Chapter 316: The Angry Failed Negotiation and the Knight's Swift Kills

Responding to the old man's words was a cold snort that emanated from behind a metal faceplate.

This attitude from the opposite side made the trusted bandit subordinates who had approached alongside Lao Kesilusi extremely angry; they held their Old Bandit Leader in high regard because their leader could always rely on his rich experience to lead them to one victory after another, and they could not stand to see others disrespect or insult him.

These few fellows were just about to spur their horses and charge forward when they were called out by Lao Kesilusi: "All of you, stop! Stop at once!"

The trusted subordinates were not ordinary bandits, and they held Lao Kesilusi's orders in high esteem; although reluctant, they immediately pulled on their Jiansheng, slowed down, and returned behind the Old Bandit Leader.

Turning his head, Lao Kesilusi gave these few fellows some instructions: "No matter what happens, obey my orders. Even if you all go together, you might not be the opponent's match. Be careful."

After giving his instructions, Lao Kesilusi looked at the Knight opposite and asked loudly: "May I ask what relationship you have with this Magic Beast that is disturbing our Forest?"

The Knight opposite did not even deign to offer a cold snort, merely folding her arms, both person and horse standing motionless, just watching them like that, seemingly as if watching a farce in a theater.

And Lao Kesilusi was like a clown being teased, comically pleasing the audience opposite.

The few bandits behind him placed their hands on the hilts of their respective weapons again, one after another looking with ill intent at the arrogant fellow opposite; usually, when patrolling other Bandit Groups, no matter where they went, they would be treated with importance, entertained with good wine and meat, and if they stayed the night, there would even be women sent to sleep with them, so they were quite proud. At this moment, although they knew the Old Bandit Leader valued the other party, and the other party did not look like someone to be trifled with, they simply could not stand the insult of being ignored.

Lao Kesilusi was silent for a moment, then turned and took a small bag of coins from the saddlebag carried by his horse, along with a southern curved Dagger with a beautifully crafted gold sheath. He weighed these two items in his hand, held them up in the air for the Knight opposite to see, and then summoned a subordinate, telling him to hand these two gifts to the other party.

"This is my gift. No matter what your purpose is, I can pretend not to see it. But the Magic Beast behind you, it has killed many of our men, so we must take it down. Do not interfere, how about that?" Lao Kesilusi lowered his voice, letting only those nearby hear.

The Knight opposite finally spoke; the voice sounded like a young, robust woman, and the tone was full of indifference: "Are you sure you fellows want to deal with this Magic Beast?" When saying the word "deal with," the tone seemed filled with disdainful mockery.

Lao Kesilusi narrowed his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking, and handed the items in his hand to his subordinate. He whispered an instruction to the subordinate who took the items: "Just hand the things over and be done with it, don't do anything extra."

The bandit who took the items twitched the corner of his mouth and slowly let his horse approach the Knight opposite.

After getting close to the Knight, he still had to swallow a mouthful of saliva; after all, the Steel Armor on the Knight's body was no fake. He weighed in his mind whether the Flying Axe he threw could harm this person.

After getting close, he first threw the exquisite, heavy Dagger to the other party. The Knight reached out and caught the thrown Dagger with two fingers, her gaze not lingering on the pure gold sheath, merely drawing the Dagger slightly to glance at the curved blade inside, and a disdainful sneer issued from beneath the faceplate: "Gaudy and impractical thing."

This sentence made the bandit in front very angry. His revered Old Bandit Leader only wore this gorgeous, exquisite curved Dagger at his waist when meeting with the leaders of other Bandit Groups to show off their group's strength. Yet now, not to mention that they were going to give this treasure, which they bandits had coveted for a long time, to her for nothing, this woman actually said the thing was gaudy and impractical!

He angrily threw the entire bag of Gold Coins he was holding at the other party.

But the Knight did not even look, nor did she catch it.

The small bag of heavy Gold Coins slid past the warhorse's sturdy metal barding and fell into the snow on the ground, disappearing from sight.

