Chapter 508: The Shadow Bird Growing Stronger, What the Shadow Bird Sees

Jier first put on a set of close-fitting fine linen undergarments, then donned a set of metal armor plates looted from thieves, and subsequently layered on the cowhide armor that had been reinforced with metal plates covering his entire body.

For his helmet, he used the original one from the metal armor set, which featured horns and a metal faceplate; he also used the belt from the original metal armor, and even the combat boots were the ones from the previous metal armor set. Compared to hard cowhide boots, boots reinforced with metal offered significantly higher protection.

Over the back of his armor, he attached his favorite cape, 【Night Ambition】. Standing in the Yingdi, Jier looked left and right, twisting and turning; as he moved, the metal plates all over his body clattered, and Jier also knocked on his body with force, producing a clanging metallic sound. This appearance was so frightening that the surrounding Mushroom Boys dared not approach, and even fled one after another.

Because he had used a large number of densely arranged metal plates instead of stringing them together in a more dispersed manner like the enemy soldiers, this suit of armor on Jier used at least the amount of metal plates found on three ordinary enemy soldiers.

Consequently, both his defensive power and the area of protection far exceeded those of the enemy, and he looked covered in metal plates, more like a terrifying monster clad in metal scales than a Human Warrior.

Jier jumped, feeling that his entire outfit, the armor alone, weighed over twenty kilograms; adding a Soldier Bow, the Hunting Sword, the Magic Dagger 【Heart Fire】, the Dwarf Long Spear looted from the Dwarf Captain, and a tool pouch containing other odds and ends, the total weight was at least nearly sixty kilograms.

The Hunting Sword alone weighed over ten kilograms; there was no helping it, as too many Magic Materials had been added to this sword, making it this heavy.

As for the Dwarf Long Spear from the Dwarf Captain, its weight was also not insignificant; it was unknown what material it was made of, but it also weighed over ten kilograms, even heavier than the Hunting Sword. It was only because the Dwarf Long Spear was longer and larger that the smaller-looking Hunting Sword seemed heavier by comparison.

"Missing a shield."

Jier walked a few laps around the Yingdi before realizing he was missing his usual shield; his right hand held the sword or spear, but his left hand was empty, which felt very uncomfortable.

He found his usual Elven Metal Shield, but looking at the damage inflicted on the shield by the Dwarves, he shook his head again; he had no way to deal with it. This was not a situation he could handle by just taking a Small Iron Hammer and knocking it about. He would have to find a professional blacksmith shop to melt down the shield's material and recast it into shape.

There was no help for it without a shield; although Jier relied heavily on his shield as the core of his offense and defense during combat, he was not unable to fight without it now.

He stood fully equipped in the center of the Yingdi, eyes slightly closed, his breathing gradually changing from steady to rapid.

Immediately, he gripped the Dwarf Long Spear with both hands, performing a chop and a thrust, then followed with a step; during the forward charge, he thrust left and right continuously, finally stabbing downward, then exerted force to flick the spear tip up, his whole body spinning rapidly for a full circle, the long spear accelerating as it was whipped out, stabbing fiercely upward.

Afterward, he dropped the Dwarf Long Spear, drew the Hunting Sword from his waist with his right hand, and performed a vertical chop, horizontal slash, upward sweep, and straight thrust; the movements were simple, but combined with his footwork and the speed of his overall motion, they were still very terrifying.

Jier felt it wasn't enough and whispered, "Shadow Enhancement!"

The next moment, a large bird, black as ink, flew out from the gap in his faceplate, flew rapidly around Jier's body, and then dove directly onto the long sword in Jier's hand.

But with a *pop*, this Shadow Bird was bounced off; a white light flashed across the sword blade, strongly rejecting the intrusion of the alien power.

Jier slapped his head: "Oh, how did I forget about this!"

He recalled the aggrieved-looking Shadow Bird, sheathed his sword, took out the Soldier Bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the nearby small house made of Elf Metal. He paused, feeling that this would provoke a conflict, so Jier changed targets, selecting a Mushroom Boy in the distance that was facing sideways to the Yingdi and was currently pressing down on another mushroom to beat it up.

"Heh heh, blue cap with yellow spots, I still remember you, the guy who likes to beat up other mushrooms; eat this Shadow-enhanced arrow of mine!"

Jier used his mind to drive the Shadow Bird to dive onto this ordinary arrow; the ordinary arrow instantly turned pitch black and gained a special quality.

He released his hand, the fingers holding the bowstring let go, and the pitch-black arrow instantly drew a dark, conspicuous flight trajectory, directly hitting the Mushroom Boy in the distance.

"Ji!"

This Mushroom Boy with the large blue cap and yellow spots let out only a single cry of pain before the entire mushroom instantly exploded; the mushroom fragments that made up its body scattered everywhere.

