Chapter 328: The Bandit Vertical Shaft — Following the Knight's Scouting and Let Me See Your Skills

Jier made an agreement with the Craftsman Kangkuinaersi to use the head of a bandit as payment for the Craftsman's help in adding a spear shaft to his gun-blade. Afterward, Jier hurried back to his own tent, packed all the items he didn't need into his backpack, and placed it under his bedding. He then traveled light to the camp entrance, where he found the Knight and the Militia waiting for him to set off.

Knight Kela called for a squad of Spear Militia to accompany them. He did not actually need guards, but in order to hone the Militia, he tried his best to refrain from interfering in the battles between the Militia and the bandits, focusing only on command.

Once Jier arrived, Knight Kela announced their departure, while the others in the camp made defensive preparations, striving to complete the simple construction of the camp before he returned from scouting the vicinity.

Afterward, they walked out of the camp gate, which was currently being built by stacking up snow, and began to scout around the bandit lair.

The weather had been clear recently, but the temperature remained very low, so the snow from the last snowfall still lay in a thick layer here in the mountain forest where only bandits were active. Moreover, because of the sun during the day, the outermost layer of snow on the ground had melted, only to be frozen hard again by the cold temperature into an ice crust encasing the snow.

Walking on it was very inconvenient; everyone had to break through the surface ice crust before they could step on the snow to move forward.

Seeing the team moving slowly, Knight Kela rode his robust, monster-like horse forward and took the lead.

It must be said, because both he and his horse were armored, the horse easily crushed and pushed aside the ice crust and snow on the ground. Jier and the Militia behind him could easily walk on the "new" path that had been cleared.

Jier felt this was similar to how the Magic Beast had moved through the snow-covered forest before, though one was pushing the snow aside, while the other was sliding on top of it.

The mountain ridge where the bandit lair was located was relatively steep, and the other adjacent mountain ridges were no less so, so they had to walk and stop, constantly searching for a path suitable for the team to advance.

Sometimes, in a slightly open small clearing or a place with relatively flat terrain, Knight Kela would have Jier use an axe to fell nearby trees, and have the Militia use ropes to drag the felled trees to the spot he had chosen.

After simply arranging these dragged trees into a circle, he would sit on his horse, holding a Sheepskin Map, and mark it with a Charcoal Pencil.

Jier was curious, so he asked in a low voice.

Knight Kela did not keep it a secret and explained to Jier: "These places are quite suitable for establishing fixed Scout Posts. The field of vision is relatively open, and the terrain is flat, suitable for building simple wooden structures. Afterward, as long as one or two sentries are arranged and equipped with Wooden Whistles, and a mobile Patrol is configured between several posts, the entire line along the posts can be blocked off."

Jier stood on tiptoe and looked up at the sheepskin roll in the Knight's hand. Starting from a large black dot, which was clearly their camp, a winding line connected several small black dots, just enough to form a semi-encirclement of the bandit lair.

Then, Knight Kela added: "Actually, there isn't much need for it; the level of the Bandit Group is really not very good. Don't forget, this is just a live-combat training for the Militia after all."

Jier barely understood Knight Kela's words. To a Knight, these very amateur bandits were not difficult; he could easily command the Militia to wipe them out, and going to such great lengths to build a camp and a blockade of posts was likely mainly for the purpose of training the Militia in this aspect of experience.

On the way, Jier asked the Knight if the Militia training in previous years had included these things he was seeing.

"Clever lad. The training in previous years was indeed different; basically, whatever the Baron needed, I would conduct specialized training for it. Most of the training worked, so you must not go around saying anything." After finishing, Knight Kela leaned down and patted the top of Jier's Helmet.

The thumping sound made Jier shake his head, and he replied in the affirmative.

Perhaps because the mood for conversation had been stirred up, or perhaps because the group was walking through a very quiet mountain forest and it was truly a bit boring, Knight Kela began to talk about the Militia training of previous years.

"The first two years were mainly for publicity. To let the people in various parts of the County know that such a thing existed. So after the training was finished, I specifically took the Militia and went around to every residential point in the County. Heh heh, the effect was very good. In the first year, we still had to request residents from Kendall City to participate, but after a year or two, we were picking young people from various Villages and farms."

"Nowadays, not only are the Villagers who come of age every year very willing to join the Militia training, but even some wealthy resident families with some combat training are willing to let their children join."

