Mercenaries and Adventurers

When the sturdy bandit leader saw this scene, the corners of his mouth curved downwards, and he uttered one word: "Trash."

He has some knowledge and knows that church priests in towns or out on business will usually be awarded a small statue of a god made of various materials by the church.

As long as the priest holds the statue of the god, he can easily unleash a powerful impact that is difficult for ordinary people to resist. It is used to protect the priest or deter those who want to harm the priest.

He thought that the priest didn't have that thing on him, but he didn't expect that priests would actually carry this thing when they went out. But this thing doesn't seem to be something that ordinary people can resist, but if you think about it, it's not impossible to get a breakthrough.

The luminous amber metal staff in the hands of Priest Batar, just for this thing, the middle-aged bandit leader is eager to get it.

Because that thing looks like it could be sold for a lot of money.

"Brothers, change of plans, see that priest on horseback?"

The middle-aged bandit leader called for the surrounding men to gather, and then said.

When he asked, his subordinates all nodded. Some young bandits didn't take it seriously, while the more experienced bandits somewhat understood their leader's thoughts.

"Boss, are you going to get that priest?"

The bandit leader puffed out a puff of air from his nose, and then said: "Yes, I have taken a liking to the luminous staff in that young man's hand. Hiss - I know from experience that the price of that thing is not less than this amount."

As he spoke, he gestured with the little finger and ring finger of his right hand.

Two fingers can also be specially mentioned, at least three digits.

"Boss, twenty gold coins?"

As soon as a young man interrupted, he was slapped on the head by the bandit next to him: "Idiot, it's two hundred gold coins! The good stuff that the boss can specially propose is only worth twenty gold coins? You deserve to be poor for more than ten or twenty years. live."

The young bandit who was beaten didn't care about anything else. He and several other young bandits in the bandit team were dumbfounded, because two hundred gold coins, let alone seeing them before, they had never dreamed of this amount of money.

After all, in their hometown, one gold coin can buy a good piece of land, and two hundred gold coins can buy a large piece of land, which is a powerful family with dozens of people in the village. It can’t be farmed.

Even the young bandit who had just been wounded in the chest by a crossbow arrow and retreated could no longer care about his dead good brother and good friend. He covered the crossbow arrow that had pierced his chest with his hand and stared greedily at the bright spot on the opposite side. Priest Batar is organizing young refugees to maintain order.

People die for wealth and birds die for food. There is no such saying in other worlds, but there are many similar sayings.

"Boss, Tata was hit and his limbs were broken just now. How do we deal with this?"

A crony of the bandit leader who wielded a scimitar dragged the young bandit who had just been beaten away and broke his limbs with one hand. He held the handle of the scimitar at his waist with the other hand and asked the bandit leader the most obvious question.

The young bandit named Tata was dragged back and kept wailing. This tragic sight suddenly extinguished the dazed bandit who was full of gold coins.

Indeed, they had little previous experience or ideas in trying to defeat the church priests who had magical powers to protect themselves.

Bandits generally do not attack church priests who go out to do business, because this is asking for trouble. Not to mention the miraculous abilities of the priests, just in the legends among the bandits, the gangs of bandits who attacked and killed the church priests basically had no good ending.

This is different from the caravans, noble carriage teams or knights that attack the large chamber of commerce.

To the bandits, this kind of story seems bizarre and strange.

In fact, we know that every priest has a prayer connection with his god.

Even if the level of some priests is limited, as long as they reach the level of priest, if they die unexpectedly while doing business, the gods will still take care of them.

If the priest has prayed and communicated with the gods before he was killed, then after the priest is killed, the gods will send the power at His disposal to completely wipe out the bandit gang that killed the priest.

If the death is sudden and the gods don't know what happened to their men, they will send people to investigate and finally allocate power.

Unlike the aristocratic system, the church is connected as a whole. If you move one end, you will move the whole.

Moreover, the church is powerful and has a long history. Even if the local power is insufficient, it will write down the matter first, and then it will definitely take action again to settle the matter that happened many years ago.

