Mercenaries and Adventurers

Ignoring the figure of the axe-wielding bandit, Priest Batal hurriedly rode towards the darkness.

Not far away, the young refugee men and women who were dragged to the ground by two bandits had lost the will to struggle and were ready to tremble and accept the upcoming dark encounter.

But the sound of horse hooves approaching quickly woke them up.

"It's the priest!"

"He's here to save us!"

The two began to twist and struggle again, which angered the bandit who was dragging them with a rope: "￥%￥ # , please be honest with your father. If you don't want to suffer, just calm down."

But they also noticed the prairie horses that were chasing after them, and the church priests on the horses.

But no one could see clearly in the darkness. The faces of the two thieves were not panic, but a scornful smile that their plan had succeeded.

The two bandits immediately left the male refugee who was heavier and struggled more fiercely, and together they dragged the other female refugee and quickly retreated to the agreed place.

Priest Batal saw the situation ahead. As he passed by the abandoned male refugees, he asked, "Are you okay? I'll catch up, and you quickly retreat back into the crowd!"

But the young man on the ground whose arms and legs were tied up with ropes opened his mouth and shouted: "Sir! Sir! Help! I am tied up! Help me untie the rope!"

Gritting his teeth, Priest Batal pulled the horse sharply to stop the prairie horse. Then he turned over and touched himself, but found that he did not carry a sharp weapon such as a dagger.

He had no choice but to find the knotted place of the rope under the faint light of the fire not far away, and pulled hard from left to right to unbuckle the rope that was getting tighter and tighter.

After untying his arm, he said something, turned over and got on the horse again: "You can do the rest yourself, I'll go rescue the others right now!"

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir! Please be careful, and please be sure to rescue others!"

The rescued young man sat on the ground and tried his best to untie the rope around his ankle while talking.

"Walk!"

Knocking the horse's belly violently, the prairie horse started running again.

But after this delay, the figure who had caught up before ran away again.

Batal saw that not only the female refugee who had just been arrested, but also the two people who had been arrested were being dragged by the bandits into the woods not far away.

But we can't let them retreat into the woods, otherwise, we really won't be able to save them.

-

When the bandits dragging the captured refugees saw the priest chasing after them, they immediately looked at each other and laughed silently.

While they were dragging people, they also violently kicked the refugees who were being dragged on the ground. Let them make painful cries, which not only guides the priest's direction, but also puts a lock on the other party's anxious mood that will not calm down.

These cunning bandits have always understood and are good at exploiting human emotions to defeat their favorite prey.

This was true in the past, and it is true today.

From time to time, they turned to look at the horses chasing behind them, and they shouted deliberately: "No! The difficult priest is chasing me!"

"Idiot, let's run away first and don't take any prisoners!"

"No, I want this woman, you two are the ones, the man doesn't want her!"

"Right!"

Immediately, a male refugee who was captured first was left behind. This young man, who had been extremely frightened and beaten, now burst out with a strong desire to survive. Although he was tied tightly, he struggled. Twist to the south.

The priest approached on horseback, and the young man opened his mouth and shouted: "My lord! My lord! Leave me alone! Go and save the others!"

But how could the priest ignore him? This man was different from the one before. The previous person was only tied up with ropes on his arms and ankles, but this guy was tied up tightly with ropes. It is completely impossible to solve it on your own.

Batal jumped off his horse, took out the protective statue, squatted down and said to the tied up refugee: "Don't move, I will untie you!"

The young refugee stopped moving. Then he saw the priest bringing a wooden idol close to the rope on his arm, whispering an inaudible word, and then a cluster of cyan divine flames emitted from the top of the wooden idol.

Although this thing was small, its heat was amazing. With just a slight touch on the rope, it ignited the rope and the linen clothes underneath.

Batal looked embarrassed and patted the flames with his robe sleeves, but the young man said: "Sir, leave me alone, go and save the others! They are going to run away!"

The priest turned around and saw that, sure enough, the shouts of struggle were approaching the forest. He immediately stood up and mounted his horse: "Can you untie yourself and go back?"

"It can be done, it can be done!"

In this way, Priest Batal quickly started to gallop on his horse.

-

But under the arrangement of the bandit leader, the bandits had already calculated the distance and plan accurately.

