"Why do I feel like there might be monsters in there?"
Seeing that the morale of the militia seemed to be wavering, John immediately rode his horse to patrol and suppress the situation, asking these poorly trained militiamen to be quiet, and then returned to the center of the army to report to Dick.
Dick nodded and immediately ordered to set up camp near the river valley outside the forest. He did not rush into the forest rashly. Naturally, all this was seen by the spies hiding in the dark.
049: Magical Honey Trap
Upon learning that the Governor's army had reached the outskirts of the forest, Karem was ecstatic at first, but soon discovered that something seemed to be wrong.
Those 1,500 to 1,600 people had no intention of entering the forest at all. Instead, they set up camp on the riverbank outside the forest, and then began to build fortifications on the spot. Karem, who went to investigate the outskirts of the forest himself, was quite confused.
What do you mean? Aren't you here to encircle and suppress them?
In Karem's original expectation, the army of the Governor's Office would consider their military advantage and march into the forest in a mighty manner, and then first fight with the deer-headed elites wandering around the periphery. When they suffered heavy losses, they would take advantage of the chaos to attack them and catch them off guard.
Anything killed within the forest would be a sacrifice to the Deer-Headed God.
It is worth mentioning that the group of deer-headed spirits wandering around the outer area of the forest are indeed reinforcements attracted by the "divine power" of the Deer-Headed God, but these reinforcements are not very smart and will still follow their original monster habits and indiscriminately attack any higher intelligent creatures that enter the forest.
The only safe area in the entire forest is the camp around the altar. The deer-headed spirits will not attack humans inside. In addition, the high priest Karem and the "messengers of God" who have received gifts from the Deer-headed God will not be attacked by the deer-headed spirits even if they enter the forest.
After waiting for five full days, Karem was depressed to find that those "running dogs of the noble lords" refused to come into the woods, and acted as if they were going to build a castle on the river beach.
This made the Deer Head Gang feel a little uncomfortable because they could not afford to delay more than the attacking party.
The end of winter is the time when food supplies are running out. The bandits who have endured a hard winter in the mountains are not much better off than the ordinary people.
The Deer Head Gang had only more than 200 people before, and with the food they had on hand and the food they could get locally in the mountains, it was actually not a problem for them to survive until autumn when the "sheep" at the foot of the mountain could fatten up.
However, in order to resist the Governor's strong encirclement and suppression, they absorbed the wild people and used the tactic of explosive troops, directly expanding their forces to nearly a thousand people, but the cost was the increased consumption of food and grass. Although they also robbed some food in the process of looting the wild people, it was still not enough to cover the expenses.
On the other hand, at the Governor's Office, Dick had been desperately trying to store grain since he took office last year, trying to exchange all the gold, silver and treasures seized from the confiscated houses for grain before the snow closed the mountains.
He also used the name of suppressing bandits and, with just a few IOUs, took control of the inventory of local grain merchants, thwarting the dreams of those profiteers who were planning to make a fortune during the spring grain price increase.
This is the reason why Dick dares to maintain private army training in winter and launch encirclement and suppression operations in late winter!
The food reserves he had were enough to sustain these 1,500 to 1,600 people for two months without doing anything, but it was still unknown whether the Deer Head Gang could hold out for another week.
This put Kareem in a very awkward position. Because of the destruction of the Vulture Gang and the Blood Wolf Gang, he mistakenly thought that the Governor would also choose to fight them quickly, so he had the idea of fighting them. As a result, the other side sent a large army to the outskirts of the forest and refused to move forward.
Seeing that no matter how thrifty they were, their food stores were about to run out, some of his trusted subordinates privately suggested to Karem that it would be better to sacrifice some cannon fodder with little combat effectiveness first, but this seemingly "reasonable" suggestion was immediately rejected by Karem.
The hundreds of savages who were forced to come here and most of the members of the Deer Head Gang were unaware of Karem's crazy conspiracy, otherwise they would not have stayed in the camp so obediently.
The sacrifices that Karem had carried out before were small-scale sacrifices of ten people at a time, and those who were killed were all hard-core people who refused to go along with them after being captured.
If the scale of sacrifice expands, it is hard to guarantee that it will not cause panic among the cannon fodders.
After much thought, Karem soon came up with a plan that he thought was feasible.
"We take the initiative!"
Karem's idea of taking the initiative was not to rush out of the forest and fight with the governor.
Instead, he took the cannon fodder to the edge of the forest, deployed his troops in front of the governor to provoke him, and then led them into the forest to engage in battle.
