Chapter 397: The Battle of Rock Mountain — Retreats, Conversations, and a Terrible Night

He took off his cold-weather gloves and tried to sense the potential airflow of the surrounding air.

However, after a good while of finding nothing, Jier examined his own fingers and discovered that they were covered in rough skin; the insides of his palms, which frequently gripped weapons and tools, had even thicker calluses.

Sighing, Jier fell silent for a moment. Then he opened his mouth, licked his fingers a few times, and let his saliva-moistened fingers roam near the rock wall.

This trick worked well; he soon discovered a blocked wall crevice through the changes in heat and cold felt by his fingers.

Drawing his Dagger, Jier used the tip to poke and scrape at the spot where cold air was blowing, enlarging the originally tiny crevice. Following the widened gap, Jier pried out a fissure along the edge of the Stone.

By this point, the Dagger was no longer useful; these Stones had collapsed and piled up one after another, and they couldn't be moved with this thing. Although his Long Sword was sturdy, it wasn't the right tool either.

Even though he couldn't get through himself, he still leaned his head toward the pried-open crevice, attempting to see what it looked like on the other side.

To his disappointment, it was pitch black inside. Although he could feel from the cold air blowing through the crevice that this passage was straight and unobstructed by Stones, he still couldn't see anything on the other side, and he didn't have a small enough Torch on hand, so naturally, he couldn't see what it looked like inside.

After considering it, Jier gave up; he put his things away and resumed his previous work.

Compared to curiously exploring the interior of this Rock Mountain, the battle preparations right in front of him were much more important. These matters could be left for later, after defeating the Northern Wolf Pack and the Wolf King, if everything went as smoothly as he hoped.

The steepest part of Rock Mountain was the top platform; some distance down from there, the sheer, vertical cliff faces disappeared, and although it was still very steep, it was at least a slope.

Returning to the edge of this narrow platform, Jier chose a suitable path downward. They didn't have much Rope, so it was impossible to take the route with the most footholds; instead, he had to take a route that was as steep as possible and required little Rope.

After selecting the route's direction, Jier used his Long Sword to split the rock at a suitable spot and hung a length of Rope of appropriate size upon it. Then, he slid down the slope along this Rope, arriving at the next narrow platform that could barely serve as a foothold.

Here, Jier discovered two more places where the Rock Mountain body was not composed of a single piece, but looked as if it had been forcibly plugged by someone with huge Stones.

He rubbed his chin while observing, guessing that these two spots must have been quite conspicuous several decades ago, but after many years of wind, sun, rain, and snow, those places originally sealed by people would basically be impossible to discover now unless one went looking for them specifically.

Jier shook his head, settled his mind, and stopped paying attention to those suspicious spots, focusing instead on his own work.

Not long after, when Jier tied the last section of Rope to the notch he had hacked into the edge of the rock, his specially designed escape route was finally finished.

After simply tidying up the things at hand, Jier grabbed the rope and turned to climb down.

From this last platform to the ground was only about ten meters, not a long distance; when Jier was no more than three meters from the ground, he let go of the Rope and jumped down.

Thud.

Jier landed on his feet, bending his knees to absorb the impact of the landing, and his strong body absorbed the shock of the jump well. He stomped his feet on the spot, feeling a bit of numbness in his soles, but it was nothing; Jier ignored it and looked up from the bottom of the mountain at the route he had just descended.

On the stern Rock Mountain body covered in snow, the thick brown sturdy hemp rope was still quite conspicuous. But if he were to climb back up in reverse later and collect all the Ropes onto the platform, the slight notches hacked into the edge of the rock would be impossible for anything to observe or discover from the bottom.

If you asked him to ignore the ropes and find the original route he came down, he would even find it a bit difficult.

After carefully confirming the situation all around the bottom of this Rock Mountain, he found nothing amiss. This place was very far from the Rock Passage of the Rock Mountain, basically on the other side of the mountain body; one couldn't even see the situation over there from here.

