Chapter 19: Counter-Attack

Early in the morning, less than fifteen minutes after dawn broke. In the barren ridges less than 20 kilometers west of the original Swift Wind Team’s camp.

Pedro, with a gloomy expression, crouched in a dirt pit, watching the eight sled caravans parked on the ridge. These vehicles were unique to the migration teams, equipped with sled runners beneath, loaded to the brim with goods, and their roofs covered with a layer of snow that wasn’t evenly distributed—result of repeated wind blows. Clearly, the caravans had been there for more than two or three days.

“Seven days—already the seventh day!” Pedro loathed this number. He, a proud Air Knight, had spent six days crouched in this desolate place like a guard dog, and if nothing went wrong, it would continue for another three days.

“Damn it!” The thought of others comfortably drinking and playing cards in the underground shelter filled him with rage. A few days ago, during a mission, he had failed to stop over twenty militia members from escaping right under his nose. It wasn’t a very impressive performance, but it was understandable—how could those militia members escape if not for that eerie and evil Thorn Puppet suddenly appearing? Besides, he had still received twenty lashes. Even now, his scabbed flesh still ached. Why was he being held accountable endlessly for such a minor mistake? Having to sit here waiting like some idiot—“What the hell is this ‘waiting for a rabbit’ nonsense?” He spat bitterly at the thought.

“Hm?”

At that moment, Pedro saw someone approaching along the ridge. From their attire, movements, and appearance, he knew they were locals.

“Another stupid bastard!” Seeing the local heading straight for the caravans, Pedro immediately realized they wanted those goods. Two days ago, he had already killed three similar locals. “Damn it, don’t they think? Who would leave supplies exposed like this?” Muttering to himself, he lifted the cover above his head and jumped out of the pit onto the ridge. Filled with anger and seeing the locals as nothing but pests, he thought about torturing them like before as some form of entertainment.

Suddenly, Pedro sensed a warning. At his level, as long as he remained alert and cautious, it was hard to be caught off guard. His innate sense of danger activated instantly, expanding his awareness so he could immediately detect where an attack might come from. Pedro already held his sword, but having lost the advantage, he might not be able to fully parry the opponent’s deliberate strike. Being a fierce warrior experienced in many battles, he decided to counterattack instead of defend. He swung his sword along the direction of the attack, hoping to force the opponent back or force them to defend. But to his surprise, whether out of stupidity or brutality, the opponent’s attack didn’t weaken at all and came down with full force.

Crack! Pedro’s helmet, along with half of his head, flew into the air. Before his body could fall, a hand grabbed his remaining half-head. Then, with a flash of light, Pedro’s body rapidly shriveled.

It was Neo who killed Pedro. He had built up this strike for a long time; otherwise, it wouldn’t have had such devastating power. Yet as a price, Neo too was wounded by a sword—despite his thorny armor, he was still struck by the knight’s sword infused with combat energy by Pedro before his death. But Neo didn’t care. He immediately used both Life Touch and water-based healing spells, along with the abilities of his wolf bloodline, to rapidly heal his wounds. By the time Pedro was reduced to ashes, his injury was nothing but a scar.

The native that Pedro wanted to torture was naturally Bels. He and Neo had actually arrived in this area yesterday and spent nearly a whole day observing and scouting before carrying out this kill. Seeing Neo succeed with one strike, Bels rushed over after a few quick steps. Compared to a few days ago, his movements were much more agile and swift. This was all thanks to Neo—Life Waves had cured some of the hidden ailments in his body and enhanced his vitality.

Neo also infused him with a type of power—the largest among the various forces he currently possessed. Considering that the returns from his own efforts were far less than investing in Bels, and since he truly felt a sense of closeness and acceptance toward Bels, he shared some of this power with him.

Since this power came from beings absorbed by Neo and had been analyzed and categorized by Nancy, Bels was able to absorb it easily, just like water flowing into dry land. His physique improved greatly thanks to this power. Bels could feel that his combat strength was now much higher than at its peak, almost reaching that of a level 4 warrior. While marveling at Neo’s miraculous abilities, he decided to follow Neo and achieve great things together.

“I can’t create something out of nothing. Absorbing enemies’ power and strengthening my own people—that’s my ability,” Neo explained calmly as he saw Bels staring blankly at the ashes in his armor.

In fact, the Outlanders don’t have a clear concept of good or evil. A simple mindset like “I treat those who are kind to me well” is quite common among them. Bels was simply amazed by Neo’s abilities. Moreover, the armor of an Air Knight wasn’t just fine and stylish—it also had distinct markings. Bels could tell it was an 8th-level Air Knight from the Free Wings, yet he died like this. This made Bels wonder greatly about Neo’s true combat strength.

