Chapter 72

From a distance, the scout team a few hundred meters away seemed to be in complete disarray, but only up close could one see the soldiers' calm and composed expressions. The sounds around the team were not "hurry up" or "run faster," but rather calm and steady commands like "Carter, slow down a bit, take a wider circle" and "Ruger, lead your men a few more steps."

Everything was an act. The clumsy movements and disorganized formation were all deliberate illusions created by the soldiers.

When the wolf cavalry charged out of the Cossack village, a few people in the team opened their mouths as if arguing, but in reality, they made no sound at all. As the two teams began to chase each other again, Rody finally let out a sigh of relief and whispered, "Alright, they've taken the bait. Follow the original plan."

His calm words seemed to carry a strange power, subtly calming the scouts' emotions—this firm and powerful confidence, like the backbone of the team, supported the courage of all the soldiers to continue fighting.

The seemingly chaotic team immediately began to change direction, moving swiftly. Now, almost everyone in the team was traveling with a do-or-die attitude—they carried only short bows and quivers, even discarding their weapons and armor on the grassland. So when all the horses took another dose of "thorn leaf grass" and began to gallop, the entire team became incredibly agile and swift!

As the wolf cavalry surrounded them in a chaotic manner, the scouts had already accelerated to full speed.

The worgs chasing from behind reached about two hundred meters behind the team, and Rody turned his head. He could clearly see the figure holding a wooden staff, confirming that it was indeed the famous witch doctor Sallota from the future. However, at this moment, he felt no particular anxiety or tension, but rather an unusual calm.

This state had almost never appeared since his rebirth. The player Rody from long ago had always had a "vengeful" personality—being beaten up after being poked in the chest by Ruger had already shown that he was not one to endure injustice. So when Sallota ambushed him and nearly killed him and Soderlor, the instinctive desire for revenge, mixed with his hatred for the orcs, had driven him into this state—

Not recklessly charging in, but calculating to the limits of his ability and resolving to deal with the enemy in the fastest, most intense, and most brutal way possible!

Strategies can be orthodox or unorthodox. Before this, Rody had mostly followed a "combination of orthodox and unorthodox" approach. Battles like the ambush on the orcs, though seemingly powerful, were merely exploiting the weaknesses of the worgs and did not count as brilliant tactics. But now, Rody was taking a risky move, implementing a bold plan that no one, not even the scouts, could have imagined!

The sound of hooves echoed in his ears, and the cold wind carried a hint of freshness. Rody, who had already reached the back of the team, gave Soderlor, who was at the front, his second order, "Don't slow down when you enter the swamp. Run the way I taught you!"

"Yes!"

The brief dialogue was almost instantly drowned out by the sound of galloping horses. Soderlor turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the determined faces of the soldiers, and finally saw Rody nodding at him coldly.

"Follow me!"

Soderlor ordered the scouts around him, gripping the reins tightly and leading the charge.

Before the morning battle, he had never imagined he would take on such responsibility. But at this moment, he realized that to truly become strong, he could not afford any hesitation in his heart.

From the moment they decided to counterattack the Cossack village in the morning, Rody's plan had revealed his ruthless and疯狂的一面。而到了现在，这场或许会在他们记忆深处留下不可磨灭印象的战斗，便由这位年轻的少尉拉开了序幕。

阴沉的天空下，仿佛下不完的大雨终于在此时停歇片刻，清冷的风吹过，带着泥土被浸湿后特有的芬芳……

然而这草原上原本宁静的气氛，却被两支奔行而过的队伍倏然打破。

马蹄声踏在泥泞中，没有了以往的干脆，但速度却依旧极快。索德洛尔在前方带队加速前进，他身后的斥候们渐渐排成了一条略显狭窄的长队。

后方追击的狼骑兵并不明白这些斥候的意图，座狼后背上挥舞着弯刀的兽人嗷嗷怪叫着，对方调整的队形导致速度慢了些，这让他们因为拉近双方之间的距离而略显兴奋起来。

座狼的腿比战马短上些许，心肺结构也决定了它们的耐力注定无法比得过天生适合长途奔跑的战马，虽然兽人摸索着进行的培育已经极大地改善了这种情况，但超过五公里的路程，座狼是根本无法追上战马的。

这种情况已经数次上演，对于诺兰村的斥候们而言，只要没有在前五公里被咬上，那么自己定然是不用有任何担心的——可这样的“尝试”在兽人队伍中多了一名强大巫医后，被彻底推翻。

在狼骑兵们出发前施放的那道绿色光芒，说起来却是和“嗜血术”一样的范围性巫术——“蛮牛之力”。

力量增幅5%，耐力增幅25%，萨罗塔并没有选择第一时间施放“嗜血术”，因为此时狼骑兵们距离人类斥候尚且还有数百米的距离，一旦嗜血术结束后仍旧没有追上对方，萨罗塔定然后悔莫及，所以此时他采取了最稳妥的方式来追击这些该死的人类。

“慢慢跑吧。”

