Chapter 396: The Returning Team—Hunger, Retreat, and the Gap

The next day, today is the final deadline for the return as agreed.

After working until midnight yesterday and rising early this morning, the group building the defenses fed their bellies with the processed wolf meat, then each took a roasted radish that was oozing water, chewed a few mouthfuls of snow, and continued building the second line of defense.

Near noon, a sound like muffled thunder—the sound of horse hooves—came from the open ground outside Rock Mountain.

As soon as everyone heard this sound, they knew it was the noise produced by Knight Lanisha's warhorse running at full speed.

"The Knight is back. Everyone, put down your work and hurry to welcome them. Right, you two lads, hurry back to the Jiedian, take out the food, and get it ready. They've been gone for several days; they must be exhausted and starving, and haven't had a good rest. Hurry and prepare it." The old Hunter rubbed his hands together and urged the two young Hunters in the team to return to the Jiedian to prepare food and drink, while the remaining few of them went out from here to prepare to welcome them.

It was very close, not far at all, down from the second defensive position that was nearly finished. Jier followed the two old Hunters and ran quickly to the first defensive position, lifted the wooden logs placed behind the wooden wall of the position, and hurriedly laid them outside the wooden wall.

Knight Lanisha, holding her abdomen, rode her warhorse back to Rock Mountain quickly, her spirit low. Behind her warhorse, the old and young Hunters on the four snowboards were just like her; although they didn't look like they had suffered any injuries, they were listless and lacked the strength to stand on the snowboards, instead sitting on them on their bottoms, with the excess length of rope tied to the belts around their waists. They didn't care that there was no cushioning for the vibration while being dragged, and every time they passed over undulating terrain, their whole bodies were jolted incessantly.

It wasn't that they didn't want to, but the four of them, like the Knight, hadn't eaten a single meal during the two days of the return journey. Their bellies were incredibly hungry, and they had endured for a long time before finally returning here to the Rock Mountain Jiedian.

"Everyone, cheer up! We can go back soon! The Jiedian is full of food, and we can fill our bellies immediately. Damn it, if it weren't for that thing, how could I be in such a sorry state!" Speaking of this, Knight Lanisha, riding in the Muan, swayed due to hunger, and the cursing in her mouth became much quieter.

As a Knight, she not only had to keep her spirits up to fight the pursuing Northland Wolves after everyone lost their food, but because a Knight's own physical exertion is much greater than that of an ordinary person, she needed food replenishment even more.

Her warhorse was fine; when resting at night, it would turn over the snow near the resting place to find withered grass under the snow to eat, barely managing to supplement some food. But Humans do not have the good appetite of horses, and withered grass is not food that human teeth can sufficiently grind down. Although, if there were truly no other choice, it was not impossible to swallow it to stave off hunger.

But the Knight and the Hunters were not landless wandering Farmers; they would rather go hungry for a while than try to eat grass. Because dignity is one aspect, and on the other hand, getting a bad stomach would be troublesome. After all, this is not a field near a city where one can find a Church Priest to treat them at any time. This is at least a five-day trek from the nearest human settlement, so getting sick from eating the wrong thing would be very unfortunate.

After circling half of Rock Mountain, she finally saw the entrance to the Rock Passage.

This place was very different from when she set out.

The two sides of the entrance to the passage, which were originally unobstructed, had been built with deep and long trenches. Looking from her horse, she could see that the trenches were filled with short, thick, sharp wooden spikes; it would be difficult for an unprotected enemy to cross directly from there.

Pulling the Jiansheng to slow the warhorse down, she bypassed the passage in the middle of the trenches after slowing down. Here, near the entrance to the passage, it was covered with all the metal clamps, dense and packed; it was impossible to ride a horse through anymore, so she had to dismount and walk.

"I'm back!" Seeing the old Hunter and Jier who came out to welcome them, Knight Lanisha breathed a sigh of relief, let the warhorse stop, then carefully lay on the horse to catch her breath, and then slowly dismounted sideways.

She was cautious when dismounting because she lacked physical strength, and she was wearing heavy armor; if she jumped off the horse rashly at this time, she might be directly crushed to the ground by the weight of the armor.

"Damn it," she muttered, never imagining that after being at the Knight Tier for so many years, she would actually find the armor on her body to be a hindrance.

After dismounting, she simply sat on the dirt pile of the trench to one side, watching the old Hunter and Jier walk over.

"Is there anything to eat?" She took off her Helmet, placed it on her lap, and asked her subordinates who were coming over, feeling listless.

Jier felt his clothing pockets, embarrassed to find that the radish each person had in the morning was gone. After working for a while, because he was thirsty and didn't want to eat snow, disliking how cold it was on his mouth, he had eaten the radish in a few crunching bites while stealing a moment of leisure.

