Chapter 668: The Darkest Moonless Night (Part 5)

Jier noticed the bandits fleeing on the wasteland in the distance. Those strangely dressed fellows seemed to have been frightened by the magic fire just now, so Jier did not find their flight strange.

Even he himself had been startled by that underestimated magic dagger.

He could never have imagined that a magic dagger picked up casually during the march would have such powerful might. Starting roughly from the dagger, a narrow fan-shaped area in front was scorched clean by the high-temperature magic fire. The enemies turned into charred skeletons, and even the soil on the ground had its slight moisture evaporated by the high-temperature heat.

It became dry and brittle.

That burly bandit still had over ten men under him, but they were all spooked by the previous events; at this moment, their combat effectiveness in the fight against the young refugees was no longer as overwhelming as it had been just a moment ago.

If it weren't so difficult to disengage from the battle, these people would likely have found a way to flee back.

How could that be? Jier had his eyes on the weapons and equipment of these bandits tonight; even if he had to lose many young refugees, he was determined to arm these people as much as possible.

As long as it didn't cost his own money.

Jier turned toward the west in the south; there, a squad of over ten bandits—no, they looked more like well-trained soldiers—were facing him across the small creek, looking somewhat hesitant.

Jier noticed that most of their gazes were fixed on him, while a smaller portion was on the bandits who were still fighting while surrounded by the young refugees.

Yet not a single one was on the refugees under his command.

It seemed that these people, who were the most numerous on the scene, were conversely the most insignificant part of this battle.

Jier tapped the shield on his left arm with his Hunting Sword, making a crisp "bang-bang" sound: "Hey! If you want to fight, come over here. Why are you just standing there? Come! Fight!"

But the squad of Refining Qi bandits provoked by Jier remained unmoved; he saw one person in the opposing team run quickly toward the path they had come from, seemingly to pass on a message.

"Cowards! Ptooey!"

Jier spat, then kept only a fraction of his attention on these people, turning instead to slaughter the bandits under the command of the Fatty who were still putting up a stubborn resistance.

These fellows were completely surrounded by the young refugees who dared to fight.

Some approached them holding burning firewood, not giving these bandits a chance to escape, while other young people picked up stones that had fallen earlier, waiting for an opportunity to hurl them at the resisting bandits.

Each bandit was closely threatened by one or two young refugees from the gang who had picked up weapons; as soon as a bandit's attention wavered, these young people who loved to ambush would immediately shout and rush up to take a slash.

Jier shook his head as he watched, then strode over and shouted: "All of you, clear a path for me! Drive them together, I will deal with them myself!"

The young refugees, who had been in a state of high nervous tension, all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Knight Jier finally come over to fight.

The circle surrounding the bandits quickly expanded, and everyone drove the still-resisting bandits together; these bandits also subconsciously moved closer to their companions.

When the bandits nervously stood back-to-back, they suddenly realized one thing.

Would the young Knight standing in front of them not release that terrifying magic fire again and burn them all to death while they were huddled together?

On a battlefield mixed with curses, roars, and wails, these bandits were like rats trapped in a dead-end hole by a Poisonous Snake.

Desperately cursing while attempting a last stand.

But Jier did not desperately release magic fire at them; after all, the Magic Power within the Heartfire Dagger was very precious. He raised his sword and shield and slowly approached.

The dozen or so bandits huddled back-to-back in a circle, watching the young Knight getting closer and closer, until finally, someone could no longer hold back and roared as he charged up.

This man was tall and sturdy, bald, with a face full of ferocious, fleshy jowls. He carried a Double-handed Battle Axe stained with blood and flesh; it was unknown how many innocent young refugees he had cut down during the brief clash just now.

As soon as this man stepped forward, all the surrounding young refugees noticed him; seeing the blood and flesh stained on the opponent's weapon, everyone's eyes were filled with rage.

"My Lord! Please kill him! He just cut Toni from our village in half!"

"Yawen from our village was only sixteen, and this executioner just chopped off his head!"

But Jier remained unmoved, unaffected by what his own refugee subordinates were saying.

He tapped his shield lightly with his Long Sword, signaling for the man to come up and fight.

"Ahhhhh! Fight to the death today!"

The tall, bald bandit roared, swinging his Double-handed Battle Axe in a heavy cleave.

Jier let out a breath, then raised his left hand, actively meeting the incoming heavy cleave.

With a loud "thud"! Jier's body did not sway, and he steadily caught the opponent's strike. This act of taking the blow head-on left the tall bandit who had initiated the attack stunned.

