Chapter Sixteen: The End of the Flame

  The sun slowly climbed up from the horizon, and the Saltre warriors who had been on high alert all night finally breathed a sigh of relief. The surprise attack last night was still ongoing until just recently. The Iron Hammer Legion's food supplies and a batch of materials were even burned down by the Wolfmen in the first wave of attacks.

  If it wasn't for the timely discovery that the grain was on fire and quickly extinguishing the flames, perhaps by dawn these iron hammer warriors would have had to return home directly. Moreover, they would also have to buy grain from Kabinida for the journey back. Fortunately, they managed to salvage some of the grain, which could sustain them for over a dozen days.

  The Salt warriors, who had been harassed for a whole night, each had some fatigue on their faces. Because the monsters kept appearing near the camp, from time to time, they would drive the goblins to attack the camp, although they couldn't hurt the Salt warriors, but it made them unable to close their eyes for a whole night, and could only hold out against these monsters until dawn.

  It's clear that these demons understood this as well. Once the night was over, their advantage would disappear completely. A thousand Sault warriors could easily wipe them out. So, the demons retreated back into the forest an hour before sunrise, leaving behind only the corpses of the goblins killed by the Sault warriors, telling the tale of last night's battle.

  "I'm deeply sorry, Captain." Grukk, who already had some dark circles under his eyes, knelt down in front of Reforla and apologized: "I completely failed in my duty."

  "It's not your fault." In the tent of the team leader, Leiflor also spent a sleepless night. He got up and took over the hot towel handed by the guard beside him, wiped his face and said: "I also underestimated the ability of that demon beast. Such harassment, I think even the best scout can't turn the tide."

  "What are we going to do?" Glog said with some worry: "We still have three days of journey before reaching the cave where that monster is. Although we still have some food, if these monsters attack us like this every night, all the warriors will collapse before reaching our destination."

  "We can only divide into two shifts and take turns resting." Lei Fu La thought for a moment, somewhat helplessly saying: "Let the even-numbered teams be in charge of the first half of the night watch, and the odd-numbered teams be in charge of the second half. This way, we'll be able to hold on until we reach our destination. Then, as long as we kill that ringleader, these demons won't be such a nuisance."

  "Those cowards from Kabinada didn't lift a finger last night." Guroku said with some indignation, "We were right next to the village, and they just let the monsters attack us without anyone lifting a hand to help us."

  "They won't help us." Refora sat down in the chair inside the tent, letting out a somewhat tired sigh. "Our goal this time is not so much to kill that demon as it is to cut off the iron ore supply to Karbunda village. The nobles in Saintphi City think that Karbunda's increasing production of iron goods is a threat."

  "Is... is that so?" Groke said, somewhat stunned. "I thought it was just a rumor. How could there be demons willing to provide them with ore? Aren't they just mindless killing monsters?"

  "Starting from the ambush yesterday, and the harassment last night, do you still think they're just mindless killing monsters?" Reforra said with a self-mocking smile: "Even if that's the case, at least the demon we're dealing with this time is an exception. We won't be able to resolve this problem as easily as before."

  Glock and Reforla talked for a long time, and Glock, who had learned the purpose of this expedition, felt somewhat heavy-hearted. Originally thinking it was just a simple expedition, it has now become somewhat complicated, not only without any aid from Kabinada, but even if they were to eradicate the demons, they would still be resented by the people of Kabinada.

  Rafel candidly said that he had no solution to deal with the demon for the time being. This made Groke even more worried, worrying that the Iron Hammer Legion, which had never failed before, might be heading towards failure this time. Groke, who walked out of the commander's tent, did not tell anyone about the result of his conversation with Rafel.

  He also knew that if he were to tell this result to those already exhausted warriors, it would only lead to further loss of morale and serve no other purpose.

  The weary Ironfist troops, having eaten a meal, began to advance into the forest. The exhausted Salt warriors started singing the war song of the Ironfist army, using it to forget their physical fatigue. The ancient melody echoed through the forest, while invigorating the Salt warriors, also informed the nearby monsters tracking them of their position.

