Chapter 2261: The Puppet King (12)

"There's nothing to do with the back door. After listening to Hanover's words, Arthur couldn't help but complain. Normally, whether it's a bandit or some other evil organization, no, it should be said that any decent armed organization should have an emergency exit or other back door in their base in addition to the main entrance. Otherwise, they will be besieged head-on by a hostile organization, and the people inside will become turtles in the urn, and they will only wait for death. The besieging people didn't even have to really make a move, they directly blocked the main gate with various blockade facilities, and the people inside could never get out again, and even if they didn't suffocate to death, they would starve to death and die of thirst.

There's not even a back door------ this ridiculous setup is in the base of the Bone Pickers?

"Trust me, they really don't have a back door. Bordeaux had repeatedly investigated before this, and there could be no fault with this. Hanover emphasized, "I know it's counterintuitive, but these necromancy guys must have a different routine than a normal group of thieves." ＂

Arthur didn't answer. Those bandits are either very stupid or have a high level of confidence in their own strength, no matter which one they are, it is not a good thing. He had thought the situation was unusual from the very beginning when he encountered this group of necromancy bandits, but it was unsettling that the situation was so unusual this time.

Anyway. Since there was no other way but to attack through the door, they had no other way but to attack through the door.

"Bordeaux, you take the lead and send them two*, and then Milan will be in charge of unleashing the first rain of arrows, and then I'll clean it up. Hanover commanded, "So, Mr. Employer, are you going to observe here, or are you going to come with me?"

Arthur drew his sword: "Leave two miscellaneous soldiers to warm me up." ＂

"Good. Hanover winked at his companion, drew his sword, and began to act.

The "scout" ran at the front, quickly approaching the main entrance of the cottage with a near-silent dash and extremely agile footwork. Before the thieves could react, Bordeaux had already thrown out three unruly spherical objects in his hand, and the orbs wrapped in strips of cloth instantly gushed out pale yellow smoke after being hit on the ground, covering the sight of the thieves guarding the door. The other party fell into confusion for a while, not only could they not see each other, but the guys with bows and crossbows could not aim. Arthur could hear a series of coughing sounds from a distance, and it was clear that the smoke had a tear gas-like component, causing his opponent to lose most of his resistance in a state of poor breath and tears.

Arthur subconsciously covered half of his face with a cloth towel. But what about the eyes, he didn't have goggles or anything like that. In that case, he could only delay a few steps and rush over, at least until the tear gas smoke cleared a little. While he was doing this, the rangers of the mercenary group had already jumped onto the tree where Arthur and the others were, and fired five or six arrows in a row. The opposite side was obviously still shrouded in smoke, and it was reasonable for the archer to see the figure in the smoke clearly, but she seemed to judge the position by relying on the sound of people coughing in the smoke, and shot accurately. Arthur heard the screams of the thieves, and at least four of them were shot and fell.

The effectiveness of the * actually didn't last long, after all, it was used in an open area, and the smoke dissipated quickly. After the archers weakened some of the opponent's forces, the mercenary man also rushed forward with his sword, ready to clean up the remaining enemy. Not to be outdone, Arthur followed the past to grab people's heads. Originally, according to the current situation, it was perfectly okay for all the enemies at the door to be cleaned up by this group of mercenaries, but Arthur didn't want to let the mercenaries take care of everything, and always felt that he had to do something.

Although the smoke had almost dissipated by the time they rushed up, the thieves were still quite confused, as they had inhaled the smoke of tear gas, tears and snot were still flowing, and they could barely return fire with their weapons. Hanover rushed over and slashed one of the thieves with two swords, then kicked the other down, and rushed over to make up for the thief's chest with a smooth and fierce movement, which is what a battle-hardened mercenary should do.

Arthur also rushed to the other thief, flashed behind him before they could fight back, and struck a backhand with the unsheathed Seraph's holy sword. The unopened blade (scabbard) slammed into the back of the thief's head, knocking the hapless creature unconscious.

"Huh?" said Hanover snorted as Arthur cleaned up the two thieves. The thieves he had cut down fell forever and didn't get up again, but the two thieves that Arthur had cut down were just unconscious, and after they fell to the ground, there was a sudden explosion of corpses, and then, as Arthur had described before, blood-red skeletons slowly rose from the exploding corpses.

"Why didn't the thieves you hacked to death have corpses?" asked Arthur by the way, taking a few steps back and raising his sword in guard.

"The weapon in my hand has been blessed by the Church, and after slashing the enemy, it can prevent the enemy from turning into a necromancy. Hanover replied, asking in a slightly reproachful tone, "Why didn't you kill those two?"

"That's one of the reasons. Arthur replied ambiguously. In fact, as a time traveler, he must try not to kill people if he can, so as not to interfere with the historical flow of this world. He also knew that using the scabbard to knock the thieves out could happen the same thing as what happened at noon, but he still got lucky, and he still managed to get two red skeletons.

