Chapter Fifty-One: The Return Journey (5)

  In the dense forest, a bare patch of land stands out particularly prominently.

  "Will, look, a fire pit." Isaac exclaimed, pointing at the black ash in the center of the clearing.

  The three of them walked up to the edge of that dark gray area and could still feel its residual warmth.

  "It seems they haven't gone far." Will gazed at the remaining ashes on the ground, lost in thought.

  "That means we've caught up with them?" Eidas asked excitedly.

  Will nodded: "Shouldn't be far now. They're around here somewhere."

  Isaac searched around: "They went this way."

  Will looked up at the sun behind the tree shade and muttered to himself, "Still north? It seems they should be heading all the way north."

  "Go after him!" Eidas said with some impatience. "Punish that wicked minstrel!"

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  "The wicked minstrel" Eral Heinrich was now bowing his head to receive a scolding. Even Johnny thought of the trouble he had brought about.

  "Three hundred gold coins, that old man will kill me," Eral muttered, "He won't let me off."

  "Shut up." Odala slapped a palm on Eilar's head, making Johnny look very pleased. "You don't have the right to speak now."

  Should they proceed with extra caution or lie in wait and deal with the mercenaries from Saral City before moving on?

  "Astrid, if you're careful, can't you erase our trail?" Odara asked.

  Astrid's face was red, her hands were clasped in front of her, and she said with a twist: "I've been very careful all the way..."

  Joni and Odara let out a synchronized sigh in their hearts.

  "Will you set some traps or something?" Odala asked further.

  Astrid maintained that awkward gesture and expression: "My dad didn't teach me..."

  Is this really natural? Joanie sighed, is this really the kind of person I like and want to spend the rest of my life with?

  But it's quite cute.

  But cuteness is of no use at this time. Odara thought for a moment, looked up at the sky as if calculating something, then lowered her head and looked at the three people in front of her, saying her decision: "Eirale, you go north, out of our sight, and wait there. Jony, you and Astry go to that tree, hide well. I'll be on this tree. Let's not move forward today, let's wait for a day first. If no one comes after a day, then we're safe."

  It's climbing trees again. Joanie felt this scene was all too familiar, only his enemies wouldn't be stupid goblins this time.

  Joni and Astrid climbed up their own tree, found a place with dense branches and sturdy trunks to sit down. Unfortunately, they were in ambush and couldn't speak. Joni looked at Astrid beside him, with a regretful face.

  "Will someone really come after us?" Astrid asked Jony in a low voice.

  "I don't know." Johnny lowered his voice, "It's possible that there will be some, after all, we've already been harassed by three waves of people, which means the news has already been leaked out. I don't know if there will be any skilled mercenaries tracking us down."

  "If it were my dad, he would definitely be able to catch up with us by following the trail we left behind." The little girl looked a bit traumatized, "I knew this would happen, I should have studied harder back then."

  Joni looked at Astrid's gloomy face and didn't know how to comfort her. The sturdy branch was shrouded in silence.

  How embarrassing... Jony thought helplessly.

  Fortunately, this awkwardness did not last long.

  The enemy has appeared.

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  "That's strange." Isaac stopped suddenly, "Something doesn't feel right."

  The two people who followed him stopped in their tracks, and Eidas spoke up: "What's wrong?"

  "Here." Isaac pointed down at his feet. "The trail here splits, goes two different ways. One north, one that way."

  His hand pointed along the still bent-down flowers and grass to a large tree beside him, which was exactly the one where Jony and Astrid had hidden before.

  It seems that Odara's quality is indeed excellent, and can even deceive a barbarian growing in the forest.

  Following his pointing finger, Ida looked towards the tree. Had the enemy climbed up?

  With a "whoosh", an arrow flew out from the leaves and shot straight at Isaac's face. The arrow was fierce, and even though Isaac had some preparation, he quickly dodged, but the arrowhead still pierced his left arm.

  Accompanied by Isaac's loud roar towards the sky, this pair of pursuers and the pursued began to fight.

  As Astrid shot out the feathered arrow, Jorny quietly took down his own weapon from behind. With both hands on the hilt of his sword, Jorny fixed a tight gaze on the three people under the tree. He was waiting, waiting for them to come under the tree. Once they came under his tree, he would be able to give them a blow from above, just like when he ambushed the goblin.

