Chapter 850: The Tunnel and the True Face of the Attacker

The dead leaves where the battle just took place were overturned, and the damp, rotting deep-layer leaves had been kicked up; that was the spot where the person who launched the sneak attack had been standing.

After observing carefully for a few moments, Jier discovered that the opponent had left behind extremely heavy footsteps; the footprints rushed out from behind a large tree beside the small stream, leading all the way to the position where Jier had been standing on the peculiar path in the forest.

Every footprint created by the sprint and the stomping of the ground was large and deep, which was quite strange.

After soothing Tianxuecao, Jier let the warhorse stay in place, then took down the Elven Metal Shield from his back, slipped it onto his left arm to hold it, rested his Long Sword on the upper edge of the shield with his right hand, lowered his posture, and moved toward the source of the attacker's footprints with light steps.

Jier tried his best to keep his footsteps light; since that attacker could hide by relying on the noise of the flowing stream, why couldn't he?

Just like this, sneak over and catch the opponent off guard!

After walking nearly ten steps with lightened footsteps, Jier performed a jump-turn, quickly circling from the front of the tree to the back of this large tree.

With the shield blocking his chest, he was prepared to defend against the opponent's counterattack, and his Long Sword was simultaneously ready for a defensive counter-strike.

Swish—

He stood still behind the tree, but there was neither the attacker's counterattack nor the figure that should have been there.

Behind the thick trunk of the large tree, there was nothing; it was empty, with only twisted tree roots and layers of damp, slippery, rotting leaves covering the ground everywhere.

"No one?"

Jier muttered to himself, then looked up; there was no attacker leaping down from above, nor were there any climbing routes or mechanisms. He lowered his head and scanned left and right; although the mist was thick here, under the white light of the Long Sword, the surrounding area of several meters was clearly visible.

But there was nothing suspicious in the vicinity. Thus, Jier immediately turned to look at the marks on the ground leaves caused by the movement.

There were two trails in total; one was caused when he rushed over, and the other was the mark left by the attacker trampling the leaves not long ago.

Jier's footprints extended from the front of the path all the way to his feet, while the attacker's trail could be traced backward from the front of the path until it abruptly disappeared behind the tree.

It was that kind of appearance of suddenly vanishing.

It was as if the attacker had lost their weight and flown away, which was quite eerie.

Jier could not rule out this possibility for the opponent, but he still carefully lifted his foot and stomped a few times where the attacker's footprints had disappeared.

Thump, thump, thump, perfectly normal; bang, thump, thump?

Hmm? There was something wrong.

Jier realized something and stomped hard again on the spot that had just made the strange sound, bang!

It was indeed wrong.

He kicked his left foot sideways against the ground, sweeping away the thick, rotting leaves, and amidst the black-brown dead branches and fallen leaves, a small portion of a stone slab was revealed beneath the leaves.

This discovery made the corners of Jier's mouth curl up, but he did not get careless; he first observed the surroundings once more to confirm that no one was spying on him, then squatted down and used the shield in his left hand to brush away all the fallen leaves on the stone slab.

Soon, a black-gray stone slab one meter square was revealed; this thing was dark and gloomy in color, and even after the fallen leaves covering it were removed, the stone slab was still very difficult for people to see or recognize.

Afterward, Jier found a small groove on the edge of the stone slab that made it easy to lift; he lifted it slightly with his right hand, confirming that he could lift the stone slab with some effort, and this level of force was not something an average person could easily exert.

This gave Jier a rough confirmation of the strength of the sneak attacker from before, and coupled with the brief exchange, Jier confirmed that the opponent was not easy to deal with—not like those Bandits from before, and even ordinary parasitic Monsters might be inferior in terms of strength.

Confirming once again that there was no danger in the surrounding area, and that no footsteps were mixed into the sound of the flowing water, Jier placed his Long Sword by his side, lifted the stone slab with one hand, and moved it to the side.

