Mercenaries and Adventurers

The young man named Lanu smiled bitterly and explained in a low voice: "Yes, just as you guessed, Lord Knight, one night a few days ago, that group of monsters in human skin attacked the town. "

"Those monsters must have planned this for a long time and identified the weaknesses in the town's defense. Joey and I don't know how they did it, but it was a very chaotic night anyway."

Kil strode to the well in the center of the village, patted his horse, and then began to disassemble the horse armor on Blood Licker. Ranu was frightened by the fully armed war horse, so he stopped talking.

"Go on, why are you standing there stunned?"

After being urged by Kil, the young man eagerly wanted to step forward to help, but Kil took apart the metal breastplate of the war horse and threw it to him, directly suppressing Ranu to the ground.

Kiel laughed loudly at this, and the armed people next to him also laughed loudly. These people all know that Kiel basically leaves matters related to knights and horses to himself or the grooms in the team. Although the grooms had only served donkeys or cattle in the village before fleeing, the war horses were actually not very difficult to take care of, especially since Blood Licker was a good horse that was smart and obeyed orders.

Others cannot and do not need to step in to help.

Firstly, it is not reliable enough for those who are not familiar with it. After all, the war horse is the part that increases the knight's combat effectiveness the most, so it is very important. Secondly, this work still has some technical content. If you rush in and intervene, you will not be able to help, but it will easily 'add to the chaos'.

The heaviest part of the horse armor is the front breastplate. Ranu finally pushed this thing aside. After he stood up, Kil pointed at him: "Just stand there and say Well, I don’t need your help.”

"Uh, okay, okay sir, I obey you, Lord Knight."

Ranu curled his lips, rubbed the bruised skin on his arm, calmed down for a moment, and then continued what he had said before: "The town was set on fire. It was a chaotic day, and the soldiers at the security station were also missing. Like a jumping frog, they are jumping around randomly, suppressing the panicked people, and at the same time fighting the 'bandits' who are hurting and arresting people everywhere."

"At that time, a monster in human skin pretended to be a robber and came to the security station with a blood-stained machete. Hey, the two of us who were locked up in the dungeon saw with our own eyes a few people who were responsible for guarding the prisoners. The prison guards were all hacked to death one by one by that guy."

"Hecked to death?" Kil frowned and asked doubtfully: "Isn't it a parasitic occupation?"

"Sir, we don't know what happened. The prison was dark and chaotic at the time, and we couldn't see clearly. Maybe that guy did something that we don't know."

"Maybe that's not a good answer. Forget it, go ahead. How did you two escape? Theoretically, you have to die there too, if the other party has any idea about you poor people who have nowhere to escape." Kil Unlocking the multi-layered protective cloth on the horse, he helped Li Xuecao put the 'clothes' aside just like taking off a piece of clothing.

Ranu stepped aside to avoid being brought down to the ground by the heavy and huge thing. He continued: "Anyway, the monster did have the intention to open the door of our prison with a knife, but at that time, a group of armored soldiers rushed in from the outside, fighting and moving against the powerful monster. Went outside."

"Joy liked to wander around the town, and he recognized that it was the elite soldier left by the lord in the town to protect the family. Although the monster was powerful, it could not stand up to a monster with a metal buckler, an armor, and a hammer with one hand. The elite soldiers had no choice. The soldiers rushed forward and smashed the guy's head with sharp spiked balls with short chains. But the monster had no brain in its head. It was at this time that the two of us gathered at the prison gate and watched the fight outside. I know that guy is not human!"

"It's not human!"

Ranu repeated it loudly.

As a result, his violent reaction and shouting only made the armed people around him laugh. Someone yelled at him: "You screamed as loud as a little girl. I bet this guy must have peed his pants at that time! Hehe."

Someone nearby reminded: "Ranu, just today, we killed a group of these guys. They are not human beings. You don't have to be so surprised."

Kil also shrugged and took off the metal visor and horse protective helmet on the head of Blood Licker's huge horse. The horse had been wearing these armors for a long time. After taking them off, he excitedly stretched out his tongue and licked Kil. one time.

"Uh, yeah, haha, that's it." The young man Ranu scratched his hair that had not been washed for many days in embarrassment, and then defended in a low voice: "When we were in prison, those hateful security soldiers only gave All prisoners wore linen sleeveless robes that covered their knees, but in fact we had no pants at all.”

Kil grinned when he heard this whispered defense, and stretched out his hand to signal Ranu to continue.

"Okay, sir, I just said that those elite soldiers fought with the monsters and ran out. After they moved outside the police station while fighting, Joey and I happened to find the damn hateful person who was interrogating us just outside the door of our prison. Guy, he died there. The monster cut him in half with a knife! The head and neck and right hand were connected together, and the rest of the body was on another part of the body."

"The key to the prison door! I think you must have noticed it, right?"

Kil patted his metal belt and said.

