When Lind saw the signal black smoke rise into the air, he did not rush. Instead, just like when his former self had hunted a mountain bear, he re-entered the forest where he had laid his traps. Carefully and cautiously, he checked the condition of every single trap, adjusting and repairing a few that might malfunction. Only after that did he return to his ambush point, staring at the narrow mountain path ahead that led toward the smuggling route.
As time passed bit by bit, the light rain of early morning not only failed to weaken, but instead grew heavier. Dense curtains of rain poured down, making it impossible to see anything in the distance, and the sound of raindrops covered up all other noises. Even someone like Lind, whose hearing had already surpassed that of ordinary people, could hear nothing at all besides the rain.
For Lind, this was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that the heavy rain helped conceal the traps in the forest, making it impossible for those passing through to guard against them. The bad thing was that he could no longer rely on his already enhanced hearing and vision to grasp the enemy's situation.
He did not know whether it was because of the heavy rain, or because the fighting on the battlefield had already ended, but Lind could no longer see the signal black smoke rising from the distant sky. Still, it did not affect him. He simply shifted his posture, loosened his slightly stiff body, and continued to wait quietly at his ambush point, even as rainwater seeped into his clothes.
After about another half an hour, Lind seemed to hear something within the rain. He slightly turned his head and looked toward the forest where he had set his traps, pricking up his ears and focusing his mind as he listened to the various sounds entering his ears.
He did not know whether it was an illusion, or whether his abnormal hearing, under such intense concentration, had received some kind of boost. He felt that the previously chaotic sound of rain suddenly became like a well-organized library—each different sound separated into its own category. He could clearly distinguish the details of every single sound.
However, this extraordinary state only lasted for a few seconds before quickly returning to normal. Yet those few seconds were already enough for Lind to understand the situation in the forest ahead.
"Twenty-three people in total. Thirteen injured, seven of them heavily wounded. Another six triggered traps—no chance of survival," Lind muttered to himself as he drew the weapon from his waist, analyzing the information hidden within those fleeting sounds. "Two of them are wearing plate armor. Likely real knights. Those will be troublesome."
After a short while, Lind saw a few blurry figures appear at one end of the mountain path. As they drew closer, he gradually made them out. Because of the curtain of rain, he could barely distinguish their numbers and their equipment.
Just as he had analyzed from the sounds earlier, there were two warriors—or knights—wearing plate armor among this group. Their status was clearly not low. They walked in the middle, protected by the others. The rest were dressed plainly; only a few wore leather armor, while the others wore ordinary clothing. Most of their weapons were spears, with only a handful carrying longswords.
However, what differed slightly from his earlier analysis was their number—it was fewer than he had expected. He quickly figured it out. The missing ones must have fallen into traps again and died in the forest.
After emerging from the woods, this group did not stop. They quickly assessed their surroundings, found the mountain path hidden among the weeds that led to the smuggling route, and then stepped onto it, hurrying toward their escape.
Perhaps all they could think about at that moment was reaching safety as quickly as possible. Or perhaps the overnight flight, the battle they had encountered, and the continued escape had exhausted both their bodies and minds. They did not consider whether the traps on the road they had taken earlier had been prepared for them, nor did they think about whether there might be more ambushes ahead. They simply lowered their heads and pressed forward.
Soon, they reached the foot of the small hill where Lind lay in ambush. With the cover of grass and trees, combined with the heavy rain, they did not notice that someone was lying in wait nearby.
Lind had no intention of letting them pass and then following them to pick them off from behind. Judging from their current condition, they were already extremely exhausted, with little combat strength left. He could deal with them head-on.
Thus, when the two plate-armored warriors being guarded in the center reached the area in front of Lind, he kicked off the ground with all his strength. His entire body shot out like an arrow released from a bow, and in the blink of an eye, he was already in front of the two knights.
Lind was far too fast. With the rain obscuring everything, the two plate-armored warriors sensed nothing at all. By the time they noticed something was wrong, all they saw was the reflection of two flashing blades. Then, at the point where helmet and armor met at the throat, they felt a chill. A wave of weakness spread through their bodies, and combined with their already exhausted state, they collapsed to the ground at once, their bodies twitching unconsciously.
After smoothly dealing with the two plate-armored warriors, the surrounding bandits had not yet reacted to what had happened. Lind's assault did not pause in the slightest. His body spun in an exaggerated half-turn, driving his arms as he slashed toward several bandits carrying longswords.
The blade, carrying the force of rotation, landed with incredible precision in the gaps of the bandits' leather armor. Like a hot knife through butter, the edge cut open flesh, leaving unhealable wounds at vital points. Before the blood could even spray from the wounds, the blade had already moved on to the next target.
As Lind fully absorbed the Peacemaker's combat experience, he gradually came to understand that the Peacemaker's fighting style could be summed up in four words: attacking weaknesses.
In a frontal clash, the Peacemaker's strength was only slightly greater than that of an ordinary person. But his extraordinary agility and speed, combined with precise control over weak points, allowed Lind to harvest lives efficiently and swiftly like a god of death. Just like now—less than ten seconds had passed, and five fully armed warriors had already died under his hand-and-a-half sword.
"Enemy attack!" The bandits at the rear saw their leaders fall, and a strange figure appear where they had fallen. They immediately realized what had happened and instinctively let out terrified shouts, both to warn those ahead and to bolster their own courage.
However, their cries did not affect Lind at all. At this moment, he was like a cold killing machine, charging into the group of spear-wielding bandits in the rear according to his planned sequence. His hand-and-a-half sword swung again and again, each strike precisely aimed at the vulnerable neck. With every swing, a person fell. Lives before him were as fragile as roadside weeds.