Not far behind, Lao Kesilusi saw that things were going poorly, but it was too late. The bandit who had approached to deliver the gift had his eyes wide open, and he cursed in his mouth: "#￥￥#￥%￥!"

He reached out directly to draw the weapon carried on his back, but before his hand had even raised much, a Dagger hilt was driven directly into the front of his face.

The curved blade of the Dagger had completely penetrated into his face and skull in an instant, killing him.

The bandit who had lost his life froze for a moment, then slumped limply onto the neck of his horse.

Knight Lanisha looked at the valuable Dagger sheath in her hand and muttered: "It is sharpened quite well, though."

As for Lao Kesilusi's side, the other trusted subordinates who had been watching the situation immediately could no longer endure their anger upon seeing their companion killed. Ignoring the Old Bandit Leader's previous advice, they directly drew their weapons and spurred their horses to charge forward.

Lao Kesilusi's horse had originally wanted to run along with the other horses, but it was pulled back fiercely by the old man. He straightened his body and raised one hand high so his son behind could see clearly.

His eyes were fixed tightly on the moment of battle between his trusted subordinates and the female Knight opposite. If the Knight's level was average and she failed to deal with his Refining Qi trusted subordinates, he would wave his arm fiercely to let the other subordinates behind also launch an attack together. By using more melee throwing weapons, they might be able to deal with this young female Knight.

And if the trusted subordinates who charged up were defeated in a few moves, he would have to quickly spur his horse to escape back into the ranks, then immediately have everyone move to the front, get close to the other two Bandit Groups, and use their momentum to force the Knight back.

These angry Refining Qi bandits took out the melee throwing weapons the Old Bandit Leader had previously mentioned with one hand, while gripping the hilts of their most proficient weapons with the other. Accompanied by the horses' charge, they aimed directly at the opposite side and threw their small axes, Small Iron Hammers, Flying Knives, and short throwing spears in a scattered volley.

Knight Lanisha hurriedly drew her Sword, concentrating her spirit to knock away the Small Iron Hammers and throwing spears; as for the other throwing objects that relied on sharp edges to cause injury, she paid them no mind.

Because these things, meant for dealing with unarmored or leather-armored targets, could not cause any harm to her or her warhorse.

"Giddyap!" she gave a light shout, letting her warhorse run, directly colliding head-on with a bandit on the side, knocking him and his horse over to the ground in one go.

Waving her Sword to block a strange-shaped weapon that was thrusting over, before the other party could react, she quickly retracted and thrust her Armor-piercing Rapier, which had been swung aside, piercing through the center of the bandit's chest before quickly withdrawing it.

The two passed each other on horseback, and Knight Lanisha continued to charge straight at the next bandit. The bandit who had just fought her rode his horse straight for a few steps in a daze, then pitched headfirst off the horse. However, his thick Boot remained caught in the hardwood Stirrup, and the bandit who had fallen off and died was dragged for quite a distance through the snow on the ground by the moving horse, until the horse, not hearing new commands from its master, stopped on its own.

Knight Lanisha headed toward a bandit using an axe; although she was using a light Fine Sword, she still met the heavy axe opposite head-on.

The two crossed paths. Before crossing, Knight Lanisha pulled the Jiansheng with her free hand, letting her beloved horse, which understood her heart, dodge the bandit's Heavy Cleave. Meanwhile, at the instant they crossed, Knight Lanisha's Fine Sword pierced into the wooden handle of the bandit's axe, right where the heavy head met the shaft, using the impact of the crossing to thrust straight in, then giving it a twist.

After passing each other, Knight Lanisha turned her horse, and that bandit also immediately slowed down and turned, charging toward the Knight again while shouting loudly.

The female Knight beneath the faceplate wore a smile at the corners of her mouth, gradually accelerating to meet him as well.

After the bandit adjusted his horse's orientation to face the Knight directly, he kicked the horse's belly hard with both legs to make it accelerate. Then, he freed both hands to hold the axe, swinging it through the air to build up momentum.

