Chapter 794: Exiting the Forest, the Formidable Bandit Leader

"Everyone, move faster, move faster!"

Jier was currently leading nearly thirty Armed Civilians he had called upon, rushing out from the depths of the deep, pitch-black Shulin.

They had originally intended to return along the path they came, but Jier considered himself to have a good sense of space; having entered the Shulin to chase the Bandit archer team—which now appeared to be a trap—he could still roughly judge the terrain and his own position.

Simply put, after realizing he had been deceived, Jier did not lead the group back the way they came, but instead turned at an angle, walking in a straight line to break out of the Shulin that bordered the Shanglu from the place where they were ambushed.

Because he had estimated that even if the Refugee Team were attacked by other Bandits, they would have continued moving along the Shanglu before the attack; if his group returned the way they came, the spot where they exited the Shulin would certainly be some distance from where the Refugee Team was currently being attacked.

It would be too late by then.

That was why Jier led the people along the shortest route.

However, at this moment, the others in the team were not only carrying the Bandit weapons and equipment they had seized, but some were also carrying their own wounded from the battle, and there were even three Bandits who had only suffered minor injuries, their wrists bound with rope, being herded and guarded as they moved.

You ask about the other wounded Bandits who were subdued?

Of course there were some, but because they knew the Refugee Team was being attacked by another Bandit group, all the Bandits who could not walk normally after the battle were stripped of their equipment and killed.

As for their own wounded, they let those in the team with good stamina carry them; they would certainly not abandon their own people, and even if carrying them slowed down the overall movement speed, they would not be left behind.

"Knight! We don't know what the situation is like over at the main group now. If you are worried, please go ahead first; we will only slow down your pace!"

An Armed Squad Captain leading the Armed Civilians heard the anxiety in the Knight's words and immediately spoke up to persuade him.

Jier pursed his lips. At this moment, he had not lowered the Steel Face Mask on his Helmet, so his entire face was exposed. Hearing the persuasion of his subordinate, Jier also wore a troubled expression.

"The problem is that the surrounding area is the territory of this Bandit group; there will certainly be more Bandits appearing in the Shulin. If I leave, they will inevitably come to attack you."

After Jier finished speaking, he looked at the surrounding terrain, which was undulating and complex with Shulin. Even he had not been able to discover the large number of Bandits lying in ambush earlier, let alone these Armed Civilians who had little combat capability; after all, these people were all starving refugees not long ago.

It wouldn't take many—just seven or eight Bandit archers would be enough to wipe out this group of nearly thirty people. In the previous battle, even with his own "cheat" helping them, these Armed Civilians with no combat experience had only managed a four-six split against the heavily wounded and unmotivated Bandits.

Don't misunderstand, it was six for the Bandits and four for them. It was thanks to Jier punching and kicking the resisting Bandits to the ground so they could be hacked to death with random blades that they won, otherwise the outcome of the battle would have been hard to say.

"Don't worry, we aren't without the ability to fight back. If we encounter an attack, we will move toward the Shanglu while fighting. Not to mention, those Bandits are likely all off attacking the main group; if they come to bite us, they'll only break their own teeth!"

Seeing this Armed Squad Captain full of confidence, Jier turned to look at the others in the team and found that these young people, who were even older than him, were all very confident, as if the victory in the previous battle had given them enough self-assurance.

Jier suddenly realized that these nearly thirty people were already the most capable and bravest fighters among the Refugee Team. Although they could not compare to the vicious Bandits in terms of combat experience, they were not lacking in the slightest when it came to courage, which was the most important thing in low-level combat.

"Good!"

Jier responded loudly: "Since that's the case, you go straight in the current direction. Do not turn in the Shulin, and you should be able to walk out very soon. Remember, if you are attacked by scattered Bandits, do not get entangled with them. Once you reach the open space outside, those Bandits will not be your match. I will go ahead first."

After Jier finished speaking, he waved to the others, then pressed his left hand against the Long Sword at his waist and strode forward.

