Chapter 402: The Battle of Rock Mountain — The Two-handed Axe of the Head-Cleaver, Liberated and Acknowledged

Jier himself was incredibly astonished that the axe he had thrown could possess such fierce and unexpected power; it seemed to have a mind and personality of its own, stirred by the continuous, intense battle to reveal the power hidden within it.

Perhaps, this was the true power this axe held many years ago?

Although Jier was shocked and inexplicably surprised, he followed the feeling in his heart, as well as the knowledge and insights he had gained from bards in taverns and theatrical performances. He planted his feet firmly, then released the shield in his left hand, letting it drop, and stretched his empty hands straight out with palms open.

He muttered to himself: "Return, Head-Cleaver! Return, my weapon, you are my weapon, respond to me, accompany me in battle!"

His lips collided, making a sound even he could not hear, but the corresponding words were incomparably clear in Jier's own heart.

The two-handed axe, which had been flying and crashing wildly in the Rock Passage opposite, seemed to have received some kind of summons; the spinning, dancing axe head paused noticeably in mid-air, and then, reversing its previous direction of rotation, it whistled straight toward Jier.

"Jier, watch out!"

"It's flying back! Hurry, dodge!"

Although the fellow Hunters were shocked by the magical performance of Jier's axe, seeing the scene at that moment, they still shouted reminders to Xiao Ji'er from the Wooden Wall.

However, Jier did not respond. Unlike the others, who only heard the loud whistling sound made by the spinning axe, Jier himself heard much more than they did; mixed into the great whistling were the sounds of multiple monsters and beasts. Some he had never heard before, some he still had impressions of, and some he completely did not want to recall again.

Everything around him slowed down and was reflected in his eyes. Watching the spinning axe gradually closing in before him, Jier forcibly steadied his mind while constantly adjusting the position of his arms, attempting to grab it the moment it reached him.

Although he realized in a flash that if he failed to catch it properly, he would be smashed apart from the front by the axe's immense force, Jier was simultaneously confident that he, coming from another world, would not die here and now.

If his arrival in this other world was an accident, then he firmly believed that man can conquer nature; he was determined to subdue the weapon before him.

If his arrival in this other world was not an accident, then he believed in the arrangements of fate, and his story would never stop at this moment.

Come! Come!

Jier opened his red eyes wide, his whole body tensed, ready to catch the incoming weapon.

Unexpectedly, the weapon, which had appeared so aggressive, faced the unyielding Jier and suddenly slowed down when it reached a distance of two meters in front of him. The whistling, swirling sound vanished, and the blue halo radiating from the whole thing slowly retracted back into the blue axe head.

The long wooden handle, like the tail of an obedient puppy, changed position and was sent straight into his open palm with a *bang*.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then, the Hunters breathed a sigh of relief in joy.

"Nicely done! Jier."

"Give those Northland Wolves another round, look, they are timid and afraid!"

Indeed, as the Hunters said, because of the axe's wild spinning just moments ago, the area in front of the giant rock debris was covered in chunks of Northland Wolf meat smashed into pulp. This had frightened the other Northland Wolves that had originally intended to attack.

These cunning and ferocious beasts were incredibly proactive when facing power they could understand, possessing the courage to fight even if their side was not the opponent; but when they saw power they could not understand, like the one just now, the hidden survival instincts of these animals told them: Stop! Be careful! That thing is deadly! Retreat! Observe some more! Let the stronger companions go test it out!

These contents, in a form of collective subconscious, caused the remaining gathered Northland Wolves to stay in place, making no moves.

At the same time, Jier gripped the handle of the axe with both hands.

A blue glimmer was faintly emitted from the blue axe head; although it did not look like it was releasing a large amount of power as it had just now, Jier knew he seemed to be able to call it out and erupt with it at any time.

Strangely, from the moment he caught the axe, the cry of that spider-type Magic Beast from before began to echo faintly in his ears.

After stroking the axe, Jier placed it into the armor slot on his back.

The cry of the Magic Beast slowly faded, and Jier breathed a sigh of relief.

Pulling the Long Sword out from where it was stuck in the ground, he returned it to the Sword Sheath, and Jier picked up the Shield and strapped it to his left arm.

