Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords

Within the deep Shadow Forest, a team holding torches moved like a winding serpent.

The leading members were an improbable combination: a frail-looking white-bearded old man, a young girl with a tender face, a handsome young man on a tall horse, and a hulking panda and orc.

"I thought only the environment changed, but the temperature inside is like spring," the Lord said, wearing only a thin short-sleeved linen shirt.

The temperature inside the Shadow Forest was much higher than he expected, so he took off his coat and hung it on the horse.

"Yes, the sudden and drastic temperature change is too much for many warriors," Maisha said, having removed her clergy robe to reveal tight leather armor and breeches that clearly outlined her figure.

As the only female in the group, she naturally attracted glances from the virile soldiers of the Thorns Legion.

The barbarians and panda, however, disdained to look; for them, only the big and burly were beautiful, and someone as thin as Maisha was terrifyingly ugly.

"Changing the weather of a region can only be done with magic, and this forest has definitely been enchanted with extremely profound spells," said Fugin, the spellcaster.

"And there's something very interesting: my snow bird can't fly into the sky. Once it reaches the sky above this forest, an invisible wall prevents it from going higher."

Fugin's pupils, which had been all white, returned to their golden color as he spoke.

"This means that without a familiar guide, anyone will get lost in this forest," Fugin said with some concern. "And we have no idea how big this forest is."

"Don't we have Sir Skye? He's an old acquaintance, often traveling to the elven tribes inside," Li Wei said, patting the shoulder of the middle-aged knight riding alongside him.

"Skye, I'm right, aren't I?" the Lord said with a smile.

"Ahem, Your Grace, while I'm touched by your trust in me, to be honest, in the past, when I led caravans to the edge of the Shadow Forest, we only needed to give the agreed-upon password, and the treant clan in the Shadow Forest would guide us through," Skye said, somewhat embarrassed. "In other words, I can't say for sure that I can find the right route."

"What? Why didn't you say so earlier!"

The Lord looked speechless.

He had finally placed so much trust in Skye.

"But no matter what, I'm the only one among us who has ever been through the Shadow Forest, so I'm the only one who can lead the way," Skye blinked innocently.

Since things had come to this, he had to make do. The Lord was very helpless.

The group joked and chatted, but their spirits were tense, constantly observing their surroundings, trying to find enemies hiding behind the thick trees.

"Something's up!"

Suddenly, the little old man Fugin looked tense.

"Through the snow bird, I discovered many corpses a hundred steps ahead!"

Li Wei gestured, and the advancing team immediately stopped as the messengers waved flags one after another, quietly waiting for the next order.

As the commander of the vanguard, he was temporarily in charge of the thousand-man Thorns Legion infantry squad.

Seeing a huge tree in front of him had fallen to the ground, blocking their view, Li Wei pointed his riding crop in that direction.

"Zart, take ten brothers to check it out."

Zart, wearing a horned helmet, waved his hand, and ten fully armed orc barbarians carefully crept up with him.

"Boss, no problem," Zart quickly waved, giving the signal.

Riding over and standing on the ridge, the Lord frowned at the corpses in the gully before him.

It was densely packed with the bodies of various wilderness people: bear goblins, lizardmen, pig-headed people...

Most of them had sunken chests or were entangled by vines on the ground, their faces pale, obviously strangled to death.

They had experienced an ambush and were forever left here in the wilderness.

"It's the tree magic of the treant clan. They can control the roots and vines at will as weapons," Skye said after a glance.

But this was just a small episode, and the team quickly bypassed the pile of corpses and continued forward.

Along the way, more and more corpses appeared in their sight, mostly with arrows in their bodies, or crushed by heavy objects, their bodies collapsed.

The good news was that these corpses proved their route was correct.

The bad news was that they only saw corpses from the wilderness and none from the elves or treants.

This was strange. If the elves were winning, it would be normal to have the extra energy to collect the bodies of their companions, but they were on the losing side.

Logically speaking, they would definitely not have the extra energy to collect the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Crack~

Suddenly, a subtle sound came from behind a tree not far away.

But no one noticed, or rather, the sound of the burning torches was enough to cover up the small noise.

Li Wei gently kicked the back of Zart, who was pulling the rope in front. The latter turned his head in confusion.

The Lord gave him a look, and he immediately understood, slowed down, and disappeared into the crowd.

Don't be fooled by this fool's unreliability; after all, he had been following the Lord the longest.

He could guess the saltiness of the Lord's farts and shamelessly praise them, fully demonstrating the image of the Lord's number one lackey.

Panda in front also turned his head. Li Wei exchanged a glance with him, and everything was understood without words.

"Capture them alive for me!"

Soon, a fight broke out from the left rear, accompanied by Zart's roar.

This caused a small commotion in the entire team, but it quickly returned to calm.

"This..."

Skye and the others turned their heads, looking puzzled.

The Lord just nodded and smiled, holding onto the modest air of being in control of everything. "Just a few rats, I don't know how long they've been following us."

Faced with the suddenly enlightened and admiring crowd, the Lord felt as refreshed as eating mung bean cake in summer, secretly pleased.

"Boss, they are elves!"

Soon, Zart and several orc guards escorted several elves wearing leather armor and with blond hair.

"Let me go! You despicable invaders!"

The leading elf was firmly held by Zart's hands, and no matter how hard he struggled, it was useless, so he could only shout angrily.

"Are these dark elves?" the Lord asked uncertainly.

But Skye, after seeing the elf's appearance clearly, exclaimed.

"..."