Chapter 419: Dwarf Road and Traversing Huitou Forest

The carriage team was moving fast; in the short time Jier spent talking to Priest Bata'er, the entire convoy had already approached the side of Huitou Forest that faced the valley.

"Stop!"

Jier called out to the convoy, having Xueya Site, who was leading, bring the carriages to a halt.

"What is it, Jier?" Xueya Site asked from his carriage.

"We shouldn't just cross the forest directly like this. I remember there is actually a road in the forest that the Dwarves built a long time ago. We should take that." Jier only offered a brief explanation, not expecting it to surprise Priest Bata'er and Xueya Site instead.

"What? There's such a thing?" Xueya Site let out a strange cry, and Priest Bata'er also stroked his forehead, muttering to himself, though it was unclear what he was saying.

Jier smiled: "What, didn't you notice? When traveling through this forest, did you occasionally feel that the ground under your feet wasn't the soft, rotting forest soil, but a hard, level surface that wasn't slippery?"

Xueya Site rubbed his chin and muttered: "Now that you mention it, there were indeed times when the sound of the horses' hooves suddenly became loud, as if stepping on a stone-paved road in a town."

Priest Bata'er felt somewhat discouraged: "And here I was, when the team crossed the small river in this forest, making everyone unite and use ropes to forcibly drag the carriages across one by one. It turns out we just didn't realize there was a road and forced our way through?"

Jier raised an eyebrow, expressing disdain for the two men's observational skills, yet also expressing admiration for Priest Bata'er's organizational and adaptive abilities.

He hadn't expected that the Refugee Team had really traveled straight through Huitou Forest without ever discovering the Dwarf Road.

"Alright, you were foolish when you came, but let's not be foolish when we head out this time. Priest, you and I will split up and go find the entrance to that Dwarf Road; you take the left, I'll take the right, and the convoy will stay here and wait for our news."

Jier made the decision, and the others complied with it.

Priest Bata'er turned his horse around and began to pace back and forth along the edge of the forest, letting the horse walk to search for the hard, smooth road that would make a loud sound when stepped upon.

Jier also set off from the right side of the convoy, letting Tianxuecao walk along the forest edge.

He was actually stalling for time.

Although Jier didn't know how to solve the problem of the sacrifice for the Great Bird deity for the ritual, since the ritual implements—the dead tree in Huitou Forest—were suitable, and the weather today looked suitable as well, being sunny and cloudless, he had to give it a try.

By stalling for time and ensuring they didn't get too far from Huitou Forest before dark, he could return to Huitou Forest overnight and attempt to hold the ritual in the evening.

It didn't matter if there weren't enough ritual items; he would scrape together what he could, and if he couldn't, then so be it, he would just find another opportunity later.

Jier quickly found traces of the Dwarf Road on his side. He jumped off his horse and used his foot to kick away a section of the thick, rotting leaves covering the ground, revealing the hard, level road underneath, which featured an anti-slip, textured design.

Next, he took his steel Long Spear from the weapon rack on the horse's back, aimed at a large tree trunk closest to the Dwarf Road, and with a flick of his hand, threw the spear, pinning it into the wood.

Bang!

Hum-hum-hum-hum—

The tail of the steel Long Spear vibrated, emitting a buzzing sound like a large swarm of bees.

"Let's go, Tianxuecao, we'll stall for a bit more time and run north along the edge of the forest. You haven't run at full speed for the past two days, right? Then let's do it! Let's run at full speed!"

Jier vaulted onto the horse, shook the Jiansheng, and slammed his legs into the Armor on the horse's belly, urging Tianxuecao to run quickly.

The ground at the edge of the forest near Huitou Forest was soft and lacked hidden Stone, so it was very easy for Tianxuecao to run; its four hooves flew, kicking up a large amount of dead leaves, rotting leaves, and mud behind it.

"Woo-oh—woo-oh!"

While riding, the wind scraped past Jier's Helmet, bringing a cool, refreshing sensation. Dappled sunlight filtered through the trees, falling upon Jier and Tianxuecao, the light and shadow mottled, making him look like a hunting striped tiger. He cheered heartily; although riding at full speed wasn't as exhilarating or dangerous as fighting an enemy, it held its own sense of ease and freedom.

It felt as if this easy, running state could continue forever, and he could easily use this speed to gallop to every place in the world that he and his horse could set foot upon.

This delusion lasted until Jier galloped to the foot of the mountain range on the north side of the valley, where Huitou Forest bordered it.

The forest turned into sparse dwarf trees and shrubs here, and the terrain became rapidly steep. Riding a horse was impossible, and even walking up the mountain looked very strenuous.

