In October, the temperature in the southern mountains is relatively mild, and even if you wear armor, you don't feel too hot, and under such pleasant temperatures and fresh breezes that blow from time to time, it is very comfortable to travel in just regular clothes.

The way to Lake Lorena is steep and steep at first, then becomes relatively gentle.

The road is not easy to walk, because it is not the main road in Rauschzi in the first place.

Further south, the city-states of the south were all hillsides, hills, forests, and rivers, and beyond these lush vegetation areas were the endless Abu Sera savannah—the only thing that flowed between the merchants and the nomads of the steppes was bloodshed and death, and without any trade relations, you should not expect any proper roads here.

The ruggedness and the raging storm caused many perennial giant trees to break and fall, and the march speed of the group of more than 20 people can be described as extremely slow. Often, they don't have to go far before they have to dismount and run to push a flatbed, or take out an axe to cut it and work together to clear the way of the road.

However, although the progress is slow, the problem is not too serious.

After all, the storm comes several times a year, and the mercenaries who are used to it already have a series of contingency plans.

The breeding period of the Aya snake is relatively long, and it does not end until around November. In addition, the people set out early and had plenty of horses for transportation, mules to carry supplies, and various outdoor tools, and the physical exertion was maintained to a not excessive level, and the march was always orderly.

From this, it can be seen that the mercenaries of these mercenary groups are sophisticated, knowing that they are traveling for a long time, and they carry all kinds of supplies very thoughtfully, although they can usually hunt for fresh food, but the mules also carry a lot of dried meat and fish to supplement when they cannot obtain prey.

Traveling is not as peaceful as living in a town or country, and if you don't think about how to deal with each problem, the slightest thing can lead to a bigger problem. For example, if food or water is not adequately replenished every day, the person will become weak and weak, and his thinking will be affected, and by the time he goes to the area where the prey is located, he will be exhausted, and the success rate of hunting will naturally drop significantly.

Maintaining good physical and mental condition is the most important thing for any organization or individual to undertake a long and long trek for a purpose, whether the purpose is to find or hunt something or to go to war.

Any experienced leader would know the importance of maintaining morale, but for Henry's group of twenty or so people who trekked through the mountains and forests of the southern region, there were not only the rugged difficulties and dangers of the wilderness, but also the unpredictable weather in the tropical mountains, which made little difference even in October, and the variety of creatures hidden in this vibrant green.

The rain began to fall in the middle of the night last night, and although everyone who had taken precautions for a long time had made a good effort to put up the waterproof sails and cover the resting area and food every night, the sudden rain still made people a little uncomfortable. Several novice mercenaries were blown up by the wind and rain because the stakes of the tarpaulin four-corner drawstrings did not tilt inward when they were inserted into the earth, and they were scrambling and shouting to deal with all this, which naturally made many others unable to sleep peacefully.

The noisy rain was only one aspect, and although the slippery road in the rain slowed down the group's forward speed even further, it was still somewhat accustomed to putting on the cloak. The first seven or eight young men in the group, all under the age of twenty, were a little worried, mainly the four-limbed creatures that had appeared since the night three days earlier and clearly showed signs of following their group.

The dark blue scales were covered with darker dark green patterns, and the slender body and limbs were about three meters long, including the tail - far less than their larger relatives on the swamp side, but these small dragon lizards, known locally as "wolf lizards", were feared by their unique social habits.

They are agile, with slender snouts and ominous yellow-green vertical pupils in large eye sockets, which form a nimble and alert head, unlike the larger swamp dragon lizard, which is good at using strong bites, the wolf lizard is more likely to pounce on its prey like a cat and leopard and then use its claws to complete the hunt.

"Cunning little green crawler—" Squinting at the goatee, the medium-sized hunting expert said the first time he noticed the fellows. Many people in the world of Rigal think dragon lizards are stupid, ferocious, and cruel, and scholars and magicians agree that they are among the weaker dragons - but they are extremely successful as part of nature's food chain, regardless of what they may seem to man.

The forests of the south are home to many species of predators. Not only these cold-blooded reptiles, but also mammals such as wolves and leopards are not a few, but in the vicinity of the wolf lizard's territory, you will never see these creatures that are supposed to be powerful hunters.

Cunning and cruelty are the best words to describe these dark cyan creatures, they often don't directly clash with other creatures in the fight between animals, using their stamina and alertness these guys will keep circling around your neighborhood until they seize an opportunity to attack, and then leave decisively without fighting.

The wolf lizard is a nuisance to all hunters.

If you want to chase them, it is more than worth the loss, these things are flexible and ferocious, and if you are not careful, you will become their prey - and even if you successfully hunt a wolf lizard, their meat is woody and fishy, and they are very tough, and they can't chew it for a long time, and no one wants to eat it, although the skin and scale armor can provide some defense, but it is not as difficult to process as metal and cowhide. As long as any dragon lizard dies, the skin will become dry and inelastic, and the scales must be specially pierced and then threaded to fall off one by one, which is no less difficult than piercing the armor, and the scales after drying out have no toughness and are easy to crack.

Hunting is too risky and more costly, and if you don't hunt them, these guys are always hanging around, waiting to sneak up on any of you or steal their catch after the hunters get their prey.

The heavy rain made the muddy ground soft and difficult to walk, and before setting off, the group deliberately changed the horseshoe with a stronger grip on the mountain, but it was also unsatisfactory in this kind of ghost weather.

The wheels of the empty flatbed cart bent the grass and sank deep into the dirt, and the young mercenary who was driving the pack horse was almost about to cry, and his companions behind him kept scolding and shouting at him to hurry up, but all this only caused the young man to become more impatient, and the whip made the pack horses scream, but the cart could not get out of the dirt.

