Chapter 59 War is war

  Those dark shadows were leaping and bounding, jumping back and forth between the trees, like a group of giant apes. In an instant, they rushed to the front, a black shadow fell from the sky, swooping down, and landed on a soldier who was holding up his sword...

  The cavalrymen had already drawn their weapons, but they seemed somewhat unprepared for this high-flying enemy. Three of them were quickly knocked to the ground, one of whom was stabbed in the heart with a knife as soon as he hit the ground, while the other two engaged in a fierce struggle with their opponents.

  The remaining dozen or so black shadows also rushed into the crowd of Imperial cavalry, and Xia felt a pungent smell hitting his face. A huge shadow opened its arms and grabbed at him fiercely. Xia didn't have time to dodge, and he was knocked to the ground. The opponent's hands frantically twisted Xia's neck. Xia grunted, grabbing the opponent's hand and twisting it with force. Two cracking sounds later, the opponent's hand broke in the darkness. Immediately, the two of them rolled around on the ground, Xia already had a tight grip on the opponent's throat, his hand using force...

  Square!

  As he struggled to get up, Kevin had already used his shield to knock a black shadow that was pouncing on him flying. A short knife was stuck in Kevin's shoulder, the blade having pierced through the gap in his armor, and blood was dripping down. It seemed that he had been injured when he was knocked down earlier.

  "What the devil! What thing?"

  Watching several dark shadows quickly retreat, jump onto the approximate, a few jumps to change positions, obviously sturdy figures, but precisely like monkeys so agile.

  Kevin whispered softly, then shouted loudly: "Gather! Everyone gather together! This is Odin's Ice Hunter!"

  The first wave of attack, six Byzantine scouts had fallen to the ground, only two were still alive, and the other four had stopped breathing.

  But the other side's "Ice Hunters" only lost two, except for the one whose neck was twisted by Xia Ya, another one was killed by Kevin's war hammer, who fell under the tree, with a large dent in his chest, apparently his sternum was crushed.

  At this moment in the dark night, the sky was blocked by branches and leaves in the forest, and for concealment, these scouts did not light a fire either. However, Xia Ya, who was born with night vision, still saw clearly the appearance of these "Ice Prairie Hunters".

  These guys each had a body of black fur, tall and large, a head higher than the Byzantine cataphract cavalry beside them, with long arms hanging down, really like apes, and their tall bodies were wrapped in black fur in the dark, just like big black bears, it was really hard to see what they looked like in the dark of night.

  The strangest thing is that these guys are clearly obese, but when they run and jump, their movements are surprisingly agile! Even when they jump between trees or pounce on the ground, they don't make any noise at all!!

  After all, it was the elite 13th Cavalry Regiment, and the scouts quickly gathered together, forming a circle back to back. Xia Ya and Kevin were tightly pressed against each other, with the scout captain beside them. The captain's face was covered in blood, having been knocked down earlier, his forehead cracked open on the ground, one hand grasping his sword, the other tightly covering his left ribcage, where his armor had been slashed open, a deep wound gushing out fresh blood.

  "These accursed things! Hmph, we Byzantines are their sworn enemies!"

  The captain breathed softly, his words barely escaping his lips as he stared at the hunters in the darkness - those guys retreated with one blow, but soon reappeared, more than a dozen silhouettes quickly moving back and forth on the big trees, jumping, seemingly looking for an opportunity to attack.

  Kevin gritted his teeth and pulled out the short knife on his shoulder, wincing in pain. "Xia Ya, be careful! These guys are Odin's scouts, living in the northern ice fields of Odin, always running and surviving on the slippery ice fields and steep snow-capped cliffs, their movements are extremely agile!"

  No wonder... one by one, they are indeed like monkeys.

  Xia Ya narrowed her eyes and stared into the distance, both sides were in a patient standoff, those icefield hunters kept changing positions...

  At last, a whistle sounded, and a black figure rushed down first. More than a dozen figures followed from all sides! The cavalry raised their swords to resist with all their might, but those guys were extremely ferocious. Often, a cavalryman's sword clearly cut the opponent, but the opponent didn't care at all, stuck up with a short knife and stabbed into the cavalryman's vital part!

  After a few painful cries, the defensive circle was broken! Xia Ya kicked one of the guys who pounced on him flying with one foot. His strength was extremely great, and as soon as he kicked out, that person was still spraying blood in mid-air. Tu Bao had already drawn his fire fork, and he realized that using a large cross-shaped double-bladed sword to deal with these agile guys was not handy, but would instead affect his own speed of action.

  Then Xia Ya rushed up!

  He leaped with all his might, just like those icefield hunters, and pounced several meters high. In mid-air, he met a guy, Xia Ya opened his arms wide, embracing the opponent like an octopus, and that guy's short knife was already deeply stabbed into Xia Ya's chest... But this guy miscalculated! The turtle's body is now strong to a degree that can't be pierced by a single short knife! Xia Ya's arms tightened with all his might, making cracking sounds, crushing the opponent's bones! The savage's monstrous strength was indeed not trivial. Xia Ya hugged the blood-spitting guy and fell onto a tree, throwing down the corpse, and snatched the short knife from the opponent's hand. Looking at the dark shadow pouncing beside him, Xia Ya threw the short knife with all his might, and that guy immediately covered his throat with both hands, making cracking sounds, and fell backward.

