Crescent Island is a land with its own ecology, where the elven dwarves and various dragon creatures of Rigal are nowhere to be found, but this is not a place of miraculous insulation.

From the point of view of the visitors to Rigal, this is a magical land that combines the primitive and the advanced - if the advanced standard is to have the faith of the White Church as the only supreme order.

The people of Crescent Island do not believe in gods and are untouchable beings, and the indigenous belief system here is similar to the primitive polytheistic beliefs of Rigal hundreds of years ago - the concept of "god" is not an "absolutely irreversible order", but a stronger existence than human. If God walks in the world, man can have something in common with God, and man can give birth to God's offspring.

They have the same emotions and desires as human beings, and even gods will have hostile fights and other behaviors.

This pattern of belief seemed primitive and barbaric to the missionaries, for it was in fact the deeds of various ancient folklore mixed with the local possession of powerful beings other than humans, and finally mixed and ascended to the level of deification.

While despised the unreliable sources of such stories, the clergy tended to subconsciously ignore that the White Church had similar legends—such as the death of a dragon lizard by a knight thousands of years ago, which eventually evolved into a godified war that was sung through generations, in which a valiant knight possessed by an angel slaughtered an evil dragon, and so on.

The legend of the fearless hero and the existence of the bloody battle that the ordinary man can fight against is very popular in both Crescent Island and Rigal.

The Rigal knights in the story are fighting against dragons.

And the Japanese samurai often fight with evil spirits.

——!The oil-drenched torches illuminated a wide area, and the long black shadows of the fir trees changed angles as Ashigaru walked forward. The swaying companions and the dark shadows of the trees are nerve-wracking, and beyond the orange glow, a pitch-black forest is ready to move, and countless hostilities lurk. Ashigaru swallowed, turning as hard as her eyes to see through the edge of the array, trying to see more of her surroundings.

- This may not be the situation where most people imagine a single-handed hero to challenge the evil spirit, but it is the most reliable way to do it in reality.

Divided into six detachments, the soldiers fanned out in a fan-shaped formation, fully armed and conducting a carpet search.

However, even though there are many samurai in the Aota family, it is still a drop in the bucket to scatter into such a forest.

The armor made a slight clashing sound, and in order to prevent it from being caught by the forest bushes, both the ashigaru and the samurai gathered up the skirt armor called the Kusazuri at the hem of the Japanese-style cuirass, and tied it with string.

The sound of insects has been ringing non-stop.

Stopped.

The ashigaru also subconsciously stopped.

"Forward, forward, do not be afraid. The samurai behind him urged, but he himself unconsciously lowered his voice.

"Torches up!" another samurai shouted, and Ashigaru leaned in in response.

"Brute force crashes into broken branches. He picked up a broken branch on the ground the thickness of his forearm, the edges were very rough, apparently forcibly broken.

The "......." branch is as thick as a human limb and makes many people feel cold in their limbs, because it will not be difficult for an opponent who can easily break this kind of branch to break his hands and feet.

But the most important thing is -

"Shine on it. ”

The moment the torch was raised, several people around the vicinity let out a "hiss-" inhalation sound.

"What a big mudra. "The cedar tree is tall and straight, and the branches are all grown in the tall part, which is difficult to achieve with the height of ordinary people. Near the part where the broken branch was originally attached, a huge handprint that had peeled off the bark of the tree was visible in the firelight.

The owner of the mudra did not even aim at the branch, but rather touched the branch as he grabbed the trunk.

"This, this, the armor may not be able to stop it. The handprints that collapsed into it were several centimeters deep, and the sturdy trees that the two of them were surrounded by a single palm, and even the strongest carcass was afraid that under this brute force, it would dent and crush the ribs and burst the internal organs.

After all, the weapons and armor of the samurai and ashigaru were designed to resist the attacks of human opponents, and against opponents of this level, they needed a wall-like bunker barrier.

"The trail went that way. ”

"Narumi-sama!" the samurai reminded.

"It's been discovered. Traces of brutal destruction like this extended in the direction of the main formation, and disappeared into the darkness that could not be illuminated by the field of vision.

"How?" Yajiro, dressed in bright armor, looked at Henry.

"There are more than ten meters away from the previous footprint, and the handprints on the tree are not so much photographed as grasped. Look here. The tall sage glanced back at the warriors behind him, then raised his torch and leaned against the handprint to illuminate it.

"Half of the bark is gone. Miss Luo An said.

"Ah——! instead of running through the woods, he grabs the trunk of a tree like an ape. Someone in the samurai let out an exclamation, and Kaleva, who was also following the group, reacted only after hearing what they said.

"That is, you have to defend against attacks from above, this- it's so dark that you can't see it clearly. "Dark clouds began to drift in the second half of the night, and there was no starry light in the deep forest, so to see some of the trees at the top that the light of a torch could do.

The samurai began to panic, and little by little, this panic spread.

