The temperature in the Nanjing Mountains in October is relatively mild. Even wearing armor will not feel too hot. With such a pleasant temperature and the breeze blowing from time to time, it is very comfortable to travel just wearing normal clothes. …≦,
The mountain road on the way to Lake Lorena is high and steep at first, and then becomes relatively gentle.
The road is not easy to walk, because this is not the main road in Laoshizi.
The city-state alliance in the south is all covered with hills, hills, forests and rivers further south, and beyond these areas with lush vegetation is the endless Abu Serra prairie - the only mutual export between merchants and grassland nomads. There is only bloodshed and death, and without any trade relations, you should not expect any serious roads here.
Due to the rugged terrain and the previous raging storm, which caused many giant perennial trees to break and fall, the traveling speed of a group of more than 20 people could be described as extremely slow. Often, before walking very far, I have to dismount and run to push a flatbed cart, or take out an ax to chop and work together to clear obstacles on the road.
However, although the progress is slow, the problem is not serious.
After all, storms come several times every year, and the mercenaries who are accustomed to all this have already had a series of response plans.
The breeding period of Ayasiosaurus is relatively long and does not end until around November. In addition, everyone set off early and had sufficient horses for transportation, mules for carrying supplies, and various outdoor tools. The physical exertion was always maintained at a not excessive level, and the march was always orderly.
From this point, we can see the sophistication of these mercenary group mercenaries. Knowing that it is a long journey, they are very careful about the various supplies they carry. Although they can usually hunt and obtain fresh food, they also carry a large amount of food on their mules. Piles of dried meat and fish to supplement when prey is unavailable.
Traveling is not as peaceful as living in towns and villages. If you don't consider how to deal with each problem, the smallest thing that happens may cause bigger problems. For example, if food or drinking water cannot be fully supplied every day, people will become weak and their thinking will be affected. By the time they reach the area where the prey is, they will be exhausted, and the success rate of hunting will naturally be greatly reduced. fall to the ground.
Maintaining a good physical and mental state is the most important thing for any organization or individual to do when traveling long and long distances for a certain purpose, whether the purpose is to find or hunt something or to fight a war It's all the same.
Any experienced team leader will understand the importance of maintaining morale, but for Henry and his group of more than 20 people who were trekking in the mountains and forests of the southern region, they had to contend with not only the rugged difficulties and obstacles in the wild, but also the tropical Even in October, the weather in the mountains changes without much difference, as well as the diverse creatures hidden in this vibrant green.
The dripping rain started falling in the middle of the night yesterday. Although everyone had taken preventive measures and pulled up the waterproof canvas every night to cover the resting area and food, the sudden rain was still a bit disturbing. Some can't adapt. Several novice mercenaries were tossed around by the wind and rain because the wooden stakes with the ropes at the four corners of the tarpaulin were inserted into the soil and fixed in the soil. Keeping many others awake.
The noisy rain was only one aspect. Although the slippery road on rainy days further reduced the group's forward speed, they were more or less used to it after putting on the cloaks. What worried the first seven or eight young people in the team, including Mira, who were all under the age of twenty, was mainly the limbs that had appeared since the night three days ago and clearly showed signs of following their group. A walking creature.
The dark blue scales also have darker dark green patterns. The slender body and limbs, including the tail, are about three meters in total length - although it is far less than their larger size in the swamp. Relatives, these small dragon lizards, called "wolf lizards" by locals, are feared because of their unique gregarious habits as their name suggests.
They move vigorously, and their slender snouts and ominous yellow-green vertical pupils in their huge eye sockets together form a flexible and alert head with amazing eyesight. Unlike the larger swamp green dragon lizards, which are good at using powerful bite force, the wolf Lizards mostly use their claws to pounce on their prey like cats and leopards, and then kill them with their claws.