Jier looked up and discovered that higher up, there weren't even any shrubs or flowers, only low grass stubbornly growing between the cracks in the rocks, and thick moss in the shaded parts of the stones.

Higher still, even green plants were rarely seen. Jier used the Far-seeing Divine Art taught to him by the Great Bird deity; after muttering to himself for a moment, he opened his eyes wide and looked, discovering that higher up, there were only a few scattered, stubborn little flowers growing in the narrow gaps between the snow and the rocks.

There were actually several multi-legged, long-haired goats there—six-legged, dirty-looking mountain goats that, like spiders or insects, used the advantage of their many legs to walk and jump as if on flat ground in such steep places, eating the stubborn alpine plants growing there.

And higher still, some beasts with fur the exact same color as the rocks were carefully lying in ambush on top of large boulders, trying their best to shrink their bodies so the multi-legged, long-haired goats below wouldn't discover them.

Jier withdrew his gaze and looked back at where he had come from.

His enhanced vision allowed him to clearly see the convoy waiting outside the edge of Huitou Forest.

He saw Xueya Site standing at the driver's position with a smile on his face, chatting with the Warriors on the carriage behind him. Many of the Warriors on the carriages, unable to bear sitting still, were taking advantage of the downtime to jump off and stretch their legs and bodies beside the carriages.

At the back of the convoy, the Swordsman Weier hadn't gotten off; he had even climbed to the top of the cargo on a supply carriage, sitting cross-legged and pulling out a Long Sword to gesture at the air.

On the very last carriage of the convoy, the driver was bored and using a copper coin to tease a long-haired lynx Beast that had poked its head out of a box.

Seeing that the long-haired lynx Beast in front of him didn't react, the driver gradually moved the coin in his hand closer to the box to tease it. But what he didn't know was that on the side of the carriage next to him, a Mao Mao was carefully clinging to the edge of the Wooden Box, avoiding the driver's line of sight, and sneaking toward the bored driver.

Then, once the distance was right, the Mao Mao clinging to the outside of the carriage flicked its long tail and unexpectedly slapped the driver's hand, which was extended to tease them.

As a result, the copper coin flew into the sky.

But before the driver could catch and retrieve the coin, another furry tail whipped out from the other side of the carriage, which Jier couldn't see, and batted the coin in mid-air, sending it flying toward the empty box where the Mao Mao lived.

And the Mao Mao that had been acting foolish with its head poked out, which hadn't moved before, quickly jumped out of the box and raised its hand to grab the shiny copper coin.

Afterward, the three Mao Mao that had acted together scurried back into their Wooden Box, leaving only the driver, who had lost a copper coin, complaining loudly.

"Haha, I told you to use metal coins to tease those Mao Mao; now you've lost your investment, haven't you?"

Jier laughed out loud, while Tianxuecao, beneath him, didn't know why its master was laughing for no reason, and the whole horse was jolting uncontrollably.

After a while, Jier rode back to the convoy. Priest Bata'er had already returned, and everyone in the convoy was watching Jier; clearly, the Priest, who had returned first, hadn't found the Dwarf Road hidden under the dead and rotting leaves.

Since the Priest hadn't found it, the Dwarf Road must definitely be on the side of Jier the Knight.

"Why are you all looking at me? Get ready to set off and follow me. I naturally found it on my side."

Jier waved his hand, turned his horse around to lead the way, and then the entire convoy followed.

After everyone walked along the edge of Huitou Forest for a short while, they all saw the conspicuous Long Spear Jier had pinned into the tree trunk.

This was clearly a mark made by Jier the Knight.

"This is it. This road the Dwarves built in the past is quite wide. As long as you follow me, no one needs to worry about the carriages going off track. Everyone try to stay close and slow down the carriages."

After Jier finished speaking, he led the way. Once Tianxuecao's hooves stepped onto the Dwarf Road, even though it was covered with a thick layer of rotting leaves, the sound of the horseshoes changed significantly with every step.

It was the clatter of stepping on a hard surface, not the squelching sound of the soft, rotting ground.

Soon, with Jier leading and Priest Bata'er guarding the rear, the entire convoy stepped onto the road that the Dwarves had built at some unknown time.

Once on the road, the improvement in the speed of the entire convoy was obvious. The horses were one thing—they could barely walk on any terrain—but the speed of the carriages pulled by the Pack Horses was significantly different.

The Warriors sitting in the carriages clearly noticed that the carriages were not shaking as much as before, which made everyone feel more than a little better. Weier also noticed that the Pack Horses pulling the supply carriages were much more relaxed.

