Chapter 276: The Alley－Bloody Battle and the Lame Catcher Lao Feisi

A harsh sound of metal clashing rang out in the pitch-black alleyway, far from the noisy streets.

Clang!!!!

Jier braced himself tightly against the shield on his left arm, the opponent's attack forcing him to retreat half a step; the friction of metal against metal sparked a dazzling array of sparks.

Taking advantage of the tremor in the Bandit's arm caused by the collision of weapon and shield, Jier thrust his Long Sword forward fiercely; using the faint light from the short-lived sparks dancing in the air, he drove the entire length of the Long Sword into the Bandit's chest.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Behind this Bandit, Yigena saw everything; he rushed up, teeth gritted, and kicked the back of the Bandit whose chest had been pierced.

Because he had guessed that Jier would surely take advantage of his own backward step to retract the Long Sword embedded in the chest.

Yigena did not give the opponent the chance; he kicked out directly, forcing the Bandit in front of him to stumble forward, blocking the possibility of the opponent retracting the sword. Following through, he lowered his body, and the two Daggers gripped in his hands, like attacking Poisonous Snakes, bit into the opponent's thigh.

As Jier retreated, he found the Bandit he had stabbed stumbling toward him; before he could use the shield on his left arm to push the man back, he felt as if his right thigh had been attacked.

Lowering his head to look, he discovered it was the Dagger-wielding Bandit using the gaps in the alley to attack him, but the opponent's Dagger was too light; unless it was a prolonged cutting motion, it would be difficult to pierce the armor on his thigh.

Seeing that the attack was ineffective, the Bandit gritted his teeth, looking like a devil; Jier spotted an opportunity, released the hilt of his sword with his right hand, wiped his waist, drew his Dagger, and stabbed directly at the Bandit's head, face, and neck.

A flash of blood passed; Yigena had not expected this person's counterattack to come so quickly, but he still barely dodged the unexpected Dagger attack.

The sharp Steel Dagger opened a gash on Yigena's forehead deep enough to see bone, and at the same time, half of his right ear was sliced off.

Enduring the pain, he rolled backward, dodging the fierce kick that followed from Jier.

Jier put away his Dagger, then gripped the hilt of the Long Sword still stuck in the Bandit's chest again, retreated once more, and pulled out his Long Sword.

The remaining Bandits swarmed forward, fearing no death; they used knives and swords, and one of them even held a Small Iron Hammer used for blacksmithing.

Jier relied on his shield, fighting while retreating, occasionally thrusting his Long Sword out along the edge of the shield; every attack was sure to draw blood.

As the battle progressed, Jier felt that the techniques he had received from the city gate guards in the backyard of the Fox Tail Chamber of Commerce seemed to come back to him; he had only truly learned them at this moment.

He no longer kept the Long Sword pressed against the shield, but rested it on his right shoulder; after using the shield to block an attack from the current Bandit, he slashed down directly at the head, smashing the Bandit's skull.

Or, he would slash the Long Sword diagonally, severing another Bandit's neck. The blood gushing from the Bandit's neck dyed the surroundings into a mist of blood, and the Cloak on Jier's body was stained a faint red by the small blood droplets.

Next was the Bandit with the Small Iron Hammer.

Jier took the opponent's hammer strike head-on; seeing that this blow had no effect, the other Bandits lost their will to fight.

Enduring the constant hammering of the Small Iron Hammer, Jier pressed forward in counter-attack. As these few people sawed back and forth, those fallen, wounded Bandits were all trampled to death by them as they moved.

Bandits might pay a little attention to not stepping on fallen comrades during a fight, but Jier did it on purpose. Every time he braced his shield to defend, Jier would step his left foot onto the wounded Bandit's body or neck; as the shield took the force, he transmitted the power to his left foot, crushing the chest and cervical spine of the Bandit beneath his feet, killing them by pressure.

Jier pushed forward fiercely; after a dozen or so attacks, the Bandit whose arm had gone numb was forced to lose the weapon in his hand.

Immediately after, Jier pressed his Long Sword against the front of the shield, his right hand exerted force suddenly, and the sharp blade sliced off half of the face of the Bandit in front of him. Separated from the middle of the nose, the facial bone, nose, tooth roots, and upper jaw were all severed by this heavy blow.