In a few steps, he pulled away from the team moving at a normal pace. When he encountered obstructing tree roots, Jier would flip over them with a small jump. When he encountered a suddenly appearing dry stream in the forest, Jier would sprint two steps and leap several meters, directly saving the effort of climbing up and down.

In less than ten breaths, Jier disappeared from the sight of these Armed Civilians, his back blocked by thick tree trunks one after another.

"Everyone, speed up. We must reach the outside of the Shulin as soon as possible. Those damn Bandits, don't they know the consequences of angering the Knight? Hmph, the Knight will surely wipe out their dens one by one."

The Armed Squad Captain said loudly while walking.

However, a captured Bandit in the team spat in disdain, as if the man's courage had returned after the Knight walked away: "Wipe out our dens? With you bunch of trash, don't even think about taking the Cunzi we occupy."

Then, this Bandit smugly boasted about the wooden towers they had forced slave laborers to build in the Cunzi and the reinforced houses. The Bandit also claimed that every house in the Cunzi had a cellar underneath, and the cellars were all connected; it would be impossible to take that place without losing dozens or hundreds of lives.

This talk made him very smug, but the next moment, the Bandit was rewarded with several heavy blows and collapsed to the ground, hunched over.

The young man who acted nearby immediately saw the guy's plan to delay the team's movement, so two people directly hoisted the guy up, one on each side, and followed the team at a fast pace.

Jier pressed his hand on the sword hilt, his body receiving the energy recovery from the Hunting Sword sheath and hilt, and he began to walk briskly, his speed not slowing down in the slightest.

When encountering obstacles, he channeled the Life Energy in his legs to increase his jumping power, using a speed faster than walking to jump over various obstacles in the forest. His sense of spatial direction was excellent, and soon he noticed that the spacing between the large trees passing by him was becoming sparse, and at the same time, there were more shrubs and flowers on the ground.

These were small plants that could not survive in the depths of the Shulin, simply because the sunlight in the depths of the Shulin was entirely intercepted layer by layer by the tall trees high above; almost nothing but fallen leaves and saprophytic fungi could survive on the ground.

The change in the surrounding environment at this moment could only mean that he was about to walk out of this mountain forest. Ahead, ahead was the Shanglu outside the Shulin.

"Kill!"

"Take this!"

"Ah—"

"Mama—"

After walking a bit further, the Shulin became even sparser, and at this moment Jier heard some chaotic shouts coming from afar. Needless to say, it must be the Refugee Team being attacked by a large number of Bandits.

Listening to these chaotic shouts, Jier ran at full speed in his anxiety.

His entire suit of armor made a loud metallic clashing sound, and where there was friction and collision, sparks even flew out from the impacts as he ran at full force.

Clang-clatter, clang-clatter.

Bursts of rhythmic metallic clashing sounds gradually came from the Shulin. Tianxuecao raised its head, twisted its head in a direction, and looked toward the southeast.

There was only the edge of the Shulin that looked exactly the same, and apart from the noise, it seemed no different from other places.

However, Tianxuecao had a premonition that its master seemed to be over there.

"Whew—whew—"

A familiar whistle came from the forest in that direction, somewhat faint, but Tianxuecao still noticed it.

It was a bit indecisive, its footsteps hesitating, and it kept stepping back and forth on the spot, trampling a human corpse at its feet into a bloody mess.

"Whew—whew—"

It was the master's whistling call again, and this time the sound was even clearer.

Tianxuecao looked at the spot where its master had rushed into the forest, then looked at the spot where the whistling sound had come from just now. Its eyes rolled nimbly, feeling that there might be something strange, so the clever Tianxuecao would not be fooled; only after it actually saw its master would it truly go over.

"Neigh—"

Tianxuecao neighed excitedly at its own clever idea, raised its front hooves, and then stomped down heavily.

With this, the upper body of the corpse under its feet was directly trampled into the dirt.

Jier made one final leap, jumping over a rotting tree trunk blocking the way, and rushed out of this Shulin bordering the mountain range.

