Unparalleled Beast Soul

Chapter 41 Tracker on the Prairie

boom!

The waves slapped the bow of the boat, splashing countless water droplets, flying away with the wind. 【】

Leon stood on the deck overlooking the vast river, and the small town wharf on the long embankment was faintly visible in the distance. He will soon set foot on the land on the north bank of the Nucang River, one step closer to the Kingdom of Meng.

In the morning, Leon's team boarded the boat and crossed the river smoothly. Since the pier on the opposite bank was dozens of miles downstream, the ferry had to travel down for some time to reach it.

The Otto Kingdom is bordered by the Beamon Kingdom in the north and the mighty Falea Empire in the east. The Nucang River, which crosses half of the continent from west to east, has naturally become an important channel of transportation.

Starting from this section of the open river, it can be regarded as entering one of the golden routes of the Nucang River. Although it is winter now, there are many merchant ships, ferries and even cruise ships going upstream or downstream.

Although the relationship between the orcs and the humans is cold and hostile, and the orcs are not allowed to set foot on the territory of the humans, the trade between the two parties is still very frequent.

Mineral deposits, wood, magic crystals, spices, and other resources from Beamon in the north are continuously imported into the human country in exchange for sophisticated weapons, silk, porcelain, magic supplies, and other materials. This kind of trade has never been cut off for thousands of years.

So there are a lot of small caravans like Leon going to the Beamon Kingdom. Every year, a lot of gray camel merchants risk their way across the river. Orcs are more friendly to ordinary caravans. bandits.

"To go to Tormund City, we must first cross the Hulun Grassland, and we have to cross the Sunset Mountains. The risk is not small..." The guide who joined the team gestured on the crude map: "Those big horse bandits will not go A small caravan like ours, but some small bandits don’t let anything go.”

This [-]-year-old guide, Wally, is a senior independent mercenary. It is said that he has spent ten years in a well-known large mercenary group, and he has also worked alone for more than ten years.

In the mercenary union, his reputation was extremely high, and even Aklan had heard of his name.

"They are like hungry wolves on the prairie. As long as they are targeted, they will follow them all the way. After they are sure they can eat them, they will pounce on them without hesitation, kill everyone and take everything!"

The voice of the mercenary guide was low and indifferent. When he spoke, his weather-scarred face showed no expression at all, giving the impression that he was a stone sculpture made of clay.

Wally said very little, but no nonsense.

"If they dare to come, we dare to kill them all!" Leon said disdainfully.

There are five soldiers in their team including Leon, plus the third-level mage Aklan and the fire hammer that can act as an archer. If they can't even deal with a small bandit, they might as well pack up and go home early. .

"First of all, let me declare that according to the rules and conditions of employment, I am only responsible for leading the way, and I don't need to participate in the battle..." The guide said flatly: "If my life is in danger, I will choose to escape first."

"Of course, I will also do my duty, try to choose a safe route, avoid dangerous existence, so that the team can reach Tormund City safely!"

"Well! That's enough." Leon smiled.

Although the guide's words sounded very uncomfortable, the frank and professional attitude gave people enough trust.

Squeak!

A golden raccoon jumped onto Leon's shoulder nimbly, and rubbed its furry head against his thick neck vigorously, with a fawning appearance.

"Greedy little guy..." Leon stretched out his hand to touch its head and scolded with a smile.

He took out a handful of pine nuts from his waist pocket, and the raccoon cleverly crawled down his arm, jumped onto Leon's palm and quickly grabbed the food, and wiped out all of them in a blink of an eye.

This little pet was of course the silver-threaded squirrel that Leon got from the thief leader. At the beginning, Leon didn't know how to tame it at all.

Fortunately, Aklan, who is a magician, has a lot of knowledge after all, and he has already prepared a bag of black pine nuts that he found from the leader of the thieves.

The silver-threaded golden raccoon is also a kind of mother who has milk. If you give it a handful of black pine nuts, it will be obedient, and it will not run away after being released. It will soon regard Leon who owns the black pine nuts as his new master.

However, the mage also said that it will take a while to cultivate enough loyalty, and he doesn't know how to make it work.

Leon didn't really care. He didn't know how to ask others. For him, raising this little guy was just fun.

Seeing the golden squirrel that Leon was teasing, Wally's originally calm eyes flashed a trace of surprise.

"Ready to dock!"

At this moment, the owner of the ship behind the helm shouted loudly, reminding the passengers to get ready.

The ferry was firmly on the side of the pier.

