The bread you chewed in your mouth was not so much bread as it was just dry and hard dough.
Dry, unpalatable, and difficult to digest. If it weren't for the powerful stomach of a combat professional, I would probably have a certain amount of stomach discomfort, and I would start to feel weak, dizzy, and want to vomit.
Under ideal circumstances, a cup of hot milk or malt wine, soaking the dough in it until soft, is the correct and comfortable way to eat it.
In a more ideal world, they would be eating fluffy bread with fragrant soups and spirits.
On the 10th day after entering the forest, with no prey to catch, they consumed the last bit of regular supplies, leaving only dry hardtack as an emergency food reserve.
This food is not unfamiliar to the Lamanite natives, it has been used as military food since the days of the classical Lamanite Empire. There was no bread at that time, and people had not yet mastered the secrets of yeast. They did not know that leaving the dough overnight can make the bread ferment and have a soft and delicious texture.
The noodles that still exist today are mostly used to eat with other foods. They are also lighter and thinner than their ancestors, and are suitable for rolling meat and vegetables or eating with sauce.
And what they brought this time were all thickened and less delicious ancient styles. The reason was to save space.
The unexpected encounter with the three earth dragons caused them to lose about thirty pack horses. The material losses carried by these horses that fled into the forest were very serious for everyone.
Although a large number of people means a stronger combat effectiveness, leaders also face more severe challenges in terms of material consumption.
The carrying capacity of horses is stronger than that of humans, but the daily consumption of more than 300 people is definitely not a small amount.
Even taking this kind of dry and hard bread that sacrifices taste as an example, everyone needs at least one piece for a meal. Those strong mercenaries often need one and a half to two pieces to be full. And this rough calculation of five to six hundred yuan of bread is almost enough cargo that two pack horses can carry - unless they want to overload the horses and drag down the team.
This is just one meal.
At least two meals a day are needed to ensure that people have enough strength to continue to move forward and fight. Although the pack horses that have been consumed and their supplies are empty can be slaughtered and roasted, the horses will also be damaged during the battle. They need to reserve horses for replacement later. If they lose this important means of transportation, even if they win It would be difficult for a witch to leave the forest.
In addition, the lack of forage for horses in the large area of necrotic forest will cause losses to the horses. In fact, the additional 300 horses also carried a large amount of horse grass in addition to human food.
He hasn't seen the witch yet, but just going to fight her would be enough to defeat most soldiers who are not so well-trained.
Carrying so many supplies and relying entirely on self-sufficiency was almost unheard of.
Even for the empire's regular army with complete logistics, its logistics supplies are always related to the marching route. There are granaries along the way from one sentry post to the next, or you can buy food from local residents.
Experienced adventurers often get gifts from nature. Take the Bao Forest as an example. Normally, there are almost countless prey and edible berries and wild vegetables that can be found in this warm southern forest. They only need to carry two to three days of food per person and rely on hunting and gathering while marching. It's completely enough.
But the large-scale climate change caused by the Witch has caused an effect similar to the scorched earth policy.
There are no living creatures along the long mountain road, and they must prepare almost all supplies for themselves, because there are no resources in the forest except dead plants used for fire.
The night has never been so quiet, neither the chirping of insects nor the sound of wind can be heard.
There is only silence that lasts forever with the darkness.
On the morning of the eleventh day, several days after Horno announced his relationship with the witch, a deserter finally appeared in the team.
A dozen of Stephen's mercenaries slipped away quietly at night, taking away the pack horses and a considerable portion of the supplies.
This is an inevitable result, and several people at the top of the team have foreseen this. To a certain extent, this is exactly the change that Horno wanted to bring about by spreading the word.
The power of the witch is beyond the imagination of normal humans. She is a supernatural and unnatural existence. When facing a threat of this level in person, if you are not strong enough in your heart, you will be taken advantage of, confused, and confused, and then point the sword in your hand at your teammates.
This was a situation they were determined not to see. In comparison, the losses suffered by those who became deserters due to learning of this fact were relatively small. As long as it can make the team more pure and you can safely leave the support of those who remain, then such sacrifices are still within the acceptable range.
Henry, Erica, and Horno all understand this, and so does Adolphus, but his thinking as a paladin is different from that of a mercenary. After Stephen understood the intentions of the Sage and others, even though he was the leader of the regiment, when the deserters under his command appeared and the other men under his command angrily and loudly cursed them as cowards, he remained silent.
