Chapter 666: The Darkest Moonless Night (Part 3)

On Jier's side, the chaos of the crowd caused great trouble for his movement.

He had to push away the young refugees who were bumping into him in their panic, and he also had to keep his right hand holding the sword raised, fearing that the sharp blade of the Long Sword would injure the mindless refugees.

But even so, someone kept turning their head to look at the place where the battle was happening behind them while moving toward the north side of the open space. Then, they slammed headfirst into the counterweight ball at the end of the Long Sword Jier was holding up.

With a bang, the person was knocked unconscious directly onto the ground.

Curling his lip, Jier lifted his leg and kicked the unconscious idiot aside so they wouldn't be trampled to death by other refugees who weren't watching their feet.

He used his left hand to unhook the Elven Metal Shield hanging on his back, then equipped it.

A large number of people were crowding to evacuate the front line of the battle; in just over ten seconds, the area in front of Jier had largely cleared. There were only the gang refugees still being pushed back and the fierce Bandits fighting them.

At this moment, the number of Bandits rushing up was less than half that of the gang refugees, but they were completely suppressing them.

Jier only took one glance to see that although they were superior in numbers, they were far behind in weapons, combat techniques, and even the most important thing: fighting spirit.

In terms of protection, the gang refugees were not much different from these Bandits wearing colorful, strange clothes. Don't be fooled by the animal skins the Bandits wore or the terrifying things like human bones hanging on them.

Aside from being able to startle people and suppress opponents with their presence, these things provided no protective function and, due to their weight and size, greatly hindered the Bandits' fighting.

"A bunch of third-rate guys trying to scare people."

His right hand holding the sword landed on the Helmet's Faceplate, dropping the steel Faceplate down; Jier officially entered combat state. He muttered to himself in a low voice: "Haven't fought in many days, let's use them to sharpen the blade first."

Jier noticed the larger number of Bandits gradually arriving not far behind this group of vanguard Bandits, so he decided to first push these people back behind the riverbank slope between the open space and the small creek.

"Move."

He pushed with his Shield, shoving a gang refugee who had no heart for battle to the left, then lifted his leg and kicked; his metal boot directly knocked over a Bandit who was raising a Cleaver to cut down that gang refugee.

Once the person was kicked down heavily, Jier stepped over them, his right-hand Long Sword sweeping downward, incidentally slicing open most of the fallen Bandit's neck.

Dark red blood sprayed out, reflecting the luster of life under the illumination of the surrounding bonfires.

"The enemy leader! Ha, let's surround and kill him!"

A Bandit with a thick Poisonous Snake wrapped around their body pulled their Long Sword out of a refugee's stomach, then shouted to two other companions beside them; the three formed an inverted triangle formation and charged straight at Jier, who was wrapped in metal armor.

"You are trying to wrestle with a bull!"

Jier snorted coldly, his left-hand Shield blocking the Cleaver attacking from the left, while his right hand took advantage of the momentum to retreat a few steps, actively tangling his Long Sword with the opponent's Long Sword, then pulling back violently.

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak—

The two metal weapons made a short, harsh metal-grinding sound as they tangled, but the gray-black Hunting Sword blade was unscathed, while the blade part of the opponent's Iron Longsword deformed.

As it deformed, Jier pulled, and the opponent's Long Sword flew out of their hand; then, amidst the Bandit's surprise and disbelief, Jier stepped forward and thrust his arm out, the Long Sword piercing straight through the center of the opponent's chest.

A twist and a pull, the Long Sword was withdrawn, carrying a large amount of fresh blood.

But immediately, the Bandit with the thick Poisonous Snake wrapped around them, under the cover of another Bandit holding a Cleaver, approached Jier and threw the thick Poisonous Snake directly at him.

"What the hell is this?"

Jier raised his left arm to block with the Shield, but immediately felt the Shield sink; he turned his head to look and discovered that a thick, mottled Poisonous Snake was hanging directly onto the Shield.

