Chapter 409: Battle of the Rock Mountain — The Injured Knight and the Wolf King

A large portion of Knight Lanisha's armor was currently stained with a scorching, scalding blood that radiated a temperature like fire; some parts of the Knight Armor not made of metal were being ignited by this high heat.

"Hoo." Enduring the intense heat rushing toward his face, Jier dragged the heavy Knight Lanisha away from the Wolf King's belly.

In Knight Lanisha's right hand, she was surprisingly still clutching the Fine Sword she had been using all along. The blade of this Fine Sword was covered in an excessive amount of blood, and it was emitting high heat without pause.

Yet even so, Knight Lanisha had not once loosened her grip on the hilt. It was unclear whether this was because her armor had insulating properties, or if Knight Lanisha herself was simply not particularly sensitive to heat.

As soon as they were away from the Wolf King, Knight Lanisha began to groan in pain in a low voice. Jier immediately scooped up some ice and snow he had cleared to the corner of the rock wall and sprinkled it over the Knight Armor, attempting to cool her down.

Ssssss.

Handful after handful of ice and snow landed on her, immediately turning into water vapor that dissipated due to the high heat. Although it did not seem very effective, Knight Lanisha felt at least a little better.

Ignoring the pain, the female knight rolled from her prone position on the ground to lie on her back.

She used the arm that had not been splashed with the Wolf King's blood to wipe her Metal Helmet, flipping open the tightly closed Faceplate.

"Hiss, this." Knight Lanisha said nothing, but Jier was startled.

Because half of Knight Lanisha's face had skin that was now scalded and curled, as if someone had branded her with a red-hot iron.

Jier saw that the area where the female knight was burned was exactly where the Wolf King's blood had stained the Faceplate.

He looked again at the Knight Armor, where more than half of her body was stained with the Wolf King's blood, and realized even more clearly just how dire Knight Lanisha's situation was.

Never mind the skin under the armor being scalded; just seeing that the Wolf King's blood on parts of the armor was still releasing heat like fire told him exactly how much pain she was in.

Wait, could it be that the sensory organs for pain under parts of Knight Lanisha's skin had already been burned away?

Thinking of this, Jier felt a chill run down his spine. It was his first time being this close to someone who had suffered such a severe injury, and he could not help but feel at a loss.

Knight Lanisha's eyes, however, were unharmed. She glanced at Jier, who was standing there in a daze: "Hoo-hoo, don't just stand there, keep sprinkling the ice and snow."

"Oh, oh right, right." Jier snapped out of it and hurriedly sprinkled handfuls of ice and snow from the corner of the Rock Passage onto Knight Lanisha.

Leaning against the wall of the Rock Passage, Knight Lanisha glanced at the Wolf King, her eyes filled with regret and worry.

"Sir Knight, should I call everyone over? Let's hurry and retreat behind the Wooden Wall." Jier asked while busy with his task.

"Hoo-hoo, what is the situation with the Wolf King?"

Jier glanced at the massive Wolf King not far away: "The Wolf King was hit on the head by a Stone earlier; it seems to be dazed, but it was still staring at me when I passed by, and when I got close to it, it even tried to swipe at me with its claws."

"Hoo, hoo. Damn it, what a loss. Don't call the Hunters, use this." She said after enduring the pain.

"Whew-whew-whew-whew!" She whistled with her half-scalded lips to summon her beloved horse.

Immediately, behind the Second Position Wooden Wall not far away, Knight Lanisha's warhorse turned its body, pointing its ears toward where the sound had just come from.

"Whew-whew-whew-whew." The sound came again.

This time it heard clearly; it circled in place to gain momentum, then leaped toward the Wooden Wall, clearing the two-meter-high wall in one go.

Landing on the other side of the Wooden Wall, it crushed a severely wounded Northland Wolf. It did not care, however, and after snorting, it trotted forward.

On the Wooden Wall, the Hunters looked at each other in dismay.

"That whistle just now, Sir Knight is summoning her warhorse, right?" one Hunter asked his companion.

The companion nodded: "Yes, it's Sir Lanisha's whistle. She is calling her horse; it's good that she's alright."

The Hunters all breathed a sigh of relief.

