Mercenaries and Adventurers

The next day, today is the agreed deadline for return.

It worked until midnight yesterday, and everyone in the construction team got up early this morning to fill their stomachs with prepared wolf meat, and then each brought a roasted watery radish, chewed a few mouthfuls of snow, and then continued to build the second building. line of defense.

Just before noon, a thunderous sound of horse hooves came from the open space outside the rocky mountain.

As soon as everyone heard the sound, they knew it was the sound made by Knight Lanissa's horse running at full speed.

"The Lord Knight is back. Let's put down what you are doing and greet him quickly. By the way, you two boys should quickly return to the stronghold and take out all the food and prepare it. They must have been there for several days. I'm tired and hungry, and I haven't had a good rest. Hurry up and get ready." The old hunter rubbed his hands and hurriedly asked the two young hunters in the team to return to the stronghold to prepare for eating and drinking, while the rest of them went out from here to prepare to greet them.

Going down from the soon-to-be-built second position, it's very close, but not far. Keir quickly ran to the first line of defense with the two old hunters, lifted the entry and exit logs placed behind the wooden wall of the position, and quickly set them up outside the wooden wall.

-

Knight Lanissa covered her abdomen with her hands and rode her horse back to the rocky mountain in a state of low spirits. Behind her horse, the hunters, old and young, on the four skis were all like her. Although they seemed uninjured, they were listless and had no strength to stand on the skis. Instead, they all sat down on them, and then used their extra A section of rope was tied to the belt around his waist, and the whole person did not care about the shock during dragging. When passing through the undulating terrain, the whole person was shaken and bumpy.

It's not that they didn't want to, but the four of them were just like the knights. In the past two days when they returned, they didn't eat a single meal. They were extremely hungry and endured it for a long time before returning to the Rock Mountain stronghold.

"Everyone, cheer up! We can go back soon! The stronghold is full of food, and we will fill our stomachs soon. Damn it, if it weren't for that thing, how could I be in such a mess!" Said this, riding on the saddle Knight Lanissa was swaying because of hunger, and her innermost curses were much quieter.

As a knight, she not only had to brace herself up to fight the pursuing Northern wolves after everyone lost their food, but also because the knight itself consumed much more physical energy than ordinary people, so she needed food supplements even more.

Her war horse was fine. When resting at night, it would plow through the snow near its resting place to find dead grass under the snow to eat, barely able to supplement its food. But humans do not have the good appetite of horses, and dry grass is not food that human teeth can fully grind. Although if it really doesn't work, it doesn't mean that you can't eat to satisfy your hunger.

But knights and hunters are not landless wandering farmers. They would rather go hungry temporarily than try to eat grass. Because dignity is on the one hand, and on the other hand, having a bad stomach will be troublesome. After all, this is not a field near a city, and you can always seek treatment from church priests. It was at least a five-day trek from the nearest human settlement, so it would be bad to get sick from eating it by mistake.

After half a circle around the rocky mountain, she finally saw the entrance to the rocky passage.

This place was very different from when she set out.

Two deep and long trenches were built on both sides of the originally unobstructed entrance to the passage. When she looked around from the horse, she could see that the trenches were filled with short, thick and sharp wooden thorns. It was very difficult for the enemy without protection. Just cross over there.

Pulling the reins to slow down the war horse, she decelerated and went around to the passage in the middle of the trench. There were all metal clamps near the entrance of the passage. They were so densely packed that it was impossible to ride through on horseback. She had to dismount and walk.

"I'm back!" Knight Lanisa breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the old hunter and Kil who came out to greet them. She stopped her horse, then carefully lay on the horse to take a breath, and then slowly dismounted sideways.

She was careful when dismounting, because she was not strong enough and she was wearing heavy armor. If she jumped off the horse rashly at this time, she might be directly crushed to the ground by the weight of the armor.

"Damn it." She muttered, never expecting that after so many years of becoming a knight, she would actually feel that the armor on her body was getting in the way.

After dismounting, she simply sat on the mound of trench next to her and watched the old hunter and Keir walking over.

"Is there anything to eat?" She took off her helmet, put it on her lap and weakly asked the men who came over.

Keir touched his pockets and was embarrassed that he didn't touch the carrots each of them had received in the morning. After he worked for a while, because he was thirsty and didn't want to eat snow, which felt cold to his mouth, he cracked the radish a few times and ate it while he was busy.

