rune hunter

Chapter 205 Survivor

Being in the dark often loses the concept of time. I don't know how long it has passed, maybe only a dozen minutes, or maybe a few hours, and the whistling wind and sand in my ears finally gradually subsided.

El pulled back his cloak, and a handful of sand poured down his head.He patted the gravel above his head and stood up, only to find that the entire canyon had been covered in sand and dust. After the strong wind passed, the canyon was dead silent.

"Oh, no!" Tiana broke free from El's arms, seeing the scene in front of her, her face immediately lost all color.

"Don't worry, many people may have passed out." El patted the girl on the shoulder, turned around and kicked the soldier behind him: "Don't pretend to be dead! Get up and see how the children are doing! "

Almost everyone was buried under the sand, and only strong fighters could survive the suffocation brought by the black sandstorm and recover in the first time.When El let out a roar, the silent sand dunes suddenly became active, and the gray-faced soldiers stood up unsteadily, slapping the sand on their bodies desperately.

With a clatter, Blackbeard's bald head emerged from the sand. His first reaction after recovering his eyesight was to observe the situation of the Istaren fighters. When he found that dozens of people had recovered their combat effectiveness, he couldn't help but Squint your eyes.The people of Istaren are well-known for their fighting skills, and the background of this army is far beyond his imagination.

There was a sharp pain in his back, and Blackbeard tensed his muscles subconsciously, but soon relaxed helplessly.Little Lanjia used both hands and feet, clinging tightly to Blackbeard's back, without relaxing at all.Although the black sandstorm is terrifying, it just cannot pose a threat to the race named "Landwalker".The scorpion itself is a creature adapted to the sandy environment, and the little Lanjia in the form of a half scorpion will certainly not be affected by this little dust.

Black Beard sighed, and sat down at random.As a master who is good at voodoo puppetry, he even understands how important the value of a half-human monster like Little Lanja is, but because of this, he understands how dangerous this monster is.Before he achieved his goal, he didn't intend to provoke this little thing.

Pallanti knelt on the ground and coughed non-stop for a long time before spitting out all the sand in her mouth.She wiped her face indiscriminately, raised her head and took a deep breath, picked up the lion's tooth horn hanging around her neck, and blew weakly.The intermittent sound of the horn spread throughout the canyon and reached the ears of all the buried people, bringing them a signal that the storm had ceased.

The black sandstorm came and went in a hurry, and disappeared in a blink of an eye, but it indeed brought trauma to the exile team that was hard to ignore.Although Tiana led the front team back in time, many people still failed to keep up with the team for various reasons, lost their way in the storm, and were swallowed by the storm.

In the evening, the exact number of casualties was finally counted.Nearly 300 refugees were missing in the storm, and nearly 100 people were blown away by the wind because they were not close to their companions after entering the canyon, half of them were emaciated children.During the half an hour covered by dust, 600 people lost consciousness due to suffocation. Even after subsequent rescue, more than 150 people died, most of whom were children who did not receive adequate protection.

The army lost 35 soldiers and more than 20 horses. The two rescue teams failed to return in time. So far there has been no news, and the chance of survival is slim.The loss of the convoy was the heaviest. The pack horses pulling the cart had no military training or experience in extreme weather. This time they lost nearly one-third.At least twenty of the supplies carried by the carriages flew into the sky because the ropes were not tied firmly, which was almost equivalent to a week's supplies of the exile team.

The size of the exile team suddenly shrunk by nearly one-tenth.

Although such a loss was expected before departure, and the Exiles Conference had even prepared for the worst, no one could turn a blind eye to this natural disaster.Mothers were calling for their children, and the children were looking for their relatives. There were desperate wailings everywhere, and the whole camp was immersed in an atmosphere of grief.

The sun sets, the moon rises, and clusters of huge bonfires are lit in the canyon.The custom in Istaren is to bring back the bones of relatives and comrades-in-arms to the hometown, but now the hometown has long since fallen, and if the corpses are buried, they cannot escape the scavengers wandering in the wasteland, so they have to burn them with flames.

The blazing flames illuminated the entire canyon, but they couldn't warm the coldness in people's hearts.The refugees gathered in front of the bonfire in silence, staring at the fire in silence.

Blackbeard hid in an unnoticed corner, teasing the little Lanjia on top of his head with a half-gnawed bone, hoping to find a way to tame it, but suddenly something flew by in front of him, he caught it subconsciously, and forcefully After pinching, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.He could guess just from the feel that it was a bottle of aged spirit.

