Chapter 596: Mistake, Warning Whistle, and the Monster in Pursuit

"Won't die? What kind of nonsense are you spouting, hehe." Xueya Site laughed triumphantly. He had, of course, heard what the enemy Scout Soldier had said just moments ago, and only after successfully killing the enemy did he boldly speak up to respond.

Just as before, he used a loop of rope to slide down the large tree, and after retrieving the rope, he walked quickly toward the enemy's position.

The enemy's corpse was already severely wounded from the Heavy Crossbow Bolt shot in from the side, and with the fall from a height, this enemy died instantly without a sound. It was a pity, however, that the Soldier Armor on the enemy's body was quite damaged this time, and the Heavy Crossbow Bolt fired had also suffered damage to its arrowhead from piercing through multiple layers of armor plates, with the shaft of the bolt also snapping; it could be considered one bolt wasted.

But it was fine; this time they had come carrying a whole container of captured Heavy Crossbow Bolts, about twelve in total, which was completely enough to take care of a mere six Scouts. Not to mention that used bolts, if undamaged, could be recovered and used again.

"Troublesome, with this damaged armor, how am I supposed to get it off?"

When it came time to collect the spoils, it was Xueya Site who found himself in a bind. The enemy's angle and position just now hadn't been ideal, so the bolt had killed the person from the side. He actually should have waited a while longer; after all, the enemy was exposed while he was hidden. Once the enemy moved or changed their body orientation, he could have killed them with a single shot through the chest.

That way, not only would the damage to the Heavy Crossbow Bolt be minimal, but the armor on the enemy would also be easier to take off, and collecting the spoils wouldn't require so much effort.

But now it was different. Xueya Site had no choice but to take out the Dagger and Long Sword from the enemy, first using the Long Sword to chop the shaft of the Heavy Crossbow Bolt on the enemy's body, then using the Dagger to cut the relatively intact Soldier Armor from the base armor underneath, and he even had to sever the enemy's left arm from the shoulder position just to remove the entire piece of Soldier Armor from the enemy's upper body.

"What a pain."

After this whole process, his hands were covered in blood. Xueya Site first wiped his hands with the dead leaves on the ground, then climbed up to the enemy's wooden platform, found the Wooden Water Bottle stored there, and carefully cleaned his hands with the clear water.

He then bundled up the weapons, equipment, and valuables the enemy had left behind and threw them off the platform. He followed them down, sniffed at his own scent, and frowned as he walked toward the position of the third Scout.

"With this smell of blood on me, won't it attract the wild beasts and Monsters in the mountains and forests? I hope they prefer the corpses I specifically left for them over there, and don't come looking for trouble with me!"

Muttering, Xueya Site walked while trying to cock the Heavy Crossbow he carried.

But what he didn't know was that just as he was climbing onto the platform to collect the spoils, a pair of blue eyes were peering at him from behind a tree trunk not far away.

Although the Plant Concealment Cloak on Xueya Site's body hadn't been turned off and was constantly twisting and shifting with his movements into shapes that blended into the surrounding environment, anyone looking over would immediately realize that the suspicious, constantly shifting mass moving about was a Human.

Not to mention the hands Xueya Site occasionally exposed due to his movements, and the Heavy Crossbow under the Cloak, all betrayed him.

These eyes kept darting between the figure of Xueya Site walking away and the corpse on the ground nearby. Finally, the eyes rolled, and it decided to let this Human who was slaughtering his own kind go for now; wouldn't it be better to let him help kill more Humans?

It could perfectly well follow behind and easily eat fresh Humans.

"Thanks for the treat..."

Seeing the twisted plant-like image of Xueya Site gradually walking away, yet with the bloody scent on his body still 'conspicuously' indicating the other's position and route, this Monster stepped out from the cover of the tree trunk. It didn't even look at the valuables and weapons packed up by Xueya Site, heading straight for the stripped, freshly dead Scout Soldier on the ground.

"A bit of a pity, but I can't complain about a meal obtained without effort, right? Here, I thank the generous Mother of the Forest, and I thank the Lord of Blood Breeding who raised us, and I also thank the various gods in the mountains and forests for granting me today's fill, allowing me one more image to shift into."

After casually saying these perfunctory words, this Shapeshifting Monster opened its large mouth, letting the Human mouth stretch to a shocking size, and swallowed the corpse's entire head in one bite.

But this time it didn't just chew it up like a glutton; instead, it swallowed it whole through a separate swallowing passage in its neck, letting special organs inside its body carefully analyze and understand the Soldier's image and skills.

Next, it used its nails to slice open the Soldier's abdomen, reached in to pull out the fresh liver, put it into its mouth to tear it apart with sharp teeth, licked the delicious taste of the liver with its tongue, and then sent the torn liver into its esophagus as it entered its throat to fill its stomach.