The same goes for the other two young hunters. Their physical strength was severely exhausted and they had to eat something, so the three young men had already eaten the carrots.

But the two old hunters didn't. They looked at the Lord Knight's sluggish spirit, took out the morning radishes from their clothes and handed them to him. Because the two of them were older and couldn't keep up with the younger guys in terms of physical strength, Kiel didn't assign any strenuous tasks to them. They were mainly responsible for cutting the grooves between the wood and pouring ice water. I didn’t eat the radish in the morning.

Taking the two cleaned white radishes, Knight Lanisa ignored the dining etiquette and bit off the end of the radish in one bite, chewing it with big mouthfuls.

Kil ran behind the horse and untied the four hunters, who were also languishing, from their skis. The four of them didn't even have the energy to say thank you. They were all limp, and the slightest bit of strength on their bodies was gone.

"Sir, what's wrong with you? I didn't see any injuries, so why are you in such a mess?" Kil placed the four of them on the mound of soil in the trench aside, and then asked him and the two elders who stayed here. A problem that all hunters have.

Lanisha Knight ate the crispy radish with big mouthfuls, and swallowed it into her stomach without chewing it carefully.

After eating two radishes quickly, she said angrily: "It's all because a tall humanoid monster stole the food supplies we carried! Damn it! Ah! If I see that thing again, I have to peel it. Peel it and hang it on the treetop to dry!”

After the four hunters rested for a while, they gradually woke up from their stupor, and they also briefly explained.

It turned out that everything went smoothly at first, and the skis worked surprisingly well. Everyone was an excellent hunter and quickly mastered balancing on their skis. The two skilled old hunters even mastered the technique of tying a rope around their waists, leaving their hands free to shoot on their skis.

Without the trouble of walking, the five people and one horse maintained the high-speed movement of the war horses. It only took two days to find the location where the Northern wolves gathered through the gathered traces of Northern wolves.

It was a place that was originally covered with mud in summer, and its original owner was a large group of wild boars. The huge wild boar occupies a privileged position, and no other animals in the forest will disturb them.

But in winter, the situation is different when the Wolf King needs to gather all the northern wolves.

The mud was frozen hard, making it difficult to walk. The wild boar family that originally lived there was also killed by the wolf king under the command of the wolves and used as food for all the northern wolves who came over.

The old hunters roughly judged the direction in which the wolves gathered in the North, and then directly judged the specific gathering point of the wolves, and then quickly rushed there. Along the way, they tried their best to kill every scattered northern wolf they saw. Finally, after approaching the main body of the wolf pack, he was discovered by the wolf king.

When they found out, it was not that Lanisa Knight couldn't defeat the Wolf King. Considering that there were too many wolves, it was not suitable to fight the Wolf King at this time. Lanisa Knight took the four hunters on the skis behind her and kept attacking the wolf. They sneaked up on the outside of the group and killed the northern wolves who rushed over to gather.

This undoubtedly greatly annoyed the Wolf King and all the Northern wolves, so not only the Northern wolves pursued, but also the huge Wolf King.

Unfortunately, although the Wolf King is very large, it does not run very fast. Perhaps due to other factors, it does not have a strong will to pursue the knights who are harassing them. It just makes a large number of northern wolves move. Run around the gathering point and drive away the harassing group of knights.

At night, Lanissa Knight and the others rushed to a place where the Northern Wolf could not follow them, and rested there.

However, a strange wolf howl in the middle of the night disturbed the knights and the group of knights who were resting and fighting at any time. Strangely, a forest black bear that would have been dormant in the bear den and no one dared to disturb suddenly rushed out of the darkness.

The knights and hunters had no choice but to fight with this crazy black bear.

But this forest overlord is obviously not easy to defeat. Firstly, it was night and everyone couldn't see clearly as humans. Secondly, halfway through the fight, everyone realized that everything in their camp had been taken away by a tall humanoid monster.

At this time, Knight Lanisa realized that the other party was thinking of a strategy to divert the tiger away from the mountain, and stole their food supplies while they were fighting against the tenacious forest black bear.

After repelling the forest black bear for a while, Lanissa Knight went directly to chase the monster that stole their supplies.

But the other party was very cunning and ran directly in the direction of the Northern Wolf. While chasing him on the road, he also made weird wolf howling sounds, attracting and disturbing a large group of Northern Wolves in the distance.