“Cunning little green reptiles—” the medium-sized hunting expert with narrowed eyes and goatee said as soon as he noticed these guys. Many people in Rigar's world think that reptiles like dragon lizards are stupid, ferocious, and cruel. Scholars and magicians also agree that they are relatively weak in intelligence among dragon creatures - but they are taller than others. Yes, no matter how they appear to humans, these creatures are extremely successful as a link in the natural food chain.
There are many kinds of predators in the forests of the South. Not only these cold-blooded reptiles, but also mammals such as wolves and leopards are not in the minority. However, you will never see these creatures that are supposed to be powerful hunters near the territory of wolf lizards.
Cunning and cruel are the best terms to describe these dark blue creatures. In the fight between animals and animals, they often do not directly conflict with other creatures. Using their endurance and alertness, these guys will always be near you. Circling and circling until they seize an opportunity to launch an attack, and then leave decisively after achieving their goal, not wanting to fight at all.
The wolf lizard is a nuisance to all hunters.
If you want to chase them, you will lose more than you gain. These things are flexible and ferocious. If you are not careful, you will become their prey - and even if you successfully hunt a wolf lizard, their meat is woody, fishy and very tough. You can chew it for a long time. It can't be chewed and no one wants to eat it. Although the skin and scales can provide a certain degree of defense, they are not as good as those made of metal and cowhide, not to mention that they are very difficult to process. As long as any dragon lizard dies, its skin will become dry and inelastic. The scales will fall off piece by piece and must be specially drilled and threaded. The process is no less difficult than pricking armor. Moreover, after drying, the scales have no toughness and are prone to cracking.
Hunting is too risky and the gain is not worth the loss; don't hunt them, these guys have been hanging around nearby, waiting to sneak up on any of you who are not careful, or steal the hunters after they have obtained the prey. of income.
Continuous heavy rain made the soil soft and difficult to walk on. Before setting off, the group deliberately replaced the horseshoes with stronger grip for mountain use, but they were not satisfactory in this terrible weather.
The wheels of the empty flatbed truck bent the grass and sank deeply into the soil. The young mercenary driving the pack horse was so anxious that he almost cried. The companion behind him kept yelling at him to go faster, but All this only made the young man more impatient. The whip was whipped around so much that the packhorse whined, but the car could never get out of the mud.
Having no choice but to stop, Henry and several other free mercenaries had to dismount again to help lift the flatbed truck. The poor weather conditions and the wolf lizards wandering nearby made the leader, a one-meter-tall strong man, look clouded. He didn't come over here to help lift the car, he just stayed at the front of the team and frowned and looked this way - Henry, who was helping, raised his eyes and the team leader looked away for a moment.
"One, two, three - get up!" the mercenaries shouted slogans in unison and worked together, and then successfully lifted the flatbed truck. It is already quite difficult to drive on the road with an empty cart at this time. Although when the hunting is completed, the skin will definitely be peeled off and subjected to some antiseptic treatment before being put in the cart instead of directly catching the whole snake dragon and taking it back, but then Even though I was carrying heavy weights, I still had to do several turns.
If you fall into the mud again by then, it will obviously not be a good thing, considering the existence of dangerous robbers from nature and the human world that have not yet appeared but will appear every year at this season.
For the time being, we can only ask God to be kind. Many people in the team thought so. As a result, by the evening of that day, the rain just stopped.
The young novice mercenaries almost jumped for joy. Although the city-state alliance in the south accepts mercenaries from the west coast and east coast, most of these people are war-oriented and are used as local forces to fight against the grassland people. Main force. If local civilians want to become mercenaries, their first choice will inevitably be the more stable hunting mercenaries.
Different places have different customs. The Kingdom of Corikonrad in the Thoradin region mainly dispatches mercenaries to foreign countries, so the mainstream mercenaries are naturally good at killing people. In comparison, the prosperous Southern City-State Alliance has a huge demand market for all kinds of living exotic animals and their body materials. In addition, since childhood, we have been taught to pay others to bleed for us. In such a situation, Naturally, most of the locals who grew up in this environment chose the path of hunting mercenaries.
