel made a small loop at one end of the rope and put it in the groove cut with the long sword. Then he carried all the ropes on his back, inserted the long sword back into the scabbard, and carefully slid down the ropes.

-

On the edge of the cliff, there is not as much cold wind as on the top platform. The wind here is blocked by the entire rocky mountain, and the wind blowing from the north will not affect the cliff in this direction at all. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

Keel slid 20 meters along the rope to the bottom, and waited until his feet were on solid ground before looking around.

He frowned.

Because the surroundings don't look like naturally generated landing platforms, but instead look like a part of the passage embedded in the rocky mountain one after another.

How should I put it, Kiel saw traces of sword slashing from the nearby rock wall, as well as shattered depressions hit by hard objects, which were obviously caused by fighting.

But this is not a rocky passage all the way to the top of the rocky mountain.

He checked here and found that the rocks on the left and right sides of this small platform that sloped inward were obviously not a whole with the rocks near the inner side of the mountain.

The large and small rocks on the left and right sides, no matter how you look at it, seem to be specially destroyed and blocked later.

He remembered what the beautiful griffin rider had said before: This was supposed to be the end of a passage where the dwarves crossed the border barrier from the north and rose from the earth.

Think about it carefully, if this is the end of the passage, then this rocky mountain should be hollow?

There must have been a wide opening in the rocky mountain for a large group of dwarf soldiers to walk through. After the Knights captured this place many years ago, they must have completely destroyed it. Using the original rock material of the rock mountain, the large and small exits of this passage were completely blocked.

Thinking of this, Keir scratched his cheek, feeling a little funny. And when he approached the side of the platform wall, he heard a low, faint sound of hollow wind.

He looked at the stacked rocks, large and small, and guessed that the collapse here might not be very thick? So there's wind blowing through the cracks in the rocks?