In the end, the other party tore up their food and scattered it all over the ground. Knight Lanissa had no choice but to retreat to the camp.

When Lanisa Knight went out to pursue, the hunters also relied on the firelight of the camp to give the invading forest black bear a few severe blows, driving away the forest black bear that could not be seriously injured by arrows.

Unfortunately, the knights and hunters didn't eat much after that day.

Because he didn't know if the cunning Northern Wolf knew about his situation, the Wolf King divided the adult Northern Wolves into several teams and chased them all the way day and night.

The knight had no choice but to lead the hunter in a large circle from the outside, hurriedly and slowly, and returned to the rocky mountain at the agreed time.

Although they only killed about a dozen Northern wolves along the way and failed to kill more Northern wolves, at least the task of delaying the gathering of wolves was accomplished well.

Behind them, adult wolves among the Northern wolves were sent out in large numbers to chase them. The knight hunters did a good job of keeping the Northern wolves waiting in place for at least a few more days.

-

After talking about these situations, everyone started walking towards the stronghold on the mountain.

Kil carried an old hunter on his back, and the other old hunter reluctantly lay on the knight's horse. The other two young men were helped forward by the old hunter who stayed here.

Everyone avoided the metal clamps on the floor in the passage, being careful not to let their legs or feet step on them. It is a trap after all. That thing ignores both the enemy and the enemy. If you accidentally step on it, your legs and feet will definitely not be saved.

Although he would definitely be cured by church priests when he returned to the city, it would be difficult to participate in the next battle.

Kil introduced Knight Lanisa and the hunters who were out as they walked. Knight Lanisa didn't express any opinions about the others, but she did praise Kil for causing the rocks to fall on the edge of the passage.

Because she felt that this was the only thing that could hurt the wolf king of the Northern Wolf.

After all, if she was hit by a huge stone of that size without protection, she would be smashed into a pulp. Although it is difficult to be defeated in vain by their level of strength, but if it is during her battle with the Wolf King, it is somewhat possible.

Or, you can use this thing to distract the Wolf King and give her an opportunity to create an advantage in the battle.

One by one, they climbed over the wooden wall of the first position on a ladder made of two pieces of wood. It was okay for the humans, but it was difficult for Knight Lanissa's horse to get over.

As a last resort, she could only let the old hunter on horseback help him over first, and then Knight Lanisa rode the horse. After manipulation, she made the horse jump on the spot, directly over the two-meter-high wooden wall, and landed heavily on the wooden wall. In the open space behind.

Boom!

As the horse's hooves fell, a huge sound echoed in the middle of the rock passage. The sound made Kiel's and the others' ears hurt. Kil worriedly looked at the stones on both sides of the rock passage, fearing that they would fall and not only damage the passage, but also the metal clamps that were not yet functioning.

Fortunately, although the sound in the passage was loud, the vibration was not big. At least the stones on both sides of the passage did not move, but some snow was shaken off.

At the second position of the wooden wall, although the wooden wall has not been repaired in the end, it is still not possible to pass directly. Their team still has to climb over the wooden wall through a simple wooden ladder made of two pieces of wood.

Knight Lanisa was still riding her war horse and jumped over the wooden wall with one jump. And Kil made two trips back and forth to carry the two old hunters, who were weak from hunger, over the wooden wall.

The third position had not been built yet, so everyone bypassed the wood materials blocking the road and returned directly to the stronghold as the fourth position.

The two young hunters have already cooked the food. The radishes and potatoes cut into pieces are nutritious and filling root foods, plus some dried meat cut into small pieces. They are not wolf meat, but they are all from the estuary. Expensive cured meat bought in town.

There is no need to add salt to the one-pot meal, the salt in the jerky is enough.

The food was fragrant, and the smell made the weak knights and hunters feel much better.

Seeing them eating, Kiel and the others gave a brief report to the knights who were eating on the construction status of the defense line these days. Basically, Lanisa Knight was satisfied, so Kiel told his entire defense plan and hoped that they could rest for an afternoon and then follow them in the evening to build the third line of defense and transform it into the fourth line of defense. stronghold.

The knight agreed, and approved their permission to use the skins of northern wolf wolves as straps, and said that she would also join in, but she was not needed to build the wooden wall. She was interested in causing some rockfall on both sides of the passage. Traps are more interesting.