“What about your wound?”

“It’s no problem,” Neo said, spreading his hands for Bels to see. The vines cut into his thorny armor were growing and writhing like living things, quickly repairing themselves. Moreover, all the blood that flowed from Neo’s wound was absorbed by these vines. His blood, rich in energy, was an excellent nourishment for the alien vines.

Bels raised his eyebrows. He had to admit that these plants were as mysterious and powerful as their master, with an indescribable dark aura.

A total of 14 people were waiting for an opportunity, relying on 8 large carts full of food: one Clawwolf Werewolf and 3 Air Knights. Their target was Jeff and the others who had fled. After hearing the report from the Air Knights, Victor believed that given Jeff and the others’ abilities, it would be extremely difficult for them to escape the hills and valleys on their own under such haste; instead, they were likely to return and try to seize the food from the wagons. Thus, this mission was undertaken.

Actually, Victor’s thoughts coincided somewhat with those of three Air Knights, including Pedro. The reason they didn’t return to the Hurricane until the afternoon of the second day after the incident was that they thought Jeff and the others would come back. Otherwise, the supplies would have been burned long ago.

However, as time passed, the likelihood of this guess turning out to be true became increasingly slim. By now, they had basically given up, waiting only for the 10-day period set by Victor to expire before leaving.

Another factor was that they didn’t think Jeff and the others would dare to act in broad daylight. Therefore, only 3 people were on watch at night, while 2 were on duty during the day. The other Clawwolf Werewolf was in a small cave on the cliff face of the valley, serving as a lookout. At the bottom of the cliff opposite him was the temporary base of a group of wolves and Air Knights. One was by the ridge path, another in the cave on the opposite cliff face, and the rest were at the bottom of the cliff. This arrangement seemed quite secure, allowing for mutual surveillance. But the Clawwolf Werewolf relied too much on the safety of his cave. As a result, the Deathvine managed to loosen the soil, allowing it to pass through the ground just like when it helped Neo escape from prison at the caravan camp, killing him first.

At that moment, Neo glanced at the unremarkable cliff cave. Thorne was monitoring any movements below using Falconheather. So far, everything was going smoothly—the people at the bottom of the cliff were unaware that two of their members had already died.

“Get to work,” Neo ordered. Multifaceted, acting as a beast of burden, pulled one of the large carts and rushed off at high speed. About three intervals later, it returned and pulled away another cart. This went on for five trips in total. Seeing that less than an hour remained until noon, Neo told Multifaceted to stop pulling the carts and once again used the power of the Deathvine to infiltrate the cave, preparing for an ambush.

The foundation of all of Neo’s vine-based spells was the Mutated Vine. It was thanks to the peculiar properties of this vine that the Deathvine acquired abilities like “Loosening Soil” and “Ground Walk Aura” after evolving. Although “Loosening Soil” was currently very time-consuming to use, and “Ground Walk Aura” was incomplete—allowing only one person at a time and requiring contact with the Deathvine—both still held great power when used carefully. After sending Multifaceted into the cave, Neo ordered the Deathvine to loosen the soil near the slope where Pedro was hiding, planning to take advantage of the situation to kill two more people.

Around 1 p.m., the two who had eaten and drunk emerged from the earthen hut at the bottom of the cliff and headed to the cave and pit to take over from Pedro and the werewolf.

“Pedro, take over and eat!” Pedro was replaced by another Air Knight, Nars. Those on this post were called fighters, so even if they weren’t Air Knights, they were elite members of the squad with strong abilities, such as non-commissioned officers with the ranks of corporal or sergeant.

Nars was quite alert. After shouting and seeing no response from Pedro, who usually seemed uninterested in duty, he immediately realized something was wrong. Turning to look from the slope at the ridge, he could just make out a few caravans, and Pedro was lying in the snow not far from him—hence he hadn’t seen him earlier because Pedro’s back was turned toward the slope.

Nars quickly reached for the knight’s sword hanging at his waist. Whoosh! The sound of arrows piercing the air came from the direction of the pit. Nars reacted swiftly, drawing his sword and swirling it in front of him with a metallic clang! He blocked both arrows. Before he could react further, another sound of arrows cutting through the air came from the direction of the caravans. Nars roughly guessed that someone was charging at him.

“Disguise!” Nars immediately thought of Pedro lying on the ground. He realized Pedro was dead, and the enemy was wearing Pedro’s armor, using him along with the ambushers in the pit to execute a pincer attack.

