Chapter 682: The Darkest Moonless Night (Eighteen)

As soon as Jier appeared, the python, being a beast, turned its head and sized him up with cold eyes.

The beast could not understand how Jier, this enemy, had disappeared and then reappeared, but it could not speak, nor did it have much capacity for thought; thus, with a flick of its tail, it attempted to entangle Jier's legs and trip him to the ground.

Having killed many Humans under the command of Yellow Snake, the python clearly understood one thing: the creature known as a Human was formidable while standing, but once it fell to the ground, it could only be left to be bitten and entangled, to be strangled to death by the constriction of its body.

Crack!

The python's thick tail lashed hard against Jier's right leg, but just as the tip of the tail bent to wrap around it, Jier swung the axe in his hand and brought it down heavily toward his right side.

Whoosh—Splat.

The toughness of the serpent's scales slightly exceeded Jier's expectations, but fortunately, they were no match for the Yue-shui Head.

With a lift of his hand and a fall of the axe, a half-meter-long section of the snake's tail was severed directly; amidst the splashing blood, the serpent let out a painful howl: "Squeak—"

Its entire body began to writhe violently.

Not only that, the severed tail also writhed vigorously, wrapping tightly around Jier's right leg and striking his leg again and again.

After thrashing about wildly for a while, the serpent lunged at Jier while writhing, its large mouth agape, pouncing from above as if to swallow Jier's head in one gulp.

But though Jier appeared to be a heavy-armored Warrior, his body was actually quite agile; with a press and a spring of his waist in place, he caught the beast off guard and leaped up on the spot.

With this move, the serpent, which had been lunging downward at Jier's head, hit nothing at all. Conversely, as Jier adjusted his posture and subsequent counterattack in mid-air, the serpent, whose reaction speed and agility were superhuman due to the effects of the Red-eye Mushroom, did not actually seem that fast.

Watching the serpent bite at empty air and slam into the ground, Jier held his axe with both hands and hacked fiercely toward the serpent's head.

A brilliant blue light flared, and the axe itself continuously adjusted its landing point at this moment, accurately finding the spot to strike amidst the constantly swaying snake body and dust.

Clang—Splat!

The scales on the snake's body were larger and thicker than those on its tail, but to the Yue-shui Head, they were not enough!

Cutting through the hard scales, the moon-curved axe blade descended with the force of a bamboo being split, hacking heavily into the snake body beneath the scales! Thud! Finally, the axe severed the entire trunk of the python and plunged into the ground.

Fresh blood splattered, staining Jier's armor—which he had only just finished cleaning—red once again.

The fishy, foul odor of the snake's blood was overbearing, and Jier frowned tightly beneath his Faceplate.

But it was not over yet; although the serpent's head had been severed, its body and head had not given up the fight.

The four-meter-long, thick body was like a giant ball of yarn constantly flipping and thrashing; after losing its head, it writhed wildly, and because Jier was close, he was even struck twice.

As for the snake head, it opened its mouth wide and leaped fiercely from the ground, biting directly toward Jier's waist.

Bang, Jier was knocked back two steps, then looked down at the snake head clamped onto his waist.

This snake head also glared at him with cold eyes, refusing to let go. But Jier felt no discomfort in his waist. It did not have sharp, sturdy fangs, or rather, this python, having grown so large and not belonging to the category of Monsters or Magic Beasts, relied on strangling its prey.

Yet the body that could strangle prey was currently thrashing wildly in front of Jier, striking at empty space, and whenever it hit a shrub, it would coil around it, crushing the low bushes directly.

When it hit a large Stone, it would coil around it entirely, and amidst a crunching sound, it would even grind the stone into powder.

This made Jier feel a lingering fear; fortunately, he had severed the snake head with one axe blow, causing the head that could control the body to lose its torso, and leaving the long snake body, with its immense strangling power, to lose the guidance of the head and strike out blindly.

Jier pried at the snake's mouth on his waist with his hands, exerting force to pry it open. Just as he threw the snake head onto the ground, the Two-handed Axe leaped from the ground, striking the middle of the snake head with one blow.

Jier paid it no mind and turned his head to look at the gate of the Yingdi, seeing a scene that he found amusing.

There, the Bandit Leader—Yellow Snake—was currently kneeling on both legs, wailing loudly at the body of the python that had lost its head and tail: "My treasure! Ahhhhh! My treasure! How could you possibly lose? How is it possible!"

The other Bandits did not know how Jier had defeated the python so easily; they stood frozen in place, at a loss, because an incident had occurred in the past where the leader's python had gone berserk during its mating season, and over twenty Bandits could not restrain the snake, eventually leaving it to run wild until it had fed on several captured merchants and filled its belly, only then calming down.

