Chapter 41: The End of the Predicament 2

This was actually caused by having too many people involved.

The bandit groups had always been hostile toward one another. Because of their old grudges, they naturally operated in small separate groups rather than working together as one unified force.

The employer had provided three catapults and two giant crossbows.

These were truly valuable pieces of equipment.

With such weapons, they would even have the ability to attack and capture some smaller cities.

Originally, sending fifty people to transport these weapons would have been more than enough.

However, because the leaders of the different bandit groups did not trust each other, more than a hundred people ended up being sent.

The result was that, by the time the giant crossbows and catapults were finally transported to the riverbank, the enemy’s ship had already arrived at the designated location.

The hundreds of people waiting on the shore saw the ship in the river and immediately became chaotic. Many of them rushed forward to assist the people behind them.

But no one expected that before the equipment had even fully arrived, the people operating the catapults and giant crossbows on the shore had already been completely wiped out.

It had to be said that the lack of stones on the plains was a serious inconvenience.

Otherwise, they would not have needed to send so many people just to transport ammunition.

Furthermore, according to the latest information, several people from the ship had actually escaped into the forest.

When Klar saw the chaotic battle on the riverbank, he calculated the situation carefully.

His side still had more than a hundred people.

The enemy had only several dozen people left, and most of them were low-level professionals.

Although the enemy had a light-element magical barrier protecting them, breaking through that barrier was only a matter of time.

There were also high-level professionals fighting above them.

Klar personally witnessed a sixth-level warrior being struck by the Wind Serpent’s wind blade.

The terrifying attack instantly split the warrior’s body into two halves.

After seeing that, Klar wisely decided to pursue the people who had escaped into the forest.

At least there would be no stray attacks here.

More importantly, the bandit groups were never short of people skilled in tracking.

It did not take long before Klar’s subordinates discovered traces left behind by someone passing through the forest.

“Captain, they stopped here for a short rest. That means their levels probably aren’t very high. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have needed to rest in a place like this. They are most likely low-level professionals.”

The person accompanying Klar was the best tracker in the entire scout squad.

He pointed at several broken small branches on the ground and explained.

“Hmm. Gather everyone.”

Although Klar knew that the people ahead were unlikely to include any powerful individuals, years of combat experience had made him extremely cautious.

He deeply believed that being careful could never be a mistake.

A strange bird-like cry echoed through the forest.

Soon, the scouts who had spread out in different directions gradually returned.

“Captain, those guys by the riverbank are really lucky. There are so many beautiful women there, and even priests from the Church of Light. Those priests are all virgins.”

“Yeah, yeah. But I heard that among the people who escaped into the forest, there are also several women. Captain, what do you think...?”

“Shut up!”

Klar immediately interrupted them.

“We’ve been tricked this time. If we had known there were people from the Church of Light aboard that ship, even our leader would not have dared to provoke them.”

The situation here was far more complicated than it appeared.

Thinking about the possibility of being hunted down by both the Church of Light and the merchant guild, Klar felt like he was already doomed.

Everyone in the bandit world knew one thing clearly.

Ordinary civilians, small merchants, and minor nobles could be robbed or threatened without much consequence.

But once they became involved with major powers such as merchant guilds or churches, the bandit groups would face endless pursuit.

After that, there would be nowhere to hide.

If they could not finish the battle before nightfall, everyone here would most likely die.

The major leaders could easily escape if they wanted to.

That was exactly why Klar had stayed away from the main battlefield.

He was always prepared to run if the situation turned against them.

Furthermore, there were already conflicts and distrust among the several bandit leaders.

Because of this, even when facing the enemy, they were not truly fighting with all their strength. They had to fight the enemy while also watching out for their own allies.

But when they discovered that the Church of Light was involved, those leaders were completely stunned.

Especially when they saw that there were more than a dozen priests among them.

Everyone in the bandit world knew that priests possessed an extremely terrifying life-saving technique. At the moment of death, a priest could use a life-based divine spell to summon an angel.

Although everyone knew that the success rate was extremely low, there was still the possibility of failure turning into success.

And that was the terrifying part.

As long as even one angel appeared, their identities would be exposed.

Therefore, the leaders decided to delay the battle and wait.

There was another reason for this.

When a priest cast the divine spell that summoned an angel, the spell could not be interrupted.

Even if the priest was chopped into pieces during the process, the summoning would continue.

It was an extremely abnormal divine technique.

However, the price was the priest’s own life and soul.

The leaders knew this.

But did their subordinates understand such a thing?

Of course not.

And this misunderstanding created a strange scene on the battlefield.

The members of the bandit groups stayed far away and used military crossbows to shoot at the priests, knights, and mercenaries who had gathered together.

Those carrying melee weapons did not dare to approach.

The reason was simple.

The enemy had more than a dozen priests.

They did not need many successes.

If even one priest successfully summoned an angel, it would be enough.

A two-winged angel possessed combat power equivalent to that of an eighth-level mage.

And the most important point was that the enemy also had a seventh-level priest.

With such a powerful priest present, the success rate would be much higher.

Furthermore, the summoned creature would not be an ordinary two-winged angel.

It would be a four-winged angel.