"Do not be afraid to move forward, we have wounded the evil spirit, and the trapped beast is the most terrible. Success or failure is tonight, if we don't take advantage of the victory and pursue, you and I will not be able to sleep peacefully!" Narumi in front of him cheered everyone up, but it was difficult to confirm how many effects there were in the night.

"Don't panic, the sound made by this physique trying to rely on the trunk of a tree can be heard by us from dozens of meters away. The girl Luo'an, who was becoming more and more proficient in human language, looked like a connoisseur and explained as she spoke.

"But in other words, it's quiet right now—" Yajiro furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's stopped!" said Caleva clapped her hands with a look of realization.

The direction was set, the footprints became shallow, and the demon slowed down. The sage with Kramer on his back looked at the trunk, crouched down and inspected the ground, and then nodded to the samurai leader: "It's nearby, shrink the formation quickly." ”

"Cone Formation! Change!" the great god next to him shouted behind him.

"Team One, the formation change is complete. ”

"Team Two is over. "Team Three, finished. The sound of reports came one after another, and the horizontal columns that were originally suitable for searching a large area became several small columns, and then the great god ordered: "Move closer to the center, spearmen, forward!"

The herald in the center of the main camp waved his torch lightly, and the samurai, who had been scattered far away, took some time to move closer together by determining the direction of the torches, forming a closer formation.

"Big gun—prepare!" the head of the Ashigaru group gave the order, and the ashigaru people raised the big gun one after another to prepare for the posture.

The samurai also took their bows, made sure that the quivers hanging on their waists were in the correct position, and kept their eyes on the front.

"One to two groups, armor-piercing arrows ready. In groups of three and four, the arrows were poured with oil. The samurai's methodical command continued, and Mira, Kaleva, and Yajiro, who had retreated into the middle of the battle array, looked ahead at Henry, the sage scanning the trees back and forth in the darkness, his eyes glowing blue as proof that he had fully opened his vision.

"All on high alert, the demons have stopped and are all around us!" the samurai commanded loudly in an attempt to calm people's hearts, but Ashigaru's hand holding the spear still trembled.

"How?" Narumi looked at Henry.

And the sage stopped as he swept somewhere, narrowed his eyes slightly, and then raised his hand with a "whoosh", which lifted the spirits of the samurai who were staring at him.

"Archers turn, Position, Ready!" the sage gestured in one direction, and the great god shouted.

"Put!" and waved down.

"Bang Bang

"Shhh——!!h The rockets fired out went out before they had much effect, and the armor-piercing arrows may have hit the sound of roaring, but no one knew the true result.

"Spearmen, forward!" the great god ordered.

"Big gun—flatten!" "Drink!" Ashigaru commanded, and the ashigaru, who was covered in cold sweat and trembling with cold hands and feet, put down the weapons in their hands.

"Assault!" paused a few times, but they finally stepped forward. "Archers, prepare for the second round!Open the bow and press forward at the same time!" Okami continued to command, and the head of the group in charge of the Ashigaru pressure formation and some of the high-ranking samurai with short spears rushed to the front to illuminate the place where the arrows fell, but found nothing but deep footprints.

"There was blood, but very little. "Fled. ”

"Formation change-Zhengyuan!" the leader of the group ordered again, and the spearmen changed from a square formation to a circular formation that spread around, guarding the place where the arrows fell.

"The archers were on guard and marched at full speed. The samurai in the rear followed up after confirming this, and checked the results among the spearmen in a circle.

"Hit, but pulled out. Henry picked up the armor-piercing arrows on the ground that had been broken into several pieces, the armor-piercing arrows were mostly tapered, and although they were highly penetrating, they were much less lethal than broad-bladed arrows with barbs, and could be easily pulled out.

"Only one shot, and look at this. Mira and Galeva handed torches to light up the surroundings, and the warriors gathered around.

"The lacquer of the shaft of the arrow has been scraped off, so it can be seen that it is only a small distance in, and the arrow is bloodless. "The arrows in the light of the fire did not look as effective as they should be, and it could be seen from the edges of the lacquer that had been hung up, even the armor-piercing arrows only penetrated to a depth of about 5 centimeters.

"Devils in armor...... "The physique and brute strength of the Oni Clan are enough to take on a squad on its own, and if it is the object of armor, then their tactics must be changed.

"Then this blood stain is ?——, it is a previous wound—" The sage had already crouched down as the samurai searched for words that would reassure them, touching the blood with his hand and sniffing it. "Obviously not hurt, but he let out a roar and fled—" Yajiro's somewhat confused voice sounded behind him.

"It doesn't smell of sulfur, it's not the blood of a ghost. Henry immediately shook the blood from his fingers and stood up, the eyes of the closest people wide.

"Shh——!h

"Boom !!——"

In the darkness, there was a red light like a red lotus, with a huge momentum and roar, and the heavily armored ghost god took the heavy steps of "dong dong dong" and directly collided with the array that the spearmen hastily raised.