  Isaac glared at the large tree, staring down his unseen opponent. He yanked out the arrow shaft from his left arm, bringing with it a burst of blood and flesh. Biting back pain, Isaac gripped his massive axe tightly in both hands, waiting for Edas to finish treating the wound on his arm before he charged towards Astrid's tree.

  Will also wanted to charge forward, but someone stopped him. A low voice came from behind them: "Your opponent is me."

  A master is a master, and they always make an entrance so cool, completely disdaining sneak attacks.

  Audrey dragged herself with her magnificent giant sword, provokingly looking at them.

  At this time, Isaac had already rushed under the tree. The furious barbarian who was ambushed was reckless and completely unaware of the situation behind him. Dodging the constantly shooting arrows, he only had one thought: to kill that despicable scoundrel who hurt himself!

  Joni made his move. He leaped down from the tree, his sword flashing in a powerful arc towards the giant axe warrior below. He was certain that this blow would land, and even if it was somehow blocked, he could use his own strength and momentum to force his opponent back several steps, crushing his will to fight.

  In the end, this pose and action are really cool!

  Unfortunately, Isaac was not a goblin. He had been closely watching the dense foliage and saw a figure wielding a giant sword emerge from it. Unhurriedly, he swung his own massive axe in the direction of Jony's fall. Originally confident, Jony was startled by this turn of events and hastily turned his body, swinging his sword to block the giant battle-axe. Very fortunately, the great sword happened to be in front of him just before the axe struck, saving him from being cut in two at the waist. Despite this, he was still knocked flying and rolled on the ground several times before getting up.

  "Oh my god!" Joni couldn't help but exclaim, then suddenly remembered his nominal faith and hastily corrected himself, "Thanks to Odin!"

  Life-and-death battles are the most effective scenarios for cultivating faith.

  Isaac saw that the man had come down from the tree, so he shifted his target. He carried his giant axe, step by step slowly walking towards Johnny, with a cruel smile on his face.

  An arrow flew from the tree and stuck in Isaac's back.

  Is there another one? The barbarian warrior was extremely surprised. He turned his head to take a look at the big tree, and indeed, there was a figure hiding in the treetop.

  Then let's take one down first! He quickened his pace and ran towards Johnny who had just stood up.

  From the last exchange, Johnny had already felt the power of this tall and robust man. Seeing him ignore the arrows shot from behind and rush towards himself with quick steps, Johnny secretly cursed in his heart. However, since the battle could not be avoided, he could only face it bravely. Looking at that exaggerated giant axe, Johnny swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

  "Clang!" The axe chopped down onto the giant sword's blade, producing a loud crash that sent Johnny flying back several steps.

  Feeling the numbness in his hand, Joanie thought that his life was quite bitter. Why did he always end up in such a miserable fight every time he fought with someone? Beating the giant demon had been a win, but he had been completely powerless; passing the seventh level test had been a victory, but it had looked incredibly ugly; fighting ordinary soldiers hadn't been difficult, but the entire war had been so one-sided; now he didn't even know if he could win, but the gap in strength was just too big.

  Estelle's accurate shooting was harassing Isaac from behind, but Isaac seemed to feel no pain at all, swinging the giant axe in his hand again and again, cutting Johnny into a sorry state. Johnny could only dodge or block, unable to counterattack.

  When Johnny's situation was critical, O'Dara's side was quite smooth.

  The gap between the two was huge. When Eidas attempted to chant a prayer, Odara flashed past Will's interception and slashed his sword heavily on Eidas' shield. After a loud crash, Eidas was knocked back two steps, and the divine technique that was about to be completed in his mouth was also forced to interrupt. Odara finished slashing with one sword, took two steps forward, and kicked Eidas' hastily raised shield with force, kicking him back and turning around to slash at Will's long sword, which was already swinging halfway, almost flying off.

  Strength and agility, these are the two most basic elements of a warrior's battle. Good at using sword and shield, Will is definitely no match for Odara who is used to wielding a giant sword in terms of strength, let alone fighting with one hand against two hands. He took a few steps back, his sword-wielding hand weakly hanging down.

  "Hey, the sword is quite sturdy!" Odara chuckled and commented, turning around and slashing at Eidas' shield once more, sending his prayer back down his throat.

  Aidas has some regrets, although he is a pastor, when studying in the temple, he neglected to concentrate on training because he was more inclined to fight. If only he had been serious before, he wouldn't have been interrupted so frequently while praying during battles!