On its triangular head, two vertical pupils stared fixedly at Jier, and the moment its body coiled firmly onto Jier's Shield, the Poisonous Snake raised its head and lunged forward violently.

The speed was too fast; Jier barely managed to close his eyes before his Faceplate was hit hard by the snake's head.

Thud!

Hiss, hiss, hiss—

Thud! Hiss, hiss, hiss—

The Poisonous Snake's teeth bit into Jier's Faceplate, venom spraying everywhere from the hooked fangs; Jier even felt unknown liquid splashing onto his face, which made him even more afraid to open his eyes.

He raised his left arm, pulling the Poisonous Snake coiled on the Shield straight, then passed his right-hand Long Sword through the gap above his left arm and swung the Long Sword upward violently.

Chirp—

There was a feeling of having cut something.

But Jier still didn't dare to open his eyes.

Because even if it was cut, Jier could still feel a large section of the snake's head and body still hanging on his Faceplate.

At this moment, he heard the excited shouts of two Bandits: "It's done! Crab didn't die in vain, haha, this set of weapons and equipment is mine!"

His waist tightened; someone seemed to have lunged up and hugged him directly around the waist.

On the other side, the Neck Armor on his neck took a hit from a Cleaver, but other than sparking, it had no other result.

Jier swung his Long Sword violently in one direction, and the Bandit holding the Cleaver who had ambushed his neck began to wail in pain.

The Shield in his left hand pressed down directly, smashing heavily onto the back of the Bandit who was hugging his waist. This Bandit who had released the snake was actually trying to tackle Jier by the waist; had they not considered the weight difference between the two?

Although the strength required for a waist tackle wasn't the greatest, Jier's body weight was already much heavier than the average person, and with his full set of armor and weapons, the difference wasn't small—it was almost as if he weighed twice as much as this Bandit.

The bottom of the Elven Metal Shield was a standard shield shape, which meant it was pointed.

This smash directly broke the Bandit's spine; with just one cry of pain, the person went silent. It was unclear if they had passed out or died outright.

Jier's free right hand grabbed the Helmet's Faceplate, pulling off the half of the Poisonous Snake still biting onto it, then, listening with his ears, he threw it toward a spot several meters in front of him.

The next moment, among the two people still fighting, one Bandit pulled at the half-snake on their neck and cursed loudly: "Old Mottled-Head, you %￥% of a..., snake antidote! Antidote!"

This person waved their right-hand Long Sword while struggling to pull at the slippery half-snake, trying to tear the thing off their neck. They retreated a few steps, disengaging from the battle, trying to find the Old Mottled-Head they mentioned amidst the chaos of the fight.

But before they could find anyone, the person's limbs began to twitch, the Long Sword they were holding slipped from their grasp with a clatter, and the whole person fell to the ground, curling up and shaking.

Their body lost control, but they were still mumbling in their mouth, shouting for Old Mottled-Head to give them the antidote; it looked like the snake venom took effect quickly, but there was still a long time between the reaction to the poison and death.

Jier's right hand tugged at the Bandit at his waist, pulling off a piece of animal skin jacket that reeked of strong sweat; after wiping his Faceplate vigorously and messily, he finally dared to open his eyes again.

"Phew, that was close, almost capsized."

Muttering, Jier clenched his right hand and delivered a heavy punch to the head of the Bandit at his waist, who was unknown to be dead or alive.

Splat!

The Bandit's head was smashed completely, which made Jier's mood slightly better.

Casually pulling off the dead person hanging from his waist, Jier turned his head to look; two meters away, the Bandit who had been holding the Cleaver was already vomiting blood, with his Hunting Sword stuck in their chest, and they only had half a life left.

Jier walked over quickly, pulled out his Long Sword, and joined the next fight; the Bandit used all their strength to try and cover the wound on their chest, but the blood flowed more and more, and no matter what, they couldn't stop it.

Having nearly been turned around by someone's Poisonous Snake just now, Jier was much more careful in the fighting that followed.

He hacked down several Bandits in the fray, signaled the Refugee gang members who still dared to fight to stand behind him, and then faced two groups of three Bandits head-on.