"Yes, yes, I was a little worried about what was going on outside, and my friend Joey noticed the key, so he first stretched his hand out of the gap in the wooden railing of the gate to reach the other party's body. Soon he found that enough When he couldn't, he used his legs. Although the gap in the wooden fence was limited, we were both very thin due to hunger and torture, so we could still stick our legs out."

When Ranu said this, his whole person seemed to have entered the previous memories, his breathing was heavy, and his whole person seemed very nervous.

"Joey did it for a long time, well, maybe not that long, but you must know that in that kind of fatal moment, every second is very long. His legs are a little short, just a little bit, he can hook the clothes of the corpse . But it was soon replaced by me to try. Fortunately, my legs were a little longer and my feet were a bit bigger. I used my toes to clamp the clothes on the wrists of the corpse, and just clamped them, bit by bit, to remove the dead body. Most of the bleeding corpse was dragged over."

When Ranu said this, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly, as if he was cheering for his former self and nervous for his former self.

"When the distance was close enough, Joey dragged the body to the door. He nervously removed the key ring from the body, and then tried the lock on the door one by one. I was exhausted at the time. , just slumped against the wall next to me, watching my companions and friends working hard for our God-given escape opportunity."

"You finally succeeded."

Kil signaled the idle armed people around him to fetch some water from the blue well nearby. He wanted to brush the armor of the blood-licking grass, and at the same time, he also had to give the horses a good wash.

Blood Licker looked expectantly at the people going to the well to get the water well pot, and snorted from time to time, as if to urge them.

"Sir, it was too thrilling at that time. Joey was very unlucky. He didn't find the right one until he tried the last key."

Kil interrupted Ranu: "No, your luck is not bad, but very good. If the goddess of luck does not favor you, the body only needs to be a little further away from your door, ha, you two All we can do is wait in jail for an unfair trial. You are very lucky, do you understand?"

Ranu was stunned for a while, seeming to understand what Kil said, and then smiled coquettishly: "Perhaps the great God of Agriculture saved us at that moment."

"Maybe." Kil curled his lips and murmured in a low voice: "That god has a lot of troubles to deal with, so he probably can't care about little Camilla like you."

Ranu continued: "As soon as I opened the door, Joey pulled me up from the ground with great strength. He yelled: 'We have to run quickly, the opportunity is rare!', ha, other prisoners outside our prison The guys who were locked up were all quiet at first, but when we were about to escape, they all yelled and begged us. Obviously everyone usually looked down on us because we were locked up for theft, but at this time, they were all too obedient to plead. Speak out."

"However, Joey threw the key to random people and asked them to save themselves. Then the two of us quickly escaped from the direction where the elite soldiers rushed."

"What's going on outside?"

"Outside..." Ranu took a breath. It seemed that he could no longer stand at this moment. He sat on the stone floor in the center of the village. Regardless of the layer of moss growing on the stone slab, he said seriously: "The sky is Red, the southern wall of the town and the people's shacks outside the town seemed to be on fire. Thick smoke jumped into the sky with the fire, making it darker and more terrifying than the night sky."

"Screams were everywhere, as well as the clang of weapons, roars, and people wailing."

"Fortunately, most of the villagers in our village and Joey's village, oh, the small Lanjing village we are in now, are in the northwest of the town. In fact, because those monsters are in the northwest of the town, they were still considered to be The main direction of attack of the bandits. I don’t think anyone could have imagined that those cunning monsters in human skin would set fire to them from the south side of the town. It was another night, in chaos, I guess even if the monsters There weren’t many, but they still caused a lot of damage.”

Kil snorted, took out a handful of beans from nowhere and fed the blood grass: "The destruction may not only be caused by those monsters. You have to know, the night, the war, the chaos, the flames, the smoke, the screams, These things will urge people who can't control their hearts to turn into beasts or even monsters at that moment. But the real monsters, those guys who are parasitic in human bodies and thirst for flesh and blood, may cause far less damage and destruction than that night when humans fell. time of harm and destruction.”

Ranu lowered his head: "You are talking about it, sir. What you are talking about is that when we escaped, we saw a lot of the evil things you said. Ha, theft, haha, I think after that night, the security I'm afraid they can't be locked up in the prison. If there are any security soldiers who survived that night."

"You don't need to worry about that. Let's talk about what happened next. How you got here after you escaped from the town in the chaos. And the most important point is, who told you to paint the tree trunks with flesh and blood, and those monsters will not come to patrol. ?”

Ranu thought for a while and said to Kil: "Sir, Sir Knight. This is not who told us. In fact, it was something Joey and I discovered together. When I was a boy, I liked to wander on this large land outside the town. , and Joey doesn’t like to help his family with farm work. The two of us actually know the land beneath our feet very well.”

"We all know where there are dens for small beasts, where there are snakes, where muddy water can be found when digging, and where there are deep pits under the grass! And after escaping from the town, in fact, after leaving the town, a There was not even half a person in the village. But just by relying on the birds flying above our heads, we could almost tell which village had activity and which village had no hair."

