Chapter 64: The Warriors' Coordination, Villagers on the Move

Aoni and the others treated the words shouted by the onlookers as nothing more than farts; they gritted their teeth, exchanged brief words with one another, and launched attack after attack, round after round, against the only flowering monster on the field—the only living Parasitic Vine Monster.

Sometimes one of them would step forward while the other three stood by to provide cover, putting pressure on the flowering monster from different angles of encirclement.

Sometimes two of them would attack from the left and right; as soon as they finished their move, the other two in front and behind would follow up, launching a continuous, unbroken assault.

Or perhaps all four would strike at once: you would slice off a finger of the monster, I would chop off a protruding piece of vine with an axe, I would slam my Shield into the monster's body, and you would hack into the monster's knee with a blade.

Even though this flowering monster was stronger, more agile, and capable of rapidly recovering and repairing its body after being injured, it was still four against one, and these four were working in coordination.

It still gradually fell into a disadvantage.

Although the battle dragged on for a long time, the mockery from the onlookers gradually faded, because everyone could see that as the fight progressed, the coordination of Aoni's group became increasingly proficient; at the beginning, they still needed to shout loudly to notify their companions how to strike, but gradually they were able to coordinate smoothly with just a gesture, a glance, or a grunt.

Eventually, the four of them didn't even need to communicate; as soon as one person moved, the other three could successfully perceive how they should coordinate next, and for the following round of combat, how many people should move and who should provide support.

Relying solely on the movement of their feet and the adjustment of their positioning, the four of them achieved a meeting of minds, using four people to stand against the formidable flowering monster.

"Not bad, not bad, are you four born of the same mother?" Jier praised, though the words sounded a bit strange.

In the end, the four-on-one duel against the flowering monster reached its climax when Sipulu severed one of the monster's legs, and amidst a dazzling display of coordination, the monster was finally decapitated by Aoni's sword.

"Very good, all four of you have a share in the bounty for this flowering monster. But honestly, this monster's strength is relatively high; it's only slightly weaker than the flowering monster dressed like a mercenary that I saw on the first day."

Jier finally evaluated: "And the coordination between the four of you is truly fantastic!"

The watching Warriors also seemed to have been taught a lesson and cheered one after another.

But Aoni and his group had no energy left to pay attention to these encouragements; they were exhausted and sat on the ground, drinking water fiercely.

In the hot summer, the intense and prolonged coordinated battle had left all four of them drenched in sweat, with sweat dripping from their heads like flowing water. Afterward, the four began to argue, lacking the tacit understanding they had shown while defeating the strong enemy.

"You stupid thing! At the beginning, I told you to coordinate with me, why didn't you react?" Aoni shouted at Bawei.

Bawei complained to Weier: "Just now, I clearly signaled that I would block the monster's attack to create a winning opportunity for you, why didn't you see it? Huh?"

"You kept casting glances at me without saying a word, how was I supposed to know what you wanted to do? In fact, Sipulu was in a better position at the time; it should have been him taking my role! Hey, Sipulu, I adjusted my position several times just to let you deliver the fatal blow, so why did you keep retreating?" After replying to Bawei, Weier questioned Sipulu, who was drinking water fiercely.

Putting down his Water bottle, Sipulu pursed his lips and retorted irritably: "Because there were so many people watching, we couldn't let Bawei take unnecessary risks just to defeat the strong enemy as quickly as possible. If it had been Aoni in that position, it would have been fine; he has a Shield, so blocking the monster's vine strike wouldn't have been a big deal."

"Hey, hey, hey! What do you mean it would have been fine if it were me? I couldn't rush over in time because I had just taken a heavy hit from the monster a moment before. My Armor is good, and I have a Shield, so I should be the one to take the monster's hits, right? Don't you all agree?" Aoni asked the surrounding Warriors.

The Warriors gave various answers and began to argue among themselves as well.

Jier clapped his hands at this moment, drawing everyone's attention to himself: "Stop arguing, today's work isn't finished yet! The injured Warriors and the Priest of the Agriculture God will stay in the village, while the others get back on the carriages; we are going to meet the nine hundred or so people from Kangkaiqi Cunzi who are on the road. Get moving, get moving, leave the monster's corpse where it is for now and deal with it when everyone returns. By the way, be careful of any monsters that might pass by; Priests, you can handle that, right?"

The middle-aged Priest indicated it was no problem and that he would guard the village well.

Thus, the Warriors complained as they climbed back onto the carriages, continuing to argue about whether Aoni and his group's fighting method against the monster had been wrong.

