Chapter 672: The Darkest Moonless Night (Part 9)

Jier took a deep breath of the blood-scented air in the forest, then exhaled with satisfaction.

"The fate the bandits deserve."

He stuck his Double-edged Metal Long Spear into the ground, then began to rummage through the Bandit Leader's corpse.

The first thing was the metal staff the man had been clutching tightly even in death.

Jier snapped the man's fingers open and carefully picked up the mysterious weapon that had nearly cost him his life twice, examining it with his fingertips.

It was a thirty-centimeter-long metal short staff; unlike the Gem Short Staff Jier had seen before, which was used by Kendall Baron, this metal staff was made entirely of silvery-white metal, with a thin, pointed end that seemed suitable for stabbing in self-defense, while the top was a metal round head, the kind one could hold in their hand.

On the round head at the top was the face of a wailing man, with a strange and sorrowful expression, the posture just like a woman in a famous painting Jier had seen in his previous life, hands cupping her cheeks and mouth wide open in a silent wail.

Jier's senses were sharp; he carefully brought the top of the metal staff close to his ear, and then a look of no surprise appeared on his face.

He heard a faint, wailing sound of a man coming from the round head at the top of the staff.

It was as if the painful wailing really was coming from the carving on the staff.

Swallowing his saliva, Jier secretly cheered himself on, muttering to himself that it was perfectly normal for there to be ghosts in another world, so there was no need to panic.

Jier did not know how to use this staff, so he carefully put it away first.

Afterward, he pulled three rings off the fingers of the middle-aged man, the Bandit Leader named Nobi-Feisibilu.

As soon as he examined two of them, he recognized from the Magic Gemstone on the rings that these were likely the two Magic Tools the man possessed.

Thinking of this, he stood up and hurried to look behind the trunk of a large tree on the other side of the clearing; sure enough, he found a belt decorative pendant with a buckle there.

This thing was also a Magic Tool, but the difference was that its function was simply to emit light for illumination.

Jier examined it for a moment, then clipped the glowing pendant onto his metal belt. He then turned back to check the enemy's corpse.

On the man's belt leather bag, which was embroidered with gold and silver threads, he found a medium-sized Magic Bell, and from another small leather bag that smelled of burning, he discovered a scorching hot Metal Round Plate.

This Metal Round Plate was backed with gold, with other metals forming the surface; the very top was composed of Magic Gemstones in the shape of a small whirlwind, and there was quite a bit of text under the round plate, but Jier did not recognize a single character.

He roughly guessed this was High Noble Language, a type of script that only nobles could learn, used by nobles to show their status and keep secrets from commoners.

It all came from the Empire.

The Magic Gemstones on the surface of this round plate were currently radiating heat, causing the entire Metal Round Plate to be very hot. If Jier hadn't been wearing Steel Armor Gloves, he wouldn't even have been able to hold it.

Not only that, but tiny sparks of magic power connecting each other would occasionally emerge between some of the Magic Gemstones; this thing possessed very high energy, and Jier dared not touch it.

Carefully digging a pit in the middle of the clearing, Jier threw the Metal Round Plate inside and then buried it with dirt.

This thing looked like it had been forcibly broken, causing some damage, so Jier buried it first to let it release the remaining magic power inside on its own. He would come back to check on it tomorrow at daybreak.

Jier continued to check Nobi-Feisibilu's corpse and, in another pocket at the waist, discovered a small Shield Emblem with a family crest, which served as a token of identity.

Incidentally, among the rings found earlier, one of them was a ring with noble insignia.

These things were of no use to Jier, but they could be kept as souvenirs or items to claim a reward.

Finally, Jier also found a small bag of Gold Coins, a bunch of keys, and an exquisitely crafted Hollow Round Ball.

The first two were nothing, just money and keys to the locks of the man's lair or chests. It was just the last item that Jier found quite interesting.

This exquisitely crafted Hollow Round Ball was made of countless hexagonal mesh-like metal, and inside was a listless, large Golden Moth.

This moth was currently folding its wings, curled up inside the metal Hollow Round Ball; when Jier examined it, it also looked listlessly at Jier's face.

The antennae on its head moved, and then it remained motionless in a weak state.

Jier did not think that this item, which was kept in the inner pocket of the man's left chest, would be anything trivial.