Even though the bandits realized they were under attack, they were unable to organize any effective defense. Partly because those commanding them had been eliminated by Lind at the very start, but more importantly because the spears in their hands were completely unsuited for close combat. They could neither strike the enemy nor defend against his attacks, and could only passively watch as the blows landed on them.
Moreover, the enemy's attack speed was far too fast. All they could see were flashes of metal light; they could not even make out the full shape of the blade. Not to mention that their bodies were already exhausted— even at full strength, it would have been difficult to dodge such rapid attacks.
The five bandits scouting ahead heard the shouts and commotion behind them. Trained by habit, they immediately gripped their weapons tightly and turned around to assess the situation. The sight before them left them completely stunned.
In the heavy rain, more than a dozen of their companions behind them had all fallen to the ground. Blood continuously gushed from their wounds, mixing with the rainwater and completely dyeing the mountain path beneath their feet red.
And amid this field of corpses stood a figure holding twin swords. The rain blurred their vision, preventing them from seeing his face clearly, yet they could still feel the icy gaze piercing through the curtain of rain. That gaze made them feel as though they were being stared at by one of the legendary White Walkers.
Fear instantly spread through their hearts. They had no intention of resisting at all. One by one, they went mad and turned to flee along the mountain path. In their desperation to run ahead, they even shoved and pushed each other, each thinking that as long as someone else was left behind to block the pursuer, they themselves could escape safely.
If these five had cooperated with one another, using their spears, they might have been able to cause Lind some trouble. Once they reached the narrow smuggling route carved into the cliffside, Lind might not have risked continuing the chase and would have let them go.
But now, each of them only cared about himself. In their frantic escape, they even attacked one another, completely exposing their backs without any defense—almost as if they were inviting Lind to kill them.
Faced with such an invitation, Lind naturally did not refuse. In the end, the five had run less than ten meters before all of them died beneath his sword.
After dealing with this group, Lind carefully checked the situation. Only after confirming that they were all dead did he relax slightly. He rested for a moment, did not bother cleaning the battlefield, and then stood up and entered the forest to check his traps one by one.
The result was that most of the traps he had set had already been triggered, and all of them were lethal traps. Anyone struck by them had no chance of survival. A rough count showed that fourteen people had died to these traps.
He did not deal with the corpses, nor did he reset the activated traps. Instead, he hid near one of the outermost traps and quietly waited for more prey to arrive.
About half an hour later, two more groups escaped from the battlefield in succession, numbering seven and thirteen respectively. It seemed the heavy rain had also affected the allied forces' encirclement of the bandits. Otherwise, given Joel's battlefield deployment of the various units in the council hall of Firmhold, so many fish would not have slipped through the net.
These bandits were fortunate enough to use the rain as cover, avoiding the slaughter on the battlefield and reaching what they believed to be a safe area. There were no pursuers behind them. As long as they crossed a not-so-large stretch of forest, they would reach the smuggling route and completely escape this dangerous place.
But the moment they entered this forest, they never came out again. Hidden within the woods, Lind appeared like a ghost at positions they could never anticipate, killing them one by one while driving the survivors into deadly traps.
Because so many people had died, the forest was already filled with the heavy stench of blood. The smell also attracted some carnivorous animals, making the forest even more dangerous.
Roman Viber was the son of Viscount Linden Viber and the cousin of the current lord of Coldhowl Castle, Aymont Viber. With his long face, he was known in the Reach by the nickname "the Groundhog."
The meaning of this nickname was that Roman Viber usually stayed hidden in his manor, living his own life, only poking his head out when there was movement outside to see if there was profit to be made. This encirclement of bandits, for example, was precisely such an opportunity.
Although the nickname "Groundhog" did not sound pleasant, those familiar with him knew very well that anyone who dared to underestimate him would definitely suffer a great loss at his hands.
This time, his task was to lead a hundred-man unit patrolling the outskirts of the battlefield, hunting down any stragglers. The most critical mission was to prevent a few fugitives among the bandits—those who had once had contact with the Viber family and were loyal to the Dragon family—from escaping the encirclement.
If everything had gone smoothly, they should already be celebrating the successful conclusion of the purge of the Red Lake Forest bandits and the remnants of the Dragon family. However, the sudden heavy rain at dawn caused numerous flaws in the entire operation. Especially on the attacking front, the various formations moved at uneven speeds due to the muddy ground, creating many gaps.
The bandit leader was also quite capable, ordering his men to break up and scatter, using those gaps to break through.
Although most of them failed and died on the battlefield, some were still lucky enough to escape the encirclement. Roman should have eliminated all of these stragglers, but because of the rain, his own movement speed was also affected. After clearing out part of the bandits, some still slipped away right under his nose and fled into the mountainous forest near Firmhold.
If they were just ordinary bandits, he might have let them go. But among those who escaped into the forest, he saw two people wearing plate armor. Among bandits, anyone able to wear plate armor was definitely no ordinary figure and was very likely to know some secrets.
For this reason, after dealing with some of the stragglers, he did not rest. Instead, he immediately led his men, following the various traces left behind by the fleeing bandits, and quickly caught up to the forest where Lind had set his traps.
After confirming that the bandits had fled into the forest, Roman immediately led his men inside. He had to catch up to them as quickly as possible and eliminate them.
However, not long after entering the forest, they involuntarily stopped in their tracks.
Because they saw a corpse hanging off the ground from a tree, both feet suspended in the air. A wooden stake had pierced through his chest. From a distance, it looked as though the trees of the forest themselves had killed him.
(End of Chapter)