But now, the python that twenty people could not restrain had been slaughtered by this Knight, who had appeared from nowhere, in just a few strikes.

Some Bandits had thoughts of retreating, but the emotionally broken Bandit Leader issued a frantic order: "All of you, go! Release all the Poisonous Snakes and kill him for me! I don't believe it! Use all your strength, all of it!!!"

Yellow Snake turned his head, saw the cowardly appearance of his subordinates, climbed up in a rage, and drew the Long Sword at his waist, pressing it against a subordinate's neck: "Go!"

The trusted subordinates had no choice but to step forward one after another.

They first threw Poisonous Snakes at Jier, but Jier simply used his left hand to protect his Faceplate and ignored the snakes.

Seeing that the Poisonous Snakes had no effect no matter how they bit, these Bandits had no choice but to bypass the rampaging snake body and flank Jier from the left and right.

That Bandit Leader also charged at the front, brandishing his Long Sword, shouting curses, and swinging his sword down directly at Jier with both hands.

But for such a reckless attack, let alone raising his sword to block, Jier simply gauged the distance and took a step back, dodging the blade the other had hacked down heavily.

"Have you lost your mind?"

He raised his foot to step on the tip of the sword that had struck the ground, then drew his Heartfire Dagger with his right hand and stabbed it through the Bandit Leader's heart. Blood gushed from the man's mouth, but he still stubbornly cursed something unintelligibly.

"Hmph, go keep your evil pet company."

Jier withdrew the dagger, smashed it down onto the man's hands gripping the sword, and then kicked sideways, sending the Bandit Leader's body toward the writhing snake torso.

The Bandit Leader's body collided with the snake torso; this impact immediately caused the snake body to react, and it flipped and writhed, entangling the Bandit Leader's body.

Then the long snake body coiled around him inch by inch, tightening rapidly. The immense force caused foul-smelling blood and Viscera to pump out from the two severed ends of the snake body, but its strength did not diminish by even a fraction.

No, having lost the control of the head, the strangling force was even greater.

Viscera and bones were crushed one by one, and filthy flesh and blood gushed out from the Bandit Leader's head and crotch.

That guy actually smiled with satisfaction before he died.

I suppose it was the first and only time he 'enjoyed' the prowess of his beloved pet, and he died satisfied, didn't he?

Jier's mouth twitched as he watched, and the surrounding Bandits also stared blankly at the way their leader had died. Some Bandits dropped their weapons and tremblingly begged to surrender, while others tried to turn and run.

Of course, there were still those who relied on their own skills and wanted to step forward to challenge Jier.

Jier snorted coldly, first letting the person who rushed up to block his path pass, then threw the Heartfire Dagger in his hand, which pierced directly through the back of the fleeing Bandit's heart; the man flipped and rolled down the hillside, soon hitting a Stone and lying still.

Facing the surrendering Bandits, Jier ignored them; after letting them pass, he drew his sword and beheaded the Bandit who had delivered himself to his door. Someone threw a Poisonous Snake at Jier's Helmet; Jier drew his Shield to block it, and after stepping forward, he stabbed the Bandit through the body with one sword stroke while the man was still shouting pleas for surrender.

"Too late."

After killing several people in a row, Jier looked left and right; before him, there were still five trembling Bandits kneeling.

Jier walked over: "Want to live?"

All of them nodded violently.

But Jier frowned as he looked at these people, who were dressed in strange attire and had colorful paints and tattoos on their bodies.

Seeming to sense the silent atmosphere, several Bandits looked up at Jier, who was staring at them. As a result, they noticed the glowing eyes beneath Jier's Steel Face Mask.

"Mom! There's a ghost!"

Jier's mouth twitched, and he swung his sword, shattering the skull of the bandit who had called him a ghost.

The others immediately clamped their mouths shut tight.

Jier looked left and right, listening to the hissing of the Poisonous Snakes in the surrounding bushes and grass: "How about this, surrendering isn't out of the question, but first, deal with the Poisonous Snakes around here for me."

"D-deal with them?"

Jier kicked the bandit who had spoken: "Catch them, cage them, don't you understand?"

The four bandits nodded vigorously and immediately scrambled to their feet in a panic to get to work.

Jier watched them for a while, then put away his Heart Fire Magic Dagger, and watched as these fellows used live mice to lure out the hiding Poisonous Snakes one by one; after the snakes caught the mice, they would pick up the snakes—which were only concerned with eating—and stuff them into snake bags.

