Chapter 344: The Bottom of the Shikeng — Delang Devoured by Death and Returning to the Camp

The militia cursed the Bandit Leader's cowardice, interspersed with complaints that Jier was also a madman. They surrounded the remaining bandits and could not easily move or break their V-shaped formation, yet they were desperate to watch the final duel between Jier and the Bandit Leader.

So, after Jier and Delang circled to the left and right sides of the Shikeng respectively, they immediately raised their bows and crossbows, aiming closely at the bandits who were already planning to surrender.

Watching the militia approach while holding their crossbows tightly, the bandits were terrified that one of the militia might have a shaky hand, fire a bolt, and cause the others to follow suit. Thus, these bandits whispered pleas for mercy to the approaching militia, indicating they had no intention of resisting.

"Shut up, get on the ground!"

"Everyone get on the ground, don't move!"

Half of the militia stopped when they reached a distance of three meters from the bandits, aiming one-on-one at the bandits lying on the ground. The other half lowered their crossbows, drew their own melee weapons, carefully approached the prone bandits, and then pulled off the animal-hide belts from the bandits' waists, using them to tightly bind the bandits' arms in a few swift motions. They also took the opportunity to strip the bandits of their self-defense weapons, hanging them from their own waists.

As for the bandits' women and children, they sent two militia members to guard them, and sent another person back to drive over those who had fallen behind earlier.

Only then did they carefully approach the edge of the Shikeng. After feeling an uncomfortable sensation wash over them that was different from the cold of the low temperature, they saw the final battle between Jier and the Bandit Leader.

Duan Tou Zhe Delang went first, so he arrived at one end of the Shikeng first. Jier also quickly walked to the opposite end of the Shikeng.

An indescribable feeling of discomfort washed over them, which Jier felt even while wearing his sturdy Faceplate that could defend against attacks.

"What is this? This uncomfortable feeling." Jier had excellent eyesight; he saw the bandit opposite, whose complexion was already poor, look even worse after approaching the edge of the Shikeng.

Bang! Bang!

Jier struck his Shield with his Long Sword to signal to his opponent that he was ready.

Opposite him, Delang's face turned pale. He regained his focus and looked at the young man clad in thick armor. He said nothing, only raising his double-edged axe high with his right hand.

Seemingly sensing that both were ready for battle, the crows watching from the surrounding trees began to caw, starting from a few and growing in number, though no one knew who started it.

Jier tilted his head to look at the crows cawing in unison around him, and a feeling arose from the bottom of his heart.

Certain existences in this mountain forest were watching their duel through these ominous birds.

The strength of the two sides in this duel was not fair. After their previous exchange, the bandit Delang opposite had his stamina slightly depleted, and his left forearm was severely wounded, having lost a large amount of blood. Moreover, he had led his men on a long trek from the bandit lair, had only eaten a small amount of food, and had not rested at all.

Jier, however, was full of stamina, his body brimming with the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture. The previous trek and ambush battle were merely a slight mental fatigue for him. At this moment, he had already swallowed a Red-eye Mushroom Sugar Pill, and it was at the peak of the mushroom's medicinal effect; everything around him appeared slightly slowed, and his mind was active.

At this moment, the crows cawed in unison, noisily announcing the start of the final battle.

Jier and Delang opposite him jumped into the Shikeng together.

Delang swung his axe down while in mid-air. As he landed, a corpse gathered at the edge of the Shikeng on his side was split in two.

The corpses were long dead, and there was no normal biological activity within their bodies, so in this cold winter, their bodies were frozen solid.

But even the frozen, solid corpse body was split entirely from head to toe by Delang's heavy double-edged axe.

Thud!

Delang landed with his axe blade and half-bent legs. Beneath the thick snow at the bottom of the Shikeng lay layer upon layer of Human corpses discarded there.

Delang's impact made those corpses, who could not rest in peace either in life or death, tremble and move even more.

It was just that corpse pressed against corpse; the corpses at the bottom were firmly pinned and could not move, while the corpses in the top layer flailed all the limbs they could move.

Watching the snow under his feet trembling incessantly, Delang's expression was ugly. Using his left arm to assist his right, he raised and lowered the axe, smashing it a few times into the surroundings until the ground finally stopped moving.

And on Jier's side.

When he landed, he kept his feet apart, specifically stepping onto the shoulders of a staggering corpse while still in the air.