He had some guesses about the use of this thing, but he couldn't prove anything at the moment, so he ignored it for now, put it away, and would deal with it later.

Jier called for his horse, threw Nobi-Feisibilu's corpse onto the horse's back, and then led the horse in the direction he had come from.

Halfway there, he also found the prairie horse the enemy had been riding; although it had been shot by Jier with an Arrow, a horse's vitality far exceeded that of a Human, and being shot in the rump did not affect the movement or life of this prairie horse.

The blood had long since stopped flowing from the spot where it was hit by the Arrow, and although it could be seen that being shot had slightly affected its movement as the horse moved, the impact was not significant.

This prairie horse saw its master's corpse on the back of Tianxuecao, so it took the initiative to approach. It nudged Nobi-Feisibilu's leg with its head, and finding that its master had no reaction at all, it silently stopped.

Jier grabbed the Jiansheng of this prairie horse and rode Tianxuecao while leading it, and it did not resist.

When Jier quickly returned to where he could see the clearing, he found that the Refugees were currently in a standoff with the blinded Bandits.

The Bandits were blinded, but although they couldn't intervene in the battle between Jier and Nobi-Feisibilu earlier, they weren't stupid; they had long since gathered together while shouting to each other in their sightless state.

And the young Refugees who fought alongside Jier, although they could see, had no way to deal with these Bandits who had gathered together.

They were even more passive.

Because the Bandits had Short Bows in their hands, and after they repeatedly confirmed that all the people still alive were gathered together, anything in the surroundings that could make a sound became their target of attack.

Jier, riding on horseback, saw that scattered around the circle of Bandits on the wasteland were some young Refugees lying on the ground, clutching weapons.

Perhaps they had wanted to launch a sneak attack or an offensive while seeing that the Bandits were blind and unable to see. But because their sounds gave them away, they were shot dead on the ground by more than a dozen Arrows.

Every brave young person was covered in the Arrows shot by the enemy; the Bandits, who likely couldn't see anything, probably shot continuously at the young people who had been hit and fallen, for the sake of safety, until the other party was completely dead and no longer made a sound.

Jier's breathing became heavy; he rode his horse out of the Shulin and first waved at his Refugee companions, letting them notice that it was he who had the light-emitting device on his waist.

Then he shouted: "Everyone back off, watch me kill them all!"

Jier jumped off the horse, first tied Nobi-Feisibilu's horse to a nearby dwarf tree trunk, then raised his Double-edged Metal Long Spear and charged toward the thirty or forty Bandits huddled together.

Thump, thump, thump, thump—Jier started running with long strides, his movements becoming increasingly powerful, each step leaping forward, covering a distance of two or three meters with every stride.

When he was close to the group of Bandits, he leaped with all his might.

He slammed into the enemy group from the air.

The Bandits were not deaf; they first heard Jier's shout, and then realized that in the battle between their noble leader and the young Knight, their noble master had lost.

They panicked, but were immediately scolded by a middle-aged man who looked like a Butler in the middle of the crowd: "Even so, as soldiers of the King of White Wall, we must avenge our master! Shoot! Shoot! Shoot at that Knight! Even if I have to bite him, I will bite him to death!"

When this person said this, some of the die-hard elements in the team immediately shot their bows and arrows toward the sound of the approaching footsteps.

They were all skilled Bandit Soldiers, and just by the thumping sound of Jier's boots hitting the ground as he accelerated, they accurately judged Jier's position and speed.

Then, bows and arrows were shot continuously.

Some people launched an attack, and the other guys who wanted to slip away had no choice but to shoot their Arrows as well, amidst the sound of Bowstrings vibrating all around.

Jier held the Double-edged Metal Long Spear in his right hand, while his left arm was held up in front of his head and face, using the Armor on his forearm to block the incoming Arrows.

Although the opponents were numerous and their Arrows were shot densely, they were, after all, "blind firing" after being affected by the Blinding of the Sun God Divine Power; they lacked confidence, and both their force and resolve were insufficient, so the vast majority of the Arrows could only fall behind the charging Jier, with only a portion of the Arrows luckily striking his body.

However, for Jier, whose total equipment and body weight added up to at least one hundred seventy or eighty kilograms, the momentum of his charge could not be blocked by a few Arrows.

With the final leap before closing in, Jier held the Double-edged Metal Long Spear with both hands in mid-air, then smashed it heavily down into the crowd in front.

