Chapter 517: Slovenly Soldier, Thunderous Sounds, and the Drivers Eager to Earn Merit

"They're clearly just a bunch of stinking pieces of shit, yet they actually learned to raid villages like bandits. Now look at this, we poor wretches abandoned here have become nothing but punching bags for others to vent their anger on, haven't we?"

"A bunch of idiots, can't even see that, yet you spend all day in the village acting so smug. Hmph, this is the fate of fools like us."

This slovenly Soldier trembled, whispering to himself.

He understood all too well what the purpose of soldiers like them, left behind here, actually was.

To put it bluntly, they were targets pushed out to attract hatred and attacks.

The enemy would take these wretches—whom even their own side didn't want—and capture them, chew them up, beat them to a pulp, and twist them to pieces. Then, they would serve as scapegoats for the others in the mountain forest, provided the incoming enemy hadn't found the others and the kidnapped villagers in the forest yet. If the enemy killed these guys off, they would likely be satisfied enough to stop and retreat.

And if the enemy did eventually find their Jiedian in the mountain forest, then the battle between these people and the enemy would also serve to test the enemy's strength and scale in advance, allowing the main force to make contingencies and preparations for the battle ahead of time.

"At this point, the messenger Soldier sent to notify the Captain must already be on the way, right? Or perhaps the hidden sentries outside the village are coldly watching all this, seeing just how long it will take for us to be crushed by the enemy?"

Thinking this in a fit of self-abandonment, the slovenly Soldier trembled even more; his teeth chattered, and his hands and feet became clumsy.

He felt he could not stay here any longer and had to carry out the plan he had prepared; staying here meant certain death. His plan was to abandon the others in the village, not join the other soldiers for battle, and instead sneak away during the gaps in the fighting.

Previously, he had never had the chance to break away from Changmai Village and slip off; after all, the sentries on the village walls were not only a problem for the enemies attacking the village, but also for the soldiers in the village who wanted to escape. This slovenly Soldier knew there were many who shared his thoughts, but they had all been specifically arranged by the Captain in the most central parts of the village. Conversely, those foolish guys who couldn't tell good from bad were the ones rotated to stand guard on the village walls.

"Yes, I have to escape, I must escape immediately!"

He came to his senses, his body stopped shaking immediately, his teeth stopped chattering, and he scrambled up in a panic, intending to run downstairs.

But when he ran to the second floor of this residence, he remembered that if he just ran out like this, it would likely be a death sentence in the sparsely populated wilderness; after all, someone like him would never dare to approach the other surrounding villages.

"Right, the supplies! The supplies I prepared for my escape! I have to take them, I have to take them..."

He ran back to the third floor of the house and found the large escape pack he had prepared beforehand among a pile of haphazardly placed items and furniture.

This pack was even half as big as he was; he had collected needles, thread, and cloth from the village and secretly sewn it for half a month just to carry enough survival supplies to live on his own for a long time. With the things in this pack, even if he were active in the wilderness alone, as long as he didn't run into Monsters he couldn't handle or packs of wild beasts, he could confidently live alone in the wild for two or three months.

With two or three months of time, he could even follow the main roads between towns and reach the Province Capital.

But when this slovenly Soldier hoisted the large pack, he didn't notice the large nest of house mice that had secretly slipped out of it. This guy didn't even check to see if there was any of the food he had painstakingly saved left in the pack!

Had it all been eaten by these house mice?

Carrying the much lighter pack, he hurriedly slipped out of the house and ran toward the north gate of the village. Even though the sound of alarms and the call for soldiers to assemble kept coming from the direction of the Church, he did not look back.

This slovenly Soldier had seen clearly just now that those attacking enemies had left in a hurry after taking the north gate guard post, seemingly intending to circle around from outside the village to attack the east side.

It was truly strange, when they could have attacked the gate guard post directly from inside the village.

"They're all powerful idiots! Their strength is formidable, but their brains are pig brains!"

He cursed under his breath, but he was grateful to the departing enemies for clearing away the biggest obstacle to his escape—the Defeated Soldiers who were his companions. Moreover, they had specifically left a path out of the village for him, which made the slovenly Soldier feel that his decision this time must have been blessed by the gods, bringing him good luck.

"Praise the gods! I knew you liked me!"

He trotted along smugly, and as he walked out of the north gate of the village, he even specifically kissed the wooden gate that had blocked him for so long.

But then he kicked the sturdy gate hard, forcing it shut.

"Haha! I'm free!"

With a cheer, the slovenly Soldier spread his arms and ran freely toward the vast, open land ahead.

But he hadn't run for long before he saw a carriage pulled by four horses galloping through the farmland outside the village, and after both sides spotted each other, it approached him rapidly.