Not far away, Lao Kesilusi watched, his eyes fixed tightly on this last trusted Refining Qi subordinate. Not counting the one whose horse was knocked over at the start—who was still trying to struggle free from being pinned by the fallen horse—all the others had been knocked down, leaving only this fellow.

Go! Defeat that Knight, that monster hiding under the armor! At least kill her warhorse!

"Hit the horse! Hit her horse!" Lao Kesilusi shouted hoarsely to remind his subordinate.

It was unknown if his subordinate heard him, but at least Knight Lanisha heard, and she was clearly not very happy. When she was unhappy, someone was bound to be unlucky.

That bandit, who was swinging his heavy axe through the air to build up momentum, was just about to give the female Knight a taste of his power while his momentum was high, but just as he put his strength into a swing of the axe, the heavy head of his axe suddenly detached from the long wooden handle he was gripping with both hands.

It fell along a parabolic arc into the snow on the ground.

The roar he had been emitting with his mouth wide open underwent a turn from heroic and shocking, changing into a sharp, pinched, and distorted surprise: "Gah!!!"

And Lao Kesilusi almost failed to catch his breath. Immediately after, without even looking at the final moment, he turned his horse directly and ran toward his subordinates.

Knight Lanisha let out a "Ha!", and in the crossing, she used her Sword to sever the neck of this bandit who had miscalculated, then used her Sword to knock the flying head away, landing it where the axe head had fallen.

She then spurred her horse to trample to death the bandit who had been knocked over by her warhorse at the beginning.

Seeing the fleeing old bandit, she gave a light snort, lifted her faceplate, whistled loudly, and beckoned toward the position of her subordinates.

Jier and the others, who had been watching this side, all saw Knight Lanisha's movements.

Jier turned his head to look at an old Hunter and asked: "What does she mean by this?"

"The Knight is asking for two of us to go over and clean up the corpses on the ground. Do you want to go? Two people are enough," the old Hunter said.

Jier was naturally interested; he walked directly out of the wooden hut's entrance and ran toward the place where the Knight had just fought.

The old Hunter turned around again and asked the young Hunters behind him: "Who else will go?" Just after asking, he saw the young Hunters, who should have been urging and helping the women in the hut to put on clothes, all reaching their hands inside the women's clothing, groping for something.

And these frail women were pulling at their mischievous hands, not knowing if they were resisting or pulling them onto their bodies.

"What time is it! Still doing this! You, just you, hurry over and help the Knight clean up the few bandit corpses she killed!" The old Hunter looked as if he hated that they wouldn't improve, pointing to a young Hunter who was scratching his head in embarrassment to go out and help the Knight clean up.

The few women who had put on clothes inside and were wrapped in animal skins outside giggled as they watched this young Hunter flee the wooden hut.

The old Hunter glared: "You lot stop laughing too. If the situation changes in a moment, you must immediately follow us and run out of the wooden hut, running into the Forest. Wrap your feet well with warm things; if you don't protect your feet well from the snow outside, it will only take a short while for your feet to be frozen off your legs."

His words truly frightened these young and battered women, and only then did they hurriedly tear apart the blankets on the wooden beds, ripping them into strips to wrap around their feet.

Jier quickly ran to the Knight's position, drew his Dagger, cut the Bandit's clothes off in a few quick motions, and then dragged the stark-naked Bandit toward the burning wooden house.

Soon, another Hunter came over. There were not many corpses, so they only needed to make two or three trips. The main issue was the horses the Bandits had been riding; apart from three that were fine and could be led away, another had been knocked to the ground and subsequently trampled by warhorses, and it was now on the verge of death.

A horse weighs several hundred kilograms and could not be moved by Jier and a young Hunter; they had to rely on other horses to drag it away.

Just as they were busy, Knight Lanisha called the two over, pointing out two locations for them to retrieve a small bag of Gold Coins and a golden Dagger sheath sent by the Bandits, and to hand them to the other veteran Hunters for safekeeping.