Jier felt that these Poisonous Snakes might not be of much use to him, but later, when rescuing the villagers of Changmai Village, they might come in very handy.

After waiting a while, the few bandits presented the snake bags containing all the Poisonous Snakes: "M-my lord, the Poisonous Snakes we let out earlier are all in here."

Jier nodded: "They won't get out, will they?"

"They won't, the bag has two locks, and you have to open both to let the snakes out. Besides, the Poisonous Snakes have just eaten, so they won't voluntarily come out of the bag for a day or two."

So that was it; Jier finally understood that only hungry Poisonous Snakes would actively attack, and what lured the Poisonous Snakes to attack were the live mice the bandits threw out beforehand.

"In that case, you prepared several batches of Poisonous Snakes, right? That way you could ensure there were always Poisonous Snakes available to use in battle?"

The bandits dared not look into Jier's eyes or at his face, so they had to answer with their heads lowered: "Y-yes. We keep more of them at home."

"Hmph! You've harmed quite a few people, haven't you?"

"It was all forced by the leader, and in this line of work, we're all about the same."

As the few bandits spoke, they even snuck glances at the leader's corpse, which was illuminated by the firelight in the distance.

The corpse was still being tightly constricted by the large snake's body, which was several meters long; at this moment, under the friction and pressure of the hard scales, the corpse's flesh and bone had already separated, and a large amount of blood-red muscle had been forcibly squeezed out from the gaps above and below. At this point, what the large snake's body was truly constricting might no longer be anything more than the other party's skeleton with broken bones.

Jier found it disgusting to look at as well; he opened his hand toward the leader's skull, and then the axe, blooming with blue light, flew through the air into Jier's hand. This scene made the four bandits' eyes twitch wildly, realizing that they should have just grabbed the valuable wealth and left directly tonight.

With a flick of his hand, he threw the axe toward the large snake's body, and Jier didn't even look, letting the axe handle the large snake's body on its own.

He himself gathered the stinky snake bags together, used the rope from the bandits to tie their own arms, and even tied the four bandits' legs together.

It was similar to the three-legged race game he had played in his previous life.

If the bandits, who hadn't practiced this game, thought they could escape just because Jier hadn't tied their feet, that would be too funny.

Jier knew that as long as the four of them fell, not to mention rolling down the hillside where the Fatty's gang's lair was located, just the act of running without anyone falling would cause the crotches of those who tripped to be violently torn open.

He hoped these bandits had practiced doing the splits before, or could pray to some unreliable deity to protect their soft bits from being crushed when they fell.

Especially since there were quite a few stones in the grass on this hillside.

The collision between the soft bits and the stones, hmm~

Perhaps it would be very interesting.

Thinking of this, Jier couldn't help but clench his own crotch.

Taking the four disarmed bandits with him, Jier first let go of the Tianxuecao, and then, riding his horse and leading the four surrendered bandits who were walking awkwardly, he arrived at the bandit camp, which was engulfed in flames.

To Jier's surprise, he had thought those dozen or so hostages had already scattered and taken the opportunity to escape.

Tonight was a moonless night, which could be considered the best weather for escaping and hiding.

Especially since there were dark clouds in the sky at this moment to assist; if it weren't for the burning light of the three-story wooden tower nearby, the camp would likely be pitch black.

As Jier looked at the hostage civilians who had been captured, those civilians—men, women, old, and young—were all gathered in the corner of the camp, looking at Jier as he rode in.

They weren't sure of Jier's identity, so they didn't dare to make a sound or come forward.

And when the four bandits, with their arms bound and their legs tied together, walked awkwardly into the camp, these civilians realized that Jier, this guy who was all alone, was not a bandit.

At least not one of the bunch that played with snakes.

Jier looked left and right and discovered that the Desolate Snake bandit team had at least done some good deeds, having searched out the Fatty's gang's valuable property and piled it in the open space in the center of the camp.

There wasn't much stuff; the most valuable things were just a few small boxes.

Jier noticed that next to the small boxes were some food items the bandits had scavenged; the quantity wasn't large, but it wasn't small either.

Several bags of various sizes were piled on the ground with their mouths open. Jier rode over to take a look and discovered they were potatoes and wheat with the bran removed, and there was also just about a large bag of beans of various colors.

There was also a bag emitting a fishy smell; Jier jumped off his horse, pulled it open, and saw inside were strips of sun-dried Salted Fish. In the bag that had fallen over next to it were various types of meat jerky that he recognized as the hottest-selling items recently in the Kewen Territory of the Western Province.

"Not bad, this food."

