Chapter 678: The Darkest Moonless Night (14)

A moment ago, outside the range of the amber, dim light.

The Bandit Leader, Shanlang Bani, hesitated repeatedly, yet he still dared not personally enter the strange, hemispherical glow. After all, the situation before him looked strange no matter how he viewed it.

Furthermore, what made him compromise and convince himself was that the subordinate bandits inside the light, setting aside whether problems would arise later, appeared to have no other abnormalities at the moment, other than their slow movements.

The Bandit Leader's face was deathly pale; he still felt he had underestimated the power of the Church. It was clearly just a young Priest with no real ability, yet he never expected him to possess such a magical treasure.

"Damn it, if it weren't for my family's poor conditions, I wouldn't have pulled together a team to do this line of work. I'm clearly so much smarter than those pigs from the Church! Ptooey. This damned world."

Grumbling, Shanlang Bani paced irritably outside the range of the light hemisphere, waiting for this thing to dissipate on its own.

Of course it would dissipate on its own; he did not believe that something this strange and powerful could be maintained for a long time.

If every Church Priest really had such a powerful weapon, it would be the various Nobles who couldn't sit still.

Just as he was waiting anxiously, the loud neighing of horses and the sound of people talking came from outside the Shulin.

Sensing that the situation had changed, Shanlang Bani thought for a moment, then snuck behind an inconspicuous tree trunk, using the shadow of the trunk to conceal his figure.

Jier, leading more than ten armed young men holding weapons, gradually approached the place where the missing Bata'er Jiaoshi had headed.

On the grass outside the Shulin, he saw a young Refugee lying prone and unconscious by the bushes: "Someone, bring him over, and be careful to check if he is one of our own."

Jier, riding on his horse, nocked his Hunting Bow and scanned the surroundings before finally aiming at the young Refugee on the ground who was about to be helped up. In the nearby Shulin, a faint light was shining out, which was very strange. He did not know what had happened inside the Shulin, so for the sake of safety, he decided to ask this person first.

Two young men who had survived the fierce battle against the bandits from the south walked over with Long Swords in hand. After flipping the person who had been lying prone, they immediately confirmed that he was one of their own.

After all, this person had suffered many beatings, and there were large-area burn wounds on his arms; no matter how one looked at it, he could not be a Bandit, only a Refugee companion who had been captured by the bandits.

"Wake up! Hey, wake up!"

The young man stuck his Long Sword into the grass, then gently patted the unconscious person with his hand.

The gentle patting had no effect, so he used more force.

Slap! Slap!

With two loud slaps, left and right, the poor young man who had been beaten, frightened, and burned finally woke up.

"Who, who is hitting me? Stop hitting, please, I beg you, stop hitting!"

Seeing that the man had woken up and was babbling nonsense, Jier signaled for them to drag the person over for questioning. He lowered his Hunting Bow, jumped off his tall Tianxuecao, and looked at the young man who was gradually regaining consciousness.

"I am the Knight Jier. Can you recognize this armor of mine?"

The young man being helped groaned in pain, but he still nodded heavily. The young man had originally wanted to look at the Knight's face to answer, but as soon as he saw the two eyes glowing with cyan light beneath Jier's Faceplate, he trembled in fear and lowered his head.

"Why are you unconscious here? Also, the people who escaped back earlier said that Bata'er Jiaoshi chased out to save people, and the hoofprints are also in this direction. Where is he? So much time has passed, what exactly happened? Tell me what you know."

The other armed young men nearby were holding Torch lights taken from the carriage, which at this moment barely managed to drive away a little bit of the darkness of the moonless night.

The young man, who could only stand steady while being supported, seemed afraid to look at the bright Torch lights around him. After squinting his eyes and groaning in pain, he managed to gather his spirits and replied: "My, my Lord. I was previously captured by those, those hateful bandits. They kept threatening and beating me, and my companions. Later, um, later they dragged us in one direction, seemingly intending to retreat into the woods, because the Priest had rushed over to save us."

"Mm, continue." Jier nodded and gestured for the man to continue.

What this person said was consistent with what the others who had escaped back had said.