Feeling that it was done well, Jier climbed back up from here by grabbing the rope.

It is easy to go down but hard to go up; this saying was quite appropriate here. It was fortunate that Jier wasn't wearing his full suit of armor, or climbing up would have been even more strenuous.

When he was less than a meter away from the first platform from the ground, Jier gripped the rope tightly with one hand, and then, using the rough texture of the rock wall with his feet, he stretched one arm far out to grab the edge of the platform.

With a solid load-bearing point, his other arm let go of the rope and climbed up. With a burst of kicking from his feet, his whole body flipped up.

After collecting the rope and coiling it into circles, Jier placed the rope on the inner edge of the platform, making it convenient to take later.

Then he turned around and continued climbing toward the top of the mountain.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff. Ha, that was truly terrifying." Jier lay on his back on the top platform of the Rock Mountain, not caring about the cold wind at the summit, breathing in large gulps of fresh, icy air to soothe his pounding heart.

After resting for a good while, until he began to feel cold, Jier finally moved his limp limbs, pulled up the rope from the edge of the platform, and coiled it.

Returning to the Jiedian, since a good while had passed, everyone who had been resting had also woken up and crawled out of their respective Tents.

"Xiao Ji'er, where did you run off to? We looked for you everywhere and couldn't find you?" the old Hunter asked while roasting a Potato over the fire.

Jier greeted everyone and then explained that he had made an escape route.

The Hunters were all very interested in this and rose one after another to go take a look. Knight Lanisha, however, was not very interested; after all, for a Knight of her skill, where and how to descend a mountain was not a problem. She was more worried about how to handle the subsequent battle situation.

Taking advantage of the time while the Hunters went to look at the rope escape route, the female Knight spoke to Jier about the battle situation that would surely occur later.

"Xiao Ji'er, can you tell me how you've arranged the upcoming battle? You are not an ordinary person; everyone has seen this. Hurry and tell me, after all, this concerns the life and death of every one of us. It also concerns whether we can seize this great opportunity." Knight Lanisha leaned against the Rock Passage, resting her legs, which were clad in thick armor, by the fire as she asked.

Jier scratched his head, pondered for a moment, and then explained his predictions and arrangements for the upcoming battle. Basically, it was designed according to the intelligence provided earlier by Knight Lanisha: in the face of a large Northern Wolf Pack, the female Knight, who was unaffected by the terrain, would act as a distraction for the Wolf King of equal strength, trying her best to lure it away from the battle between the ordinary wolves and the Hunters without triggering a full-scale fight.

Afterward, the Hunters would rely on the Rock Passage as their position, intercepting the attacking Northern Wolf Pack layer by layer.

Judging by Jier's assessment of the individual strength of the Northern Wolves, if the strange Northern Wolves with special abilities like the ones encountered before were rare, they could basically inflict heavy losses on the attacking Northern Wolves at the first and second defensive lines.

At this time, the Wolf King of the Northern Wolves would certainly not just watch; it would definitely find a way to intervene in the battle, either by attacking directly from the Rock Passage or by rushing over from the Rock Mountain body next to the Rock Passage to find a way to kill the Hunters.

At this point, there were two possibilities. Either trigger the falling rocks next to the Rock Passage to obstruct the Wolf Pack, and then the Knight herself and the Hunters would attack the Wolf King together.

This might incur losses, but based on the battle situations of the past few years, the Knight's side, with the support of the Hunters and Jier, would definitely have the upper hand.

The other possibility was that the Wolf King would lead the Wolf Pack to launch an attack from the Rock Passage together.

At this time, it would require Knight Lanisha to distract the Wolf King at close range, trying her best to keep it on the ground of the Rock Passage. And at the right moment, the Knight would give a signal to guide the Hunters to shoot at the Stones, causing large rocks to fall from the space above one side of the passage, inflicting as much damage as possible on the Wolf King.

