The bright light of the fire flickered in the hot and humid swamp, the light of the explosives as it was ignited, and the Avalonian witch hunters, trampling through the muddy water against the backdrop of the destructive light, were as silent and solemn as ever.

They move silently through the swamps blessed by the god Avalon, fighting the invaders in their sacred places.

Instead, the warriors of the Avalon Church, led by Natalie, went deeper into the swamp, destroying behind enemy lines with efficiency and stealth, with a clear goal and swift action, relying on the help of the entire carnivorous lands of the gods of nature to keep the rear of the gnolls at peace.

The battle at the lord's position lasted two days, and the positions of the ammunition depots that the Avalonian believers continued to destroy reached as many as seven.

As a direct result of this action, the frequency of the use of explosives by the Gnolls currently gathered in front of the Murphy Array has decreased visibly, and the "obsolete methods" of meteorites and fogs of war have been moved to the forefront.

The gnolls are not gods.

If they are not able to produce their own explosives, they will naturally be destroyed a little.

"How many are left in your squad?"

Tired old Potter leaned against the temporary rest camp, chewing wax while swallowing the high-calorie egg rolls provided by the KPA Logistics Department to recover his strength, and whispered a question to An Bo beside him.

Anbo didn't want to answer the question, she just silently wiped the stains on her face with a soaked handkerchief.

Thanks to the exoskeleton given by her "boyfriend", Anbo did not suffer much danger during the operation for several days, but the mental exhaustion made her lack of interest in speaking, compared to other witch hunter commanders who only needed to complete the goal, she had to worry about Niu Niu, who had embarked on the road of killing gods at this time, and this psychological pressure was naturally greater.

Old Potter shrugged his shoulders without an answer, gulped down the egg roll in his hand, said to be made from the eggs of the sicklecon monster, and twisted the lid and poured a mouthful of alchemical potion into his mouth, which only regained his spirit a little.

He took out his pipe and put it to his mouth but did not light it, took out the battle map and glanced at it, and seven of the nine combat sites marked in it had been marked with red crosses.

This represents the end of the White Oak Warband's combat mission at this stage.

"The casualties of the recruits are okay"

Anbo sighed, closed his eyes, and said:

"But the veterans have taken the lead in making the witch hunters of the old religion wither, and the comrades-in-arms gathered from Morland Village this time have already left a third of the way, and by the time this battle is over, we will most likely truly become a mark buried in the corner of history."

"What's wrong with that?"

Potter lit his pipe, took a deep breath and exhaled it, and he made a clicking sound as he moved his robotic arm, and said in a calm tone of exhaustion and calmness:

"Natalie is already revising the canons and rituals, which is clearly a complete distancing from the old religion, there is no place for us warriors of the old times in the new Avalon church, Amber, we did a lot of things that should not have been done during the ten years of war, and those who survived had blood on their hands, so there is nothing wrong with being forgotten.

I know that the battle is different from before, but it feels like I'm back in the ten-year war.

Alas, I've had enough of fighting, and this may be my last. ”

"Hey, don't plant a flag at this time!"

Anbo scolded.

This made Potter look at her in surprise, obviously not understanding what "planting the flag" meant, and Ambo, who had been poisoned by the alien culture, planned to explain it to the old Potter who couldn't keep up with the times, but she finally shrugged her shoulders and said in a concise tone:

"Don't say such things, it's unlucky."

"Hey, you're starting to believe in this."

Potter spat out a puff of smoke rings, pursed his lips and said:

"You're really confused by that stranger, actually, I wanted to talk to you about this when we met again, are you sure he's a man worthy of your life?

You know, although they are here now, and they are willing to fight with us for this land, at some point in the future, maybe because of a little thing, they will leave this memory behind forever and choose not to come back.

Amber, as cruel as it is to say that, we are just a memory of them. ”

"Shut up, you!"

Anbo clearly didn't want to discuss it.

Or rather, she didn't want to think about what kind of life she should live after Niu Niu left suddenly, and it was understandable for her age to choose to avoid such a sharp issue, but Potter clearly thought more about his comrades.

He continued to puff out the smoke rings, and said like a classic verbose old man:

"I'm not trying to persuade you to leave him, I've been young, and I know how stupid men and women are at your age, I just want to tell you, don't be like a moth to a fire, you are a memory for him, and he can be a memory for you.

I heard that they can only live for eighty or ninety years, and I am optimistic that you will still be together in the next twenty or thirty years, but in the end you will still be separated. ”

"I've noticed that you've been talking more and more since you ran off to farm, Potter!"