"Yes, yes. Those bandits had to worry about saving their own lives, so they abandoned us men and finally carried a woman they had captured into the woods to escape. When the Priest arrived, he jumped off his horse and, I don't know what method he used, released a fire that instantly ignited and burned through the Rope that was binding me. Hiss—my arm was also burned by this. But when the Priest got on his horse, he told me he would treat me later and told me to untie the Rope myself and escape back."

Jier chuckled; Bataer's approach at the time was quite to his liking.

Very pragmatic.

"So according to what you said, Bata'er Jiaoshi rushed into the Shulin to save people? You don't know what happened after that, right? But how did you end up unconscious here, outside the Shulin?"

Facing Jier's question, the young man being supported pointed to the wounds on his body: "Knight Lord, I don't know about the situation with the Priest afterwards. I fell unconscious because I truly had no strength left. I had just untied the Rope on my body, and after crawling up and taking two steps, I collapsed to the ground. I only just realized what happened."

With wounds all over his body, it was indeed very likely that he had fainted from exhaustion; he did not look like he was up to anything suspicious.

Glancing at the light shining from the Shulin, Jier said to the others around him: "Like this, the situation in the Shulin is unclear. You take the people and retreat carefully, and wait for me and the Priest at the clearing."

"My Lord! Let us go with you!"

As soon as Jier finished speaking, seven or eight of the bravest young men immediately stepped forward. These young men were splattered with blood. Among it was both the bandits' and their own friends and relatives'.

Looking at their eyes, each filled with a desire for revenge and battle, Jier waved his hand: "What? Do you think I can't handle those bandits alone? Go back and wait. The night is long; there will be opportunities for you to fight later. Mm, opportunities for revenge."

Once Jier said this, the young men, having witnessed the scene where the Knight had single-handedly slaughtered dozens of bandits, obeyed the order. They carried the beaten young man who could not walk and might faint again at any moment, carefully raised their Torch lights to keep watch, and returned toward the clearing to the south.

Jier did not need illumination. He took the glowing Magic Tool that had been covered inside a Leather Bag from his metal belt, and the surroundings were once again illuminated by the cold magical light.

He took the Double-edged Metal Long Spear from the weapon rack on the horse's back, held it in his hand, and led the horse toward the glowing place deep in the Shulin. And on the horse's back, a dead corpse was still hanging.

If one looked closely, one would find that this corpse, which was emitting a faint light, was none other than the Bandit Leader's confidant who had been struck by Bata'er Jiaoshi's Jiao Shi Chang Zhang earlier.

A large hole had been torn in this man's chest; it was clear he had been killed by Jier, who had pierced him directly with the Long Spear while riding the horse.

Before long, Jier followed the hoofprints and messy footprints on the ground and arrived before the amber, dim light hemisphere.

Looking through the light, he saw the scene inside.

It was quite magical; the people inside all had movements as if they were going to take the life of the falling Bata'er Jiaoshi, but a cyan light was always 'slowly' flickering on the Priest, pushing away the 'slow' weapons that were attacking.

"Heh, truly magical."

Jier walked around the hemisphere that was pressed against the ground, seeing clearly what was happening inside and judging the number and strength of the bandits within.

There were rustling sounds in the shadows of the tree trunks nearby, but Jier did not pay them any mind. He stood outside the light and reached the same conclusion as the Bandit Leader, Shanlang Bani.

It was hard to say whether he could safely step into the range of the light, but he only needed to wait outside, because such a powerful area-of-effect deceleration ability could not possibly be maintained for a long time.

Because although the weapon the Church lent to Bata'er Jiaoshi was excellent, it was impossible that they would truly hand a powerful blessed weapon to Bata'er Jiaoshi, who was not from the Montoka Diocese.

After all, what if Bata'er Jiaoshi didn't return it later?

Therefore, this Amber Metal Long Staff lent to Bata'er Jiaoshi must have been a cheap compromise in terms of quality and quantity.

Either the quality was extremely high but the number of uses and duration were limited, or the power was limited but it could be used frequently.

Judging from the scene before him, Jier determined it was the former.

