Pat had rested enough and was eager to break free from Dante's embrace.

I nodded to Dante, who then opened his arms, letting Pat fly away from his embrace.

It has to be said that Pat usually likes to be lazy and sleep, but he is very dedicated when it comes to the crucial moments of his work.

As Tang Yi and his group continued their journey through this land filled with unknown threats, several pairs of eyes were already watching their every move from hidden corners in the shadows.

At that moment, a dark figure flashed past and disappeared into an unknown place, deep in a dense forest a hundred meters away from Tang Yi and the others.

…………

We still feel that we haven't encountered any danger here. Even the birdsong is the same as on the way here, without any unusual changes.

However, what we didn't know was that as we walked out of the fog and into this place, we were already discovered by its inhabitants.

The reason we didn't see each other immediately was simply because the other person had already quietly hidden themselves the moment they noticed us.

A massive encirclement has quietly formed around us, rapidly approaching our location like the gaping maw of a predatory beast.

Then Top noticed something was wrong. It seemed to hear some noise, but it wasn't quite sure.

Top then raised his head and sniffed the air intently for a while, seemingly trying to gather some useful clues.

But gradually Top's expression turned sour; it clearly sensed a familiar yet dangerous odor in the air.

This is the smell we had back in the brine spring, and it's not from any other animal; it's the smell emanating from the Haru we fought a few months ago.

"Squeak..."

This time, Top's screams were different from his usual ones. Instead, he issued a low warning, a sound that conveyed more of a threat born of fear.

Hearing this, I completely lost my composure. Usually, when Top makes that sound, it means the opponent isn't too far away.

Pat was still circling in the air, but it still couldn't see anything suspicious.

However, this cannot be blamed on Pat; those Haru seem to have gained experience from the previous battle.

Haru was especially cautious when dealing with Pat's aerial patrols, hiding under dense vegetation to conceal his figure. Haru only resumed his activities after Pat left the area.

Pat was the one who exposed Haru's whereabouts, which led to their heavy losses. They knew they must not disturb the bird flying in the sky, or their situation would become very troublesome.

I decisively ordered everyone to stop advancing; the situation had become very complicated. We didn't know how many of their kind had arrived, and blindly wandering around here now would likely result in a collision.

At this point, I crouched down and whispered to Top,

"Top, look for a place where you can still walk without hearing footsteps coming after us?"

Top's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant. He looked around and then decisively shook his head at me.

"What! You're saying we're surrounded by Haru and the others?"

I looked at Top in shock. You know, Pat had barely rested all day. If a large number of Haru were to arrive, how could it have escaped Haru's notice?

Top obviously couldn't answer my question, but he was certain that the familiar smell was all around him.

At this point, Top frowned, ran in one direction and sniffed carefully, his expression showing a hint of joy. He then pointed to the area, indicating that we should go there.

There was no better option at the moment, so everyone could only follow Top and keep moving forward.

If you were to look down from above now, you would see that we are trapped in a giant pocket.

The path Top is leading us on now leads to the bottleneck opening of this enormous pocket.

I called out with my survival whistle, and Pat immediately came towards us. Now that Pat is in the air, I don't need to worry too much about its safety.

Perhaps Haru sensed that we wanted to escape their encirclement, and they have zero tolerance for any strange species that dare to trespass on their territory.

This is a provocation against them, a disregard for them, which is worse than directly confronting them.

In reality, their traps have already blocked the way we came from. We are still on the run, but we are heading deeper into their lair.

Given such a golden opportunity to eliminate us, how could Haru, who already remembers what we look like and hates us to the core, easily let go of this golden chance?

At this point, the bottleneck in the pocket ahead had narrowed, and we were now trapped inside an encircled pocket. However, Top still refused to change course and continued leading us in that direction.

Every so often, Top would stop to listen carefully to the sounds around him before making subtle directional adjustments and leading everyone on their way.

After walking for what seemed like several hundred meters, the three of us simultaneously raised our crossbows, becoming alert.

Because we could already see some indistinct figures moving back and forth among the trees from less than two hundred meters away.

Although the distance was quite far, the red fur made it very eye-catching. The army of Haru that appeared in front of us was coming to block us!

"Attention everyone, quickly check your equipment! Haru spotted ahead, be ready to engage in combat!"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, Master!"

Dante and Susu responded to me at the same time and began to quickly check all their equipment, the most crucial of which were the five drum magazines.

This is also a major weapon for us to break through, and we absolutely cannot afford to have any problems with it.

The two quickly finished checking their equipment, nodded to each other knowingly, and then, without hiding, headed towards the group of Haru coming towards them.

While we were preparing to go up, I had Top go up to the top of the treetop to wait for an opportunity and keep watch for us, so that there would be a lookout to warn us if Haru quickly surrounded us from the flanks.

The distance between us is rapidly closing: one hundred meters, eighty meters, fifty meters...

Now that we're closer, we can almost see the faces of those Haru people twitching with anger as they draw their bows and aim arrows at our arms.

By this time we were already prepared, so I waved my right hand downwards and shouted,

"Release the arrows!"

Immediately, three crossbows fired simultaneously, unleashing a dense and powerful rain of arrows at the oncoming Haru.