Amber was a little angry, and she retorted:

"I can also give you the same words, how old are you this year, and the pair of children you adopted will be there when you need someone to guide you in the future. Uh, sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I just."

"It's okay, it's all about us."

Potter wasn't angry, he just sighed and said:

"Sometimes I was so angry with those two little bastards that I wanted to die in the village of Morland, but we survived in the end, and we had to bear the pressure that the dead who had nothing to worry about didn't have to bear.

You know, I've been learning to read books lately, and maybe it's some of the ideas in those books that have influenced me and made me feel less brave and fearless than I used to be. ”

"What are you two talking about here? Is it a communication on how to kill gnolls more efficiently? In the current situation we are facing, it would be better for you to talk about this topic. ”

Old Norman's voice came from the side, and he handed Potter and Amber two hot soups in his hand, sitting on the dangerous strangulation vine next to him, not worried about the thing jumping up and strangling him.

This is the "privilege" of the believers of Avalon.

This meat-eater swamp, which is extremely dangerous to other lives, is as safe as an amusement park in their eyes, and this is why the White Oak Warbands dare to outnumber their enemies with the confidence that they can mobilize the forces of the swamp to help them defeat their enemies.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Anbo and I are talking about life."

Potter slurred his soup and said:

"Talk about topics that you wouldn't talk about in the war before, by the way, Norman, how is your team doing?"

"It's not good, it's a lot of losses, but you can continue to fight."

Norman pulled out the psionic sword Scarlet Lady from his waist, and said without raising his head while quenching the blade:

"There are only two points left, and we can go back to Wolfsburg to recuperate, provided that Wolfsburg has not been breached by the gnolls.

But there's not much time left for you to talk about life here, and it's approaching the early hours of the third day, and the most dangerous hour on the Lord's Front's side is approaching, and we're going to destroy it before the gnolls can use those two points of explosives.

It was the only ammunition depot they had left, and it must have been heavily guarded.

What follows is a real uphill battle!

Ambo, your team follows Natalie to Target Eight, and Potter and I gather the rest of the group to go to Nine, where the Druids have already started their natural call-up in advance, and the Carnivore Plants and Beasts in the vicinity will be more active. ”

"I know, I know, I fought hard, and I fought a lot before."

Potter put down his pipe, and as he cleaned up the only thing he had kept from his past, he asked:

"Norman, you've been serving as a bodyguard for the Archon for the past few months, and I thought you'd choose to start a new life like we did, since you're the only one of us who'll talk to us about the future during the ten-year war.

But after this reunion, I found that you didn't do that, and you still maintained your old habits and kept yourself alive like a soldier ready to fight.

Do you have any psychological problems?

It's like what the god called the crow said before we pulled out, because of all kinds of reasons, I didn't dare to take that step? ”

"I've found that you've been learning more and more about this strange life since you went farming, Potter, you like to get to the bottom of things, why don't you consider becoming a psychic or a priest?"

Norman looked up, and the eyes under the mask looked at the old fellow with a strange gaze, and he complained:

"Spend more time on the next battle, if you want to go back to your children alive. Well, rest for a few minutes and get ready to go! Natalie was already waiting there. ”

Old Norman stood up and unsheathed his sword, waved his hand at the old fellows, and strode away, Potter stared at his figure and whispered to Amber beside him:

"He's refusing to answer my question, no, he's running away from it."

"Norman is really weird this time."

Amber also nodded a little uneasily and said:

"Remember to take care of him when you go with him, I feel that there is a feeling in Norman who is on the battlefield this time that I can't say."

"Be careful, too."

Potter spoke, standing up and carrying the halberd-shaped blade of nature "Punisher" behind him, Amber also put on the exoskeleton, and the two said goodbye to each other before returning to their respective teams, and with the help of the rapid movement of the nature cultists through the swamp, the team of two soldiers arrived at the target area after forty minutes.

As they expected, the gnolls were completely overwhelmed with the two remaining ammunition depots, as inaccessible as hedgehogs, but the druids who had been placed here in advance had made targeted preparations for this.

In order to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, they ventured to summon the most dangerous plant overlord in the swamp.

Potter and Norman's witch hunters launched a surprise attack on the gnolls under the leadership of several war thorns, and these wild plants that only the Red Knight of War can control are at risk of getting out of control at any time, but the damage they inflict on the battlefield is absolutely staggering.