满意的看着身前身后的狼骑兵逐渐将距离拉近，萨罗塔嘴角微微翘起，露出了那略显残忍的微笑——

“向草原跑可不是什么明智的主意，无知的人类，真是自寻死路。”

在泥泞的路段上，座狼宽厚的脚垫能让它们不至于陷入太深，因而道路越湿滑，反而对这些狼骑兵有利——前方那些斥候看起来慌不择路，估计是战马良莠不齐而排成了长列，再走一公里左右，便是大范围的沼泽区域，到时候这些人类定然会因为那根本无法辨认的泥坑而落入致命的陷阱！

到时候，这些人类还不是砧板上的肉？

心中再次感叹眼前这好似天上掉馅饼一样的机遇，他却是微微一怔，觉得视野中似乎有什么东西飞了过来。

此时双方距离已经拉进到了七十米上下，萨罗塔心中略带警惕的仔细观察着战场，发现天空中一个扬起的黑影在座狼奔跑的闷响声中落在了队伍前方的地面上，随即被呼啸而过的队伍直直踏碎。

“呵。”

暗自笑了一声，萨罗塔刚刚那一瞬间倒是真有一种受到威胁的感觉，毕竟之前对方队伍中那个神箭手实在是给他留下了极其深刻的印象，在看到箭矢出现的一刹那，心里竟然没有想过对方会失手。

还真是年纪越大胆子越小啊，七十多米的距离，在这飞速奔跑的追击途中骑着马回身射箭，想来也是没什么精准度可言的。

对那位神箭手的评价贬低了几分，萨罗塔不以为意的望着天空中再次出现的黑影，正要嗤笑，却见那黑影不偏不倚的落入了自己这边的队伍中！

“咚！”

看不清箭矢射在了什么地方，座狼坠地的闷响声还没消失，躲闪不及而被绊倒的狼骑士惊恐呼喊的声音便响成了一片——萨罗塔猛的回过头，视线飞速掠过的队伍后方，这一箭下去，一头座狼被直接射死，连带着三头座狼被绊倒，两名狼骑士直接跌倒在地，被后续跟上的骑士踩得口中吐着血，眼见着活不成了！

怎么可能？！

心底一丝凉意弥漫开来，转过头来望向前方那越来越近的人类队伍时，这才看清楚是谁在射箭。

这名手持短弓骑在马背上的人类似乎极为自信地缀在了所有斥候的最后方，在萨罗塔刚刚将目光聚焦在其身上时，这人类返身、搭箭、抬弓、撒放，一串顺畅之际的动作过后，萨罗塔瞳孔骤缩，本能的将手中缰绳朝侧面一扯。

“噗”的轻响声下一刻响起在身旁，箭矢贴着他手中的木杖落空在了地面上。

萨罗塔顷刻间感觉背后渗出了冷汗。

这一定是巧合。这一定是巧合。

他的内心根本不接受这样的事实，能在如此恶劣的条件下仍旧掌握主动，对方的箭术已经可以称得上神乎其技！若是他每一箭都能有刚才的准头，恐怕……

这个想法刚在脑海里生成，耳边便再度听到狼骑兵中箭倒地后带起的惨叫声。

萨罗塔嘴唇抿起，攥着木杖的手都变得有些发白，立刻大声朝身旁的兽人们下达了命令：“散开！散开一些！”

干挨打是没有办法的事情，狼骑兵在接近敌人之前只能承受这样的打击，而这点牺牲萨罗塔还是承受得起的——只要最终对方被抛网网住，他自信有一百种方式把这个家伙折磨到死！

作为上位者，巫医萨罗塔此时的想法倒也没错，血腥的战斗中死亡是在寻常不过的事情，不过这种干挨打的憋屈对于任何人来说都是一种煎熬——不过随着时间的流逝，当罗迪十箭射出，让这支队伍整整倒下了超过七人时，这位巫医终于被彻底惹火了！

“嗜血术！”

红色的光芒再一次亮起，距离斥候队伍只剩下四十多米的狼骑兵骤然间开始了加速，松散的阵型向前冲去，好似要在下一刻就将那阵型被拉成细长条的人类直接吞并一般。

萨罗塔露出了狰狞的表情，他双眼几乎喷出火焰的望着面前仍旧飞速奔逃的人类，心中只想着几分钟后将对方碎尸万段的情景，却是一时之间忽略了四周景物的微妙变化。

他双目紧紧盯着那远处不断回身射箭的人类，却看到对方将短弓收起，似乎放弃了继续射箭的打算，本以为对方因为自己“嗜血术”而感受到压抑的萨罗塔，却隐隐约约的看到对方在回过身去的那一瞬，似乎露出了一个诡异的笑容。

错觉？

死到临头了怎么可能笑得出来？

这样的想法很快驱散了他那微微的不安情绪，向前望去的时候，最前面的狼骑兵已经举起了手中的抛网——因为那刚才还嚣张无比的人类，此时已经被迫近到了三十米的范围内。

抛网在空中旋转着，似乎已经预示出了这些人类最终的命运——可就在它扔出前的瞬间，意外发生了。

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