The current group of bandits don't know much about these things. After all, this bandit team has not been established for many years. If it were a bandit team controlled by the Nobby-Fisbiru family, they would know that it is okay to attack and rob church priests, but they must not injure their lives.

Turning around, facing the questions from his cronies, the middle-aged bandit leader stood in the crowd, facing the eyes of his surrounding men who were looking forward to wealth. He rubbed his teeth and rubbed them hard, making a rattling sound.

"Let me think, um, let me think."

The sturdy bandit leader crossed his arms and tapped his bearded chin with his right finger: "Well, I think we have to find a way to lure that priest out of the refugees. Hum, I guess, if we attack directly That priest, those weak and fertile rabbits, will definitely protect that priest with all their lives."

The leader shook his head mockingly: "That's not okay. After all, those refugees are the coins we like. I feel bad for killing every one of them. I don't feel bad for their lives, but I feel bad for the money that hasn't fallen into my pocket!"

When he said this, the bandits around him laughed.

The atmosphere suddenly changed from not knowing how to deal with the church priests to a contemptuous view of the refugees, and the atmosphere became relaxed.

The bandit leader curled his lips and immediately had an idea.

"Humph, those refugees who are digging in the earth will probably die to protect the priest. So, does that young priest dare to risk the life of the refugees?"

The bandit leader waved his hand and asked several of his cronies to come closer, and then began to lay out a plan. Then his cronies led their own people out.

The bandit leader took the remaining people and retreated into the woods from whence they came.

Of course, he did not forget to take away the two injured young robbers.

The bandit with broken limbs and bones was not in danger for the time being, but later he asked the church for anonymous treatment, which cost him a lot of money. After all, the bandits are not believers in various churches. If they want to treat their injuries, they have to spend a lot of extra money just like outside businessmen.

The bandit who was shot in the chest by an arrow and injured his lungs is now able to move on his own and still has some strength to fight. It doesn't seem like much, but in fact it is very dangerous.

Bandits who often torture captured people know this roughly. This person seems to be fine at the moment, but if the wound is not treated, his life will be endangered in a short time. However, the injury must be treated as soon as possible in the near future.

But these things have to be done later. As bandits, attacking pedestrians and caravans, making money, goods and talents are their most important things at this time.

-

Priest Batal had just calmed down the chaotic and crowded refugees and asked them not to crowd together and to move as far as possible to the center of the open space.

After all, being crowded together did not help at all in resisting the attacks of the bandits. On the contrary, it restricted the space for the refugees in the front row who dared to fight to advance and retreat.

More likely to result in casualties.

As soon as the arrangements were made, the bandits who had retreated on the opposite side of the trade road rushed out again.

"You still dare to come and stump them, aren't you afraid of the power I just showed?"

After muttering, Priest Batal held the amulet statue and the horse's reins tightly in his left hand, and held the middle part of the amber metal staff in his right hand, ready to counterattack when the bandits attacked him.

He rides a horse, and if bandits attack him, he activates the blessing power on his amber metal staff.

This magical weapon is very interesting. Enemies hit by it will be slowed down by the power inspired by ancient amber, and it also has a particularly powerful ability.

But when the priest was ready for 'battle', the bandits did not attack him. These daring guys actually formed a group of three and took out a wooden shield from somewhere. Behind the wooden shield, they crossed the trade road and attacked the young refugees on both sides of the clearing.

"Stand still! If there are more people, hit them less! Throw more rocks at them!"

The priest shouted loudly, and only three bandits on the left and right sides of the refugee defense line attacked. Others were hiding in shadows behind the bushes and flowers on the opposite side of the trade road.

When the bandits who launched the attack were passing by the trade road, they picked up burning firewood that was lying on the ground. After picking it up, they threw it back into the crowd of refugees.