Henry, who had to stop, and several of his free mercenaries had to dismount again to help lift the flatbed cart, and the bad weather conditions and the wolf lizard swaying nearby made the captain of the 1.89-meter-tall strong man team leader full of clouds. He didn't come here to help carry the car, he just stayed at the front of the line and frowned and looked over here - Henry, who had helped, raised his eyes and looked away for a moment.

"One, two, three—up!" the mercenaries shouted in unison, and then succeeded in lifting the flatbed truck. At this time, it is quite difficult to travel on the road with an empty car, although when the hunt is completed, it must be peeled first and then put on the car without directly catching the whole snake and dragon back, but the weight at that time still has to be turned over several times.

At that time, it would not be a good thing to fall into the mud again, considering the presence of dangerous bandits from both the natural world and those who have not yet appeared but are present at this time of year.

For the time being, I can only ask for heaven to be beautiful, many people in the team thought so, but in the evening of this day, the rain just stopped.

The young novice mercenaries almost jumped for joy, and although the southern city-state alliance received mercenaries from the west and east coasts, most of them were war-biased, and used as the main force of the local resistance against the steppe people. If a local-born civilian wants to become a mercenary, the first choice will inevitably be a more stable hunting mercenary.

There are different customs in different places, and the kingdom of Corikonrad in the Soradin region is mainly sending mercenaries abroad, so the mainstream mercenaries are naturally good at killing. In contrast, the thriving Southern City-State Alliance has a huge demand market for all kinds of living exotic beasts and their body materials, and the education since childhood is to spend money to let others shed blood for us, so most of the locals who grew up in such an environment naturally chose the path of hunting mercenaries.

Most of these young mercenaries have a better education than the West Coasters, and while not all of them are literate, most of them are able to talk about a subject and have a great deal of knowledge about business.

There is no countryside, even the smallest towns are surrounded by the city walls, and the sons and brothers raised in the south are all such virtues, although their own literacy is not bad, but the difference between the mercenaries who have really come to the wild and those who have experienced the wind and waves is really clear at a glance.

Even Mira, who was several years younger than them, behaved much better than these people, and the squinting orange mercenary with a goatee looked left and right for a moment, and then couldn't help but sigh.

Because of the continuous heavy rain last night, they had no way to hunt today, and the other two orange veterans shouted to the elated newcomers to start handling the dry food they were carrying, while the hunting expert in the team turned around and began to walk towards the eastern slope of the grove where they had stayed.

He didn't hold much, except for the kettle, which hung a small prairie-style scimitar.

This is used to handle prey, and the southerners prefer to use knives rather than double-edged swords compared to those of the West Coast Kingdoms, where the ratio of one-handed long knives to one-handed half-handed swords and one-handed swords is almost one-to-one, and it is undeniable that knives are much better than swords when used for cutting and chopping.

He walked in this direction, but he hadn't gone far when he heard footsteps behind him. The old hunter didn't have to look back to tell it was the tall black-haired mercenary and his disciple, and their footsteps were easily recognizable as they were always moving together—he turned his head.

"Are you going to find Cordyceps?" The relationship between the mercenaries is not particularly close, after all, their peers are enemies, although they act together, there are not many words between the mercenaries who guard them - and the hunting mercenary group as an employer is even more so, everyone understands their identity very well, one is to pay people to protect and the other is just to make money, do their job well than talk about it is almost more able to fight for long-term cooperation opportunities.

"Hmm. Although he didn't know the purpose of the other party for the time being, the old mercenary still nodded, the conversation between them was in Laman, the slender girl who was a little shorter than him didn't seem to understand, she raised her head and looked at the other side and asked, "Teacher, what is La...... Railpaso?" the girl asked, the white-haired old mercenary who understood the lingua franca of the West Coast, and he had recently seen her learning the language in Lamanite books, but she was obviously not familiar with it, what a strange two people, and the whole team and all the traditional mercenaries would give a considerable concept.

Out of place--he thought back to the scene when the two of them had practiced swordsmanship again a few days ago, and thought that the kind of swordsmanship that was very elaborate in one move and one style was not something that ordinary blue or even orange individual mercenaries could obtain, and with all these behaviors, he almost had to suspect that these two people were actually from some nobles who had come out to travel.

But in any case, none of this has much to do with me. He shook his head, and then he heard the tall man explain to the girl: "The literal translation means the reptilian fear grass with a strong smell, this is a plant with a spicy taste, the dragon lizard has a much stronger sense of smell than humans, after boiling this grass into mud, when it is used on the truck, the dragon lizard will be choked very uncomfortably as soon as it comes close to smell it, and it will not be able to breathe freely, although it cannot completely stop them, but at least it will make these guys unable to sneak near quietly at night." ”

As he said this, the old mercenary paused and looked back, his expression a little different, but at the same time he deepened his conviction that these two men were nobles who had run away. After all, although an old hunter and mercenary like him also knew this knowledge, he couldn't explain the principles of everything so well.

The experience summed up by the local method and the knowledge learned by the educated person may be the same way, and the former is inevitably not as efficient as the latter when it is taught to another person.

The three of them walked slowly towards the halfway slope of this side, and opened up a considerable distance from the group behind them who were preparing camp and dinner, and the old mercenary looked back and still wondered why the two men were following him—and it was at this moment that the tall mercenary glanced back, and then turned his head and said in a low voice.

"I advise you to keep an eye on your squad leader. As he spoke, he turned and walked to the other side, leaving the old mercenary standing stunned. (To be continued.) )