When they approached the edge of the woods, it was just the time for the priest to catch up again on horseback, so these people pretended to be exaggerated and dropped a captured male refugee, while the others took the captured women and went into the woods.

This time the priest finished praying to light the flames of the amulet statue on his horse. As soon as he jumped off the horse, he shouted to the refugees twisting on the ground: "Don't move! I will use fire to untie the rope for you!"

Then the statue rolled on the opponent's arm, and the ropes and clothes caught fire with a crackling sound. Such rough movements and high-temperature flames made the refugee scream.

"Don't worry, I will use magic to heal you later. Now endure the pain, untie the rope yourself, and run back! You know!"

The young man nodded in panic. Seeing that the other party understood, Priest Batal got on his horse, lifted the amber metal staff hanging on the saddle, and urged the horse to take small steps into the forest.

He breathed heavily, using the cold and humid air in the forest at night to try to calm down, hoping that this method would give him more courage.

The priest followed the direction of the woman's cry for help and let the horse trot past. At the same time, he raised his long staff diagonally, emitting a dim yellow halo, barely illuminating a large area of ​​surrounding woods.

He had a bad feeling, but the horses trotting in the woods were getting closer to the woman's shouts.

-

Finally caught up.

The dim light shone over, and he stopped three young bandits and a female refugee.

"Let him go! Otherwise I won't show mercy!"

cried the young priest.

But what responded to him was the ridicule of the bandits: "Show mercy? Who, you~~?"

The three bandits laughed loudly. They blocked the female refugee whose hands and feet were trapped in front of them. They placed the sharp dagger in their hands on the woman's slender neck and gestured.

"Haha, brothers, I have always heard that your priest can heal wounds, but are you curious?" One person said with a smirk.

Another person answered: "Then I'll rub this soft neck, pfft, but a lot of blood will spurt out from the broken neck. Can you save the person before he dies?"

"Brothers are very curious."

The last bandit answered proudly.

The provocation of these bandits made the corners of Priest Batal's mouth twitch, because these people's words indeed touched on the key point.

As a shepherd of the Church of Saturn, he actually has limited ability to use magical healing.

Even with a sufficient supply of divine power, he could not heal serious injuries.

My arm was broken, but I could still manage to pick it back up, press it on, and connect it together. But he couldn't make a person who lost an arm grow a new one.

That is not a high-level healing magic that the shepherd can master.

Therefore, he took a deep breath of air, glared coldly at the three provocative bandits not far away in front of him, and then looked at the hostage female refugee with apologetic eyes.

Some words do not need to be spoken, and everyone present can directly feel what everyone means to each other.

The hostage female refugee shed tears and finally plucked up the courage to shout to the Saturnine priest on horseback in front of her: "Sir! Please avenge me! Even if I go to hell, I will watch on the road. Here are a few of them to keep me and my companions company!!!"

She said the last sentence through gritted teeth.

Priest Batal did not respond. He just raised his left hand and raised the protective statue forward, preparing to use the divine power of the air wave to attack and kill all four people in front of him.

He didn't have the ability to save the female refugee before the robber wiped her neck, so he had to do this!

But at this moment, the three thieves who were supposed to be preparing to dodge or escape did not panic and dodge the attack as he expected.

The three guys had smiles on their faces.

A proud smile.

Just like the proud smiles of the hunters watching their prey fall into a deadly hunting trap.

-

Because, right now, right here.

Around Priest Batal, there were low shrubs on the ground, on the surrounding branches, and behind the tree trunks facing the dim light. With a faint sound, one bandit after another appeared.

The sound of the bang, the sound of the sharp blade sounded, giggling, a bow and arrow were pulled by the bow string.

There was a bandit who came out from behind the tree trunk, and the rope in his hand was spinning in a circle, ready to tie up the prairie horse that the priest was riding.

There was a bandit who was hanging upside down from a high branch. He stretched his bow and arrow upside down and aimed at the head of the priest on horseback.

A bandit climbed up from the bushes, grinning and slapping his rough palms with the sharp blade in his hand.

Finally, a strong, tall, middle-aged bandit walked out from the shadow of a tree trunk not far away, clapped his hands and walked out with a smile on his face.

"This is, um, Priest Saturn. Right? Priest Saturn, what do you call him?"

Priest Batal's face was livid, and he stopped breathing for a while. At this moment, he carefully looked up and down, and then after swallowing, he said in a slightly dry voice: "Losa Batal."

