Chapter 80: The Mysterious People Lurking in the Mottled Wood Village

The entire battle came quickly and ended just as quickly.

Unlike the evenly matched, long-drawn-out battles of the past, because he was surrounded by human subordinates who were vulnerable to the parasitized Earth-Shattering Bear, Jier dared not delay, choosing to finish the opponent off as quickly as possible.

Because if Jier were not here, the Earth-Shattering Bear could rely on its absolute weight advantage just by rolling on the ground a few times to crush and kill the warriors who were standing too close.

Although there were seven Church Priests present, and they could defeat this monster if they exerted their strength together, it was hard to say what the personnel losses would be.

Not counting the fellows temporarily recruited from Yemei Town, every warrior in the team was a precious subordinate in whom Jier had invested a great deal of resources and energy.

Jier pulled his right hand, which held the Magic Dagger, out of the parasitized Earth-Shattering Bear's abdomen; the entire palm, covered by a gauntlet, was emitting hot air with a pleasant, fragrant scent into the surroundings.

Jier shook his hand and sheathed the dagger back at his waist.

"Whew, this guy is really strong!" Jier jumped off the headless, dead Earth-Shattering Bear and exclaimed to the people around him.

The Tusi Brothers were being lowered from the air, and they also exclaimed: "In fact, my lord, your strength is even more astonishing. This is the first time I have seen someone able to contend with an Earth-Shattering Bear in terms of raw power."

Jier looked over and pointed to Zhongtusi's wet pant leg: "Can the local Knights not do it?"

"To tell you the truth, they cannot. My lord, this guy is a famous Earth-Shattering Bear in the nearby mountains and forests, called 'Silent Usha', a female bear. A few years ago, a Knight lord tried to challenge and hunt it, but I heard that the Knight lost an arm and it was only healed by the Church. As for 'Silent Usha', it lost two nearly-grown cubs and fled into the deep mountains."

Zhongtusi did not care about the wetness of his pant leg; in fact, more than one person had been scared enough by this guy to wet their pants just now, and being able to continue fighting under such terror meant everyone was actually a very excellent warrior. Of course, trust in Jier and the belief that Jier could ultimately resolve this giant bear was also an important reason.

"I didn't expect that even it would be secretly parasitized by the monster. Fortunately, this guy wasn't sent out of North Sas County, otherwise, no one knows how many people would have to die to deal with it."

Zhongtusi sighed, while the surrounding warriors gathered excitedly around the giant bear, loudly celebrating that everyone had assisted Knight Jier in killing such a powerful enemy.

Jier looked at this beast or monster with rare, immense strength and ordered the people around him to step up and peel the fur off the battered giant bear. After all, although it had been parasitized by the vine monster and its internal body had been destroyed by his high-temperature flames, the giant bear's pelt was still quite valuable.

Because they had encountered such a formidable enemy, Jier and his group did not continue forward today, but instead set up camp on the spot after felling the surrounding large trees to open up space, using the battle site as the center.

Calling it setting up camp was actually just clearing away the fallen leaves from the ground to reveal the dirt. At the same time, a portion of the warriors with sufficient stamina acted as logistics personnel, walking back to the supply Yingdi outside the forest to lead back the Pack Horses carrying supplies.

Jier and his group had not gone deep into the forest, so they should be able to make a round trip before dark.

Of course, Jier could not just watch the warriors skin the giant bear's corpse; he had the seven Priests guard the place, while he took a few Refining Qi warriors and two Mao Mao warriors to search in the direction the giant bear had come from.

He wanted to see if the Earth-Shattering Bear's lair was nearby; if it was, then the parasitic monsters had likely found this powerful beast on the spot and then found a way to parasitize it. If the Earth-Shattering Bear's lair was not there, it meant this giant bear had been specifically sought out from the deep mountains by the parasitic monsters and controlled as a powerful combat unit.

Such a strong combat unit must have been used to guard the parasitic monsters' lair, which meant they might not be very far from the monsters' lair?

"Calculating it, this is still some distance from that Momona Village; could it be that the parasitic monsters' lair is not in the village? Wouldn't Bell and the others be making a wasted trip?"

Jier led his men to scout the surroundings, following the clear giant bear footprints on the ground, trying to find the direction from which it had come.

But Jier was disappointed; this Earth-Shattering Bear did not seem to have a lair nearby. Through the reminders of the Mao Mao, who were familiar with the forest, Jier walked for two hours only to realize they had been walking in a nearly repetitive loop.

This made Jier give up the idea of finding the bear's den. By roughly estimating the patrol route of this parasitized Earth-Shattering Bear, Jier could barely judge where the parasitic monsters' lair was.