The fragile, staggering corpse could not support the powerful impact force Jier generated after jumping from the edge of the Shikeng; its shoulders shattered instantly, and it was stepped straight into the ground by Jier.

Jier maintained his balance and did not fall. After landing, he looked down, then lifted his foot and brought it down; his hard leather boot, inlaid with iron plates, crushed the head of the corpse beneath his feet that was shaking its head in an attempt to bite his ankle.

Crack.

There were no brains splattering from the shattered skull, only dried, blackened, unidentified tissue and a faint black smoke skeleton.

Jier swept his Long Sword through the blurry-looking black smoke skeleton. The black smoke skeleton was dispersed in two strokes, and the black smoke clung to the blade of the Long Sword.

Jier frowned, used his Shield to push away a staggering corpse that was approaching, and then examined the blade of his Long Sword.

The countless shallow dents on the blade were originally filled with deep red bloodstains; now, after being coated with the dispersed black smoke, those deep red bloodstains seemed to have turned much darker.

Jier tucked the sword hilt into his left hand, then used his right Glove to rub the shallow groove, finding that it seemed somewhat impossible to wipe off.

Feeling that things were slightly ominous, Jier had no time to worry about this. He used his Long Sword to Horizontal Slash and sever the neck of a corpse that had approached after he pushed it away with his Shield, then skillfully used his leg to kick the corpse's head away.

The target was precisely the Bandit Leader Delang on the opposite side of the bottom of the Shikeng.

Delang had been keeping an eye on Jier's side. Seeing Jier actually kick a corpse head over, he waved his hand in annoyance to swat it away; his sturdy arm surely would have been able to swat away a head with little force.

But Delang did not see clearly that the corpse, now just a head, was still opening and closing its mouth in mid-air. Its terrifying, rotten, and frozen-hard mouth had teeth that were snow-white and sturdy, though slightly missing a few.

After Delang swung his arm, the pain that followed made him notice that the filthy thing had actually bitten his left arm. He waved his hand, but could not shake it off at all.

After being bitten, a feeling different from blood loss came from his arm, as if a piece of ice had been inserted into his flesh, cold and numb.

He became ruthless, turned around, and slammed his left arm, which was being bitten by the corpse head, against the edge of the Shikeng.

Sure enough, the rotten and fragile head could not withstand the force at all; the roots of the teeth in its mouth bent directly, and it could no longer bite Delang's arm.

Only then did Delang swing his arm to shake off the corpse head.

Kicking it to pieces in anger, Delang stopped struggling with the corpses slowly gathering around him. Swinging his axe to knock aside the approaching corpses, he strode directly toward Jier.

Jier withdrew his Long Sword tip from the face of a corpse; the corpse, which had still been trembling, immediately fell stiffly to the ground.

He saw that there was even more black substance attached to the Long Sword, but now was not the time to consider this. Jier glanced ahead, then moved his feet, using his Shield to ram a corpse that was approaching, knocking the corpse toward Delang.

Delang turned his waist and then used his axe to Horizontal Slash, cutting the corpse Jier had rammed at him in half at the waist.

Ignoring the corpse that was still moving, he turned the axe again and swept it horizontally toward Jier, who was holding his Shield.

Jier stared at the approaching axe, not intending to take another hard hit. He retreated diagonally backward, pushing a corpse that was approaching to meet Delang's double-edged axe.

Boom-crack.

It still split the corpse in one strike.

But Jier took advantage of the moment Delang's axe speed slowed down, and his Long Sword followed up, hacking at the junction of the double-edged axe's blade and handle. He had already risked hacking it several times before, and this time Jier hacked it again.

Delang cursed out loud. He saw through Jier's plan and knew that the opponent actually wanted to destroy his weapon. So, he changed his wide-open offensive style and instead gripped the middle of the axe handle with his right hand, beginning to swing the axe in small motions.

Don't be fooled by his small swings; because this double-edged axe was quite heavy, the force on the blade was not small—a graze meant injury, and a hit meant death.

Jier flexibly increased the distance between himself and Delang, and kept moving behind the corpses that were not moving nimbly, using the corpses as cover to move toward Delang.

Sometimes, he felt as if his feet were suddenly being grabbed. Jier would panic for a moment before steadying his heart, lifting his foot slightly, and then bringing it down heavily, snapping the limbs of whatever buried corpse he had stepped on. If one was still clutching his ankle, he would use his Long Sword to slash down against his leg and foot, severing the corpse's limb beneath the snow.

