Chapter 243: A Difficult Journey
Barak and his hunters did not publicize the monster footprints, but only secretly strengthened their vigilance, and the hunters who were in charge of guarding the perimeter and scouting the way ahead were no longer alone, but always kept in groups of five.
This kind of personnel arrangement on the edge directly led to the overall defense of the team, some beasts through these inadvertent loopholes close to the marching team, waiting for the opportunity to attack, although these beasts can be found in time, driven or hunted by some people in the team of evacuees who have the ability to fight, but it has caused some panic among the evacuees.
Some people who were very sensitive to danger also sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and they wore the weapons they had hidden earlier in a position that they could pull out at any time, and moved their walking position to a position slightly closer to the center, so that they could not be easily attacked by surprise.
Leo and the Webweaver still follow the group, but from time to time Leo will break away from the group and take out some beasts that pose a threat to the lives of these ordinary people.
The Swamp Sons who appeared last night did not reappear, but left a lot of footprints, and even some very new footprints in some places far away, which shows that these Swamp Sons have been following these people all along, and even Leo has found a lot of monster footprints that do not belong to the Swamp Sons, it seems that they should be other clans or unknown monsters.
These footprints made Leo unconsciously think of some legends about the Dibia Mountains, and wondered about the origin of these clans or monsters that began to appear frequently.
Because the inland source of the Didbia Mountains is in the Black Forest, there has long been a theory that the Didbia Mountains are part of the Black Forest and an outer extension of the Black Forest. It's just that this theory has always existed, but no one has ever agreed with it, because unlike the Black Forest, which will go out of its way to devour any rash intruder, there are many people who live in the mountains of the Dimia Mountains and depend on the various outputs of the Dibia Mountains to survive. Even if those mountain people go in and out of the mountains, they will encounter danger, but this danger is like walking in their own backyard compared to the dangers of the Black Forest.
However, Leo now sensed that this legend was not necessarily just a rumor, and judging from the footprints left in the snow, there should be a large number of clans and beasts of different races inhabiting the mountains of the Dibia Mountains.
It's just that in the past, there were not many rumors about the existence of these dependents and monsters, and they were very scattered, and it was difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, but now these dependents and monsters appeared on a large scale, and roamed around these refugees like wolves hunting, waiting for an opportunity to attack, which is really strange.
It would be reasonable if the team of evacuees who crossed the Dibia Mountains were only a few dozen or more than a hundred people were targeted by these unknown clans and monsters, after all, there were few people and little strength, which was conducive to hunting. But now there are more than 1,000 people in this mountain-climbing team, of which at least 400 have combat experience and complete armament, and the rest also have a certain combat power. Such a team, even if it is placed on the battlefield of Miria City, can be regarded as a team with combat power.
Even if those clans and monsters have some special abilities or powerful powers, if they have to deal with such a team, the final result is probably mostly failure, which will only increase the casualties of their own race.
As long as the creatures with a little wisdom will calculate the gains and losses, those clans and monsters are not humanoid, but it does not mean that their intelligence is weaker than humans, but the reality is that they did make a thankless decision, which is very abnormal in Leo's opinion.
The Webweaver descended and appeared in the real world, harvesting the souls of the dying at such a close distance, and a large number of unknown clans and monsters that had disappeared also escaped to hunt a group of war refugees, and Leo felt that there must be some kind of connection.
"Is there any special person among these evacuees?" Leo suddenly had a guess, and turned his head to scan the evacuees back and forth a few times, while carefully checking the status of these people with the spirit net.
Although Leo was not able to find any special beings among these people that would attract the attention of the clans and monsters, he did find some interesting things, such as a wizard disguised as an ordinary old man, some civilized clans who could suppress mutated parts, and many ordinary people who had some psionic reactions on their bodies.
"What's going on?" Leo couldn't help but wonder when he understood the situation, because there were so many people with psionic reactions in his body that there were more than two hundred people.
The so-called psionic reaction is the conditioned reflex produced by the body when ordinary people come into contact with psionic energy, some of the weak ones will only shiver, and those who react greatly will produce dizziness and other uncomfortable reactions. Having a psionic reaction does not mean that the person is a psyker, but only that the person has the potential to become a psionic.
In the past, Leo had also found some people whose bodies had psionic reactions, but whether it was the previous Miria City or the Lake Town in the dream world, there were very few people with this kind of psionic reaction, and the total number of people was less than a hundred. However, now he easily found more than 200 people in the fleeing team of more than 1,000 people with obvious psionic reactions, which was very unusual, just like the clans and monsters that appeared around the fleeing team.
With these doubts, Leo was also paying attention to the situation of these people while clearing some of the deadly dangers around the fleeing team, and some small details that he had not noticed before and thought were meaningless became more unclear in his eyes.
The evacuation team walked smoothly along the way, although some people were injured due to some accidents, but in general there were no casualties, and because there was no wind and snow to stop them, they had already walked through the bottom of this valley at noon, and entered the foot of the high mountain on the opposite side.
After a short break and a bite to eat, the group continued on their way, only this time Barack did not lead the group over the peak, but along the meandering glacial channel at the foot of the mountain towards the deeper part of the mountains.
Unlike the gravel-filled valleys, the glacier channels are lined with giant sequoias, which are the best materials for furniture and houses, but because most of them grow deep in the mountains and are difficult to move, there is little circulation in the outside timber market.
It's just that for the people in this fleeing team, the value of the giant sequoia is not in their hearts, and all the thoughts in their minds are to find a place to camp as soon as possible and have a good rest.