Even the elite gnolls have little to do against such a behemoth, and only the ferocious hunters can barely get a few tricks with the thorns, but this is the witch hunter's tactic, and the activity of the thorns attracts the most elite group of gnolls, allowing them to fight into the gnolls' positions and use the secret magic of nature to destroy the explosives.

Since the goal is not annihilation, witch hunters can take advantage of the chaos after the explosives are destroyed.

This one-hit-and-go mode maximizes the swiftness of the Nature's cultists, and at least in this swamp the gnolls can't catch up with them.

But just as the attack on Target Nine was about to be completed, an unexpected message was sent to Norman and Potter by the druids.

"What? A convoy of the Bloodscar Clan is heading this way? ”

Potter wiped the blood from his face, and he asked aloud:

"Can you confirm that?"

"Yes!"

The druid girl with the scar on her face who had followed the Big Bird Regiment to check the changes in the swamp adjusted her breathing, and she flew over the entire swamp in the form of a swift eagle to deliver the news, she was very tired but replied in a serious tone:

"We confirmed this with the help of the Eye of the Beast in the swamp, a large convoy of explosives, escorting a large amount of explosives, and after entering the swamp, the troops split into two directions, one in the direction of the Crimean fortress, and the other in the direction of here.

Once those explosives are in the hands of the gnolls, the sacrifices we have made over the past two days, the fierce battles on the lord's front, and the heroic deaths of some of the heroic undead will be in vain.

We have to stop this outcome, we have to stop that convoy. ”

"What are we going to intercept?"

Potter asked rhetorically:

"Look behind you, druid, the two teams of nine hundred men that set out are now less than half of them! If that convoy is as big as you say, then stopping them will require an army, like the one the undead Heroes did two days ago, to destroy all the explosives with a fearless assault. ”

The druids also fell silent.

She knew that she was in a difficult position to be a strong man, but the silent Norman spoke at this time:

"Can you still fly?"

"Yes, but."

The druid wanted to ask but Norman reached out to stop him, and the masked witch hunter said in a calm tone:

"You now immediately head towards the goatman town southeast of the swamp, which is also under siege by the gnolls but they are still holding on, the astral tower in that town in the past, find Pol, I don't care what it does!

I need it to unleash another Astral Rip!

This is the only solution available to us at the moment to get rid of that convoy in the shortest possible time. ”

"That thing needs to calculate the location, and if you can't calculate the mapping coordinates, you need to be accurately located!"

Potter was agitated, and he grabbed Norman's hand and scolded:

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to fulfill the ultimate duty of a soldier, and it's time for more sacrifices to end this war."

Norman slit his finger open to let the blood flow into a green seed, handed it to the Druid Girl, and explained:

"Don't think I'm going to fight alone, Potter, you can't escape, take me and your team, and with the cooperation of the druids, stop them in front of the convoy and force them to stop moving.

I'll take the opportunity to approach from behind, and when I'm close enough, my position will be a marker for this astral rift. ”

"I can do this!"

Potter heard ominous from Norman's words, saying:

"Leave it to me! You lead the witch hunters to intercept them in front. ”

"Don't be stupid, what are you going to do if you die those two children?"

Norman shook his head with a hint of determination and said:

"Go ahead! Bring the news over and get Pol ready. ”

He spoke to the druid sister, who read in Norman's words his unshakable determination.

After a very formal farewell salute, the druid took off again with the positioning seed, and sped southeast in the light of the burning gnolls' position.

The news was quickly sent to Target Eight through the druids' plant transmission, and Natalie, who had just completed a surprise destruction with the Watchers, was overshadowed when she heard Norman's decision, and Amber beside her immediately planned to stop it, and the witch hunters, who also suffered heavy casualties, were assembled and advanced towards the blockade.

Norman and Potter's team alone couldn't hold back the convoy for long, and they had to come to their aid.

"But why would Norman do that?"

Amber was puzzled in the midst of the rapid walk, and she said:

"Isn't he the one among us who should most look forward to the future and a new life? As he has always encouraged us in the past, the war will always end."

"There are two 'long-term clients' on the Raven's side who have been plagued by mental problems for a long time, one is me and the other is Norman, and I was not going to tell you this secret, but I also learned from the analysis of Mr. Raven that the optimism that Norman had shown before did not represent his true thoughts, Amber.

Sometimes the one who seems to be the bravest is the most sensitive. ”

Natalie, riding on the saddle of the maple leaves, whispered:

Norman had made the final decision at the right time, and even if there was no such emergency, he would most likely see this war as his end, and it was a pity that the Raven Doctor, who wanted to save two people, only saved one of them.

Norman's treatment failed. ”

(End of chapter)