Thud! Nars remained calm under pressure. Near the narrow slope, he used a difficult move called the Twisting Light Slash. His sword, charged with combat energy, formed a large arc of nearly 180 degrees and precisely slashed at the approaching figure. That sound was the sound of armor being shattered.

To Nars’s surprise, under his strike, the attacker turned into a pile of fragments, crashing down into the valley with a crackling sound. At the same time, he felt his feet tighten as vines wrapped around them. With a tug, he fell. Although the slope was narrow and there was a cliff nearby, Nars didn’t panic. While preparing to land, he swung his sword at the vines pulling him down.

Bang! Nars fell to the ground, but his armor and combat energy protected him, so he wasn’t hurt. By then, he could see that what had pulled him down was a slimy vine as thick as a baby’s wrist. Just as his sword descended, a hand glowing with dark green light suddenly appeared and covered his face. After that, he lost consciousness completely.

Moving through soil and rocks like a fish in water—this was the effect of the Ground Movement Aura. Nico wouldn’t let Nars harm the powerless Death Vines. Half of his body emerged diagonally from the soil on the slope’s side, and with Life Absorption Technique, he quickly subdued the Air Knight.

At the same time, the Clawed Werewolf who had just climbed up to the pit on the cliff across the valley heard the clanging sounds of armor being shattered and falling into the valley caused by Nars’s attacks. Instinctively, he turned to look, and the Polyhedra rushed out of the pit, pushing the werewolf off the cliff.

“Ah!” The werewolf screamed as he fell from great height, followed closely by the Polyhedra.

Bang! Boom!

The Clawed Werewolves possessed the strength of a Level 6 Brawler. Despite falling from dozens of meters high, they didn’t die. Instead, Duomian turned them into flesh pads, and their arms transformed into a dozen twisted, bloodthirsty thorn spears. With fierce thrusts, he pierced the werewolves’ bodies like a honeycomb, absorbing vast amounts of blood and energy before fleeing like a beast.

By now, the group inside the earthen cave at the bottom of the cliff had been alerted. The two who rushed out first watched helplessly as their teammates were killed. Filled with rage, they charged forward, swinging their blade-like weapons. Yet, as they were over 20 meters away from Duomian, his agility allowed him to easily dodge their attacks.

The Clawed Werewolves naturally wouldn’t let Duomian go so easily. Several of them, unarmored, chased after him with their weapons.

The only remaining Air Knight, Carlo, was concerned about Pedro and Nars. He rushed toward the earthen pit with his sword. However, the path there was farther from the cave at the bottom of the cliff. By the time he reached the hillside, both Bels, who had been hiding and shooting arrows earlier, andNeo, who had used the ground to hide in the soil, had already fled to the valley on the other side of the ridge. Only the group of Aberrant Rhododendron juveniles at the bottom of the valley remained, forming shapes under Ci’s command. Unfortunately, no one noticed these juveniles, which had made Pedro’s armor move and successfully drawn Nars’s attention, allowing them to form a young lion-like beast that easily ran away down the valley.

Though the Clawed Werewolves could transform into wolves and run swiftly, how could they outrun Duomian, who knew no fatigue? After chasing for a while, seeing Duomian growing faster and farther ahead, the werewolves lost their initial enthusiasm and turned back in frustration.

With 4 dead and 10 left, Carlo and Maklu, the leader of this group of Clawed Werewolves, discussed their next move. Should they ask for help from the Clawed Werewolf squad stationed near the migration camp? Proud as he was, Maklu was reluctant to do so.

But Carlo brought good news to Maklu. Although Nio and the others had taken some time to erase the vehicle tracks, the three Air Knights had already tampered with the supplies, leaving a way to track them.

Maklu was overjoyed and suggested immediately going after those thieves to avenge their fallen comrades. However, Carlo disagreed. He said, “Those people erased the vehicle tracks, thinking they could escape detection. Instead, let’s use this opportunity to rest during the day and launch a counterattack at night when they’re unprepared, capturing them all.”

“Hmm, that’s a good plan. Let’s do it that way. Do we need to call for more troops from the main force?” Maklu asked hesitantly.

“No need. Those guys only had an advantage during the day. If we work together at night, we’ll surely achieve great success. Besides, with 4 brothers dead, if we don’t accomplish something significant, we’ll surely face punishment.” In fact, this was Carlo’s real intention—he wanted to achieve a great feat to atone for his sins and feared that reinforcements would dilute his credit, which is why he urged Maklu in this way.

Like most werewolves, Marklu was straightforward and didn’t have many complications in his mind. He found some truth in Carlo’s words, so he agreed to his proposal, calming the Fangs werewolves and getting ready to act that night.