"Click——!!" "Click-Click-Click!!" The tip of the triangular section of the large gun hit the Oni carcass as thick as the Rigal Knight's breastplate, but it did not have any effect except to scrape off the surface of the lacquer, "Ahh

"Can't stop it, withdraw!" Henry shouted decisively to the samurai, but the circle of guards around Ashigaru was not good at maneuvering, not to mention that many people were already in chaos at this time.

"Bow! this distance, aim at the head!" the more experienced Luoan girl in the melee was able to think calmly, she reminded loudly, and the samurai who had fallen into a stupor reacted and planned to shoot their bows and arrows.

"Knock Knock ——!" After the tail of the gun was inserted into the dirt, the ashigaru people put their feet on it and used their weight to try to fight the onrushing demons, their reaction was fast enough for a soldier, but the big gun could not pierce the surface, and the top made a "whining" sound and began to bend.

"Drink—" The demon's breath was scorching and smelled of sulfur.

"It's too late, withdraw!" The chaos continued not only at the bottom, but in the face of powerful opponents, many samurai also shouted to pull up the reins and turn their heads and run.

"The left and right flanks are together! those who can't resist it will be—boom-bang!!" The huge blunt object with a sharp sound of breaking the air skipped all the closer Ashigaru, and smashed the entire head of the Ashigaru group in charge of the formation into his breastplate with an attack distance of two meters and a half long.

"Ahh

In an instant, the ashigaru's formation fell apart like a river embankment under the lap of a tsunami.

The part of the samurai who had not yet fled was stunned, and they didn't even hear Narumi's order to turn around and evacuate.

Surrounded by red firelight, the demon in the shape of a humanoid flame in armor approached step by step, "Ha-ha-ha-ah-" and one of the samurai gritted his teeth, discarded the great bow unsuitable for close combat, drew the sword at his waist, and rushed forward with a scream.

"Shinkatsu-sama, what are you doing?" the samurai shouted, but the middle-aged samurai, who had been deflated and judged by Yajiro as lacking courage, decided that this was the time to save his life to wash away his dishonor, so he roared and rode towards the demons.

"Hiss-" "Knock ——!!" was completely crushed by his strength, so that he only shouted half of the words of cheering, and was directly smashed from a height of 1.7 meters to 1.4 meters.

"Shh

"It's not a manpower to beat, fight again at another time!" Narumi roared loudly in an attempt to prevent the team from retreating in formation to preserve their strength, but the ashigaru and samurai, who were already in disarray under the sudden attack, fled to the forest.

"No, I can't. Henry grabbed the shoulder of the samurai leader, who was still commanding.

"Sir?" Narumi looked at him puzzled.

"Stay where you are and use trees to shelter you. ”

"Didn't you notice that this thing was all staring at the Commander? The sage's tone was flat, but Mira watched as the runes on his body lit up one after the other for a long time.

"We can't run away, it can cross a distance of 10 meters in a jump, and a horse can't outrun it in this kind of dense forest. ”

"This thing is not the brainless mountain ghost of last time, it can think, it can set up a situation. ”

It thought. The sage unfastened his short coat to protect himself from the rain, and then reached behind his back.

"Catch us all. ”

"Qiang ————"

"Crackle—" The torches that fell to the ground lit the fallen leaves of the forest, making a crisp sound as they burned the dead branches that had not yet completely dried.

The flames crept like a long snake and spread quickly to the surroundings.

The light of the fire reflected on Kramer's blade, and Henry kept his eyes on his target, moving forward step by step.

"We all backed off. Mira looked at the samurai who were still nearby, counting her and the trio of Kaleva, Yajiro and the samurai leader, there were only a dozen or so people left who didn't run, but the advantage was that counting the little unicorn Mitea, most of these people were cavalry.

The demons were struck with arrows as they approached the camp in the evening, leaving behind less combat-ready people such as Aya, Sakura, Lulu, and the missionaries, including Yajiro, who could fight in a cautious formation, and it took them two hours to catch up - but now that they were in the shadows, they were overshadowed.

No one opened their mouths to blame anyone else, because it was true that everyone did their duty.

They tried to be as cautious as they could, but the other side never left enough evidence to speculate.

Everything is happening so fast, and they can be better prepared if they have a few more days to study and judge. But before it could happen, it took the initiative to attack.

A strange sense of disobedience lingered in the heart of the Luo An girl, and she stared closely at the existence that was nearly three meters tall and made her teacher's figure seem small.

- Judging the situation and acting like a brainless beast to set up a situation and lure. There was even a trail of blood left to ensure that the group stayed there long enough to verify it, before suddenly attacking and focusing on the command and those who had the courage to resist.

This isn't what a wandering demon would do, it's a trained soldier-

The flames ignited by the falling torches finally burned large enough to illuminate the surroundings and the faces of the demons. And in that instant, Mira suddenly saw the long black hair scattered in the light and shadow and the big sword at her waist-

"That's not—"

"When Taizhou-" Yajiro was also stunned.

The huge golden rod ——!!! swinged, and the sage lowered the tip of Kramer's sword as if he had been doing it all along.

Onigiri Exploration Book

"Qiang ——!!"