Delang, dealing with the corpses Jier pushed toward him, was extremely irritable. He shoved aside a corpse that had one shoulder severed and charged straight at Jier, raising his axe.

Jier, boldly gauging that Delang had exhausted his momentum and could not change his move, crouched down to let Delang's charge pass over him. Then, he suddenly surged upward, his Shield rising against Delang's chest while the Long Sword in his right hand continuously hacked at Delang's chest.

However, the Long Sword did not achieve its goal; sparks flew from the points of impact. Only then did he realize this opponent was no ordinary Bandit, as he was wearing strange armor made of large, coarse iron rings.

The Long Sword hacked against the iron rings, leaving behind a series of gashes, the friction throwing off sparks.

His back was struck heavily; Jier knew without looking that the opponent had slammed his axe into his back. Fortunately, his armor helped him withstand the vast majority of the blow, and because it was sudden, Delang had not been able to muster enough force.

Jier flicked his Shield to the left, knocking Delang over, and then suddenly used the Shield to knock away the axe Delang was swinging.

Seeing the opponent fall with his defenses wide open, Jier wanted to pounce and land a fatal blow with his sword. But Delang swung his axe frantically, preventing Jier from getting close.

Jier immediately shifted his target, retreated slightly, and slashed off one of Delang's ankles with a single strike.

"Ah!" With one foot lying on the ground, Delang, though not feeling much pain, still let out a cry of unwillingness.

"You are defeated, die!" Jier turned and slashed the neck of a nearby corpse, then deliberately grabbed the head that was still moving and biting, stuffing the corpse's wide-open mouth directly onto Delang's severed foot.

Once the corpse's head bit down, it would not let go. Miraculously, the blood flowing from Delang's severed foot, after entering the corpse's mouth, did not flow out from the severed neck; it was unknown where it went.

Delang lifted his foot and swung his axe, smashing the head to pieces.

Jier then pushed two more corpses over, toppling them onto Delang.

Delang cursed, while Jier, spotting an opportunity, suddenly closed in to pin the axe with his Shield. He inverted the Long Sword in his right hand, stabbing it into the ground, and used his freed right hand to grab the handle of Delang's axe, exerting force to wrestle the weapon away from Delang.

But a person trapped in a desperate situation has immense strength. Jier used all his might but could not out-wrestle Delang, so he had to pull up his Long Sword again. Spotting an opportunity while Delang was sweeping away the corpse biting him, he slashed several times in succession to cut through the handle of Delang's double-edged axe.

The heavy double-edged axe head fell to the ground, sinking into the messy snow. Delang, left with only a hard wooden shaft in his hand, seemed to lose all his strength in an instant.

Unwillingly, he mechanically beat the corpse head that was biting him with the wooden shaft, while staring at the victorious Jier with hateful eyes.

Not a word was spoken.

Jier, also unmoved, continued to push and shove the corpses that were gathering, moving these things toward the fallen Delang.

Once those corpses were pushed over, they would no longer stand up, but instead crawl toward the fallen Human. Once they bit into the Human's body, they would hold on tightly and not let go.

Jier even dragged the upper body of the corpse that had been cut in two by Delang earlier, swinging its stiff arms toward Delang.

Before long, Delang was covered in the dead yet active corpses. They bit into Delang, continuously absorbing the Human's life force while infecting the dying Bandit with all their Founengliang.

Seeing that Delang had stopped moving, Jier stopped pushing corpses over and turned to start clearing the corpses around him that were rising one by one.

Seeing Jier's total victory, the Militia above the Shikeng roared with excitement. The captured Bandits, realizing their fierce and brave leader had been defeated and killed, fell silent and stopped speaking.

Seeing Jier attempting to slay the corpses trying to attack him, the Mountain Leopard Team Captain above shouted to Jier: "Jier, leave them be! Come up first! We'll just set a fire later and burn them all!"

Jier thought that made sense; the corpses couldn't run away anyway, so it would be better to fill this pit with plenty of firewood and lamp oil, then burn it all in one go.

Jier agreed, carefully approached Delang's corpse, pushed aside the blocking corpses, and severed Delang's head with a sword strike. Afterward, the Militia above lowered a Spear. Jier reached out to grab the connection point of the spearhead, and the Militia above pulled together, hauling him up.

