Rhodes and others returned to the camp with the captured prey, which were four plump pig legs wrapped in leather cloaks and stuffed with ice and snow. They could be frozen and kept fresh, mainly to cover up the bloody smell of wild boar legs.
They were wise not to take the whole boar back to camp for disposal. It’s hard to imagine the consequences of disemboweling a wild boar in a camp. What is certain is that the local lords will never give up on thieves who steal prey.
Lison, the archer of the Iron Cross Regiment, unwrapped his cloak and showed the frozen boar leg to Wiltok and others. He said excitedly: "There is indeed a small group of wild boars over there, fourteen in total. I shot the first pig through the eye with a bow and arrow and brought back its four legs."
Todd also said with a smile on his face: "We are not greedy. These four pig legs should be enough for everyone to eat for two days. We will move to the west now. I am worried that the hunting just now will alert the lord of this forest... Mr. Max said , the shadow lurker’s neighbor is also a tough nut to crack.”
The most important thing when getting lost in the wild is to find water, food and a safe shelter. There is no need to worry about water sources in this season, just grab a handful of snow to quench your thirst. There is no need to consider the issue of shelter. The Iron Cross Regiment has no intention of staying in the wild forever. They just want to return to the Disa Alliance.
Of course, the establishment of a city-state is inseparable from water sources, and Rapids is located somewhere downstream in the Krill River Basin. If they find the Krill River and explore downstream along the river bank, they can always find the half-elf village that belongs to Rapids. Moreover, water and food are no problem.
However, dangers abound along the river, and powerful predators like to use the river banks as their hunting grounds. The closer they get to the banks of the Krill River, the higher the chance of encountering a beast or monster.
The professionals of the Iron Cross were very confident before, but the Shadow Beast gave them a bloody and painful lesson, which made them deeply understand that the Iron Cross did not have the strength to run rampant in the wild.
Your best option now is to actively avoid competing water sources. This will bring about two problems. First, they have no clear direction and can only explore to the west based on their feelings, hoping to encounter the settlements in Rapid City; the other is that food supplies are more difficult.
Wiltok can smell the wild boar from 2 kilometers away, which is great.
The Iron Cross believed that as long as Vertok was around, they wouldn't have to worry about finding food.
Max is also very important. Even if he is crippled by the cold-hearted curse, the fourth-level dark hunter can avoid danger in advance, not to mention that Max is also an experienced adventurer.
Captain Rhodes sighed and said: "We once spent money to learn wilderness survival skills from a retired senior adventurer. The old adventurer said that we should be careful of the 'lords' in the wild. Their danger level is often beyond Our expectation. The Shadow Lurker proved his point. I was just thinking, why didn't the Shadow Lurker nest here? Is it a threat to it from the local 'lord'? Maybe, there is also a fifth-level one here The ferocious beast...I think it’s best for us to leave this damn place as soon as possible.”
It can be seen that the slave trader was frightened by the experience a few days ago and began to re-examine his shortcomings. However, he had no intention of sharing the food with Vertok.
Control over food is a sign of authority.
A few days ago, Vertok didn't understand this truth, but Goblin King Wowo was very sensitive to dominating food.
Vertok defeated the goblin Wowo from different periods in the Dream Arena, absorbed part of the goblin king's memory, and began to understand the importance of food control.
Rhodes wants to be the leader, does he have the qualifications?
His personal force is not the strongest, he has little experience in the field, and has no special talents. No matter how he looked at it, Wiltok felt that Rhodes was at the bottom of this small group.
By letting Rhodes be the leader, isn't it making fun of other people's lives?
Vertok learned balance and forbearance from Goblin King Wovo, which is in line with the gentle and sinister characteristics of Portanos, the head of the water element.
"Mr. Rhodes, I'm afraid you have misunderstood the word 'threat'." Wiltok attracted everyone's attention as soon as he opened his mouth. He continued: "As long as ferocious animals can prey on shadow beasts, they pose a threat to shadow lurkers. . It does not mean that it must be at the same level as the shadow lurker. The shadow beast is a level 2 monster. The ferocious animal that hunts the shadow beast should be level 2 or above, maybe level 3, level 4, or level 5. The key is It has super senses and can detect shadow beasts that are good at stealth in advance; its silent stealth, coupled with the ability to attack with one hit, allows it to carry its prey away before being surrounded by the shadow beasts. "The excellent mobility makes the shadow lurkers have no choice but to build their nests in another place to avoid conflicts."
After his exaggeration, everyone suddenly felt that there was a pair of eyes in the forest staring at them, and even if the professionals hugged tightly, they might not be safe.