This Bandit wanted to wail, but could only emit an inaudible roar from his throat; immediately after, a large amount of blood surged out along the severed area, pouring into the Bandit's throat, causing the Bandit to cough incessantly.

Unfortunately, he no longer had half a mouth and his entire nose.

This Bandit covered his face with his hands and turned around, wanting to seek help from his companions, but it gave the two Bandits behind him a fright. Even though they each had several lives on their hands, facing such a horrific scene, they were all so scared that their teeth chattered.

Yigena held his continuously bleeding ear with one hand, looking at the terrifying severed face of his companion in front of him; he lost all his Yongqi, turned and ran backward, opened the wooden door at the end of the alley, and called for reinforcements from his leader, the man known as the 'Lame Catcher' Lao Feisi.

Such an opponent, he reckoned, could only be defeated by his boss's astonishing skills.

Jier saw that the effect of this strike was unexpectedly good, scaring away even the Dagger-wielding Bandit who had fought him. Jier's eyes shifted, his Long Sword thrust out again, entering from the back of the head of the Bandit who had his back to him, piercing through the severed mouth and face, and incidentally slicing off the man's tongue.

The last Bandit in the alley was hit in the face by the severed tongue; the blood-dripping, scalding sensation made his Spirit almost fly out of his body. His body trembled, and then the Bandit's legs went soft, causing him to fall to the ground, staring blankly at the enemy holding the shield.

Jier panted incessantly; he pulled out the Long Sword that had pierced the enemy's skull, and seeing that the last Bandit seemed to have lost the ability to resist from fear, he raised his sword and brought it down, splitting the Bandit's head in two with one strike.

He wiped his Long Sword with the clothes of the dead Bandit, cleaning off the blood, brains, and other murky fluids.

Jier lowered his head to look at the front of the shield he had retracted, finding that there was only a single shallow axe-cut mark on the entire front of the shield.

It seemed the strength of this metal shield was very high; even a full-force attack from such a Bandit could be received steadily, and the front of the shield was not damaged.

Jier stroked the metal front of the shield, feeling that it was truly a good shield.

He cut off the scattered, shredded cloth strips on the front of the shield so they would not hinder the upcoming battle.

Jier walked to the end of the alley and kicked open the half-closed wooden door.

Inside was a small courtyard; the small vegetable patch and the orderly various tools originally in the yard had all been trampled and destroyed by the bored Bandits over the past few days.

And past the courtyard was a small two-story wooden house.

A murky yellow lamplight shone from the open door of the small house; inside the room, the two final Bandits stood there, each holding weapons, waiting for the battle.

Jier crossed his steps, holding his shield in front, his Long Sword resting casually and diagonally on the ground, tapping the ground beneath his feet one by one.

Seeing Jier's appearance, which was both offensive and defensive, the old Bandit in the lead snorted and glanced sideways at his subordinate beside him.

Yigena, having been glanced at, lowered his head; his head was simply bandaged, stopping the bleeding from his ear. The fact that the opponent could enter meant that all their companions outside were already dead; this person was truly formidable. If his leader could not defeat the opponent, then their group would all die in Bingxun Pass.

Although death was terrifying, for Yigena, what was truly terrifying was never being able to see his child in the Shandong lair again.

He had been out struggling for many years, seeing many life-and-death situations, and truly understood how easily life could vanish. And that child of his was the kind that seemed most easily vanished in this world.

With small hands and feet, and a small body, if he wasn't full, he would cry and make a fuss. Usually at this time, he would slap his woman and tell her to hurry up and feed the child. Compared to the woman the leader had forced upon him, what he truly cared about was the child the woman had borne for him.

His own child.

There were not many children in their Bandit Shandong lair; many crude Bandits lived for today and not tomorrow. After seeing the women given to them by the leaders get pregnant from sleeping with them too much, these Bandit companions, who only dared to abuse the weak, would mostly kill those pregnant women, either throwing them into the Shikeng not far from the lair, or casually hacking them into pieces to feed to other carnivorous animals in the mountains and forests.

