novelODS Chapter 81 In the Dark Forest
Chapter 81 In the Dark Forest
The dense forest at night was even darker than expected; it was truly pitch black.
Seven or eight torches were scattered among the group of more than fifty people, and their dim light could barely illuminate the path beneath their feet.
Rogge led the group into the depths of the dense forest.
The layers upon layers of branches and leaves blocked out the sun, preventing even a sliver of moonlight from penetrating, and the air was thick with a damp smell.
Fortunately, Roger had traveled this road several times before; it was the very route he took when he led the villagers of Duanpo Village to escape.
Most of the team members who came from Duanpo Village, like him, were quite familiar with this route.
The more than 30 rescued villagers became the biggest burden on the team.
Most of them had been imprisoned by pirates for several days without food, and were covered in wounds. Let alone traveling, it was difficult for them to even stand up.
The team members carried the weakest villagers on their backs, while those with minor injuries helped each other, trudging along behind the group with difficulty.
After entering the dense forest, Roger handed over the task of lifting the door planks to a man from Gangde Village.
He was like a tireless leader, sometimes rushing to the front of the group to lead the way, and sometimes standing on the edge of a difficult embankment to remind the team members to pay attention to where to place their feet.
"There's a big pit here, let's go around it!"
"Watch out for this rock!"
"..."
Rogge frequently activated his Eye of Insight to explore the area, clearly identifying steep slopes and impassable sections.
Under his guidance, the group avoided all the difficult sections of the road, choosing only the smooth and easy paths, and always maintaining a safe distance from the pirates behind them.
The flames behind them relentlessly pursued them, and the shouts and curses of the pirates reached their ears clearly.
Roger glanced back every now and then and saw countless torches flickering in the darkness, relentlessly pursuing them.
Our own troops were also carrying torches, so the pirates could clearly see our position.
Rogge did not order the torches to be extinguished to escape the pursuit.
In this pitch-black forest, losing the light is tantamount to suicide.
These villagers, unlike him, lacked the insight to see through the darkness.
Moreover, most of these commoners suffer from night blindness due to long-term malnutrition, making them practically blind as soon as it gets dark.
If the torches were extinguished, even without the pirates chasing after them, they would all be blind and stuck in place.
Even if they weren't truly blind, it was completely dark before their eyes, and no one dared to set foot there easily!
"Watch the torches! Don't let them go out! Don't fall behind!"
"Rogge shouted in a deep voice, his eyes fixed on each of the passing team members."
Our side has more than thirty people to support, making progress difficult.
But the pirates weren't in much better shape either.
They knew nothing about the dense forest and had no "human radar" like Rogge to guide them; they could only run in the darkness by the faint light.
Roger had specifically instructed his team to avoid those pits and hollows that were easy to slip into, but the pirates had already stepped on them all.
In the pirate ranks, people would occasionally slip and fall off the earthen embankment, or trip and fall, hitting their heads and breaking their skin. Screams of pain echoed throughout the area.
Stan walked at the very front of the pirate group. He was wearing heavy chainmail, yet he moved with incredible speed and showed no signs of fatigue.
Looking at the flickering flames not far away, his ferocious face was filled with resentment.
He whirled around and kicked a pirate who had just fallen and gotten up.
"Useless! Keep chasing them!"
The pirates dared not utter a sound, and could only grit their teeth and follow closely, trudging through the woods with difficulty.
……
Rogge led the group to a fork in the road.
To the left is a relatively flat downhill road.
To the right is a steep cliff, about seven or eight meters high, with only a narrow, gentle slope on the right side, barely wide enough for two or three people to pass side by side.
Rogge knew that the road on the right was the route to the temporary settlement in Broken Amber Village!
Although the path on the left was less strenuous, he had never walked it before, and he could faintly hear the sound of the stream.
Although the path on the right is uphill and strenuous, and will take up a lot of time, once you climb up it, you can gradually shake off the pirates' pursuit!
However, if the pirates continue their relentless pursuit, a major hidden danger will arise.
This could very well lead the pirates to the temporary settlement of the villagers of Duanpo Village!