"Is there any difference in this?" Jier asked.

Shaking his finger, Knight Kela said: "Not quite the same. Whether it's physical strength or cleverness in combat, it's very different. I believe you will understand this later."

Jier nodded.

As they spoke, the group had already circled half of the mountain ridge where the bandit lair was located, and they were right behind the entrance to the bandit Shandong. Seeing this, Knight Kela said to Jier: "I remember you said before that one could climb up from here, and that there was a Vertical Shaft leading to the inside of the bandit Shandong above?"

Jier squinted his eyes to examine the surrounding environment, verifying it against that thrilling night in his memory. After considering it, he said: "Yes, it should be nearby. At that time, I led the rescued people out from there, and then slowly felt our way down in the dark along the gentlest part of the mountainside."

Looking at the steep mountain ridge ahead, Knight Kela asked with a smile: "It's covered by snow; can you find the place you walked through in the dark again?"

Jier paced in place for a moment and said reluctantly: "I'll try?"

Seeing the Knight agree, Jier climbed a bit further up the mountain ahead, then turned around to look at the forest at the foot of the mountain. He examined it for a long while, until his eyes were stung by the sunlight reflected by the snow, and only then did he squint his eyes and slide down from above.

"Found it, that patch of forest protruding on the left is where I came down to hide from the bandits at that time," Jier said confidently.

"Are you sure? Compared to where we are staying now, is that place closer to the entrance of the bandits' lair?" Knight Kela jumped off his horse, unfolded the Sheepskin Map in his hand, and pointed to their current position, the position of the forest Jier mentioned, and the position of the bandit lair's Shandong entrance.

That patch of forest was not too far from the bandit Shandong entrance, separated only by the angle of the mountain body. If not for the obstruction of the mountain, they could even see each other directly.

Jier looked again and finally confirmed with certainty that it was indeed there. After all, if memory could deceive him, rational thinking would not.

Considering that after they escaped at that time, they could see the firelight of the bandit Shandong entrance but could not look directly at it, the only place was there.

Seeing Jier's confirmation, Knight Kela put away the sheepskin roll: "Since that's the case, shall you and I go up and take a look? Do you have the guts for it? Jier?"

Knowing that following the Knight would be safe, Jier agreed immediately.

If he hadn't seen Knight Lanisha fight the Magic Beast before, and witnessed the gap in combat power between a Knight-rank Warrior and an ordinary Warrior that was like a huge chasm, Jier really wouldn't have dared to go up and explore with Knight Kela.

But now, he was truly curious: as the man everyone called the most powerful in Kendall County, just how powerful was Knight Kela?

Knight Kela did not ride his horse. Because the forest was very close to the bandit lair entrance, in order not to let the bandits hear the noise of people and horses, Knight Kela had the Militia wait where they were.

Do not light a fire; they could lean on each other for warmth, or eat the food the Militia had saved and brought with them.

As for him and Jier, they walked through the forest first. When they reached the edge of that protruding patch of forest, Jier walked in front, breaking off a branch to probe the path.

Jier was not searching blindly for the path he had walked in the dark; he was first looking for the gentlest-looking places to probe. Unexpectedly, he very easily found a flat piece of ground under the snow.

Pushing aside the snow blocking the way, they climbed upward slowly.

Unlike walking on flat ground covered in snow, climbing a mountain with snow on the ground was a very painful thing. Not only did one have to clear the path forward while climbing up.

One could not step on the snow to climb; one had to have a firm footing, which meant Jier had to keep using his hands to clear the way in front so they could move up.

Fortunately, the snow on the steep hillside was not as thick as on the flat ground. The snow that had fallen in the past few days could submerge one's thighs on flat ground, but it wasn't that thick on the hillside, only reaching near the calves.

Although it was still very thick.

Another point was that when climbing the mountain, one had to be very careful not to slip and fall. Once one fell and rolled down, having to climb up again was a small matter, but hitting the hard mountain rock hidden in the snow while rolling down the mountain was the most fatal thing.

Even though Jier had armor on his body for protection, the armor was more for defending against sword slashes; for the blunt impact damage of hitting mountain rocks, the defensive effect was only minimal.

Jier did not want to suffer that, so when climbing up, he was careful, careful, and even more careful; cautious, cautious, and even more cautious.

"Jier, I didn't see it, are you such a cautious person?" Knight Kela behind him teased.