After eating only a liver, it didn't linger, because it knew there was another one of its kind nearby. If it didn't follow closely behind that Human who was hunting his own kind, perhaps the next Human Soldier to die wouldn't be its turn to taste this delicious treat.

"Humans are still the best to eat, and I can even learn some skills and knowledge; it's really not bad. By comparison, the wild beasts in the forest and such are just too ignorant. I really wish I could have such good days every day."

Sighing, this Shapeshifting Monster licked its blood-stained fingers while quickly following the scent, chasing after Xueya Site.

Over here, Xueya Site had already reached the position of the third Scout. He carefully peeked at the platform in the tree ahead, but was somewhat dumbfounded, as there seemed to be no enemy on the platform.

But the problem was, at this time yesterday, when he and Jier were scouting here, they had seen someone here?

Through the killing of the previous two Scout Soldiers, he hadn't noticed these enemies having any sense of vigilance, so where were the people here?

Where did they run off to?

Thinking of this, he became vigilant. He lowered his head to confirm that his Plant Concealment Cloak was still active before carefully peering at his surroundings.

Unexpectedly, just as he raised his head, he saw an enemy clad in Soldier Armor stand up from behind a large tree not far away.

The enemy happened to be facing him after standing up, which made Xueya Site's scalp tingle. His right hand subconsciously gripped the hilt of the Long Sword fixed to his back, his eyes widened as he looked at the enemy, and his breathing even stalled for a moment.

But the enemy hadn't discovered him; they merely used their foot to kick aside some dead leaves on the ground to cover something, and then, cursing and swearing, walked toward Xueya Site's direction.

"Seriously, who is this little bit of water enough for? On such a hot day, they only give us a few bottles of water, making it so I can't even take a dump, %%￥!"

The Soldier cursed, their gaze sweeping past Xueya Site without even taking a second look, rubbing their hands and clutching their stomach as they walked toward the large tree where their guard platform was located.

Xueya Site didn't even dare to breathe. Only after the other party started climbing up the rope did he slowly let out a breath and then take a small inhale.

At this moment, he smelled the scent of feces and couldn't help but feel a sense of amusement.

But just as he relaxed, a whistle suddenly came from the wooden platform nearby, and immediately following that, an Arrow was shot toward the direction where he was!

Whoosh—

With a thud, the Arrow grazed the bark at the edge of the tree trunk and shot into the soft forest floor.

Xueya Site's face turned pale instantly, and then it flushed red: "Damn it! I've been discovered!"

He was somewhat at a loss, because being discovered here would certainly greatly affect Jier's battle plan and the situation of the Warriors' attack this evening. If the enemy had vigilance after being attacked, that would be terrible.

Although they had Jier on their side, the progress of the entire battle certainly wouldn't be that smooth.

Thinking of this, Xueya Site's anger rose. While taking a Heavy Crossbow Bolt from behind him, he shouted at the enemy behind him: "It's all %% your fault! A perfect attack, actually ruined by you! No, ruined by me! Damn it! It shouldn't be like this..."

Complaining in his mouth, he loaded the Heavy Crossbow Bolt into the already-cocked Heavy Crossbow, then held the Heavy Crossbow with both hands, took a deep breath, and waited for the enemy's next Arrow to be shot.

The two sides stood in a standoff in the silent forest for a short while, but then, whistles sounded one after another on the wooden platform, constantly warning the surroundings and calling for reinforcements.

Xueya Site could no longer hold back; he took a step to the right, exposing half his body.

But quickly, in just an instant, he shrank back behind the tree trunk again.

Xueya Site tried to use this method to trick the enemy into shooting the Bow in their hand, but it didn't succeed. Hiding back behind the tree trunk, he didn't see a single Arrow being shot.

"Damn it!"

Cursing, he shifted his feet slightly this time, then flashed his body out from the left side of the tree trunk, stood his legs firmly, tried hard to lift the Heavy Crossbow, and then tried hard to aim at the enemy's position.

And that Scout enemy on the platform shifted the Bow body slightly and released the Bowstring.

Whoosh—

The Arrow shot straight at Xueya Site's body, and at this very moment, Xueya Site also pulled the trigger under the Heavy Crossbow after aiming at the enemy's body.

Bang—

The thick and sturdy Heavy Crossbow Bolt was projected upward, slightly missing the Arrow that was shot diagonally downward, and both flew rapidly toward their respective targets.