Even if they somehow managed to defeat these angels, there was still another terrifying ability that angels possessed.

The success rate of this ability was one hundred percent.

When an angel’s life was threatened, it could directly use its own life force to open the Gate of Heaven.

It was a passage that could connect directly to the divine realm.

And what appeared through that gate would not be just one angel.

It would be an entire group of angels.

The duration of the passage was half an hour.

If someone was lucky, and the gate happened to open in a deserted area, perhaps not even a single angel would appear during those thirty minutes.

But what if a whole group of angels came through?

Such a situation had only happened once in history.

It occurred more than four thousand years ago.

At that time, the Dark Church joined forces with the Beastmen Empire and launched an attack against the Light Empire.

In only half a month, the Light Empire lost half of its territory.

During that period, the divine spell known as Angel Summoning had been a secret technique strictly controlled by the upper levels of the Church of Light.

However, as the war situation became increasingly desperate, the Church finally made the decision to spread this technique.

But no one expected the result.

It took the deaths of a full four hundred priests before a first-level priest finally succeeded in summoning a two-winged angel.

However, the moment the two-winged angel appeared, it was immediately severely injured.

Facing death, the two-winged angel used its own life force to open the Gate of Heaven.

Then, within that short thirty-minute period, dozens of six-winged angels and even one eight-winged angel descended.

In that brief half hour, every professional above the fifth level belonging to the Dark Empire who had entered the territory of the Light Empire was completely annihilated.

Fifty cities of the Dark Empire suffered devastating destruction.

The Beastmen Empire suffered even worse losses.

Fifty thousand Wolf Cavalry warriors, thirty thousand Bearmen warriors, two hundred Shaman priests, and even the Beast Emperor himself all died in battle.

In just thirty minutes, both the Beastmen Empire and the Dark Empire suffered a catastrophic blow.

After half an hour passed, all the angels returned to the divine realm.

Otherwise, the Dark Empire and the Beastmen Empire would likely have been completely destroyed.

Before leaving, the eight-winged angel finally cast a supreme resurrection spell.

All priests and knights whose bodies remained intact were brought back to life.

However, the number of resurrected people was pitifully small.

There were fewer than one hundred survivors.

Therefore, after that incident, not every priest of the Church of Light had the courage to provoke such enemies.

The knights were different. They were much easier to deal with.

But ever since that war, Angel Summoning had been listed by the Church as the first spell that every priest had to master.

It had become common knowledge across the continent.

However, the five bandit leaders were not united.

If they had truly worked together as one, they would not have been afraid even if the priests summoned angels.

Even if a two-winged angel appeared, so what?

They could simply hold it back.

After all, the summoned angel could only exist for half an hour.

They did not believe that even an angel would not fear death.

Unfortunately, these five leaders could not trust each other.

And besides, the enemy still had a Holy Paladin, a ninth-level two-handed sword warrior, and that talkative Wind Serpent.

Those factors made the situation far more complicated.

“Captain, there is a faint magical fluctuation over there. I think someone is trying to ambush us.”

Klar sensed it as well.

He immediately waved his hand.

Several crossbow bolts shot toward the bushes.

“Everyone, be careful. Slowly surround them.”

While saying this, Klar quietly moved backward.

After the volley of bolts, the faint outline of a mage robe could already be seen among the bushes.

However, Klar remained cautious.

A mage’s methods were always unpredictable.

No one knew what strange tricks they might have prepared.

Klar and his men slowly approached their target.

The distance was now only a dozen meters.

These people were experienced scouts.

Their equipment was excellent, and they were confident enough that they did not take a single mage seriously.

Especially since the mage robe hidden among the bushes already had several crossbow bolts stuck into it.

To them, the outcome was obvious.

The mage was already dead.

Klar had just taken two steps forward when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

Normally, after a mage died, the magical fluctuations around their body should disappear.

But strangely, even after such a long time, the magical energy was still lingering.

Klar looked more carefully.

Then he noticed something else.

The place where the crossbow bolts had struck showed no blood at all.

Just as he was about to shout for everyone to stop—

“Boom!”

A terrifying explosion suddenly erupted.

The shockwave threw Klar into confusion.

His ears rang, and his vision blurred.

However, he immediately circulated his battle energy through his body, and the dizziness quickly weakened.

Then he looked around.

And froze.

“My... my god... a magical trap...”

Klar stared at the scene before him.

His companions were lying everywhere.

Most of them had lost arms or legs.

Many were already dead.

Only two people were still alive.

One had a thigh that was pouring blood.

The other had a piece of metal embedded in his head.

But the strange thing was that this person was not dead.

He was still touching his own body in confusion, as if trying to figure out what had happened.

Klar looked down at himself.

Fortunately, he had only suffered a cut on his lower leg.

“Thank goodness...”

Klar let out a sigh of relief.

But just as he finished speaking, something strange happened.

The entire world suddenly began spinning.

The sky and the earth seemed to rotate around him.

The final scene Klar saw was a headless corpse standing nearby, blood spraying high into the air.

At that moment, one thought flashed through his mind:

“A high-level thief...”

He wanted to shout those words out loud.

But he never got the chance.