When opening and closing the stone slab, he carefully hid his own figure to the side, only using his hand to move the slab, just to guard against an attacker who might be waiting for him underneath.

Clang, the stone slab landed heavily on the leaves to the side, revealing an entrance to an underground tunnel that sloped downward in the original spot.

Jier carefully glanced inside from the edge; there was no attacker waiting to sneak up on him inside, nor was it as dark as he had anticipated. On the contrary, a milky-white faint light was emanating from the passage beneath the stone slab.

With the shield blocking his front, Jier came to the front of the passage and tentatively wanted to go down, but after hesitating for a moment, he still didn't dare; it wasn't that he was afraid of the attacker in this tunnel, but his warhorse was still outside. If he had come alone, he would have gone down to take a look, but the warhorse was still outside and injured, and Jier was not at ease leaving Tianxuecao there.

However, not going down did not mean he wouldn't inspect this strange sneak-attack tunnel that had popped up in Huitou Forest.

Borrowing the illumination from the Long Sword in his hand and the faint white light emanating from inside the tunnel, Jier discovered that this tunnel was somewhat strange; the height was a bit low, and a normal person would have to bend their waist to move in this tunnel. For someone like him wearing a full set of Armor, although the width of the tunnel was sufficient, the height was still a bit low.

One must know that moving while bending over in Armor is very awkward, not to mention that the cramped space in the tunnel was also very unfavorable for swinging the Long Sword in his hand.

After pondering for a moment, he decided not to go down; it was too dangerous.

But retreating just like this was not good either; Jier glanced at the tunnel stone slab to the side, grabbed the edge, lifted it, and leaned it against the base of the large tree, letting the slab lean at an angle.

Then he kicked out, landing right in the center of the stone slab.

Boom!

With a loud noise, the stone slab shattered into several pieces.

In this way, there would be nothing to cover this tunnel entrance for a short time, and the exit stone slab being destroyed by him could also be considered as telling the attacker who had launched the sneak attack on him that their place had been discovered.

If the opponent was cautious, they would definitely abandon this place voluntarily.

"Hmph!"

Jier snorted a breath through his nose, picked up the remnants of the stone slab that had shattered into several large pieces, and backhanded them with force into the depths of the White Mist in the forest, triggering a series of sounds of them either colliding or falling to the ground.

Immediately, Jier left this place and returned to the path.

Tianxuecao's condition seemed to have improved a bit; it quickly recovered from the state of swaying and being unable to stand steady, and although it was a beat slow to react when Jier stroked its ears, fortunately, there were no further bad signs.

Thus, Jier signaled for Tianxuecao to follow behind on its own; the Weapon Rack and the large bag of supplies originally on the horse's back were tied together with Rope, which Jier wrapped around his own shoulder to drag along the ground, while the Long Spear was carried on his shoulder with his left hand.

Although there were layers of wave-shaped anti-slip patterns on the strange path underfoot, fortunately, the wooden frame at the bottom of the Weapon Rack was considered smooth, so dragging it for a short time was not a big problem.

After all, although the surface of the road had friction specifically designed into it, the entire path in the forest was covered with year-round fallen leaves, and these damp, slippery, rotting leaves were also quite smooth.

Jier moved forward carefully; at this moment, his state was quite different from his previous carefree manner. Although he had anticipated that there were some malicious existences in this strange forest, after experiencing the sneak attack just now, Jier did not dare to guarantee that his Armor could completely protect him.

After all, Tianxuecao's Horse Armor, especially the metal headgear for the head, had higher defensive power than the Armor on his own body. Tianxuecao had taken a heavy hit from the opponent and ended up in that state; Jier dared not imagine what the result would be if he took a hit himself.

Therefore, he had to pull himself together and be ready to fight at any time.

Tianxuecao followed behind its master, snorting and grunting; at this time, its pair of large eyes no longer had the confusion and dullness from before. Having shed the various extra burdens on its back made Tianxuecao feel that its current state was excellent—light and easy, almost wanting to run and frolic happily.