Compared to the morning valley, the road in the giant redwood forest is much easier to walk, the ground is covered with mud accumulated after countless years of fallen leaves and decay, and it is covered with a thin layer of snow, which is neither soft nor hard for people to step on, and it is very comfortable to walk on, and there is no need to worry about a hole covered with snow suddenly appearing somewhere, and there is no danger of injury.
It's just that the road is good, but people's mood has deteriorated, because the branches and leaves of the giant sequoia cover the sky and cover the whole sky, and walking in the forest, the surroundings are pitch black, and only a little light can be sprinkled through the leaves, so that people can barely see a little bit of the surrounding things.
In this pitch black environment, emotions are bound to be affected over time, everyone becomes extremely sensitive, the slightest disturbance will cause a commotion, and some people even have slight hallucinations, always feeling that in the darkness of the surrounding forest, something is watching them.
Before leading the team into the forest, Barak had already made preparations, such as changing the formation of the team, organizing the people with weapons, stationing them in different positions of the team according to the team, assisting the hunter team on the periphery to protect the safety of the team, and asking loudly about the situation from time to time on the way to let everyone know that they were safe now.
Undoubtedly, in terms of the arrangement of various things in the team and the handling of unexpected situations, Barak has done his best, and he can hardly find any faults, but no matter how perfect the arrangement is in advance, it is difficult to control the changes in people's hearts.
As the team went deeper and deeper into the forest for longer and longer, everyone could not help but have the illusion that they would never be able to get out of the forest, and under the influence of the illusion, no matter how stable the state of mind was, panic would inevitably arise.
In the midst of this panic, it was suggested that the group should walk along the edge of the glacial channel, so that they could look up at the sky and have sunlight around them, which would ease the anxiety in the group.
But Barak vetoed it without even thinking about it, he knew very well that although the glacier channel now seemed to be as little flowing as a mountain stream, it was not enough to pose a threat to anyone, but once the wind and snow stopped and the sun shone on the glacier, the glacier snow would melt quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it would be possible to turn this calm stream into a raging river.
If he had only walked alone on the edge of the glacier river, he would have been able to escape to a safe place before the crisis came, but now there is a team of more than 1,000 people, and there are many elderly people and children with limited mobility, and once something happens, it will be difficult for him to sit down and let everyone leave safely.
If there are casualties at that time, it will not only affect the morale of the team as a whole, causing obstacles to the rest of the road, but it may even be possible to blame him for the casualties, damaging his newly established prestige, and affecting his image and ability assessment in front of those powerful people.
Although he did not approve of the proposal to walk on the edge of the glacial channel, Barak did agree with the proposal of others to camp and rest, because he found that if he continued to walk, not only would it not be fast, but it would also affect everyone's mood, so it was better to stop, rest, and recuperate from his depressed mood before continuing to set off.
So, Barak soon found a small mound without many trees and a good view as a place to camp.
When the news of the camp spread, everyone couldn't help but cheer, and the originally depressed morale suddenly rose, although the distance today was much less than yesterday, but everyone felt more tired than yesterday, eating the first hot food, and sleeping well became the most important thing they wanted to do.
In the Giant Sequoia Forest, there are a large number of dead branches that have fallen from the trees, and these things are suitable for camping, whether it is as a fence to defend against wild beasts, wood for campfires, or supports for tents.
The completion of the basic materials and the experience of camping once made the camp build much faster than yesterday, and in less than an hour, the entire camp had been built, and there was even plenty of time and materials to set up some fences outside the camp and set up some traps to block possible beast attacks.
Just like yesterday, Leo and the Netweaver were still at the edge of the camp, and when dinner was ready and everyone was gathered together, drinking hot soup and eating toast, and talking to each other, the family found Leo and the Webweaver yesterday and gave them food such as toast and even a few blankets to keep them warm.
Leo did not politely accept the food and blankets, nor did he thank him, but secretly strengthened the witchcraft in the family.
This kind of witchcraft is not the witchcraft of the world of Velon, but originates from the world of dreams, and is a form of witchcraft created by wizards of the Wizards' Guild after combining dispersalism, secondary enhancements, and shields. This type of sorcery is not only capable of spontaneously dispelling any hostile beast or evil creature, but also strengthens the body and mind of the victim for a limited time, and if necessary, it can also release all psionic energy to form a psionic shield to protect the subject.
If a day ago, those who had seen Leo and the Webweaver had only thought they were eccentrics or death-seekers, now even the most stupid people could see that they were not simple.
It's just that, even so, no one dared to come forward to greet them, not only because of some unexplained concerns, but also because they couldn't afford to be interested in greeting Leo and the others, and they didn't even want to approach these people.
Leo can feel that the reason why this situation has nothing to do with him is entirely because the webweaver always exudes a power similar to the human dispersal or neglect in witchcraft, which can subtly affect the mood and thoughts of everyone around him, so that these people unconsciously ignore the existence of the webweaver, and Leo, who has always stayed with the webweaver, passively bears the effect of this power.
Because this psionic energy was so faint, Leo didn't notice it for a while, and now that he had discovered the effect of this power, he also became interested in the little girl and her family, because from all odds, the family was obviously immune to this psionic power, so there was that kind of friendly behavior.
What's even more interesting is that this family is also the most peculiar of all the ordinary people Leo found who had psychic reactions. The others reacted with either shivering or dizziness, but only the rest of the family would instantly fall into a deep sleep and speak something they had never heard before.