He didn't yell loudly about this, as if he was acquiescing to the emergence of deserters. This approach can eliminate the last trace of those who are shaken and make this incident a beginning to further streamline the existence of the team.
When people under his command are in this situation, it can be said that Stephen loses face. But facing a formidable enemy, he knew that he could not be careless in any aspect. This is not the time to care about personal emotions and face issues. He understands this after going through the bloody battle of Sikaoti. My group of people carry a lot of lives on their shoulders. If we don't solve it here and let the matter expand again.
if.
If the witch escaped from the sparsely populated Ba'ao forest area and went to the bustling metropolis, where his wife and daughter lived - Stephen stopped his thoughts.
Some unfavorable remarks began to spread among the team, and dissidents appeared.
Anyone who has experienced many things understands it. A team may show great unity and tacit understanding when they are united to the outside world, but when differences arise internally, no matter how united the team is, it will fall apart.
The poor food and poor terrain severely damaged morale, and the silence among the team lasted for many days. The team was already facing such a predicament before seeing the witch.
Adolphus turned back to look at the paladin under his command. Although deserters only appeared among the mercenaries, the Paladins, who were relatively stricter in self-discipline, were still full, but it was only a matter of time. When he turned around and scanned with those sharp wolf-like eyes, he could see a lot of himself. All the subordinates lowered their heads or looked away.
Clearly, they are not entirely unswayed.
When it comes to information related to witches, the Yetina Sect, especially the department to which Adolphus belongs, should be quite expert, but that man is above them.
"Psychic charm."
"The devil's whisper."
"It is not the witch that attacks you, but your own inner weakness."
These strange words that make people understand something but not understand them, as if they are trying to make sense, are difficult to summarize one or two of the witch's abilities. The battlefield on Scotti's day was chaotic, and coupled with the long distance, the witch's ability in this aspect could not be fully revealed.
And now the closer he got to her, the more he could feel the strange smell in the air.
It is true that the silence of the earth where everything is dead is eerie, but even the wind and air are strange here.
To describe it, it's like the air has a texture. It's no longer so fluid and begins to feel sticky, as if even the air is dead.
And the wind passing through the trees seemed to be mixed with someone's whisper.
It kept ringing in my ears.
Starting from the thirteenth day, people often hear voices and wake up at night.
The mercenaries, and even the paladins, began to feel sad and lonely for no reason, and began to miss their hometown.
The magicians tried their best to use magic to fight, but together they were still unable to compare with the witch's ability. As a result, the number of people escaping secretly at night gradually increased. By the fifteenth day, the team had only less than 60% of the number when it started.
The number of Paladins was reduced to eighty, and the mercenaries under Stephen only had the most loyal core members left.
The only ones who did not desert were the physically weak magicians. Although many magician apprentices turned pale, those who studied magic required extremely high patience and tolerance for frustration. In the end, On the contrary, they are the most resistant to this vague mental influence.
Those who escaped once had some minor disputes, because they also needed a lot of supplies to get out of the forest, and after the escapees appeared on the first day, everyone strengthened the guard of the supplies. Fortunately, in the end, the two sides reached a certain degree of compromise without bloodshed, so that this human task force was not destroyed by internal fighting before actually meeting the witch.
The boring journey, the difficult terrain and the unpalatable and monotonous food every day made people's mental and physical strength drop a lot compared to the beginning.
The mercenaries no longer even chatted and joked. There was no singing or laughter among the team. The paladins clutched the holy symbols hanging around their necks and kept muttering that this was a trial given by the gods - sooner or later someone would collapse if this continued. They all knew this, but they couldn't even raise their morale. There is no way.
Everyone can only rely on their own willpower to face this drowsy environment.
It wasn't until the morning of the sixteenth day that everything finally changed again.
"Trace of the ghoul." The scout said this, and the news was like a bucket of cold water poured on everyone's heads. They had been chasing for many days using this as a clue. The traces of ghouls themselves were not uncommon, but this time.
"It's fresh. It was left just a few hours ago. They seem to be looking for something."
"Maybe it's food, those things need to be eaten too."
"Your Excellency, over here, there is something else here!" A voice sounded from the other side, and everyone gathered over.
"footprint."
The wind suddenly picked up, and the dead weeds swayed at first, and then suddenly fell down and rolled up in the wind.
"Human footprints."
Among the many ghoul traces, a set of steady and small footprints are very eye-catching.
"She's nearby, everyone, be alert!" Adolphus shouted.
He tightened his grip on the spear in his hand.