Before entering the Forest, when the caravan was traveling on the soft wilderness, the supply carriages, which were heavier due to carrying many supplies, made the horses pulling them appear to struggle more, because the wheels would always sink deep into the soft ground. The Pack Horses would sometimes let out labored gasps, but now that was gone; with the solid road supporting the wheels, the Pack Horses pulling the supply carriages now had light hooves, and the Jiansheng looped over their bodies no longer tightened against them, so the labored gasps naturally disappeared as well.

"Seems to be quite a bit faster?"

Bata'er Jiaoshi was at the rear of the caravan, so he could intuitively feel the movement speed of the entire caravan.

Although finding this hidden Dwarf Road had delayed their caravan for some time, now that the caravan's speed had picked up, that time did not seem to have been wasted; was it perhaps even faster than when he had previously led the Refugee Team straight through Huitou Forest?

After walking for a while longer, Jier, who was leading the way at the front, saw the surrounding forest become more open. In a particularly open small area ahead, right in the center, there happened to be a towering, withered tree.

He raised his hand and said to Xueya Site, who was driving a carriage not far behind him: "Look ahead, two days ago right here, the Dwarfs ambushed me! Ha, it was right here that I broke the head of their leader, the old gentleman Aobosi nicknamed 'Iron Fist'. And it seems the Dwarf God of Strength is not good at healing; that old gentleman still has his head bandaged from the wound."

Xueya Site was also a fellow with rich merchant experience. As soon as he saw the open forest terrain ahead, he asked worriedly: "Jier, it wasn't easy for you back then, was it? Those Dwarfs are so formidable, and they surrounded and ambushed you here; it must have been a bitter battle before you escaped from here?"

Jier waved his hand: "Barely, I suppose, but the Dwarfs underestimated me at the time, so their two most powerful groups were not present. They had only temporarily gathered a batch of men to intercept me here, wanting to take me down and trap me in their palms forever, just like all the other Humans who accidentally wandered in here. But once I wounded their leader, those Dwarfs fell into chaos; some wanted to pursue me, some wanted to treat their leader, and others lost their heads, not knowing what to do, just standing there stupidly."

"So I charged straight through their encirclement, fighting and moving along the road from here, and rushed out of Huitou Forest."

Jier spoke quite cheerfully, but as the caravan followed the Dwarf Road through this forest clearing, everyone could clearly see the messy footprints, overturned grass, and rotting mud on the lawn of this clearing.

All of the above silently illustrated just how intense and thrilling the battle here had been.

The Warriors on the carriages looked at each other and asked themselves: if it were them, encountering such a situation, would they really be able to break through the Dwarfs' interception and ambush?

Not one of them felt they could do it.

Even Weier had a serious expression at this moment. From the surrounding footprints, he could judge just how many Dwarfs had surrounded and ambushed Knight Jier at the time. And him? One-on-one, he naturally wouldn't fear those Dwarf Warriors who had average combat levels and relied solely on weapons and equipment to act tough; one-on-two would make him struggle a bit; one-on-three, and he would find it very difficult to cope.

And Knight Jier?

One against a dozen? Or twenty?

And while being ambushed, he could still wound the Dwarfs' leader?

And rush out of the encirclement without getting injured himself?

He couldn't do any of the above.

Thinking of this, he wanted to obtain the power of a Knight even more.

Therefore, in this operation to rescue the Villagers, he must achieve results to bridge the relationship with Knight Jier.

While passing through the forest clearing, Jier took a few extra looks at the tall withered tree, confirmed that the tree met the requirements for the Great Bird Deity to hold a ceremony, and then continued to lead the caravan through the entire Huitou Forest.

When the caravan crossed a small black-gray river in the forest, Bata'er Jiaoshi looked silently at the low Dwarf stone bridge spanning the small river.

Clearly, there was such a stone bridge here convenient for crossing the river, yet two days ago, when crossing the river in other parts of the forest, he had made the people in the Refugee Team use Rope and manual pulling to get the various vehicles in the team across this very same small river.

It had cost a lot of time and energy back then, yet now, one carriage after another just walked across easily and happily, clippity-clop?

He shook his head, feeling that leading the team by himself was still not quite right; his observation of things was not careful enough, and his methods of adaptation were also problematic.

Even though no one in the caravan was speaking at this moment and everyone was quietly traveling, Bata'er Jiaoshi faintly felt that everyone in the caravan was secretly complaining about him, complaining that he had chosen the most stupid way to cross the river at that time.

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? (End of this chapter)