Chapter 200: Defiance
Ten minutes ago, on the outskirts of Erbazi Village.
Tairo gently reined in his beloved horse, ‘Daylight,’ and raised his arm to give a signal.
The three Paladins behind him stopped almost simultaneously, their movements so uniform they were like Reflections of each other, even their warhorses perfectly aligned, a sight that could only be described as pleasing to the eye.
Although their individual strength was not particularly formidable, these Knights, who had undergone various training and trials in the Holy Domain, were worthy of the title ‘elite’ in all aspects. This was especially true when a straggling, scattered, and chaotic group followed behind them; the extreme contrast was simply indescribable.
“Hey, stop, buddy, please stop for a moment!”
“Paul, Paul, have you seen my staff?”
“No idea, didn’t see it, get lost!”
“Ugh, I knew I should’ve just turned into a leopard and run with them…”
“Aren’t we a bit too embarrassing like this?”
“Honestly, if you weren’t sprawled on your horse, our overall demeanor would be much better.”
“Mr. Loom, I found a staff! Mr. Loom!”
“Where did Black Vatican Priest go? I want to ride his wolf~”
Noisy shouts rose one after another from the group behind… which should probably be considered a ‘team.’ If one only listened to the sounds, they would think there were at least a hundred people here.
It had to be said, the ‘soldiers’ Mo Tan brought this time were really lacking in military discipline.
Indeed, these were low-level job holders who had answered the recruitment call, heroes who had held the line outside Mida City. However, just a few days ago, they were merely adventurers, mercenaries, or low-level members of certain neutral organizations. Not to mention comparing them to the Knights ahead, who had faith, discipline, and honor etched into their souls, even the Mida City guard teams were twenty times better than them in this regard.
“My apologies, Lord Tairo.” Mo Tan, who had ridden his little white horse next to Tairo, rubbed his forehead in distress and chuckled, shaking his head: “Everyone seems a bit too nervous.”
Yes, it was nervousness. Mo Tan could feel that the people behind him were not unwilling to obey discipline; they were just too nervous, so they had to release their stress in the way they were most accustomed to.
The safety of their own lives, the enemies they were about to face, the foreseeable tragedy in the village…
No one could stop themselves from overthinking.
But they still came. After Mo Tan had explained everything, they complained, ‘Sure enough, nothing good ever happens,’ while climbing onto the spare horses provided by the Knight Order. They followed in a noisy, disorganized manner, and not a single person had fallen behind, including a Dwarf Ranger who couldn’t reach the stirrups no matter how hard he tried.
“To keep up with the speed of us four, the warriors you recruited for City Lord Thor are already excellent. I can tell none of them have received systematic riding training.” Tairo replied to Mo Tan seriously, then took a deep breath, turned his horse around, and loudly addressed the crowd: “Please be quiet, gentlemen, it is not time to rest yet.”
The noisy path quickly quieted down, with only a female The half elf warrior, positioned further back, mumbling softly, “And ladies…”
“Indeed, and ladies.” Tairo nodded in agreement, then said in a deep voice: “We are almost at the village. Before that, I will reiterate: the four of us will engage the monsters head-on and attract their attention as much as possible, while your task is to rescue the survivors and cover their retreat. Once all the villagers are safe, leave here immediately. Do you understand?”
“Oh!”
“Alright, alright, alright!”
“Got it, buddy!”
“Sounds like easy work~”
The crowd responded sparsely.
“Very good, then we’ll go ahead.” Tairo evidently didn’t have too high expectations for them; he just smiled and nodded, then raised his lance high in his hand: “In the name of the Goddess, prepare for battle, Kni… Warriors.”
With that, he spurred his warhorse to turn sharply and galloped with the other three Paladins towards the nearby village.
“Remember what I told everyone earlier.” Mo Tan was silent for a moment, then looked back and nodded slightly at the crowd, gently stroking the little white horse’s neck: “Let’s go too.”
Everyone responded as seriously as possible.
The next second, ten warhorses, with their unqualified riders, set off again with chaotic hoofbeats.