"Stand your ground, everyone get behind me!"

Jier stood on the front line of the engagement, and the fighting teams then separated slightly.

At this moment, the dozens of brave religious Refugees arranged by Priest Bata'er to provide support finally pushed through the crowded people and arrived behind Jier. They were all holding fist-sized Stones in their arms; if they really threw them, the power would not be underestimated, especially since none of these Bandits carried a Shield.

Jier saw a guy who looked like a leader from the other side push the Bandits aside and walk out, holding the head of a young Refugee gang member in his hand. The opponent threw the head toward Jier, but it was blocked by Jier with his Shield and fell to the ground.

The opponent was just about to speak, but Jier realized the opponent's intention to stall, because in this short standoff, a new batch of Bandits had all arrived at the small creek on the south side of the clearing and were about to cross the calf-deep creek to join the battlefield.

"Throw the Stones hard at them!"

Jier shouted loudly, and immediately someone swung their arm and threw the Stones hard at the Bandits less than ten meters in front of them.

Stones of this size were not suitable for throwing far, but for this close-quarters fight, it was barely enough.

Jier missed Throwing Spears quite a bit at this moment; if he had a batch of standard Throwing Spears in his hand, and the young people behind him had even just one or two each, it would be enough to make the Bandits on the opposite side weigh whether they would attack tonight.

But there were no such "ifs." If they really could have one or two Throwing Spears each, Jier would not be waiting here obediently for the Bandits to attack; the situation might even have reversed, and he would be the one taking people to hunt down the local Bandits instead.

Stone after Stone was smashed toward the Bandits, making them wail; the guy who looked like the Bandit Leader took the most hits, as he happened to be standing in the very middle of the opposing Bandits, and he looked a bit imposing, so most of the Stones were thrown at him.

The Bandit Leader named Huang She used his arms and weapon to protect his head and vital parts while loudly cursing: "F***ing lowly farmers, retreat, retreat, let Fatty's men come up to fight, we'll go around the side along the slope!"

His subordinates, less than twenty in number, all retreated to the slope between the clearing and the creek after being hit by a few Stones.

"Advance with me! Those empty-handed, throw the burning firewood from the bonfire forward!"

Jier gave the order, and some of the young people who came empty-handed finally came to their senses, picked up the half-burned firewood from the bonfire, and used all their strength to throw it forward.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—the burning firewood traced bright parabolas, passed over the heads of Jier and the others, and landed sparsely on both sides of the creek.

It illuminated the figures of dozens of Bandits. These Bandits were very different from the ones they had just fought; not only were there people holding Long Spears and Spears, but there were also people carrying bows and arrows, Throwing Spears, and holding large wooden Shields.

Although they also looked quite chaotic at a glance, their combat effectiveness was more than a notch higher than those snake-playing Bandits who looked more like uncivilized primitive natives.

The young people who had just felt they had repelled the Bandit attack screamed again.

The ground all around was covered with people who had fallen, injured or dead; most of them were Refugees, and only a few, less than ten, were on the Bandit side. And among these fewer than ten, more than half were hacked to death by Jier.

Knowing that these young people had no combat ability, such a result still surprised Jier a little.

"Don't be afraid! I am here!" Jier held his Long Sword high and strode forward; behind him, the few young people who dared to fight followed closely.

Among them were religious believers, as well as young gang members whose anger flared up after their companions were killed.

They picked up the weapons of the Bandits on the ground, gripped them tightly, and followed the figure of Knight Jier.

"Useless things, pfft, charging the fastest, but retreating the fastest too! Hahahaha."

The burly Bandit Leader carried a thick and sturdy five-meter-long Spear and mocked the disheveled Huang She mercilessly.

He waved his hand casually: "Stand aside and watch how I drive these dirt-digging guys, crying and screaming, onto the Shanglu where there is no bonfire to shine. When it's time to catch people, just consciously eat some leftovers."

Huang She had a sinister look on his face, but this expression and aura that could scare away ordinary Bandits could not scare away the opponent, who had more men and better skills than him.