The warhorse's iron hooves clattered rhythmically through the Rock Passage, then with another small jump, it vaulted over the debris of the giant Stone that had fallen in the center of the passage.

Even though the Wolf King was still dazed, it noticed the human knight's warhorse. It swung its front claws, attempting to swat down this riderless mount.

Unfortunately, its hope was in vain; even without a rider, the warhorse nimbly dodged the swat of the Wolf King's slowed claws.

The warhorse carefully glanced at the Wolf King lying on the ground, then cleverly followed the wall on the other side of the Rock Passage to reach Jier and Knight Lanisha.

Because of Jier's efforts, the Knight Armor no longer had burning Wolf King blood on it, and the high heat around her body cooled down quickly as the ice and snow turned into water vapor; after all, even inside the Rock Passage, the winter temperature was still below freezing.

Without the Wolf King's blood releasing heat, the scorching temperature on the armor cooled down rapidly, like duckweed without roots.

Knight Lanisha only let out slight groans of pain when speaking; at other times, even when gritting her teeth, she did not make a sound.

Her warhorse arrived, but Knight Lanisha tried twice and could not stand up, let alone mount the horse. She only had one arm that she could use with relative ease, and even with Jier helping, there was absolutely no way he could lift the female knight, who weighed over two hundred kilograms in total, onto the warhorse.

For one, the knight was wearing heavy armor, and for another, this warhorse was simply too tall.

Compared to the horse Jier rode, it was much taller.

Knight Lanisha had no choice but to hold the Stirrup on one side of the warhorse with her hand, dragging herself along the ground to signal the warhorse to return behind the safety of the Wooden Wall.

The warhorse turned its head and neck, looking at its master in confusion, and did not move.

It was not until Knight Lanisha impatiently had Jier push the warhorse's rump that the warhorse understood what to do and began to walk in small steps, moving toward where they had come from.

It moved very carefully, afraid that its heavy hooves would step on its master, who was being dragged along the ground.

Knight Lanisha's armor made a harsh, grating sound as it scraped against the ground. Although the sound was unpleasant, Knight Lanisha did not care.

As they passed the Wolf King's head, her gaze met the Wolf King's.

The Wolf King excitedly tried to crawl up to launch an attack, but as soon as it lifted half its body, it seemed like a drunkard—worse than the drunkest man in Kendall City—its head swayed unsteadily, and then it fell forward, hitting the rock wall squarely.

Knight Lanisha, half of whose face was scalded by the high heat, let out a wheezing, strange laugh.

Jier, walking to the side with sword and shield held high, watched the Wolf King's movements nervously, only relaxing when the Wolf King's head struck the rock wall.

He tried to get closer to the Wolf King to take advantage of the situation, but as soon as he entered the range of the Wolf King's claws, the Wolf King immediately swiped; although it failed to hit Jier, who retreated in time, it let Jier know that the massive Wolf King still held the advantage in this battle.

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Rock Passage, the Northland Wolves that had been scared off by the falling giant Stone were gradually gathering again. If they had not been afraid to approach the Wolf King, Jier's rescue of Knight Lanisha would not have been so smooth.

The warhorse soon returned to the Second Position Wooden Wall. The Hunters above had seen Knight Lanisha dragging herself back while holding the Stirrup from afar, so they immediately set up the simple wooden ladder for entering and exiting the wall and ran down, attempting to rescue Knight Lanisha.

When they saw Knight Lanisha covered in blood on her armor, they did not pay much attention, but when they saw the injury on half of Knight Lanisha's face, which looked as if it had been scorched by fire, they were shocked.

Seeing that Knight Lanisha seemed unable to move, they tried to help the knight up.

However, they discovered that one or two people simply could not lift the immobile Knight Lanisha. Fortunately, there were quite a few of them; with many hands helping, they lifted Knight Lanisha, barely managed to pass the simple wooden ladder, and returned behind the Wooden Wall.

The warhorse also jumped over in one go.

Lying on the bedding by the fire, Knight Lanisha, who only had one arm that could move smoothly, first put her Armor-piercing Rapier into the Sword Sheath at her waist. Fortunately, the connecting parts of her armor were made of metal clasps and straps processed from metal wire, so when most of her body was covered and soaked in the high-temperature blood earlier, the armor components were not destroyed by the high heat.