He had a mind to say some witty remarks, but considering that the person behind him was a powerful figure in Kendall County with high status and strength, he withdrew the witty remarks that had slipped to his lips.

He just said dryly: "If I fell and rolled down, on such a steep hillside, I would probably be seriously injured, right? It's better for me to be careful."

"Hmm, that's true. On such a steep place, it seems impossible for a large team of Militia to come up. A dozen or so skilled Militia Squad Leaders might be able to." Knight Kela muttered a few more words in a low voice, but Jier didn't hear clearly what was said.

It took them quite a while to climb to the place where Jier had led people to escape back then.

This place was very conspicuous; other places were covered with thick snow, a pure white or a mix of white and gray. Only the mountain rocks here were not covered by snow.

After getting close, they discovered that the Tianjing leading vertically into the interior of the mountain cave was constantly gushing out bursts of relatively warm heat.

Both Jier and Knight Kela were very curious about how such a large amount of hot air could emerge from here. Jier took off his Glove and tested the temperature at the opening of the Tianjing, finding it much warmer compared to the cold air around it.

He opened his faceplate and sniffed carefully; the air held the scent of burnt firewood, along with a complex, faint odor of many other things mixed together.

After a moment of thought, Jier suddenly realized why hot air kept gushing out from here.

It turned out that because the mountain cave was dark, the bandits must have lit many fires for illumination. It was fine during other seasons, as those fires and the air they heated were nothing special. But once winter arrived, the difference between the cave's temperature and the outside air became obvious, making this hot air very conspicuous.

It melted the surrounding snow and rose continuously into the sky.

However, the hot air emerging from here lacked the black smoke of burning firewood; he guessed that the black smoke generated in the main hall where the bandits were most active gathered at the ceiling of the hall, while the other hot air surged upward along the passages and the vertical shaft.

Thinking of this, the entrance to the bandits' lair must be drawing air inward; after all, since hot air was flowing out here, the cave entrance at a lower elevation would certainly be drawing in cold air.

It was a simple principle of air pressure. The air inside the cave was heated by the lighting fires, expanded and became less dense, and then emerged from the vertical shaft in front of Jier.

And because the air pressure inside the cave was low, air from the mountain cave entrance would surge in from high to low.

Jier rolled his eyes, briefly relayed his discovery to Knight Kela, and Knight Kela did not seem surprised at all. He said directly, "Then, if we seal the bandits' entrance tightly, would the bandits be suffocated inside? After all, their air is being heated by the fires and escaping." After saying this, he pointed to the vertical shaft.

It was difficult for Jier to explain the concept of oxygen to Knight Kela, but upon second thought, the result was actually about the same, so he tentatively nodded.

"Very good, this is also a way to resolve the bandits' stubborn resistance. If they want to rely on the narrow terrain of the cave to resist, we will do just that when the time comes. First, block the cave entrance, and when they realize something is wrong, send people to block this shaft opening that connects to the outside. Seal it tightly. I estimate that in no time, they will be finished," Knight Kela said.

He then added, "However, this is only a backup method. If possible, I still hope the Militia can receive sufficient training."

Jier immediately said, "But if we launch a direct assault on the bandits' lair, there will likely be many Militia casualties. What should we do about that?"

Patting Jier's armored arm, Knight Kela said confidently, "Precise and accurate command will greatly reduce losses. And as long as we kill and wound a large number of bandits outside their lair, we can avoid the casualties caused by a final assault on the cave. After all, even if they make a desperate final stand, they need enough combatants to do so. A small number of people cannot withstand a full-scale assault by the Militia."

While Jier and Knight Kela were talking there, the bandits passing beneath the vertical shaft faintly heard people talking above, and they immediately reported to the Bandit Leaders in a panic.

Although the bandits hadn't discovered that Jier had led the commoners to escape from here before, this time, facing the Militia's targeted crackdown, these bandits had also set up defenses at this potential entrance and exit.

They had arranged five Refining Qi bandits armed with axes below; if anyone dared to come down from here, they would die. One would come, and they would hack him to death with an axe; the five bandits could even take turns resting.

The five bandits, who had been idle until now, faintly heard the sound of people talking at the shaft exit above. As Refining Qi, they knew that they hadn't arranged for anyone to stand guard outside. In that case, it could only be the Militia.