Karem was somewhat self-aware. He knew that his disadvantage was not just in terms of manpower, but also in terms of equipment.
Not to mention the regular soldiers of the private army, even the temporarily recruited militia at least had an iron spear, but nearly half of the savages on his side only had wooden sticks.
Therefore, from the very beginning, Karem never expected these cannon fodders to be able to fight against the Governor's army. Their role was to deliver heads. Even if the fight was ten to one, he would not feel at a loss.
In order to allow this group of cannon fodder to safely pass through the forest and reach the edge, he had to send people to lead away the deer-headed spirits that were wandering around.
Just like that, Karem led almost all of his troops out, letting the bandits of the Deer Head Gang serve as supervisors, and with the 800 or so cannon fodder as the main force, they left the camp in a mighty force.
The cannon fodders all behaved very obediently, and some were even eager to try!
Most of the savages are poor people who hide in the mountains because they cannot pay taxes. Because there is a lack of information in the mountains, many people don’t even know who the current Governor Laguge is. Based on their inherent stereotypes, they believe that the governor must not be a good person, which is why they were fooled by Karem into joining them.
In addition, Karem and others often performed "miracles" in front of the cannon fodders, and sacrificed a lot of undisciplined troublemakers. Many cannon fodders who believed in it really thought they had a great advantage!
However, the cannon fodders marching in the forest did not know that on the tree trunks above their heads, there was a pair of eyes hidden in the shadows watching them.
Ayane secretly observed the mob below, and immediately saw Karem, who was dressed the most flamboyantly. She subconsciously tightened her grip on the small sword at the back of her waist, but then let go.
Although Ayane was somewhat dissatisfied with the young master's assignment of using them and the other female ninjas as "surveillance cameras", she also knew that the matter was of great importance and that she could not disrupt the battle plan because of her momentary impulse.
Karem below seemed to sense that someone was staring at him strangely, and he subconsciously raised his head and looked around, but in the end he found nothing.
Not long after the Deer Head Gang's "army" set out, the falcon released by Ayane delivered the news to Dick who was ambushing on the other side of the forest.
An elite team of less than thirty people immediately set out and headed straight for the Deer Head Gang's lair.
The entire team not only includes Dick himself, his uncle Behemoth, but also three elites including Black and White Gun and Rita, and the rest are also experts who have practiced martial arts in the private army.
Such an elite team is more than enough to deal with the people left behind near the altar.
Although the team did not ride horses, with the help of the magic "Wind Walk", all members moved very quickly in the forest, easily avoiding the wandering deer-headed spirits, and directly broke into the camp, catching the remaining personnel off guard.
Thanks to the elite team, the battle ended quickly with a crushing momentum. Dick and Behemoth didn't even have to make a move. Rita, wielding a scythe like the dance of death, killed more than one-third of the enemies by herself. Dealing with a group of miscellaneous soldiers was like using a mutual skill.
At this time, Hongye and Ayane brought a dejected guy to Dick. The guy looked young, but his body hair was too thick. The back of his hands and around his neck were covered with brown hair, and his protruding jaw and cheekbones showed that this guy had orc blood.
"My Lord, this man is the priest who stayed behind."
Looking at the silent half-orc priest, Dick guessed that he should have some blood relationship with Karem, who was also a half-orc. They were either sons or relatives.
So he signaled Hongye and Ayane to take him to the altar in the center of the camp. Behemoth was studying the words carved on it. Seeing this, Dick asked.
"Uncle Master, are you sure?"
"It's not a big problem."
"Then let's hurry and get started."
Under the young priest's puzzled gaze, he was dragged onto the altar. Then he saw Behemoth whispering a few words in Dick's ear, then retreating outside the altar, holding the staff tightly and began to chant in a low voice.
Dick walked up to the confused young priest, took out a bottle of potion that could temporarily enhance mental strength and forced it into his mouth, then stared at Behemoth and chanted a spell. The high-level magic stone in his hand was quickly drained of magic power and turned into a handful of white sand that was blown away by the wind.
The old wizard chanted in a low voice for three minutes, then closed his eyes and fell into silence. Seeing that Behemoth was "ready", Dick turned around and cut the palm of the young priest with a knife, then pressed it hard on the crown of the skull of the magic weapon.
"Now, call upon your god."
Dick said as he injected magic power into the altar for the other party.
There are actually only a few common modes of summoning rituals for gods. Behemoth studied the layout of the black stone altar and figured out how to use it.