The opponent was about to retract the axe from the shield to strike again, but Jier stepped forward and unleashed a Horizontal Slash with his Long Sword.

Whoosh—shhh-shhh-shhh.

Like tearing through a tattered sack, the bandit's abdomen was sliced directly open; the majority of his waist at that height was cut clean through by the Horizontal Slash of the Long Sword just now.

The bandit was dumbfounded, unable to process what happened, still wanting to fight, but the moment his arms moved, his waist, unable to bear the force, collapsed, and his whole body flipped over and fell to the ground.

It turned out that the muscles and other tissues at the front of his waist and abdomen that supported his body had all been shredded by that single Horizontal Slash. Relying solely on the spine at the back, it could not support any major movements he attempted.

Jier lowered his left-hand shield in a half-crouch, directly smashing the bandit's skull to pieces.

"Great!"

"Kill them all!"

Jier kicked the Double-handed Battle Axe held in the bandit's hand away, then tapped his shield with his Long Sword again, signaling for the bandits to come up and die.

Several familiar bandits exchanged glances, and then four of them stepped out together, ignoring the shouting and pleas of the other bandits behind them, deciding to fight for their own lives.

Jier saw the four men, spaced half a meter apart, two in front and two behind, charging at him in a trapezoidal formation.

With a cold snort, Jier used his combat boot to kick up the corpse in front of him, then with a lift and a swing, he smashed the corpse directly into the four charging bandits.

The one on the left of the two in front swung his Cleaver in a heavy cleave, just happening to sever the spine of the bald bandit's corpse, letting the two halves of the body fly past his side.

But Jier's target was not him, but the one next to him. Taking advantage of the opening created by the man on the left swinging his Cleaver, Jier stomped his foot and leaped forward, a sudden lunge that caught everyone by surprise, and slammed his shield directly into the man.

This bandit was also carrying a thick Mudu, but it was this protective shield that cost him his life; in the instant Jier leaped over, his vision was blocked by the shield he had subconsciously raised to defend against the flying corpse.

That was exactly what Jier wanted, and then he concentrated the weight of his entire body into this sudden forward-leaping impact.

Shield against shield, defense against charge.

As expected, Jier not only leaped forward with great speed, but his body weight and the weight of his weapons and equipment far exceeded those of the bandit, and with a loud "bang" of impact, the shield-bearing bandit was sent flying backward.

The Mudu in the man's hand shattered and flew apart, his left arm holding the shield twisted and turned, and even the left chest adjacent to his left arm was abnormally sunken inward.

The bandit spat out blood and a severed tongue, falling backward with his limbs splayed into the crowd of refugees ten meters away.

Another bandit holding a Throwing Spear who had been standing behind this bandit barely avoided being knocked over due to the trapezoidal formation, but he was immediately targeted by Jier.

Jier stood steady in the bandit's original spot after the collision, then threw the Long Sword from his right hand, which flew secretly through the air, spinning like a rotating electric drill.

The grey-black Long Sword did not appear very conspicuous even on the battlefield illuminated by firelight, and if one were not careful, one would lose track of Jier's weapon; thus, the Bandit holding a throwing spear and short spear did not react at all to this unexpected thrown weapon, having only just seen his companion who used a Shield get knocked flying past him, and the next moment his own chest was pierced through by a thrown Long Sword.

Jier did not dare to use force when throwing his Long Sword, because at this moment his body was being enhanced by Life Energy, and he feared that if the Long Sword were thrown with full strength, after piercing through the Bandit's chest, it would also pierce, kill, or injure the entire circle of Refugees nearby.

After unexpectedly finishing off two people, Jier directly raised his left hand to block a heavy slash from the Bandit's Cleaver at his side.

Clang!

The opponent knew this was a life-or-death moment, so he did not dare to stop his weapon-swinging movements for even an instant. He intended to use his offensive to suppress the Knight who was his enemy, creating an opportunity for his companions to win or kill the opponent.

The last person of the four-man team was a Bandit using a Long Sword; tall and long-limbed, he performed a feint with the Long Sword before changing direction to stab at Jier's right armpit.

At this moment, Jier felt the opponent had some skill, knowing that this part of the armor was one of the main weak points at the joints.

He pressed his right arm tightly against his body, trapping the tip of the cunningly attacking Long Sword against the inside of his arm.

That Bandit pushed hard on the hilt, using both hands, but Jier pressed tightly and would not let go, so he could not stab down at all.

Subsequently, the opponent tried to twist the Long Sword, or even pull it out, but Jier grabbed the blade of the Long Sword with his right hand, using his palm encased in metal armor plates to tightly grip the opponent's steel Long Sword blade.

