Chapter 191: Night Raid

Somewhere in the Snowplains Dense Forest.

Led by their leaders, Gao Sai’s group chopped down a patch of trees to create a clearing as a temporary campsite. Two bonfires were lit, and the flames began to drive away the cold that made teeth chatter. Three felt tents further blocked the cold mist of the forest. Compared to the thick fog just before sunrise, the thick fog inside the Snowplains Dense Forest after the sun disappeared made people feel a cold that froze their very marrow.

Two Grand Knight leaders worked together to lift and stack the chopped trees, surrounding the three tents in the middle. This formed a wall shaped like the character ‘concave,’ instantly raising the safety of the entire campsite. While two Goth Knights started to prepare dinner, the remaining six people, excluding the two leaders, split into two groups. One group started to stand guard and patrol, while the other group rested.

In the wild, rest was necessary to have enough Stamina.

And how to rest better was a significant skill.

However, the Goths, who came from a military background, were clearly familiar with this; they knew how to distribute their forces.

Chak, one of the leaders, patrolled the surroundings with the first group. Once he confirmed again that there was nothing to worry about, he returned to the bonfire where Wudel was. On the other bonfire, two skinned rabbits and a wild Horned Sheep were already roasting. In such a primeval forest, even with thick snow, as long as one had Strength, finding food was still a very simple matter.

“Where are we now?”

Chak twitched his nose, savoring the aroma of the rabbit and sheep meat, then turned his head to look at Wudel, who was studying the map.

“Roughly here!”

Wudel pointed a finger at the map, then pointed to the front side of the map and said, “Our destination should be here. It’s about another day’s journey away!”

“Let’s get there quickly! It’s really damp and cold here. I suspect if we stay any longer, my sword will rust!”

Chak mumbled, far from his usual coldness in front of strangers, or perhaps… his arrogance. He curled his lips and continued, “That damn Emerald Monkey, I must find a chance to teach him a good lesson!”

“With the Talent of ‘Giant Transformation’ plus ‘Flame’… even though he just completed the Knight’s Baptism, the Strength he burst forth with is already approaching a Grand Knight!” Wudel didn’t even raise his head. He studied the map carefully and said, “You can’t take him out silently, so let’s study the map instead!”

“Damn it, I hate the Emerald Monkey, and I hate looking for a place on the map when we don’t even know the specific location!”

Chak mumbled again, but he still leaned his body over. However, when he saw the large area marked on the map, Chak couldn’t help but say, “With such a large area, Master Momon and Skold are probably still wandering around inside. His Highness the Prince should wait patiently!”

“Exactly because of that, we need to speed up. Also… do not casually judge His Highness the Prince’s thoughts!”

Wudel frowned, reminding his companion.

Chak was stunned for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, with a look of lingering fear on his face.

For the adult they were loyal to, apart from the necessary respect, they also held considerable fear. For those who had merit, the adult they were loyal to would never be stingy. But for those who made mistakes, he would never show mercy. Especially for those who had no merit but liked to gossip, he would not tolerate a single bit.

“Ah!”

Just as Chak was about to say something, a scream suddenly appeared.

The two Grand Knights immediately stood up, grabbed their weapons, and rushed toward the place where the scream had come from.

At the patrol position about twenty yards from the campsite, a Goth Knight lay on the ground, with Blood spilling all over the ground. By the time the two Grand Knights arrived, he had already stopped breathing.

“Approached from behind, then used a Dagger to stab straight in through the gap in the armor under the ribs, completely destroying the heart…”

Wudel squatted there and examined the body carefully, then stood up and spoke to Chak, who was scanning the surroundings.

“What type of Dagger is this?”

Chak glanced at the wound on his subordinate’s Corpse and asked somewhat uncertainly.

“Thin blade, long and narrow… the kind Emerald Thieves love most. Moreover, the technique was clean and neat; it should be an experienced Thief… Not good!”

As Wudel spoke, his expression suddenly changed, and he exclaimed.

Chak, who also thought of something, had a sudden change in face.

However, just as the two Grand Knights turned to rush back to the temporary campsite, a glow of fire began to appear at the campsite.

There were no wails or screams, but looking at the fire mixed with thick smoke, Wudel and Chak knew their campsite and the men left inside were done for. Otherwise, they would never have let the campsite burn without making a sound.