It is just the most common method, the one most used by cult groups, called "Blood Summoning". The altar itself is like a signal transmission tower, which can send signals to the evil gods hiding in the demon world. Depending on the signal sent, it can be mind communication, phantom appearance, or even the arrival of the real body.
It just so happened that Karem had already arranged everything on the altar before setting off. It was the highest ritual used to summon the evil god's true body to descend.
This highest level of ritual requires a large amount of high-level sacrifices.
This is like the "appearance fee" that mortals pay to invite the evil god to come. The more you give, the longer the evil god can stay in the real world. This is why Kareem always wants to make a big move!
But Dick did not need the evil god to show up for too long. As long as the deer-headed god could take the initiative to open the passage after receiving the message and stretch out his noble head, Behemoth, who had been ready at the door, would be able to give him a "big surprise".
This is Behemoth’s plan, a “magic trap” specially prepared for the evil god!
The author says:
Author's note: A little stuck, but it's okay.
050. Drink more water
From the beginning to the end, what made Dick feel fearful was never the Deer Head Gang, but the evil god that the Deer Head Gang believed in, because this kind of existence has more or less the ability to cause large-scale casualties, and once it comes to the world, it will be a bloody storm.
When local nobles or lords encounter activities of cult groups in their own territories, most sensible ones will choose to seek help from professional churches.
However, the church is, after all, an organization made up of people, and people mean both good and bad.
Good people do their job.
The bad guys neglected their duties.
Unfortunately, Laguge is a remote and poor place with no money and extremely cold winters. Therefore, there are no permanent church staff in the area, and the nearest branch church is in the Marquisate of Ulun, south of the Central Mountains.
Perhaps influenced by the flourishing local business activities, the head of the local church organization is a man with a keen business sense. He regards the church's responsibility to eliminate demons and defend the way of religion as a paid service.
Dick wasn't sure whether God loved people or not, but this guy definitely didn't love the poor!
When Dick discovered that there was a cult group among the local bandit forces in Laguge, he wrote a letter for help to the head of the Ulun branch, requesting that the other party send heretic inquisitors to assist in suppressing the bandits. As for the "consultation fee" for hiring professionals to provide door-to-door services, this can be negotiated.
As a result, the other party replied that they would have to wait until the beginning of next spring to send a priest, and they also raised the price and put forward many excessive conditions to Dick.
Dick couldn't accept the other party's high price, so the deal fell through.
Fortunately, Dick has always had good luck and happened to meet his uncle Behemoth, who came to Laguge every year to visit him in order to study the super cold winter.
The old magician was very experienced, and he gave Dick an idea that seemed outrageous at first glance.
Instead of focusing on the cultists and worrying that the encirclement and suppression will not be thorough enough and some of them may slip through the net and leave trouble for the future, why can't we change our thinking and directly take action against the evil gods behind them?
Ordinary people, or normal people, really can't think of this method, mainly because their strength does not allow it. Even if the evil god is a false god, it cannot be resisted by ordinary force.
But Behemoth is a peak saint who has stepped half a foot into the realm of sub-gods. His full-strength attack is fully capable of causing damage to a false god. Under certain conditions, he can even severely injure the opponent, making the deer-headed god unable to enter the mortal world for one or two hundred years. Naturally, he will not be able to care about his believers.
After listening to Behemoth's story, Dick applauded on the spot and immediately developed a corresponding battle plan based on this idea.
Dick first assembled 1,500 men and marched towards the western mountains with great fanfare. Then he deliberately set up camp outside the Black Forest, but did not go into the forest.
Karem cannot afford to delay due to lack of food, so in order to lure them into the forest to start a war, he will most likely take the initiative to attack, which gives Dick an opportunity.
After the altar was activated, an evil blood light burst out, and then Dick found that the space in front of him suddenly began to vibrate, and a crack appeared out of thin air, which was getting bigger and bigger in front of his eyes.
Seeing that the ritual had been successfully initiated and the evil god was about to emerge, Dick immediately called Hongye and Ayane to retreat outside the altar, while the young priest was left behind. As the ritual was going on, he was like a whole with the altar and could not move at all.
At the same time, on the other side, Karem, who had led his army to the edge of the forest, suddenly felt a palpitation in his heart. He looked back in shock. Even though there was a large forest between them, he could still sense the evil god who was about to descend, but this was different from his original plan!
"Damn it! How come someone started the ceremony early?"
Realizing that something was wrong, it was too late for Karem to return for help.