This light sphere of deceleration and slowing, which covered over a thousand square meters, had strange and unpredictable power, but its duration should end very soon.

Especially since he himself had arrived late.

Shanlang Bani quietly retreated into the distance using the shadows. His intuition told him never to cross swords with this Knight.

But he did not retreat very far; he hid himself again at a distance where he could see this place without being discovered due to his breathing or movements.

Once this eerie light dissipates, there will still be quite a battle to be had here.

When that time comes, he can deliver a fatal strike to this person from outside the battlefield.

In the dim, yellowish light, the indecisive Bandits stared at the Knight in Metal Armor standing outside the radiance.

"What do we do? The boss is gone, and that guy doesn't look like someone to mess with."

As this Bandit spoke, he lifted his foot and kicked hard at the Bata'er Jiaoshi, who was curled up on the ground. He certainly knew that this wouldn't hurt the young Priest, who was protected by a mysterious power like a turtle, but kicking back and forth like this was not only satisfying, it also prevented the Priest from launching a counterattack.

After all, they had all seen how this Priest had emitted a blast of air to blow away and kill their companions along with the suicidal Refugee.

If not for the fact that they were numerous and close to the Priest, they would have had to suffer some losses to take down such a Priest who possessed both offense and defense.

"So what if he's not to be messed with? It's not like we can surrender or make him stop."

"If we could subdue this young Priest, it might still be possible."

But the Bata'er Jiaoshi gripped the Long Staff emitting the dim, yellowish light, clearly not giving up on resistance.

"It's fine, it's fine. Anyway, that guy outside doesn't dare to come in. As long as we don't go out, we're fine."

But as soon as these words were spoken, as if he were a jinx, the surrounding light retracted into the Amber Metal Long Staff at the top of the staff.

In a few breaths, the surrounding area, which had been as bright as twilight, vanished, and darkness once again shrouded this Forest.

At this moment, within the surrounding area, the only thing emitting a bright light was the glowing illumination object at the Knight's waist.

"Kill!"

The Bandits had decent strength; as soon as the situation changed, they prepared for battle, spreading out to flank left, center, and right, charging toward Jier.

But Jier's counterattack was far faster than they had imagined.

Releasing the horse reins he was holding, in the next second, Jier kicked the tail of the Long Spear planted in the ground, pushed off the ground hard with both legs, and then, after dead branches and leaves splashed beneath his feet, he lunged forward while wielding the Long Spear.

Just as the three Bandits responsible for the frontal assault reacted, Jier had already rushed up in less than the blink of an eye. The Long Spear pierced directly through the chest of a Bandit wearing Leather Armor, and at the same time, Jier's left hand grabbed the head of a Bandit nearby.

His figure did not stop in place; he carried the bodies of the two Bandits and moved further forward, charging toward the other few Bandits using bows and arrows beside the Bata'er Jiaoshi.

His right arm adjusted direction in an instant, and then the Long Spear pierced through the chest of another bow-wielding Bandit.

Jier swung his right arm, throwing the Long Spear along with the two Bandits toward a thick tree trunk in front. With a thud, the Double-edged Metal Long Spear, impaling the two Bandits, was nailed heavily into the thick tree trunk.

"Ah?"

Only then did the nine surrounding Bandits react. They twisted their bodies to fight; those with bows and arrows drew them, and those using weapons fiercely attacked Jier, mainly aiming at his Helmet.

But Jier swung his left hand, using the Bandit whose head he was holding as a shield in front of him, taking several arrows shot at close range for him.

Then, he forcefully threw the arrow-struck Bandit horizontally, knocking several Bandits in front of him to the ground.

His right hand brushed his left waist, and with a clang, he drew his Hunting Sword, turning in place to meet the three weapons swinging toward him.

Chi—Clang—Dang!

Turning with a Horizontal Slash, Jier used his immense strength to forcibly block the opponents' weapons, then lunged forward. The Long Sword pierced through the chest of a Bandit. Ignoring the two blows he took from behind, Jier pulled out his sword, turned around, and pounced on another Bandit's body, his left hand drawing the Heart Fire Magic Dagger to fiercely pierce through the Bandit's stomach.

