Amber Sword

"Mr. Brand, you don’t need to, ah—" Delphire opened her eyes wide when she saw that thing: "This is..."

"The Demon Bracelet?"

Brand nodded slowly.

...

Five minutes is not a long time. By the time Brand and Delphire returned from the forest outskirts, everyone was already set and ready.

He didn’t say much, in fact, he wasn’t in the mood to say much, and just nodded directly to lead everyone out. They passed through the forest and quickly entered the northern slopes along the hillside. Before this, Brand had repeatedly told himself that this adventurous gamble was no different from his past similar experiences in the game—whether it was breaking through the lizardman’s encirclement earlier or risking his life to raid Madara’s undead during the Second Black Rose War, or later in the Clover Operation passing information right under the Cruz people’s noses.

Every time it succeeded, didn’t it?

But it wasn’t until the moment of departure that everyone’s silence gave him a sense of a different meaning. The air seemed to be filled with a tense and uneasy atmosphere, reminding him repeatedly of that night in Buqi.

Through the gaps in the layers of tree canopy, the Flame Gate’s teleportation gate stood like three massive golden rings in the rain curtain, and the sheer presence of them brought tremendous pressure. Fortunately, to ensure a clear area near the teleportation gate, not a single flying creature was visible in the northern sky over Ambeser.

Whether Barbarian Demons or Harpies.

This was probably the only source of comfort for Brand.

The demons were probably very confident in the troops near the teleportation gate, with no patrols arranged around the hills. Of course, the demons never really had any patrol teams—their combat style was always straightforward, violent, and direct, just throwing lives at it.

Though Brand initially thought he might encounter Jogen Digan, his luck seemed rather good. He carefully led the others through the bushy areas while tensely watching the hill where the Hellhounds resided, yet the other side seemed utterly oblivious to the presence of a troop in the northern Ambeser. Soon, they successfully entered the sparse forest areas near the grassy slopes.

Brand was the first to roll sideways behind a tree at the outer edge of the forest and took a glance outside. The nearest teleportation gate was less than a thousand meters away from him, and due to its sheer size, it seemed almost within reach.

Brand took a deep breath and immediately turned back to gesture to the others. Everyone lowered their bodies, crawling towards the edge of the forest.

Honestly, this movement wasn’t anything new. Scouts often approached enemy forces this way, and even the Church taught their horses to do it. However, if there were any aerial reconnaissance units, doing this on an endless meadow would be no different from courting death.

But Brand had set his sights on the clear zone near the teleportation gate.

They slowly crawled out of the forest’s edge, gradually entering the meadow zone, with Brand occasionally lifting his head slightly to watch the Hellhounds’ reaction over there—in all the demons, the Hellhounds’ perception ability was undeniably top-notch, and even the higher-level Long-Horned Demons paled in comparison in this aspect.

However, this time Martha seemed to be on their side, as they advanced three to four hundred meters. Although it took a full ten minutes, at least until they approached about halfway, those Hellhounds still hadn’t reacted at all.

Apparently, good luck had come to an end.

Suddenly, Brand saw the Hellhound stand up alertly. If he still harbored any luck at this point, the moment the monster looked in their direction, he immediately realized that their group had been discovered.

At this distance, the opponent likely didn’t see them but rather smelled the scent of humans. Even though Brand was prepared for such a sense of smell, he couldn’t help but secretly be alarmed in his heart. It must be acknowledged this was in the pouring rain, and if it were a clear day, they probably couldn’t hide in the forest.

The demons’ two main reconnaissance units, the sky’s Barbarian Demons and the ground’s Hellhounds, their fearsome reputation wasn’t blown out by the players. Brand only saw those six blood-red eyes sweeping in this direction, and he immediately felt a chill on his scalp, instinctively shouting:

"Antitina!"

The noble lady understood, and immediately approached him. Brand rose from the ground, grabbed her and lifted her by the waist. He immediately sprinted, charging straight towards the nearest teleportation gate ahead. "Quick! Destroy that closest teleportation gate first!"

As he moved, he saw a sheet of Hellhounds standing up on the hill. The reaction was slightly slower from the Long-Horned Demons near the teleportation gate, who instantly kicked away those squabbling Little Demons, cursing and ordering them to prepare to face the enemy.

Then the silhouettes of Evil Mages emerged near the teleportation gate, originally seemingly hidden among the masses of Little Demons. When they stood up, blood-red flames ignited in their hands immediately, hurling towards Brand and the others like raindrops.

Brand held Antitina with one hand, and drew the Earth Sword with the other. He was very familiar with these ram-horn heads and naturally knew their usual tricks, ready to counterattack. But precisely at this moment, the Templar and Flame-haired Nicholas had already arrived in front of him, left and right, reaching out their hands, with countless golden-red Law Threads extending forward to swallow all the Fireballs.

In front of these two masters of fire, mere Evil Mages’ Fireball Technique was really not worth seeing.

Brand immediately breathed a sigh of relief, as the reason he explicitly requested Nicholas to join was precisely for this reason. The demons were all fire masters, but they seemed juvenile compared to Nicholas from the Side of Truth.

...

(PS: I’m still stuck with writing despite closure push, feeling defeated. Tomorrow, the month begins with a burst, and I’ll write closure push sentiments. Sigh, it’s late today, feeling embarrassed to write, I apologize to everyone.)(To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)