Section 1 Wilderness

To the northeast of Gruny, there is a world-famous fortress: the White Castle.

The castle constitutes the northernmost line of defense of mankind, or, to put it another way, the northernmost frontier of the civilized world. Further north, there is the sphere of the forces of chaos, often referred to as the barbarians.

On the map, the civilization world and the territory of the forces of chaos are bordered by a narrow plain. On one side of the plain is a steep mountainous area, and on the other side is a barren desert. A river flows through it, creating a land suitable for cultivation and grazing. The White Fort is located right in the middle of the plain.

Everyone knows that the White Castle is guarding the main road and protecting the civilized country from the invasion of the forces of chaos. Over the past 100 years, the castle has proven its worth to all of humanity.

But, just as artillery can't keep mosquitoes at bay, the White Keep can hold back the massive Chaos Legions, but for a single pedestrian - or even a small force - the entire northeastern border of Gruny is an open road. Even if the White Fort were to send out all its patrols, it would not be able to completely seal the borders. This is also the reason why although the White Fort is a key fortress against Chaos, why did Garunas still arrange three full lines of defense back then.

Not to mention that the White Fort has just been recovered, and its strength is far from returning to its normal level. However, this is not a problem for the time being, as the forces of Chaos have also suffered huge losses, and it has been many years since they wanted to gather their strength to invade again.

To the east from the White Castle is a vast desert. If a human could make his way along the desert, he would even be able to go all the way to the former vampire kingdom, now razed to the ground of Kalean.

The intersection of desert and plain, or desert, can accommodate up to 1,000 people, but if there are too many of them, the limited water along the route will not be enough to meet human needs.

When the Lord of the Blood Fang retreated, nine times out of ten, he took this path. In this way, he appeared to have taken a long detour, but in fact he was able to avoid the last bitter battle.

Eshurufat looked at the map and played with the Chaos Helmet he picked up on the road, reasoning about what had happened before.

He was almost out of the desert. Along the way, he found about two dozen corpses. None of them had been dead for a long time, and several of them were wearing Chaos armor with sadistic markings on it. It can be seen that the cause of death of these people was due to the onset of old injuries. Even Chaos Warriors can become inflamed and infected if their injuries are not treated in time, and they will die as a result.

Extrapolating from the time, he was already a long way behind the small forces of the Bloodfang Lords. These bodies at least point the way to Ashrufat's search and show that he is not on the wrong track.

Ashrufat now camps alone in the desert. Although he himself didn't actually need to rest - he didn't need to eat or drink - his mount did. This is also why he had to follow the route that the Bloodfang Lord had left, as there was enough water on this path to satisfy his horse.

In fact, Ashrufat could drop his mount, the travel gear that was essential to the average man and of little value to him, and move forward empty-handed. It's going to make him move a lot faster. But it was unwise to do so - for his purposes, he would have to mess around with the Chaos tribe to find out, so at the very least, he would have to disguise himself as a normal human.

From what information is known, the forces of chaos may be enemies of civilized realms, or they may worship evil gods, but they are not uncommunicable objects like the Greenskins. On the battlefield, when the form shì is completely desperate, the Chaos warriors will also lay down their weapons and surrender. Similarly, with a few exceptions (which are almost all sadistic berserkers), the Chaos Legion will accept surrender from the enemy.

Their language, customs, habits, etc., are very different from those of human civilization, but no matter how big they are, they will not exceed the difference between humans and elves. In a non-war state, the Chaos Tribe is not some undetectable Longtan Tiger's Den. At least, some of the spies got their reception.

But whether the Chaos Tribe was hospitable or not, they would have been suspicious of a stranger with empty hands and nothing on his body since they had come from the south. But if they see a very ordinary traveler, maybe they will have a different attitude.

It was already dark, and a bonfire had spawned in the wilderness.

This is not something that Ashrufat did on purpose. It's just a habit. He had a feeling that he had traveled alone for a long time, so he was very accustomed and skilled at doing this kind of thing.

The campfire in the wilderness may only be able to illuminate the surrounding ten paces, but it is enough for the people around the five leagues to see the existence of the campfire.

......

A figure moved quietly in the field.

In the darkness, there is nothing more striking than the light of fire.

It is an area bordering deserts and grasslands, and there are few dangerous predatory predators. There is only one creature that can really pose a threat to humans: venomous snakes. But the temperature is still very low, and even venomous snakes have not yet woken up from hibernation. Unless you accidentally step on them, you don't have to worry about their fangs.

The moonlight briefly appeared in the clouds, revealing half of its face. A stalker is seen tiptoeing on the ground. It was a man in leather armor, not tall, and the shape of the leather armor on his body was quite strange. It was leather armor, but it seemed to be made according to the standards of armor.

