Sword of Dawn

He was wearing the shabby Holy Light Priest's robe, the ill-fitting robe was a little tight on his body, and the muscle lines all over his body were bulging out from under the robe—it looked like he was going to find some The heretics all perish together.

"Holy Light! I'm coming..." Wright ran to the front of the troops and looked up at Gawain who was riding on the horse, but he froze immediately after saying a few words, "It's you? You're not...the person in charge on the construction site Is it?"

Because Gawain's permission was not obtained, after so many days, no one told the missionary that the lord of this land was the big man who sat on the brick pile with him and chatted...

Gao Wen didn't expect to meet the other party again under such circumstances, and he couldn't hide his identity, so he nodded with a smile on his face: "I didn't lie to you at the time, I was indeed in charge of this land— The lord is also in charge, isn't he?"

"Holy Light! You are the lord of this land?! The legendary Gawain Cecil who was jumped out of the coffin by the unworthy descendants?!" Wright exclaimed, drawing the Holy Spirit on his chest with his hand. The symbol of the God of Light, "I thought you were the big foreman!"

Gao Wen: "..."

The Philip knight next to him pulled out his sword in a flash: "Preacher! Watch your words and deeds! No..."

"Ahem," Gawain quickly blocked Philip's imminent request for a duel, "Don't get excited, this...is one of the rumors I let Byron spread..."

Amber rolled her eyes: "It's your own fault. Maybe there will be more folk versions left to ferment in the future."

Philip & Gao Wen: "..."

After a moment of embarrassment, Gao Wen had to divert everyone's attention. He looked at Wright: "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you my real identity when we first met. I just want to talk to you as an ordinary person so that we can understand Look at the priests of this era."

"Understandable, this is a prudent and wise move," Wright smiled freely, "Then I don't need to worry about whether my documents are really sent to the lord."

Gawain twitched his lips and looked at the missionary curiously: "What are you looking for me for? You should be able to tell that we are about to go to war."

"That's why I came here," Wright immediately straightened up, "I hope to set off with you."

This surprised Gao Wen: "Why? You are not my soldier, nor are you a lord's advisor. Why do you want to go with us?"

"How could the troops leave without a chaplain?" Wright said with a look of course, "And as the only priest of the Holy Light Church here, I am obliged to use my strength to help everyone on this land, especially in practicing justice." When——I heard that you are going to rescue a group of refugees who are starving in the wilderness, I have to go for this kind of thing.”

Gao Wen couldn't help but twitched his eyebrows—everything the other party said was in line with the teachings and people's moral concepts, but how many priests of the Church of Holy Light really take these teachings seriously in this era?This guy... no wonder he was kicked out of the church in the central parish.

Even if he just thought about it, Gao Wen could guess how unpopular this guy with the wrong style of painting was in the church.

However, Philip, who was also devout and chivalrous beside him, greatly appreciated Wright's speech. The young and rigid knight seemed to have forgotten that he drew his sword and planned to fight with the opponent just now, so he praised: "What a righteous man!" The priest's speech, Pastor Wright, you are not only a good priest, but also have chivalry!"

And Gao Wen looked Wright up and down, thinking quickly in his heart.

According to his first reaction, he wanted to reject this weird Holy Light priest.

A military operation, even if it is just a small operation to wipe out a wave of mercenaries, should be rigorous and serious. A Holy Light priest who suddenly asked to "jump in line" made Gao Wen instinctively feel inappropriate, but after thinking for a while, he felt that It's okay to bring this pastor.

Perhaps this is a good opportunity to observe the other party, and what Wright said is indeed true-the chaplain is very necessary.

Although the soldiers all brought the healing potions prepared by Pittman and his assistants, it would be better if there were more professional healers in the team. The law accompanied him, and Wright just happened to be able to fill this vacancy.

As long as the priest can follow orders.

"Please don't worry, it's not the first time I've served as an army chaplain." Hearing Gawain's request, Wright smiled confidently, "Although the central region is peaceful, there are often lords who organize troops to wipe out the robbers and monsters in the mountains. He is often sent by the church to be an army chaplain, so he is very familiar with all this."

Gawain looked at the tendons all over the pastor's body, and wondered whether he was following the army or leading the army to charge...

In the end, a strange Holy Light priest was added to the team.

Under the watchful eyes of the citizens, the team set off.

At the same time, across the mountains and wilderness on the north side of the Baishui River, across the refugees starving in the wilderness and the greedy thugs who prey on the refugees, the family castle inherited by the Kant family for generations is just like the past hundreds of years , still standing quietly on the hill next to "Quilin Town".

