How come this arcanist is invincible?

Chapter 92 Ambush and Counterattack

The tent fell into a deathly silence.

The professionals looked solemn, but the apprentice adventurers were already pale with fright and didn't dare to breathe.

Kane saw it clearly and wasn't surprised.

Killing people to establish authority is a common tactic used in the military.

According to the rules, if someone is injured and loses their fighting ability during combat, they can indeed leave the battlefield.

However, if one injures oneself to avoid battle during internal challenges, it will only shake the morale of the army.

Rufus's sword strike was meant to be a show for everyone.

His gaze inadvertently swept over the young man Russell behind him.

The young man's face was as white as paper, and his short sword was trembling so badly that he could barely hold it.

Kane shook his head. He had chosen his own path, and he could only be an observer.

Just then, a gaze fell upon him.

Kane looked up but found nothing, but he knew that the gaze he had just received was not an illusion.

Rufus reprimanded the crowd a few more times, his tone fierce, but no one dared to argue back.

Once he had firmly established his authority, he turned and left with his soldiers.

Soon, a group of quartermasters brought broth and black bread.

After quickly filling their stomachs, the group was divided into teams, and each team received three tents.

Kane asked for one without hesitation, and the bald, burly man nodded and bowed in agreement, leading the other eight men to squeeze into the other two tents.

It was late at night.

Kane lay in the tent, staring at the top, his mind racing as he considered his next move.

A rustling sound arose.

A masked figure suddenly lifted the curtain and entered, while a dagger appeared beside Kane, hovering at the intruder's throat.

"Kane, is there any need to be so wary?" The shadowy figure chuckled and removed her mask, revealing a pretty face—it was Talia.

Kane shook his head, stopped his mage's hand, and the dagger clattered to the ground.

Talia sat down next to him with an awkward smile.

"What are you doing here?" Kane broke the silence first.

I came to see you.

Talia's voice lowered, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, "What did you mean when you said during the day... that if I were on your team, I would die inexplicably?"

"It means exactly what it says."

Kane smiled faintly, lay back down, put his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes.

Silence fell once again inside the tent, with only the sound of each other's breathing clearly audible.

Suddenly, a rustling sound rang out.

Kane opened his eyes and saw Talia undressing herself.

Moonlight streamed through the gaps in the tent, illuminating her beautiful figure.

The next second, a soft, warm body pressed against her.

"What are you doing?" Kane's voice remained calm.

Talia buried her head in his chest:

"I'm sorry... Kane, just this once, okay? I... I still have some side effects from the ritual, I need to..."

Kane remained silent.

He knew, of course, that the side effects of the ritual could be eliminated with a soothing agent.

Talia did this simply to make up for her guilt.

He looked at the woman's beautiful face so close to his own, and finally uttered two words softly: "Okay."

The tent swayed gently, and suppressed breaths and groans blended into the night.

Outside the tent, a bald, burly man who had just come out to relieve himself heard the noise inside and saw the familiar female voice. His lips twitched violently.

No wonder Talia rejected my invitation during the day; she already had a lover!

Remembering Kane's terrifying grip, he shrank back sheepishly, turned, and slipped away silently.

……

Silent all night.

As dawn broke, the bugle calls of the army camp resounded throughout the sky.

When Kane woke up, Talia was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a faint fragrance.

The messenger arrived quickly and urged everyone to pack up their tents.

Their troops were to depart with the army.

More than a dozen adventurer teams hurriedly packed their belongings and followed behind the city guards, heading towards the Dark Forest in a grand procession.

Kane walked in the ranks, his eyes scanning the surrounding military formations as he quickly analyzed the situation in his mind.

The army of the Kingdom of Nord uses a decimal system.

This army of 10,000 men was composed of ten corps, each corps having ten companies, and each company having ten squads.

At the funeral of Captain Alvin last time, the high-ranking officer who attended was most likely a corps commander.

Even if he is not a third-tier expert, he is definitely a top-tier existence among second-tier experts.