As Jier came up, he turned to look at the dead Bandit Leader, thinking that he hadn't yet taken the metal ring half-armor and the double-edged axe from the opponent's body.

However, thinking he would have to come back later, he temporarily shelved this plan. It wouldn't be too late to collect the loot after burning this place in a while; the corpses wouldn't need metal weapons or armor anyway.

The priority now was to clean up the ambush battlefield, then escort these surrendered Bandits and the Bandits' women and children back to see how Knight Kela would handle them. After all, they didn't have many supplies, and it was impossible not to guarantee food for everyone.

Just as Jier and his group were returning, a large flock of crows in the trees around the Shikeng flew up all at once, not making a sound, and scattered as they flapped their wings.

It was as if someone had finished watching a TV program and couldn't wait to change the channel.

After spending a night on the road, by noon the next day, Jier, the few Militia under his command, and the Mountain Leopard Team returned to the Militia Yingdi with the Bandits and their relatives.

In the Yingdi, Jier smelled the scent of soot and smoke as soon as he arrived. After asking around, he learned that last night, Knight Kela had already arranged for people to enter the Bandit lair, which was no longer emitting smoke or fire.

There wasn't a living person left inside.

Everywhere were the corpses of Bandits and others who had been suffocated to death.

There were men, women, and children. Some of the Militia felt uneasy about this, but Knight Kela did not care.

He had also gone inside and found many corpses hiding deep in the Shandong.

Just as he had expected, many Bandits did not understand any culture or knowledge. They did not know that when there was no air intake channel inside a Shandong and only burning materials, the air needed for human survival would be consumed along with some of the gases necessary for life.

The Bandits and others who were not hiding deep inside were choked to death by the thick smoke. Those who were hiding deep in the Shandong, led by the two Bandit Leaders, all died of suffocation due to a lack of oxygen.

After extinguishing the fires that afternoon, it wasn't until evening that Knight Kela led some Melee Militia into the Bandit lair to carry out the corpses that had been dead for a long time.

The adult males had their heads cut off as proof of the entire Militia's battle achievements, while the corpses of the other women and children were all burned.

The few Militia responsible for burning the corpses couldn't keep up, so the Knight had two more teams of Spear Militia help them with their work. By the time Jier returned, the smoke from burning corpses behind the Yingdi was still continuing.

"You're back, how was the result?" Knight Kela stood in the middle of the Yingdi, directing the various Militia teams. Beside him stood a young man wearing fine clothes.

At a single glance, Jier could guess the other's identity from the gem coronet on his head—the eldest son of the Kendall Baron.

Jier and the Captain of the Mountain Leopard Team quickly reported their results, then pushed out the surrendered Bandits and the Bandit relatives who had followed along.

Regarding the captured Bandits, Knight Kela waved his hand, and after recording the battle merits, had people lock these guys into large wooden cages. As for the other women and children, Knight Kela was in a dilemma.

Longsuosi, who was standing with the Knight, whispered a suggestion: "Perhaps we can send someone to escort them back to Bingxun Pass first. After all, the Militia still has tasks later, and it's not convenient to bring those women, especially since the Militia are all young lads."

"Not bad, do as you say." Following this, Knight Kela had a portion of the injured Militia escort these people back to Bingxun Pass, along with the Bandits' heads and the various valuable supplies found in the Bandit lair.

Jier took the opportunity to tell the Knight about the situation at the Shikeng. The Knight said this would need the Priest of the God of the Dead from Bingxun Pass to resolve properly; it couldn't just be solved by a simple burning.

Especially since these Shikeng, where many corpses were piled up, might be breeding some unknown evil things underneath.

However, the Church of the God of the Dead had ways to deal with this; as long as they sent someone to invite them later, it would be fine. They wouldn't let a Shikeng of this scale exist near Bingxun Pass for long.

Seeing that others would intervene in the handling of the Shikeng, Jier immediately mentioned that the weapons and armor on that Bandit Leader were his spoils of war.

"Haha! You kid are quite bold, actually daring to duel that Bandit Leader at the bottom of the Shikeng on a whim. Truly too reckless." Knight Kela shook his head with a smile, criticizing Jier for being reckless.

Meanwhile, Longsuosi, looking at this so-called hero who had a little bit of fame in Kendall City, frowned, not liking this reckless Warrior.