Meanwhile, on the other side of Urgunda Lowland.
Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!
The scout team was sent by the military facing a pack of Dire Wolf. They shot the wolf with their guns, but to their surprise, the guns only managed to slow the wolves' advance.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Cai Peng called his subordinates to retreat as soon as he noticed the guns were less effective against the wolves. It was not totally useless as they killed four wolves, but twelve guns only managed to kill four, it was not up to the expectation.
On top of that, they only had limited ammunition with them. Each of his subordinates only had four cartridges as a reserve while he had six. If this continued, they would run out of ammunition to fend off against the dangers.
They ran while kept shooting the wolves that persistently chased them. As the shoot continued, Cai Peng realized what he and his team faced was not just a normal wolf. As the chase continued, he realized the wolves were getting smarter.
When they tried to aim at them, the wolves would move behind the trees. They would move very fast amongst the dense trees in the forest while advancing.
"Damn!" Cai Peng cursed out after he missed all his three shots. He did not want to waste the bullet so he ceased his shot and continued to run.
Not far from the scout team, Yang Wen and his subordinates heard the gunshots, "Huh!?" He was familiar with the sound and quite confused as he looked toward the direction.
His subordinates also looked in the same direction as him. Pan Gang approached him and asked, "Should we check?"
Yang Wen fell silent for a moment, "Let's check," there was a possibility that the one who fought there was someone from the neutral faction. If it was the group from the neutral faction, he should go there, 'We can recruit them into our group, just in case the Tang Empire is hostile toward us,'
Yang Wen led the Flame Castle to the noise. Soon they found out ten people with guns fought against the wolf. Yes, two of them had fallen into the wolf's mouth.
From afar, Yang Wen watched Cai Peng and his team struggled against the pack of Dire Wolf. He soon noticed the group was wearing a military vest and uniform.
"Do they from the military?" Yang Wen muttered in a low voice, 'The neutral faction or Tang Empire?' He thought to himself. Pan Gang looked toward the captain, "Should we help them?"
"Yes, we should help them. Let's go!" After a moment of hesitation, Yang Wen decided to help Cai Peng and his team. It was impossible for the group who could finish the first portal to struggle against these wolves.
*** ***
The first Tang Empire's official battle ended with a big victory. The coordination between the people was almost perfect, causing them to suffer no casualty, not even injured.
In the front of the big hut, Tang Shaoyang gathered with his trusted subordinates. Zhang Mengyao, Lu An, Yan Sheng, Wei Xi, and Tian Donghai gathered as a bonfire lit up in the center to warm their body from the cold wind of the night.
"From the objective screen, we have captured the right fortress," Tang Shaoyang opened the meeting by announcing their success, "Our next target should be the six other fortresses before we look for the Berserker King,"
No one was surprised by this, even without their Boss' order, they would look for the fortress first. Capturing a fortress would give them one level, it was too tempting to be ignored.
"And then, based on the locations of this fortress, I have a guess where the remaining fortresses are," Tang Shaoyang spoke what was in his mind. He had a rough guess of this.
"If I guessed correctly, the next fortress should be here and here," using his finger, he drew something on the ground. Seven dots formed a heptagon with a big dot in the center.
"Fortress is built to watch the border, that's the purpose of the fortress, at least this fortress' purpose is," he pointed toward where they encountered the barricade, "If my guess is right, the barricade is the border of the Orc Tribe,"
The other five listened seriously to every one of his words. They did not find anything wrong with what he said so they kept their mouth shut.
"Here!" He pointed at the big dot, "If my guess is correct, the Berserker King should be here. In the core of the territory, and the remaining six fortresses should be near the border as well,"
"That's most likely," Zhang Mengyao agreed to the idea, "Rather than searching randomly, we can use your idea to search the next fortress,"
The other five nodded their heads in agreement, "What about we scout the area now? If we could not find the fortress tonight, we can think of another way to find the fortress,"
Lu An proposed to search tonight. The battle against the orcs did not bring any toll to the body. He was still in his peak condition.