If it had been Jier, not to mention whether he would have been scalded to death by this high heat, his armor would certainly have had its connecting parts burned through by this high temperature, and the protective plates of his hard-leather armor might also have been ruined.

Although Knight Lanisha was lying on the ground, her mind was clear, and she kept issuing tasks to everyone.

The old Hunter hurried back to the original Stronghold Camp and retrieved medicinal supplies from the pack she had brought. Besides the medicine, a set of spare clothing also had to be retrieved.

Because underneath her armor, the clothes she had been wearing were now fused together with her scorched skin. This was the case for more than half of her body.

Although it sounded cruel and serious, to Knight Lanisha, who was a Knight, these were far from fatal wounds; it was just that because the high temperature had fused her clothing and armor together on the surface of her body, any slight movement caused extreme pain, making it difficult for her to move. Her body was actually still relatively healthy at this moment.

At the very least, her vital torso and head had not suffered any internal injuries.

At this moment, she had instead figured something out; it looked like the Wolf King did not seem to have any heavy injuries. However, her Armor-piercing Rapier had previously stabbed deeply into the Wolf King's body; it must have pierced some viscera or a major blood vessel, otherwise, it would not have lost so much blood, which in turn had burned her.

Additionally, the Wolf King's skull had also been struck directly by a piece of flying Suishi, hitting it right in the center of its forehead. Although it did not look like an external wound and there was no bleeding, Knight Lanisha guessed that this kind of impact injury to the cranium might be more than just the minor injury it appeared to be to the naked eye.

She licked her scorched half-lip and managed a smile.

This made the Hunters gathered around her look at each other, but no one dared to say anything.

After laughing enough, Knight Lanisha used her still-mobile arm to undo the connection of the Neck Armor at her throat, enduring the intense pain to remove her Helmet: "Hoo, hoo. It hurts like hell."

She touched her half-scorched face and the half-circle of hair at the back of her head that had been singed by the high temperature, then clenched her fist tightly and slammed it onto the ground.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Even after suffering such injuries, she still smashed the Suishi on the ground to pieces with her fist in three strikes, and only then did she feel relieved.

Seeing the Hunters all looking at her, Knight Lanisha sighed: "It's not a heavy injury. After returning to Kendall, let some church Pastor, or a novice Priestess, treat it, and it will get better. It's just skin wounds; it looks serious, but it's actually nothing."

Everyone dared not say anything; after all, you were the one swinging your fist to smash the ground, and you were also the one saying it wasn't serious. Anyway, you are the boss, so whatever you say goes.

"Jier!" Knight Lanisha called Jier's name: "I'll give you a dangerous task; do you dare to go and retrieve the weapons left behind during the battle just now?"

Jier patted his chest to indicate it was no problem.

"Watch out for the Wolf King. Although it looks more heavily injured to me, it is still not something you can deal with. Do not confront it head-on; just get the weapons back." Knight Lanisha gave instructions on what to watch out for.

"There is no time to lose; while it is still unconscious, go quickly."

Jier immediately turned and started running, while the other Hunters were divided into two groups by Knight Lanisha; one half stood guard on the Wooden Wall against Northland Wolves that might come to attack, and the other half went in front of the Wooden Wall to bring back the corpses of the dead Northland Wolves.

These corpses would not only affect shooting if a battle were to break out again later, but they were also needed to fill the space under the Wooden Wall with their bodies; if the Wolf King's condition was better, the Northland Wolves commanded by it might launch another attack before dawn.

She would not give it that chance; if the Northland Wolves organized an attack again, she intended to immediately set fire to the Wooden Wall to block both ends of the Rock Passage.

Although a Wooden Wall without enough Northland Wolf corpses would not burn for as long as before, it would at least certainly give her a period of time to clean her wounds.

Jier strode to the place where the giant rock had fallen earlier. Turning his head to look, at the bend of the Rock Passage, the Northland Wolf King was currently swaying as it crawled slowly toward the entrance of the Rock Passage. Around the Wolf King, some adult Northland Wolves were circling from afar, wanting to get close but not daring to.