Most of these young mercenaries have a better education level than the people on the west coast. Although not everyone is literate, most of them can talk about a certain issue and have a lot of understanding of business.
There are no villages, even the smallest towns are surrounded by city walls. The young men raised in the southern border all have such a moral character. Although their own qualities are not bad, the mercenaries who have really come to the wild and experienced the wind and waves The difference is really clear at a glance.
Even Mira, who was several years younger than them, behaved much better than these people. The squinty-eyed old orange mercenary with a goatee looked around for a while, and then couldn't help but sigh.
Because of the continuous heavy rain last night, they had no way to hunt today. The other two Orange Brand veterans called the excited newcomers to start handling the dry food they carried, but the hunting expert in the team They turned around and started walking towards the half slope east of the small forest where they were staying.
He didn't carry much, except for a kettle, and only a small prairie-style machete hanging on his back.
This is used for handling prey. Compared with people in the west coast kingdoms, the people of the South prefer to use knives instead of double-edged swords. Here, there are single-handed long knives and half-handed single-handed swords. The ratio is almost one to one, and it is undeniable that knives are indeed much better than swords for cutting and slashing.
He walked towards this side, but before he had gone far, he immediately heard footsteps behind him. The old hunter could tell that it was the tall black-haired mercenary and his disciple without looking back. Their footsteps, who always moved together, were very easy to identify - he turned his head.
"Are you going to find Cordyceps?" The relationship between the mercenaries is not particularly close. After all, they are enemies in the same group. Although they act together, there are not many words between the mercenaries guarding them - This is especially true with the hunting mercenary group as the employer. Everyone knows their status well. One of them pays to hire people to protect them, while the other just comes to make money. Doing their job well is better than Speech patterns are more likely to help you win opportunities for long-term cooperation.
"Yeah." Although he didn't know the purpose of the other party for the time being, the old mercenary nodded. The conversation between them was all in Laman language. The slender girl who was slightly shorter than him didn't seem to understand. , she raised her head and looked to the other side and asked: "Teacher, what is La...La Il Paso?" the girl asked. The white-haired old mercenary understood the lingua franca of the West Coast. It seems that she is learning the language from Lamani books, but she is obviously not familiar with it. These two really strange people are quite different from the concepts of the entire team and all traditional mercenaries. .
Out of place - he thought as he recalled the scene where the two men practiced swordsmanship again a few days ago. That kind of exquisite swordsmanship cannot be obtained by ordinary blue-card or even orange-card individual mercenaries. With all these behaviors, he almost suspected that these two people were actually nobles from somewhere who came out to travel.
But no matter what, these have little to do with myself. He shook his head, and then heard the tall man explaining to the girl: "The literal translation means reptile fear grass with a strong smell. This is a plant with a spicy taste. The dragon lizard has a stronger sense of smell than Humans are much stronger. They boil this kind of grass and pound it into mud. When using it, they smear it on the truck. As long as the dragon lizard comes close and smells it, it will be very uncomfortable and unable to breathe freely. Although it cannot completely stop them, at least it can It will make it impossible for these guys to sneak up quietly at night."
As he said this, the old mercenary stopped and looked back. There was a hint of disapproval in his expression, but at the same time he also strengthened his belief as to where the two nobles came from. After all, although an old hunter and mercenary like him also understands this knowledge, he cannot explain all the principles in such a clear and logical manner.
The experience gained from native methods and the knowledge learned by educated people may reach the same goal by different routes. If the former is to be taught to another person, the efficiency will inevitably be lower than that of the latter.
The three of them walked slowly towards the slope here, putting a considerable distance between themselves and the people behind them who were preparing camp and dinner. When the old mercenary turned around, he was still a little confused as to why the two of them were following him. ——At this moment, the tall mercenary glanced back, then turned his head and said in a lowered voice.
"I advise you to pay attention to your squad leader." He said, and as soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and walked towards the other side, leaving the old mercenary standing there with a stunned look on his face. (To be continued.)