"At that time, we avoided a lot of 'bandits' wandering in the deserted farmland and uninhabited villages. Hey, they were actually monsters. We noticed that the monsters were divided into two parts."

"Two parts?" Kil frowned, and he asked: "About the monster part, tell me in detail. I came along the trade road and killed some, but I actually don't know much about them. There are so many, and there is no chance to observe their habits secretly.”

Seeing that the knight became serious, the young man Ranu also got up from the ground, bowed slightly, and said to the equally young knight: "Yes, Lord Knight."

"Ahem, let me think about it. Well, that's it. Monsters are divided into two parts, one part moves alone, and the other part forms a team of three or five, wandering around and hunting people nearby. I'll talk about the former kind first."

Keir raised his hand to indicate that he was free.

"Monsters that move alone like to use captured animals, uh, any animal, or the corpses of humans or other animals sent by another monster, and use their corpses, uh, they play with those corpses, taking flesh and blood. are smeared on the trunks of the big trees they like, which may be the selected big trees. We don’t know what they are tinkering with, anyway, this part of the monster likes to do these things. Every time a tree trunk is smeared, there is another A wandering monster that might be responsible for fighting, sending the still-living humans."

Ranu swallowed: "Monsters who move alone will find a rope and hang the human beings on the tree! Sir, this is not all, the people who are hanged are not dead at all, but live a life or two." The Queen of Heaven will struggle, struggle and fall from the tree, and then, that person, oh, turns into a monster in human skin!"

"This sounds, um." Kil touched the delicate beard stubble on his chin and muttered to himself: "It looks like a parasitic reproduction method of monsters. It's a bit cumbersome, and it seems to have a sense of ritual. It has to be a living person. Hang from a red-painted tree?"

"Sir, according to a monster that Joey and I have observed for several days, this is what happened. And this kind of solitary activity, in fact, they rarely leave those trees. This kind of monster seems to have wisdom and likes to talk to itself. , but the strange thing is that this kind of monster obviously moves alone, when they stay there alone, it seems like there are several people talking."

Keir thought of the parasitic monster he met yesterday evening. There were several parasitic faces in one body. After thinking for a while, he seemed to understand what was going on.

"Well, you go on and tell me everything you know."

"Joy and I have been observing those monsters for a while. In fact, these monsters are not very sharp. They also rest. Especially after catching animals and eating enough, they often lean on tree trunks full of flesh and blood, snoring and falling asleep. At this time, those monsters were very lax in their vigilance, and Joey even boldly went to a certain monster and stole a small dagger for cutting flesh."

Keir smiled: "Is that the little thing he used to hurt himself? Ha, that's right. That thing can only be used when hurting himself. In other cases, you can even get a wooden stick, which is better than that." The stuff works great.”

Ranu also twitched his lips and smiled. He also felt that the thing was useless. It was better to dismantle the wooden bed legs in a room and round them up, which would cause more damage.

Can knock out at least one enemy.

If it doesn't work, it can hurt people even if it is thrown.

"Anything else found?" Kil asked.

Ranu added: "After the wandering groups of monsters catch people, they will send them to the nearby flesh and blood tree trunks and hand them over to the individual monsters there. And if there are only flesh and blood tree trunks and no monsters exist, then those wandering monsters will often just turn around. Once it turned around, it wouldn't last long and then left. Even when those wandering monsters didn't catch anyone, they wouldn't get close to the flesh-and-blood tree trunk. It was after discovering this pattern that Joey and I caught some animals, endured the nausea, and A fruit tree in our hiding place—actually the fruit tree in Joey’s house, was painted into a trunk of flesh and blood just like the monsters did."

"That was a few days ago. After that, the two of us hid in this village. During the day, we went out carefully to look for food. At night, we hid in the cellar of his house without making a sound."

Ranu thought of something at this time and his face turned pale: "Those monsters will be more active at night. Well, I can't say that they are more active, but they are not likely to be affected by the night. I guess they can see it at night." , definitely more than us humans.”

"It's possible." Kil judged: "I can't say how much better our humans are at night observation, but it's enough for them to attack people passing by and attack Yemei Town."

"Once, in the middle of the night, several monsters wandered over at night, and they suppressed a few captured people. I knew from the sound that they were not our locals. So I ran to the small village of Lanjing, probably looking for these monsters. A lone monster next to a fleshy tree trunk is here."

"They didn't find their monster companions, so they cursed and escorted the captured people away. Only then did I know that these wandering monsters that looked more like monsters could actually talk. And Joey and I hid In the cellar, I didn't dare to move all night, because I was afraid that the monster outside would not leave."

"On the second day, we waited until the afternoon to confirm that there was no sound of monster activity for most of the day, and then we sneaked out to look for food."

Ranu shook her head.