Thinking of this, the bandits immediately sent someone to report the news in a panic.

The four Bandit Leaders immediately sent people out to drive them away.

As one of the most ferocious Bandit Leaders with the strongest desire for battle, Duan Tou Zhe Delang personally led his elite subordinates from the cave entrance, using a simple wooden ladder they had prepared. As long as they climbed up the ladder, they could directly reach the top of their lair. Walking a few more steps, they could reach the location of the vertical shaft.

For the sake of caution, Delang called upon fifteen of his elite subordinates, all of whom were old hands who had been with him for a long time. Unlike the scattered bandits recruited recently, most of these guys had gone out with him at least five times; they were good at fighting, fierce, and brutal, which suited his style of doing things very well.

A nimble bandit climbed up the ladder first as the lead, followed by two or three bandits carrying large Mudu, then Delang himself, and then the other subordinates climbed up the simple wooden ladder in turn.

The terrain on the steep hillside was complex, and they could not deploy everyone at once, so the bandits had to lean against each other in pairs, carefully kicking away the snow on the ground as they walked toward the top of the vertical shaft.

Two people.

When he saw there were only two people, Delang breathed a sigh of relief, and his subordinates also breathed a huge sigh of relief. It was fortunate that the Militia were not gathered here in large numbers. If the Militia had established an offensive position above their heads, how would they defend the entrance to their lair cave? Just come out and be shot to death by bows and crossbows from above?

The most terrifying expectation did not occur, which made all the bandits breathe a sigh of relief.

But Delang noticed that something was wrong with these two people.

One was wearing exaggeratedly thick Steel Armor; if that armor wasn't fake, it had to weigh at least several hundred kilograms, right? Could a Human support that weight?

If it were real, how much strength would it take to do that?

The other person was also in armor, but this person's armor was much more normal. Although it was still strange to have armor that protected the entire body, at least the Hard Cowhide Armor was not heavy. If it weren't for the fact that Delang himself was a bandit and couldn't buy armor and weapons in the town, he would have wanted to get a set of armor for himself to wear.

This person had quite a few weapons on him—axes, Long Sword, Shield, and Dagger, all present—while the weapons of the other person wearing thick armor were much simpler, just a Long Sword at his waist.

They approached the two quickly and managed to semi-surround them on the rugged, steep hillside.

"Take off your armor and drop your weapons, and I guarantee I won't kill you." Duan Tou Zhe Delang slammed his Double-edged Axe onto the ground, then patted the Iron Ring Armor over his animal skin clothing, making it clatter. The surrounding bandits also shouted to build up momentum for their leader: "Surrender quickly, and we will show mercy. We'll just take one of your hands or feet and let you go. Usually, we don't leave anyone alive, haha. Why don't you thank our leader, huh?"

Jier and Knight Kela looked at each other; Jier's eyes were full of seriousness, while Knight Kela just found it quite interesting.

The Knight placed his hand on the hilt of the Long Sword at his waist and said to Jier, "Speaking of which, Jier, I haven't seen your skills yet. I promised to train you to be like me, but if your skills are too poor, it will take me a long time, and you will have to spend quite a bit of time as well."

Jier fixed the axe on his back, drew his Hunting Sword, and secured the Metal Shield with the damaged wooden surface to his left hand, ready for battle: "Please rest assured, everything I have achieved was fought for with my own skills; there is no fluff."

The Knight let go of the hilt, folded his arms, and stood in place: "Show me, let me see your skills."

"Very well, please watch closely."

Opposite them, the bandits were furious; these two guys were too arrogant, actually treating what they said as air. Delang, however, was rough but observant; although he was wild in battle, he was not a fool. His years of life as a bandit told him the difference in momentum between confidence and arrogance.

Seeing that only the weaker one of the two would be fighting for the time being, he also picked three good hands to prepare to take down the person wearing the Hard Cowhide Armor.

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about everyone rushing up together to crush the opponents, but his vague Warrior instinct told him that if he did that, death might come immediately.

Shaking his head, Delang waved his hand: "You three, take that guy down for me." His gaze was fierce, and his words were not pleasant: "Only dead ones. His gear is not bad; I want the axe, and you can keep whatever else you grab."

The three bandits immediately became excited. Jier's weapons and equipment looked good; not only did they look valuable, but in the face of the Militia's massive offensive, full-body armor or a metal shield were great things for saving one's life.