62 Contac

When dusk came, they camped along the riverside, a place where Han Jin had never been to before. But the name of the river was quite familiar to him: the Jade River, the river in which he had his first bath after coming to this world. They were downstream of the river now, and if one walked along it for several dozen miles, one would arrive at Radon Town.

Guards of the caravan gathered many sticks for bonfires. Han Jin's group sat in a circle, discussing which direction they would head the next day. They were approaching the war zone, and things must be done with the utmost carefulness. However, although the group talked a lot, Leopold, the leader of the caravan, just narrowed his eyes and remained silent as if the things they were talking about were none of his business.

When the setting sun jumped into the horizon, Sunier's expression suddenly turned stiff. She sprang to her feet. "Horses! Lots of horses approaching!!"

"From where?" Han Jin was startled.

"There." Sunier pointed to the east and took off her long bow.

"Easy, easy." Leopold stood up and looked toward the east. "They should be our men." He smiled.

"Our men? What do you mean, Master Leopold?" Moxinke asked in a deep voice.

"Oh... We have made an agreement with General Quincy of Holy Crown City. He will meet us nearby." Leopold smiled. He pointed at some of his guards. "You, go and have a look to see whether they are General Quincy's men," he ordered.

The guards mounted their horses and left the camp at a rapid pace. Sunier and the others gazed at each other in surprise, but since the owner of the supplies was not worried, there was no reason for them to be so tense. Moxinke gave Han Jin a meaningful look. This prophet had predicted that the caravan must have someone powerful backing them if they dared to transport military supplies to Holy Crown City. General Quincy must be the person supporting them.

"Get up! All of you!" Leopold shouted. "We can't camp here today. We have to travel through the night."

They all started to pack up their belongings. The burning bonfires were extinguished, and the wagons were reloaded. All of them were ready to go.

Not long after, a row of shadows appeared on the horizon and were darting toward them. When the hundreds of knights arrived in front of them, the whole caravan was already prepared.

"Master Mario." Leopold walked over smilingly. "Long time no see. You look more and more spirited."

"How many supplies have you brought this time?" A young knight stepped forward.

"Fifteen full wagons with one hundred and fifty sets of heavy armors and two thousand long swords."

"Great!" The young knight laughed and clapped his hands.

The hundreds of knights stepped aside and formed a path. The wagons carrying supplies started to move slowly across . Han Jin and the others stayed still. They knew that, according to etiquette, they should stand quietly and wait for a command. If their employer still needed their escort, they would follow them. After all, they hadn't arrived in Holy Crown City yet. Otherwise, Leopold would sign on the contract, and they could go back.

But a crafty smile flashed across Leopold's face the moment he turned his head, getting a glimpse of them. He followed the wagons alone. No one expected that a man as easygoing and friendly as Leopold could have such a creepy expression.

"Lay down your arms!" The young knight's face suddenly turned stern.

"What?" Han Jin was stunned. He stood in front of his companions.

"Lay down your arms!" the young knight yelled.

The muscles on Han Jin's face twitched. He stared at the young knight, a man in his twenties, pretty handsome, but pale with dark-rimmed eyes and bags under his eyes which might well be caused by his promiscuous nightlife. In his eyes, there was ridicule, disdain, but not a single trace of kindness.

"What are you doing?" Sylner rushed up. "You must be mistaken! We are mercenaries! Our job is to escort these goods!"

"I know, and you are not needed anymore." The young man's eyes lit up. He eased his voice, "So, do as I told you!"

"Why should we lay down our arms?" a warrior shouted discontentedly. He was a member from the Brilliant Rose Mercenary Team, a team established by Sylner. Actually, according to Moxinke, it was more like a group of children playing games than an actual mercenary team. All of its members were warriors, except Sylner. Thus, it was easy to imagine how poor their ability was.

"I will tell you why!" This said, a cold expression appeared on the knight's face. He waved his hand slightly, and several arrows shot past him from behind. The warrior who complained was shot back several meters away before he was finally pegged to the ground. The arrows were still quivering violently when he stopped. Though he didn't lose much blood, it was obvious that he did not survive the attack.

"Lunn... Lunn..." Sylner screamed and dashed to him.

"You seem unwilling to cooperate with me." The young knight sighed, his fingers already on his sword.

Han Jin made eye contact with his friends quickly. Everything had happened so fast that they were still wondering what had happened. But one thing was for sure: they would be killed if they really did as the knight had ordered.

"Bang..." Cessacioun was the first to drop his magic wand. Sunier followed and took off her long bow, slowly bending down. Moxinke remained motionless as if he hadn't made up his mind yet. Suddenly, Han Jin turned around and shouted, "Miss Keeley, you must help us! These guys are so unreasonable!"

Keeley? The young knight was stunned. He was familiar with the name, but couldn't recall who she was. Han Jin deliberately moved his body to make a gap, through which the knight could have a look at part of Miss Keeley's face. He was shocked and moved his horse forward a little. When he recognized Miss Keeley, he was ravished with joy and turned back to give an order. However, what he saw in front of him was just a wall of earth.

Moxinke let out a roar and jumped into midair like a lightning bolt. He slammed the greatsword in his hand down with all his might. The radiance of the sword illuminated the air and produced pieces of shadows, like an inverted curtain of stars.

Moxinke was a tall guy with a shockingly big greatsword in his hand, giving others an illusion that he was a warrior that relied simply on his strength, but in truth, his often relied more upon his impressive speed. Combined with the fact he had just broken through his bottleneck, he arrived in front of the young knight in an instant.

The young knight turned pale from fear. He unsheathed his long sword as fast as possible to defend himself against the coming attack aimed at his head.

Battles between warriors were often decided in an instant if there was a significant gap in strength between the two parties, like when Moxinke had defeated the fighter back in Eleventh Town in an instant. After a loud clang of clashing swords, the young knight let out a sharp scream. He could resist Moxinke's sword, but not its radiance. A bright strip of blood flowed down from his forehead to his left cheek. He soon realized he could no longer open his left eye. The star-like radiance of Moxinke's sword had disfigured the young knight, and had likely also turned him half-blind.