Looking at the skill of the instructor Mike, Charlie estimates that his strength is around level 16, and his equipment is the best of the Arcane Ring, and his combat power can rise to a higher level, so that he can deal with this group of gnolls alone, there is no problem; let him single out the leader of the silver-haired jackals, the odds of victory are quite high; but it will be difficult for him to protect these dozen apprentices.

Coming out of the academy, the entire team includes Charlie, a total of 20 people, and now there are only 15 people left, which means that on the way to Sangjin Town, 5 apprentices have been lost, and the loss rate is 20% of 5, no wonder some of the remaining apprentices are scared.

For a team composed of humans, morale is a very important attribute that affects combat effectiveness, and generally speaking, when the casualty rate of the team reaches 30%, the morale will drop to a terrible level, and it is often the beginning of the team's collapse.

After reprimanding the apprentices, Michael did not rebuke them too much, for he had a faint remorse in his heart, and on the first day of his first action, he had led a team like this, which he had not seen in recent years, and he took the responsibility more on himself.

Seeing Mike's emotional loss, Charlie has the heart to untie his knot, otherwise he may make some wrong judgments at critical moments with some regret and guilt, and when this wrong judgment happens to the team commander, it may make the whole team step into the abyss of destruction.

Charlie said in a deep voice, "Teacher, do you know what I saw all the way over?"

Charlie's words immediately attracted everyone's attention, and others were also curious about how Charlie broke through the blockade of many invasive creatures and came here alone.

Mike subconsciously asked, "What do you see?"

"I saw death and fear, many teams were chased by gnolls and bad demons, the team members were scattered, many people were buried in the wilderness, and even the two gnolls I killed had the heads of a dozen or so students hanging on them.

What does this mean?

Illustrating that the strength of those invaders is far beyond our estimates, I guess today in the wasteland of the Nexus, countless teams are being broken up, apprentices and teachers have fallen, and we are facing a terrible group of enemies.

Instructor Mike brought the team here, and only lost 5 students, which is already a great achievement in comparison, and there is no need to take too many things for it, it will not be of any benefit.

The more important question is how to stop the loss, how to bring the rest of the people back safely?

The town is so strange that no one has reacted until now, and I suspect that there are no living people inside, and seeing the gnolls and bad demons roaming outside, I doubt that our team will be able to find out what happened.

In this case, if the instructor is still dwelling on some things in the past and distracting himself, I think it is better to go back and forget it. Charlie unceremoniously pointed out his problem.

Teacher Petty nodded and said, "Charlie is right, we have to look forward, we don't know what will happen to the road ahead?!"

The words made Mike's eyes shine, of course he understood the connotation of Charlie's words, but the tone was not polite at all, which made him feel uncomfortable in his heart, of course, he could also understand that the prolific and rebellious apprentice of the Arcane Ring, Charlie was not the most excessive.

Mike said in a deep voice: "I understand, but if we are a little more prepared, there are two classmates who will not die." ”

At last, he sighed and said, "All right, let's focus on the present and see what is going on in this town of Sangkin?"

As he spoke, he solemnly said to the cowering apprentices in front of him: "As you said earlier, after the first time you are confronted with something beyond your understanding, people's reactions may be instinctive.

I don't dwell on what those so-called instincts are, and now I solemnly tell you that if you face this unexpected situation again, I hope that you can show manly spirit, show chivalry, help your companions, and help yourself.

As long as you block the first wave of attacks, trust me, trust Charlie, and trust the mages standing behind you, they will definitely send the enemy to hell, okay?"

The apprentices nodded.

A group of people lined up in a defensive formation to the entrance of Sangjin Town, the iron gate was closed, and there were no abnormal traces of the surrounding ground, boulders and facades, it was quiet and abnormal, and what made people feel even more strange was that the iron gate of the town was not only intact, but even the protective magic pattern was activated, which meant that it could withstand the frequent and violent impact of the big knight without losing its function.

But why is the town so quiet with complete protection?

The crowd was secretly awe-inspiring, lined up on both sides of the door.

Instructor Mike stepped forward, knocked on the iron door, and shouted, "Is there anyone? I'm Mike, a non-commissioned officer of the Arcane Ring Field Service Department, in charge of assisting Sangin Town and maintaining the security of the nearby area, do you need help?"

There was no response inside.

Mike waited for a while, repeated the words twice, and still heard something coming from inside.

Mike frowned and shouted inside the door: "In view of the fact that there are some terrible creatures roaming around the Demon Hub Plains recently, and also in view of the fact that we have received a large number of calls for help from other towns, and none of you have responded, I have to take some coercive means to go in and find out the situation, which will destroy the town's facilities, please forgive me!"

