Although Rafiniya had intervened at the very end, the fight had spread towards the caravans, and after she had finally charged towards the ogre chieftain, the rest of the ogres ran even quicker. In the blink of an eye, they seemed to have disappeared into the dense shrubs by the road, which made the mercenaries who wanted the reward money feel crestfallen.
Rafiniya had won the credit, and seemed to be in a trance-like state. She did not even respond to the men sent over by the Ashen Hawks, and finally Leylin had to present himself and chat with them.
Only after returning to their own carriage did Rafiniya reap the reverent gazes of the others, and usually this little lass would have been so happy that if she had a tail, it would be rapidly wagging.
However, the girl seemed most preoccupied with throwing away her steel lance which was covered in the ogre’s blood and stench. She went alone into the sisters’ carriage, and a faint sound of retching was heard. Leylin reckoned that she still needed some time to adapt.
Old Pam once again had picked up scraps, and collected the lance that Rafiniya no longer wanted. He put it away carefully as if it was some treasured object.
After hearing that Rafiniya had abandoned the ogre’s ears as she was afraid of how dirty it was, Old Pam threw a huge tantrum and stomped his feet. He even scolded Leylin loudly for being a wastrel.
The level of his greed made Leylin wonder if Old Pam descended from the blood of a hoarding dragon.
“Haha… If those ogres come again, Old Pam will let them taste the power of my gun… HURR…” Old Pam was gripping a bottle of rum in both hands, and belched from time to time, his face completely flushed with excitement.
After fighting the ogres, the entire merchant group began to continue on their journey. However, they had all calmed down and were no longer as afraid as they were before. After passing through their first trial, they had realised that ogres were not up to their level. Although the ogres were very strong, they would still get injured and bleed, and they even took the head of the chieftain as a souvenir.
After the fear had passed, all of their thoughts grew lively again. Even Hera and her sister seemed to smile more.
‘Really…’ Leylin looked down at the scene and inwardly shook his head, a trace of suspicion in his eyes.
‘Why do I feel that there was something off about these bunch of ogres? It seemed like they were using… A plan against the soldiers? What a joke! Even if they had the mental capacity, how could they come up with that idea? Perhaps it was just a coincidence… No, the rumoured two-headed ogres or ogre shamans would perhaps have this sort of intelligence…’
‘If it’s true, then things will become interesting…’ Leylin’s lips curved into a meaningful smile.
Chapter 863 – Trap
Trap
The events proceeded according to Leylin’s expectations. Several ogres came up to challenge them once in a while, from five or six to over a dozen at a time. Obviously unable to harm their large group, they would run away with their tails tucked between their legs, sometimes leaving numerous corpses behind.
Many mercenaries were terrified at the beginning, but as time went on, they would lie on their fronts on the carriage roofs and watch the pathetic ways the ogres fled while bursting out in laughter.
This relaxed attitude even infected the Ashen Hawks. Leylin found that besides Siegfried and that wizard, the other members seemed to overestimate their enemies.
“There are two more days till we get out of this region. It’s the easiest mission Old Pam has ever done!” As the group proceeded, the dwarf, Pam, clung to his bottle of alcohol as if it was precious, and his brandy nose shone brilliantly.
“I never want to see those disgusting vermin again…” Rafiniya’s resentment was obvious. Ever since the time she had tried to show off, she had not participated in the attacks on the ogres. It seemed that this little lady had been scared stupid by the painful experience.
Awoo… At this moment, the terrible cries of the ogres sounded ahead of the group. Old Pam contentedly hiccupped, not the least bit affected by the sounds.
“Hic… again, again! The ones giving us money for free are back… I wonder who’ll be lucky enough to get the ears of the ogres. The rewards are very good…”
“Things aren’t going to be so easy…” Leylin unsheathed his own longsword, looking grim.
“What do you mean?” Pam had some suspicions, but his expression quickly changed. Continuous cries sounded from all directions, concealing a terrifying intent that even caused the warhorse Nick to neigh in distress.
