Chapter 28: Changes in the Dense Forest

Chapter 28: Changes in the Dense Forest

Chapter 28: Changes in the Dense Forest
Baron Church led the group inside.

Black Pine Castle is just a small castle, but it is also a typical aristocratic castle, with everything it should have.

The castle was built on a cliff, with steep cliffs on three sides and only one side leading to the territory. The castle was surrounded by huge stone walls on all four sides, with sentry towers on the walls. Guards kept watch and patrolled every day, so any changes in the territory could be seen at a glance.

Back then, the Marichatton family also had a castle like this.

Looking at this quaint castle, Red and Paul had the same thought.

"Mr. Ivan, look over there is the stable with my lion-mane horse in it, a very beautiful horse. I named it Finna." Lisa accompanied Ivan and did not hide her attitude at all.

However, with Baron Church around, she didn't dare to do anything more rude.

Ivan responded with a few vague words, and then he noticed a hint of hostility directed at him. He looked over and saw a "pig-headed man" dressed in the uniform of a territory guard.

Lisa noticed his actions and introduced him in a low voice: "He is Marshall, the captain of the loyal guard of the territory. He was unfortunately injured in a heroic fight with the beast before, and he has not yet recovered."

There was a trace of sadness on her face, she was sad that the brave captain of the guard was injured.

After hearing her words, Ivan speculated secretly in his heart.

Why would a fight with a porcupine cause injuries to the face? This was clearly due to a serious poisoning, which made the face look extremely swollen, like a pig's head. He looked around and saw that there were more than one guard with similar injuries, but none of them were as swollen as Marshall's.

Marshall must have happened to encounter a special porcupine, and the porcupine's needles had just been rubbed with a toxin, which could be a poisonous fruit in the wild, or it could be a toxin from other wild animals similar to a venomous snake.

What an unlucky guy!
He was not afraid of the captain of the guard at all. Biman had said before that there was only one knight in the entire Black Pine Forest Territory, the bulky-looking Baron Church.

There is a special place for entertaining guests in the castle. Baron Church took the captain of the guard, Red, and the deputy commander Gro to the inner hall to discuss countermeasures, while the others had snacks and rested under the treatment of the butler.

At night, at the invitation of Baron Church, the Marichatton family stayed in the castle, while the other mercenaries, led by Gro, lived in nearby houses.

The next day, the weather was clear and the air was sunny.

The mercenaries were on high alert, carrying shields and walking into the forest to search for the porcupine herd.

Ivan was in the team, also holding a wooden shield in his hand. The wood was star iron wood and the wooden shield was wrapped with iron sheet. The whole shield was not light, but it was not difficult for him to lift it with his current strength.

In addition to the shield, he had a Quillen sword on his waist, a small axe on the other side, a bow and quiver on his back, and a crossbow tied to his arm. He was fully armed.

Biman weighed the shield and asked his brother Ivan, "Do you know how to use it?"

"Not used."

Ivan even learned a few axe techniques, including throwing the axe, but he had never touched a shield.

Biman was not surprised by this and started teaching Ivan directly.

Originally, according to his father's request, Biman would slowly pass on some skills to Ivan, and then he could go out on missions with everyone. Unexpectedly, he grew up too quickly, resulting in the current situation.

The two of them, one teaching and the other learning, enjoy the process.

In the eyes of other mercenaries, it was simply not doing their job. Many people secretly thought that the third young master of the captain's family was really here to hinder them, and he would definitely need to be protected later. It was nonsense.

"Speed ​​up, haven't you eaten enough?"

At the front of the team, Marshall, who was in charge of leading the way, started cursing. Of course, he was cursing his own guards, but it was not known whether he was speaking indirectly about someone else.

Before the Giant Shield Mercenaries came, the guard team had sent people into the mountains to explore many times and found many traces. They had an idea of ​​the location of the porcupines that were plaguing the territory. This time they would go there according to the traces found by the guard team.

The captain of the guard, who had not yet recovered from the poisoning, went into battle personally, vowing to wipe out the evil beast in one fell swoop.

Intentionally or unintentionally, the search team began to speed up. "We'll learn when we have time."

Seeing this, the Ivan brothers looked at each other and had to give up.

They were in the Church family's black pine forest, which was tall and dense, covering a large area. After decades of operation, it was rich in pine nuts, pine resin, matsutake, truffles and other mushrooms, and could also be used for hunting furs, making it an important asset of the Church family.

Nowadays, from time to time you can see black pine trees lying on the ground, or trees whose roots have been dug up and are about to fall down. No wonder Baron Church is so angry.

The group passed through the black pine forest and came to another dense forest in the mountains. This was the edge area of ​​the "Black Mist Forest". The entire Black Mist Forest was hundreds of times larger than the black pine forest and was said to border three countries.

The Black Mist Forest is a paradise for wild beasts, and everyone's expressions became more alert.

"Whoosh."

With a slight sound of arrows, the arrow had already stuck in the tree trunk.

People nearby looked over and saw a thin red and black snake stuck on the arrow, which was clearly a poisonous snake. There happened to be a mercenary standing below, and the rescued person looked at Gro with gratitude as he retracted the strong bow.

"Incredible, the deputy captain's eyesight and archery skills are as amazing as ever."

"That's right, he hits the target wherever he points. I've never heard of Mr. Gro failing before."

There were four or five people between Gro and Xishe. This move amazed many people and caused several people to express their admiration.

Looking at the palm-sized poisonous snake, Ivan couldn't help but admire Gro's archery skills. This was probably an outstanding talent. No wonder he could sit firmly on the position of deputy leader at the level of a quasi-knight.

The road in the jungle is difficult to walk on, and we also have to be on guard against attacks from dangerous things, so the team cannot move very fast.

Time gradually came to the afternoon. Marshall was as embarrassed as he was in the morning. He led a group of people to explore the jungle for most of the day, but ended up with nothing.

His confident judgment was a joke.

A group of people searched nearby for a long time, and seeing that the time was almost up, they decided to go back first and make plans. No one wanted to spend the night in the Black Mist Forest. The night was the world of wild beasts and monsters, and if they were not careful, the entire group might be wiped out.

There are no roads in the dense forest, so there is no way to return by the same route, and the return journey is also slow.

Someone asked: "Did you notice that the temperature dropped a lot all of a sudden?"

"It's foggy, everyone hurry up."

The one who said this was Reed. He was the only knight in the team and the strongest, so no one could help but believe his words.

After a while, there was a thin layer of fog and it became clearly visible.

"Hurry!" Seeing the thin mist like smoke, Marshall felt a strong sense of urgency. Living nearby and being the captain of the guard, no one knew better than him how terrifying the Black Mist Forest was at night. "Everyone, hurry up and follow me. Don't delay any more."

This time he was more active than when he came in the morning. He took the lead and led everyone back quickly.

As time went by, the fog became thicker, blocking everyone's view more than ten meters away, but everyone continued to hurry on their way.

At a certain moment, Marshall suddenly stopped and stood there, unwilling to take a step forward.

"Captain, why don't you leave?"

Facing his subordinates' inquiries and everyone's surprised and puzzled looks, Marshall showed an ugly face that was about to cry, and whispered: "We went the wrong way, the direction is wrong, we should - we should be lost."

(End of this chapter)