Jier praised, and the bandit who had followed awkwardly behind him said: "Knight, Knight, my lord. These look good, but in reality, there isn't much quantity. If you don't count the boxes of moldy, stale grain we didn't want, this is all the food in the Fatty's lair worth us taking away."

Jier curled his lip: "It's good enough to have stale grain to eat, yet you're still being picky. Hmph, since you've surrendered, be self-aware; it's best not to hold high expectations for your future survival. Remember, when others sit, you stand; when others eat, you watch; when others eat this fresh, good food, you go chew on the moldy, stale grain yourselves. Do you understand? You bunch of fellows who have done every evil deed, if you want to live, tuck your tails between your legs and be honest."

"Knight, my lord, we understand."

The few bandits lowered their heads, and while speaking, they tried to look for tails behind them.

As it turned out, there were none; that was right, Humans don't have tails.

They scratched their heads.

The few bandits didn't dare to speak again.

Jier kicked open the unlocked small boxes with his foot; inside one box was less than half a box of glittering Gold and Silver Coins, one box was full of bright red copper coins, and another box contained even more small, packaged boxes.

Jier knew at a glance that the things in the last box were the most valuable, likely precious items, followed by the one containing the Gold and Silver Coins; the small box full of copper coins was also quite a lot, but once truly converted, it likely wouldn't amount to many Gold Coins.

Jier closed the three boxes, then tied them up with rope and first placed them on his horse's back.

Only then did he wave to the hostages who were observing him not far away, "Come, all of you, come over, I have something to say to you." He summoned the dozen or so people over.

Those people were stopped by Jier; they first trembled, then the crowd pushed for a while, and pushed out a middle-aged man with a kind face.

This man was pushed out looking very reluctant, but then he ran toward Jier with a fawning expression.

However, as soon as this man approached, he fell to his knees with a thud, his limbs weak, leaving Jier unable to laugh or cry: "What's wrong with you? Did you meet a great Noble or something? Why are you performing such a grand etiquette?"

Jier didn't know that as soon as this middle-aged man approached, he had intended to say some nice words to beg for mercy, and then, while responding to the questions of this person of unknown identity, probe for the other party's background.

But after walking closer and seeing the young man wearing a suit of Metal Armor, he was frightened by the foul-smelling blood covering the armor.

In particular, he saw that on the other person's pair of legs, one calf was wrapped in the headless body of a Poisonous Snake, and the other was tightly coiled by a thick python tail.

Blood that had not yet dried was dripping drip-drop from the snake tail.

Especially the fishy, foul stench after getting close, which hit him so hard he felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground.

The environment where they, the hostages who had been kidnapped, usually lived already smelled terrible, but compared to the bloody scent on the young man in front of him, it simply could not compare.

Jier saw this person fall and wanted to go up to help him up, but as soon as he walked over, he scared the other person so much that they collapsed on the ground and scrambled backward with all their might.

Blinking his eyes, Jier looked down to examine himself, then sheepishly tore off the python tail and Poisonous Snake body wrapped around his two legs and threw them hard toward the burning wooden tower not far away.

"It's nothing, just dead snakes, no need to be afraid. I am Qiao-Jier, from Kendall County in the Northwest Province, a, um, an Apprentice Knight!"

"Knight?"

The other person did not pay attention to the so-called apprentice, being directly captivated by the title of Knight.

"You are a Knight? Then these Bandits?"

This pale-faced middle-aged man pointed at the four Bandits nearby who were lowering their heads and looking for their tails behind them.

Jier shrugged: "Defeated by me, surrendered and tied up."

"Really? Not lying to me, lying to us?"

The middle-aged man's voice was trembling a bit at this moment, and after his breathing became rapid, he looked left and right, as if wanting to find the Bandits who were hiding and waiting to make an example of those who harbored hope.

But there were only dead Bandits around, and Bandits who had been tied up.

Jier paused and said formally: "Not lying to you, I have quite a few subordinates. Did you think it was just me alone?"

His words were heard by the Bandits nearby, who all looked over in surprise; Jier chuckled and pointed in the direction he had come from down the mountain: "Just outside the Shulin at the bottom of the hillside, there are forty refugees, no, Militia waiting outside."

Jier pulled the middle-aged man up, disregarding the tattered and filthy clothing on the other person, and patted his shoulder: "A distance further in the Xīběi direction, there is also a troop of seven hundred people. Heh, I originally wanted to come over to scout alone, but ended up directly overturning these Bandit Groups that were killing each other."

"Who are you? Are you here to save us?"

"No, no, no, just passing by. These Bandits were about to attack us, cough cough, I just led men to counter-kill them. That's all."