The other two young Hunters were the same; their physical exertion was severe and they had to eat something, so the three young people had long since eaten their radishes.

But the two old Hunters had not. Seeing the Knight's listless spirit, they took the morning's radishes out of their clothes and handed them over. Because they were older and their physical strength couldn't keep up with the young lads, Jier hadn't assigned them any heavy physical work, mainly having them responsible for cutting the concave and convex wooden grooves for connecting the wood, or pouring ice water. They hadn't eaten their morning radishes.

Taking the two cleaned white radishes, Knight Lanisha ignored dining etiquette and bit off the tail of the radish, chewing it in large mouthfuls.

Jier ran behind the warhorse and unfastened the four equally listless Hunters from the snowboards. The four of them didn't even have the strength to open their mouths to thank him; their whole bodies were limp, and they didn't have a single bit of strength left in them.

"My Lady, what happened to you all? I don't see any injuries, how did you get into such a sorry state?" Jier placed the four of them on the dirt pile of the trench to the side and still asked the question that he and the two old Hunters who had stayed behind had.

Knight Lanisha ate the ice-cold, crunchy radish in large bites, swallowing it into her belly without chewing it very carefully.

After quickly eating the two radishes, she said angrily: "It's all because a tall, humanoid Monster stole the supplies and food we were carrying! Damn it! Ah! If I see that thing again, I must peel its skin and hang it on a treetop to air-dry!"

After the four Hunters rested for a while, they gradually woke up from their daze, and they also briefly explained.

Originally, everything went very smoothly, and the effect of the snowboards was unexpectedly good. Everyone was an excellent Hunter and quickly mastered the method of balancing on the snowboards. The two excellent old Hunters even mastered the technique of tying the rope to their waists and freeing their hands to shoot while on the snowboards.

Without the trouble of walking, the five people and one horse all maintained the warhorse's high-speed mobility, and it only took them two days to find the location where the Northland Wolves were gathered by following the traces of the gathered Northland Wolves.

That was a place that was full of mud in the summer, and the original owners were a large group of wild boars. The huge wild boars occupied the favorable terrain, and other animals in the Forest would not disturb them.

But when winter came, it was different once the Wolf King needed to assemble all the Northland Wolves.

The mud was frozen hard, making it easy to walk. And the wild boar family that originally lived there was also killed by the Wolf King commanding all the wolves, to be used as food for all the Northland Wolves that came over.

The old Hunters roughly judged the direction in which the Northland Wolves were gathering, directly determined the specific gathering point of the Wolf Pack, and then rushed over quickly. Along the way, they found ways to kill every scattered Northland Wolf they saw. Finally, after approaching the main body of the Wolf Pack, they were discovered by the Wolf King.

Discovery was just discovery; Knight Lanisha wasn't unable to beat the Wolf King, but considering there were too many wolves, it wasn't suitable to fight the Wolf King at this time, so Knight Lanisha took the four Hunters on the snowboards behind her and kept raiding and killing the Northland Wolves that were rushing over to gather on the periphery of the Wolf Pack.

This undoubtedly greatly annoyed the Wolf King and all the Northland Wolves, so not only did the Northland Wolves pursue them, but even the huge Wolf King followed in pursuit.

Unfortunately, although the Wolf King was huge, it didn't run very fast. Perhaps there were other factors, but it didn't have a strong desire to pursue the Knight's group that was harassing them, only letting a large number of Northland Wolves move, running around the gathering point to drive away the harassing Knight's group.

At night, Knight Lanisha and the others reached a place where the Northland Wolves couldn't follow, and rested there.

However, in the middle of the night, a strange wolf howl disturbed the Knight's group, who were resting but also ready for battle at any time. Strangely, a Forest Da Hei Xiong, which would normally hibernate in a bear den and no one dared to disturb, suddenly rushed out from the darkness.

The Knight and the Hunters had no choice but to fight this crazed Da Hei Xiong.

But this overlord of the Forest was clearly not easy to defeat. Firstly, it was night, and as Humans, everyone couldn't see clearly; secondly, halfway through the fight, everyone realized that the things in their Yingdi had been carried away by a tall, humanoid Monster.

Only then did Knight Lanisha realize that the other party's strategy was to make a feint to the east while attacking in the west, to lure the tiger away from the mountain, taking advantage of them fighting the tenacious Forest Da Hei Xiong to steal their food supplies.

After slightly repelling the Forest Da Hei Xiong, Knight Lanisha went directly to pursue the Monster that had stolen their supplies.