…
Game Time PM13:27
Misha County, Erbazi Village
Upon entering the village, Mo Tan and the ten people behind him immediately dismounted and proceeded on foot. Each person took out their weapon, carefully observing their surroundings as they quickly moved towards the village center, following the hoof prints left by Tairo and his group.
“The smell of blood, very faint.” Ai Mang Blackleaf, the The half elf Druid at the front of the team, gently sniffed, then turned back and whispered to everyone: “It seems the massacre we imagined hasn’t occurred.”
And the Half-Orc next to Mo Tan, whose full name was Tirio Windfury and nickname was Old Zhao, summoned a dark green totem pole on the spot: “The wind tells me there are no enemies nearby.”
“There’s blood there.” The Dwarf Ranger, Loom, pointed to an inconspicuous dark red stain on the ground not far away, frowning: “It should have gone towards the village center, about half a day ago.”
The tree The half elf female Thief poked her head out of a house with half a broken door on the right and called out: “Found some unknown powder and blood, no bodies.”
“It seems Teacher Tony was right; most of the people in the village are still alive.” Mo Tan narrowed his eyes slightly, then took out his Ode Holy Scripture from his satchel and said in a deep voice to everyone: “Let’s speed up. The survivors and monsters should all be concentrated near the Alchemy Workshop in the center of the town. Lord Tairo and his group should have already arrived there. Druids and Thieves lead the way, and Mr. Loom will handle the alert work.”
The Dwarf Ranger nimbly jumped onto a nearby wooden house, raising his longbow: “Don’t worry.”
So everyone sped up again towards the center of the village. On the way, they encountered seven or eight incomplete corpses. Although still somewhat unsettling, this was an unexpectedly good outcome. After all, if dozens of Mutants appeared in a small village with a population of at most one or two hundred, theoretically, it would be impossible for so few people to die. Even a scene of corpses strewn across the fields and rivers of blood would not be surprising…
A moment later
Mo Tan, who was walking a bit ahead of the team, already heard faint roars and clashes in the distance. He immediately turned to everyone and said: “It seems the Knights have already started fighting those Mutants. Everyone, cast buff spells on each other. Those who can take a hit, line up at the front. Spellcasters, prioritize assisting them. Everyone, focus!”
He raised his hand and cast a Law Decree Shield on a Lizardmen warrior who had rushed to the very front. After turning the next corner, he encountered a… I mean, saw a three-story building with a crooked sign hanging on it, which crookedly read ‘Luna’s Alchemy Workshop.’
And outside the small building, a pile of black monsters were engaged in a fierce battle!
“Wait a minute, a pile of monsters fighting?!”
Mo Tan was stunned for a moment, then walked to the front of the team and looked closely. It turned out that a pile of black monsters were fighting with Tairo and the other four Paladins, who were also covered in black. Their warhorses were lying nearby, twitching, but seemingly out of immediate danger.
“Perfect timing!” Tairo also saw Mo Tan and his group appearing behind him and quickly shouted: “We’ve successfully attracted their attention. The villagers are all trapped in the workshop; hurry and get them out.”
Mo Tan nodded and quickly led the ten low-level job holders to the other side of the road, rushing towards the workshop. Tairo and the other three Paladins tried their best to lure the Mutants further away. They had already sustained several bite wounds from the large wave of Mutants in the previous battle, and the blood seeping from them only made the latter more berserk, completely unaware that another group of people had quietly completed a stealthy flank.
“Hold on!” Mo Tan, who had successfully reached the workshop with everyone, shouted towards Tairo’s direction, then quickly rushed into the house and loudly said to the dozens of villagers with surprised and uncertain expressions: “We are from Mida City. Tony has told us everything. Everyone, hurry out! Our Paladins can’t hold them off for too long!”
The ten people behind him had already set up a small defensive line outside the house. The Ranger Loom had even started attacking the group of Mutants not far away, while two Shamans simultaneously threw their Earth Binding Totems nearby, to prevent the Mutants from suddenly changing targets.
“Are you really here to pick us up?” An Half-Orc elder, over fifty years old, excitedly grabbed Mo Tan’s hands, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he burst into tears, sobbing: “I didn’t expect Tony to actually get the message out! Thank goodness, thank… thank goodness!”