Yigena was not like that; although he was not good to the woman given to him, he himself clearly knew the fragility of life. After all, the Dagger in his hand had taken many lives, whether it was companions who wanted to rebel, other Bandit Groups who wanted to double-cross them, innocent travelers, or Caravans that were unwilling to pay for their passage.

He had killed many people of all kinds.

This once made him like a walking corpse, and he would just follow whatever the other Bandits did. Until Lao Feisi felt he was still salvageable, personally trained him, let him have a child, and personally let him raise his own child.

Yigena came back to his senses, looking at the Warrior clad in hard full-body armor outside the door; he grinned, licked his lips one last time, threw the curved Dagger he had seized onto the ground, and held only the Dagger he had used for a long time, deciding to fight to the last moment.

If he died, he felt it was nothing; after all, he understood the transience of life so well. He only hoped that his child could be taken in by other Bandits.

It didn't matter if he got beaten, as long as he could grow up.

It didn't matter if he wasn't full, after all, he would already be dead.

It didn't matter if, in the future, after growing up, he became a Bandit just like him.

It didn't matter if he got hurt, as long as he could survive.

It didn't matter if he suffered, after all, that's just how being a Bandit was.

Finally, live a long life; don't be like him, dying early in some small place.

Lao Feisi stared fixedly at the Warrior opposite him. He did not know who this person was, but it was clear that this person had ruined his plan. An outstanding Warrior who was not in the plan had completely disrupted his entire scheme.

"Let me think. From the moment those commoners fled to their arrival at Bingxun Pass today, the pursuit teams I sent out have had an effect, right?" Lao Feisi walked forward with a limp, patting the Battle Knife at his waist with his hand.

This was a weapon he had managed to bring into Bingxun Pass with great difficulty by using his connections. With a blade at his side, he still had some interest in chatting with his opponent.

Jier heard that the other party was interested in talking. Although he held the thought and belief of killing all these Bandits, he didn't mind chatting with the other party before the battle began.

After all, the longer the time dragged on, the greater the possibility that the Soldiers in Bingxun Pass would arrive. He was a Warrior with a clean record, while the person opposite was a Bandit with a trail of blood debts; it was the other party who should be afraid.

So, he did not object to stalling for time. A fight would also be fine; it was just a matter of whether these Bandits ended up dying by his hands or the Soldiers' hands.

As long as he could avenge the commoners, anything would do.

Although taking action himself would make him feel better.

Just as Jier was about to say something, the old Bandit opposite began to speak on his own.

"No need to answer, it definitely had an effect. But it wasn't very useful, because those subordinates of mine who were still decent ran into you. Hmm, a crushing defeat? Total annihilation? Or did you just skirmish with them for a while?" Lao Feisi patted the Battle Knife at his waist with one hand while stroking his well-maintained gray beard with the other.

Jier was once again about to speak, but the other party's hand stroking his beard made a gesture to stop.

"Hmph. It doesn't matter anyway. With your skills, it's impossible for them not to have suffered losses. But the number of escaped commoners in the inn doesn't match up either; these people must have suffered losses too. After all, you are only one person; with dozens of people fighting together, you simply couldn't look after everyone."

Jier did not know what the old Bandit opposite had imagined; how did they end up in a chaotic battle with the pursuing Bandits?

However, Jier had learned to be smart, and he stopped talking. After all, this person opposite was definitely the type who only cared about talking to himself. Since this old Bandit was going to die sooner or later, he might as well let him talk more now.

"Although I don't know where you popped out from, I still have to finish you off. Although your skills are good, I can see that you rely mostly on that Metal Shield and this set of full-coverage, high-quality armor on your body. Tsk tsk tsk, your Long Sword is also good; none of it is cheap stuff. So, why are you opposing our Luodai Cave?" Lao Feisi placed his hand on the hilt of the Battle Knife at his waist, clicked the Lock on the scabbard, and released his weapon.

Jier remained silent and did not move. Sure enough, this old guy had his own ideas about the answer.

"Heh, heh. With such expensive weapons and equipment, and being able to shake off the guarding Soldiers and the investigating checkpoint trash after such a big incident at the inn—who are you a secret agent for? Svalong? (Chief Secretary of Bingxun Pass) Pasha? (Chief Tax Officer of Bingxun Pass) Or?" Speaking to this point, Lao Feisi paused for a moment, then continued: "Kela?"