This was an unsolvable question, as everyone had their own views on combat.

Jier also let his Tianxuecao drink a bucket of water before rushing to catch up with the carriage convoy that had already left the village, soon walking to the front to lead them toward the southernmost part of the huge trench of Yemei Town, waiting there for the Villagers who were moving over.

On the road, they could occasionally see sporadic monsters moving in the abandoned fields in the distance, basically all heading toward the Beibu of Yemei Town.

Jier really didn't know how those Sun God Church Priests had provoked the Parasitic Vine Monster to be so hated by the monsters that they kept sending subordinates to attack and harass them.

Jier rode his horse to catch up and dealt with these monsters encountered on the road using his axe. If the total amount of monsters did not increase, then every monster solved now meant the number of monsters was decreasing. This was a good thing.

By noon, at the place where the convoy stopped, everyone finally met up with the nine hundred or so Villagers who were moving slowly, along with seventy or so Town Guards.

As Jier had expected, the entire group was very chaotic, with almost no organization to speak of. The Town Guards, who had been busy for more than two days, had not gained any experience in organizing the public; instead, because of the exhaustion of their work, they were taciturn and merely accompanied the public, not caring at all whether people left the group or if the formation of the team was good.

Jier frowned as he rode on horseback; he spurred his horse forward and shouted loudly: "I am Knight Qiao-Jier, invited by the Sasi Family to handle this monster incident in Sasi County. Now, everyone present will directly follow my orders! Anyone who resists or refuses to obey will be executed on the spot! There will be no room for you to argue! Is that clear to everyone?"

The Town Guards had heard of Jier and had even crossed paths with him two days ago, so although Jier's face was young, they recognized his status and strength. After all, they were people from the town; they knew how powerful a Knight could be.

After all, the direct leader of the Town Guards was a middle-aged Knight under the Sasi Family, and that Knight Lord often demonstrated extraordinary power before everyone.

"We understand, Knight Lord." The Town Guards responded to Jier lazily under the scorching sun.

Jier then turned to the disheveled Villagers of Kangkaiqi Cunzi and said to them: "The same goes for you; from now on, you will follow my orders uniformly. I won't make things difficult for you. From now until the short time it takes for you to return to the village and get settled, I require your obedience. Is that a problem?"

Cunzi Chief pushed through the crowd, knelt on the ground, and looked up at Jier on his horse: "No problem, Lord, but our Lord is another Knight after all. We can listen to you for some simple matters, but for complex matters concerning the village and the territory, we must notify the Butler or the Heir of the Knight Lord."

Jier waved his hand: "I am only asking you to travel properly; this does not involve property or land matters."

The fifty-something Cunzi Chief lowered his head: "Then we will follow your orders."

"Very good. First thing: all Warriors get off the carriages, and let those in the village who have trouble walking, are too young, or are too old get on the carriages. With them traveling by carriage, the entire group's movement speed will increase significantly without the burden of those who cannot walk."

The Villagers of Kangkaiqi did not expect this young Knight Jier to give such an order; they had thought this foreign Knight was going to let his subordinates extort their property! This order was truly beyond everyone's expectations.

But this was a good thing, and the logic Jier stated was simple and clear; even a fool could understand it.

Jier's subordinate Warriors immediately got off the carriages, while those temporary hired guards complained and jumped off the carriages sluggishly.

"Aoni! Take twenty of your own men and twenty Town Guards to walk at the front of the group to clear the way. Weier, take the rest of your own men and twenty Town Guards to the rear of the group to guard against monsters and prevent anyone from falling behind."

"Understood!"

"Got it, Jier." The two replied, immediately selecting their men and calling for twenty Town Guards to go with them.

The Town Guards had previously agreed to follow Jier's orders, and Jier had also said he would kill anyone who didn't, so although reluctant, they still promptly sent twenty men each to join the front and rear guard of the nearly one thousand people.

The remaining thirty Town Guards were arranged by Jier to guard the south side of the entire group loosely, because at this time everyone was moving from west to east along the huge trench outside Yemei Town; the north side was Yemei Town and the wide trench, a direction that was very safe and did not require anyone to guard it, so no one needed to be arranged there.

At the same time, Jier also rode his horse through the Villagers' group, constantly making the messy, olive-shaped group line up into a thin, long column.

When everyone was crowded together, although it seemed safe because they were surrounded by their own people, moving like this was actually very unfavorable for progress; the other side of having people in front, behind, left, and right was that your movement was completely restricted by the progress of others around you—you couldn't go fast, but it was very easy to slow down.