However, this elder, who looked like a village chief—and in fact, was the village chief—didn’t waste too much time. He quickly composed himself and then organized the villagers in the workshop to leave this temporary shelter as quickly as possible.
In less than ten minutes, a total of eighty-seven survivors had all evacuated from inside. It was a mystery how they had managed to squeeze into this workshop, which didn’t look very spacious from the outside.
“I hate walking, because it’s really tiring.” Luna Linqi was the last one to come out. This young Alchemist girl had been tidying up the alchemy table in front of her until the last villager left, then she ran out holding a very old-looking notebook, muttering as if in a dream: “I think they shouldn’t be interested in my workshop, just like I’m not interested in alcohol… Hmm, that analogy doesn’t seem quite right… Yes, it’s really not quite right…”
Mo Tan tilted his head and looked at the somewhat disheveled girl in front of him, asking softly: “Excuse me, are you Ms. Luna Linqi?”
“That’s right!” Luna clapped her hands vigorously, then abruptly asked Mo Tan: “You don’t eat feces, do you? And you shouldn’t be interested in attacking feces, right?”
The latter was stunned for two seconds before he chuckled and replied: “Yes, you are absolutely correct.”
“Hmm, that’s the logic, so they shouldn’t tear down my workshop.” Luna smiled contentedly, then softly murmured in her ethereal voice: “So now I can calmly run away, hmm… No need to worry anymore, very good.”
Then she completely ignored Mo Tan and slowly walked to the other villagers, standing thoughtfully without moving.
“Are Alchemists all this eccentric?” Mo Tan clicked his tongue, then focused his attention on Tairo and the others who were still attracting the Mutants’ attention not far away, shaking the cross in his hand: “But that’s not the point right now…”
Golden light arrows shot from his fingertips, scorching a small area of a Mutant’s back.
“Don’t mind us!” Tairo, wielding his broadsword, forced back four or five Mutants, his body enveloped in a faint golden flame, and roared at Mo Tan: “You immediately take the villagers and leave here! We’ll meet in Mida City!”
Mo Tan sighed: “Meet at your tombstone?”
Tairo, who was simultaneously facing at least seven or eight Mutants, didn’t hear Mo Tan’s last remark and just shouted anxiously: “Hurry up and go! May the Goddess be with you!”
“No thanks, I don’t want to experience the feeling of being with the Goddess a second time.” Mo Tan twitched his lips, then suddenly raised his voice: “Loom, Kathy, help pin down the one I just hit, then male left, female right, start calling out names from both sides, only shoot the legs!”
Whoosh! Buzz!
Two rapidly spinning arrows pierced through the air, fiercely penetrating the Mutant’s legs, pinning it firmly in place.
The Dwarf Ranger, crouching on the second floor of the Alchemy Workshop, and the Dwarf female Hunter on the roof behind Mo Tan, swiftly plucked their bowstrings, sending arrow after arrow into the ranks of the Mutants.
“What are you doing?!” Tairo, seeing that Mo Tan and his group not only showed no intention of leaving but even launched an attack on the Mutants in front of them, couldn’t help but roar, eyes wide with fury: “Are you defying orders? Do you want everyone to die here?!”
Mo Tan, however, completely ignored his roar. He quickly flipped open the Holy Scripture, cast a powerful Healing Prayer on Tairo, and then said in a deep voice: “Wendy, Scott, use any water magic you like. Aim for the one in the red clothes in the middle. The wider the range, the better. Don’t aim for damage, just get them wet! Be careful to avoid our Knights!”
“Understood!” A Half-Dragon wearing leather armor but with a beginner mage badge raised his hands: “I’ll use Sudden Rain!”
The The half elf woman standing next to him waved her short staff and shouted to Tairo and the others: “I only know Water Surge, so be a little careful!”
“Careful about what? Why aren’t you leaving?!”
“Be careful not to get wet.” Mo Tan smiled at Tairo, then gently clasped his hands: “I want to try. I think you don’t have to die…”
Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Seven: End