"Pah, I'll just watch from the opposite side, hmph, I'll watch your performance well?"

With a mocking retort, Huang She took his strange-looking subordinates and retreated to the side. He no longer flanked the Refugees on the other side of the clearing, but instead led his men back to the wasteland where they had previously ambushed, and continued to watch how Fatty fought, sneering by the light of the sporadic burning firewood by the creek.

"Boss, are we just going to watch like this?"

A confidant rubbed his cheek, which had been hit by a Stone, and asked with a strange voice.

"Of course not. There are tough nuts among the Refugees. Let that Fatty bump and crash against them to see how hard the other side is—whether they are bird eggs, Stones, or metal balls."

Having lost more than thirty percent of his men and being mocked by Fatty like that, Huang She was actually already furious, but he was just that kind of person: the angrier he was, the calmer he appeared.

Others might not see it or know about it, but the other Bandits in his group all understood this point.

Someone immediately made a suggestion: "Boss, why don't we go to the road where those Refugees will flee to the west now? Grab a batch of the ones with the best physical strength first. We can sell them for a good price later."

But this subordinate's suggestion only earned a disdainful sneer from Huang She. The Bandit Leader rolled his eyes, then smiled sinisterly, and licked the corner of his mouth: "You say, if Fatty wants to leave here later to mix in other places, has he already prepared the supplies for his men to transfer later? And the people left behind in his lair? If you talk about the best physical strength and physique, hmph hmph, where are those soft-handed and soft-footed Refugees? You guess, in our area, when selling to those who take people, which ones are the most valuable?"

Everyone was frightened by the leader's words. These guys who dealt with Poisonous Snakes all day were not stupid; on the contrary, because they had to keep company with ruthless and cold-blooded snakes, they were quite alert like wild beasts.

The fighting started in front. The Bandit Leader called Fatty used a long and sturdy Spear to directly lift a brave Refugee, then exerted force to swing, throwing the lifted Refugee to the side, causing the person to fall silent immediately.

Other Bandits also yelled and engaged in battle with the brave Refugees who were similar in number to them.

It seemed that Huang She's subordinates could each take on two, and Fatty's men, who were stronger, should easily defeat those rabble.

But reality was not like that.

Huang She narrowed his eyes, looked at a certain figure killing wildly in the crowd, and smiled eerily.

"Let's go. After the people of the White Wall make a move, we will leave here quietly, because I found that there is a fortune that can be easily obtained waiting for us! Brothers, what do you think?"

A subordinate swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Logically speaking, the strength of their Bandit groups varied, but if there was no real serious conflict, they should not attack each other.

Because this would cause a joint crusade by other groups.

But that was before. Now, this long and narrow Shanglu between the mountains connecting the Nanbu and the Western Province had already dried up.

Many small-scale Bandit groups had long since fled in a sorry state due to insufficient material reserves; they were already the last few Bandit groups left here.

But everyone was actually almost unable to hold on anymore.

On the Shanglu, either you wouldn't see a single Caravan for a day, or the ones passing by were armed Caravans protected by fully armed mounted Caravan guards. These people couldn't beat them at all, and couldn't escape.

And these guys who didn't have the habit of saving money couldn't possibly go a year or two without opening for business; they couldn't do it, you know.

Leaving the local area to make a living elsewhere was a certainty.

And since everyone was going to leave here, did they, these Bandits who had done all kinds of evil, still need to follow the rule of not attacking other Bandits?

Thinking this through, a Bandit laughed strangely: "Boss, then let's go rob Fatty's lair."

"Hehehehe, hahahaha."

Huang She laughed: "What about the rest of you? Have you figured it out?"

"Boss, we have all figured it out. Let's do it, while Fatty's men are dragged here and can't leave. By the time he defeats and captures all the Refugees, it will probably be the second half of the night. By then, we will have long since run away."

"Don't be in a hurry, wait a little longer, let the people of the White Wall join in first, and then we will leave quietly."