Chapter 438: Solam Bandits
Ye Cang climbed to the top of the hill and carefully surveyed the terrain. The cave was very well concealed, lying perfectly at the basin between multiple hills. If he hadn’t seen it from above, he might have never found it…
“Father, I think something’s off. That cave isn’t naturally formed…” Although Little Ye Tian could only vaguely see it, she was sure that such an orderly cave could not be natural. It was most probably man-made. As it was created in such a concealed place, if it wasn’t a robber’s den, then it must be the hideout of an evil cult.
“Wait, I’ll go investigate…” SpyingBlade leaped down the forested path, while entering stealth.
After an hour, SpyingBlade returned and saw the already completed food. His legs went weak when he saw everyone’s grave expressions. What has he made this time? While stealthed, he pinched his nose and said, “I’ve already confirmed that it’s a den of bandits, and pretty strong ones too. There is a sentry tower near the cave entrance, I’ve already dealt with it.”
“Very good. Come eat a bit and prepare. Today is bagu bug, kagu bug, and maggot soup. Although it doesn’t look very good, but it should be delicious since its effects are so good.” Ye Cang struggled to stay conscious and quickly served some on his rice, then grabbed a piece of fried insect viscera covered in withered ash.
SpyingBlade wanted to throw up just seeing it. He quickly covered his mouth, “Why is it only bagu bugs, kagu bugs, and maggots…”
“We have too much, so we should do our best to eat as much as we can. We have a few mountains worth of bug meat, it would be a pity to let it go to waste,” Ye Cang said, then instantly ate the three foods in succession. He managed to finish just in time before passing out onto the ground.
Everyone gasped. The difficulty had been increased. They might not be able to eat all three at once. It might even take two tries. As it turned out, though SpyingBlade, Lin Le, and Zhang ZhengXiong, were still ok; the rest weren’t able to do it. They had to eat a second time.
Ye Cang put away his kitchen tools, and looked at his pale companions. He cast a Mark of Nature on everyone. Little Ye Tian also applied her two blessings. Then the two of them sat down and drank some magic spring water to replenish their lost mana.
After recovering, Ye Cang drew his two guns, “Let’s go…”
Everyone skipped down the hill, one after the other. Little Ye Tian examined the entrance of the cave, “They are a gang of thieves wanted in White Stone City, the Solam Bandits. They have a bounty…”
“How do you now this?” FrozenCloud asked doubtfully. She even knows about White Stone City’s bounties? Is there anything she doesn’t know?
“It’s because this gang is situated between the two areas. Black Rock City has them listed as wanted, so White Stone City must as well. It’s obvious…” Little Ye Tian rolled her eyes at FrozenCloud.
That damn girl, * FrozenCloud saw Little Ye Tian looking at her as if looking at an idiot, and clenched her teeth. *She’s only cute when she’s quiet.
“As long as there’s a reward. Let’s go.” Ye Cang said unenthusiastically. Zhang ZhengXiong took the lead and they all followed him in.
Following the downward path, they ran across 4 or 5 elite bandits around a corner.
“Don’t let the one at the back escape! Take him down!” SpyingBlade shouted.
Ye Cang pulled out his pike from his shadow. A full strength Pinning Pierce nailed the robber to a stone wall. Then his ballista was retrieved from his bag. He leisurely began to aim at the robber’s head, pulled the trigger, then insta-kill!
Putting away his ballista, he grasped the air and his spear once more appeared in his hand from out of nowhere. Straight Thrust! Shadow Frost Strike, armor break, stun!
Zhang ZhengXiong struck with a glowing fist, sending one of them flying into a wall. Wu Na’s Ice Spear shot after it, killing it.
SpyingBlade’s longsword flashed about like a dark whip, continuously striking the remaining Solam bandits’ throats or hearts. FrozenCloud unleashed a Triple Strike Shoryuken, targeting the one which got blown back by Zhang ZhengXiong.
Wang and Fang Ci were basically unneeded in this battle; everyone else had instantly settled it.
Ye Cang sighed. Fighting crowded battles in this sort of narrow passage made ranged weapons and magic more difficult, he had to be careful not to hit his own people. He put away the big guns and decided to temporarily fight in melee.
As they went deeper, they soon arrived at the end of the tunnel. Ye Cang went over to look and found stone stairs going down about ten meters or so. As it widened up, it became an underground village. About a hundred meters away was an underground river and even a boat! Just where did that go? With the battlefield becoming larger, Ye Cang tossed his pike back into his shadow. He scouted around and saw that on a more level area, there was a sentry tower. He then retreated to inform the others.
SpyingBlade thought it over and said, “Team Leader, you and me should go take out the closest sentry tower first. Only the two of us have stealth skills. The rest of you, wait for our signal.”.
Ye Cang nodded and followed. The two of them left the tunnel and activated their stealth. Ye Cang’s stealth was his Hunter Imprint - Conceal; although it only lasted a few seconds, that was enough, after all, it could be activated twice in a row. Ye Cang only needed to use it once before he could see the target’s shadow. “You go up first, I’ll Shadow Step over.”
SpyingBlade silently ascended the sentry tower just as the two guards looked away. Suddenly, he appeared behind one, snapping his head and launching a Heart Strike! Before the other one even realized what happened, Ye Cang had appeared from his shadow and struck with a Shadow Frost Strike!
Everyone received the signal and came to the sentry tower. Lin Le climbed up the tower. Ye Cang looked at the crude, wooden buildings behind the fences. He squinted, looking at the bandits around a bonfire. “Cang has a plan…”
SpyingBlade rolled his eyes. Again with that strange way of speaking. He’s sometimes says lines that sound like they would come from a period drama.
“What?”
Ye Cang brought everyone back to the tunnel, “Later, I’ll make two pots of delicious, poisonous food, then me and SpyingBlade will put on the bandit clothes and bring it in. Right now is around dinner time, so they are definitely hungry…”
It wasn’t that SpyingBlade disagreed with the plan, but the food had to be both poisonous and delicious. Was last time really not a coincidence!?
“The premise is that, you can do it…”
“I have a delicious recipe, however it will waste some of our precious meats. Hah, this time I’ll add some of the broodmother meat in. There is only a limited amount of that meat, luckily I have saved the best part for us…” Ye Cang begrudgingly took what appeared to be a human arm, just much larger. He then cut off a few pieces, and carefully put the rest back. Wu Na and FrozenCloud were already covering their mouths, even though they knew it was only the top half of the brood mother and not a human. They suddenly recalled the most important part of his speech. Wait a minute, the best part, don’t tell me, it’s the broodmother’s breasts!?
SpyingBlade couldn’t help but look at Ye Cang with genuine admiration. The ease at which Ye Cang did these things was way beyond his imagination…