Chapter Thirty Memories of the Past

  A loud, fierce howl tore through the night sky, and the entire mercenary camp was suddenly surrounded by a burst of whistling sounds. The mercenaries who were fast asleep woke up with a start, quickly grabbing their nearby weapons.

  "Bang..." Jason kicked over the brazier beside him, and with a "sizzling" sound, the scattered embers were quickly extinguished.

  "Cover the fire!" Old Banson shouted anxiously, the warming bonfire that could ward off beasts was completely ineffective against the beastmen, and instead would hinder their own vision, making the mercenaries under the firelight a target for the stealthy beastmen in the darkness.

  Several mercenaries expertly kicked over one brazier after another, and the entire camp was suddenly plunged into darkness.

  Jason strained his eyes into the darkness, hoping to see something, but under the sparse starlight, he could only vaguely see a blurry black shadow flashing by.

  "Have you found them?" The cries rose, and one by one the mercenaries cautiously looked around in response to the sound, but on the empty plain they could only see vague shadows.

  "What the head, how is this?! What are these stupid apes doing?" Bade asked with a frown, carrying his large sword, as cries and chaotic footsteps rose around him, but not a single beastman charged forward.

  "Who knows, maybe they were hurt by us before, these monkeys are now also starting to be afraid, not daring to rush up easily, only dare to harass us on the side and disturb our sleep!" Jason comforted with a smile, and this remark was obviously useful, the young mercenaries immediately burst out laughing.

  But what nobody noticed was that old Benson and Jason exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with gloom, where was the superficial joy.

  "Huh? Stan, weren't you supposed to be on sentry duty? How did you get back here?" Jason asked, frowning inwardly as he suddenly spotted a figure in the crowd of Japanese people.

  "The fire has gone out, it's all dark around us, what's the point of keeping watch? Anyway, those beastmen won't dare to rush up!" Stan said with a disbelieving smile. Surrounded by beastmen, he was left alone in the darkness, and he wasn't that stupid!

  "Get out!" Old Banson suddenly let out a loud roar, his body bursting with sparkling aura, bringing a silver glow that rushed towards the back of the crowd.

  A thin, small figure appeared ghostly in front of everyone, a pair of powerful palms had already touched the mercenary's neck in front, if it wasn't for Old Banson being vigilant, Xia Zuo would have twisted off the fragile neck of the mercenary.

  “Bang...” Suddenly, a foot landed on the mercenary's back, and with a crisp crackling sound like stir-frying beans, the mercenary's robust body flew straight forward. Xia Zuo also borrowed this kick to fly backward, drifting down like a snowflake carried by the wind, dodging Old Banson's attack.

  "Don't follow!" Jason hastily stopped several mercenaries who were about to chase out, who knows what else is lurking in the darkness around!

  Xia Sha ran out for over ten meters, seeing no one chasing after him, he stopped in his tracks, turned around and swept his gaze across the tense mercenaries in the darkness, the cold glint in his black eyes as biting as the snowy plain.

  "Humans!" Seeing Xia Zuo speak up, Jason hastily stopped Old Benson who was about to chase after him, wanting to hear what this cunning beastman had to say.

  "The wasteland of rubble is forever the territory of the Kampas Beastmen, you have invaded our land, now..." Xia Zuo slowly placed his left hand on his chest and declared in a thick, heavy voice "I swear to the great war god Kampas, humans, you will become my prey, soon we will meet again!"

  The oath is complete, Xia Sha Xue learns from Mu Li's elegant bow, "Goodnight everyone, may you have a good dream!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, his agile figure swiftly disappeared into the dark wilderness like a flying swallow.

  As a future atheist world human soul, Xia Zuo's admiration for Kampas is far from the reverence of the Beastmen of Kampas, and it's almost just lip service. The reason for this is naturally to put psychological pressure on the mercenaries.

  The earth-shaking roar and footsteps also disappeared suddenly, and the darkness around regained its tranquility.

  Xia Sha's tactics in her heart were clearly successful, the mercenaries with worried faces were thoroughly dispersed of their drowsiness by the beastman's declaration, no one would doubt the beastman's vow to Kanpas, that was an unrelenting determination.

  A pair of eyes with a hint of panic gathered on the captain's body, expecting their leader to make a wise decision at the critical moment and lead everyone to break through the ferocious beastmen and return home.

  "Is that what they're thinking?" Jason's calm tone could no longer hide the intense bitterness. "Wolf pack tactics, this is really troublesome, are they still from the Wolf Tribe?!"

  "What is Wolf Blitz tactics? Is it just the harassment from earlier?" Bade asked in puzzlement, although he had been a mercenary for some years, this term was truly something he heard for the first time, and what did it have to do with the wolf tribe anyway.

  "Such harassment is just a small trick!" The always silent Old Banson suddenly spoke up, and everyone's eyes were focused on him waiting for the team's elder to enlighten them.

  "The Wolf Raid tactic is one of the classic tactics of the Kampas Empire's wolf cavalry, just like a pack of wolves hunting, tracking their prey, tormenting them, constantly draining their physical and mental strength until they are exhausted, only then will they reveal the ferocious fangs of the wolf tribe!" Old Benson's voice trembled slightly, as if he was thinking of something terrifying, his body even began to shake.