  Will slightly adjusted his state and approached O'dara again. This time, he held the shield at an angle in front of him, with his right hand holding the sword behind the shield. O'dara turned around as usual and struck with one sword, but was deflected by Will's shield to one side. Will's long sword swung round and chopped onto O'dara's body. The long sword scraped out a metallic sound on O'dara's body, chopping all the way through, but without any feeling of entering flesh.

  "Kid's not bad." Odala exclaimed in surprise, turning around to kick the murmuring Eidas again, "Actually managed to hit me."

  Will felt some regret for coming on this trip, the man in front of him was absolutely not an ordinary mercenary. Such sturdy armor, how much would it be worth? It could almost rival the set on Eidas' body!

  The equipment of the temple staff should still be remembered by everyone, right?

  But Aidas' shield had already begun to warp slightly.

  From Odala's side of the situation, we can infer that Jonyi and his group are in a terrible predicament.

  But fortunately, Astra still maintains her firepower output.

  Even Isaac, as sturdy as a wild bull, felt the pain and fatigue at this time. The five feathered arrows nailed to his back stirred in his muscles with each attack, bringing out streams of fresh blood. He couldn't see them, but he could feel them. The little guy in front of him was still resisting stubbornly with a large sword in both hands, showing no signs of giving up. But he himself was already somewhat unsteady.

  Joni is now more grateful than ever for the devil training Odara put him through. Without that training, he would not have had the strength and endurance to make it this far; without that training, he would not have been able to maintain his best defensive posture in the face of repeated defeats; without that training, he would not have been able to launch a counterattack when his opponent's attacks weakened.

  Despite his arm aching and numbing, Jony still used the action he had practiced countless times to parry the attack that was no longer as powerful, then his great sword followed the direction of the parrying force and drew a circle, spinning around in a slanting slash, tearing open a layer of leather armor, and on Ezek's chest, which only barely managed to retreat slightly, a long bloody gash was drawn.

  Isaac retreated two steps, one hand holding an axe and the other covering his wound. What made Johnny feel regretful was that his opponent didn't say a word and fall down like in those martial arts movies. Isaac seemed to be enraged by his own blood. He let out a loud roar, as if dispelling all his injuries, and launched another fierce attack.

  Damn it, Joanie cursed inwardly, had she transformed or what?

  Joni fell back into a desperate defense. He thought the big man in front of him should be finished soon, Aisutier's arrows were still shooting, and his own wound was still bleeding. No matter how strong this guy was, he should have died from blood loss by now?

  It's just that I don't know if I'll be able to see that moment...

  Eddard and Will were unable to counterattack like Jory. Eddard's large iron-rimmed shield was cracked, he pulled out his own warhammer, completely abandoning the release of divine magic, and charged forward against Obara's attack. Then this crazy pastor's weapon in hand, with the ideal of a holy warrior, was knocked flying by one sword. After Obara's second attack ended, he quietly fell into Daenerys' arms.

  That's life. You spend a decade, maybe two decades, learning, training, fighting, and when you're killed, it's just an instant. Most people will die in such silence, such helplessness, such incompleteness.

  Seeing his brother's head fly off from his neck, Will was heartbroken. But his heartbreak didn't last for too long, as he soon reunited with his brother after facing O'Dara alone.

  Of course, he still had to cover his wound and convulse on the ground for a while.

  Then he came to Johnny's side, expressionless, and caught Isaac's slash. Odara counterattacked once, piercing through his body. After pulling out the giant sword with both hands, only a corpse that was still slightly trembling remained on the ground.

  This is not a team of weaklings, even before Eidas joined they had completed many missions and defeated many opponents. But no matter how many victories there are, one fatal defeat can end everything. Choosing the wrong opponent, their deaths were only in an instant. A similar scene has been performed countless times, repeating itself for decades, never changing. Mercenaries originally wore their lives on their belts, life and death by fate.

  Aidas' three men were obviously not good enough. Joanie didn't even know their names.

  "It must be them." Odara glanced at Isaac's corpse, his waist hung with scabbarded shortswords. "They must have taken care of our other enemies beforehand."

  A tranquil atmosphere filled the forest, with only Johnny's heavy breathing and the pervasive smell of blood hinting at the fierce battle that had taken place.