Chapter 78: 78. The March Begins

For a full day, Ruidar and Maiken were busy setting the specific tasks for the guards and militiamen; no one failed to take this expedition seriously.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was four o'clock in the morning on the twenty-first.

At this time, on the open ground of the Outer Castle, Luoning, Ruidar, Maiken, Aierlong, and a group of other Transcendental, along with twenty-seven guards and eighty guards, were all gathered here.

The castle servants were also all dispatched, handing out freshly made bread to everyone, some to eat now and some to carry.

As breakfast time passed, everyone was fully equipped and ready to go.

Luoning looked at the soldiers standing before him; some held inferior longswords, some held Ironwood Spears, and others held bone spears or even wooden sticks. As for armor, it was good if they could wear an Iron Wood Breastplate; most of them were basically without any armor.

There was no help for it; Luoning could not produce that many weapons all at once. However, he only required this group to be intimidating in their momentum; he did not expect them to have much combat effectiveness.

Moreover, the savage tribe on the other side did not have weapons and armor for everyone either.

He slowly drew the longsword at his waist.

This "Liuyan Sword" was the reward for the fifth day of the Seven-Day Login, and he only took it out after Luoning entered the Intermediate rank and could release Battle Qi.

Using it could amplify Battle Technique skills, and a casual wave could emit flames; its power was not bad, and it should belong to the category of Magic Weapon or inscribed weapon.

"Everyone!"

Luoning raised the longsword in his hand, and as Battle Qi was poured into it, red flowing flames surged on the blade, like magma capable of evaporating everything, illuminating the plaza.

"Move out!"

In the faint light before dawn, this hundred-man army quietly embarked on their journey.

Chahaer took the servants up to the tower, gazing at the direction the army had left, his eyes full of blessings and prayers.

The maid Beila had tears in her eyes, "Mr. Steward, do you think the master will return in triumph?"

After such Along time, the servants had already adapted to the new environment, the new life, and this master who was very tolerant toward servants; they had already come to regard this place as their second home.

And all of this was tied to one person, the master of the castle, Luoning; none of them wanted any accidents to happen during this expedition.

"That is without a doubt!"

Chahaer said decisively: "The master never fights a battle without preparation; he will definitely return in triumph!"

The morning mountain breeze was a bit cold, and the air was also quite humid.

The soldiers lit all the torches they had prepared in advance, forming a fire dragon in the fields, walking unhurriedly toward the north along the planned route.

The crowd felt excitement and anticipation, and some were a bit bewildered, but with the Lord personally leading them, no one thought of retreating.

Luoning, walking at the front, had already consumed all the Attribute Points and Energy Essence accumulated from signing in over the recent period.

Checking the Attribute Panel, his level progress had increased significantly compared to when he left Muma City:

【Level】: 2-Intermediate Knight (51/200); 2-Intermediate Mage (300/300)

Now his Mage level was completely full, and his Knight level had also reached one-quarter.

Although he was only an Intermediate Knight, relying on the two long-range attack magics, Wind Blade Technique and Fireball Technique, his deterrent power was no lower than that of an Advanced Knight.

Besides his own strength having improved, Maiken had increased his cultivation by two points through his own practice, currently reaching 284/300;

Aierlong, relying on his own practice and the addition of Energy Essence, had currently reached a level progress of 211/300, which could be considered an Intermediate-late stage Light Attribute Mage.

As for the Commander Ruidar, because he was restricted by the Master-Servant Contract with Luoning, his strength could not advance further until Luoning broke through to the Advanced rank, which was truly a pity.

In addition to this point allocation, Luoning also carried the four Wind Blade Scrolls made during this period, as well as the sixteen Healing Spell Scrolls made by Aierlong, to be prepared for any emergency.

Marching was dull, especially since the road was not easy to walk once they entered the mountain forest; the sound of people communicating became lower and lower, and the atmosphere appeared increasingly heavy.

Fortunately, the rising sun soon dispelled the dimness in the mountain forest, and the psychological pressure on everyone also decreased quite a bit.

Commander Ruidar walked at the very front, leading the direction of the team through the marks on the trees along the way.

Luoning felt more and more that Ruidar was worthy of being the legendary Commander of the Flame Expeditionary Army; he did things in an orderly manner, and the intelligence he obtained saved a great deal of manpower and material resources for this expedition.

Marching along, when it was almost noon, Ruidar stopped beside a large tree, and Luoning saw that the mark on the tree root was different from the previous ones.

"My Lord, after crossing this small hill and walking forward for about five miles, you will be able to see the bamboo forest where the Qingzhu Tribe is located."

Ruidar suggested: "Shall we rest here for a while to recover our strength?"

Luoning nodded, "Everyone is tired after walking all morning; let's rest here and recover our strength."

He paused and continued: "We only need to arrive at the Qingzhu Tribe before dark, so everyone can rest here for Along time; pay attention to arranging guards, and at the same time, order the soldiers not to walk around or talk loudly."

Going too early, the people in the tribe would all be out working, which would not be convenient for Luoning to round them all up, and might even lead to missing people, letting them run to the Gray Earth and Purple Fruit tribes to report the news.

Later, wait for the people working to return home one after another, and then they would implement the encirclement policy.

While everyone was finding a place to rest, Luoning came to the top of the hill and looked into the distance, wondering how many miles one had to walk north to see the northern sea.

Looking back, he found that the distance between Shanlin Town and the savage tribe was not as far as he had imagined.

From leaving the town to here, it was at most fifteen or sixteen miles, plus the five miles behind, it was only twenty miles.

At the time, the Wushan Territory Alliance Army did not wipe out this group completely, and being relatively scattered might have been one of the reasons.

A bigger reason might be that the nobles all felt that after killing the leader of the fleeing enemy army, and with the remaining remnants of the enemy hiding in the deep mountains and old forests, spending too much energy and money to encircle and suppress them was not worth the loss.

For things without any profit or benefit, the nobles did not have much interest.

Time passed bit by bit; everyone ate bread and drank water, and after waiting for the sun to slant, the hundred-man army set off again.

Compared to before, this time everyone walked more carefully, trying their best to use trees, grass, and terrain to conceal their figures.

Fortunately, the fields of the Qingzhu Tribe were not distributed on this side, and at the same time, the other party seemed to be busy with the autumn harvest and no one was patrolling, which allowed Luoning's party to arrive outside the bamboo forest with almost no accidents.

"Zhuweite, Ximu, you take your respective men along this valley to the east side and ambush on the roads you are each responsible for; the Lord and we will wait for you here for half an hour."

Ruidar took over the command, "After half an hour, we will take the initiative to attack. If an accident happens on your side, have someone run over immediately."

"Rest assured, Commander, even if we meet someone, we guarantee they won't be able to cry out!"

Zhuweite and Ximu made their guarantees with certainty, and then led their respective men to take action.

The sunset sank, and the light in the mountain forest gradually became dim; soon it would be dark. In such a mountainous area, at this time, it was believed that the people working would return home one after another.

Luoning's gaze passed through the forest in front, "Zhuweite and Ximu should be arriving soon; we should take action."

The five Transcendental stood up first and walked in front, followed by the seventy soldiers behind; a team of this size marching in the bamboo forest, except for the sound of stepping on the ground, actually did not have any other noise.

No one spoke, no one conversed; everyone walked forward as if in silence, which was the discipline emphasized during training.

A Transcendental must also be extremely cautious when facing an army of ordinary people that is well-trained and well-equipped.

An average Primary Knight can only take on seven or eight well-trained ordinary soldiers in a one-on-one fight; they are not invincible.

(End of this chapter)