The bandits maintained an aggressive momentum, and their leader, the middle-aged bandit, also introduced himself: "Very good, as you can see, my gang is called Mountain Wolf, and my name is Mountain Wolf Barney. It’s a good name, right?”

After swallowing a mouthful of spit, Priest Batal's palms trembled slightly, but he did not respond.

Whether it was the nickname Mountain Wolf or the name Barney, he felt that it was not very good.

"Boss, he's scared! Haha." A henchman of the bandit leader who wielded a machete said.

The other bandits who surrounded him also laughed loudly. The female refugee who was kidnapped and tied up lowered her head sadly, leaving a few tears of despair. As a savior, whether it was her savior at this time or the savior of hundreds of young refugees, Priest Batal's performance at this time was far behind.

Barney, the bandit leader who was as cunning as a mountain wolf, snorted through his nose and snorted disdainfully.

"I don't want to say any more rules. Get off your horse, take off your weapons and equipment, and be honest. We will let you live, and give your bullshit god a chance to continue to work hard."

He leaned against a tree trunk, folded his arms and said proudly: "Otherwise, if my brothers cut off your head, they will have to cut off the heads of more refugees who want to resist during the rest of the night. Too many people will die." , in short, it’s a loss to everyone, right?”

By the dim light of the long staff in the priest's hand, he actually picked up his nails while talking.

"Uh-me."

Priest Batal was about to say something hoarsely, but no one thought that the most insignificant person in the scene would detonate the entire situation.

"Master Priest!"

A shrill cry attracted the attention of everyone in the forest at this time.

Everyone followed the sound and found out that it was the female refugee whose name they did not know who had been kidnapped.

"Don't believe them! Please fight! Revenge the dead————"

As soon as she finished speaking, the robber behind her who was holding her hostage was about to raise his fist and hit her talkative head hard. Unexpectedly, the female refugee lowered her head and slammed the dagger against her neck, twisting it.

The blood splattered and dripped, and it couldn't be stopped.

Then the bandit's fist hit her hard on the head, and the dagger cut deeply into her neck.

Priest Batal's eyes were filled with tears when he saw it, and he couldn't say the second half of the sentence of surrender in his mouth no matter what. He gritted his teeth and ignored everything around him. He raised his left hand that he had put down before and blasted out a wave of divine power that far exceeded normal strength.

Huh-boom!

The wooden statue of the benevolent God of Agriculture with a fuzzy face blasted out a diffuse air wave like a ball of light amid the surge of divine power.

As soon as it was released, it expanded rapidly, then expanded and roared, and bombarded the few people facing the priest.

The bandits around him also moved their hands at this moment. The bandit hanging upside down on the branch loosened the hook of the bow string, and when the bow arm flicked, he pushed the bow and arrows and shot towards the priest.

At least five arrows flew out at the same time around him, each one aimed at the priest's head.

But after a short flight, the metal arrows hit a circle of cyan light around the priest's head.

Then it bounced away.

The surrounding bandits also cursed loudly and raised various weapons while running forward. Each aimed at the Saturnine priest on horseback.

A little further away, the bandit who was spinning a rope loop in his hand also threw the rope loop at the prairie horse riding on the priest at the same moment. This bandit is specifically responsible for this in the gang, so he always hits the target and never misses.

The bandit leader, Mountain Wolf Barney, licked his teeth with his tongue, preparing to watch how this guy was chopped into pieces by his men.

It's a pity, a living church priest might be able to sell for a better price.

He thought so.

-

The divine energy wave exerts its power first.

Including the female refugee who took the initiative to commit suicide, the four people who were enveloped in the attack range of the air wave were all pushed backwards by the powerful blowing force in an instant.

Even if you are blown away by the wave of divine power on flat ground, you may break your hands and tendons, let alone in a forest full of trees.

The powerful pushing force blew several people up like rag dolls. After hitting a strong tree trunk, they were directly smashed into several pieces. The shrubs, grass, moss, soil, and even a few roots that were not very thick on the ground were all blown away by this roaring air wave.

In the distance, when the air wave dissipated, only a large area of ​​the ground that had been blown away and a few bright red blood stains on the tree trunks were left. Human limbs and broken arms, as well as all the fragments within the range of the ground attack, were blown far away and scattered in a large dark forest.