He looked up and saw the chaotic Refugee Team not far away, as well as Bata'er Jiaoshi, who was attacking the Bandits while riding a grassland horse, and in the middle and rear of the team, among the scattered supplies on the ground, the Armed Civilians and the vicious Bandits were engaged in battle.

One exceptionally fat and tall Bandit hacked two Armed Civilians who were holding shields together, causing them to retreat and fall to the ground; the wooden shields in the civilians' hands also shattered into flying splinters, and no one was a match for that Bandit.

Jier could see that the tall, fat Bandit was the leader of this Bandit Group, and he seemed to have some skill.

However, where is my horse? Where is my warhorse?

Jier did not stop his feet, but his head turned left and right, searching for the Tianxuecao he had called with a whistle.

He looked to the right and discovered the Tianxuecao standing blankly in the distance; the fellow was still staying at the spot where he had led people to charge into the Shulin, not having moved at all.

"Tianxuecao! Over here! Over here—"

Jier called out, and only then did that silly horse run over toward this side.

"I blew the whistle, didn't I? Why didn't it come over? It couldn't have not heard it, strange."

Jier muttered a sentence, then while calling to the warhorse, he ran at full speed toward the battling Refugee Team.

"Boss, it's bad!"

Among the seven or eight Bandits battling the Armed Civilian, the one closest to the edge discovered the Knight's silhouette and immediately used his sharpest voice to issue a warning to his leader.

"Pah, I'm doing just fine, what's bad about it! These refugees are all trash; even if there are many of them, they are no match for us!"

While fighting, the Bandit Leader used the olive-shaped Mudu in his left hand to block a Flying Axe flying toward him; damn it, these Flying Axes were their sharp weapons at noon, and now they were being used by these mud-legged fellows to deal with him.

On the other side, the Bandit Leader saw an opportunity and thrust the Great Axe he held in his right hand forward fiercely; he had embedded a Dagger into the tip of the axe, and with a forward thrust, it directly exceeded the expectations of the Refugee in front of him, piercing into this person's chest through the gap in the Refugee's swing, directly knocking the Refugee down.

Following up with a kick, the Bandit Leader kicked the injured Refugee away, instantly scaring off the other Armed Civilian in front of him.

"Wahahahaha, they are all trash, like wheat fields soaked in water; what did I just say? These people are no match for me! Kill! Loot! This is what it means to be a Bandit!"

The Bandit Leader was currently excitedly slaughtering; he was suppressing over a dozen Armed Civilian by himself, and he held the upper hand.

However, a Bandit subordinate nearby dispelled his heroism and hot blood with one sentence: "Boss! The Knight protecting these refugees is here! He has charged out from the Shulin!"

In an instant, it was as if someone had splashed a bucket of cold water on him; even though the Bandit Leader's blood was surging, he had to shiver and look toward the left side.

A figure in full gray-black armor was running toward them with quick steps.

Noticing that the opponent was not riding a horse, the Bandit Leader exhaled, and a smile finally appeared on his face: "That guy has no warhorse, let's retreat! He can't catch up."

After speaking, the Bandit Leader glared at the refugees pressing in from the front and let out a threatening roar, scaring many Armed Civilian into taking a few steps back, not daring to come forward.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat!"

Once the Bandit Leader shouted, he personally covered the rear, letting his subordinates retreat while taking all the 'valuable' things they had found, retreating toward the forest on the other side of the Shanglu.

Although their lair, the Cunzi, was on the side of the Shulin where Jier had just charged out, the opposite side was actually also this Bandit Leader's territory, and there was a temporary Yingdi in the forest.

These Bandits retreated quickly, just as fast as they had charged up; carrying the looted items, the Bandits each let out excited shouts, and even with dozens of kilograms of weight on their shoulders, these fellows ran as if they were flying.

The Armed Civilian wanted to outflank these retreating Bandits, but their movement speed could not catch up to the Bandits' retreat speed at all. Thus, everyone set their target on the Bandit Leader covering the rear.

"Everyone put in some effort, this person is the big leader of the Bandits, stop him and let the Knight lord cut off his head!"

An Armed Squad Captain with command shouted, encouraging others to surround the person.