The finger area was much smoother and harder to grip; the opponent tried to pull the Long Sword out, but Jier tightened his fingers and exerted force, then gave a wrench, and the Long Sword made of refined steel was directly snapped in half horizontally by Jier.

"Hmph!"

With a heavy grunt, Jier pulled the snapped Long Sword toward him, directly dragging this Bandit close to his body. Then, he followed up by lifting and dropping his right combat boot.

"Ah!!!"

The opponent's entire sole was heavily stomped into the mud of the ground by Jier.

This open space by the Shanglu was often used by people to rest, so the ground here was fairly solid; having his foot stomped into such solid ground by Jier's combat boot, it went without saying that the bones in the opponent's sole were definitely all crushed.

Even more than that, it was visible to the naked eye that when Jier's sole lifted again, flesh and blood dripped from the bottom of his combat boot.

He released the opponent's Long Sword with his right hand, then reached upward and grabbed the neck of the still-wailing Bandit.

Just as the Bandit on the left swung his Cleaver again, Jier swayed his body, lifting the Bandit held in his right hand to the left side of his body to use the enemy's body to block the enemy's attack.

"Move aside!!!"

The Bandit wielding the Cleaver shouted this, but he could not stop his weapon no matter what, and he directly brought the blade of the Cleaver down onto his companion's shoulder, Swish!

An arm attached to a shoulder fell to the ground.

The person who was slashed fainted directly from the pain, and Jier pursed his lips and exerted force with his right hand, crushing the Bandit's neck alive.

Flesh and broken Blood Vessels were squeezed out from above and below the steel palm, and in the end, only a stubborn cervical vertebra remained gripped in his hand.

The Shield in his left hand slammed hard into the Bandit's body, the force of the heavy blow snapping the person's cervical vertebra, and then Jier threw the cervical vertebra, still attached to the head, at the only remaining Bandit in front of him.

Thud.

This Bandit seemed to be terrified; struck by his companion's head, he stood dazed and speechless, making no other movements. Jier waved his hand to snatch the still-dripping Cleaver from this person's hand, then pushed him with the Shield, knocking him to the ground: "Someone, tie him up. I want him alive."

Turning around, the last six Bandits standing back-to-back seemed to be terrified by the continuous strikes.

They crouched down one after another, intending to place the weapons in their hands on the ground. But Jier's next words cast them into what seemed like a bottomless Abyss.

"As for you lot, did I say I would spare your lives? To interrogate for information and news, one person who has lost the will to fight is enough."

Upon hearing this, these Bandits immediately grabbed the weapons they had just placed on the ground, but a white light flashed, and the Cleaver in Jier's hand was thrown directly, spinning and piercing into the face of one Bandit, reducing their number by one.

Jier did not go to pick up the Hunting Sword stuck in the corpse on the ground, instead directly charging forward with his Shield, accelerating his stride toward the remaining five Bandits who were rushing over.

No one dared to go head-to-head with a Knight like Jier who was armored and holding a Shield, so when Jier charged straight at them, these five Bandits all scattered to the left and right, attempting to avoid the impact of Jier's Shield.

Because they had all seen that being hit like that was no different from being dead. It was even more painful.

The guy who had been knocked flying earlier had fallen among the crowd of young Refugees and was beaten to death by Stone and various weapons. The painful wailing lasted for at least half a minute.

But Jier did not pick up the Hunting Sword, as he intended to test another Magic of the Heartfire Dagger.

The Shield bash was just a feint; when he was halfway through his charge, he decelerated, leaped sideways, and grabbed at his waist with his right hand, drawing the Dagger for a direct thrust.

The Bandit he faced had not expected Jier's target to be him at all; he had originally breathed a sigh of relief thinking he could dodge the Shield bash, but then he saw a fiery red Dagger thrusting straight at his abdomen.

This Bandit held two wavy Short Swords; the style of this weapon had a significant history, being a type of weapon used in the hot Kingdom regions near the sea in the south.

Appearing in the Saint Hors Kingdom, which was further north, it was unknown how many twists and turns of stories it had gone through before finally ending up in this Bandit's hands today.

This Bandit raised the two wavy Short Swords in his hands, forming an X-shape to block the lethal thrust of Jier's Dagger.

But before this Bandit could figure out why Jier's thrust lacked force, a short, crisp word came from beneath the metal Helmet Faceplate, which was stained with flesh and blood from the front.

The voice was cold and slightly curious.

"Scorching!"

As soon as the words fell, the Bandit wielding the twin Short Swords saw a flash of light before his eyes, and then he lost consciousness.

