Chapter 69 of 100
Chapter 69
13 min read3,199 words
The current village seemed to be truly off, and Rodi sensed this but did not choose to retreat immediately—because if an army retreated without any concrete reason, it would greatly affect morale and fighting spirit, and would also severely damage his own authority. Therefore, Rodi ordered Ruge to lead the team to the southeast, where they could retreat to the grasslands at any time, while he and Soderlor approached from another angle to observe.
If everything was fine, he could order an attack at any time... If there was something unusual, he would order a retreat directly.
He kept Soderlor because his observational and analytical skills were superior to his own, and Rodi admitted this internally, so he made this decision without hesitation.
Turning his head, he saw Ruge leading the scouts in a formation ready to charge. Rodi raised his hand to signal Soderlor to follow him, and as they approached the village, he carefully observed the surroundings—
"If this is a trap, the other side has been very patient."
Rodi frowned, trying to find any clues, but just as he found nothing unusual, he heard Soderlor suddenly pull on the reins and say, "Over there—there are signs of a large number of animals being slaughtered in that animal pen. They killed many livestock last night or this morning."
Because of the angle, Rodi had not yet confirmed what Soderlor saw in the "animal pen," but out of trust in this future legion commander, he did not doubt Soderlor's words. However, when he carefully considered the information, cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead!
He suddenly pulled on the reins, and when the warhorse stopped, Rodi also saw the "empty" animal pen in the village—a scene that seemed to be trying to hide something, and the blood and feces on the ground seemed to confirm his suspicions...
"Trouble, it's the Wolf Riders!"
Rodi shouted, immediately raising his hand to signal Ruge and the others to retreat, then sharply turned his horse and urgently said to Soderlor, "Hurry! Hurry!"
The sound of hooves suddenly echoed and intensified on the grassland, standing out in the vast open space.
Ruge and the others, trained by Rodi to follow orders without question, immediately turned their horses and began an orderly retreat, though they did not fully understand the danger. However, when they heard a dull sound from behind, Ruge curiously looked back—what he saw almost made him fall off his horse.
The originally peaceful Cossack village suddenly tore off its peaceful facade, and a large number of black figures surged out like a disturbed beehive!
"Damn it! It's the Wolf Riders!"
"At least fifty, no, seventy! Hurry—hurry and run!"
Ruge could not imagine how so many Wolf Riders could be hidden in such a few tents. The Wolf Riders, shouting slogans, charged at them like crocodiles that had been lurking in the water, suddenly opening their bloodthirsty mouths as the prey approached!
Ruge and Carter kicked their horses' flanks frantically. Although they accelerated a bit later than Rodi and Soderlor, their position allowed them to lead the way in the escape—behind them, over seventy Wolf Riders, less than 400 meters away, had already charged out of the village and were howling in pursuit!
Rodi and Soderlor, less than 200 meters from the Wolf Riders, were fleeing frantically... Although they had detected the danger a few seconds earlier and issued a warning, they were amazed—because they never expected the other side to send so many Wolf Riders!
Wolves were not like horses or cattle that could be raised casually; they were extremely expensive to breed and required pure bloodlines. From a certain perspective, a qualified Wolf Rider was even more expensive than a light cavalryman in a human kingdom. Even for a tribe like the Hammer of Rohar, the main force was still ordinary infantry, and the total number of Wolf Riders was limited to 500 at most!
At this moment, over seventy Wolf Riders, plus the already eliminated Kosa and his thirty men, were enough to be a decisive force in a thousand-strong orc tribal conflict!
Rodi did not understand who had the audacity to gather 70 Wolf Riders to ambush him?
The horses galloped, and the Wolf Riders' short-distance burst speed was evident, quickly catching up to Rodi and Soderlor. Rodi's gaze remained calm when he turned back—because they had discovered the enemy's plot in advance, the ambush had lost its original effect, and 200 meters was not enough for the Wolf Riders to catch up directly.
But the next moment, he realized he had underestimated the situation.
Far away, on the hillside of the Cossack village, the tall, thin figure in a robe waved a wooden staff adorned with bones, and a pale red light enveloped the Wolf Riders who had just charged out of the village—then, Rodi and Soderlor heard the sound of the wolves' hooves behind them suddenly accelerate...
Turning back, the orcs, who were already running at full speed, suddenly accelerated again, charging at them with astonishing force!
"Area Bloodlust, it's that damn Sarota! Damn it!"
