The Istaron warriors used the roughest of ways to declare their toughness to the land, but the results were not significant. The irrational hyenas still linger around the group, while the more cunning beasts curl up their claws and silently wait for their time.

There was no problem with the way El chose, the problem was that he hadn't killed enough. The robbers who live in the brown hills are as stubborn as the wind and sand here, and they will defy the law even if they know the danger in the face of the temptation of great profits.

In the logic of the bandits' thinking, even though Isttalen's warriors and guards numbered fifteen hundred, they were somewhat inadequate compared to the large and bloated ranks of the exiles. Although they can't defeat the regular army, as long as they find a gap and rush into the ranks, even if they only take a woman, they can be regarded as making a lot of money.

In the harsh brown soil and hilly areas, where female slaves were valuable, and the exiles were predominantly women, in the eyes of the robbers, they were nothing less than moving mountains of gold. In the face of such considerable benefits, even if there is a loss of manpower in one's own team, it is not unacceptable.

All El can do is slaughter, mercilessly, and only when the robbers are completely killed to the point of fear, and they realize that the effort is completely disproportionate to the reward, they will put away their fangs.

At the end of another day's journey, the terrain of the hills made it difficult for the refugees to judge how far they had traveled, and they were therefore extremely tired. El and his cavalry returned from the mountain pass ahead, stained with the blood of the enemy as always. During these days of fighting, Palanti put on his uniform again, and covered his face with a veil, apparently disgusted by the smell of blood on his body.

A girl who has always been self-disciplined as a soldier, even if she can't bear it, she won't waste precious water. However, human wisdom often comes out of despair, and the girl soon finds a substitute - wiping the blood from the armor with hay fed to the horses, which is not satisfactory, but it is a solution.

The legendary ghost wolf thieves have not shown up, but those scattered small forces have gathered like flies and refused to give up, and the bandits are in the same psychological state, waiting for others to attract the attention of the army, and then pick up the bargain by themselves.

However, they obviously did not expect that they would face a silver-rank marksman. No matter what kind of ambush plan they devise, they can't escape Eyre's true eye. And when their plans were revealed and they wanted to escape, they couldn't escape the blow of the bow and arrow. El replaced some of his knights with Ahmed's mountain hunters, who knew the mountain environment well enough to deal with these unruly thieves.

So far, the Istalon warriors' deterrent effect on bandits is continuing to ferment, and El believes that it will not be long before the truly threatening opponents are brought in, and if they are defeated again, the journey will be much easier.

The biggest problem facing the exile ranks now comes from within. Since two days ago, there has been an abnormal attrition in the ranks. The windblown sand in the brown soil hills poses a great threat to the children's fragile respiratory system. While the adults did their best to keep them safe, the children's physical fitness was not encouraging.

As of yesterday, hundreds of children have developed coughing symptoms of varying degrees, including three young children with high fevers that do not go away.

However, there are also some children who quickly adapt to the current environment and show tenacity. When El returned to the camp, he saw Apache the kobold with a group of bear children digging holes in search of earthworms.

The ground of the brown hills is as hard as rock, and there is almost no grass, but because of this, the earthworms that live here are so large that they can grow to the size of a child's arm. According to a professional gourmet, the earthworm's muscle-digging muscles are very competitive and the taste is extraordinary.

Under the command of the kobolds, the children took the work of digging earthworms as a kind of game and had a lot of fun. The energetic smiles on their faces put their mothers at ease, while also making the returning warriors blush.

With El's acquiescence, Wesley and Apache announced that they could trade the earthworm for military rations, much to the excitement of the children, who would never have enough to eat. But on the other hand, the warriors had to silently swallow tears into their stomachs.

"Oh, no......" Palanti turned his head stiffly, subconsciously looking away from the basket full of earthworms, his fingers clenching the hilt of his sword trembled slightly, and his face was full of resolute expressions that he wanted to die on the battlefield. But even so, she just gritted her teeth and didn't say a word.

Food should be left for children, especially those who are very talented, and they need to be nourished. None of the fighters disputed this. However, earthworms should not be wasted, and it is necessary to conserve food and water before passing through the brownsoil hills.

