Pale Emblem

Chapter 42 The Red Tide
Snow flakes danced silently in the dark night, and the houses on both sides of the street were silent.The boots of Vertoc and Bartom and others stepped through the snow on the road, bringing out a series of rustling footsteps, from the street to the end of the street.

At the end of the street, Gang Yan and seven adult Taku tribes were wearing beast helmets and cloaks, exposing their solid muscles as if carved out of rocks, and holding huge stone swords, blocking the entrance to the back door of the city wall.Beside them, more than 20 city gate guards were holding torches, all of them looked at a loss and panic.

When they saw Bartom and his party, it was like seeing the backbone, and they all ran behind the hotel owner.A leading professional reported the situation to Bartom in a low voice.

"Boss, the leader of the Gangyan clan took control of the city gate, and the Hemo clan and the underage Taku boys all went out. We couldn't stop them, we could only watch them leave... The leader of the Gangyan clan said, what's the matter? , let you find him directly."

Bartom nodded, walked to Gangyan with a heavy expression, and asked, "Sir, what happened here? You insisted on letting the Hemers leave Braun Town overnight?"

Gang Yan looked past the innkeeper, smiled and nodded at Vertok before turning his gaze back and said to Bartom: "Mother Earth gave me a revelation that Braun Town is about to face disaster. My life with my family has come to an end, Returning to Mother Earth's embrace is our inevitable ending. But Mother Earth's daughters give birth to new births, and it is their mission to sow seeds. So, when they leave, my people and I stay behind."

The professional hood and mask that Vertok wore covered even his eyebrows, revealing only a pair of amber eyes.He wanted to take off the mask and see if Gang Yan could recognize his disguised self.However, in Braun, everyone knew Vertoc, and it was not yet time for him to show his new face.

According to the meaning of Boss Bartom, if Victor wants to change his face and change his identity, he should first leave Braun Town and go to the plantation in Uttar Pradesh, the city of leaves for more than half a year. When he comes back, it is estimated that not many people can Recognize that Victor is the original Vertok.

In the past few days living in the pharmacy, Dr. Cole also specially taught Vertoc a little technique for changing his voice, which can imitate various sounds vividly.It just so happened that he could spend time practicing this ventriloquist during his stay at the Uttar Pradesh plantation.

Victor thinks that Bartom's boss and Dr. Cole are very thoughtful, and he regards changing identities as a very interesting thing.

In fact, Bartom also has his own small thoughts.If Lena came to Braun Town to pick up Vertok next spring, he hoped that Vertok would go to the Uttar Pradesh Plantation, just to avoid meeting Lena.Anyway, Vertok didn't know Lena, so he changed his identity and has been an important member of the Adventurer's Family from now on.

The Adventurer's Home took in Dr. Cole, who fled from the "Tower", and has since prospered.Now, he is not afraid to absorb another Vertok.

Bartom had a good idea, but the mass exodus of the Hemer female warriors was like a heavy bat, which made him dizzy.

"Master Steel Rock, what kind of disaster do you foresee?" Bartom tried to restrain his emotions and asked.

"I saw blood and fire flood the town of Braun."

"Blood and fire? Are the Orcs coming to attack Braun Town?" Bartom couldn't help covering his eyes and said angrily: "In war, obeying one's own dangerous premonition is the worst thing! Silent female warrior, your hunch will probably come true."

Gang Yan said lightly: "Life is a cycle. We come from Mother Earth, and we belong to Mother Earth. Our descendants continue our blood and continue our lives. Death is actually not terrible. If you can't face it calmly, now We can escape. But we won't."

Vertok probably understood what Gangyan meant, and he asked curiously, "You have a hunch that this place will be breached by orcs, and you and your brother will die, so why don't you escape with the Hemers?"

"We made a choice a long time ago. We fought to the death and never left this land. But, Vertoc, you can make a choice, stay and resist the invasion, or escape as soon as possible." Gangyan smiled. said.

Vertok suddenly realized, pointed at Gang Yan and said, "A few days ago, you asked me to stay in the Temple of the Earth Mother, for this reason?"

