Chapter 835: Battle Surrounding the Lumber Yard

Sensing Jier's slight confusion, the Baron Heir whispered an explanation: "You're from the North, right? I don't know how things are over there, but here in our Southern Province, if you want to intervene in local administrative affairs, you must be a relative of the local lords. Do you understand?"

He added: "Even close friends or comrades-in-arms won't do; it has to be a blood relation or a marital connection. Otherwise, which lord would delegate the territorial power they received from the local Noble Council to a 'stranger'?"

Only then did Jier understand what the other party's so-called tangible "benefits" were: marrying the eldest daughter of the local Baron's younger sister would formally make him a member of the local Sasi Family, and only then could he gain access to power.

It sounded a bit abstract, but Jier knew it was only in the telling; after all, this is how this society operates. Once he obtained the status of a so-called relative of the Sasi Family, he would become one of their own, and the power structure of Yemei Town and the surrounding villages would open up to him.

The benefits of this could be understood even with one's heels—they were surely numerous and in every aspect.

But Jier was an outsider, and he wasn't considering long-term settlement and development here, so he really wasn't interested in these benefits.

Thus, he waved his hand: "Ah haha, I'm only here to help with the fighting, after all. I'll be leaving once it's done, so it's unlikely I'll join your family."

"Is that so? That's truly a pity." Bell's expression was unreadable as he replied softly.

He then asked: "So, excluding marrying my cousin, you choose the shop and the money deposited in the Province Capital? Which one do you want?"

"Huh? Aren't you giving me both?"

The surprise in Jier's words was not feigned, which made Bell roll his eyes: "Your appetite is truly large. Have some pity on me; my own assets aren't that plentiful. Of course, if you are willing to let me draft an IOU, I could use my family's income from the next two years to subsidize you with money. But I cannot give you any tangible benefits right now."

Seeing that the other party had even suggested a "white-wolf" proposal of writing an IOU, Jier quickly said: "Then I'll take the deposit in the Province Capital. It just so happens that I have to rendezvous with Kendall Baron and the others there later, so that's more convenient. After all, even if you gave me the shop in Yemei Town, I wouldn't be able to manage it after leaving the Southern Province, and I'd just have to sell it for money later anyway. It's better to just take a sum of money directly."

Hearing Jier's final mutterings, the Baron Heir immediately solidified the deal: "Then it's settled. A large deposit of mine in the Province Capital's treasury in exchange for your full-strength fighting in a moment. Remember, Knight Jier, since I have paid to hire you, please fight with all your might."

Patting his iron armor, Jier said affirmatively: "Don't worry. No matter how many parasitic monsters are ambushed in the Lumber Yard today, I will take care of them for you. But likewise, the battle cannot rely on me alone; you, your soldiers, and the priests you hired must also join the fight."

"You don't need to tell me that; I will lead my men to exterminate the monsters."

After the discussion, the Lumber Yard west of Yemei Town was right before them. With the scorching spring sun overhead, the entire Lumber Yard was, just as Jier had said, eerily quiet.

On the corpses along the dirt road where the carriage train traveled, those red-eyed crows pecking at the mangled human remains were not afraid of people or vehicles at all. Even when the carriage wheels were less than two meters away, these large, cunning, and noisy birds still remained on the corpses, feasting away.

At most, they would lift their heads, let out two caws of provocation at the carriage train, and stare at the group of humans.

They didn't fly, didn't run, weren't afraid, and even communicated with each other. The harsh, noisy cawing continued, as if welcoming Jier and his fellow humans to kill more parasitic monsters to provide the flock with more food.

By contrast, there were many parasitic monsters that had been killed among the log piles in the Lumber Yard, but it was incomparably quiet there, without a single extra sound.

Not even the chirping of insects or birds.

Of course, this was the direct observation of Jier and the Baron Heir after knowing in advance that parasitic monsters were ambushed there; the others in the carriage train had no such awareness, and even felt that the morning's strike against the parasitic monsters had made them afraid and unwilling to provoke the carriage train again.

Most people thought so.

"Stop the carriage train!"

Bell had become the one giving orders for the entire carriage train at this moment. At his command, the entire train stopped quickly and did not continue to approach the Lumber Yard. When the carriages were steady, Jier's lumberjacks immediately wanted to jump off to work, but Jier stopped them upon seeing this: "Get back in the carriages! Go back!"

The lumberjacks looked at each other, not understanding what Knight Jier meant, but they couldn't disobey. Pulling and tugging at each other, they climbed back into the carriages.

The elite soldiers of the Sasi Family asked their master, but Bell waved his hand, stopping their questions.