The Bandits had retreated from behind the White Mist emitted by the Magic Beast, leaving only two Bandits watching from afar. Jier studied this motionless Magic Beast White Mist, wondering why this creature did not attack the large number of Bandits in front of it, but instead stayed in place.

Could it be that it was stuffed after swallowing the Bandits who had recklessly charged in just a moment ago?

The Magic Beast felt that it had suddenly eaten its fill.

It had swallowed those foolish Humans who charged into the Mist by piercing them with its legs and feet, then hurriedly gulping them down one by one with its mouth.

In its perception, these Humans were completely different from the cunning ones it had fought before. Not only were their reactions slow, but once struck by it, regardless of whether it was a fatal wound, they would stand dazed in place or collapse onto the snow-covered ground.

It actually made it easier to eat them, as they would not slip and run about.

But eating so much food at once still made it feel uncomfortable. Some of the Humans who had not yet died were still struggling inside its mouth, forcing it to chew with its newly grown teeth or squeeze the inside of its long mouth hard to make that food quiet down.

With this food already in its belly as a foundation, it could finally set its mind at ease and prepare for a big fight.

In its perception, that Human who had been bullying it all along was just standing far behind it, still riding her horse, seemingly still coveting its precious belly sac.

It had to carefully protect it.

Thinking of this, it writhed its belly sac and swung its tail's Spinneret from side to side, starting from the snow on the ground to create a thin but very hard layer of translucent mucus.

Originally, this was a tool it used to cross empty, non-Forest areas, but occasionally, it also used it to reinforce its lair.

This was a very precious bodily substance; usually, after using it, it would secrete something from its mouth to soften the hardened mucus and then eat it back.

Just a single thin strand of Hardened Mucus could support its heavy body, so it was very confident in the protective effect of this precious thing.

Knight Lanisha watched its movements suspiciously through Magic Perception, peering through the Magic Beast's Mist.

Ever since a moment ago, this creature had been repeatedly swinging that cumbersome, massive belly sac, and she did not know what it was doing.

It seemed something was being released from the tail of its belly sac; what could it be?

Could the Magic Beast be excreting? How disgusting, and it was even facing her direction. Thinking of this, Knight Lanisha picked up a Bandit's weapon from the ground and threw it directly at the tail of the Magic Beast in the Mist.

Go to hell, you disgusting thing.

The Magic Beast, struck by the blow, let out a cry, startling the Bandits on the other side of the White Mist.

They looked back at their leader, and the Bandit Leader roared, "Charge! Charge for me! Stab the Magic Beast! Knock it flying!"

These simple and crude Bandits grabbed the tree trunks they had just acquired from both left and right, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Ha-hu, ha-hu, ha-hu," and quickened their pace as they charged into the huge White Mist before them.

Along with this wave of Bandits, there was another, larger group of Bandits who had organized three teams, all carrying tree trunks as they charged inside together.

These freshly felled tree trunks had only been simply cleared. The excess branches were removed, and one end of each trunk had been simply sharpened into a pointed striking head.

Behind these recklessly charging Bandits were some Bandits carrying freshly made firewood piles. The large branches on the outside of the firewood piles, which were tied up with rope, contained flammable materials stuffed inside at random. Things like loincloths or leg wrappings soaked in oily sweat, and even some stolen ladies' scarves; these scarves were treasured by the Bandits, and from the moment they got their hands on them, they never washed them again. The Bandits tried to preserve the original scent on the scarves for as long as possible, but unfortunately, over the years, these scarves were either tattered or stained with much grease and dirt.

After all, the Bandits always kept these scarves close to their bodies. And they were often too lazy to take a bath for a month or two, only hurriedly finding water to wash themselves when the Bandit Group was lucky enough to have women sent from above to spend the night.

Once the tree trunk strikes proved ineffective, these bundled firewood piles would have to be lit and thrown inside to use the flames to drive out the Magic Beast and make it flee this troublesome thing that obstructed their vision.