Boom!

Puchi-huala—

Jier, having jumped and landed, directly crushed the bodies and heads of two Bandits under his feet, and the Long Spear he smashed down with in his hands even pulverized the heads and shoulders of several people in front into fragments of flesh and blood.

The splattered body parts knocked down the Bandits standing close by, scaring them into wailing loudly.

After landing, Jier took a deep breath and exerted the power within his body to the fullest. The Life Energy, substituted perfectly by the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture, continued its replacement consumption, and Jier, with his strength not diminished by even half, swung the Long Spear in his hands, sweeping it across the heads of the surrounding Bandits.

Someone subconsciously raised an arm to block amidst the splattered flesh and blood, but the consequence was nothing more than a broken arm mixed into their smashed head.

The sharp blade of the Long Spear sliced through every Human body it touched; Jier swung it in a full circle, and at least four or five people died under its sharp edge.

"Ha!"

With the circle of people around him all dead, Jier raised his hand and thrust, directly piercing through the chest of a Bandit, lifting him up and tossing him aside, then paying no more attention to the enemy who was certain to die.

On the left, a Bandit waded through the scattered limbs and flesh to kill him, but Jier reversed the Long Spear, and the butt of the spear was thrust directly into the roaring mouth of the opponent, exiting through the back of the head.

The Long Spear then extended forward and swung left and right, and the double blades on the spearhead followed, slicing open the necks of a string of Bandits.

With a light graze, the necks of the Bandits were more than half severed; neither flesh, blood, nor bone could stop the tireless Jier.

"Hahahaha."

While "fighting," Jier laughed loudly and happily, and combined with the green fluorescence emitting from his Faceplate, even the young Refugees on the other side of the creek were scared into huddling together.

Some people recalled what it was like during the day and felt that it was truly insane for many young people from the same village or other villages to dare to defy or ignore such a Knight.

"Ahhhhh!!"

Jier was killing happily here, and then, from the center of the chaotic crowd of Bandits, several people who were not wearing animal skins and carried Hunting Bows and quivers immediately rushed out.

These people wore exquisite clothing and carried Steel Long Swords, Fine Swords, or Short Knives, charging at him with a reckless demeanor.

Jier stepped on corpses and rushed forward two steps, then the Long Spear turned, and the spearhead grazed the legs of the person who charged the fastest; that person fell to the ground with both legs completely broken, but after falling, regardless of his severed legs, he used his hands to grab a corpse in front of him and used the leverage to crawl toward the laughing young Knight ahead.

But after closing in, before he could even swing his sword to strike, Jier raised his leg and stomped down, crushing the head of this person on the ground.

The Metal Long Spear flipped, and just like smashing a snowman made of loose snow, he killed these brave ones in front of him.

He took a deep breath of the air filled with the scent of various Human bodily fluids and looked left and right, discovering that the dozens of Bandits had already been routed by him, with more than twenty people killed outright, while the remaining ten or so were rolling and crawling as they fled in all directions.

"Whew—"

Blowing a whistle, the Tianxuecao responded and galloped over.

It was somewhat disgusted by the corpses everywhere, so it only lingered outside the pile of corpses, and Jier had to come out, vault onto the horse, and pursue the Bandits running around.

He first shouted to the young Refugees on the other side of the creek: "Ignore this place, go support Bata'er Jiaoshi first; leave these people to me, you go to the other side of the clearing to provide support. Go quickly!"

At Jier's shout, those young people turned and ran away trembling, as if Jier were far more terrifying than the dozens of Bandits from before.

The flesh and blood stained on his boots were shaken off by the galloping horse; Jier put away the Long Spear, first turned to take his Hunting Bow, nocked an Arrow, and aimed at several Bandits running toward the forest in the southeast of the clearing.

"Hoo, ha."

Jier forcibly maintained his breathing, then aimed and released the Arrow, whoosh—

A Bandit who was rolling and crawling as he fled toward the forest fell in response, struck by an Arrow in his back.

That person still wanted to climb up, but he vomited blood from his mouth, and the strength in his body drained rapidly; especially the intense pain made this Bandit fail to get up three or four times. He could only sit on the grass, supporting himself with his hands, listening to the sound of several Arrows whizzing past, and the pained cries of his companions as they fell.