The two exchanged a glance, and Bell said: "Do you have a proposal?"

Jier immediately said: "Have the carriages incapable of fighting retreat two hundred meters, and have the carriages carrying the priests and soldiers form a separate train. How about this: circle the entire Lumber Yard, fighting while moving? You command the battle for this train, and I will lure the ambushed monsters out, utilizing the mobility of our horses and carriages to fight these monsters that move on foot while circling them?"

Bell pondered for a moment and offered an opinion: "The non-combatant train is still too close. Have them retreat another two hundred meters. At this distance, it can be clearly seen, and you will have time to reach them on your warhorse, while it will take the monsters much more time to run over and attack."

"Fine, split the train. I'm going up to lure the ambushed monsters out!"

After speaking, Jier made Tianxuecao run, heading straight for the various log piles outside the Lumber Yard. Bell, meanwhile, loudly ordered the carriage train to split into two groups as previously discussed.

Actually, Jier didn't need to lure the monsters; those parasitic monsters understood the Human common tongue. When Bell shouted for the train to split into two parts, these ambushed parasitic monsters knew their ambush plan had failed, though they didn't know how.

In an instant, roars erupted one after another from the log piles that had previously been silent.

This was not the Human common tongue, nor was it the roar of a beast with only emotion, but an unknown, strange language. Jier heard it, and although he couldn't understand it, he could easily detect the sense of arguing within it.

"Ha! A bunch of idiots, the ambush was seen through long ago, and you're still hiding?"

Jier mocked loudly, immediately drawing a counterattack from the monsters he had insulted to their faces—from behind the log piles, bits and pieces of firewood of various sizes were immediately thrown over.

Because the parasitic monsters had considerable strength, the size, speed, and distance of these thrown wood blocks were not bad. Jier quickly pulled the Jiansheng to make Tianxuecao move aside. Being hit by these blocks wasn't a major problem—it wouldn't cause an injury—but the pain and discomfort were certain.

Seeing that they hadn't hit the mounted human who was mocking them, the monsters immediately roared and split into two groups. A smaller group rushed out of the log piles and split up to surround Jier. The larger group, under the command of a parasitic monster holding a sword, organized into a team and sloppily charged toward Bell's carriage train.

"Be careful! They're coming!" Jier shouted to remind the Baron Heir while being chased by the monsters.

Bell snorted coldly, acknowledged Jier, and then shouted: "Run! Make the train run to the right! Everyone prepare for battle, drivers keep close to the carriage in front."

Then, as the train gradually bypassed the charging monster team, he said to his trusted driver in the lead carriage: "Don't be nervous, find a smooth route. We'll circle around this Lumber Yard and take these stupid monsters with vines for brains for a walk."

The driver was nervous and covered in sweat, but he still drove the carriage carefully, avoiding the inconspicuous pits and small mounds on the wild ground outside the Lumber Yard, allowing the entire train to gradually increase speed under his lead and shake off the parasitic monsters chasing behind.

"Priests! The chance to show your skills has arrived! Please do your best to deal with these monsters; any means are permitted!"

Bell stood at the driver's position, turned around, held the jolting carriage box with one hand, and shouted to the Yemei Town priests in the carriages behind him.

The reactions from the four different churches were all different. The two from the Sun God Church were a bit troubled; of course, they had combat Prayers, and both of them knew some, but none were suitable for use near the Lumber Yard or for dealing with Flesh Demon parasitic monsters that clearly had plant characteristics.

The monsters weren't affected by strong light, and they were afraid of accidentally igniting the nearby log piles with high heat, especially while casting from a jolting carriage. The carriage carrying the two was constantly moving, and the target monsters were also moving while chasing the train; in a situation of movement against movement, it was hard to say whether the log piles would be ignited.

This made the two priests quite troubled, so they had to hold their Jiao Shi Chang Zhang and gather their power to fight at close range.

The four priests of the Agricultural God Church began to shout and scream, letting their carriage slow down to the end of the train before accelerating one by one to catch up, using crop seeds imbued with the Agricultural God's Divine Power to scatter over the horses pulling the carriages and the drivers.

"Seeds bring fullness, fullness brings stamina!"

The soldiers were also sprinkled with some crop seeds by the Agricultural God priests riding in the carriage; they immediately felt their stamina greatly enhanced, their morale soared, and they let out loud, provocative shouts at the monsters in close pursuit.

The two priests of the God of Wealth smiled disdainfully. Without needing their carriage to run back and forth, they threw several special coins filled with Divine Power toward the soldiers and the Baron Heir.