In the camp at the rear, as the space gate leading to the Demon Realm was opened, everyone present felt an extremely uncomfortable evil aura coming towards them.
At this time, Dick noticed that the bodies of the bandits killed in the previous battle were disintegrating strangely, turning into streams of sticky plasma floating towards the gate. More than 30 bodies disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye, and then a very dissatisfied roar came from inside the door, as if the evil god was angry because the tribute prepared for the believers was not enough.
Soon, a pair of extremely huge antlers stretched out from the gate of the Demon Realm, followed by a hideous monster head covered with hard bone plates. Its appearance was very similar to that of the Deer-Headed Demon, but it was larger and more terrifying in size.
Seeing this horrifying monster, Dick thought that this thing was really not something he could deal with with his current strength. Even the Black and White Gunner, who was the most powerful among his subordinates, had a serious look on his face.
If the real body of this thing really came to the mortal world, even if it could only last for a few minutes, it would be able to directly destroy a city!
However, the seemingly powerful evil god was in a special stage where he was vulnerable and defenseless. It was like a person who was awakened by the urge to urinate in the middle of the night, and was about to go to the toilet in his sleepy clothes, but he didn't realize that there was a person hiding behind the door, swinging a sledgehammer to hit him on the head!
The sneak attacker swinging the hammer was none other than Behemoth, who was holding back his ultimate move.
Behemoth took advantage of the evil god's inattention, stepped forward quickly, and shoved his staff into the evil god's bloody mouth with lightning speed, and fired a forbidden-spell-level blowjob at its throat!
"The blazing sun burns the sky!"
Along with Behemoth's angry roar, it was as if a small sun was stuffed into the evil god's mouth. One of the top-level group attack magics in the fire system was used by Behemoth as a single attack at this moment, and directly gave the Deer-Headed God a trick of "drinking more boiled water" to sterilize its internal organs.
The evil god who was attacked by surprise immediately let out a shrill roar, retreated back to the gate as if fleeing, and immediately closed the space gate. Seeing this, Dick and his men cheered, while the captured members of the Deer Head Gang were all in grief. After all, they saw with their own eyes that the god they believed in was being deep-throated by a human magician in front of them, and many people's faith collapsed on the spot.
On the altar, Behemoth, who had just cast a forbidden spell, was leaning on his staff and taking deep breaths. Dick hurried forward to help him downstairs to rest, then took out a flare from his space bracelet and handed it to Hongye, asking her to launch it from a high place to notify the large force waiting outside the forest that they could begin the final finishing work.
As the orange-red flare flew high into the sky, creating a brilliant firework display that was eye-catching even in the daytime, the large army, which had been prepared for battle, immediately opened the door of the camp and marched into the forest, charging head-on at the mob of the Deer Head Gang.
They had an absolute advantage in terms of numbers, equipment, and quality of soldiers, while Karem and his group had been severely damaged by the evil god and had lost their greatest and only support.
Looking at the guardian angel beside him, who was turning back into a human at a speed visible to the naked eye, and seeing himself as if the network cable was unplugged, suddenly he could no longer sense the existence of the Deer-Headed God. Karem, who had no idea what was happening behind him, suddenly fell into unprecedented panic.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves came from the woods on both sides of them. It was the cavalry of the Governor's Office carrying out an encirclement operation. In front of them, a line of troops appeared, marching slowly and powerfully approaching them.
Seeing how oppressive the regular army of the Governor's Office was, the mob, which had been forced together, inevitably felt a strong sense of panic.
Many cannon fodders who were forced to stand at the front looked at the extremely simple sharpened wooden sticks in their hands, and then looked at the private army soldiers who were getting closer and closer and marching in the front of the army formation, and the other side's complete armor and gleaming metal weapons. Anyone who was not blind or stupid would know how big the gap in combat power between the two sides was!
Inevitably, some people who were already low in fighting spirit collapsed first, dropping their weapons and fleeing without a care in the world. Their running immediately triggered a chain reaction, and no matter how the supervisors behind them scolded and threatened, they could not stop the dam-breaking escape, and even some members of the Deer Head Gang began to waver.
Karem never imagined that the "army of a thousand men" that he had worked so hard to assemble would be defeated before the battle even began. The gods that he had placed high hopes on suddenly lost contact at this most critical moment, and even the power bestowed upon them was taken back without a single word.
Why? Why!
Calem subconsciously looked back. He couldn't see the fireworks blooming above the forest, and didn't know what was happening in the camp. But his intuition, which had always been accurate, kept reminding him what to do.