Huck murmured: "Is the local lord a ferocious sabre-toothed tiger? This kind of beast is not easy to deal with... They have a strong sense of territory and are particularly vengeful. They will actively hunt down competitors who intrude into their territory."
"I heard that the fourth-level ferocious saber-toothed tiger can hunt the wilderness monster alone at night..." A professional from the Iron Cross Regiment said tremblingly.
Rhodes' scalp was tense, and he lowered his voice unconsciously, and took the initiative to ask: "Mr. Wiltok, do you think the local lord is a ferocious sabre-toothed tiger?"
Wiltok looked around at everyone calmly, took out his long sword, drew a line on the snow, and said: "This is the Krill River. Both sides of the river are the richest areas in the area. There are local lords in every river section. No matter what Whether the lord of this area is a saber-tooth tiger, it usually stays near the river bank, which is its core territory and the most important hunting ground. We actively avoid the river bank and the possibility of encountering the local lord is very small. The worst thing is , it has just entered spring, and the snow has not completely melted. The local lords will choose this time to patrol the boundaries of their territories, kill prey by the way, and fill their stomachs. "
He was hinting to the Iron Cross that hunting wild boars might be discovered by local lords. The fourth-level archer suddenly felt that the boar leg in his hand became extremely heavy, and the cloak package fell directly on the snow on the ground.
Wiltok used the long sword in his hand to lift open his cloak, revealing the bloody boar leg inside, and said calmly: "No matter how you handle it, the freshly cut raw meat will still leave a smell. But time will make the smell of blood dissipate. Bad luck. If so, the local lords can smell the scent and easily track our location. You plan to take the wild boar legs with you and leave them to eat on the road. This is a serious provocation to the local lords, and it is also the stupidest way to provoke us."
"In the wild, you need to learn how wild beasts behave. Local lords will hide endless prey. Outsiders are just the opposite. They will not hide their prey. They will also mark their prey with urine to attract local lords. , then kill it and occupy this territory."
"If you have strong strength, you can have nothing to worry about in the wild."
"If you don't have overwhelming strength, you can eat as much as you can after catching the prey, and don't even think about taking the prey away. The local lord will know that you are just passing by. It is busy enjoying the remaining prey, or looking for a place I’ll hide the remaining prey so I don’t have time to hunt you down.”
Wiltok cut the whole pig leg into several pieces and distributed them to every half-elf present. He took the largest and fattest piece of wild boar and said, "Eat it."
The meat of male wild boar is tough and fishy, so eating raw pork is definitely a challenge.
The talent of Gluttony allows Vertok to have no mental barriers to eating raw meat. On the contrary, the automatic adjustment of the mental body makes the bloody raw pork extremely delicious, which can greatly satisfy his desire to eat. His white teeth followed the muscle texture of the pork leg, tearing the meat into strips, and then sucked it into his mouth. Wiltok's eating look was ferocious, focused, and very enjoyable, with a strange appeal.
Seeing that Wiltok's food was delicious, everyone hesitated for a moment, then picked up the raw pork and started to chew it.
Huck is Wiltok's staunchest supporter. He imitates Wiltok and bites raw meat. Although it is difficult to swallow, the Heart of the Mirror allows him to effectively control his throat muscles and forcefully swallow the food in his mouth. See Nothing out of the ordinary.
Max, the dark hunter, has also eaten raw meat before. In fact, he has eaten even the most unpalatable bugs. He cut off the meat with a knife and ate it very quickly.
The Iron Cross encountered difficulties. They are not real adventurers, and they cannot usually be said to be pampered, but they are not willing to drink blood. Taking a bite of raw pork triggers physiological reactions of vomiting and coughing before swallowing.
Wiltok ignored the others. When Captain Rhodes spit out the meat in his mouth, he suddenly raised his head and said in a gentle tone, "Vomiting will make you weak, eat as much as possible... We are unlikely to Make a fire nearby, and when we find a relatively safe place, we can light a fire and eat cooked food, but you have to be able to hold on until then.”
"Click", "click", Wiltok chewed the hard pork leg bone and slowly ate it. Everyone else gasped when they saw this scene, and then focused more on competing with the raw pork.
After Vertok had eaten his fill, everyone had finished eating. Fourth-level archer Lisen fawningly took out a cotton towel, handed it to Wiltok to wipe his mouth and hands, and asked: "Mr. Wiltok, I really didn't expect that you also have rich field experience."
In terms of wilderness survival skills, Goblin King Wowo is the top wilderness survival master. It was able to become the Goblin King not only because of good luck, but also because when it was weak, it almost never made mistakes in the wild.