He discovered that the Northland Wolves at the entrance of the passage ahead seemed to have been frightened, and at this moment, none were attempting to launch an attack. He did not know how long they would be like this, but Jier was not idle at this moment.

He picked up the Long Spear and carefully used his left hand to grab the tails of the wolf corpses in the passage and pull them back. The simple wooden ladder for entering and exiting the Wooden Wall had already been dismantled by them to use as firewood; Jier had no choice but to lift the corpses one by one, letting the young Hunters above bend down, grab them, and haul them in.

The Arrow on the wolf corpses would be pulled out, wiped clean, and used again. The corpses would be piled directly at the base inside the Wooden Wall, waiting to be burned as firewood later.

When Jier approached the entrance of the passage, he discovered to his surprise that as he neared, the Northland Wolves not far away would even retreat a few steps, staring at him with an inexplicable look.

Jier knew these guys were not afraid of him, but of the axe on his back. Jier himself was actually a bit afraid, but he would repeatedly mutter words in his heart: all of them were things like "this is your weapon," "because of you, the owner of the axe took it out from the darkness and gifted it," "you use it to fight, and have never violated the agreement you made with the giver."

With a clear conscience, there was nothing to be afraid of; it was only natural to use your own weapon to kill the enemy.

Just like that, this small battlefield fell silent. Jier also returned to the bottom of the Wooden Wall, reversed the Long Spear, and handed the butt of the spear to his companions above, letting them pull him up together.

"Heave, ho, Jier, you are really heavy."

"Really, I just realized Xiao Ji'er is this heavy. What's going on?"

Jier grabbed the edge of the Wooden Wall with his hands, supporting himself against the wall with one hand and holding the wooden shaft of the Long Spear with the other, and flipped himself up.

He gave a chuckle: "Eat a lot, grow fast. The weapon is also a bit heavy."

Standing in the center of the Wooden Wall, Jier leaned against the edge of the wall to rest.

At this moment, it was clearly a rare gap in the battle, and everyone understood this, so they also took the time to rest.

Some rubbed their arms, trying to relax their muscles and relieve the muscle fatigue from continuous archery. Some had upset stomachs and quickly ran down to relieve themselves at a corner in the passage behind.

Some, like Jier, did not stop their mouths during the gap, acting as if the various smells of blood in the air did not exist, and ate large mouthfuls of food that they did not know if they would be able to eat tomorrow.

Four old Hunters gathered behind Jier, talking to him curiously, observing the blue axe head of the axe that was constantly emitting a blue glimmer on Jier's back.

"So, this axe has been around for some years?" an old Hunter asked, gently touching the image of the monster on the axe face with his finger.

Jier nodded: "Yeah, I heard from Bodeer the blacksmith that this is a family heirloom of theirs. I was hunting goblins in the Cunzi before, and after I killed a hundred of them, the blacksmith gifted it to me. He said he couldn't use it anyway, and that he would definitely forge even more excellent weapons in the future."

After finishing, Jier shrugged, feeling that with Bodeer the blacksmith's skills, that seemed a bit difficult, and with the supernatural nature of this weapon released at this moment, it seemed even more difficult to forge a weapon that could surpass it.

Pausing, Jier thought for a moment and said: "But it's not his home in Duolarlin Village, but his ancestors' from before they migrated to the Kingdom."

The old Hunters nodded in understanding: "No wonder. I know Bodeer the blacksmith; I am from Duolarlin Village myself, but I didn't expect his ancestors to have possessed such a weapon when they were in the Empire. Looking at the Empire's forging technology, it's actually not an exaggeration."

"The monster heads on this, look, the first three are special heads made of copper inlaid on it, while the remaining few seem to have been carved by someone," the old Hunter said, pointing to this side of the axe.

Although Jier could not see his back, he knew what they were talking about: "Right, right. Those three inlaid monster heads were things the axe originally had; they should be the monsters the original owner of this axe killed while defending their hometown, and the ones behind are the monsters I defeated myself."

Jier also explained: "Honestly, the remaining monster images weren't made by me, but by the weapon itself. There is also a sentence left by the original owner on the other side."