While it is likely that there is no living person inside, the necessary procedures must be completed, even if they may alarm the ambushers. Of course, if there is really an ambush, it doesn't matter if they are alarmed or not, they must be monitoring the movement outside at all times.

With that, Mike nodded at Petty, then stood on the side of the door, motioning for the person behind him to get out of the way, ready for a thunderous blow.

Since Sangjin Town is a large town with a large population, the infrastructure is of a relatively high grade, and iron gates like this are made of black iron with thousands of tempered magic energy, and the door is attached to the special protective magic pattern of the Arcane Ring, which is very tolerant.

Of course, the Arcane Ring, when providing this service, had long thought of all possible scenarios and left a "back door" on the door.

Teacher Petty walked to the iron door, groped around, found an extremely hidden recess on the side of the iron door, and inserted a delicate magic badge into it.

There was a soft sound, and I only felt a circle of magic ripples on the iron door, and then the faint light from the iron door gradually dimmed.

There was a click, and the lock popped in.

Mike clenched the heavy axe in his hand and moved his fingers to find the most comfortable grip, highlighting that his heart was not as calm as his face appeared.

Mike tilted his head, winking.

The apprentice he was staring at was stunned, cowering, and slowly stepped forward, grabbed the doorknob, made a jerky stance, and nodded at Mike.

The two exchanged a look.

Ziyo!

With a heavy grinding sound, the iron door was abruptly opened, and Mike only felt a dark shadow flickering in front of him, and before he could think about it, he held the axe in both hands and pressed it down suddenly, and the pure gold axe face carried an indestructible force.

"Stop!" Charlie suddenly shouted, and took a step forward, holding down the axe with one hand, but the heavy axe could not be pressed down an inch.

The iron door was wide open, and this short black shadow was exposed in front of everyone's eyes, and it was actually a dirty little girl, ragged and dazed.

Everyone looked at the little girl in surprise, and even more at Charlie, a mage withstood the heavy axe of a high-ranking warrior, what a shocking picture!

Mike withdrew his strength, looked at Charlie deeply, and said, "Charlie, you're a magician, right?!"

Charlie smiled back, "The instructor hasn't used his strength yet!

Seeing the glint in Charlie's eyes, and knowing that he didn't want to dwell too much on the subject, Mike nodded and turned his attention to the little girl.

"Hey, what's your name?"

The little girl glanced at him, and flinched back half a step, but did not speak, just looked at everyone in a daze.

Teacher Petty pulled Mike, kept a sweet smile, and slowly stepped forward, saying, "Hey, little girl, hello! My name is Petty, I am a teacher of the Arcane Ring, please rest assured, I will not hurt anyone, you see that I am just like you, I am an ordinary person here, I am here to help you, where are your parents? Where are they? Can you take me to meet them?"

As she spoke, Petty spread her arms and leaned in slowly.

A student whispered behind her, "Teacher Petty, I think ...... It's better not to get close. ”

Mike tried to stop her, but she gently pushed her away with her backhand, signaling that he was okay.

Charlie didn't stop the teacher, he was observing the details of the little girl's body, her clothes, her skin, her pupils, her mental state, and whether there were any magical fluctuations around her......

Everything indicated that she was just a frightened child, a little sluggish, and nothing else out of the ordinary.

Everyone's hearts rose to their throats, and they looked at them with full attention, and couldn't help but admire the courage of Teacher Petty.

Surprisingly, the "accident" did not happen, and Petty ignored her dirty clothes, grabbed her, and comforted her in a whisper.

After a few moments, the comfort had done something, and a faint hint of relief appeared on the little girl's face, and after eating a piece of magic bread that Petty had handed her, she finally spoke.

"My parents...... They...... Went out, a lot of people in the town...... I also went out, but I didn't come back. ”

Petty asked, "Is there anyone else in that town?"

"And me...... My aunt. ”

Petty turned back and gave Mike a surprised look, and asked softly, "Can you take me to her?"

The little girl nodded and said, "Then you come with me!"

Mike ordered the two apprentices and said, "You stay here and guard this door, this task is very important, it is related to the life and death of the whole team, remember!"

The two swallowed their saliva and asked, "What if there are gnolls nearby?"

"You are adaptable. Mike pulled out the magic crest inserted in the iron door and said, "No, you close the door, this door should be able to keep the gnolls out." ”

The two nodded.

Mike then turned his inquiring gaze to Charlie.

Charlie gestured that he would go down, but not with everyone.

Mike knew his character and strength, and he didn't use the majesty of the instructor to squeeze him, but just said, "Then you have to be careful." ”

"So are you. ”