Gang Yan shook his head and said: "I had a faint premonition that there was danger at the time, thinking that if you stayed in the Temple of the Earth Mother, I could protect you. Until this evening, the Earth Mother gave me the revelation of blood and fire. We know that we have no way to protect anyone. , can only let the Hemers leave."

The head of the Tagu clan used to refuse to answer questions with silence, but he never lied.He said he got a revelation tonight, and that's right.

The resentment in Bartom's heart calmed down a little. Even if Gangyan did something bad with good intentions, at least he didn't hide it in advance, and he didn't mean to take the half-elves of Braun Town as victims.

The Hemers have just evacuated the town, and the townspeople and adventurers can now escape for their lives, depending on what decision Bartom makes.

He asked: "Master Steel Rock, when and from what direction do you foresee the enemy will attack Braun Town?"

Gangyan replied: "The enemy is coming from the east...soon."

Boss Bartom nodded. He didn't follow up on the stupid question "When will it be soon?"At this moment, he needs the report of the scout, not the hunch of the patriarch of the tower cave.

"Master Steel Rock, if we stick to Braun Town, can you obey my command?"

"Yes." Gang Yan gave a positive answer, turned to look at his compatriots, and added: "We obey the command and are not afraid of death... But one thing, you must remember. We will never leave Braun Town. , don't expect us to cover your breakout."

"Thank you, my lords, I understand." Bartom bowed deeply to several Taku tribesmen, turned to the city gate guard and instructed: "The city gate is locked! Huck, you stay here. From now on, No one is allowed to leave without my warrant!"

Huck nodded vigorously and shouted fiercely: "The city gate is locked!"

"The city gate is locked!"

"The city gate is locked!"

The order was passed on layer by layer. After the repaired thick wooden door was closed, the guard on the city wall pushed the winch and let the two heavy iron grids fall slowly against the wooden door one after the other, digging deeply into the soil.Every iron bar on the iron grid has the thickness of a child's wrist. If they had been put down, it would have been impossible for the Dragon Veined Venerable Hurant to break through the city gate.

"Let's go back to the hotel first." Bartom was silent for a moment, then turned and walked towards the Adventurer's House.

Vertok followed behind him and asked in confusion, "Why do you close the back door, don't we run away?"

Bartom was worried and did not answer his questions.Dr. Cole explained in a low voice: "The city gate can still be pulled up after it is locked. The problem is that there are thousands of people in the town, and among them, the elderly, women, and children cannot walk fast or far. The current situation is still unclear. , if they are hunted by the enemy in the wild, it will be difficult to escape. Most of their families are the awakened ones we cultivated. These lads would rather die in battle than sit by and watch their families be slaughtered by the enemy. We stay in the town, at least there are High walls can be defended, and in the wild, there is really no chance of winning."

"There are so many of us, it's hard to choose whether to go or not... In fact, Gang Yan can also see this, and he let the Hemers evacuate overnight. Whether we choose to escape or stick to the city wall, it is the main force to contain the enemy. , to cover for the retreat of the Homer clan."

Vertok nodded and said, "So that's what happened."

Dr. Cole felt speechless for a while. They were used by Steel Rock as a bait to contain the enemy. No one could tell what would happen next, but Vertoc didn't care.It can only be said that his mind is pure, and he doesn't even know if he is being used.

However, Gangyan and his compatriots decided to stick to Braun and were willing to follow Bartom's orders, and no one could blame them.

Cole thought for a while and said in a softer voice, "Don't worry, we have several tunnels leading to the outside of the town. We can escape completely if necessary."

Vertok nodded again: "So that's what happened."

Dr. Cole was really speechless this time.How did he know that Vertok was absent-minded on the surface, but he was actually using the "knowledge puzzle" to analyze intelligence and think about countermeasures.

When he was about to arrive at the hotel, Bartom suddenly said to Vertok: "Vill, please do something. The Hemers left together, and don't tell any adventurers about the locked back door. I'm afraid they will mutiny on the spot, then our The defense collapsed..."

Vertok held back for a while, nodded and agreed to Bartom's request, but he couldn't help shaking his head and said, "It's not good. You should use your wealth to hire them."

Bartom patted Vertok on the shoulder, shook his head with a wry smile, and sighed: "Son, you are still too young and kind-hearted. However, war cannot have a benevolent heart, whether it is for the enemy or one's own people. In short , the matter tonight is to be kept secret."