This glorious family has ruled this land for more than three hundred years. Before the Cecil family declined, it already existed here as a rare "independent nobleman" in the southern border. After the Cecil family declined, The Kant family was lucky enough to escape the storm that overturned the situation in the entire southern border, and they are still firmly rooted here, and have continued to this day.

300 years are enough to polish the most glamorous and majestic fortress in the past. Even after many renovations and repairs, Kant Castle will inevitably reveal its vicissitudes of life. Its traditional long and narrow windows are inlaid high On the thick stone walls, even at noon, every room in the castle was filled with vague darkness.

The old Viscount Victor Kant was sitting in his study room, a little sunlight poured into the room from the narrow window behind him, making his hunched body look even more gloomy, he looked down at the book he had just finished writing. A stack of parchment, the paper was filled with symbols of unknown meaning and graffiti-like words, then he raised his head and looked at the butler who was as old as him: "Mr. Carter, those 'hounds' have found new prey ?”

"Yes, sir," said the old butler, bending slightly, "in the mountains and forests to the south, a group of malnourished homeless people have no idea of ​​their impending fate—but those hounds haven't done anything yet. .”

"They want money, more money." Victor Kant's head was trembling, as if he was angry, but his tone was filled with a smile. "Dogs need food rewards to work hard for their masters. Same goes for two-legged dogs...then give them 'food'. Mr. Carter, send for the hounds with purses and tell them, hurry up and bring me the refugees—if they If there is any more delay, there will be no next cooperation. Now it is Frost Moon, they should be very clear that there are not many opportunities to make this kind of money."

"Yes, sir."

The old butler left, and Victor Kant lowered his head again, burying his head in those chaotic symbols and lines. The midday sun was struggling to shine into the study through the narrow window, as if separated by a thick and thick fog. Dim and fuzzy.

And in the dim sunlight, the shadow of Victor Kant was pulled out from the desk for a long time, the shadow was indistinct, not human-like...

Gathering place

The settlements of the refugees are not very far from the Baishui River - after crossing the wasteland on the north bank of the Baishui River, they will enter the mountain forest area. The refugees hide in the forest and rely on the scarce food in the forest to survive.

The mountain forest is the joint product of the Tanzanian mines and the eastern hills. The undulating mountains slow down the force of the wind, giving the seeds that ride the wind a chance to take root and germinate here, forming intermittently distributed along the low hillsides, Not very dense woodland, and this woodland still had an owner a long time ago.

A short-lived "Kargor" family was briefly lords of the woodlands and the wastelands north of the Whitewater, but a plague put an end to that family's rule centuries ago, and now nature has long since Having smoothed out the evidence of the existence of human civilization, the collapsed castle of the Karger family sleeps quietly behind an unknown hillside, and these forests and wilderness are places that no one wants to care about because they are too close to the dark mountains.

As long as any family along the Dark Mountains is destroyed, everyone will unanimously believe that it is caused by the curse and chaotic magic from the wasteland of Gondor. Therefore, such unowned lands are everywhere in the extreme south, although it is far away from Andrew Lai. Viscount Sly's territory is only separated by a Tanzanian mine, but the viscount obviously has no thought of sending his own people across the huge Tanzanian mountain to develop the land opposite the mountain.

Cecil combat soldiers wore lightweight enchanted armor that was easy to move, equipped with new heat energy ray guns and mana combat backpacks, and walked cautiously and quickly through the mountains and forests according to previous combat training. They had been away from the territory for a day and a night. I just had a rest and eating not long ago, and now I am in a state of excellent mental and physical strength, and the place where the refugees are hiding is not far away.

After entering the mountain forest, it is difficult to use the war horse, so Gawain left the car at this moment, led the horse and walked with Philip Knight, while Amber hung on the broad back of his "Krieg High Stallion", stumbling around Dozed off.

——The reason for using "hanging" is because this half-elf lady is really not good at riding. In order to prevent falling off the horse, she used several belts and buckles to fix herself on the saddle. Anyway, in an emergency She can roll into the shadows at any time, and she is not afraid of being tied up tightly and affecting her running.

A guy with elf blood can't even communicate with a horse, he really deserves the shame of the elves.

"We're almost there," Knight Philip said, looking ahead. "In fact, there are many refugee settlements in this area, but they are all hidden in places that are extremely difficult to find, but as long as we can find one, we can easily contact others. of."

Gao Wen nodded slightly, but frowned slightly: "In fact, I always feel that this situation is a bit weird."

"Strange?" Knight Philip didn't understand, "Where is the weirdness?"