He held the Dagger in his left hand and stirred it up and down twice, then pulled it out with a horizontal tug, while the Long Sword in his right hand turned back to block the Cleaver swung by the last melee Bandit.

The Long Sword, carrying several times the force of the opponent, forcibly turned the opponent's Cleaver twice, then flicked it, causing the Bandit's weapon to fly out of his hand.

Jier pushed the Bandit, who was clutching his bleeding stomach, with his left hand, pushing him far away to the ground, then stepped forward toward the unarmed Bandit and swung his sword with one hand, severing the Bandit's neck.

"Hoo."

He exhaled, his glowing eyes fixed on the bow-wielding Bandits who were only just now climbing up.

These remaining few Bandits finally realized the gap in combat power between them.

Therefore, they roared in unison, and just as Jier crouched down to dodge arrows, these few bow-wielding Bandits turned and ran.

"Heh!" Jier laughed in anger. He flicked his hand and threw the Long Sword, which flipped and pierced through a Bandit's head, then threw the Heart Fire Magic Dagger with his left hand, which penetrated another Bandit's body from behind.

The remaining two Bandits dared not turn their heads and ran even faster.

Jier chased after them quickly. At this moment, the Bata'er Jiaoshi finally climbed up; seeing Jier, tears streamed down his face.

"Don't just stand there, one each, chase!"

As for the Bandit hiding beside the grassland horse, Jier just tapped him with his hand as he ran past: "Kneel, surrender!"

This Bandit knelt on the ground with a thud, his teeth chattering, not daring to make any other move.

Seeing this person kneeling honestly, Jier quickened his pace, his feet crushing the rotten, soft ground with a thud-thud-thud, and in a few breaths, he caught up to one of the fleeing bow-wielding Bandits.

"Spare me—"

This person just wanted to kneel and surrender, but Jier threw a punch, and his iron-clad steel fist directly smashed the Bandit's head.

"Bah, surrender? Did I tell you to surrender?"

After killing this Bandit, Jier dragged the corpse by the feet and returned to the place where they had just fought.

He still had a belly full of questions to ask the Bata'er Jiaoshi.

Whoosh—Boom!

A roaring sound of an air blast came from not far away, and then Jier saw the Bata'er Jiaoshi, with a terrible complexion, dragging the Amber Metal Long Staff and slowly walking back.

The young Priest was covered in fallen leaves and humus soil from the ground, looking very disheveled.

"Quite a mess just now?"

Jier asked teasingly.

But the Bata'er Jiaoshi did not answer, only waving his hand weakly at Jier. He stumbled a few steps, leaned against a tree trunk covered in bright blood, and as if he had lost all his strength, he slumped down to a squat.

Faint, low sobbing came from the Priest's lowered face. Jier secretly curled his lip, unable to understand what was going on, why this person had started crying.

But he looked around and soon saw that the corpse of the female Refugee who had been captured was missing from the scattered bodies everywhere, and then he thought of the smear of fresh red blood on the tree trunk the Priest was leaning against.

Only then did he guess what might have happened before.

"Once you're done crying, tell me what happened just now. I seem to have arrived a bit late."

Jier sighed and pulled the Double-edged Metal Long Spear from the tree trunk; the two corpses then slumped and fell beside the roots.

"My lord, my lord. I know what happened just now! Let me answer you!"

That surrendering Bandit knelt on the ground, wearing a fawning expression as he spoke to Jier, attempting to make himself useful after surrendering to increase his chances of survival. But as he spoke, his entire body trembled, and cold sweat streamed down his head.

Because all around him were the Bandit companions he knew; who could have imagined that just a moment ago, these companions had been ambushing the other side's Priest together?

Jier glanced at him sideways, his glowing eyes frightening the Bandit so much that he shuddered and nearly wet himself.

"Did I ask you? Lie flat on the ground, hands crossed behind your back."

"Yes, yes."

The Bandit dared not disobey, so he had to follow the Knight's order, lying face down on the ground, then moving his hands behind his back and locking them together.

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