"In your dreams! Get lost—"

The Bandit Leader roared, his tall and burly figure combined with the current angry shout instantly scaring off the Armed Civilian surrounding him.

Bata'er Jiaoshi could not catch up to the fleeing Bandits, so he turned his horse around and charged toward this Bandit Leader.

He shouted from his horse: "Everyone move aside, watch me! I want to avenge the believers!"

With more than thirty meters of distance left, Bata'er Jiaoshi activated the Amber Metal Long Staff in his hand; he gave up on using the Hushin Statue of the God to attack this Bandit Leader, instead holding the end of the staff with both hands, imitating how the warrior Jier used a cavalry lance, extending the staff far forward and heading straight for the Bandit Leader who was fighting while fleeing.

"Thinking too much! Idiot!"

The Bandit Leader had long noticed that futile Priest; knowing how to resist that mysterious gem staff, he naturally was no longer afraid of this Priest's attack.

Seeing the opponent charging straight over on horseback, the tall and sturdy grassland horse charging over without slowing down, the Bandit Leader dodged to the side, but he did not dodge the mounted Priest; he knew that with such speed and distance, he could not dodge the attack of the horse charge.

Therefore, this fellow's goal was to discard the olive-shaped Mudu held in his left hand, and with a big grab, he lifted a terrified Refugee into his hands. Regardless of the person's struggle and blind swinging of a Long Sword, the Bandit Leader took a Refugee and actively met the Priest coming on horseback.

"Come on! Come on!"

The Bandit Leader roared as he charged toward the grassland horse, one hand holding the person to collide with the glowing staff coming at him, and the Great Axe in his other hand swung toward the opponent's horse.

He had tried attacking that Priest before, but it had zero effect, so this time the Bandit Leader changed to attacking the horse.

The three of them and the horse crossed paths; the staff emitting a dim yellow light and humming sound hit the unlucky fellow held by the Bandit Leader, and the axe in the Bandit Leader's hand also heavily gave the grassland horse a fierce blow to the chest, borrowing the horse's speed.

"Really bad!" Bata'er Jiaoshi regretted not being able to hit the enemy accurately, and then he was thrown off, rolling from the horse.

"Neigh—" The grassland horse let out a mournful cry; after receiving a heavy blow, the entire horse rolled forward and fell, but horses are inherently more robust than humans, and the grassland horse was taller and sturdier than ordinary horses, so at this moment, it only suffered minor injuries.

Weapons capable of taking a horse's life in one strike are all large Heavy Weapon; although the Bandit Leader's Great Axe had the ability to slay horses, it could only chop off a horse's neck when the horse was not running and standing still. Once the horse was galloping, there was no direction or power accumulation, and a single Heavy Cleave could not kill the horse.

"Hahahaha!" This was the Bandit Leader's heroic laughter; having knocked over the mounted Priest, he casually threw away the Armed Civilian covered in dim yellow light, looked triumphantly at the other refugees on both sides, and walked away laughing with no one blocking him.

"Damn it, my horse!"

The last sentence was a wail issued by Xueya Siter, who was half-squatting on the roof of Jier's carriage in the distance.

The grassland horse that the Priest had been riding was actually his property, but because he was driving the carriage for Jier, his own grassland horse had been lent to Bata'er Jiaoshi for temporary use these past few days.

At this moment, seeing his precious grassland horse injured and fallen, Xueya Siter's face was full of heartache; the money to buy this grassland horse was money he had saved up himself and deposited with a friend.

Gritting his teeth, Xueya Siter noticed that the Bandit Leader had discarded the wooden shield he had been holding to guard against him, sneered, and raised the Crossbow Jier had lent him; pulling the string, placing the bolt, and aiming were done in one go, then Xueya Siter just held it, not firing in a hurry.

He wanted to find a good opportunity, a good opportunity when the Bandit Leader, after discarding the shield, still had no time to guard against his shooting.

At that time, hmph, you hurt my horse, you'll have to be careful yourself.

The aiming line of the Crossbow Bolt had already been aimed at that Bandit Leader from afar.