Because the farmland outside the village had not been maintained or cultivated this year, and it hadn't rained for several months, the ridges that once separated each family's fields had largely collapsed and weathered. This actually made it possible for the carriage to pass through here; otherwise, it would be a wonder if the dozens-of-centimeters-high ridges didn't shake the carriage to pieces.

Last night, Jier had discovered that the damage to the ridges was higher than expected, basically allowing the carriage to move through the fields, which was why he arranged for them to drive the carriage to blockade the outskirts of the village after the drivers proposed to join the battle.

Unlike the previous arrangement, Xueya Site was originally going to go to the walls to fight with Aoni and the others, but after setting off, he worried that the drivers entrusted with the heavy responsibility wouldn't be able to complete Jier's mission and would make mistakes. So, he voluntarily withdrew from the fighting team on Aoni's side and joined the team of drivers.

Therefore, at this moment, Xueya Site was sitting in the driver's seat of the carriage, sitting in the front row with the driver. The other person drove, while he held the Crossbow Jier had lent him, responsible for shooting from the vehicle.

His joining also gave the driver team, which lacked long-range attack methods, the ability to attack from a distance. Coupled with the carriage's protection and mobility, even if several of them couldn't beat one enemy Soldier in melee combat, they could ride the carriage and use the Crossbow to pursue and shoot the enemy to death from afar.

It could be considered a safety net for the combat capability of the driver team.

At this moment, Xueya Site directed the entire carriage, having the driver approach the suddenly appearing enemy rapidly.

"Jier was right after all; as soon as Aoni and the others moved toward the east, an escaping enemy appeared here! Ha, the fact that someone is running away shows that the enemy isn't united either."

Xueya Site said loudly. He said this mainly to boost the morale of the drivers in the carriage behind him; regardless of the level of the drivers' combat ability, only when morale was high would people dare to fight.

Whether they could win was hard to say, but the momentum of winning had to be displayed.

This was a very useful method he had learned during his many years as a Caravan guard. When your Caravan's morale is high, some Bandit groups harboring doubts won't have the guts to look for trouble with your business.

Because most people naturally have a habit of looking down on their own abilities while looking up to others, setting up various implicit obstacles for themselves in their minds without realizing it.

Therefore, by conversely utilizing this habit and maintaining a high morale before facing the enemy, even if it is fake, one can achieve some unexpected results.

This was the case now; facing the carriage of enemies rapidly closing in, this slovenly Soldier carrying the large pack immediately panicked.

Not only did he not immediately turn around and run back toward the village, but he actually jumped up and down, waving his fists at the sky and cursing the gods for abandoning him.

It was completely baffling, as he had just been praising the gods a moment ago.

Although the enemy's behavior was strange, the carriage still charged straight at the enemy under the driver's control. For a carriage pulled by four horses, just the repeated trampling of those dozen or so hooves would be fatal if one were unlucky.

But although the slovenly Soldier was deranged, his skills were not low. While still cursing the gods, his hands didn't shake in the slightest as he drew his Long Sword and gripped his Shield tightly.

This slovenly Soldier didn't turn and run; how could a person outrun a carriage? Oh, Knights could do it, right? But he clearly couldn't, so the slovenly Soldier timed it perfectly and jumped to the side just as the horses pulling the carriage were about to hit him.

He narrowly avoided the charging attack of the four horses.

But what the slovenly Soldier didn't expect was that the other person sitting in the driver's seat of the carriage already had the Crossbow aimed at him, and took advantage of the moment he landed to aim at his legs and fire.

Pfft!

The crossbow bolt accurately struck the calf of the slovenly Soldier who had sprawled onto the ground; there was no protection from the Metal Armor Plate on the front of the Soldier Armor here, which was precisely the weakness of this Soldier Armor. It couldn't really be called a weakness, though; given the limited budget for weapons and equipment, the fact that Knight Hate could provide his soldiers with basic Soldier Armor with Metal Armor Plates and complete sets of weapons already showed great sincerity.

"Did you really think the big pack on your back could protect you? That I would be stupid enough to shoot at your back?"

Xueya Site uttered mocking words, his hands not stopping as he immediately cocked the Crossbow and loaded a bolt. At the same time, he signaled the driver to circle around and make another horse charge. The opponent had narrowly dodged their attack just now, but with a leg injury this time, he wanted to see if he could do it again.

Moreover, repeatedly using the horses to charge and trample was also to leverage the drivers' strengths in combat, thereby avoiding their weakness of having to jump off the carriage and engage in melee combat with the enemy.

If one could play to one's strengths and avoid weaknesses, doing so was more reliable.

"Brother Xueya Site, let us go down and give that guy a taste of our power!"

"Right, we can do it!"