But the other party was very cunning, running directly all the way in the direction of the Northland Wolves, and while being pursued on the road, it kept making strange wolf howls, attracting and disturbing the large group of Northland Wolves in the distance.

In the end, the other party made their food a mess, scattering it all over the ground along the way. Seeing there was no other way, Knight Lanisha had to retreat to the campsite.

While Knight Lanisha was out pursuing, the Hunters also relied on the light of the Yingdi fire to give the invading Forest Da Hei Xiong a few painful blows, driving away the Forest Da Hei Xiong that the Arrow could not severely injure.

Unfortunately, from that day on, the Knight and the Hunters didn't really eat anything.

Because they didn't know if the situation on their side had been discovered by the cunning Northland Wolves, the Wolf King divided the adult Northland Wolves into several teams, chasing them day and night.

The Knight had no choice but to take the Hunters and make a large circle from the periphery, rushing and hurrying, and returned here to Rock Mountain within the agreed time.

Although they only killed ten or so Northland Wolves along the way and failed to kill more, at least the task of delaying the time for the Wolf Pack to assemble was completed very well.

Later on, the adult wolves among the Northland Wolves were sent out in large numbers to pursue them, and the Knight and Hunters did a good job of making the Northland Wolves wait in place for at least several more days.

After finishing these details, everyone began to walk toward the Jiedian on the mountain.

Jier carried an old Hunter on his back, the other old Hunter barely lay on the back of the Knight's warhorse, and the other two young people were supported by the old Hunter who had stayed behind as they moved forward.

Everyone bypassed the Metal Clamps all over the ground in the passage, carefully avoiding stepping on them with their feet. After all, it was a trap, and that thing ignored friend or foe; if one accidentally stepped on it, their legs and feet would definitely not be saved.

Although they would certainly be able to have a Church Priest treat them after returning to the city, they would find it difficult to participate in the subsequent battles.

Jier introduced the situation to Knight Lanisha and the Hunters who had gone out as they walked. Knight Lanisha didn't express any opinions on other things, but she did praise the falling stones Jier had arranged on the side of the passage.

Because she felt that only this thing could hurt the Wolf King of the Northland Wolves.

After all, if she herself were hit by such a massive Stone without protection, she would also be smashed into meat paste. Although it would be difficult to be hit for nothing by such a thing given their level of strength, it was a slight possibility if she were in battle with the Wolf King.

Or, use this thing to distract the Wolf King, which could also create an opportunity for her to gain an advantage in battle.

They climbed over the Wooden Wall of the First Position one by one using a ladder made of two pieces of wood; it was fine for the Humans, but it was very difficult for Lanisha's warhorse to get across.

Having no other choice, they first had the old Hunter on horseback help it over, then Lanisha mounted the horse and, through maneuvering, made the warhorse jump in place, leaping directly over the two-meter-high Wooden Wall and landing heavily on the open ground behind it.

Thud!

As the hooves landed, a massive sound echoed through the middle of the Rock Passage, the noise making Jier and the others' ears ache. Jier looked worriedly at the rocks on the upper sides of the Rock Passage, fearing they might fall down, which would not only damage the passage but also ruin the Metal Clamps that had not yet been put to use.

Fortunately, although the sound in the passage was loud, the resulting vibration was not significant; at the very least, the rocks along the sides of the passage did not move at all, merely shaking off some accumulated snow.

At the Wooden Wall of the Second Position, although the wall had not yet been fully repaired, they still could not pass through directly, and the team still had to climb over the wall using a simple wooden ladder made of two logs.

Lanisha still rode her warhorse, clearing the Wooden Wall with a single jump. As for Jier, he made two trips to carry the two old Hunters, who were weak from hunger, over the wall.

The Third Position had not yet been built, so everyone bypassed the obstructing timber materials and returned directly to the Jiedian, which served as the Fourth Position.

The two young Hunters had already finished cooking the food; the radishes and Potatoes cut into chunks were nutrient-rich and filling root vegetables, supplemented with some Cured meat cut into small pieces—not wolf meat, but expensive Cured meat they had bought from River Mouth Town.

The food boiled in the pot did not need extra salt; the salt content in the Cured meat was enough on its own.

The aroma of the food was overflowing, and the scent alone made the weak Knight and Hunters feel much more spirited.

Seeing them start to eat, Jier and his companions briefly reported the progress of the defensive line construction over the past few days to the Knight who was eating. Lanisha was basically satisfied, so Jier laid out his entire defensive plan, hoping they could rest for the afternoon and then join them in the evening to build the Third Position and renovate the Jiedian serving as the Fourth Position.

The Knight agreed and also approved their use of Northland Wolf pelts as leather strips, stating that she would join in as well; however, she wouldn't be of much use in building the Wooden Wall, as she was more interested in setting up some rockfall traps on the upper sides of the passage.