Whoosh——

There were crossbow arrows coming from the direction of the carriage, but the bandits who knew that someone was secretly attacking with crossbow arrows were already staring in the direction of the carriage. At this time, facing the incoming crossbow arrows, a bandit holding a wooden shield threw the shield in front of the bandit who was throwing firewood and revealing his figure.

Duo!

The wooden shield shook, and the crossbow shot through the ordinary wooden shield captured by the bandits in battle, and also injured the bandit's arm holding the shield behind.

"This piece of shit can block ￥%."

The bandit who used the shield cursed, but did not dare to throw away the useless shield. After all, if you have a shield, you will only be injured after being shot through, but without a shield, it is hard to tell.

Slight injuries, serious injuries, or even being shot to death outright are possible.

Taking advantage of the time when the crossbows were being loaded, the bandits' attack team quickly threw back the lighting firewood on the trade road, hitting a few unlucky young people and making them scream.

But when the three-person team on the left rushed to the refugees, the three thieves who had been cautious before showed their original arrogance. The henchman of the bandit leader who was holding a scimitar smiled ferociously, swung the scimitar and slashed at the small piece of iron in the hands of the refugee in front of him.

A dead person is worthless, but a person whose fingers are cut off is at least not worthless, right?

With one slash of the knife, the weapon in the hand of a young refugee holding a short knife in the front row was knocked away, and then a rope loop was thrown from the hand of the bandit who had previously handled the firewood in the three-person group.

This bandit was very skillful. As soon as the dagger in the hand of the man in front was knocked away, the rope loop directly hit the man's upper body. Then with a pull, the man was pulled out staggeringly.

The refugees were all standing close together, so one person was caught out of the team, and other empty-handed young people immediately took action to catch the person back.

But the henchman of the bandit leader who wielded the scimitar just grinned and raised the scimitar in his hand high. The young people in the surrounding circle were frightened and retracted their outstretched hands.

"Help me! Help me!"

The captured refugee was dragged to the ground by a rope. He screamed loudly in panic, twisted his body continuously, stretched out his legs and kicked the strong body of the bandit next to him.

But the robber who was using the rope was pulling the rope left and right with excitement. While doing so, he smiled deliberately and said: "What are you calling for! Coins can also talk? Do you dare to talk?"

He directly kicked the young refugee in the face who was pulling him over, and repeatedly yelled: "Shut up! Shut up!"

But the more the robber said this, the louder the man screamed.

"Save me! From a village, come and save me! Priest! Priest! Come and save me!"

What they wanted was for the man to shout. After the three of them caught one man, they retreated directly. They dragged the young refugee to the ground, pulled him with a rope, and quickly, with shields covering the three of them, dragged him toward the darkness of the north side of the trade road. Gone in the shadow.

As if he was about to fall into the abyss, the man's screams for help became louder and louder.

But what about the Battar priests?

It turned out that he was riding a horse at this moment, rushing from behind the front row of the refugee team to the right side of the open space.

Here too, three bandits, protected by wooden shields, rushed to the refugee defense line. They did not launch an attack. Instead, they screamed strangely and disarmed a young refugee who dared to fight before taking him away.

The rope wrapped around the young man's arm, dragging him backwards.

A refugee grabbed the young man's feet and tried to save him, but a henchman of the bandit leader who used an ax chopped off the hands of the young man who was rescuing him.

Just like that, the young man who was dragged away cried and was still tightly grasped by a pair of friends' hands on his feet. In the eyes of dozens of people, he was dragged alive into the darkness on the opposite side of the business road.

Priest Batal was slow to arrive, but the three-man bandit group moved very quickly, not tangling with the refugees in the front row, and retreated after arresting the people. After Bloody Fangster fired an arrow, he didn't even have time to aim and release the next arrow. The bandits on the left and right grabbed people and retreated into the darkness.

"Damn it!" Bloody Fangster said through gritted teeth.

"Oh no!" Priest Batal looked at the panicked refugees, feeling embarrassed and speechless. He didn't know how to speak to calm the panicked people in front of him.