But it realized that if it were too unbridled, it would probably have those extra things reloaded onto its body by its master, and that would not be good.

Therefore, the 'loyal' warhorse put on a sickly appearance, its pair of long ears drooping powerlessly, and its eyes were no longer darting around craftily, but instead, it lowered its head and only stared at the tracks left by its master walking.

"No attack?"

Jier cautiously and carefully paid attention to the depths of the mist around him; every strange spot in the heavy mist made him extra vigilant, but the results were all false alarms.

This made him wonder if he was scaring himself; perhaps that guy who attacked him saw that the target of the attack was difficult to deal with and might have already abandoned the plan to attack.

Or perhaps, the opponent, who was definitely familiar with this place, was just spying on him from the shadows, letting him be suspicious and paranoid, wasting his energy in vain.

Jier could not clearly say which situation it was, and it was hard to judge.

But perhaps, he could test it out.

"Huff, huff, this is no way to go, Tianxuecao, the enemy is in the dark, we cannot keep being vigilant against them like this."

Jier put away the Long Sword in his hand, letting only a section of it show from the Sword Sheath to provide some illumination for his surroundings. He turned to the warhorse following behind him and continued: "Find a place to rest, huff, keeping my spirit tense like this, plus not having rested well last night, why am I so sleepy? Damn it, now is not the time to sleep!"

Jier raised his hand and patted the Helmet on his head twice, then led the warhorse, pulling the Weapon Rack and luggage, to a large tree near the forest path that he had taken a liking to.

Jier first made a show of stomping his feet back and forth on the ground, pretending to test the surrounding ground for tunnel entrances. Only then did he use the Weapon Rack and the large luggage as cover, placing them on both sides of the tree base, and finally took two handfuls of beans and a roll of hay tied with rope from the luggage, delivering them to the mouth of the Tianxuecao after removing its bit.

"Eat, eat, thanks to your help and rescue just now, we blocked that damn attacker's sneak attack! Come, eat more, after we get out of this forest later, I will spend money to find you something delicious to eat!"

While saying these words, Jier's mind was not on the Tianxuecao, which was curling up the beans with its tongue in big mouthfuls before him.

Under his Helmet Faceplate, Jier scanned left and right with his eyes, while a pair of ears also quietly pricked up, paying attention to any unusual movements in the surroundings.

The fog-heavy forest was extremely quiet; there were no noises from insects or small animals, nor any signs of ordinary animals, only Jier's own breathing and the chewing sounds of the Tianxuecao eating.

Other than that, there was nothing else.

Not right.

Vaguely, Jier seemed to hear footsteps that had been deliberately softened, and the faint sound of armor clashing. It was very small, but it was not an auditory hallucination.

At the same time, Jier also judged that this slight rubbing sound of armor was not made by his own armor.

He had been wearing the armor for many days, and he was already familiar with the rubbing sounds his armor made when he wore it; he was absolutely certain that the sound he heard faintly in his ears now was not coming from himself.

Please, he hadn't even moved at this moment, how could the armor make a rubbing sound?

That meant there was a second intelligent creature present.

Jier was certain the other party was wearing protective armor and also using a hard, heavy blunt weapon. Although he did not know why they wanted to sneak attack him here, Jier guessed it had something to do with the fact that no one had ever returned from Huitou Forest.

But if everyone who entered the forest was attacked, and attacked by the other party's powerful weapons, then how did people settle down and build settlements in the Valley behind the forest?

This was very contradictory.

He was very certain that a normal person hit by such a heavy weapon would not have a good outcome.

Either dead or crippled.

So what exactly was going on here?

Jier frowned, and his two hands holding the beans and hay trembled slightly, ready to pick up the Shield and draw his weapon at any moment.

'Closer, come closer.'