El crouched by the side of the carriage, sipping a bowl of smorgasbord, squinting at the children as they cautiously ran back to their mother with the warrior's rations. Not long after, some women came up with their children carrying crockpots of porridge and forcibly left their prepared meals behind the soldiers' red-faced rejections.

After these days of running-in, the kindness of the fighters was finally recognized by the refugees. Before that, both the refugees and themselves regarded themselves as deserters, and the psychological estrangement between the two sides was difficult to dissolve. However, with the unremitting efforts of the soldiers, the ice and snow in the hearts of the refugees finally melted. Speaking of which, most of the credit for this is really due to the smorgasbord of friendship of the gray goblins, which in a sense allowed the warriors to win the sympathy of the women.

"By way of saying beforehand, I'm not going to eat anything like that. Lorana's voice came from the door of the carriage, sounding a little unhappy: "And you are not allowed to requisition the ingredients on the carriage, this is my property." ”

"Okay, okay, don't worry, Miss. El shrugged, put down the bowl and looked back. Lolana was still cloaked in a dark corner, revealing only two sparkling eyes. It's been this sneaky appearance since she woke up, and I don't know if it's the sequelae of the injury. El asked several times, but failed to pry the answer out of the eldest lady's mouth.

Lolana stuck out her nose like a puppy and sniffed, her tense face slowly relaxed. She leaned behind El and asked with a grin, "General El, are you guarding and stealing again?"

"It's hard to say, it depends on who you're referring to. El touched his chin and laughed.

"Hmph~" Lolana let out a sneer that I already knew the truth, stretched out her finger and gently scraped it on El's leather armor, and handed it to El's eyes: "There is no smell of blood stains today? You must have stolen water, right?"

"No, you guessed it wrong. Er Zhengse said: "Actually, I wiped it with horse urine. ”

"The acidity of horse urine can cause serious corrosion to leather, and I happen to have an elixir here to neutralize it. Lolana said with a smile as she pulled out a bottle of strangely colored potion from her cuff without changing her face.

"No need, my armor is half-crippled anyway. El refused in a cold sweat. Except for the time when he drank, basically every time he molested the eldest lady, he would be counter-molested, this is Chiguoguo's IQ suppression, there is no way at all.

"Actually, that's it. Seeing that Lolana had the intention of uncorking the potion, El hurriedly reached out and shook the black ring on her finger in front of her eyes. Five blue runes of very different shapes but seemingly connected to each other slashed through the tips of his fingers, joining together to form a semicircular aura.

"Awakened a new rune? No...... I haven't seen this before, it's two?" Lorana narrowed her eyes and carefully observed the shape of the rune, and immediately noticed an anomaly.

"Rune Ten, named Rao, means love, and Rune Twelve, named Seifer, means sacrifice. El looked at the two newly added runes in his hand, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "After awakening these two runes, my second cycle is basically complete." ”

"I just want to know if the new abilities you've gained can do laundry for free?" Lolana chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

"How is it possible, it's just that the blood is absorbed. El stretched out two fingers, put the two newly obtained runes on his fingertips, and introduced them separately: "The ability of the love rune is a one-hit hit, even if the opponent resists my attack, it will also be damaged by the original hit, and the ability of the sacrifice rune is bloodthirsty and furious, which can absorb the blood of the enemy and increase my strength." ”

"One hit and bloodthirsty rage?Why does it sound so weird?" Lolana frowned and pondered for a moment, and couldn't help but ask, "What do these two runes mean in your perception of the world?"

"On the day of the fall of Istalon, I went back to save Tika......" El bit his lip and whispered, "That day I fought all the way with the remnants of the city, and in the end I didn't know where I killed." There were fires everywhere around, and it was impossible to tell the difference between east, south, and north...... Actually, I almost managed to find Tika at that time, but I couldn't make it to the end. ”

"I'm sorry......" Lolana whispered as she leaned lightly on Eyre's shoulder.

El shook his head, the sadness on his face flickering.

"The emotion I experienced was the distance between each other. I passed Tika and I couldn't grab her hand, and we were separated from each other. Therefore, the true ability of this rune is to cross distance. (Go to read OM) (Jiangsu Net)