“Damn it, who is it? Come out! Come out!”

Chak roared angrily, but no one answered. Only the two Goth Knights from the other patrol positions ran over, looking at the burning campsite with uncertainty and fear.

“Put out the fire!”

Although he knew there was little hope that his subordinates were still alive, Wudel still gave this order holding onto a slim possibility.

Under the cover of the thrown-up snow, the flames quickly faded away, revealing a messy scene to the remaining four Goths.

The slightly charred ground, the gray-black debris was their luggage, and the charred Corpses were their companions.

Nothing was left behind, and there were no survivors.

Apart from the Warhorses tethered outside the temporary campsite, nothing was left.

“The Corpses are burnt, so we can’t identify them… However, to complete such an action simultaneously, the other side has at least four people. One person deliberately lured us out, then two of the remaining three attacked Tuke and El, who were making dinner, and then together they attacked the three resting men, followed by setting fire to our camp!”

Wudel rubbed his brow, giving a rough deduction.

“Damn it, these rats who only know how to ambush!”

Chak cursed.

“Their Strength should be inferior to ours; at least, they don’t have two Grand Knights. Therefore… they didn’t choose a more direct approach but instead used roundabout tactics to weaken our power!” Wudel appeared quite calm and began to make orderly arrangements. “You two go gather the Warhorses and bring them here, then clean up a bit and slaughter one for food. We need to maintain enough Stamina. Those guys must be impatient for us to travel through the night, which is why they left the Warhorses for us. There will surely be traps ahead. If we don’t move, they might attack us again, and then… hmph!”

At the end, Wudel snorted coldly, expressing his anger and disdain.

Angry at his own earlier carelessness and the injustice to the Warhorses.

Disdainful of the other side’s shallowness and ignorance.

Wudel swore to make the other side pay!

Therefore, after eating enough horse meat, he and Chak took turns keeping watch with one Knight. Until dawn, the attack never came.

Wudel stood there with a slightly ugly expression on his face.

“It didn’t happen! Could my guess be wrong? No, no, definitely not… It should be that those guys didn’t have enough confidence to deal with Chak and me! Yes, that must be it!”

Wudel firmly believed in his deduction.

“Mount up, watch for ambushes!”

He spoke like this.

Immediately, everyone, including Chak, became cautious.

Under such cautious circumstances, they covered less than a third of the distance to the destination that should have been reachable within a day.

Although the distance was shortened by two-thirds, the Stamina consumed was more than double.

Any movement along the way made the four Goths nervous for a long time, like startled birds. By sunset, when they camped again, even Wudel and Chak were struggling to hold on, and the two Goth Knights were on the verge of collapsing.

“Eat, rest, I will stand guard!”

Wudel’s expression was extremely ugly; clearly, he also knew they had fallen for the enemy’s tactics.

However, at this moment, Wudel would not admit it honestly; he continued to hold on—after all, this was his Knight’s dignity.

Chak asked again, and although he was refused by Wudel, he still insisted. However, the two Knights beside them fell into a deep sleep—in fact, last night’s attack had prevented them from getting any real rest, and the tension throughout the day had greatly drained their Stamina and energy, added to the previous day’s travel.

Even Knights could not withstand it.

And just as the two Grand Knights continued their vigil, Dean, who had orchestrated all of this, lay prone in a patch of snow, draped in a white blanket, quietly observing every move of the Goths.

Although Dean had set off two days late, compared to the Goths who were groping their way forward, Dean, who had a clear direction, had caught up with these Goths a day ago.

Then, after observing, he launched that surprise attack.

Apart from luring the two Grand Knights out of the campsite, which made Dean quite cautious, attacking the campsite was effortless for Dean. He just needed to find a good angle, and Dragon Flame Breath completely finished off those Goth Knights who were either distracted or sleeping.

It was even easier than Dean had predicted.

At least, he didn’t encounter a single bit of resistance.

Clearly, facing his Talent Power Burst activated with a Strength of 4.61, which converted to 120% magic flame damage, the ordinary Knight-rank was simply too weak to withstand a single blow.

However, this was only true for the Knight-rank. For the Grand Knight rank, although there was also an instant-kill effect, the cooldown time of Dragon Flame Breath and the number of opponents forced Dean to be cautious, just like now—he was constantly draining their Stamina and energy.

He strove to place a few more chips on the Scale of victory for himself.