When Jier saw them, these Northland Wolves also saw Jier at the same time. The Northland Wolves let out a short howl to alert the other Northland Wolves, and the slowly crawling Wolf King responded to the Northland Wolves with a low growl.

As if having received an order, the Northland Wolves split up, with a few cautiously staring at Jier, as if they would immediately launch an attack if Jier made any rash moves.

Seeing that these Northland Wolves did not want to launch an attack, Jier did not intend to look for trouble either; he tried to find the weapons still left at the scene by using the illumination from the light on the Second Position.

Soon, he saw his Metal Spear left behind at the place where the Wolf King had been lying earlier.

There was a large pool of blood where the Wolf King's abdomen had originally been, and this blood was currently emitting a faint red light, showing that it still had a very high temperature.

The Metal Spear and the Wolf King's blood were mixed together, leaving Jier unsure of how to handle it.

Picking it up directly with his hands was definitely not an option; after all, even though he had thick Gloves, just grabbing the metal spear shaft, which was heated to a very high temperature by the hot blood, would still ruin his Gloves or burn the palms inside the Gloves.

Jier thought for a moment and felt that since it was so cold all around, he could completely do as he did when rescuing Knight Lanisha just now: pull the Metal Spear out first, and then let it cool down by itself in the surrounding low-temperature air.

Thinking of it, he did it; Jier kept a cautious distance from the Northland Wolves eyeing him covetously not far away while approaching the blood the Wolf King had left on the ground.

After approaching to observe this time, Jier made a small discovery. He found that the Wolf King's blood was almost like a type of fuel; it emitted high temperatures as soon as it left the Wolf King's body, and when the blood, which was like burning, finished releasing its own heat, it would disappear on its own.

It was almost as if the high-temperature energy it emitted was consuming itself.

Therefore, where the Wolf King's blood had originally been, only the rock ground scorched white remained; nothing else was left behind.

Jier turned his Long Sword upside down, used the Sword Guard in front of the hilt to hook a part of the Metal Spear, and held the sword body himself to pull the Metal Spear; soon, he dragged his spear out from the burning Wolf King's blood.

This weapon was fine. Jier thought for a moment; counting this weapon lent to Knight Lanisha, as well as the Armor-piercing Rapier that had been held in the Knight's hand all along, there seemed to be one important weapon that the Knight did not often use that he had not yet seen.

Jier looked around but did not see that small Single-handed Heavy Sword in the vicinity.

Considering the weight of that weapon, it did not look like something a Northland Wolf could carry away. And the Wolf King had not even bothered with the Metal Spear so close to it, so it should not have had the energy to deal with the weapon Knight Lanisha used while it was injured.

Jier looked around again and indeed did not see any weapons on the ground.

He suddenly turned his head and looked at the place behind him where the giant rock had fallen.

"No way, could it be that the weapon was crushed under the giant rock?" He pondered for a moment and felt that it was also unlikely. Because the place where the giant rock fell was not where Knight Lanisha and the Wolf King had been engaged in close combat earlier.

The battle time between the two was very short; it was just during the time of one Northland Wolf charge, Knight Lanisha and the Wolf King exchanged a few blows, and then the old Hunter triggered the fall of the giant rock.

Jier looked again; he felt that it might be because the lighting conditions here were poor, as the Rock Passage turned a corner, so the light from the bonfire at the position could not reach here.

The light source here now was the faint light scattered from the bonfire on the rock wall, as well as the burning Wolf King's blood on the ground.

Looking at the Northland Wolves that were slowly retreating as the Wolf King moved, Jier touched the Metal Spear on the ground. "Hiss, so hot." Even through the Gloves, he could still feel the heat radiating from the Metal Spear.

Jier ignored the Metal Spear on the ground, strode toward the Second Position, ran over to grab a Torch used for lighting, and then quickly ran back.

Following the burning of the Wolf King's blood on the ground, Jier lit the Torch in his hand.

Whoosh.

The Torch ignited, scattering relatively bright light. The wolf fat on the Torch also made a small crackling sound while burning.

Jier held the Torch high and observed in all directions, hoping to find that Single-handed Heavy Sword used by Knight Lanisha.