From his perspective, the marching formation was immediately clear:

At the forefront was the scout legion, flanked by several cannon fodder squadrons composed of adventurers, and these hundred men were just one of those squadrons.

Behind them were the endless ranks of Nord regular infantry, carrying light shields and marching in perfect unison.

"This is war," Kane sighed to himself.

Even if he were to be able to use third- or even fourth-ring spells in the future, he would probably have no choice but to flee when faced with an army of ten thousand men.

After all, in this era of the gods' retreat, the concentration of ether in his material plane is limited, which greatly restricts the strength of professionals.

The army marched for three whole days, enduring wind and rain along the way.

Along the way, they encountered many traps set by the drow.

Most of the traps were dismantled by the scouts, but some escaped, causing considerable trouble for the vanguard adventurer team.

Although no one has died yet, the wounded have been appearing one after another.

"Your Excellency, how should we plan our next battle?"

The bald, burly man named Declan leaned closer to Kane and asked in a low voice, his tone full of unease.

The eight teammates behind him also looked very unwell, especially Russell, whose face began to turn pale.

Kane glanced at the anxious expressions on everyone's faces and understood.

These people were initially blinded by the bounty.

But after truly witnessing the cruelty of war, they realized that they were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter.

He pondered for a moment and said:

"We'll be entering the forest area soon. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we'll be positioned ahead of the scouts, acting as the vanguard."

If you encounter a Drow attack, just try your best to protect yourselves.

"What?! We're supposed to go first?"

Declan's face turned pale instantly.

"Then, during combat, won't you need my assistance?"

"Need not."

Kane glanced at him. "Protecting these rookies is your duty. As for the enemy, leave that to me."

Declan paused for a moment, then nodded repeatedly, "I understand!"

Kane added:

"Oh, and one more thing—if the injury is really serious, then I probably won't need to participate in the subsequent battles."

Upon hearing this, everyone subconsciously swallowed.

Kane shook his head. The implication in his words was clear: self-harm would allow him to withdraw from the battlefield.

After all, according to Nord military regulations, no one would force wounded soldiers to go to the battlefield; they would only send them to the rear to recuperate.

Unfortunately, these people, blinded by fear, seemed not to have grasped his underlying meaning.

Perhaps they will only understand when there are truly heavy casualties.

The moment the words were spoken, the line suddenly stopped.

Ahead, a dense forest came into view, its canopy blocking out the sun like a giant black net.

This is the outer edge of the Dark Forest, and also their first battlefield on this journey.

The resounding bugle call rang out again.

The scouts halted as a messenger rode up on horseback, loudly proclaiming the order.

Declan understood the messenger's words, and his face instantly turned ashen.

He glanced at Kane instinctively, his eyes filled with despair—Kane's guess had come true!

Their adventurer team really had to be sent out to scout ahead of the scout legion!

Kane ignored his despair, his gaze fixed on the forest before him, his right hand slowly gripping the Frostbite Scimitar at his waist.

Following the messenger's order, more than ten adventurer teams, organized into small groups, entered the Dark Forest one after another.

Upon entering the forest, a damp and chilly atmosphere immediately hits you.

The tall trees blocked out the sun, and the morning mist was so thick that visibility was less than five meters.

The sound of their footsteps was swallowed up by the thick layer of fallen leaves; only their own heartbeats could be heard, exceptionally clear in the silent forest.

Different teams adopted different strategies.

Some teams sent apprentice-level adventurers ahead to scout the way, some sent professional captains to lead the charge, and others had their team members spread out in a fan shape and advance slowly.

Kane spotted Talia's group.

The half-elf Vilan walked in the middle, Talia in the middle, and the other apprentice adventurers kept a safe distance, carefully moving forward.

He withdrew his gaze and slowly closed his eyes.

With the help of maxed-out water manipulation skills and the dense moisture in the forest.

His range of perception expanded instantly.

After walking for a while, his expression became serious.

In my perception, dozens of figures carrying longbows were already lying in ambush on the treetops.