Finally, accompanied by the sound of galloping hooves, the roar of a heavy object breaking through the air sounded, and this Bandit finally lost consciousness.

Jier flicked his right hand with the Long Spear, shaking off the limbs and flesh stained on the spearhead, and then pursued the Bandits in other directions.

The Bandits were fleeing in all directions, so Jier first pursued the several Bandits fleeing toward the southeast forest, then chased south; on the gradually rising gentle slope of the wasteland, he first used Arrows to wound these people from a distance, then charged up and stabbed them to death one by one with the Long Spear.

He then turned toward the southwest of the clearing, the direction from which he had previously emerged from the forest.

Perhaps it was the neighing of the arrow-struck prairie horse that attracted the attention of the Bandits who had fled here after being blinded; several of them fixed their eyes on the horse previously ridden by their leader.

The guy who ran over first hadn't even mounted the horse before he was pulled by his belt by a companion who ran over next.

"If we're going, we go together; pull me up!"

Facing the threat of his companion, the Bandit who had mounted the horse first kicked his left leg violently, kicking fiercely toward his companion's head: "Let go! Let go! That Demon is going to catch up, I beg you, let go!"

But as the two were struggling, others arrived and, together with the previous person, grabbed the animal-skin pants of the person on the horse and forcibly pulled him down: "If we're running, we run together, or no one gets to run! Anyway, I'm the only one in my family; my father died in a clash with the checkpoint Soldiers, and my mother died of illness; today I'm just going to drag someone down with me! Die with me."

"You're sick, don't drag me. There are trees everywhere here; if we run into the forest, we'll definitely survive!"

But a retort immediately rang out: "Then why are you riding a horse? I'll ride the horse, you go drill into the woods!"

Just as three or four people were fighting for control of the horse, Jier rode up.

He was impressed by these few people; the Jiansheng of the horse was still tied firmly to the trunk of a small tree, and the person who mounted it couldn't possibly ride the horse away at all.

He charged over on horseback, and only then did these few idiots think to flee into the forest, but they were shot dead at close range by Jier one by one, and then he used the Long Spear to finish them off, ensuring the enemies were thoroughly killed.

Finally, Jier rode his horse toward the creek to have a good "chat" with these few Bandits who had taken the wrong path.

Jier spared the life of one of the few Bandits by the creek, while the others were directly jumped upon from the horse and killed with the sword.

After tying up the last lone survivor of this gang of Bandits, Jier caught his breath, feeling the stamina and energy filling his body, mounted his horse again, crossed the shallow creek, and ran toward the clearing.

Before leaving, he turned and looked at the Bandit corpses strewn across the wasteland behind him, his gaze finally settling on the Magic Lion that was also looking at him.

After that Magic Creation had no one to control it, it hadn't moved a single step; it was just that it couldn't walk, but its huge lion head kept watching Jier.

Jier did not know which of the Magic Tools seized from Nobi-Feisibilu was the associated tool used to control this guy, so he had to leave it aside for now, ignoring it, and waiting for the duration of the opponent's usage to end, at which point it would naturally return to the appearance of a toy lion.

The battle on Jier's side came to an end with a final one-sided suppression, while on the side of Bata'er Jiaoshi, things were not so smooth.

Let us move time back a bit, just when Huang She led people in the first wave to charge toward the Refugees in the clearing, on the Bei Mian of the clearing, near the Shanglu.

Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had arrived at this place, directed the young men under his command to throw the firewood from the campfire forward.

But in the flickering light of the firewood, one after another, fierce and strong Bandits were discovered.

These people no longer pretended; they stood up one by one from the bushes and flower clusters where they had been hiding and closing in, raising sharp, glinting swords and blades with sinister grins as they slowly approached.

Although there were only a dozen or so Bandits, they fiercely suppressed the momentum of the hundred-plus young Refugees opposite them who dared to fight.

"Ha!" A Bandit raised both hands, holding a weapon in each, and let out an intimidating shout.

"Hoo!" A Bandit used a sharp Short Knife to make a mock slitting motion across his throat, scaring the young Refugees until their legs trembled.

"Heh heh, these people are no different from Plowing Oxen in the fields." The burly, middle-aged Bandit Leader touched his nose and snorted disdainfully.

He whispered to the Bandits slowly closing in on the Refugees, "Proceed according to the plan."