Rodi almost immediately understood who was ambushing him, and his heart turned cold—on second thought, he had to admit that among the orcs, only this cunning shaman could have such a plan and audacity.
The fact that he could use this spell meant that the shaman had already surpassed level 5 in the advanced class "Shaman." Although the shaman's total level might be between 15 and 20, the existence of the "Shaman" advanced class meant that Rodi had no chance of facing him head-on.
Moreover, the pursuers were over seventy ferocious and terrifying Wolf Riders!
"Speed up! Just one minute!"
Rodi, who knew the shaman's skills well, understood the duration of "Area Bloodlust," and this made him even more cautious about turning back to shoot arrows—because at this moment, any small mistake could lead to being caught... and once the net was thrown, the fate of Rodi and Soderlor was unimaginable!
The bug of regenerating health was not enough to save them from over seventy Wolf Riders.
The wolves charged frantically, and the sound of their pursuit was like a thunderous pressure on the nerves of all the scouts. The ones in front, like Ruge, were still running, but Soderlor and Rodi were gradually being caught up.
One hundred meters, ninety meters, eighty meters.
The suffocating feeling made the two men feel an indescribable pressure. Rodi focused on the road ahead, his body moving in perfect sync with his horse, while Soderlor's face was tense, the wind stinging their eyes, and the mud splashed by the hooves was immediately trampled by the pursuing Wolf Riders. The gap between them had narrowed to twenty meters.
Without turning back, they both heard the sound of the net spinning in the air.
In Soderlor's mind, this situation was no different from "sitting and waiting to die"—he wanted to take some action, but he knew that any distraction would slow down his horse... but if they kept running, the enemy would eventually catch up.
What to do? Wait to die?
His gaze shifted slightly, and in his peripheral vision, he saw Rodi tightly gripping the horn bow, and four arrows appeared in his right hand, which was holding the reins.
The sound of the net spinning suddenly became more urgent, and Soderlor clenched his teeth, trying to speed up, but he heard Rodi shout—
"Keep running! Don't look back!"
This voice made Soderlor freeze, and he turned his head to look at Rodi, who had already released the reins and turned to raise his short bow...
Was he planning to sacrifice himself?
Soderlor instinctively thought of this possibility, but in his peripheral vision, the net had already been thrown and was flying toward them!
In this life-or-death moment, everything seemed to slow down. Rodi, raising his short bow, had already nocked an arrow and turned his body to aim at the Wolf Riders behind him—but the way he shot was completely different from usual... the arrow, which was usually nocked on the left side of the bow, was now on the right, and instead of using the "Mediterranean" style with the index, middle, and ring fingers, he used the "Mongolian" style with his thumb.
His short bow did not aim at the orcs but straight at the air.
The net was about to land, and Soderlor almost imagined Rodi being caught in it—when a strange sound of the bowstring, like a whip cracking in his ear, echoed—
"Snap!"
The arrow, as soon as it left the bow, began to tilt and, in an extremely short moment, twisted ninety degrees in the air, colliding with the net horizontally!
The large net was stopped in mid-air and fell to the ground, just missing Soderlor's horse!
Soderlor, slightly turning his head, could hardly believe what he saw, but in the next two seconds, Rodi fired three more arrows in rapid succession, almost like a "spray"!
At this distance of about twenty meters, Rodi, using the rarely used "Mongolian" style, missed one arrow, but the much faster shooting speed made up for the loss of accuracy—within two seconds, the two closest Wolf Riders were shot down, and the fall of the riders caused the pursuing group to slow down slightly.
The morale of the Wolf Riders was completely shattered by these few seconds, and just as they were about to accelerate again, the effect of "Bloodlust" finally disappeared.
The Wolf Riders suddenly slowed down, so much so that Soderlor thought they had been scared off by Rodi's arrows—but only Rodi knew that the "Area Bloodlust" provided a 10% increase in attack and movement speed for one minute, but once the time was up, it caused a 10% decrease in movement speed as a side effect!
Only when the skill level was increased would this side effect decrease. Clearly, the skill level used by Sarota was not high, allowing Rodi and Soderlor to escape from the clutches of death...
Their horses gradually ran out of the range of the Wolf Riders' pursuit, and Ruge and the others slowed down slightly. When Rodi and Soderlor caught up, they all entered the vast grassland together—perhaps the scouts were favored by heaven, as it started raining, reducing visibility. The Wolf Riders, seeing they could not catch up, slowly stopped, watching the thirty scouts disappear into the rain.
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