87. The wilderness is my home (2)
It wasn't until two riders on two gubbins appeared at the spot where we had crossed the river that we realised we were only half a day's ride away from Mingqian, who would have caught up with us on their fast horses in the open wilderness, but we could only see each other across the river, and I could see Mingqian's face distorted in anger, cursing under his breath. Daj, who was on his horse, was looking at the Ulutu River in a daze, trying to drive his gubbo horse into the water to test the depth of the river, but the horse wouldn't step into the water with one hoof and then wouldn't step into the other leg, just snorting and backing away.
Kurtz, with a very cheap smile at this point, sang loudly in the centre of the river in a very distinctive orcish language, afraid that Mingqian and Daj on the other side would not see us. Mingqian's eyes followed Kuzi's song and he urged the gubbo horse to follow us along the river bank, which was like a gust of wind, but there was always a gap of 50 to 60 metres between us. It was obvious that Ming Qian's iron wood longbow was specially made to increase its range.
The sight of a feathered arrow made of fine iron flying over our heads and straight down into the grass on the opposite bank of the river caused us to panic.
"Holy shit, Aziz, he can shoot us, we need to step up and row faster!" I said to Cuz in a hurry.
"It's okay, he's just scaring us, it must take a lot of people shooting together for a parry like that to be a threat to us, and the first few feathered arrows are for calibrating the position." Kurtz got up and rummaged through the pile of matter piled next to the subjugated beast and pulled out an iron pot, holding it in his hand, and said to me, "If he shoots endlessly later, you can use this to deflect the feathered arrows, it's very useful."
"Hey, Miss Kee, what are you doing climbing up on the back of a subjugated beast?" I saw Kiger get up and throw the oar aside and climb onto the back of the beast in the stirrups, worried that she would be hurt by the flying arrows, and asked her worriedly.
She drew her magic sword from her waist and without saying a word, she drew a six-manifold formation in the air, and the next moment, with a series of incantations coming out of her mouth, a coconut-sized magic ball gradually formed on her chest. It was only then that we realised that we had an apprentice magician in our group, and although we only knew one attack type of magic over and over again, its power was not to be underestimated.
The range of a wizard's magic is far greater than that of an archer's feathered arrows. Even if a longbow is thrown at a maximum of 60 or 70 yards, the accuracy of the feathered arrows would be lost if it were further away. The range of a wizard's spell was easily 80 yards, so as soon as the white magic projectile in Kiger's hand took shape, Ming Qian, who was riding on his Gublai horse on the shore, cried out in fear and ran downstream. The speed of a magic bullet is much faster than a feathered arrow, and the power of a magic bullet is incomparable.
The distance between the two sides was long, and the spell was cast directly in Ming Qian's face, so when the magic bullet was fired, despite the fact that Ming Qian was in a terrible mess, such a primary magic bullet did not have a targeting function, the magic bullet grazed the edge of the war horse's tail under Ming Qian, and the sharp whistle that broke through the air scared Ming Qian, so he turned his horse around and ran in a panic in the direction he had come from.
Kiger stood majestically on the back of the beast. In this age of magic, the wizard was above all other professions. As long as they were at a distance from their enemies, even an archer would have to retreat in the face of a wizard. In fact, the two main professions that could really threaten a wizard in war were the high ranking archers and assassins. The leader of the Wind Chaser Adventurers was a demon-hunting archer, but the so-called demon-hunting was more about hunting beasts and demons in the underworld, but it was also about insinuating that there were magicians.
The last time Ming Qian did something to me, Sister Guo Guo said that he had learnt the eighth level warrior skill, so I was afraid that he would have to take the warrior route in the future, after all, this profession is easier to survive in the battlefield. So even though he was now standing on the riverbank with a special ironwood longbow in his hand, he was still no threat to us, and instead, in a fit of rage, he once again took a hit from Kiger.