The enemy's Arrow hit Xueya Site in the chest, knocking him to the ground. And the Heavy Crossbow Bolt shot by Xueya Site also hit the enemy's chest directly at this short distance, but the difference was that the enemy was carried flying by this Heavy Crossbow Bolt, fell backward from the platform, landed heavily on the forest floor in front, bounced once, and then became completely motionless.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo... hiss, almost died, you dog... really good at acting, even better than the actors on stage, haha, but didn't expect it, did you? You shot me, shot me with an arrow, haha, I didn't die, didn't even get hurt, but you are finished."

Xueya Site placed the tightly gripped Heavy Crossbow to the side, then checked the condition of his chest, discovering that the enemy's arrow had hit exactly the thickest part of the Soldier Armor, which was stacked like scales on his chest.

After the steel arrowhead drilled halfway into the Armor plate, it was deflected by the slightly angled plate, resulting in the arrowhead getting stuck in the Armor plate after bouncing off, while the subsequent arrow shaft hit his chest with enough weight to cause sharp pain, but there were no further injuries beyond that.

"Thanks to, thanks to Jier; if it weren't for this new Armor, I would have been finished just now. Honestly, I owe Jier another life, and I even ruined his attack plan; I'm almost too ashamed to face him."

Coughing twice, although Xueya Site did not know how complicated the situation would become after the enemy sentry blew the wooden whistle, he had to deal with the enemy's corpse and spoils of war first.

At the same time, he had to string the Heavy Crossbow as quickly as possible and hide; if any enemies came to investigate, he might still be able to take one or two more enemy lives.

However, just as Xueya Site was busy, a sound of hurried footsteps suddenly came from behind him.

Feeling nervous about every movement in the surroundings, he immediately took out a new Heavy Crossbow Bolt, loaded it, and turned to hide behind the nearest tree trunk.

"Who? Who's there?"

He spoke to ask, but then realized that apart from Jier, there were no companions of his here, and the familiar sound of Jier's footsteps was not what he felt from the other party at this moment.

So, besides an enemy, who else could it be?

But the problem was, the enemy had come from the direction he had walked from, and he had already dealt with the two sentry enemies in between; except for a Shapeshifting Monster that he heard was always fast asleep, there should be no enemies behind him.

And the person who came was wearing a set of Soldier Armor, with an unfamiliar face, yet speaking strange nonsense: "Didn't recognize me? That's really not good, friend. Shouldn't you have recognized me the first moment you saw me?"

Xueya Site felt a bit strange; who was this person? Should he know him? Then, while aiming at the enemy, he tried hard to recall that enemy's face—was it some distant friend he knew but hadn't seen in a long time?

Was it a companion from his home Cunzi?

The other party was not carrying any obvious weapons, with empty hands and a smile on their face, approaching slowly.

Was it a guard companion he met while following the Caravan? Or a traveling merchant he knew?

The smile on the other party's face became increasingly sincere, their hands spread open to show they were not holding any weapons, and their feet did not stop moving.

Was it one of his wife's brothers? Or perhaps a former drinking buddy?

The smile on the other party's face was truly likable; anyone who saw it would not feel that the other party harbored any malice.

Bang!

The mechanism was pulled, and the thick Heavy Crossbow Bolt shot out at high speed, hitting the enemy's chest squarely, directly piercing through the enemy's not-so-thick Soldier Armor, carrying the entire enemy backward for more than a meter, and rolling into a heap on the ground.

"You think I'm stupid, hmph."

Xueya Site spat; he had just been fooled by that sentry enemy who was taking a dump, so how could he be fooled by this Monster again in such a short time?

If the other party had appeared at another time and another place, and approached him in such a posture, Xueya Site might not have been so vigilant, but after all, before the operation, Jier had explained that among the eight enemy sentries, two sentry Soldiers had somehow, at some point, been replaced by a Shapeshifting Monster.

A Shapeshifting Monster!

That was a special killer move that everyone had heard their mothers recite before bedtime since childhood to scare children who refused to sleep properly, second only to common Monsters like water ghosts and water demons that kept children from playing in the water.

He had been vigilant against these things from the start, so how could he really be fooled by such low-level tricks from you Monsters?

"Honestly, at least change into the face of one of my companions, wear their clothes, and equip their gear, right? Just this? Wearing the enemy's Armor and wanting to get close to me? Ha—this Shapeshifting Monster isn't much after all."

Xueya Site mocked, letting out a big sigh of relief; although there were setbacks, taking down a Shapeshifting Monster all by himself this time could be considered an extra gain?

I wonder if it can make up for his mistake of letting the enemy sentry blow the alarm whistle?

But the Shapeshifting Monster, whose body had been pierced, slowly climbed up from the ground and said to Xueya Site with a smile on its lips: "You're right, so I plan to finish you off, put on your weapons and gear, use your face, and then go find those companions of yours. What do you say?"

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