"How could a few of us possibly be unable to beat one person? Hurry and stop the carriage, let's go down and kill him!"

The drivers in the carriage were all incredibly excited, noisily wanting to get down and show off their skills, but Xueya Site remained relatively calm; he sternly rejected their proposal and, glaring at the driver sitting next to him, said loudly: "I am in charge of command, so you must listen to me! We will turn around and come back again; just hit him with the horses and trample him."

Although the shouting of his companions in the carriage behind was even louder, who told Xueya Site to be sitting right next to him? The driver sitting next to him still listened to Xueya Site's words, maneuvering the horses to turn and preparing to turn around for another pass.

Meanwhile, the sloppy Defeated Soldier on the ground was crying and howling while clutching his lower leg; his voice was so loud that everyone on the carriage felt as if that guy hadn't been shot in the leg with an arrow, but rather shot in the crotch.

Boom—the carriage made a wide turn to head back, then gradually accelerated and charged over again.

"You cowards, you're just like Caoshu trash, only knowing how to rely on tall horses to bully a poor man like me! Gods, please look at this unjust scene, I beg you to quickly send down a thunderbolt and strike them dead! Or blow a great wind and flip their carriage over!"

The sloppy Defeated Soldier had just been cursing the gods, yet now he was shamelessly begging the gods for a miracle; it was simply incomprehensible.

And as the carriage accelerated and drew closer, the sloppy Defeated Soldier's tone changed again; he cursed: "I knew it! I knew it! You want me dead! The Captain wants me dead, my companions want me dead, those enemies in the carriage want me dead, and you are all just watching me die!"

"I curse you all!"

But just as the sloppy Defeated Soldier said these words, a thunderous roar echoed through the clear sky, instantly frightening the sloppy Defeated Soldier, causing him to tightly shut his mouth and look at the sky in terror.

And as luck would have it, this sudden thunderous sound startled the four horses pulling the carriage; they slowed down one after another and huddled together, and no matter how the driver urged them, they just stayed pressed against each other, their ears drooping, motionless.

"Hey! What's going on?" The driver was puzzled; these horses weren't young foals, they were young horses that had been pulling carriages for two or three years, so how could they be scared by a single clap of thunder?

Xueya Site was more cautious; he had been holding his Crossbow aimed at the enemy, so he had seen all of the enemy's strange movements just now—the enemy was clearly facing them, yet his attention wasn't on them, but rather he kept kneeling and cursing toward the sky, which was very suspicious.

Therefore, the strange rumbling in the sky was highly likely related to the opponent.

"Be careful! The enemy is strange!"

Even as he said this, he actually pulled the trigger, firing the crossbow bolt.

Whoosh—thud!

This arrow struck the enemy's torso, knocking the enemy to the ground.

"It hit, but I don't know if it can pierce the enemy's Armor at this distance." Xueya Site immediately reloaded the crossbow, pulling the string to the firing position.

After rolling on the ground once, the enemy actually crawled back up; it seemed the crossbow bolt had hit his body but was blocked by his Armor, causing injury but not death. After getting up, the opponent turned and ran.

"Quickly pursue! The enemy is running!" Xueya Site shouted.

But the driver next to him kept flicking the Jiansheng in his hand and even raised his whip to lash the rumps of the horses in front, yet these big guys just huddled together, ears drooping, motionless.

"It's no use, they aren't listening! It seems they were scared by something. It was clearly just the common muffled thunder of a hot day, why are you all so scared!"

The driver was also angry; in summer, thunder often sounds suddenly in the sky, usually followed by disasters like heavy rain or hail, and sometimes it's just the sound of thunder without any rain.

The Southern Province is mountainous, and as a Farmer, he saw this kind of weather often; one just had to stay indoors. Ordinary Cunzi have measures set up by various churches to prevent lightning strikes, and people just need to run back to the Cunzi in time.

If outside the Cunzi, lying on the ground or entering a Shulin is fine, as long as one doesn't go to high places, hold farm tools, or run under a big tree by the field to avoid the rain.

At this moment, the two people on the driver's seat were still arguing, but the several drivers in the carriage behind could no longer hold back; they took the opportunity to jump off the carriage one after another, took out their respective weapons, and rushed toward the fleeing enemy.

"Hey! Come back! All of you come back!" Xueya Site shouted, but those drivers who wanted to earn merit couldn't be persuaded at all.

There was no other way, so Xueya Site had to follow them off the carriage, clutching his crossbow and giving chase.

"You calm the horses as quickly as possible and try to catch up!"

Calling back to the driver, Xueya Site exerted himself and sprinted forward.

But he couldn't catch up to those twenty-something-year-old drivers while carrying the cumbersome crossbow; they soon caught up to the enemy and engaged him in battle.

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