Once it died, many small mushrooms immediately emerged nearby; they scrambled to move their little mycelium feet, running to the mushroom fragments scattered on the ground to digest them with their little feet.

Jier waited for a while before the Shadow Bird flew back slowly and merged into his faceplate, actually entering Jier's right eye.

Afterward, he walked to the spot where he had just shot the Mushroom Boy; the other mushrooms here, seeing this 'Mushroom Eater' approach, were immediately so frightened that they retreated into the places where they had originally hidden.

Jier looked at the mushroom fragments scattered all over the ground; although he didn't quite understand how this attack effect was achieved, he was satisfied.

For the past two days, every time he slept, he could feel the lingering resentment of the enemies he had killed entangling him, attempting to influence his spirit and soul. But because the number of enemies killed was not large, the impact on his spirit was limited, and Jier hadn't even significantly realized this.

However, every time he woke up, he felt the Shadow Bird's strength growing more and more. With every sleep period that passed, he could feel the Shadow Bird becoming a fraction stronger, until now, when he summoned the Shadow Bird, this guy was no longer the tiny thing he had seen at the beginning.

Its size was already about the same as a normal crow; although it would not make a sound, when it landed on his hand, it looked just like a crow that had recently grown up.

At this moment, Jier used it to enhance his bow and arrow, discovering that its combat capability was already far stronger than before, possessing real practical value!

After tidying up, Jier felt it was time to return to the real world.

Not long after Jier disappeared from his tent, he reappeared here again.

He was fully armed; although he wasn't sleepy, there was still some time before the attack, so he had nothing to do but lie on his Dog Fur Sleeping Bag while wearing his armor.

Following his movements, the plates on his body rubbed slowly, emitting the sound of metal friction and interlocking; although this was a noise, Jier found it quite wonderful.

He released the Shadow Bird, which transformed into a pitch-black crow slightly larger than a palm, then raised his hand and said, "Go!"

The Shadow Bird flapped its wings silently and flew out of his Single-Person Tent.

The pitch-black Shadow Bird was almost impossible to spot at night, and it didn't actually rely on flapping its wings to fly, so it flew silently and was extremely difficult to detect.

The Shadow Bird flew a few laps over the Temporary Camp, then turned and flew toward the direction of Changmai Cunzi not far away; it silently skimmed over the sentry posts on the walls, reflecting the appearance of all the enemy soldiers in its pitch-black eyes.

Then it flew past the Nongshen Church in the center of the village; it first circled around the sentry on the bell tower, and even though it was circling only two meters away from the opponent, this Refining Qi soldier, who was wearing several layers of heavy armor and had a Foot-pedal Heavy Crossbow placed beside his feet, noticed nothing.

Next, the Shadow Bird landed on the stained-glass window of the Church, and through the colored glass, saw the enemy soldiers inside gambling and fighting in a mess. These young men, with nowhere to release their energy, first gambled, then, feeling it wasn't enough, actually went onto a makeshift ring to fight; but the soldiers' individual combat levels were inconsistent, which led to some winning more and some losing more, and in a short time, they had actually lost all the various belongings looted from the homes of the Changmai villagers.

Such penniless soldiers were not having it; they played dirty and started fighting with the soldiers who had won, and the scene was chaotic for a time. Because other soldiers participating in the gambling also joined the fight with great interest, a large melee broke out; everyone kept picking up and looting the belongings in others' hands, only to be knocked down by someone else, and what they held was snatched away again.

Then they would snatch again, and join forces to beat up and loot the soldier who had the most belongings in his hands.

This repeated several times, until everyone was injured and their strength was nearly exhausted; only then did these guys realize that the belongings in everyone's hands seemed to be about the same as when the fighting and gambling started that night.

Afterward, everyone turned and left; some went to the meeting room used as a temporary barracks nearby to rest, while others just found two chairs, pushed them together, and like an old dragon guarding its treasure, lay down on their belongings and fell into a confused sleep, carrying their pain.

The Shadow Bird flapped its wings and flew toward the Jiedian in the villagers' houses occupied by the enemy on the north side of the village.

The situation here was quite interesting.

Some Defeated Soldiers were holding their heads and groaning in pain while taking off their pants to defecate comfortably in a dark corner of the courtyard.

The dogs hadn't eaten much all day, so at this moment, they were eager and drooling at the sight of the Human feces excreted by these soldiers. They were just waiting for those soldiers to pull up their pants and leave before they would pounce to feast.

But these soldiers' stomachs were churning like a stormy sea, and they were cursing the Cook soldier responsible for their meals; every time they felt they were done, they would have a strong urge to defecate again, and could only squat down and go again. This made the dogs wait with bated breath, drooling and impatient.

And what about that Cook?