I asked Kiger why it was that the two of you did not know each other well, and why neither of you bought into each other's business, when Ming Qian was a nobleman and Kiger was a nobleman too. Kiger replied that there were so many nobles in the empire that a wizard would be a noble, so they wouldn't know each other. In the Green Empire, the nobles are bound by law, but out of the Green Empire, the nobles are bound by force, and at this point in time, it's still about whoever has the biggest fist that has the say.
I felt that the group of people chasing us would not be just the two of them, but perhaps those behind us had not yet had time to come.
My prediction was spot on, and that was the last thing we expected. When we finally drew the raft up against the opposite bank with our paddles, six knights and five guborai warhorses had gathered on the opposite bank, one of them carrying two warriors who stood silently watching us from the shore. Presumably our frostbite trap that night had done the trick and they had lost a horse, and it would have been very difficult to lose their footing in the wilderness.
But seeing almost every one of them lumber over to the river of icy water in Ulutu when they saw it, and either man or horse taking a wild drink in the icy water, we were a bit dumbfounded at this point, and Cuz and I looked at each other and both wondered the same thing: if we were taking this group of gin and tonics around the waterless moor, would they be going home early after a few days? After all, the water issue was definitely a big one.
The whole raft was hauled ashore and broken down into bits of material as our group slowly drove the subjugated beasts to shore and then carried all the luggage from the raft to the shore. Katrina crouched on the grass by the shore in a linen tunic and trousers, her long fiery red hair tied half-dry in a ponytail behind her head, and her sheepskin green pouch rolled and tied together with the air drained from it. I found that the more difficult the conditions, the more capable Katrina became, unlike her usual laziness in the caravan, where she was always trying to get the Konejin girl to help her with everything, she was much more energetic in the wilderness, not only keeping all the supplies in order, but also seemingly so strong and energetic that even if she didn't sleep all night she would still be in good spirits the next day.
Our group was in no hurry to leave, I guess the group across the river must have been trying to find a way to cross.
It was ten minutes past noon and Kurtz had gone out with his alloy bow to think of a couple of rabbits to roast.
It seems that I saw a blood-sucking herb not far from the river bank behind a rock, growing brightly in a crevice, and I wondered why no orcs had gathered such a large plant of blood-sucking herb for a healing potion of at least five years' worth, which should be worth a few coins. Isn't this a time of famine for the orcs?
The north bank was more desolate, with only young green clover to feed the horses and a variety of game that was hard to find. But on the southern shore, as far as the eye can see, there is a very strange herb growing in the distant meadows, and almost the whole meadow is covered with some low grade magical herbs. The slopes of the meadow were littered with burrows dug by guinea pigs and hares, whose wily little heads would occasionally poke out of their burrows, disappearing at the slightest movement.
I pulled out my silver plated shotgun and lay down in the grass, the soft yellow grass didn't hide my body, but no matter, there were at least three burrows in my field of vision where the little beasts were hiding, all I had to do was stick a brass pea down the barrel and wait patiently for them to poke their heads out. The midday sun shone down on me and my leather jacket sucked up enough heat to reach my body and keep me warm.
Once I entered the wilderness, I began to use my magic with impunity, always using "anti-magic" to drain my body of excess fire, and then waiting quietly for the "warmth" of my magic to return with a faint flicker as my magical power was depleted. Although I didn't feel that my magic power had recovered that fast, it was an improvement, right?
My magical senses are growing slightly every day, perhaps because my mental powers are growing, and I find that they are growing as a result of living under so much pressure every day. The silver plated shotgun is enchanted with the "Fire Tongue Weapon" enchantment, which is a continuous enchantment that adds extra fire damage to each enemy. I'd always wanted to test the effects of this magic, but today was the day I had the chance to do so, hunting the same rabbits in the meadow.
The next moment the magic formation suddenly formed a ball of fire in the air, the size of a fist, which burrowed into the silver-plated shotgun in my hand. I could clearly feel a strong and violent fire magic power inside the shotgun. The silver plated shotgun was only gentle in my hands at this point, and anyone else who touched it would be burned by the violent fire element inside. They feel the murderous aura coming out of the hunters' eyes.
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