At this moment, a clear thought flashed through everyone's minds, but it seemed to be too late to react. Two squads, Qian and Lorlor, had obviously faced defeat. However, these mercenaries had no time to mourn the loss of their comrades, for they were now in the same peril. These were experienced warriors; a glance was enough to understand that the opponent's numbers were at least three times their own.
Redi swallowed; although he was not afraid of death, he still felt suffocated in such a situation.
Yura, on the other hand, though blind, also understood how dangerous the current situation was.
Buga spoke, his voice low and powerful.
"Oh?" A frivolous voice immediately responded from the forest, sounding like a young man: "Mr. Buga, you recognize me, but should I call you Cross Hand Buga, or the Duke of Lantoniyan, or the Personal Guard Captain of Duke Lune?"
A rock thrown into a thousand waves, the members of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group couldn't help but be taken aback. They looked at their deputy commander with a gaze of astonishment, although they didn't believe the words of the other party, people's curiosity was hard to suppress. Buga and Macaro, however, remained calm. The latter raised a hand to stop Buga and replied: "I didn't expect the 'Paper Card' mercenary group to mix with the notorious Shepherd Tree Men. It won't sound good if this gets out."
The forest immediately fell silent.
Many people knew about the Black Fire Sect, but few knew of their connection with the Shepherd Tree Men. The young man named Conrad, obviously did not expect Macaro to know so much. He paused before speaking again in a mocking tone: "As expected of the Cunning Fox of the past, you know quite a lot."
Macaro furrowed his brows. In fact, he was also confirming Brand's words. However, he was not worried about the impact on morale. Unlike most regular soldiers, mercenaries were a bunch of desperate men who often didn't care about life and death as much as others. This was why in Vaun, despite being inferior in personal strength, equipment, and discipline compared to regular soldiers, skilled mercenaries were still a formidable force.
"Alright, Mr. Macaro," Conrad said again with a smirk, "Actually, I'm here to confirm whether Duke Lune's only offspring is with you?"
The members of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group were again stunned. They couldn't help but glance at their squad leader — another duke? In their eyes, that was an unattainable big shot.
Macaro sneered: "What a joke. First of all, I don't even understand what you're talking about. And even if I did know, do you think I have an obligation to answer any of your questions as an enemy?" he couldn't help but mock.
But the young man in the forest shook his head: "That's not the right approach. Can you bear to watch so many of your old subordinates, who have followed you for more than ten years, die here?" He then nodded, "Yes, given your original identity, they are indeed not much. For your mission, abandoning these cannon fodder is the right thing to do."
Buga gave a cold snort.
"Alright, Conrad. We are all mercenaries. Do you think such divisive words would have any effect on us?" Macaro shook his head: "Why don't you just show us what you've got? The worst outcome for our profession is death, and that's nothing."
The words of 'Mane Wolf' drew a chuckle from the mercenaries. Indeed, they had long accepted life and death. Conrad's reluctance to fight and his lengthy attempts at persuasion before a battle were seen as laughable. Mercenaries had their own codes of conduct; their loyalty to a group was fundamentally different from that of regular soldiers, and thus such divisive tactics were laughable to them.
As if to represent their thoughts, the mercenaries drew their swords in preparation for battle, making the forest resound with the clashing of metals. Follow current novels on novel⟡fire.net
Meanwhile, in the dark woodland that blocked the starlight.
"Damn old fox," the young man named Conrad cursed with a grim face. He glanced at the red-haired girl lying at his feet, covered in bruises and barely alive, and let out a cold snort: "Macaro, that old fox, is indeed not easy to deal with. But it's a pity he isn't our target, or else I wouldn't bother talking so much to this Royalist diehard."
"Knowing they wouldn't tell us, it would have been better to just kill them directly," someone cloaked in black with red-edged sleeves suggested in a deep voice. If Brand were here, he would have turned and left immediately upon seeing the characteristic sleeves — this was a Junior Priest of the Black Fire Sect, far more formidable than a High Order Cultist.
"We could have. But the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group still has two missing teams. We can't be careless. Macaro is famously cunning," the young man said with a grim face, hitting a tree trunk beside him. "He left a team in Chablis Town, along with that young man named Ecco. Their act seemed genuine, but I still think it was a 'shell' to divert our attention."
"Not necessarily," the Black Fire Sect member replied.
"Rest assured. To be cautious, I left an Intermediate Gold-level Swordsman there. Although that Cabot is hiding his strength, his true level is no more than that."
"Then what are you worried about, Mr. Messenger?"
Conrad sneered, squatting down to grab the girl's light red hair, pulling her head up. Blood immediately flowed from her pale forehead down her cheeks. Qian whimpered softly in pain, squinting at her bloodied eyes, trying to see who was in front of her. But when the young man applied more force, she curled up in pain.
With a grim smile, the young man said, "Of course, it's the twelve mercenaries of the other lost team of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group. Though one claimed to be a young merchant and there were two women who joined midway, such lies are hard for me to believe. Macaro must have arranged everything. Although I can't pry his mouth open, he can't ensure every mercenary in his group is as tough as he is."
"Is that so?" he asked, looking at the barely alive girl. "Little girl."
Qian seemed to realize her situation for the first time. She bit her lip and turned her head away.