The demons disappeared…
For six continuous days, the demons vanished without a trace, leaving everyone in great unease.
This might sound strange—aren’t the demons disappearing a good thing?
No, it absolutely isn’t a good thing!
Please don’t forget, the demons had occupied the land for a century now, every corner of the land bore the trace of demons, the only difference being in their numbers. Under such circumstances, their omnipresence was the norm, and their sudden disappearance was abnormal.
This was especially true for Backhill Village at the moment.
Both the group from Backhill Village led by Lin Feng and the Thunderhawk City Guard Squad commanded by Rocky couldn’t help but worry.
They had prepared for continuous attacks from the demons, and according to past experience, once the mining began at Backhill Village, it always ended up this way without exception.
But the exception occurred, with no attacks from the demons on the village for six straight days, nor even a sighting of a shadow, which immediately made everyone tense.
Where did the demons go?
No one knew the answer to this question.
But in order to find out the answer, Rocky and Lin Feng didn’t spare any efforts, eventually deciding unanimously to dispatch a skyship for reconnaissance!
Before this, the skyship had remained docked at Skybreaker Peak and hadn’t been deployed since the previous two battles were too minor to necessitate its use. However, the extended absence of the demons troubled both Lin Feng and Rocky profoundly, compelling them to send out the skyship for reconnaissance to be better prepared should any situation arise.
On the other hand, the sudden disappearance of the demons, though unsettling for everyone, also had a silver lining for Rocky and his team—it allowed many days for recuperation, and the soldiers led by Monte were mostly healed from their injuries.
This was definitely good news worth celebrating for Rocky, particularly Monte’s recovery, which restored the former strength of the Guard Corps, allowing them to fight against the demons with full force once again.
Moreover, Dusa, who had been whipped three times, had also nearly recovered.
Her quick recovery was partly due to the robust constitution of Beastmen; despite being a young girl, as a Beastman, her recovery was much more robust than that of a regular human.
Plus, credit must also go to Liliya who administered the whipping.
The reason Liliya personally carried out the whipping was to set an example and to protect Dusa.
Being a Third-Level Warrior, Liliya’s control over her strength was naturally much greater than an ordinary guard’s; thus, although her whipping looked severe, the lashes inflicted on Dusa weren’t very heavy, undoubtedly alleviating much of Dusa’s suffering.
Since her recovery, Dusa had learned from this ordeal and had become obedient and well-behaved, now only moving within the camp boundaries, daring not to run around anymore.
However, the young girl’s nature was inherently lively, so even though she had become much more obedient and well-behaved than before, she still couldn’t stay idle.
Take today, for example.
Today, as Lin Feng was responsible for the defense duties, the recovered Monte continued to lead the Guard Corps in training. Once her father left the tent, Dusa sneaked out, carrying her own bow and arrows.
With her own bow and arrows, Dusa arrived alone in front of the post where she was once punished, then stood a hundred steps from it and immediately proceeded to draw her bow and nock her arrow.
Although Dusa had become much more obedient in recent days, deep down, she still wished to fight alongside Monte and hadn’t forgotten to diligently practice.
And it must be admitted that Dusa’s archery skills were indeed exquisite, claiming her to be a talent in archery wouldn’t be an exaggeration. Because Monte, who didn’t want his daughter to suffer any harm, never taught her archery, yet Dusa had managed to master the skill of Endless Bullseye through self-learning.
Standing a hundred steps away from the post, Dusa pulled open her longbow and took a brief aim before shooting an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, a whooshing sound was heard as the arrow accurately struck the post!
Afterward, Dusa began to shoot arrows continuously at a rapid pace. Although the speed slightly affected her accuracy, it was only a minor impact, and all the arrows she shot still hit the wooden stakes.
“Hee hee!”
Seeing that all the arrows she shot had hit their targets, Dusa giggled proudly, flashing her small canine teeth, then gleefully ran up to the stakes and plucked each arrow out one by one.
But just as she had removed all the arrows from the stakes and was skipping back to resume her practice, the sudden jarring sound of a bell rang out!
“The demons are here!”
Hearing the bell from the tower, Dusa was startled at first but then she understood what was happening. The demons that had disappeared for so many days had finally appeared?!
As she heard the bell, Rocky’s figure appeared above the camp. Hearing the bell, he used the Void Magic Armor to fly up into the air and then quickly headed toward the high wall. Soon after he left, Liliya and Monte also rushed out from within the camp, running toward the location of the high wall.
“Dusa! Stay put in the camp!”
As Monte was rushing toward the high wall, he brushed past Dusa in the camp and shouted loudly.
Hearing this, Dusa pursed her lips, clearly reluctant, but she suppressed the urge to join in and stayed obediently in the camp.
With the demons finally appearing, Dusa no longer had the heart to practice archery and simply jumped onto a nearby stake, standing on a pole to look toward the high wall, but she couldn’t see anything.
Looking left and right and seeing nothing, Dusa jumped off the stake disheartened and glumly returned to her tent.
“Damn it, everyone treats me like a child. It’s infuriating!”
Back in her tent, Dusa sat on her bed, pouting and very dissatisfied.
“I’m already fifteen years old. My father had already joined the army at my age, but they won’t let me join the Guard Corps. It’s so annoying!”
Sitting on the bed, Dusa complained while angrily punching the mattress, making it thump loudly.
After complaining for a while, perhaps feeling tired, she simply lay down on the bed, muttering to herself about how boring it was, and imagining herself in battle, shooting flawlessly.
In this daydream, she didn’t know how much time had passed until she sleepily opened her eyes, having unknowingly fallen asleep.
However, as soon as she opened her eyes, still dazed and not fully awake, she suddenly heard a voice outside the tent.
She knew this voice all too well—it was her father’s voice!
“Everyone! Get ready for battle! Prepare to support the troops at Backhill Village!”
Hearing this, Dusa abruptly sat up from her bed and ran outside the tent.
As soon as she stepped out of the tent, she saw the Guard Corps hurrying past her.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
After looking for her father to no avail, the confused Dusa had no choice but to grab a guard and ask.
“I’m not sure, but it seems the number of demons is too great, and the troops at Backhill Village are almost overwhelmed.”
After saying this, the guard she had grabbed quickly left, joining the main force heading toward the high wall. In the blink of an eye, the entire camp was left with only Dusa alone…