The sailors quickly laid the planks and helped to send the caravan to the shore.

Leon and the others rode the gray camel again, and led by the guide, passed through the dock town and entered the Hulun Grassland.

Hulun is the only grassland area in the north of the mainland. The numerous tributaries of the Nucang River and the abundant water nourish this fertile land, and it has become a natural place for many animal tribes to graze.

But in the large fringe area on the north bank of the Nucang River, although it is also the territory of the Beamon Kingdom in name, due to the vigilance and wariness of the human race, there are almost no traces of the orc tribe.

The roving bandits became the masters here. In the vast area hundreds of miles from west to east, large and small horse thieves and bandits emerged in endlessly, becoming the biggest enemy of caravans and business groups.

Among the bandits, there are beast races and human races, wanted criminals, homeless homeless, outlaws licking blood with knives, down-and-out adventurers... It can be called a mixed bag.

According to the guide, it is winter now, and there are fewer caravans coming and going, so the general large horse bandits are huddled in the mountains and camped out. Only those small teams that do not have enough supplies for the winter will brave the frost, ice and snow Swimming around looking for prey.

Such bandits are also the most brutal.

The guide who spent fifty or sixty gold coins to hire was definitely worthy of his worth. Although it was called a grassland, there were actually many mountains, forests, rivers, and swamps here.

The green and yellow long grass reaches knees, and there is no ready-made road to walk on. If you are not familiar with the terrain environment, you will not know when you have entered the lost mud.

And Wally was always able to quickly find a safe path, avoiding the area where the gray camel might be trapped, all the way north.

They were lucky enough to have three days of fine weather without any trouble.

But on the fourth day, trouble still came.

"That's the horse thief's scout..."

Wally's expression was a little dignified. He turned his head and said, "He will follow us all the way and find a way to test our reality. The real team should be nearby."

At the rear of the team, at some point there was an additional follower on horseback, who followed them from a distance.

Because the distance was too far, Leon didn't know the appearance of the other party, but he could be sure that the other party had malicious intentions.

"Then what should we do?" Leon asked in a deep voice.

Wally thought for a while and said, "If they are strong enough to be able to beat us, they will rush over without even trying. This is obviously a small team."

"So we don't need to pay attention to it for the time being. If they sneak up and try, as long as we can teach them enough lessons, I believe they will leave wisely."

As soon as they arrived on the Hulun Grassland, Rock Hammer and the others no longer hid themselves, and quickly took off the cloak that concealed their appearance.

Discovering that there are four orcs in his team, the experienced Wally is not surprised or scared, but has more confidence in the strength of the team.

"Shall I cast a spell to scare him?" Aklan was eager to try.

"That's a good idea..." The guide nodded approvingly: "Knowing that there are mages in our team, I think they will have a lot of scruples."

"I don't think so..." Leon sneered and shook his head: "Let them come here, dare to come to our idea and want to leave without paying a price? It's not that easy!"

"Correct!"

"Let them come and overthrow them!"

"Let them taste the power of our battle axes!"

Several Xiong Hammers screamed. This long journey and the previous hiding of their heads shrank their heads and hid their heads, which has already made these restless guys feel very embarrassed.

How can you be willing to let go of something exciting when you finally encounter it now?

Even Little Hammer raised his own bow and arrow, clamoring to shoot the thief with a full face!

Leon laughed loudly, this is the bear he cultivated by himself, he can fight and fight hard, and he will never be afraid of any challenge

Aklan and Wally smiled wryly and did not raise any objections.

So the team moved on, as if they hadn't seen the tail behind them.

However, at dusk, the stalkers gradually changed from one rider to five riders, and gradually shortened the distance between the two sides.

This psychological tactic made Leon sneer, and it further confirmed Wally's judgment that the opponent was a small team.

The sun dipped below the horizon, and the prairie ushered in a new long night, which was much colder.

Leon set up camp on the side of a low hill, erected three tents and lit a bonfire.

And the tracker disappeared, as if melting into the night.

"Under normal circumstances, they would attack us at night or in the early hours of the morning, at least a tentative attack." Wally said while flipping through the dried meat: "Once they find our weakness, they will all pounce on us, like Wolves on the steppe!"

"Then we'll wait for him to come!" Leon swallowed the hard bread, his eyes flickering fiercely.

Seeing his gaze, the senior mercenary who had experienced countless dangers trembled in his heart, and suddenly felt that the person sitting opposite was not a person, but a fierce tiger that was about to choose someone to eat!

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