He was also unlucky; at this moment, he was tied to a wooden round table in the main hall by other angry soldiers, his hands and feet secured with Rope. His mouth had been stuffed with quite a bit of food from the kitchen by the other soldiers, and quite a lot had spilled beside his mouth, slowly flowing down.

But this was not the biggest trouble for this guy, because at this moment, the soldier's stomach also began to churn; he finally realized what those soldiers were doing when they pulled up their pants and ran outside the hall.

So it was a stomach upset and diarrhea.

"Oh no! What do I do? What do I do? Where are you people? Hurry and untie me, untie the rope! No, I can't hold it! You %%￥%%..."

First came a loud fart, followed by a large, watery mess that surged into the soldier's pants.

The soldier felt a moment of relief, then looked at his pants with a confused expression, but soon, he became tense again, followed by another moment of relief and another moment of indescribable confusion, repeating this cycle over and over.

The pitch-black Shadow Bird tilted its head in a corner of the hall, then hopped along the hall stairs and jumped upward.

Some Soldiers sleeping and resting in the houses were awakened by the stench filling the rooms; at first, they cursed and told the others to go relieve themselves in the courtyards of the surrounding houses, but they soon discovered the situation of the Soldiers who were still eating and not resting in the middle of the night.

They laughed loudly, and instead of helping, they began to mock them loudly.

The Defeated Soldiers suffering from constant diarrhea were so angry they wanted to argue, but their physical strength simply did not allow it, so they had to laboriously pull up their pants and crawl slowly back to their own rooms in the house.

But these awakened Soldiers were not careful enough; having been woken up in the middle of the night, they were hungry, and several of them carelessly went to the kitchen to look for food. They suspected that the Wheat Porridge made tonight had spoiled ingredients, which was why the Soldiers who ate it had upset stomachs.

Therefore, they did not choose the Wheat Porridge simmering on the fire, but instead found a Roasted Chicken that was charred black in the oven, and took some previously baked Bread from the bread basket, eating it as a midnight snack.

But they soon realized that the problem was not just that pot of Wheat Porridge; even this Roasted Chicken, which had been roasted for too long, resulting in a charred skin that looked unappealing but tasted delicious, was actually an even greater source of disaster.

Because this Roasted Chicken tasted exceptionally delicious, many Soldiers who woke up in the middle of the night scrambled to eat a piece of the chicken meat, but after only a short while, these Soldiers' heads began to ache.

Unlike the previous Soldiers who had constant diarrhea, they had consumed a higher dosage of Poison Mushroom Powder, and thus displayed different symptoms.

They did not have diarrhea, but instead developed headaches, and everything they saw in their eyes gradually became strange.

Some fellow Soldiers gradually turned into suspicious Mushroom Monsters with fat heads and fat bodies, with huge caps growing on their heads. The words they spoke also changed from being barely understandable to divine gibberish and grotesque whispers that no one could distinguish.

The wooden floor under their feet also gradually began to sway, as if they were on a boat, and these wooden floors would even swallow anyone who stepped on them like a Swamp, making them lie down on the spot and flail about in strange movements.

The Shadow Bird watched all of this and strolled over to the third floor of the house.

Some of the Defeated Soldiers here were gathered together listlessly, pinching their noses as they sat on chamber pots, whispering about something.

After discussing for a while, they paired up and tied up the female Villagers who were sobbing softly in the surrounding houses. Even though these Soldiers had no strength left at this moment, the female Villagers still dared not resist, obediently letting the others tie them up, after which they heavily locked the doors, locking them each alone in their respective rooms.

It was not until they finished dealing with this matter that these Soldiers, who had exhausted their energy and strength, scrambled to the chamber pots to relieve themselves comfortably and safely.

The Shadow Bird, having taken all of this in, flapped its wings and flew up, and before long, it flew into Jier's tent.

It landed beside Jier, and then merged into Jier's shadow.

Jier opened his eyes and quickly saw everything the Shadow Bird had seen earlier.

He did not expect the effect of the Poison Mushroom Powder to be so good, and because Changmai Cunzi itself was heavily guarded—at least the Defeated Soldiers thought it was heavily guarded—even after many of them had fallen victim to the food, they did not suspect that an outsider had poisoned it, but rather that their Cook Soldier had used unclean or poisonous food ingredients, which led to them being poisoned one after another.

In fact, this situation had happened more than once or twice when they were crossing the mountains; at that time, food was scarce, and many of them had to rely on Monster meat obtained from killing Monsters to barely fill their stomachs. Not everyone could adapt to eating Monster meat, and many people were in a similar state to their current situation when they first tried Monster meat, so these Soldiers actually had some experience and unanimously agreed that they had eaten something that upset their stomachs, rather than someone having poisoned them.

Besides, if one wanted to poison them, that Cook Soldier had plenty of time to poison everyone; there was no need to use this kind of embarrassing, face-losing, non-lethal, and body-harming poison on only a portion of them at this time.

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