Jier saw it clearly: after the short word "Scorching" was chanted, the Heartfire Dagger held in his hand, which had been blocked by the opponent, suddenly shot out a Magic Power spark like a small bolt of lightning from the fiery red blade; this spark was only ten centimeters long and looked completely powerless, as it was too short after all.

But then, amidst a Magic Power reaction Jier did not understand, the Magic Power spark suddenly turned into a hot, scalding high-temperature flame, which sprayed forward in the shape of a sword.

This unlucky Bandit's head and face were facing the Heartfire Dagger, so this high-heat flame instantly engulfed the Bandit from the shoulders up.

Jier felt the opponent's weapon lose its force, so he retracted the Dagger and turned around.

Interestingly, Jier discovered that the Heartfire Dagger continued to spray high-temperature flames over a meter long without stopping. Even though his thumb had already left the Magic Red Gem on the hilt.

His right hand, which held the flame-spraying Dagger, did not seem very hot despite being very close to the flames; it seemed the Mage who made it had definitely paid attention to this point.

Otherwise, it would be too ridiculous if the user were burned or burned to death before the enemy.

This Magic Dagger would probably be very difficult to sell again.

The remaining four Bandits, looking at the young Knight wearing Metal Armor, holding a Metal Shield in one hand and what looked like a flaming Long Sword in the other, asked in unison once more: "Sir Knight! Please, would you let us lowly people surrender? We beg you!"

Jier did not speak; he had never intended to let any Bandit live, and the captured Bandit would also be dealt with after asking about the Bandit's lair and actually finding it.

He waved the Magic Dagger in his right hand that was spraying sword-shaped flames; the weight and power of this Dagger left him feeling uncertain.

Compared to the Hunting Sword, the weight was too light, making his body, which had become active due to the battle, feel as if that bit of weight was non-existent. Let alone the Heartfire Magic Dagger, even the tens of kilograms of Full-body Metal Armor he was wearing felt like it had no weight at all.

And the power of the Heartfire Magic Dagger also left Jier uncertain; he feared that this thing would injure him as well, so at this moment, he was not as silent and full of fighting spirit as the surrounding Bandits and Refugees perceived; he was simply putting most of his focus on not letting the flames of the Magic Dagger burn himself.

Seeing that Jier the Knight did not answer, these four final Bandits tore off their feigned pitiful appearance and once again revealed the ferocious faces they had shown while killing in battle not long ago.

Cunning beasts are just like this; they only have two faces.

On one side, they are cunning and vicious toward those weaker than them. On the other, they are pitiful and beg for mercy before those stronger than them.

Only those who have not witnessed them show their two faces in a short span of time would be harmed by their two faces.

But those who have witnessed it will never again be deceived by beasts of this sort.

"Kill them!"

"My lord, kill them!"

"Kill them! Kill them!"

"Kill! Kill them!"

Dozens to hundreds of young Refugee around were shouting like this, the sound waves gradually rising.

The four Bandit were like river fish thrown into the desert, desperately flapping their bodies, trying to breathe in large gulps.

But with just four flashes of flame-wielding light, four half-charred corpses fell one after another onto the ground repeatedly soaked in blood.

"Scorching."

Jier gripped the Magic Gems on the Dagger and whispered this short word again.

Immediately, the Heart Fire Magic Dagger stopped emitting high-heat flames; Jier lightly touched the fiery red blade with fingers covered in steel plating and cowhide, only to find that the blade did not feel hot at all, and was even somewhat ice-cold.

He did not understand the specific principles of Magic weapons, so he put away his curiosity and sheathed the Dagger back into the Dagger sheath at his waist.

Afterward, he shouted at the excitedly howling young Refugee around him: "Quiet down, pick up the Bandit's weapons, and prepare for battle! There are still enemies!"

Jier turned to look across the small creek to the south; as expected, the most difficult scene had only just begun.

Three more squads of Bandit, just like the previous squad of Refining Qi Bandit, walked out from the Shulin in an orderly fashion.

Someone in the Bandit ranks was carrying a Torch, and Jier saw a Bandit Leader riding a grassland horse slowly emerge from the Shulin, unhurriedly, under the guard of the surrounding Bandit.

This person had quite the airs; behind the grassland horse he was riding, there were even a few lackeys following who carried no weapons.

"What the hell. Looking like this, those who know will know they are a bunch of Bandit who make a living by plundering, but those who don't would think it's some Noble lord going out."

Jier pushed aside the people blocking his way, came to the very front of the crowd, and muttered to himself.