"Few people will catch slaves on a large scale after the frost moon, because after the frost moon, the temperature drops and farming stops, so there is not much labor required. Instead, most people will enter a state of consuming food. In this case, capturing slaves, not only cannot Let them work, but they need to provide food for free to feed them,” Gao Wen shook his head, “Unless it is a mine that is not affected by the seasons, there is a need for slave labor all year round, but the largest mine in this area is the Tanzania mine. Viscount Andrew has no intention of increasing slave labor recently... and he seems to disdain this kind of work of capturing refugees as slaves."

"God knows whose money those mercenaries took," said Knight Philip. "Perhaps they are going to be sold to the central region, where there are many mines and merchants, and the price of slaves in the central region is high. Many people will take risks to buy 'private slaves. slave'."

Gao Wen was noncommittal, and soon, a thin smell of blood wafted into his nostrils.

"Stop!" He waved his hand immediately, and the captains of the soldiers of each team called to stop their teams in a low voice, and everyone became alert.

Even Amber, who was so sleepy on horseback, felt the change in the atmosphere instantly (this kind of vigilance is worthy of her bloodline, although it looks like she was counseled anyway), opened her eyes suddenly, and then The whole person turned into a shadow and rushed to Gao Wen's side: "There is a smell of blood in front!"

"Holy light!" The chaplain Wright immediately drew a holy mark on his chest, "Someone is bleeding to death."

Under the leadership of Gao Wen, the soldiers quickly crossed the trees and bushes, and the situation of the refugee settlement was presented to them.

Those mercenaries have already started.

The settlement is surrounded by a circle of dilapidated wooden fences and thorns, but it obviously cannot resist the beasts with swords. There is a large open space between the scattered dilapidated tents. Eighty or ninety ragged and withered people The refugees were driven to gather in the open space, and more than 20 heavily armed mercenaries were divided into two groups, half of them guarded the outside of the camp, and the other half faced the gathered refugees with drawn swords. Men in black busts walked up and down in front of these poor soon-to-be slaves, yelling and cursing loudly.

And in the open space around them, you can see seven or eight corpses lying on the ground, all of which were hacked to death with knives. Obviously, at the first moment when the mercenaries attacked the camp, some people resisted briefly, but this time This kind of resistance was destroyed like a thunder, and the corpses that were chopped into pieces on the spot effectively prevented the resistance from escalating and the situation getting out of control.

"The equipment is indeed excellent," Gao Wen analyzed while looking at it, "and half of them are mixed with civilians. Once the battle starts, they are likely to use those civilians as hostages..."

"Hostages? Are you thinking too much?" Amber glanced at Gao Wen, "Those are refugees who are treated like livestock by nobles and mercenaries, and the nobles and their armies never care about their lives—and those mercenaries must be too. They think of us that way, so they won’t use those people as hostages. But it is possible to use them as a shield at a critical moment... But as long as we can find a way to make a big noise and catch them off guard, those refugees will immediately flee. In this way, the situation will not be controlled by those mercenaries. Before the hands and feet of those refugees are tied, now is a good time."

Gawain couldn't help being stunned when he saw the half-elf lady who analyzed everything well, and then realized that he was still influenced by the experience of the earth.

Hostages... That only works when you treat people as human beings, but here, there will never be a villain who puts a knife on the neck of an "untouchable" and threatens a nobleman and shouts "Come again, I will Just kill him" section.

Because "normal" nobles would not hesitate to kill "untouchables" along with robbers.

Thinking of this, Gawain sighed, and then took out two crystallized grenades: "Then let's make a big noise."

……

Mercenaries of unknown origin attacked the camp, and the few people who subconsciously chose to resist were cut to pieces almost instantly.

Cries and screams swept through the entire settlement in an instant, and subsided within a short period of time. The people were driven out of the tents and haystacks by the robbers and bandits with swords like driven animals. All gathered in the open space in the center of the camp.

As a refugee, even the last bundle of straw in his arms will be snatched, so the people in the camp are no strangers to robbers, but when they see the dress and momentum of these people, people with a little knowledge will realize that this is more serious than robbery. Robbers are even more terrifying: they are mercenaries, paid mercenaries.

Red-nosed Tom's older sister, the black-haired, black-eyed girl "Joan" huddled in the crowd, carefully averting her eyes to avoid eye contact with those vicious people, and she held her injured right arm with her left hand while enduring her face. The pain from the upload, the dirt seeping into the wound - the first time those villains broke into the camp, she smeared her face with charcoal mixed with mud, and this appearance was quickly captured by the group of mercenaries. One of the leaders saw that the other party laughed and praised her as a girl with a brain, and then almost smashed half of her face with a whip.