"That will do as well. I and Mengyao will head there!" He pointed in a direction where the fortress was located, "You four go to the opposite direction,"
None of them refused the idea as five of them nodded their heads. After that short meeting, everyone parts in the opposite direction.
From the hut where he stayed, Kang Jiayi cast a complex look toward his daughter's man. He found his idea to build an empire from scratch was ridiculous at first. But as he stayed longer with these people, he found out that they were striving for the same purpose as well.
If it was one person, he would think that was just a crazy dream for someone uneducated. However, when many people had the same goal, it was no longer a crazy dream, but an achievable goal.
Two days had passed in the second portal
Tang Shaoyang hid behind the tree as he peeked ahead. A hundred meters ahead a fortress stood up. The fortress was built in the middle of the forest, and it was smaller compared to the first fortress he captured.
"Should we wait until the dark?" While looking at the Orc Guard on the top of the wall, Wei Xi whispered to Tang Shaoyang.
Tang Shaoyang's conjecture regarding the fortress' locations was spot on. Thanks to that, they managed to find the fifth fortress on the third day.
"Their number should be less since it's smaller than a normal fortress we encountered so far," Tang Shaoyang looked at the fortress surroundings, "We don't need the night ambush. Call our people, we are going to attack the fortress right now!"
After that, they split into four groups, surrounding the fortress from all directions.
Li Na was standing next to Tang Shaoyang, aiming the crossbow at the Orc Guards on the top. Next to her, two skilled archers also targeted the other Orc Guards.
"Are you ready?" Tang Shaoyang asked the girl. Li Na and the other two men nodded their heads, "Shoot at my signal!"
They waited for another thirty seconds before Tang Shaoyang motioned the archers to shoot.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Three arrows shot toward the Orc Guards. There were four Orc Guards in total, so as soon as they released the arrow, they immediately reloaded the arrow to shoot the last Orc Guard.
Their aims were precise and accurate, the arrows hit the head and killed the Orc Guard instantly. As soon as the four Orc Guards fell, Tang Shaoyang picked the boulder that was bigger than his body.
Thick and long root was tied to the boulder. He ran toward the wall and threw the boulder to the top wall. After that, he repeated the same action, three boulders in total.
"Go! Go! Go!" He prompted his people to move after the boulder landed on the top wall. Using the root, he climbed the wall quickly. It was much faster than climbing the wall without the root.
On the other sides of the wall, the same thing happened. They threw the boulder that tied to the root and used that to climb the wall. Since this was their fifth raid, they were more experienced, and they captured the fortress quickly since the number of the orcs were less than a hundred.
It was an easy battle for Tang Shaoyang and the Captains, but Kang Xue was still struggling in the battle. She was quickly out of breath and killed fewer Orcs than the others.
After the battle, just like usual, Tang Shaoyang and the Captains were gathering to discuss where they should head next. They were predicting the next location while letting their subordinates to rest.
While they were having a discussion, they heard gunshots.
Da! Da! Da! Da!
The gunshots were quite clear to the ears, indicating whoever used the guns was not far from the fortress. The six looked at each other for a moment while the others looked toward the direction where gunshots were.
Tang Shaoyang immediately stood up, "I will check!" and rushed out of the fortress, "Close the gate!" He ordered his subordinates to close the gate after he came out.
Of course, Lu An did not want to be left behind, he followed his Boss. Since he was so fast, he easily caught up with Tang Shaoyang.
"Are they the people from the military?" Lu An asked Tang Shaoyang, the latter shrugged and replied casually, "Maybe, we will know soon,"
Soon they reached the location, both did not immediately reveal their presence.
It was a group of six being surrounded by the soldiers from the military and men in red armor. However, Tang Shaoyang's eyes were never left at the young boy in the center.
His eyes brightened up as a grin formed on his lips, "Oh boy, we meet again,"