"Tsk. Hanover didn't say anything more, and rushed over and scattered the red skulls with two swords. The long sword in his hand really had something like a divine enchantment, and it didn't take much effort to slash and kill the skeletons, and after chopping the red skeletons into pieces, they didn't come back to life.

It always felt as if he had added work to Hanover, and Arthur couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. Originally, if he didn't do anything, he would let Hanover kill these thieves, and the Red Skull would have no chance to appear, right?

"Pack it all up, let's assemble. The mercenary man beckoned to his companions on the other side of the bushes from afar, and asked them to come and join them. The battle was fought quietly and quickly, and it is estimated that the alarm in the base was not even sounded in time. But the strength of the enemies guarding the gate is too low, and I always feel suspicious.

"Just rush in?" Arthur asked, "maybe it's a trap in there?"

"Even the traps have to go in. If this is the case, it is impossible for the bandits to rush out and die. Hanover said again. His companions also came to join him, including Arthur's companions, Bedeville and Verne.

"The sword in your hand also carries the blessing of the Church," Nantes said, looking at the holy sword in Arthur's hand, "but it is impossible for the blessing to be effective only if it is used to stun the enemy, and the blade does not touch the enemy's blood." Are you really going to use this unopened sword against these thieves, and even the necromancy they subsequently become?"

"Well, there's always a way. Arthur did not answer Nantes's question directly, but said casually. The woman in Nantes was very perceptive, and Arthur was even a little afraid to talk to her too much, for fear that she would see through Arthur's details further.

Hanover didn't say anything, after all, Arthur is the employer, normally it is their group of mercenaries who should do the work in this anti-bandit operation, Arthur stands in the distance and watches the battle without killing a single enemy, it is understandable, and it cannot be forced.

"Well, Bordeaux, you're done. Hanover said again.

Bordeaux, as a scout, nodded, leaned over and walked in front of the curve in a stealthy position. I don't know if it was an illusion or something, Arthur seemed to feel that the moment Bordeaux crouched down, his whole figure disappeared. Could it be some kind of illusion, or a stealth spell?

There is a reason why Bordeaux is at the forefront of the way, after all, the terrain in the cave is complex, and there is a high probability that there are a large number of killing traps, and it is very dangerous for a large army to go into the cave like this, even if a few of them are agile behind them, the team will inevitably suffer casualties. Bordeaux, as a thief (scout), is at the forefront, finding out the location of the traps, and even manually clearing a few traps, which will bring a lot of convenience to the progress of the team.

The corridor ahead, which was not too wide or too narrow, led to the depths of the [Bone Pickers] bandit base, and Arthur had expected a lot of danger. But as Bordeaux walked in, Arthur could hear a series of traps from afar, and the guy seemed to be very active in tearing down the traps to clear the way for the team. Arthur had heard that a skilled scout could break through and dismantle the traps in front of him as quickly as he could crack a maze, and even if he couldn't dismantle them directly, he could throw a small stone to trigger the trap first, and the triggered trap would no longer be a threat. As it stands, Bordeaux is exactly what he did, and this man's ability to find his way is really good, Arthur can know a thing or two just by listening to the sound of the traps that are frequently triggered.

It took about ten minutes before the lanky scout returned to join the group: "That's it, there shouldn't be any more traps to deal with for the time being." But it's weird that there aren't half of the bandits patrolling along the way. ＂

"After all, it's a [welcoming] front porch full of traps, and it's understandable that there are fewer patrols. Hanover replied: "Then let's go too, but we still have to be careful, this guy from Bordeaux may not be able to break down the trap, he has always been unreliable." ＂

"It's too much, Captain. The scout shouted angrily.

A group of people continued deeper into the enemy line with a soft laugh. Arthur's guess was not wrong, Bordeaux was indeed very capable. Arthur could see countless triggers along the way, spears emerging from walls, rolling stones falling from the ceiling, and spikes emerging from the floor. The road is full of this shocking sight, and there are hundreds of traps in the middle. Luckily, these traps are the ones that are ineffective once triggered, and can be safely bypassed as long as they aren't manually reset. It goes without saying how much effort a scout on the team can save the troops to dismantle traps and dodge traps.

Then, without the slightest risk, they bypassed the trap-riddled front porch and came to a large door. Hanover winked at the crowd and walked to the door with his sword in hand, ready to push the door. This push door in, there may be more than a dozen enemies waiting for them inside, and it is estimated that it will be an inevitable tough battle.

So------

Hanover pushed hard, and the heavy iron door creaked open.

However, what greeted everyone was not a lively fight scene, but a deathly silence. It's not because there was no one in the hall behind the door------ on the contrary, there were a lot of people in the hall, and the thieves were all there.

But the thieves were deaf to the door, and were kneeling in fascination at a blood-red pool in the middle of the hall.

It's almost like some kind of cult rally.