Although one unit was wiped out, the overall dangerous situation was not over.
Yun Zhe directed everyone to move quickly along the edge of the forest, ready to retreat back into the forest at any time. The downside of this was that their pace was greatly slowed down, and they estimated that the possibility of reaching Donicburgh that night was gone.
The squad leader felt somewhat guilty, as the entire unit's marching speed had been greatly reduced because of the wounded soldier. Knowing Yun Zhe's insistence on punctuality, he boldly suggested leaving one soldier to take care of the wounded soldier while the others advanced quickly.
"Don't worry, it's better to be a little late. Serena will definitely notice something's wrong, and maybe someone will come to meet us. No matter how ruthless they are, they wouldn't do it so openly, would they?" Yun Zhe comforted him.
"You expected this to happen?" Xi Xi stared at the back of Yun Zhe's head, really wanting to give him a good whack.
"How could I have imagined that I would only bring twenty people? How could someone as noble as me have foreseen their despicable thoughts?" Yun Zhe chuckled. It wasn't that he hadn't expected the other party to be so shameless, but rather that he hadn't expected his whereabouts to be exposed.
"Hmph," Xixi was still worried about the overly clever Aruru in front of her. However, since she was on the same boat, Xixi found herself not worried about her safety. Thinking about this, Xixi couldn't help but be a little lost in thought and couldn't understand her own thoughts.
Yun Zhe didn't care about Xi Xi's complicated thoughts at the moment. What troubled him was how to safely bring these people to Donic Castle. Sacrifices were inevitable, but he hoped to avoid them if possible. He just didn't know how many more attacks they would face along the way.
Halfway through their charge, the Nightfire mercenary group's leader suddenly realized his mistake. If the enemy noticed they were being pursued, would they still obediently continue according to plan? The Nightfire's new leader, Kazt, raised his hand to stop everyone's actions and pulled out a map to continue studying it.
"Let's go to Tuer Village. That's their only way out; we can definitely stop them there!"
"Boss, there are soldiers stationed in Tuer Village. I'm afraid we can't just take them by force," a one-eyed, bald leader whispered as he approached.
"Are you stupid? Why would we attack the village? That would alert them. We should ambush them in the vicinity! Send out more scouts to keep an eye on the area around the village."
"Good job, boss. You're the smartest one." The one-eyed bald man gave a thumbs-up, chuckled, and called his troops to run towards Tuer Village, which was more than ten miles away.
Yun Zhe cautiously peeked out from the bushes, carefully observing his surroundings. After confirming that no one was around, Yun Zhe quickly jumped out of the bushes, ran to the middle of the road, and carefully examined the road conditions.
The road was covered with a chaotic pile of hoofprints, and then the group clearly split into two and ran off in two different directions.
Yun Zhe sniffed and pulled out a map from his pocket to look at it.
One cavalry unit clearly headed towards Tuer Village on the map. But the other unit's destination left Yun Zhe uncertain and somewhat confused. There were no particular roads or villages in that other direction. This unclear division of forces forced Yun Zhe to rack his brains and study the situation more carefully.
Could it be a coordinated attack? But this is to block us, not to attack Tuer Village. Or is it a feint? The traces of going to Tuer Village and this are just to scare us away, to make us find another way. But there's no third way. In the end, we can't just try to take on both sides, with both groups heading to Tuer Village, but advancing along two separate routes—that's a bit too rigid.
Yun Zhe considered several possibilities, but no matter what, he had to go to Tuer Village, which was unavoidable.
Meanwhile, a clandestine chase was unfolding near the village of Tuer. In the woods near Tuer village, two swordsmen were running desperately, pursued by Akdina.
They were originally a team of three, their superior being the death messenger named Genli. Because Genli's combat strength was among the lowest of all the death messengers, the three of them became Genli's most relied-upon fighting force. For ten years, the three of them worked closely together, accomplishing many tasks that the world considered impossible. Finally, Genli also earned a prominent position among the death messengers.
Unfortunately, they ran into Akdina today.
Akdina followed the carriage all night to a house outside the city. The man in the carriage got off and went into the house. A little while later, the three of them came out of the house, jumped on their horses, and headed straight for the village of Tuer.
Akdina had no choice but to give up eavesdropping on the conversation inside the house and followed the three men to Tuer Village. After learning that they were the last resort to intercept Yun Zhe, Akdina took advantage of one of them relieving himself and killed him, but unfortunately, she was still not careful enough and alerted the other two.
After realizing they had provoked vampires, the other two panicked, and the situation spiraled out of control, forcing them to flee for their lives. They escaped from Tuer village into the nearby woods, but Akdina still managed to catch up with them.
"Huff, stop! Viko, stop!" The burly man wielding a two-handed greatsword stopped panting.
"What's wrong, René? Can't run anymore?" The tall man with the one-handed axe frowned. "You can't stop, or the vampires will catch up with you."
"Damn it, it's not that I can't run, it's that I'm thinking, what kind of vampire wanders around in broad daylight! Even if she is, I don't want to run anymore. I'll just stand here and fight this vampire head-on. I've never been treated like this in my entire life!"
Vico stopped, stroking his chin as he thought for a long time. "Indeed, if we keep running, we'll exhaust ourselves. When the vampire catches up, we won't even have the strength to fight back." Vico paused. "Let's go, let's whittle some wooden stakes. We'll take care of that vampire right here today!"
The two men rallied and began surveying the terrain, preparing traps. Completely unaware that Akdina was already nearby, quietly observing the two before them.
Akdina wasn't incapable of killing the two directly, but she desperately wanted to know the entire ambush process, so she needed to keep one alive for questioning. After all, it was past noon, and according to their thinking, if Yun Zhe and his group didn't appear here by evening, it meant the ambush was successful. If they did appear, dealing with them under the cover of night was something they were good at.
Akdina desperately needs broader intelligence to determine her next course of action.
Just then, thick dust billowed up on the road, and nearly a hundred mercenaries came rushing in, stopping near the woods.
The arrival of the mercenaries alarmed Akdina and Vick.
"Yakino, take ten men and patrol the roads on both sides. If you spot Yun Zhe and his group, give them a signal," a leader-like man shouted.
"Everyone else, dismount and rest. A fierce battle is definitely coming!"
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