Jier thought, and tried to judge the specific location of the other party hidden in the White Mist through the source of the sound.

The previous exchange was because he was careless and did not directly release the Blinding ability on the Long Sword; if it happened again, he would not forget this move.

I'll blind you!

"Come, eat more! Eat the beans first, the beans are delicious!"

Jier said meaningless words, lowered his head slightly, and did not let himself subconsciously look in the direction where the other party was.

The Tianxuecao looked up at its master in the middle of its busy work, realizing its master's state at this time, but with food in front of it, it didn't care about these things and just kept eating, eating, eating.

However, when the attacker cautiously arrived five meters to the right, the Tianxuecao, which had only been focused on eating, discovered something. Its pair of long ears suddenly lifted, and it subconsciously wanted to turn its head toward its left side.

Jier quickly pressed his left hand, which no longer held beans, onto the warhorse's face to prevent it from making any vigilant movements.

He opened his mouth and said: "Come! Eat the hay! This is high-grade hay specially dried for you by Bata'er Jiaoshi; it's all the largest green grass you can usually see, and it seems some herbs good for a horse's body were added inside. You are injured, so eat more."

Jier said this while using his hands to pull the horse's head so it would eat the grass.

The Tianxuecao snorted and buried its head in the food.

Since its master told it to eat, then it would eat; as for the enemy, let the powerful master solve it.

Jier's eyes narrowed under the Faceplate, his ears listening to the various faint sounds made by the other party, judging their position and state.

Suddenly, the other party's light footsteps stopped, and the faint sound of armor rubbing also disappeared.

Of course, this did not mean the other party had disappeared; Jier instantly judged that this was the other party preparing to unleash their strength before the attack!

The attack on him was about to be launched in the next moment!

In an instant, Jier took a deep breath, threw the hay held in his right hand to the ground, quickly reached for his left waist, and at the same time, his left hand followed his crouching posture to grab the Elven Metal Shield stuck in the ground.

His movements were fast; in the span of a single breath, he had both weapons and equipment in his hands, and then he rushed out from his spot with a speed faster than the other party, charging straight at the sneak attacker a few meters to the right.

However, if an outsider were to see this scene, it would be hard to say who the real sneak attacker was.

Clang—

The Long Sword left its sheath, emitting a hiss, longing to drink blood.

Slap!

His arm passed through the semi-circular handle behind the Shield, then grabbed the other handle of the Shield and held it tightly.

Whoosh—

As his boots kicked the ground, rotten leaves and pieces of tree bark flew, and Jier himself rushed forward like a stone thrown, charging toward the direction he had aimed.

Over the distance of five meters, Jier's boots only kicked the ground once for leverage, and then the Shield was in front, like a siege battering ram, with white light shining on the Long Sword, the entangled Sun God Divine Power ready to go, having prepared for the relay to connect with the Shield's impact.

Faster than anything else, naturally, was light.

The white light providing illumination on the Long Sword also lit up with the gathering of Divine Power, and in just an instant, it illuminated the range of fog within a dozen meters around Jier.

In the next instant, Jier's eyes widened as he charged, because finally seeing the true face of the attacker gave him a great shock!

The sneak attacker was wearing a set of black metal heavy plate armor; just looking at the thickness of the armor could scare an ordinary person to death. But this guy's height only reached slightly above Jier's abdomen.

It looked almost like a large mass of Iron Ingot that had become a spirit!

But in an instant, Jier recognized the true face of such an opponent—the other party was a Dwarf!

But where would a Dwarf come from in the Saint Hors Kingdom?

And in the Southern Province, a place not near the borders of human society.

If a Dwarf appeared in Kendall County, it wouldn't have surprised Jier so much, but the true face of this enemy at this moment was very unexpected to him.

But forget it, no matter how unexpected it is, I have to fight first and talk later!

Take this Shield Bash of mine!!!

"Ahhhhhhh—" accompanied by the offensive, Jier let out a roar.