  "That's the tactics of the wolf tribe, how could those stupid monkeys possibly use it! Old Banson, don't think nonsense!" Badu patted Old Banson's shoulder to comfort him.

  "That's absolutely a wolf pack tactic, although it's childish, I will never remember it wrong!" Old Banson excitedly pushed away Bad's arm, shouting in surprise and causing the surrounding mercenaries to be stunned.

  "Alas!" Calming down slowly, Old Banson finally noticed the impact of his behavior on the morale of the mercenaries. "When I was young, I once saw a wolf pack tactic, and in that battle, only two people from our mercenary group survived!"

  "Wasn't the Firebird the first mercenary group you joined?" Bade asked, puzzled. He was an old-timer of the Firebird, but even he didn't know about Old Benson's past, only that Old Benson had founded the Firebird Mercenary Group together with Old Commander Jason's father.

  "Before the Firebird, Jason and I were once part of a powerful mercenary group called Steel Shield, and even today's Firebird can be said to have originated from Steel Shield!" Old Benson let out a dry, mirthless laugh.

  "Steel Shield? That large unit with over 400 combat personnel? I heard they were annihilated on the Kampus Grasslands decades ago!" The crowd erupted in shock and awe at the mention of Steel Shield's name, as 400 combat personnel was a number that seemed impossible to overcome.

  "That's right, it was that one time!" Old Banson said with a bitter smile of reminiscence "At that time I was still very young, younger than Stan now, had just joined Steel Shield and took on a big mission to escort the merchant caravan to Lionheart City for trade, the reward was high enough to be frightening, but we didn't notice, nor did we think that this would become the beginning of a nightmare!"

  Beastmen may be hostile towards humans but they are not opposed to normal trade and indeed welcome genuine human merchant caravans.

  "What happened?" Young Stan asked curiously.

  "Hah!" Old Banson's face was filled with bitter smile "It's our greed, that merchant caravan on the surface is escorting spices, but secretly they are selling fur, Wolf tribe's fur!"

  Old Banson said that, and everyone understood. The exquisite fur of the Kampas beastmen was priceless in the human empire. Many greedy merchants took risks just to get their hands on it, not minding making a profit on the side after completing their mission. But once they were discovered by the beastmen, it would be a matter of life and death.

  "Then, everything happened..." Old Banson's body trembled slightly, "First, the wolf cavalry appeared, forcing us to hand over our goods, furs, and the client, but at that time, the captain refused them because of their small number, less than a third of ours, and the generous reward. After...the captain took almost everyone down to hell with this decision."

  "The scouts we sent out were flayed and hung from trees, anyone who strays from the group will never come back, people keep disappearing, then we find their corpses hanging from trees, but that's just the beginning!" Amidst Old Banson's bitter smile, some young mercenaries had already begun to stir quietly.

  "It wasn't until nightfall that the real nightmare began, the beastmen had far superior eyesight to us, and as soon as we let our guard down even slightly, a large group of cavalry would charge into the camp and slaughter everyone in sight, then leave with impunity before we could even organize a counterattack, and they'd even take out the sentries around us for good measure!"

  Even after several decades, when Old Banson mentioned this period of history again, it was as if he had been placed in a nightmare.

  "After that night, the trenches rose up, no one dared to sleep, everyone grabbed their weapons and waited for the beastmen's attack!" Just as Old Benson finished speaking, a truly fierce war cry erupted on the wasteland.

  The mercenaries couldn't help but tighten their clothes, the cold and desolate evening wind suddenly becoming even more biting.

  "No one knows when the werewolves will strike, they come and go like the wind, their harassment is unbearable, we can only watch as they leave!" Old Benson sighed "The effects of tension and fatigue soon became apparent, people kept falling off their horses, while the beastmen continued to harass us, taking advantage of our unpreparedness to launch surprise attacks, at night it was completely their domain!"

  "Why don't we try traps and ambushes?" a young mercenary asked, not waiting for Old Banson's response, he lowered his head in shame. The beastmen who grew up in the harsh environment had a cautious nature at all times, plus their strength and agility far surpassed that of humans, so most human traps would be ineffective.

  "An ambush?" Old Banson sneered slightly. "Soon they began to attack, a team of less than 100 people, like us launching a charge. Although more than a dozen people died, our losses were five times that. Our war horses were driven away by the giant wolves, and we could only march on foot in the grasslands, exhausted and powerless. We tried negotiating, returning all the bloody goods, but they simply ignored us. We tried using captives as threats, but they just looked at us coldly as we beheaded our comrades. Even when we tried to surrender, the other side refused to accept it. Once a beastman makes an oath under Kampas, they will not rest until their enemy is dead, and nothing else will be considered!"

  Everyone listened quietly, thinking of the beastman's oath just now, and couldn't help but shiver slightly.

  "People started to flee, but soon they would appear in front of us on the road, no one could leave alive until we reached the Black Soil Ridge, where everyone was unable to move anymore!" Old Benson's eyes were filled with faint tears and fear.

  "Black earth and barren hills - aren't we going back to Rodman right away?" Stan exclaimed.

  "That's right!" Old Benson nodded, "But at the time, the team was really too exhausted. The captain decided to send two young people to ask for help!"

  "Have reinforcements arrived?" The frail Buman had somehow squeezed into the crowd, trembling from time to time under Old Banson's story, yet reluctant to leave.

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