On the priest's side, the rope thrown by the priest was first hung on the prairie horse's neck. The bandit pulled it with his companions, and the prairie horse fell to the ground in panic.

Priest Batal screamed something unknown, and after falling to the ground, he raised his hand to block the weapon that was slashing at him. The not very thick arms and the priest's robe made of fine fabrics could easily withstand the weapons of several strong bandits.

It turned out that it was not the priest himself, but every time the weapons struck him, they were very close to his body and were forcibly pushed away by the sudden burst of cyan flash.

The bandits were a little surprised, but they did not stop moving. They kept shouting at the priest who fell on the ground. At the same time, bows and arrows kept hitting the priest's legs and body.

Priest Batal was surrounded by several people and could not stand up, let alone fight back.

Several heavy weapons continued to fall on his body. The faster the flash, the more he knew the limits of the protective magic in his shoulder armor and breast mirror.

He suddenly raised his hand and used the protective statue to send out a wave of divine power and hit an armored bandit away.

But the quick action only caused the bandit to fly up and hit a tree. After landing, the bandit vomited blood and rushed over again, cursing.

"Hahaha, that's it. Let's see, how many breaths can you still hold? Haha, be careful not to damage the long stick I'm interested in! It's worth a lot of money."

The leader of the bandits, Mountain Wolf Barney, is still leaning against the tree trunk. He likes to watch the last struggles of prey caught in the trap.

Although he lost a few young bandits, he didn't care. If he hadn't deliberately maintained the size of his team within a certain range, he would not recruit more new people. If he had really let go of recruiting other bandit teams, the Wild Snake, Fatty, and even the White Wall King would have come under his control long ago.

There are as many robbers as you want.

Especially after leaving this place with no development potential and going to other places to make a living. Landless farmers, destitute hunters, and even scattered soldiers who fled the battlefield, aren't these people who have no whereabouts all potential new members of his team?

The middle-aged bandit leader did not know that his words to his men gave the desperate Priest Batal a new inspiration.

The young priest, who was cowering up after being continuously surrounded and attacked, tightly grasped the amber metal staff with his hand, and told his heart and most intense impulses to this borrowed priest weapon of the church.

The amber gem on the head of the staff shone brightly, emitting a dim yellow halo that spread rapidly.

The halo swelled against the ground, like the setting sun rising backwards from the ground. A spreading semicircle rose from the woods, expanded, and reached the limit of the halo.

It was a ball of light with a radius of fifteen meters, with a dim yellow halo flowing slowly in it.

Slowly, not only the power within it, but everything in the light ball also slowed down at this moment.

But because the bandit leader, Mountain Wolf Barney, who was leaning on the tree trunk far away, was stunned and froze in place.

He opened his mouth and stared blankly at the huge expanding ball of dim light in front of him.

Everything inside moved slowly, as if everything was wrapped in invisible amber.

His men slowly raised the weapon, slowly brought the weapon to the top, and then dropped it down at an incredibly slow speed that he felt was incredible.

"Damn, damn!￥%￥, what's going on! What's going on?"

His eyes widened, and he shifted his suspicious gaze to the Saturnine priest who was surrounded by his men on the ground.

His eyes were fixed on the long metal staff on the ground that was grasped by the priest's hand. He was going crazy!

"That's my treasure! Mine!"

-

‘Hopefully, the Kiel Warriors can come soon. ’

In the ball of light shrouded in dim yellow light, Priest Batal, who had been hit by the bandit's weapon, huddled together, looking forward to it.

The bandits who attacked him noticed the strange changes. They were stunned for a moment, and then they stopped hitting the priest on the ground and looked around.

"what happened?"

"I don't know, but the yellow light around me is definitely not ordinary."

"Where's the boss? Why isn't he there?"

As soon as this person said this, the others discovered that the leader who was leaning on the tree trunk was missing.

The bandits on the branches turned around and jumped to the ground, alerting the surroundings. The prairie horse struggled to get up, but was calmed down by the bandits who tied the horses.

Then, they noticed that outside the dim circle of light around them, at some point, there was a guy standing in the south wearing a full armor and leading a tall war horse.

The guy was standing outside the dim light, looking at them coldly.

Especially what was exposed under the opponent's metal visor was not his eyes, but two bright spots emitting green light.

Not human-like.