If they could hit the Wolf King, that would be best; if they couldn't, they could still inflict heavy casualties on the Northern Wolves following the Wolf King. If that Wolf King did not want its Northern Wolf subordinates to suffer heavy damage, it would be best if it took the impact of the falling boulders itself.

In this way, the most critical part of this battle—defeating the Wolf King—would see great progress.

"At that time, Sir Knight, you can go all out; this will be the best time to hunt the Wolf King. If it runs, you chase. Don't worry about us; our main role in this battle will have already been fulfilled," Jier said.

Adding a piece of firewood to the fire, Knight Lanisha frowned and said, "I'll go kill the Wolf King, which will definitely run away, but what about you all?"

Jier smiled and pointed at the Hunters returning from above the Rock Passage: "We have a way out. After you and the Wolf King leave the battlefield, we will still resist the Northern Wolves' attack layer by layer, if they still attack. Those animals will certainly not expect that the mountaintop, which looks like a dead end, is actually our evacuation route."

"Cunning kid." Knight Lanisha smiled slightly: "The situation will probably be just as you said. Huff, none of you better die."

"Haha, Sir Knight, it's hard for us to die even if we wanted to. That thing Xiao Ji'er made looks pretty good," an old Hunter sitting by the fire said.

"It's just that it looks too high. Seriously, it's too high and too dangerous; I get dizzy looking at it," another Hunter muttered; he seemed to be a bit afraid of heights.

"Then don't look down, just keep your eyes fixed on the rock wall," Jier suggested to the Hunter who was afraid of heights.

Although some felt that thing was a bit dangerous, it was at least a way out; no one disliked having an extra retreat route in case of battle failure, so even if they felt it was dangerous, no one said they wouldn't use it.

Everyone ate some food, then all got up and joined in the construction of the defensive lines.

With the addition of Knight Lanisha, Jier could hand over the work of designing and manufacturing the falling rocks for the Rock Passage to the female Knight, who was interested in it.

Everyone else was busy building one defensive line after another.

Until the second night, when the vanguard howl of the Northern Wolf Pack rang out in the Forest outside the Rock Mountain.

"They're coming! Even though it's night, everyone get to the first line of defense!" Knight Lanisha said loudly. She herself hurried back to the Stronghold Camp to fill the small bag at her waist with pre-roasted dried meat. She pulled up her warhorse and took the time to drape it in metal horse armor.

Jier and the four young men quickened their pace, running and leaping as they rushed down from the final defensive position, grabbed their weapons, and continued running downward.

While running, Jier shouted to the old Hunters lagging behind: "Old timers, bring more Torches for lighting, and food too!"

"Got it! Keep moving, don't delay!" the four old Hunters shouted in unison.

Jier and the other four quickly picked up their pace. Although they had considered that the Northern Wolf Pack might arrive at night and had prepared for the possibility of night combat at their positions, Jier had hoped they would arrive during the day tomorrow; after all, considering the distance from the Northern Wolf Pack's gathering point to the Rock Mountain, he judged it more likely they would arrive sometime during the next day.

He hadn't expected them to be a full night ahead of his calculations.

Jier cursed as he ran, feeling somewhat anxious and worried in his heart.

"Huff, huff, Jier, don't worry, you've done a great job! At least this time, we're doing better than the previous few times!" a young Hunter beside him said with a smile.

"Huff, huff, exactly. In past years, every expedition resulted in heavy casualties. Honestly, the fact that none of us have been injured yet is already the best-case scenario I could have imagined."

"Hey, that's only because Jier joined us this time. It was truly great that Knight Lanisha brought you into the team! Huff, huff."

"I hope we can finish off the Wolf Pack this year; I don't want to have to come back again next winter! Huff, huff."

The young Hunters beside him all voiced their opinions while running. Upon hearing this, Jier relaxed: "Ha, is that so? In that case, let's all keep our spirits up! Let's defeat them!"

"Right!" X4

Everyone climbed over one Wooden Wall after another, not forgetting to have someone set up the wooden ladders for moving back and forth to facilitate others passing through later. Especially for the old Hunters, whose bodies were not as energetic as the young men's, they still had to carry enough supplies to support those at the front.