Because at this moment, in the darkness on the other side of the trade road, the wails of the refugees who had just been taken away could be heard.

The bandits showed no mercy to the captured young refugees who dared to fight.

Stretch out your legs to kick hard, raise your hands to hit.

Moreover, in order to make the beaten refugees scream happily and loudly, these guys deliberately did not hit the body, trunk or head, but only beat and tortured the limbs.

Every scream of pain struck like a whip into Priest Baatar's mind.

He wished that he couldn't hear anything at this moment, so that he could pretend that the painful wailing in the darkness opposite didn't exist.

He wished that he couldn't see anything at this moment, so that he could pretend that the eyes silently looking at him didn't exist.

"Steady, steady, everyone. Steady, everybody! Okay? If they come again, let's move back a little and don't get caught. I'll beat them! Yes, I'll beat them!"

Priest Batar raised the amber metal staff in his right hand. Under the dim yellow amber light, the frightened young refugees finally stabilized themselves.

-

"Humph, that's what he said. Tell the front, wait and arrest people from the right side where others are not present. After that young idiot rushes over, retreat as soon as possible to avoid losses. At the same time, go up the left side, I must capture one more person."

The bandit leader was now arranging traps in the woods, then came to the wasteland to the north of the trade road, found a stone and climbed up. At this moment, he specially put on the colorful animal skin clothes that his subordinates wore before, and gave command in a place where there was no forward or backward direction.

Next to him was a detective bandit who only wore a piece of cloth on his crotch. This poor guy's clothes were hidden by the bandit leader, so at this moment he had to be naked, and he was not responsible for going forward to fight. Responsible for delivering the leader's orders before and after running.

Without the colorful animal skin clothing that could hide him from approaching, he could only run fast, which helped.

The naked detective bandit was about to pass on the order, but he was stopped by the leader: "By the way, tell the front, haven't you eaten? Why can't I hear the wails of the captured refugees? Call them Use your imagination and create something to scream about. Give that idiot on horseback a try."

"Yes, boss. Any more?"

"No, go quickly, my orders must be conveyed clearly."

"Yes, boss."

The detective robber, wearing only a dirty foot wrap around his crotch, lowered his body and ran forward quickly.

Arriving at the place where the captured refugees were tortured, he first conveyed the leader's last request to the two leaders' cronies.

"The leader said he couldn't even hear the wails of these two guys at that distance! I want you to use your imagination to make these two guys scream and anger the priests on the opposite side."

Of course, he said these words to the two chiefs' cronies while avoiding the two young refugees who were moaning softly on the ground.

The two tall men, who were wearing simple leather armor, looked at each other and didn't quite understand what it meant to use their imagination. Just kidding, they are a bunch of rude and illiterate bandits, they have no imagination at all.

If you ask them to imagine wealth, killing, and women, they can barely imagine it, but it will make people scream.

What to do?

Especially since these people just hit them and have to keep them in exchange for money later. One silver coin per person is a lot of money.

The two of them looked at the naked investigating robber again: "What else did the leader say?"

Later, the investigating robber told them the next step explained by the leader of the robber. The two men nodded and understood what to do later.

In continuous actions, he pulls and manipulates his opponent, causing him to lose his ability to judge one thing after another. Coupled with the constant wailing here, the anger tempted the other party to rush out of the protection of the refugee crowd and rush out to save people alone.

"So, where are your clothes? Also, it's up to you to use your imagination to make the two of them scream. We have to prepare for the next action."

"ah?"

Investigating the robber was dumbfounded, why did this become his job?

But facing the two of the most powerful men in the team who are tall, strong, well-equipped with weapons and equipment, and have no other abilities other than being able to hide for detection and run fast, I dare not say no to these two men. .

He couldn't afford to offend the leader, and he couldn't afford to offend these two either.

"I-I'll try. Scream, huh? Scream, scream."

This guy came to the side and looked at the two young refugees who were beaten up on the ground with the faint light, feeling worried.