No stronghold can resist a swift onslaught! - said Lord Liu.
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Until nightfall, the bandit coalition had still not charged towards the Releatrice. This caught everybody off guard.
Andulan’s elder believed the bandits must be mobilizing, because the escaped Green Demons and Salt Demons must have arrived at the Razor Mountain. Now that the enemy’s awareness was exposed, the bandits would definitely hasten their attack. If they didn’t launch a night raid, they would definitely arrive by tomorrow. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel⟡fire.net
Witch Doctor Nochadamas insisted that the bandits would not arrive until tomorrow afternoon, and he stated confidently that the bandits were preparing a weapon with tremendous destructive power. This he predicted through a fervent divination.
During dinner at the dining hall, except for the newly enlisted Musketeers who were still restrained, residents of the Releatrice were heatedly discussing the matter. Even the Halflings would join the conversation with a big spoon every now and then.
The most out of place one was the Swan Knight, Gortani.
Everyone found it odd. Usually, despite her haughty demeanor and restraint from speech, she had never looked as disoriented as today.
Helen and Cui Beixi noticed the redness around her eyes and asked what was wrong. The Swan Lady Knight shrugged it off, attributing it to her poor health.
"Have some milk." Helen fetched a glass of milk and placed it in front of Gortani.
Milk was the most luxurious item in Releatrice. The entire community had just one dairy cow, and only Guoguo and Katusha usually had this privilege.
Gortani, with her beautiful eyes, stared blankly at the bustling scene in front of her, covered her mouth, and ran outside.
Helen and Cui Beixi looked at the receding figure of the Swan Lady Knight in confusion.
At that moment, Liu Zhenhan was chatting with Vieri with his head down when he suddenly burst into loud laughter, spraying Vieri’s face with a mouthful of bamboo shoot soup mixed with goose meat. Slices of bamboo shoot and pieces of mushrooms were splattered all over Vieri.
He was exasperated. They were having a serious discussion about the enemy situation and Liu had abruptly burst into laughter.
"Has the boss gone mad?" Vieri turned to ask Ning Yu who was sitting next to him.
Ning Yu also could not help but laugh out loud, spewing a mouthful of yam soup onto the bear-man’s face.
"I’m sorry... I’m so sorry..." Ning Yu immediately grabbed a napkin and started wiping Vieri’s face.
"Let me do it myself." Vieri took the napkin from her.
"Let’s continue our discussion," said Liu Zhenhan, already in stitches from laughter. "Xiao Bei, work a bit harder tonight. Have the Mastiff People split into ten groups, and stay on guard at the lookout tower throughout the night. At night, your vision is the best. Light more fires within two miles around the Red Earth Highland and don’t overlook any blind spots! Keep a close watch!"
"Rest assured, boss," replied Bellamy grabbing a baguette. He dipped it heavily into the honey and was just about to bite when he took a chunk of salted fish from Gude’s plate and wrapped it in the bread.
"As long as they dare to come, they won’t escape the sharp eyes of us Mastiffs!" Bellamy garbled, talking as he ate.
"The Green Demons are many in number, and given their ability to change the colour of their skin, we need to be vigilant. If they manage to pull off a nighttime ambush like they did with the human mercenaries, it will be hard to handle," Liu Zhenhan said, wiping the mouth of Guoguo who sat beside him with a napkin.
Guoguo was proudly sitting with a leopard skin throwing on. In her small paw, she was holding a fat leg of a goose, munching on a piece of Larza Beast meat. She kept twitching her small buttocks. Guoguo didn’t eat fat, she smacked her mouth and fed Liu all the fat.
"We don’t miss anything that moves," Bellamy reached out his hand to snatch Guoguo’s goose leg, but Guoguo smacked him on the head in response.
"We mustn’t underestimate them! The Green Demons who produced three Shamans despite being mostly insulated from elemental powers are not to be taken lightly. This alone should make us think twice about belittling the bandits," Liu Zhenhan swallowed a mouthful of fat, knocked on the table with a spoon, and silence fell all around.
"We always pay respect to every enemy in our dictionary! Tonight, all adult warriors must wear vine armours and keep their weapons under their pillows as they sleep. If they don’t appear by noon tomorrow, we will attack them first. We have long intended to wipe them out anyway, it’s just now they have made it easier for us by coming together," said Liu Zhenhan.
"Yes, Sir!" came the enthusiastic response from the surrounding area.
"Everyone, please collect poison from Witch Doctor after dinner. Besides smearing it on your weapons, also apply it on your collars. If you unfortunately get wounded and captured during a battle, prove your bravery with your life!"
The Snake Mistress looked at the impassioned Liu in silence, unsure of what to say, and sighed.
Gortani walked in with a pale face. She sipped a glass of water without eating anything.
Helen quietly asked Liu Zhenhan, "Do you know what’s wrong with Gortani?"
"I..." Liu Zhenhan saw Gortani was looking at him with a cold gaze from the distance, quickly shook his head, and pretended to sip soup, "... don’t know."
"Oh..." Helen nodded quietly, "I see she vomited countless times today. Do you think she might be... we should have Witch Doctor Nochadamas exam her..."
Helen’s face was covered with soup.
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Liu Zhenhan didn’t go to bed either. He took a box of magical beast blood to an uninhabited cave alone. Ning Yu and Avril, worried about him, left Guoguo and the piglet to sleep, followed him to the cave wearing feather clothes, only to find him bustling about with three Green Demon Shamans standing in an orderly manner beside him.