  The three-day journey to Thunder Cliff may have been the longest three days for these Iron Hammer Legion soldiers. Although scouts had removed most of the traps, some Salt warriors were still injured by non-lethal traps. The three-day journey left thirty Salt warriors unable to fight and became a burden on the legion.

  All the water sources on the road have been poisoned or contaminated with feces. Although there is some water in the supplies they carry, it is clearly not enough for everyone to drink, and the warriors who cannot get adequate water replenishment every night are harassed endlessly. The Sault warriors who set out with great fanfare now look unusually haggard.

  However, the long-term training and encouragement from Reforla allowed these elite warriors to endure such hardships. Now in the heart of every Sault warrior, there was a pent-up energy with a simple thought: hurry up and reach the destination, then chop off that demon who planned all this, and go home to have a good sleep.

  "We're here." Glog said, looking at the wooden palisade not far away. Because it had just been built, the top end had not yet been sharpened into sharp thorns. A similarly wooden gate was now completely sealed by a pile of stones.

  "It seems that the damned creature is determined to defend itself to the death." Nadal licked his somewhat dry lips, looking at the gnomes holding axes or sharpened wooden stakes on the wall, as well as some minotaurs and horned demons, saying: "That wall looks quite sturdy after all."

  "We brought enough rope to build a ladder." Leiluo Sa looked at the wall, which was only about 4 or 5 meters high, and smiled: "And those earth spirits don't have crossbows. As long as we can get over that fence, all the demons will be unable to escape! The resentment I've accumulated on this journey, I'm going to vent it all!"

  "I hope everything goes well." Although he didn't want to say anything pessimistic, Nadal still felt that things wouldn't go as smoothly as he thought.

  The Sault warriors, who had been holding back their anger for a long time, took more than two hours to set up over thirty ladders. Although they were very rough, they were enough to climb the not-so-high wooden palisade.

  "Charge!" The Iron Fist Legion launched an attack on the monster's fortress, with a thousand people shouting in unison, causing some timid goblins to start jumping down from the walls and running inside. If it weren't for the corner demons behind the goblins, who killed many of the fleeing goblins, this wave of escape would have swept away all the goblins on the walls.

  And yet the earth spirit remained on the wall, watching as one by one, the Salte warriors emerged from the forest, ladders in hand, their two not-so-sturdy legs trembling as if they were about to shake the wall down.

  No catapults were fired, no stones were thrown. The Salt warriors easily climbed the walls and chopped up the goblins who had been completely paralyzed with fear into pieces. Then they clashed with the horned demons and minotaurs that charged up roaring, and it was not until then that the first casualties of the siege appeared among the Salt warriors.

  However, the robust Minotaurs and the Cornugons only managed to hold off these Sart warriors for a few minutes. As more and more Sart warriors climbed over the walls, the Cornugons also began to flee.

  "They're escaping!" Nadal shouted, smashing one of the fleeing Horned Maces' heads into a pulp with the iron hammer in his hand, as he watched the Horned Maces continuously jumping down from the walls and retreating towards the cave.

  One by one, the blood-soaked Sault warriors chased after the defeated corner demons, killing their way towards the cave. The completely excited Sault warriors did not notice that some of the wood piled up on the surrounding wall had been sprinkled with flammable oil, nor did they see that the ladders inside the wall that could be climbed had been completely destroyed by the monsters. All they knew was that the monsters were retreating! And they wanted to chase after them and slaughter them! They had no idea that they had already become fish in a barrel.

  "It's starting now." Mo Yan stood on a nearby cliff, looking at the Sault warriors who were gradually approaching the cave, and said to Lirien, who was wearing a pointed magic hat and dressed as a magical girl beside him.

  "Alright, master." Lirien smiled and snapped her fingers, igniting the flame magic she had set up on the log pile.

  "I've said so." As he gazed at the Thunder Cliff, which had quickly emitted several columns of black smoke, the panicked Salt warriors retreated to the edge of the wall, but could not escape. Mo Yan drained his buffalo horn cup of honey wine in one gulp and laughed as he said: "I will make these fools have no return."

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