Although this is not in line with the knight's fighting spirit, the team's enemies at this time are not humans, so they don't need to care so much.

Just kill as many northern wolves as possible.

-

After having a full meal, the knights and hunters who had gone out before rested in the stronghold tent. Snoring broke out all of a sudden. Kil first asked his companions to build the wooden wall of the second position, while he took off the armor of the knight's horse and fed it a lot of hay and food to make this guy full.

Then, Gere took off the rope that previously connected the horse to the skis, carried the rope on his back and walked to the top of the rock with the weapon.

After leaving the rock passage, the last section of the road to the top of the rocky mountain is really suitable for establishing the final fifth line of defense. The road here is narrow and steep enough. It can be sealed with only a small amount of wood, which is enough to cause a lot of damage to the northern wolves attacking here.

The wind is still very strong on the rock platform on the top of the mountain. Although it cannot be seen with the naked eye, the wind will quietly take away all the heat here. When people realize it, they will freeze.

Kil wrapped his wolf fur cloak tightly around him. He did not wear his own armor, because the front of the stronghold was protected by the first line of defense, and he was safe enough on the rocky mountain.

After walking around the platform at the top of the rocky mountain, Kil carefully poked his head outside the platform and observed where he could safely fall to the bottom through the rope.

This will be a safe enough evacuation point that exceeds Northern Wolf's expectations. Their resistance all the way in the rock passage will give the Northern Wolf and the Wolf King the illusion that there is no way out, and this is the retreat for survival.

Humans are different from wolves. Wolves have no hands and cannot use tools, so they cannot do too many things. Humans can do many things with their hands.

Sliding down the cliff is something that a northern wolf cannot do no matter what.

Kiel circled the top of the mountain twice and found a suitable spot. The top of the mountain looks high and steep, but in fact there are still some places where you can stay if you go down from the edge of the platform.

Kil pulled out his long sword here, and used the long sword, which was far stronger than the rock, to open two gaps on the edge of the rock platform. Then he hung the long rope from here, and waited until one end of the rope was attached to the small hole where people could stand underneath. After getting on the small platform. Kil marked the rope, then pulled it up again and cut it with his long sword at the marked place.

He did this to save ropes. After all, these strong enough ropes were brought by them from the town, which was far beyond the comparison of belt strips cut into strips from wolf skin. This thing was the last escape route and had to be reliable enough. Kil didn't dare to use homemade belt strips for this.

If it cuts off at a critical moment later, it will be all over.

Kil made a small loop at one end of the rope and put it into the groove cut with his long sword. Then he put all the ropes on his back, put the long sword back into the scabbard, and carefully slid down the ropes.

-

There is not as much cold wind on the edge of the cliff as there is on the summit platform. The wind here is blocked by the entire rock mountain. The wind blowing from the north cannot affect the cliff in this direction at all.

Kil slid twenty meters along the rope to the bottom. After his feet touched solid ground, he looked around.

He frowned.

Because the surrounding area does not look like a naturally formed landing platform. Instead, it looks like part of a passage embedded in the interior of the rocky mountain.

How should I put it? Kil saw the marks of sword slashes on the rock wall next to it, as well as the crushing depressions caused by the impact of hard objects. These were obviously caused by the battle.

But this is not a rocky passage leading all the way to the top of the rocky mountain.

He checked here and found that in this small platform that sloped inwards, the rocks on the left and right sides were obviously not a whole with the rocks near the inside of the mountain.

No matter how you look at the large and small blocked rocks on the left and right sides, they look like they were destroyed and blocked later.

He remembered what the beautiful griffin rider said before: This was originally the end of a passage where the dwarves crossed the border barrier from the north and rose from the earth.

Think about it carefully, if this is the end of the channel, then this rock mountain should be hollow?

There must be a wide exit inside the rocky mountain that a large group of dwarf soldiers can pass through on foot. After the Knights captured this place many years ago, they must have completely destroyed it. The original rock materials of the rock mountain were used to completely block the large and small exits of this passage.

Keir thought of this and scratched his cheek, feeling a little interesting. And when he approached the side of the platform wall, he actually heard a low, vague and hollow sound of wind.

He looked at the large and small piles of rocks here, guessing that maybe the collapse here was not very thick? So there was wind blowing out of the cracks in the rocks?