"This is really a wonderful accident. If I had known that you were still hiding such a good thing, maybe I would have revealed a little more information in exchange for it." Blackbeard brought the wine bottle in front of his eyes, bit the cork and gulped it down. After taking a big sip, the smile on his face became brighter.

"We owe you a favor this time." El walked over, sat beside him and said coldly.Although he said so, he still didn't let little Lan Jia relax his vigilance.

"I thought you were a cold-blooded bastard at first, but now it seems that you know how to give thanks, which is not bad." Blackbeard took a sip of wine, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "As expected of the Istaren army, the bones It’s really hard enough. Do you know, ten years ago... or 12 years ago, I don’t remember clearly, there was also a local lord’s army passing through the brown earth hills, and they also encountered black sandstorms. I hired someone from me as a guide and made a lot of preparations in advance. Guess what happened? None of those bastards survived, hahahaha..."

In the solemn atmosphere, Blackbeard's laughter was even harsher. Many soldiers around couldn't help but glared at him. El waved his hand before letting them look back and continue to rest.

"Actually, I'm quite curious, boy, why did you bring so many orphans and widows to this ghostly place?" Blackbeard stopped laughing and asked tentatively.

"It's a long story..." El glanced at the wine bottle in Blackbeard's hand, licked his lips but didn't move.He hadn't touched alcohol since he got drunk once when he left Istaron.There are still many responsibilities that he needs to take on, and many things that he needs to deal with. He needs to keep his mind clear at all times.

The matter about the fall of Istaron is not a secret. El briefly told it in just a few minutes. After Blackbeard listened silently, he shrugged and smiled: "It's a sad story, but I have to say You guys are really fucking geniuses. Although the brown earth hills are dangerous, there has never been a plague in thousands of years. Do you know why? There are so few things alive and breathing in this ghost place."

"I didn't see it, at least you robbers are still thriving?" Al said, looking at Blackbeard with a sarcasm.

"That's because you made too much noise, attracting hyenas from thousands of miles away." Blackbeard stroked his beard and laughed, "You know, buddy, life is hard for anyone. Doing things according to the rules has made this business notorious, and I haven't seen a caravan coming and going for half a year..."

"Report to the general! We found a dead caravan nearby!" The soldier who came over suddenly gave a military salute to El and said loudly. wonderful.

"Caravan? Where did you find it? What's the situation?" El glanced at Blackbeard and asked the soldier cautiously.He didn't think that Blackbeard would fool himself on such insignificant matters. Apart from the exiles, there should be no second caravan on this business road.Caravans that can pass through the brown earth hills must have strong armed forces. If they were nearby, they would have been spotted by scouts long ago.

So, what happened to this caravan that appeared out of nowhere?

"General, it seems that the caravan was swept by the storm. All we found were some wreckage." The soldier said with some uncertainty: "We found survivors in a closed carriage, and we are still trying to rescue them." .Captain Timmy hopes you can go over and have a look."

"There are still survivors"?El asked in disbelief. At first he thought it was a complete caravan that had also escaped the storm, but he didn't expect it to be the wreckage blown from nowhere by the black sandstorm, let alone the caravan under that kind of storm. Survivors will appear in the movie.It would be a miracle of life if that survivor could really survive.

"Don't blame me for not reminding you, buddy." Blackbeard hugged the wine bottle and said with a smile: "No matter what strange things you find in this land, it is the safest choice to kill him first. This is what I have done for many years. speak from experience."

"This is really a good suggestion, I will consider it." El gave Blackbeard a meaningful look, followed the soldiers and turned to leave.

The wreckage of the caravan discovered by the reconnaissance team is located in a narrow mountain road in front of the road, which is the direction where the exile team turned back.Although the chance of surviving is not high, but out of luck, El still sent several scouting troops to search forward along the original road, and this was the only harvest they found after working hard all afternoon.

When he saw the scene, El had to admit that this was indeed the wreckage of the caravan, or he could barely recognize that it was the wreckage of the caravan.Several wrecked wagons were dumped by the side of the road, their main shafts broken, and of little repair value.Corpses, weapons, and various odds and ends were half-buried in the sand, and the scene was extremely tragic.

The sacrificial priest had already rushed over, and was sweating profusely to treat the only survivor. El walked over and looked down, and couldn't help frowning slightly.To his surprise, the last survivor turned out to be a girl.

　Due to yesterday's force majeure, Toothpaste expresses its deep apologies. I woke up this morning and started coding. In the evening, I will be a militiaman guarding the bridge. Therefore, I will post today's chapters in advance. I hope everyone will give a little bit of charity for the sake of toothpaste's contribution to the stability of the motherland. Recommend tickets, thank you!

　　


(End of this chapter)