Chapter 19: Fangs (Part 2)

Everything happened so unexpectedly that even Potts, a true Knight, was caught off guard. He could only watch helplessly as Ryder was captured by that minor Noble he hadn’t taken seriously, and two of his subordinates died.

“How could he have a Crossbow?!”

Potts roared the question, but none of the surrounding Knight Guards could answer. They all stared at their colleagues lying in pools of blood, waiting for their Regiment Commander to make a final decision—the sudden change had left them completely panicked.

“Surround them, be careful!”

Potts waved his hand and gave the order.

In fact, without Potts’ reminder, the remaining nine Knight Guards had already become cautious. Looking at the corpse in the snow, the bright red staining the white ground was blindingly glaring. If they didn’t know to be careful in a situation like this, they would truly be idiots.

The nine Knight Guards slowly approached the wooden hut in a circle. As a sentry post, a good field of view was essential, so this hut was built on a hilly area, situated at the highest point, allowing those inside to see everything in the distance clearly.

But with advantages come disadvantages!

While gaining height, once this sentry post was approached to a certain extent, it became an isolated ‘island’ without support, easily surrounded by others.

Just like at this moment!

Seeing that Dean did not rush out before the encirclement was formed, Potts, the Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander, sneered. “Do you think you can hold this place with just two Crossbows? Or do you think you can threaten me with Ryder?”

Clearly, for the sake of his future, Potts didn’t really care about his nephew’s life or death.

The order Potts gave next proved his determination even more.

Four torches wrapped in thick grease were thrown at the wooden hut without hesitation. Driven by Strength, the thick grease slammed heavily against the hut. With a ‘bang’, sparks flew everywhere. The flames stuck to the outer walls of the hut along with the grease, especially since the Knight Guards who threw the torches had specifically chosen dry spots without snow. Within moments, the wooden hut was completely ablaze.

The members of the Ferrchelen Knight Order, including Regiment Commander Potts, looked coldly at the blazing wooden hut.

They were waiting for Dean to be driven out by the thick smoke and flames.

As for Ryder?

He could only be considered unlucky, and they had no choice. Moreover, the order came from their Regiment Commander, his own uncle; they had no choice, right?

The remaining nine Knight Guards stared intently at the burning wooden hut. However, until the hut was almost burnt to the ground, they did not see Dean rush out, nor did they hear a single scream from inside. From beginning to end, there was only the crackling sound of the flames burning the wood.

The flames finally extinguished. From the outside, one could clearly see everything inside the remains of the thoroughly burnt hut.

There was nothing resembling a human shape, or to be precise, a Corpse.

“Search!”

Potts swept his gaze around and shouted loudly.

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

The nine Knight Guards immediately rushed toward the remains of the hut, looking for possible clues. Almost effortlessly, in less than half a minute, they found a hole. The appearance of this hole astonished the Knight Guards who had already suffered one surprise.

“Hmph!”

Potts looked at the hole, then swept his gaze over his subordinates, unable to hold back a cold snort. Clearly, even the biggest idiot would understand upon seeing this hole that Dean had been prepared.

However, this was not what Potts cared about most; he was more concerned about his subordinates’ wavering hearts caused by the successive accidents.

Possessing the Strength of a true Knight, although Potts was not officially a Knight, this did not mean he didn’t know how to lead his subordinates in battle. On the contrary, being ‘battle-hardened’, Potts knew very well how to lead his subordinates and to monitor their morale at all times.

The combination of words and Gold Pulton was the best way to boost morale.

Therefore, standing at the hole, Potts said coldly—

“Since you guessed that that My Lord wanted to deal with you, did you really think that a mere Apprentice Knight like you could handle the ten of us, including me, a true Knight? Or perhaps you don’t know that your head is an important chip for us to obtain a reward we usually wouldn’t dare to dream of!”

Undoubtedly, Potts interpreted everything before him as a feud between Dean and the Vice Regiment Commander of the Central Knight Order. Although this guess was far from the actual result, the surrounding Knight Guards recovered from their shock and astonishment.

“He’s just a minor Noble who got lucky!”

“What incredible luck! But how long can such luck last?”

“Regiment Commander, let me go down and finish him!”

…

The Knight Guards swept away their previous low morale and spoke loudly, with a few of them eager to try.

Seeing his subordinates return to normal after the successive accidents, Potts, the Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander, waved his hand indifferently again. Immediately, two Knight Guards jumped into the tunnel one after the other.

Then, in less than ten seconds, the screams of these two Knight Guards were heard—

“Snakes, there are snakes!”

Snakes waking from hibernation are quite violent, especially when they attack existences they usually wouldn’t provoke, such as bobcats or weasels—cat-like animals of a certain size with sharp teeth and claws—and, of course, humans.

The several snakes Dean had selected were even more so; after all, these were venomous snakes carrying deadly toxins. For this, Dean was grateful for the freezing weather in the Tier Territory. Otherwise, facing those lively venomous snakes with his current Strength, he would not have wanted to provoke them.

The low temperature had plunged the snakes into slumber, but the warm environment in the tunnel dug by Dean woke them up. After Dean passed through the tunnel and cut the rope binding the sack, more than five snakes began to roam the tunnel. Simply put, this was a deadly trap Dean had prepared for the members of the Ferrchelen Knight Order.

The only thing Dean was dissatisfied with was that the enemy had only lost two men in this trap, which was half of what he had expected—

“Is it because they were alert due to the Crossbow earlier?”

Facing the unsatisfactory result, Dean, hidden under the snow forty yards away from the sentry post, quickly found the problem and the solution.

Tugging at the white fur coat he wore as camouflage, Dean slowly stood up. He did not stand up completely but assumed a half-crouching position to take the Crossbow off his back and place it aside. He held the other Crossbow, which had been ready for a long time, steadily in his hands.

Feeling the snowflakes carried by the wind and watching the members of the Ferrchelen Knight Order holding torches in the distance, Dean, with a posture comparable to any old hunter, searched for his prey. Then, he slowly pulled the trigger of the Crossbow—

Whoosh!

The arrow, blending into the sound of the wind, went straight for the target. The arrow that pierced through the chest claimed the life of another Knight Order member.

Seeing another Guard fall into a pool of blood, Potts, who had just drawn his sword to kill the snakes, immediately shouted: “Extinguish the torches! Quick, extinguuish the torches!”

However, this shout was obviously a bit too late.

Dean, who had been prepared, picked up the other Crossbow lying beside him almost the moment the first arrow was fired and shot another arrow.

Thud!

The sound of the arrow piercing leather armor and flesh was so clear in the night.

“Dean!”

Possessing the Strength of a Knight, Potts identified the shooting angle based on the arrow’s trajectory. When he saw Dean rising from the snow, he couldn’t help but shout loudly. Even though Dean was wearing a white fur coat and using the cover of night, once he moved, it was not difficult for a Knight-level existence to spot him.

Dean responded with silence, ignoring the other party’s shout entirely, and turned to flee along the pre-planned route.

“Chase!”

Potts shouted loudly, taking the lead himself to rush forward. Clearly, facing repeated mistakes caused by a minor Noble, the Ferrchelen Knight Order Regiment Commander felt utterly humiliated, and anger was uncontrollably crashing against his rational brain.

Seeing Potts give chase, the remaining five Knight Order members didn’t dare to slack off and immediately followed. If they didn’t want to be held accountable later, they had no choice.

Moreover, their Regiment Commander was a true Knight. Didn’t they see that the minor Noble, who only knew how to play tricks, turned and ran as soon as he saw their Regiment Commander?

Following behind their Regiment Commander, there would definitely be no problem!