Vertok absorbed part of the experience of the goblin Wowo, and combined with his gluttony talent, his wild survival ability far exceeded the level of senior adventurers.
The Goblin King is not only able to survive, he is also good at seizing every opportunity to step on the heads of his companions to climb up. His Machiavellian methods are not like an orc at all.
After just communicating with Hack and Max, Wiltok discovered that the Iron Cross Regiment had a fourth-level archer, two third-level archers, and two third-level swordsmen. Captain Rhodes himself is one of the third-level swordsmen. His martial arts is not outstanding, but the other professionals are accustomed to accepting the leadership of the captain.
On Wiltok's side, Captain Harker's personal strength has inexplicably improved a lot. He said that this is all due to Wiltok. However, Wiltok was not impressed at all. Huck also confidently stated that he was sure to defeat the five professionals of the Iron Cross Regiment, but he could not guarantee the safety of Wiltok and Max.
Max was cursed with a cold heart and lost his fighting ability, but his professional perception and adventure experience are still very useful.
Vertok's personal strength declined, and the five half-elf professionals of the Iron Cross posed a threat to him, at least with the force to kill him.
This also shows that the professionals of the Iron Cross Regiment have merits.
Wiltok wants everyone to know who is the qualified leader. He used bluffing and deceiving to get the right to distribute food first; he also showed his strength by eating raw pork; and by the way, he used a gesture of pity and advice to undermine the prestige of Captain Rhodes in public.
In fact, who knows if there are ferocious beasts or monsters nearby. But who dares to say that there is absolutely no such thing?
Rhodes controls the wealth and resources in the half-elf city-state, and the half-elf professionals recognize his power, but to survive in the wild, they need an experienced leader who can lead everyone out.
Whether Wiltok has this ability or not is not mentioned for the time being. Anyway, he seems more reliable than Rhodes. If the half-elf professionals think about it carefully, they will find that Rhodes caused the Iron Cross Adventure Group to suffer heavy losses, and the situation of Wiltok and others is not much better. No one is better than anyone else.
However, it is still very impactful that Wiltok eats raw pork without changing his face.
The goblins believe that whoever can eat the most will be the most beneficial. This intuitive feeling is also valid for half-elves. Compared to Wiltok's fierceness, Rhodes, who ate meat and vomited, looked pitiful.
With this impression, there is no doubt who the Iron Cross will choose as their leader. I'm afraid Rhodes himself didn't realize that Wiltok was suppressing him.
"Are you full?" Wiltok asked.
The half-elves nodded one after another, indicating that they were full and would vomit if they ate any more.
"Everyone rest where you are, I'll prepare something." Wiltok smiled slightly and decided to give the professionals some time to overcome their nausea, otherwise they might really vomit out all the raw pork they had eaten.
While everyone was resting, Wiltok climbed up the hemlock tree, cut off many branches, and used a knife to repair them into more than a hundred simple javelins.
The wood of the hemlock tree is hard and dense and will sink when placed in water. It is also very lethal when used to make javelins.
The gluttony talent cannot directly improve Wiltok's combat effectiveness, but it can allow him to maintain strong physical fitness for the next five days. The talent of dexterous hands makes Wiltok very proficient in making various tools, showing valuable logistical capabilities.
Wiltok repaired the sled again, put all the hemlock javelins on it, and Max, the dark hunter, was in charge of keeping it. He pushed Huck, motioned for him to drag the sled, and ordered the others: "Let's get out of here now."
The adventurers of the Iron Cross regiment became more confident and followed Wiltok to the northwest.
******************
At night, thick darkness covers the hemlock forest, and pairs of green eyes, like ghost fires floating in the darkness, arrive at the camp abandoned by the half-elf.
This is a group of jackals, they are about 2 meters tall, have coyote heads, thick black hair, and bulging back muscles, making them look particularly strong.
Different from wild jackals, this group of jackals are well-nourished and muscular. They are equipped with well-made hard leather armor and iron weapons. Their green eyes contain a faint red light. They are actually ferocious jackals who possess the power of bloodthirsty. people.
Among them, the largest jackal lay down, sniffed the snow with his nose, picked up a pig's trotter, threw it into his mouth and chewed it to pieces. Its face was covered with criss-crossing straight scars, as if its entire face had been chopped into pieces by a sharp blade. The strange thing is that these wounds are not deep, they just leave scars.
The scar-faced jackal let out a weird laugh and said in a hoarse voice: "There are only eight half-elf adventurers. Their adventure group must be in trouble... We have to find them, eat them, and collect their treasures."