  Xia Ya seemed to have transformed into an ice plain hunter, his movements, pouncing speed, and sharpness far surpassing the opponent's! If the opponent was a monkey, then he was simply a lynx cat!

  He killed three in one breath and quickly targeted his next target...

  This is the tallest guy, that guy has already cut off a scout cavalry's neck with a short knife, his face is full of blood, when he rolled up from the ground, Xia Ya had already pounced over and brought the opponent's body back down.

  The two of them wrestled on the ground, and Xia Ya immediately felt that the other's strength was not small at all, much stronger than the several Icefield Hunters he had dealt with before. He tried to twist the other's neck, but this guy actually struggled free from his grasp.

  Xia Ya is done for! Grandfather wants to kill you, how dare you resist?

  The two of them rolled on the ground, Xia Ya suddenly created some space, his knee fiercely bent upwards and heavily bumped into the other's thigh root. The guy was in pain, his body twisted up, Xia Ya took advantage of the opportunity to loosen his arm, an elbow strike smashed into the other's chest.

  With a few loud cracks, Xia Ya's chest burst open and he quickly jumped up, agilely climbing the tree like a leopard cat. In an instant, he saw Kevin knocking down one opponent, but another Ice Hunter pounced on Kevin's back! The guy wrapped his legs tightly around Kevin's waist, this foolish youth struggled hard for a few moments but couldn't shake him off, the Ice Hunter on his back already grasping a short knife and stabbing it fiercely towards Kevin's neck...

  Xia Ya didn't hesitate, the fire fork in his hand shot out like lightning, Kevin had already felt a chill on the back of his neck and was filled with despair. Suddenly, he heard a splat, and fresh blood splattered onto his ear. The guy from Beihua stiffened and fell to the ground. Turning around, he saw that the opponent's head had been directly pierced by a fire fork!

  Xia Ya jumped down and pulled out a fire fork. Kevin panted and said in a low voice, "I owe you one life!"

  Xia Ya licked her lips...

  At this moment, the Byzantine scouts were left with only four survivors, and the Icefield Hunters finally whistled, jumping out of the battle circle one after another, quickly leaping onto the trees. Several shadows no longer lingered in the fight, hastily flying away from the darkness...

  Fourteen of the scouts were killed in this raid, and ten of the Ice Hunters died. Shayah and Kevin alone accounted for six of them. It's easy to imagine that without Kevin and Shayah, the scouts would have been annihilated!

  Xia Ya had a deep impression of the Odin people's strength for the first time in her heart.

  The enemy retreated, and Kevin immediately sat down on the ground with a thud. Several of his scouts were unsteady on their feet. The captain was still alive, he stretched out his hand to lean against a large tree, the wound under his ribs had already stained half of his body red with fresh blood.

  Kevin looked at Xia Ya's unusual expression, pulled him and said in a low voice: "The Odin people are originally ferocious, these icefield hunters are the natural vanguards of the Odin people. Although they are enemies, it has to be said that from individual combat power, they are stronger than us Byzantines."

  Pausing for a moment, Kevin added: "However, the general once said that when these guys gather together, they are just a mob. We can always defeat them."

  But in a moment of slaughter, fourteen companions who had been eating and sleeping together for several days turned into cold corpses.

  For these cavalrymen, they seemed not to be too sad, they just quietly cleaned up the battlefield, moved their companions' bodies together, and carefully checked those enemies - if they were still breathing, they would be stabbed with a sword without hesitation.

  The process was very silent, no one said a word!

  For these people, it seems that they have already become accustomed to the life and death separations on this battlefield. There is no sadness on anyone's face, only the transformation of sorrow into hatred, flashing in their eyes!

  The wounded captain stood in front of a corpse for a while - it was the first soldier who was shot through the neck by an arrow during the sneak attack, when he fell from the tree, his water bag and neck were nailed together by a sharp arrow, the water in the water bag had flowed out, mixed with fresh blood...

  The captain silently looked at this young soldier, and for a moment, his eyes seemed to have some kind of dead stillness!

  Then he turned his head with great effort, his voice hoarse: "No time to waste! The enemy has been found, we must take the news back immediately! Everyone get on horseback and set off at once!"

  The captain led the way and quickly mounted his horse, the rest of the cavalry followed him, swiftly leaving the bloody woods behind.

  It wasn't until they had run more than ten miles that Kevin quietly told Xia Ya...

  "The dead soldier was the captain's son."

  ！？？

  Xia Ya was stunned.

  The deceased young cavalryman, these days of interaction, did not leave a very deep impression on Xia Ya, only remembered that he had a simple face, firm eyes, and only occasionally smiled, revealing a few shy expressions...

  In those days, when facing the captain, he also shouted "captain" with everyone else, and never once called him father. He didn't receive any special treatment from the captain either; reconnaissance, sentry duty, night watch... it seemed like all the toughest tasks were assigned to him...

  In just a moment, a father sent off his own son.

  In just a moment, life and death are cruelly separated from each other, cutting off all familial relationships!

  ※※※

  This was the first battle that Shaya experienced from his military career, and the captain's eyes, which were as still as death when he looked at his dead son, were deeply etched in Shaya's heart like a knife.

  For a young hunter, he was suddenly reminded of one fact by this small but fierce battle in front of him:

  War is not hunting in the mountains and forests!

  War is not an adventure on the prairie!

  War is... war!!

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