Jier raised his head slightly. Knight Kela would begin teaching him the methods to become a Knight Rank powerhouse next spring. Although he had not officially become the other party's apprentice yet, how should he put it—he still held some respect for this name.

Lao Feisi had been staring fixedly at the Warrior opposite him. Seeing the other party's reaction after hearing the name Kela, he guessed that he was someone sent by that Knight Kela.

"It seems it is that famous Knight Kela. I was wondering when someone so fond of meddling in other people's business appeared in this Bingxun Pass. That Knight Kela finally couldn't tolerate us Bandits anymore, huh." Lao Feisi said this, but there wasn't a hint of fear on his face. He was a guy who had licked blood from the edge of a knife his whole life and carried his head on his belt like a Water bottle; he had faced dangerous situations more than once or twice.

Although he was not afraid, Yigena at his side became worried. He had also heard of the reputation of that Knight Kela; after all, he was a Knight powerhouse that ordinary people like them needed to look up to, a true powerhouse who was hard to find a match for, even among those Knight Rank individuals who were like Monsters.

They had always been very careful not to provoke the other party before. Even though the other party organized the Militia to carry out large-scale purges of them every year, they, these Bandits, did not dare to provoke that Knight.

At the beginning, they didn't even provoke the other party's territory—Bingxun Pass—for fear of bringing the wrath of the furious Knight upon themselves after causing trouble there. It wasn't until a few years later that they learned that the Knight seemed to have a conflict with the person in charge of Bingxun Pass, never appearing to inspect his own territory, and living and working in Kendall City all year round.

Later, they heard that as long as Bingxun Pass paid enough taxes and territorial levies to Knight Kela every year, Knight Kela would not interfere with the normal affairs of Bingxun Pass. It was only then that they, these Bandits, dared to start running wild on the nearby Shanglu, and activities began to flourish within Bingxun Pass.

And now that Yigena heard Lao Feisi say that the young Warrior opposite was a subordinate of the Knight, he finally sensed that something was terribly wrong.

Was the previously safe Shandong lair really safe? The other party knew the exact location of the cave from the mouths of the fleeing commoners; he truly had no bottom line at this moment as to what the result of this year's Militia purge would be.

He looked at his boss. Lao Feisi was stable; it seemed that Knight Kela's intervention in the affairs of Bingxun Pass and the Bandits was not outside his expectations and plans.

Yigena finally breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't matter if he died himself; after all, he had long since looked past the life and death of himself and others. Only for his child, he still hoped that his child would grow up normally.

Lao Feisi slowly drew his Battle Knife. The long Battle Knife was pulled from the scabbard, and the bright blade reflected the light of the lamps behind Lao Feisi.

As his wrist turned, the reflected blade light scattered outward. He wiped the blade lightly with his fingers; the blade, coated with anti-rust Grease, had not a single flaw. He reached out and gestured backward, and Yigena hurriedly handed the soft cloth he usually used to wipe his Dagger to Lao Feisi.

Lao Feisi used the soft cloth to wipe the blade, cleaning off the anti-rust Grease from the edge.

Pointing his Battle Knife at Jier in the courtyard from afar, Lao Feisi said: "This weapon was obtained from a plundered Caravan. It was forged by a famous blacksmith. I have used it to kill many people, all of whom were Warriors worth fighting. Today, I hope to add your name to its record of achievements."

Jier heard the other party's words and realized that even at this point, they still didn't know each other's names. Jier struck his Long Sword against his Shield and said loudly: "Kendall Warrior, Qiao-Jier."

Lao Feisi laughed: "One of the five leaders of Luodai Cave, 'Lame Catcher' Kondel-Feis."

Yigena lowered his body, extended his Dagger forward, and he also said: "Luodai Cave Bandit, Nako-Ignar."

Jier's brows beneath his Helmet furrowed. The other party was actually just one of the five leaders of Luodai Cave; did that mean there were four more like him?

And the Bandit using a Dagger who had exchanged blows with him a few times was actually just an ordinary Bandit?

In this way, his calculation of the strength of the Luodai Cave Bandits would have to be greatly adjusted upward.