At the same moment, Bell was leading over a hundred people away from the main Shanglu, heading toward the small path to Momona Village, fighting as they advanced.

They encountered obstruction from a significant number of parasitic monsters, ranging from ordinary monsters parasitizing human Villagers to troublesome opponents with human upper bodies and the lower bodies of Forest Deer, and even a group of parasitized thick-skinned wild boars joined the battle.

These monsters were simply fearless; they often ambushed in the grass by the roadside, pouncing out when they saw humans passing by, and relying on strength greater than that of ordinary humans, they would grab people and drag them into the forest.

And those half-human, half-deer guys had even more skills; it seemed the parasitic monsters had turned the humans with martial arts skills they had captured into these monsters. Led by a guy with an exceptionally fat, blooming head and a half-human, half-deer body, they constantly used various means to attack Bell's team.

But these were not big problems; what truly made Bell's team's advance difficult were the large numbers of parasitized wild boars that came charging out of the dense forest with a rumble, directly scattering Bell's team.

Even though Bell and his companions slaughtered many parasitized wild boars, more Town Guards and Armed Civilians were still trampled to death or injured by these wild boars.

After the team suffered too many losses, they had to slow down their attack and retreat to the Jiedian on the Shanglu to replace the personnel. The injured received treatment from the Priests on the spot in the supply Jiedian.

And everything on Bell's side was seen by some people in the forest.

Inside a treehouse in Banbo Wood Village, a small village once inhabited by Lumberjacks that was now almost deserted, there were still a few people active at this time.

These people wore dark Cloaks that covered most of their bodies and carried bows and arrows of various sizes on their backs. Their movements were very agile; not only did they patrol the surroundings of this small village with nimble actions, but they were also able to use various tools in the village to create simple but highly lethal traps.

But what was truly terrifying were not these traps, but the deadly Arrows they could shoot at any time.

Contrary to Bell's imagination, the parasitic monsters were not putting all their strength into the small path to Momona Village to defend against Bell's counterattack; they had also mobilized a portion of the "Refining Qi" blooming monsters to engage in continuous battle with this group of mysterious people in Banbo Wood Village.

It could even be said that most of the blooming monsters spontaneously produced by the parasitic monsters had died at the hands of these people.

But even so, the parasitic monsters still could not stop the small-scale sneak attacks of these mysterious people, and in recent times, they had even been reached by the other side several times in the lair at Momona Village, launching terrifying strikes.

Inside the treehouse in the middle of the village, three Robed people sitting on chairs resting were receiving the latest news being passed on.

A small snake that appeared from nowhere crawled all the way into the hand of the Robed person on the right, obediently spitting out a small, rolled-up Scroll.

After the Scroll was opened, the small snake immediately stiffened, turning into a lifelike Wooden Carving, which the Robed person put into their pocket. And on the unfolded Scroll, the latest news passed back from the front-line personnel was written in code.

"That local Baron Heir and his team encountered resistance from the Evil God's subordinates on the way to attack Momona Village. Among them, the surprise attack by a large group of parasitized wild boars caused his subordinates significant losses."

A young voice spoke from the mouth of the Robed person, and some of the mysterious people in Cloaks sitting on the ground resting around them shook their heads in pity and began to whisper.

The sound was not loud, as if they were afraid of disturbing the three Robed people sitting on the chairs.

"What is your opinion?" The Robed person in the middle seemed to be older, leaning his head back against the wooden chair and asking the middle-aged Robed person on the left.

"I think we should provide support." This person said, and seeing the young Robed person on the right about to speak, he added: "Of course, just secretly send someone to deal with that batch of parasitized wild boars."

"Then send men to find where those parasitized wild boars drink. These subordinates of the Evil God cannot leave water in such weather; confirm where they drink. Then deal with them using high-power Magic Arrows." The Robed person in the middle gave the decision.

But regarding the final Magic Arrows, the two Robed people on the left and right had a slight disagreement.

"I have few men, so let others go for this opportunity." The young Robed person on the right declined.

"The fewer the men, the more they need to perform meritorious service, because Hunting that Evil God is a difficult matter, and the Magic Arrows under my command need to be saved for that time." The middle-aged Robed person on the left also had his reasons and clearly did not want to use resources to secretly help the local forces.

Doing such things would consume precious resources at this time without gaining any fame or benefits, so he naturally declined.

The Robed person sitting in the middle clearly did not want his subordinates to intervene in such unimportant places, so he remained silent, letting the two on the left and right decline each other and give various reasons.

And the people in Cloaks sitting around resting and maintaining their equipment did not get involved in the Robed people's affairs either.