The old Hunter flipped the axe over and let the old guy among them, who was literate because of his Faith in the god of Hunting, read the words on it: "Wood spirits, water monsters, and dark beasts, all fall to my axe."

Several of them then dropped the topic of the axe and turned to talk about wood spirits, water monsters, and dark beasts.

Jier listened very carefully; after all, he was not a true local, and he did not know the vast majority of the stories and news these old guys had heard their whole lives.

In Jier's understanding, the so-called wood spirits were mostly just trees that had become spirits or were demonized, or something similar.

But in the words of the old Hunters, he learned that the wood spirits Jier knew were actually more commonly referred to collectively as Magic Beasts here, and the definition of Magic Beast included other types besides animals; plants, aquatic ones, and nature itself were all included in the term Magic Beast.

And the separate term "wood spirit," in the Empire, specifically referred to a kind of special thing.

It is a strange monster formed by the collective consciousness of an entire forest's plants. In the stories heard by old hunters, if a forest undergoes a great fire that burns all the trees, or is felled by some person or race in a short time, this monster called a Wood Spirit will be born in the place where the forest once stood.

It is called a monster, but it is formless and intangible; ordinary people who step into the place where the forest once stood will be killed by it silently. But if no one disturbs it, this Wood Spirit will, after a period of time, use its own power to regenerate the original forest.

Of course, those are all legends; the old hunters and their friends and relatives have never actually seen a real Wood Spirit.

Nor do they know why the original owner of this axe wanted to hunt the so-called Wood Spirit.

On the axe, the image of this Wood Spirit is a broken tree branch emitting a halo of light. It does look somewhat consistent with the image of the Wood Spirit described by the old hunters.

The image of the second monster is a Water Monster.

As people of Kendall County, which has a Da He within its borders, the old hunters are not unfamiliar with Water Monsters. Unlike stories from other regions where Water Monsters run rampant and harm people, the image of the Water Monster in Kendall County is somewhat different because there are high-ranking Priests of the God of Rivers and Lakes.

In the upper reaches of the Kendall River, there are indeed Water Monsters in the river, but they do not harm people; on the contrary, they save humans who fall into the water and attack other animals that try to cross the river.

Instead, some of the large fish in the water are quite irritable and often attack humans. However, this does not elicit a reaction from those two high-ranking Priests. After all, in the view of the Church of the God of Rivers and Lakes, humans eating fish, fish eating humans, and so on, is nothing more than the most normal thing.

The four old hunters said they have all seen the Water Monsters in the river. Because this is not a story or legend, they often run toward the Kendall River when they are chased by prey they cannot defeat while patrolling and Hunting on the north side of River Mouth Town; as long as they run to the riverbank, they are safe, and those animals, no matter how ferocious, will not chase them to the riverbank.

Once the prey loses its mind and really wants to chase, the old hunters jump into the river and swim toward the center. If the prey dares to chase, before long, that thing will suddenly sink into the water and then disappear without a trace.

Speaking of this, the old hunters all indicated that when the Water Monster attacks animals, there are long black shadows in the water, as if the Water Monster has many long tentacles.

As for the Water Monster saving humans who fall into the water, the four old hunters who can all swim indicated they have never seen it, perhaps because they have no need for rescue.

This makes them feel quite regretful.

The last Dark Beast, the copper plate inlaid on the axe face, has a rather abstract image: a one-eyed beast head, with arrows pointing toward the beast head all around it.

At a glance, it looks like someone is shooting at that thing. But if one carefully ponders the name "Dark Beast," one can understand that those arrows do not represent real bow Arrows, but represent that this monster will absorb the surrounding light?

The old hunters have not seen this thing, and even related stories and legends are rare; only one old hunter indicated that he had seen such a thing in a performance he watched when he was a child.

When Dark Beasts are young, they hide in the dark of night; no matter how humans illuminate, they cannot find them at night. Once a Dark Beast grows up, regardless of day or night, it will dissipate the light in a large area around its body, causing complete inability to see. This kind of monster is powerful, but it is completely at odds with the more powerful Sun God Church. The church has been hunting this kind of monster, and now, in all areas covered by the human Sun God Church, there is no trace of Dark Beasts.