Jier was the first to run to the first Wooden Wall at the entrance of the Rock Passage; just by listening to the rustling sounds in the distance ahead, he knew the Northern Wolf Pack was taking advantage of the night's darkness to sneak up on them.

Jier was not at all surprised that these Northern Wolf Pack members could find these Humans here so quickly. Although he had previously killed several Northern Wolf Pack scouts, those could not have been all of them.

There must have been the most cautious Northern Wolf Pack members who did not rashly attack Jier himself when he was intentionally left alone earlier. Therefore, it was only natural that the vanguard of these Northern Wolf Pack members would attack them the moment they arrived.

Jier held his Torch high, standing on top of the Wooden Wall, first signaling the young Hunters to light the piles of wood by the wall for illumination, and then having a Hunter prepare the pre-prepared, Rope-bound headless Arrows to immediately shoot at the wood piled in the recesses of the rock walls on both sides of the Rock Passage.

Once the wood in those places was ignited, it could provide illumination for the entire defensive line. It was far more effective than the light from the piles of wood behind the Wooden Wall.

Whoosh, crackle.

The young Hunters used Torches to light the piles of wood on the left and right behind the Wooden Wall; the pre-prepared dry wood was quickly ignited, followed by thin branches, and then thick, sturdy, slow-burning logs.

After the piles of wood behind were lit, they cast the shadow of Jier, who was standing on the Wooden Wall, far out into the Rock Passage.

Then, two Arrows whistled through the air.

A young Hunter who had been prepared shot the lit Rocket, accurately hitting the wood in the rock wall recesses in the dark, guided by the light from the piles of wood behind.

These pieces of wood had been coated with a layer of wolf Grease; being animal fat, they ignited as soon as they met an open flame.

The Hunter quickly pulled the Arrow back along the Rope, stepped on it to extinguish the flame, and carefully put the Arrow away. It was difficult to get Arrow supplies here, so it was better to save them as much as possible.

With the illumination from the front sides, although the flames were not large, they still revealed the figures of the sneaking Northern Wolf Pack members crawling forward.

"I see you!" Jier smiled slightly, then he roared: "Ah!! Come on!"

Come on!

Come on!

Come on!

The young Hunters also joined in the shouting; in the quiet Forest of the winter night, the false calm was broken, and the night became restless.

Seeing that their sneak attack had been discovered by the Humans who had arrived, the Northern Wolf Pack vanguards no longer hid, jumping up from the ground and howling in unison, refusing to be outdone.

"Awoooo!!!"

The number of Northern Wolf Pack members far exceeded the five of them, so the Humans' shouting was immediately drowned out.

The roars of the Wolf Pack vanguards were incessant, never stopping, shaking the snow off the large trees in the nearby Forest and also shaking some unstable snow off the Rock Mountain itself.

Two young Hunters who had not followed the initial charge were even intimidated by the roars of so many ferocious animals and took two steps back.

Everyone became nervous and swallowed their spit, only then realizing the disparity in numbers between the Humans and the Northern Wolf Pack.

"Steady, don't be afraid! They can't get through. *Cough, cough*, we have a plan." Jier was also a bit nervous. Could his planned arrangements really handle so many Northern Wolf Pack members? And there were so many wolves—this wasn't even all of them.

Taking a deep breath, Jier jumped off the Wooden Wall and stood behind it, fixing the Torch in his hand into a small hole left specifically for it on top of the Wooden Wall, while drawing his Long Sword.

Then, he considered for a moment, put the Long Sword back, and turned to draw an axe from his back. His hand also touched a small Leather Bag at his waist, but he gave up on using the item inside.

The bag contained a Sugar Pill made from Red-eye Mushroom powder; this was something he carried with him, a key combat item meant for critical moments.

The battle had not yet begun, so there was no rush to take it now.

Subsequently, the emboldened Northern Wolf Pack members charged toward the Rock Passage all at once.