He smoked while laughing so that her "makeup" could be permanently fixed on the face.

Blood was dripping on the ground mixed with mud, but Joan felt a little rejoicing in her heart, because the mercenary leader was cursing angrily:

"You bastards! You bastards! Bitches and bastards who only deserve to sleep in stinky gutters! Where's that cripple?! I know you've run away, I know you've run away! Damn... you already died eight just now, do you know how much money I lost?! Where did you hide that lame man!!"

Tom left a long time ago and went to a new direction to look for mushrooms and edible moss, just avoiding the sight of these mercenaries. When he came back, he would definitely notice the abnormality in the camp and he would run away.

Thinking of this, Joan secretly raised her eyelids, and glanced at the mercenary leader in armor with a silver-white long sword slung around her waist. She knew that soon there would be people around who couldn't stand the pressure and said she was Tom's. Sister, and she has already made preparations - she will die, and let these long-legged beasts suffer greater losses. She can see that this group of refugees, including herself, can bring a lot of trouble to these mercenaries. A lot of money, and every time they die, they will be more frustrated.

In many cases, this is the greatest resistance that the "untouchables" can make against the nobles and their minions.

But just when these thoughts popped up in Joan's mind, a strange movement suddenly came from not far away, and fell on her extremely sensitive ears that had been trained for years of hunting.

It seemed that two stones fell tens of meters away one after the other.

Before she could figure out what the "rock" was, she heard two loud noises like thunder coming from behind those mercenaries!

This thunderous loud noise was unfamiliar to everyone, even when they were pointed at by swords, the refugees who were driven to the open space jumped up in horror, and headed towards the camp desperately—— That is to run away from the direction of the explosion, but those mercenaries who have experienced the blood of swords are calmer. Although they are also shocked, the first reaction that pops up in their minds is—enemy attack!Meet the enemy!

This reaction was correct, not only for them, but also for Gao Wen.

Chapter 0161 The one who set fire...

The attack happened suddenly, and no one could realize what kind of attack it was.

Even experienced mercenaries who have been attacked by various fierce men (or beasts) will be stunned when they are hit on the face by an explosive fireball without magical fluctuations. The momentary bewilderment caused the situation to get out of control in their hands.

"Enemy attack!"

The mercenary leader wearing a half-body armor roared hissingly at the first time, and then activated his protective aura without delay, while the surrounding mercenary companions quickly turned around after hesitating for less than half a beat. The direction of the raiders—the raiders had emerged from the woods.

A small mercenary leader with a rank of knight first saw the appearance of the attacker. He saw a few soldiers wearing strange light armors stepping out of the woods. The large armguards, carrying a marching rucksack on the battlefield, seemed to have no common sense and combat effectiveness. He couldn't help feeling ridiculous—the armguards that showed a sense of presence were flashy and could only affect the balance of the body in melee combat. The backpack in the way behind him is a sign of lack of combat experience: this kind of thing should be removed before the battle begins!

Of course, what really made him despise those strange soldiers was that he didn't feel the slightest fluctuation of magic power from those enemies.

Ordinary people, just wearing strange equipment-does this also want to fight against superhumans?

However, considering the two weird magic explosions before, the mercenary knight was worried that there were spellcasters hiding in the woods, so he waved his hand and called to his nearest subordinates: "Come on!"

Several subordinates obeyed the order instinctively, brandishing their swords and charged towards the weird enemies at the edge of the forest. At the same time, other mercenary partners also reacted one after another, and greeted the attackers while uttering shocking and strange shouts.

But what happened next made everyone unresponsive.

Those soldiers wearing strange equipment raised their left arms one by one, aiming at the mercenaries rushing towards them like firing hand crossbows, followed by a series of low-pitched, high-heat beams piercing the air and buzzing continuously. The scorching rays pierced through every soldier on the charge.

The little leader of the knight watched this scene in horror, and a fantasy-like idea flashed through his mind like an explosion: scorching rays?Mage?A mage wearing plate armor and holding a long sword?A large group of mages wearing plate armor and carrying long swords? !

He activated his protective aura at the fastest speed in his life, and a layer of magical radiance appeared on his body, but when he thought he could resist the low-level magic of those strange "plate armor mages", A series of buzzing sounds suddenly sounded in the woods, and then more than a dozen red lights came towards his face.

One after another scorching rays bombarded him, and the knight's aura silenced the first few beams of light, but the mercenary was only terrified, because he found that those "mages" wearing plate armor were casting spells. There is no need for buffering and chanting at all, he found that the beams of light splashing from the forest are completely continuous!