Jier listened to the old hunters talking, while inwardly pondering where the original owner of the Yueshui Skull Two-Handed Axe was, and how they managed to kill such a formidable monster.

Just hearing that the enemy of the Dark Beast is the massive Sun God Church, one knows that this kind of monster must be truly very powerful.

Time passed until noon amidst Jier and the others' conversation and vigilance.

Although they were scared off by the great display of power from Jier's axe during the previous attack, the Northland Wolves have been surrounding the entrance of the passage. Not only that, other Northland Wolves circled the entire Rock Mountain many times, repeatedly confirming that these humans were indeed guarding this one place.

Clever and cunning, they saw the humans' plan, which was to rely on the narrow terrain to consume their numbers along the way. This left the Northland Wolves with no solution, yet they were not worried.

Because as long as their Wolf King makes a move, the obstacles created by those humans will vanish into thin air in an instant.

Therefore, while Jier and the others were resting and keeping watch, the other Northland Wolves were all keeping an eye on the battle between the human Knight and their Wolf King in the open space between the distant Forest and the Rock Mountain.

The battle between the two was not the kind of intense, climactic fight; although the level of combat was indeed high, their battle was more about repeated collisions, probing, clashing, fighting, retreating, and then colliding and probing again.

The human Knight was riding a tall Armored Warhorse and had thick armor that the Northland Wolves did not have; the Wolf King fought and struck the warhorse and the Knight several times, but only left a few scratch marks on the armor.

During the battle, Knight Lanisha was also repeatedly affected by the fur of the Wolf King that flew in the air. When the Wolf King jumped at high speed on the ground, the fur flying in the air would constantly change positions with it under its control. It repeatedly affected Knight Lanisha's judgment, making the female Knight mistakenly believe that the target she was attacking was the real Wolf King, only to find after the weapon hit that there was nothing under the empty Wolf Skin.

And at this moment, the real Wolf King would take the opportunity to attack Knight Lanisha.

After this happened a few times, Knight Lanisha became ruthless and kept chasing and attacking the flying Wolf King's fur.

Seeing the fur under its control being treated as the primary attack target by the human female Knight, the Wolf King manipulated that thing to keep flying into the sky. However, it did not expect that Knight Lanisha would jump off her horse, explode with power on the spot, and jump up, reaching a height higher than the Wolf King's fur in an instant.

She drew the Single-handed Heavy Sword she had been carrying on her back and threw it heavily horizontally.

Whoosh—whirr.

The heavy sword was thrown horizontally using the Knight's specialized technique; after hitting the fur in the air, its powerful force caused the fur to fall straight to the ground.

The Wolf King guessed that its fur would probably not be saved, so it immediately gave up controlling the fur and turned to run toward the warhorse left on the ground by the human female Knight.

As a result, a whistle came from the sky; the trotting warhorse heard it and began to run at high speed. The Wolf King could not catch up and could only watch as the human Knight landed heavily, smashing a snow pit into the ground, and then grabbed the warhorse that happened to run past from the side.

On the other side, the Wolf King's fur, which had been knocked down by the Knight's Single-handed Heavy Sword, also landed nearby at the same time. Knight Lanisha rode over and used her Long Spear to lift the Wolf King's fur, which was wrapped around the Single-handed Heavy Sword.

This thing was still trying to fly away and return to the Wolf King's side, but with a rather heavy Single-handed Heavy Sword hanging on the fur, its flight was as slow as dragging a person.

After lifting the fur, Knight Lanisha held the Single-handed Heavy Sword in one hand and the Long Spear in the other, spread her arms with force, and tore the Wolf King's white fur into two pieces.

Only then did this empty Wolf King fur stop floating in the air, as if it had died.

Opposite, the Wolf King hissed and ground its teeth, the fur on its belly twitching; it looked furious. But immediately after, three white shadows rose from the Forest behind it all at once.

Those were three other pure white furs flying in the air.

Knight Lanisha lifted her Faceplate and spat out a mouthful of blood: "You've brought out your real skills, huh. Ptooey, even if you shed your skin once a year, let's see how many more you have!"

Closing her metal Faceplate, she spurred her horse to accelerate toward the Northland Wolf King, deciding to give the Wolf King a hard blow before the three shadows in the distance flew over.