They held arrows, bowstrings taut, and stared intently at their "prey" below.

"These Zhuo Er probably know that we are just cannon fodder."

Kane pondered to himself.

"Their target should be the scout group behind them. As long as no one spots them, we might be able to get through safely..."

But an accident still happened.

One of the apprentice adventurers in the group, wearing leather armor, slipped and tripped over the vines on the ground.

As he fell, he inadvertently looked up and saw a dark figure in the treetop. He was instantly terrified and screamed.

"Enemy attack—!"

That scream was like a signal.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!

Countless arrows rained down from the treetops like a storm!

The adventurer, unable to dodge in time, was instantly pierced through.

Soon, some clever individuals used magic tricks or shields to block the attack, or even used the corpses of their companions as cover.

Despite this, the arrows rained down by the descendants of the Drow continued relentlessly.

Kane's expression darkened as he deflected the attack:

This adventurer squadron has lost 40% of its members in just a few waves of arrows, and most of the remaining members are wounded.

Delanck's face turned even uglier as he clutched his bleeding arm tightly.

The arrowhead, deeply embedded in the ground, had an eerie green hue, clearly indicating it had been poisoned.

Three of his team members have already died on the spot.

Before he could even tend to his wounds, the treetops above him suddenly shook, and two figures swooped down, their poisoned daggers aimed straight at him!

Kane suddenly opened his eyes, flicked his wrist, and swung his scimitar with the aid of the Wind Dance technique.

puff!puff!

Two muffled thuds were heard almost simultaneously.

In the shadows, two descendants of the Drow slowly collapsed, clutching their throats, their eyes filled with horror.

They had concealed their presence, so how could they have been detected?

But this brief counterattack did not quell the crisis. More and more Drow descendants leaped down from the trees and launched close-range attacks like a tidal wave.

Kane leaned against a tree trunk, wielding his scimitar, and single-handedly held off an attack from one professional and two apprentices.

He controlled his strength, countered appropriately, and only slightly revealed his true power.

Once they entered close combat, the fighting spirit of many adventurers was also ignited.

A wanderer with an arrow in his abdomen still managed to stab the eye of the drow who was attacking him with a dagger, even though his own head would be cut off the next second.

One of the rangers used the terrain to his advantage and engaged in a fierce battle with the drow descendants. His rapier pierced the throats of two apprentice-level drows in succession before he finally died from exhaustion, maintaining the posture of holding his sword and charging forward until his last breath.

Kane gradually loosened up his hands and began to focus on disrupting the opponent's offensive formation, rather than blindly pursuing kills.

Finally, they even took the initiative to charge into the enemy ranks, cutting the chaotic battlefield into smaller pieces so that their comrades could fight on their own.

Just then, under the cover of the half-elf, Talia finally finished chanting and released the first-circle spell "Earthquake".

A violent tremor suddenly spread from the ground, and cracks extended in all directions like a spider web.

The sudden turn of events caused the descendants of the Zhuoer to pause for a moment. They exchanged a glance and decisively abandoned their attack.

They all retreated back into the deep forest.

The battle came to an abrupt end.

Kane surveyed the battlefield, his brow furrowed.

This squadron, which originally consisted of 100 men, now has less than 40% still capable of fighting, and almost everyone is injured.

However, there were fewer than ten enemy corpses, making the casualty exchange ratio far too poor.

"Mom...I was wrong..."

A faint sobbing sound reached Kane's ears. He looked in the direction of the sound and found it was Russell, the young man in his team.

He fell to the ground, a broken arrow lodged in his abdomen, his face ashen white.

The bald, burly man, Delanck, stood to the side, looking at him with a complicated expression.

Kane crouched down, wanting to say something, but saw the young man suddenly cough up a mouthful of blood, his breath already gone.

His eyes were wide open as he died, and his stiff fingers were still stretched out towards Nord.

Kane closed his eyes and sighed softly: This is war.

His hand unconsciously tightened its grip on the scimitar.