Although this did not align with the fighting spirit of a Knight, the team's enemy at this time was not Human, so there was no need to care about such things.

As long as they could kill more Northland Wolves, that was enough.

After eating their fill, the Knight and Hunters who had been out earlier rested in the Jiedian Tent. For a time, snoring filled the air; Jier first had his companions build the Wooden Wall for the Second Position, while he removed the armor from the Knight's warhorse and fed it a large amount of hay and food, letting this fellow eat its fill as well.

Next, Jier removed the Rope that had connected the warhorse to the Snowboard, shouldered the Rope, and took his weapon as he walked toward the top of Rock Mountain.

Leaving the Rock Passage, the final stretch of road to the top of Rock Mountain was truly suitable for establishing the final Fifth Position. The road here was narrow and steep enough that only a small amount of wood would be needed to seal it off, which would be enough to inflict heavy casualties on the Northland Wolves attacking this place.

The wind was still very strong on the rocky platform at the summit; although invisible to the naked eye, the wind would quietly carry away all the heat here, and by the time one realized it, they would be frozen stiff.

Jier wrapped his wolf-fur Cloak tightly around himself; he was not wearing his own armor because the Jiedian was protected by the first defensive line in front, and he was safe enough on Rock Mountain.

After walking around the platform at the top of Rock Mountain, Jier carefully leaned his head over the edge of the platform to observe where he could safely descend to the bottom using the Rope.

This would be a safe evacuation point that the Northland Wolves would never expect. They would resist all the way through the Rock Passage, giving the Northland Wolves and the Wolf King the illusion of having no way out, while this would be the escape route to survive a desperate situation.

Humans are different from wolves; wolves have no hands and cannot use tools, so there are too many things they cannot do. Humans, however, can accomplish many things with their hands.

Sliding down the cliff along a rope is something the Northland Wolves could never do.

Jier circled the summit twice and found a suitable spot. The summit looked high and steep, but in reality, there were still some places to find a foothold after going over the edge of the platform.

Jier drew his Long Sword here and used the Long Sword, which was far sturdier than the rock, to carve two notches into the edge of the rocky platform, then lowered the long Rope from there. Once one end of the Rope reached a small platform below where a person could stand, Jier marked the Rope, pulled it back up, and cut it with his Long Sword at the marked spot.

He did this to save Rope; after all, these sturdy Ropes were brought from the town and were far superior to leather strips cut from wolf pelts. This thing was the final escape route and had to be reliable enough; Jier dared not use homemade leather strips for this.

If it snapped at a critical moment later, then everything would be over.

Jier tied a small loop at one end of the Rope and hooked it into the groove he had hacked out with his Long Sword. Then he shouldered all the remaining Rope, sheathed his Long Sword, and carefully slid down along the Rope.

There was not as much cold wind on the edge of the cliff as there was on the summit platform; the wind here was blocked by the entire Rock Mountain, and the wind blowing from the north could not affect this side of the cliff in the slightest.

Jier slid twenty meters down the Rope to the bottom, and only after his feet touched the solid ground did he look around.

He frowned.

Because no matter how he looked at it, the surroundings did not look like a naturally formed landing platform; instead, it looked like a part of a passage embedded inside the Rock Mountain.

How to put it, Jier saw traces of sword and blade strikes on the nearby rock wall, as well as shattered indentations from impacts with hard objects; these were clearly caused by battle.

But this was not the Rock Passage that led all the way to the top of Rock Mountain.

He inspected the area and discovered that in this small platform tilting inward, the rocks on the left and right sides were clearly not of one piece with the rocks closer to the inside of the mountain.

The rocks of various sizes blocking the left and right sides, no matter how one looked at them, seemed to have been specifically destroyed and blocked off at a later time.

He recalled what that beautiful Griffin Rider had said earlier: this place was originally supposed to be the end of a passage that the Dwarves had raised from the earth to cross the barrier at the northern border.

Thinking carefully, if this was the end of a passage, then this Rock Mountain should be hollow?

Inside the Rock Mountain, there must have been a spacious exit that could allow a large troop of Dwarf Soldiers to pass through on foot. And after the Knight Order conquered this place many years ago, they must have completely destroyed it, using the original rock materials of the Rock Mountain to completely block off the various exits of this passage.

Thinking of this, Jier scratched his cheek, feeling it was quite interesting. And when he approached one side of the platform wall, he actually heard a low, faint, hollow sound of wind.

He examined the rocks piled up in various sizes, guessing that perhaps the collapse here wasn't very thick? That was why there was wind blowing out from the gaps in the rocks?