A burst of heart-piercing and burning pain came from the abdomen, followed by simultaneous hits on all four limbs. The little mercenary boss with low-level knight strength almost fell to pieces, thinking Before the complete end, there was only one thought in his mind:

Mage... When did he become so worthless?

While those minions and little bosses were being killed one by one by the scorching ray, the mercenary leader in half armor survived because of the leader's reserve - he didn't charge with the others, so he was watching At the moment when the situation was not good, he still had time to quickly find a cover to escape. He almost scrambled and rushed behind the nearest big rock, but in the process, he saw a figure in a black robe who was still standing there. Standing there dully.

That was one of the only two mages in the mercenary regiment. The other party actually propped up the magic shield at this time, and began to chant an attack spell - open the shield and cast a spell. This is almost every battle mage fighting against other mages. The basic operation at the time is also a standard operation, but the mercenary leader immediately realized that this stupid battle mage was finished.

He watched dozens of scorching red beams shoot at the figure in the magic robe, easily tearing apart the opponent's mana shield, and causing waves of ripples on the magic robe with certain magic resistance , the black-robed mage survived the first round of shooting with his mana shield and expensive anti-magic robe, but the second round of shooting turned him into a mass of coke that exploded in the air.

This is not a battle at all, this is a one-sided massacre-the disparity in strength between the enemy and us is as huge as when he led his subordinates to hack and kill in the refugee camp.

The mercenary leader completely gave up resisting in front of this force. He glanced around to confirm that he had not yet appeared in the enemy's sight, so he immediately moved along the haystacks and piles of corpses beside the stones, preparing to escape from this terrible However, as soon as he moved, he felt a chill spread from his back to his whole body, and a cold blade touched his neck.

"If I were you, I'd put my hand on the back of my head right now."

Amber pressed a dagger against the back of the mercenary leader's neck, and while issuing a powerful threat, she had a firm idea in her heart: as long as this seemingly capable mercenary leader resisted, she would run away immediately.

But if the other party doesn't resist, she will exchange this credit with Gao Wen for a roast chicken and half a barrel of cold beer.

The mercenary leader didn't resist - because he now firmly believes that dozens of battle mages surrounded this place. Although the painting style of those battle mages is very strange, magic cannot be faked, and in front of such a group of mages, kung fu No matter how high you are, you have to be cowardly.

Gawain and Philip, who were just watching and recording the battlefield, came out without making a move, leading the magic infantry to clean up the battlefield, while the mercenary leader stood up from behind the stone under the threat of Amber's dagger, obediently accepting control.

Looking at the scorched black corpses in front of him, and recalling that just a few minutes ago, these were a group of well-equipped elite mercenaries even surrounded by extraordinary people, Gao Wen felt a little more proud and trustful of the new heat ray gun.

But at the same time, he also discovered many shortcomings in the experience and tactics of the first generation of magic infantry - many soldiers still haven't escaped from the traditional combat method, and don't understand the essence of ambush in the bunker to focus on the enemy. They exposed themselves early, and some people were too excited after killing the enemy with magic for the first time, forgetting the task of concentrating fire assigned by the squad leader and fighting indiscriminately. Two soldiers even made a mistake and moved toward the The enemy has been biuing for a long time, and only now, under the reminder of his comrades in arms, did he realize that he had not actually hit anyone...

Bringing [-] magic infantry to deal with these mercenaries is indeed a bit of a sledgehammer. Based on the power of the heat ray gun and the chaos brought to the enemy after the appearance of new equipment on the battlefield, Gao Wen judged that only ten were actually needed. Soldiers can get rid of these seemingly well-equipped but in fact mob mercenaries in front of them-as long as they focus their fire in a timely manner and have proper tactics, it is difficult for traditional and low-level transcendents to make effective counterattacks when faced with magical weapons.

But it is still necessary to bring so many people—even if each of them only shoots once effectively (two of them are still watching others shoot), these soldiers have also learned about the characteristics and usage of the new equipment during actual combat. It also confirmed the progress of training and education for these soldiers. Whether it is for heat ray guns or these new soldiers, today is a valuable actual combat test.

Missionary Wright also followed the soldiers out of the woods. It was the first time he had seen the combat of the Cecil Combat Corps. The unbelievable mysterious weapon stunned this strong and bear-like pastor, but He quickly turned his attention away from the unintelligible weapons.

Wright walked among the mercenary corpses all over the floor, squatting down from time to time, and drew the symbols of the Church of the Holy Light on the foreheads of those corpses, while chanting words:

"May the Light purify your sinful soul."

"May the Light purify your sinful soul."

"May the holy light purify your sinful and ugly soul."