Am I being kind?
Vertok was confused, and he still couldn't understand what "kindness" meant.But "Puzzle of Knowledge" analyzes the current situation, and Vertok believes that hiding the truth from adventurers now does more harm than good.

First of all, the trust established by Bartom and the adventure group will no longer exist, and even if the incoming enemy can be repelled, the relationship between the two parties will not be able to return to the past.Secondly, adventurers with resentment can only be hidden dangers, and will not be a help in resisting the invasion.

The reason is very simple, the city wall of Braun Town is 20 meters high, it is difficult to climb up, but easy to jump down.Adventurers have good physical fitness. They can walk as long as they want to build a rope on the city wall.Whoever stops them from escaping is their mortal enemy.

Back at the Adventurer's Home, Bartom immediately issued an order to mobilize all the townspeople to prepare for battle, distribute weapons to the young and middle-aged, and ask the old and the weak to pack up and be ready to evacuate Braun Town at any time.He made such a big movement that the adventurers in the town could not have been unaware.Faced with questions from the leaders of the various adventure groups, Bartom only inferred that there was a change outside the town, and asked the adventurers to obey the command and go to the city wall to be prepared.

Just as Bartom was in a state of turmoil, scout captain Max's men, along with a large group of plantation guards who were terrified, withdrew from the north into Braun Town.

Bartom immediately grabbed a half-elf guard and asked loudly, "Has the plantation been breached? Where is Lord Maine? Who are the enemies and how many are there?"

The guard was a middle-aged half-elf with a face full of flesh, and his appearance looked fierce, but he said shiveringly: "A large group of orc fighters rushed over from the other side of the river... Thanks to the scouts of Lord Max for advancing Early warning, but we can't find Master Mein and Lord Joseph, so we can only withdraw to Braun Town."

"What? The mayor and the captain of the guard are missing?" Bartom was stunned, and asked again: "How many are a large group of orc warriors? How many butchers do they have?"

The guard just kept shaking his head, "I don't know, I don't know, it's too dark, we can't see clearly."

"Didn't see it clearly? Didn't see it at all!" Boss Bartom was furious, holding the guard's collar, shaking fiercely back and forth, "There is only one pajamas inside, with a cloak on the outside, not even a leather armor. Equipment... don't tell me, you handed over the entire plantation to the invaders without firing an arrow? Have the five ballistas on the plantation been destroyed?"

The half-elf guard snorted and cried with tears: "What can I do, the mayor and the captain have escaped, what can I do?"

Vertoc stepped forward and grabbed Bartom's wrist to stop him from continuing to shake the poor half-elf guard.

Surprised by Vertok's strength, the innkeeper let go of the guard.

"I remember your name is Hans." Victor asked calmly: "You said that you found out that Main and Joseph were missing, then you must have been to the mayor's house."

Hans glanced at Vertok gratefully, then lowered his head and said, "Yes, Mr. Vertok. I searched and found no one... The brothers all ran away, so I followed everyone to take refuge in the town."

"And what about Yog? Isn't he in the house either?"

Hans shook his head, thought about it, and then said: "Your slave is not in the house either. However, I found signs of fierce fighting near your room, the door was knocked down, there were cracks in the walls, and there was blood on the floor. And the embers left by the flames. Only Big George in the plantation has that kind of brute force... By the way, Big George is also missing, I guess Yog is in a bad way."

Vertok shook his head and said, "No... Big George won't pick up Yog's body."

"Vill, you don't have to worry about Yog. He is a savage after all, and life or death doesn't matter." Boss Bartom persuaded and lost interest in interrogating the plantation guards, saying to himself: "Max should immediately There is information coming back."

The scout captain of the Adventurer's House did not disappoint Bartom and sent back some information one after another.Tonight, some 300 orc warriors attacked the plantation on the east side of Braun Town, and the half-elf guards did not resist.Now, orcs have taken over the plantation, which is more than 30 kilometers away from the town of Braun.

This news somewhat relieved Bartom and the leaders of the adventure group.

However, Max didn't deliver the message as fast as the Orcs did.As the plantation was overrun by orcs, the scout's range was squeezed.Most of the scouts came back, only Max wandered outside with a few undercover hunters.