These special coins, emitting golden light, flew over the heads of everyone in the train. The Divine Power transformed into light and covered them from above, and immediately, everyone's Yongqi and will to fight were strengthened, and some soldiers even temporarily mastered a trick or two of combat.

The Baron Heir, who was himself an Apprentice Knight, narrowed his eyes, feeling that the mobilization and driving of Life Energy within his body had become easier for no reason.

This surprised him, and he looked frequently at the two priests of the God of Wealth.

Among all the priests, only the two from the Church of the God of the Dead made no move. These two priests, who had been slaughtering everything in their path earlier, just stood in the empty carriage box, counting the number of parasitic monsters and discussing in low voices.

Seeing that these two made no move, Bell couldn't say anything, only hoping that the Church of the God of the Dead, which rarely intervened in territorial affairs, would exert more effort.

"Soldiers, prepare for battle! Watch out for monsters jumping onto the carriages, and watch out for being pulled off the carriages by monsters! Also, protect the carriages you are riding in and your drivers!" Bell shouted loudly, because in just this short while, the entire train had already circled the Lumber Yard once.

Although most of the parasitic monsters were chasing behind the train under the urging of a lead monster, there were still many parasitic monsters—whether they were smart or just lazy and disobedient—that rushed out from behind the log piles and lingered in place.

And so, the carriage train, having completed a circle, ran right into them head-on!

"Ha!"

In the lead carriage of the convoy, Baron Heir Bell-Sasi drew his heavy axe, gripping it with his right hand while clutching the seat back behind him with his left to keep his body steady. Facing the few parasitic monsters that had finally recovered from their surprise, he shouted to his trusted driver: "Veer left—"

At the same time, he lowered his right hand and swept horizontally, slicing two parasitic monsters in half at the chest just as the carriage swerved to the left.

The heavy axe cut through these monsters as if they were mere vegetables; with a swing, the monsters were severed in two.

But there was still one monster, the furthest away, that leaped onto the carriage.

This creature was missing a hand, and a mass of vines had sprouted from the stump of its forearm to replace the palm; as the carriages passed each other, it grabbed the carriage box and jumped up.

"Hahahaha, die, Human!"

The creature laughed loudly, showing no sorrow for its companions being cut down, and directly swung its vine-right hand, which acted as a palm, like a coiled whip, lashing out to entangle the Baron Heir, who was clad in Knight Armor.

But Bell simply let go of the carriage with his left hand, reached out, and actively grabbed the vine tentacle swinging toward him. Before the monster could exert force to pull, Bell pulled first, dragging the monster—which was still spouting nonsense—toward him.

"Hahahaha, huh?"

The strength of this Human far exceeded its imagination; before it could steady its feet, its entire body was yanked forward. What greeted it was the steel heavy axe slashing diagonally.

With a squelch, the monster was split into two parts from the abdomen along a diagonal upward line.

Without bothering to process the monster's core, Bell flicked his hand, throwing the half of the parasitic monster still attached to the right arm out of the carriage, then swung and scooped his axe to toss the other half out as well.

The trusted driver steering the carriage watched all this with great excitement, shouting: "My lord is amazing! You defeated three in one go!"

Bell chuckled, glanced at the fighting on the carriages behind him, and after confirming there were no issues, continued to deal with the parasitic monsters crossing their path.

On the other carriages, battles were also taking place sporadically.

The Soldiers shouted slogans while lying against the sides of the carriage boxes, facing the parasitic monsters that rushed and leaped from outside; they were not afraid at all, and however the monsters jumped up, they would beat these disgusting creatures back down.

While beating them down, they would also swing their swords to sever the limbs and necks of these monsters wearing human skin. Every time they dealt with one, they would shout in unison, making for a very lively scene.

The bold and skilled Refining Qi Soldiers even let the monsters jump onto the carriages; after sending one person to protect the driver, the others swarmed forward, clearing the way with axes and hacking the parasitic monsters that jumped on board into pulp.

The carriage carrying the Agricultural God Church Church Priests swerved left and right, actively engaging the scattered, lone parasitic monsters. The four Church Priests gripped their Metal Long Staffs, shouting and yelling as they brought the heavy staff heads down upon the parasitic monsters.

Striking the top of the head would shatter the skull using the speed of the carriage, and striking the limbs would likewise break them.

As the carriage moved away, they threw crop seeds at the parasitic monsters with severed limbs, shouting the name of the Agricultural God, causing the thrown crop seeds to grow rapidly on the bodies of the parasitic monsters.

They submerged the immobilized parasitic monsters in a small patch of rapidly growing crops that bound them.

The parasitic monsters that had not yet fully died shrieked in rage.