Moreover, when bumping into others on the left or right, the time spent arguing would also affect a large number of other people around.

But it was different if they were lined up in a thin, long column; although the total length of the defense became larger, which was unfavorable for safety, everyone in the thin, long column only needed to keep their heads down and follow the person in front. If someone in the group slowed their pace or needed to stop temporarily, they could move directly to the outside of the group.

After finishing their business, they could just join the end of the group and catch up.

"Yes, ten people per row. Put your children on the carriages next to you and let the elderly look after them. You three, don't just watch, go up and help the elderly climb onto the carriages!" Jier shouted at the attendant Bell sitting in the driver's assistant seat and the two Government Office officials.

The three of them were stunned, not expecting there to be work for them here. But they dared not disobey Jier's orders; after all, they were all smart people and knew that not listening to Jier's orders now meant not giving Jier face, and if Jier targeted them in battle later, it was hard to say if they would survive until the end of this counterattack plan.

Especially that attendant under Bell, who had been carefully instructed by Bell before coming that he should do whatever Jier asked him to do.

"Alright, Lord, watch me!" The attendant jumped off the driver's seat and smilingly helped an elderly peasant woman with a hunched back onto the carriage, his movements climbing up and down extremely agile.

The other two low-level officials from the town's Government Office were much more sluggish; perhaps they had dealt with these peasants and peasant women of much lower status than them many times in the past and were unwilling to lower themselves to help the elderly among the Villagers climb onto the carriages.

But Jier stared straight at them, and that gaze was truly frightening, forcing the two to put away the paper and pens in their hands and laboriously help the elderly, who were covered in a sour smell, onto the carriages. Once the elderly were up, the small children were much easier to handle; they were simply passed from under the carriage to the elderly on the carriage.

There were also the young people in the Villager group who had been injured in fights with other villages previously; Jier also required them to ride in the carts to travel.

And once the traveling crowd was no longer dragged down by these people who could not walk, the overall movement speed of the group went up immediately.

"Very good! Just like this!"

Jier said excitedly: "It is not far from here to your Kangkaiqi Cunzi; it is not yet noon, and at the current speed, we will be able to reach the Cunzi shortly after noon."

He had the attendant who had finished their work come over and unfold the map of the area around Yemei Town that they were carrying on their back, and Jier reached out and moved his hand across the map.

"Let me see, if we can move a bit faster, there will be no problem solving the situation at a village to the north of Kangkaiqi this afternoon. Although we can only kill the Monster entrenched there and cannot have the villagers move over, it is still not bad. Now that we defeat more Monsters, there will be fewer Monsters that need to be dealt with in the future."

Evaluating the distances on the map and the surrounding terrain, Jier estimated that before dark today, he and his group could take the village to the north that did not border Yemei Town. And if his estimation was correct, by tomorrow morning, Bell's new orders would arrive, which would certainly be to have him lead the group to support that Sun God Church unit.

After all, they could not let that unit contend with the endless stream of Monsters on the plains outside the town where there was no defense to hold.

As long as they could get that unit into a village, they could better conduct their defense by relying on the village's simple walls and houses.

Everything was as Jier had expected; their group of nearly one thousand people arrived at Kangkaiqi Cunzi shortly after noon, and the villagers, drenched in sweat and parched with thirst, rushed toward the various wells in the Cunzi, changing from their previously weak-footed state to gulping down the clear well water.

Only then did they cheer, celebrating finally being rid of the unbearable hard life outside Yemei Town; although their own Cunzi did not have wide trenches for defense and would face those terrifying Parasitic Vine Monsters directly, these villagers were no longer afraid.

Confronting Monsters was still better than living outside the town on that cramped land, suffering the cold shoulders and looks of others.

Jier gathered the equally exhausted Town Guards and informed them that they could rest well in the Cunzi for a few hours during the hottest part of the afternoon, and wait until before dusk, when the hottest part of the day had passed, to return light-footed from Kangkaiqi Cunzi to the trench entrance on the west side of Yemei Town.

As for him and his group, after a simple rest, they mainly replenished their water, filled their respective Water bottles, and then got back on the carts, heading toward another Cunzi two kilometers to the northeast of Kangkaiqi Cunzi.

As long as they went and returned quickly, they could reach that village before dark, clear out the Parasitic Vine Monsters within the village, and return to Kangkaiqi Cunzi quickly.

?? Sorry, sorry, I drank some alcohol last night, which resulted in me failing to update the novel. My fault.