His eyes swept quickly across the two paths, his mind racing, but in the end, Roger made up his mind that he was unwilling to risk taking a path he had never taken before.
"Go to the right!"
"Those carrying people, go first! Those lightly equipped, follow behind! Those with throwing axes but not carrying anyone, all of you, follow me to cover the rear!"
Rogge made a decisive decision and gave the order in a deep voice.
He stood at the top of the gentle slope, personally directing the team members to move upwards.
Time passed second by second, and by the time Roger was the last to climb up the cliff, the pirates had already rushed to the bottom of the cliff.
More than 20 team members quickly raised their shields and formed a shield wall along the edge of the cliff.
The two sides were only about twenty meters apart in a straight line. The pirates looked up and stared fiercely at the people on the cliff.
"Land dweller! A giant rat in the forest!"
"Don't run away, you soft-legged shrimp!"
"I'm going to use your skulls as bowls!"
……
"Come up here!!"
……
Rogge, hiding behind the shield wall, observed the pirate leader at such close range for the first time.
The pirate leader was exceptionally tall and muscular, wearing heavy black armor. He was a full half-head taller than the pirates around him, standing out like a crane among chickens in the crowd.
The Eye of Insight activated instantly, and lines of data about the pirate leader appeared in Rogge's mind:
[Vanscare Leader x1]
[Level: 42]
[Combat Power: 8037 (Tier 5!)]
【属性：力量：33；敏捷：22；体质：28；智力：14；魅力：16】
[Proficiency in one-handed, two-handed, and throwing weapons: 350]
【equipment:
Vanscare Chieftain Helmet + 49 Head Armor
Vanscare Leather Chainmail + 51 Body Armor
Soft-soled plate greaves + 31 leg armor
arms:
Heavy Throwing Axe + 44 Chop Damage (6 units, bonus against shields!)
Dragonbone Axe +44 Chop Damage (Bonus against shields!)
Star-shaped relief metal shield +13 resistance (durability 447/500)
"Fifth tier?"
Rogge's heart sank. This leader possessed the strength to crush everyone in his army; even if he were on drugs, he couldn't defeat him!
Faced with a fifth-tier pirate leader, Rogge realized that it was not wise to linger.
As the pirates drew closer, Rogge gave instructions to those around him:
"Get your throwing axes ready! Throw them at the same spot!"
In the woods below, apart from the pirates with torches, Ge knew that his team had no way of seeing the pirate leader's exact location.
More than twenty team members, each holding a throwing axe, held their breath and waited for Roger's command.
"cast!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Roger aimed his throwing axe at the pirate leader and hurled it first.
From their vantage point, more than twenty throwing axes whistled as they hurtled toward the direction Rogge had indicated.
Two equally tall guards behind Stan had already positioned themselves on either side of him, shields raised to block his path.
Stan himself raised the star-shaped metal shield and held it up to his face.
"Clang clang clang~"
A crisp sound rang out.
Most of the throwing axes either missed their mark or were blocked by the shields.
"Ah~!"
Two screams suddenly rang out beside Stan. One pirate, with a throwing axe stuck in his neck, fell to the ground on the spot, while the other was hit on the head by an axe and gradually collapsed to the ground.
Feeling the force of the flying axe striking the shield, and hearing the screams of his subordinates, Stan's anger burned even brighter.
At the same time, he had a vague feeling that all the axes seemed to be aimed at his direction.
Several flying axes struck Stan's shield, leaving only shallow scratches.
"Is that all you've got?"
Stan scoffed, and seeing that the enemy had stopped their axe-throwing attack, he moved his shield aside and shouted, "Fight back! Kill them!"
His face was full of mockery when, suddenly, an arrow shot from above the cliff, grazing the edge of his neck!
Stan clutched his neck abruptly, and when he released his grip, a bright red stain of blood was visible on his palm.
He had a scrape on his neck; the wound wasn't deep, but it stung.
The moment Stan raised his shield again, his face turned ashen.
He had roamed the seas for over a decade, killing countless people, and was always the one who hurt others. Yet today, he had his neck slashed by an unknown archer!
This was an utter disgrace to him!