At dawn, the orc striker appeared on the east side of Braun Town.Wiltok stood on the city gate and could see more than 300 orcs gathering in the forest outside the east gate of the town.

They look ugly and ferocious like evil spirits, holding stone spears, stone axes, wearing only a loincloth of animal skins, and their brown-red skin is very conspicuous in the snowy forest.Among the half-orc warriors, there were also two butchers.They were tall and stout, draped in animal skins and bone shoulder armor, and each carried a huge axe with animal bone as a handle and rock as a blade.

"Two butchers... This is consistent with our previous judgment." Bartom, who was fully armed, kept his worries deep in his heart and said to the people around him with a pretense of ease: "The half-orcs of the outer domain are restrained by the local barbarians, they dare not All out to attack the town of Braun. With the city wall under our feet, if the Orcs want to break through the town of Braun, they must mobilize more than twice as many soldiers as us. We have 800 people here to defend the city wall, and they have to send 2000 soldiers at least once. Okay. They're gone, and the native barbarians won't miss the chance to drive out the invaders."

The heads of several adventure groups agreed, and Charlie of Qin and Whistle even commented: "The butcher on the opposite side is a bit tricky, but we have Lord Steel Rock sitting in town, and we are not afraid of them raiding the city wall."

Vertok carefully observed the situation on the opposite side, and suddenly interrupted: "We can withdraw now... Let the elderly, women and children go through the back door first, flee to the west, and seek refuge in the hinterland of Fallen Leaf City. The soldiers take the initiative to attack and destroy them. The half-orcs on the opposite side."

When he said this, the surrounding half-elves immediately fell into an awkward silence.

Bartom coughed and said euphemistically: Will, I understand the enthusiasm of young people, but it is not a wise choice to fight with orcs.Also, we don't know if there are orcs in ambush in the forest. "

The innkeeper just said clearly that the adventurers can't fight a tough battle. If they rush out of the city gate, they will definitely turn around and run away, and they won't be able to call back.

Vertoc continued: "I have checked the corpses of the half-orc scouts, and their body structure is very suitable for explosive strength, and their physical fitness is not too strong. We all rushed out from the city gate, and we don't need to annihilate the half-orcs on the opposite side, as long as To disperse them, there is no need to pursue them, then turn around and run along the city wall and flee to the west. The Orcs will not be able to catch up with us if they are not physically strong."

Captain Charlie couldn't help but ask: "We have the advantage in numbers and there are high walls to defend, why should we run away?"

Bartom also said: "The half-orcs can't catch up with us, but they can catch up with the old and the weak, aren't we using them as bait? Besides, Sarah is also unwilling to leave."

It is not a day or two for Vertok to use the "knowledge puzzle" to analyze the current situation. He originally wanted to say that the half-elf's weakness has been exposed when the half-orcs took down the plantation without blood.There is a high probability that the Orcs from Outland will invade the town of Braun with their clan.If they can take the town of Braun, then their conflict with the native barbarians will also disappear.

In other words, the Orcs of Outland are picky, and unless they suffer heavy losses in the attack on Braun Town, the local barbarians will only choose to wait and see.

On the other hand, because of the existence of the local barbarians, the half-orcs want to keep the territory of Braun Town, and the possibility of sending the main force to pursue the fleeing half-elf is actually very small.

However, when he heard Bartom say that the fat cook would not leave Braun, he shrugged his shoulders without explaining much.

Vertok intends to ask Sarah about the situation in a while, but he is very strange. Boss Bartom said before that there can be no benevolence in war.

The next morning, countless orc warriors poured out of the pine forest outside the city, and they engulfed the white woodland like a red tide.In the meantime, there are also many tall and strong barbarian warriors forming an army, as if a line of evil pythons are cruising on the edge of the red tide.

The frightened crows circled in the air in groups, making unpleasant calls, interweaving with the alarming bells of Braun Town to form a prelude to the war.

The half-elf guards on the city wall were pale and bloodless.Bartom leaned against the parapet, looked at the terrifying scene outside, and murmured, "It's over, it's over... it's over."

Vertok walked to the innkeeper's side, grabbed his shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "Send money...immediately!"

(End of this chapter)