Because leather armor is cheap on the one hand, and has little impact on the flexibility of the body on the other hand, it basically protects the position in a comprehensive way. And the metal armor armor is a little worse in this regard. In order to facilitate the movement of the joints, and at the same time to reduce weight, the armor gave up some parts (which were protected with a lined chain mail) while protecting the important parts.

But this set of leather armor has the same protection range as armor. Many joint locations are unprotected. And if you look closely, you will see that the thickness of the leather armor is also very low. If he had been well-informed, he might have seen that this leather armor was not a soldier's equipment, but a common protection for hunters. It's not a metal sword and axe that it's fighting against, it's an animal's minions.

Of course, in the end, it's just a precautionary equipment. If a hunter fights a wild beast hand-to-hand, he is either extremely unlucky, or simply unbelievably poor. Hunters who are good at falconry, dog hunting, or using traps don't wear this kind of stuff at all.

As if to prove this identity, the short knife reflecting the moonlight can be clearly seen on the shadow's waist. Neither a dagger nor a dagger is a weapon adapted to intense combat. They can only be seen as small blades of self-defense, or as tools of everyday life. With the exception of a very small number of assassins, they were indeed not an option for warriors either. However, for hunters, it is an indispensable weapon and tool in hunting.

In the shadow's hand, he holds a crossbow. The crossbow had been wound, and the bow had been placed in the slot. As soon as the trigger is pulled, the arrow will be fired.

It is a medium-sized crossbow made of metal and wood. It is the kind of military crossbow, a weapon on the battlefield, quite powerful, capable of shooting through even the toughest animal skins with ease. If you are hit by this weapon, even strong creatures such as giant bears and bison can be taken down with a single blow. Compared to fire/guns, this weapon has the advantage of not making a sound, and the disadvantage is that it can carry only a limited number of arrows. Compared to bows and arrows, this weapon does not require rigorous training, and because it is suitable for aiming, it is much more accurate than bows and arrows, but the disadvantage is that the shooting speed is relatively slow.

In addition to the Hunter, this is also the favorite equipment of the Wild Bandits.

Caravans that traverse troubled areas are usually accompanied by stronger guards. Therefore, the bandits especially liked to use the crossbow to launch night raids. They use this weapon to silently kill sentries and then launch surprise attacks, often able to wipe out relatively powerful caravans at little cost. Of course, this thing is even better for dealing with solo travelers. Even if he is an invincible swordsman in the world, he will immediately become a lamb to be slaughtered when he is hit at the vital point.

But this one is clearly not a hunter. For this one was clearly heading towards the campfire, but he had the crossbow in his hand. The tiptoeing made it clear that this man was not going to meet the traveler who had lit the bonfire in a friendly and polite way.

Before the moonlight faded into the clouds, the last bits of light illuminated the shadow's face. It was a young, feminine face.

She was getting closer to the campfire, and she was moving more and more carefully, doing her best not to make a sound. Although the effective range of this crossbow is 100 paces, in order to improve the accuracy, the distance between the two sides is naturally as close as possible.

Now, she had discovered two things, the first was that the traveler who lit the bonfire was alone, and the second was that there was a horse next to the campfire. This filled her heart with joy. There is no doubt that for her, this traveler is a fat sheep. Even if he had nothing on him (which, of course, was impossible), this horse alone would be enough.

As long as she has this horse, she can go back in good spirits. And no one can accuse her of gaining too little.

The traveler was still sitting by the campfire. Maybe he's eating something, or maybe he's just in a daze. What if you aim at his back and shoot a shot? Or wait until he's asleep?

She raised her crossbow and aimed it at her opponent's back. Damn, why are you wearing such a heavy cloak? As long as this cloak is hidden, you can't accurately judge the position of the other party's body. He sits crooked or slanted......

Her fingers slowly pulled the trigger. No, you can't be impatient. She could already see the spears and swords resting beside the campfire. If she misses the blow, things will probably go in the worst direction. The other party has a horse, and she can't run away at all.

With the short knife on her body, she didn't expect to be able to fight the opponent's long sword or short spear. The travelers who can advance alone in this wilderness are undoubtedly strong men who have learned martial arts.

Of course, if he wasn't a man - because you couldn't tell the difference between a man and a woman by looking at his back - it would be even more dangerous.

Just wait a minute...... She thought. Then she saw the figure in front of the campfire standing up.

The girl excitedly raised her crossbow. Once the prey has straightened up, it will be fine. Although it is separated by a cloak, the human body must be in the middle of the cloak. Fifty paces away from each other, she won't shoot crookedly, she ......

Then she heard a low, terrifying voice, "Who's there?"

The girl's fingers froze on the trigger, and she couldn't pull it down. The other party has already turned his head. It was obviously in the dark, but for some reason, she could clearly feel the deep murderous intent in the other party's eyes.