After all, using rare Magic Arrows to deal with a group of ordinary, common parasitized wild boars—what kind of important Hunting was that? How could it be more important than the upcoming attack on the Evil God's lair in this place?

"So, you let your men use the Sandstorm Crystal Arrow while scouting, wasting such an important tool that can obscure the battlefield's vision, just to see if those monsters would dehydrate and roast? And you are unwilling to effectively wipe out an important combat force of the Evil God's subordinates? Everyone knows that after solving that batch of parasitized wild boars, the local Baron Heir's team can strike directly at Momona Village—the lair of the Evil God's operation this time. His and his subordinates' appearance will be beneficial for us to take the opportunity to raid the Evil God's main body. Therefore, everything must contribute to the goal of Hunting this Evil God."

The middle-aged Robed person on the left lectured the young Robed person on the right, trying to make him 'understand' the importance of this move, and elevated it to one of the most important goals of their trip.

"After all, our God has issued an oracle that the original Hunting target was too simple and small; it is good luck that we encountered this enemy of humanity who is secretly causing trouble again this time. As long as we can solve this Evil God, our Great Hunt this time will be more significant than any other in the last hundred years. This is a glorious opportunity that can make our God more brilliant and demonstrate His power. Although our temporary manpower and overall strength are relatively limited, we should be more willing to invest various resources in the early battles to increase the success rate of the final Hunting."

But no matter what the middle-aged Robed person said, the young Robed person on the right just would not take the bait, and the situation suddenly reached a stalemate.

"Don't look at me." The old man in the middle spoke, seemingly forced to speak because he was being stared at by his companions on the left and right.

He displayed his gathered Robe sleeves; it turned out that the robed figure in the middle, who appeared motionless and elderly, was actually holding his hands together inside his Robe sleeves, channeling Divine Power to craft a Hunting Arrow with a special function.

This Arrow was blurry in its entirety; it did not look like the expansion of air under high heat, but rather that the substance constituting the Arrow itself existed between reality and illusion.

Divine Power was constantly being poured into the Arrow by this robed old man, seemingly to make its material composition more stable.

"The existence and composition of a Duel Arrow require a massive amount of my energy and Divine Power, and my men will be the main force in hunting the deity; the Magic Arrows in their hands are also meant for dealing with deities. It is just a group of parasitized wild boars; I think some of the simplest Magic Arrows should be able to handle that batch of wild boars, right?"

The two robed figures on the left and right looked at each other, and in the end, the young man sighed, just about to accept this task.

At this moment, another small snake crawled out from the shadows of the room, slithered directly to the side of the young robed man, raised its head, and spat out a small Scroll. After the young robed man took the Scroll in surprise, it coiled up and transformed into a Wooden Carving.

"Another piece of intelligence. Oh, our Little Crow actually solved the parasitized Earth Violent Bear active in the southeast direction of Momona Village. The locally famous 'Silent Usha'—what a pity, the honor of hunting it was taken by this Little Crow we gave up tracking."

"I didn't expect that regardless of him and the deity behind him, they would actually appear before you and me again." The middle-aged robed man on the left said happily: "Look, isn't this a very good opportunity? Although it is unlikely to wipe out the target behind Little Crow in one go, that target's important Divine Dependency exists on Little Crow's person. A good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone; don't say I'm making things difficult for you."

The young robed man nodded, said nothing more, rose from his chair, and walked toward the few Hunters wearing Cloaks who were resting under his command. And as he rose and left the chair, the Divine Power available to the Old Priest in the middle, who was constructing the Arrow to deal with the deity, immediately decreased by a portion.

He frowned, knowing that this was the young man subtly expressing his dissatisfaction, but since he had let the other party take over these unimportant tasks, he could only swallow this loss.

In the corner of the room, the young robed man pointed to three reliable subordinates and gave them instructions for this mission.

"Use your Cold Ice Arrow to solve the parasitized wild boar herd so that the local Baron's team can attack Momona Village as soon as possible. And you two, after assisting him in completing this task, go separately, bypass the Monsters patrolling around Momona Village, and head to the mountain forest southeast of Cunzi to rendezvous with the companions scouting in all directions, and either shatter or obtain the Divine Dependency on our Little Crow."

He smiled: "But I think that ancient deity is unlikely to be honestly recaptured by us. Because He knows that this time, falling into our hands during the Great Hunting Ritual, there is only one outcome."

The three Hunters wearing dim Cloaks also smiled: "Our God will surely bless our Hunting this time. The great God of Hunting will surely grant us endless Hunting and endless victory."

"Depart." The young Priest of the God of Hunting waved his hand, letting his three subordinates, the Church Hunters, depart immediately. Of course, before they departed, he also performed a Prayer and blessing for the three, significantly enhancing their various abilities.

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