“Damn it, there are so many of them!” Old Pam’s bottle fell to the ground, creating a crunching sound. However, he had no time to feel sorry for his treasure, and instead immediately whipped out the firearm at his waist.
Tak tak! Tak tak! Ahead of the group now was pure chaos. Many merchants abandoned their goods and fled for their lives the way they’d come, creating an even larger uproar. There were many casualties among the mercenaries, and a huge number of tall figures could be seen in the distance.
“It’s a trap! We’ve been surrounded!”
“Help! There are over 200 ogres!”
“Damn it, where are the Ashen Hawks? Where’s Siegfried? Could he have already died by the hands of the ogre shamans?” Many voices mixed together, and everyone next to Leylin instantly paled.
They were then drowned out in a chaotic stream of people, forced along with the crowd. Helpless as leaves in a typhoon, they had to flee for their lives.
“Sister Hera!” Rafiniya yelled, jumping onto the horse carriage and taking over the job of the horsekeeper who had disappeared, holding tightly onto the reins. The halfling thief looked like he wanted to help but was incapable enough to, and disappeared into the masses.
As for the human archer? That fellow had gotten onto Rafiniya’s precious horse, Nick, and galloped off quickly when the chaos had started. Rafiniya had needed to control the horse carriage and had no time to care about this, which allowed the archer to successfully steal the horse.
Wails and shrieks could be heard again and again, and the roars and cries from the ogres behind them were the strongest catalysts. The entire large caravan group completely fell apart.
The crowd pushed and squeezed their way through. In order to get on their way, they did not mind pointing their weapons at their own people.
With such a huge confusion, Leylin quickly disappeared along with the carriage. Of course, this was his intention.
‘So this actually was a trap! Though it’s just a pocket formation 1, I didn’t expect that that these ogres were so intelligent… I really can’t look down on them anymore.’
At the moment, the cumbersome horse carriage was like a broken sailboat in a tsunami, on the verge of being destroyed at any moment. The dwarf Pam from before had already disappeared. Based on his physique, Leylin could only pray that Pam was not trampled to death in the chaos.
‘It’s my chance!’ Leylin’s figure nimbly danced through the crowd, heading in the opposite direction. The cries of the ogres were even more clear there, and the horrifying sounds of tearing flesh rang out.
‘The main forces of the ogres should be here. I can take perfect advantage of this chaos, furthermore…’ Leylin’s eyes glinted coldly.
The ogres did not hold a numbers advantage over the mercenary group. They could try to defeat them heads on, but it would come at a terrible cost. Instead, they’d set up an ambush, even leaving an escape route at the back.
This wasn’t out of goodwill. Their goal was to further incite chaos among the group— when there was still a chance of escape, not everyone would be courageous enough to look forward and risk their lives. In order to have a chance at survival, how many would not hesitate to strike at their own companions?
More importantly, pursuing scattered soldiers was a battle that practically could not be lost.
‘Only the two-headed leaders or ogre shamans could come up with such a plan…’ Leylin’s eyes glinted, ‘So the only way to survive is to head in the opposite direction and break through this formation. Their main forces are here, and there’ll be many scattered soldiers and prisoners. There’ll be little chance of people pursuing me. As long as I get a quick horse and sprint for a while, I’ll be able to get out of this ogre-filled region…’
Those who could see this path and take it were truly determined, and held perseverance. It was a pity that Leylin could see practically nobody who’d come to the same decision as himself.
Perhaps, there were a few intelligent merchants would have been able to understand this, but their panic had lowered their ability to think by a great amount. Or perhaps they were aware but lacked the strength to do this, and could only go along with the crowd and pray to the Goddess of Luck to aid in their escape.
Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 751-Chapter 900)
Wen Chao Gong's books
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 1-Chapter 150)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 151-Chapter 300)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 301-Chapter 450)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 451-Chapter 600)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 601-Chapter 750)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 901-Chapter 1050)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 1051-Chapter 1200)