Chapter 669, Hunter and Prey

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After a brief rest, the imperial army stationed on the beach immediately began to study the current situation.

In the largest marching tent of the camp, everyone gathered together to discuss the next direction of the Imperial Lustria Expeditionary Force.

Attending the meeting was Imperial Captain Richard, an officer of the Imperial Vanguard.

Imperial General Alaric, from Reikland.

The Imperial Hunter General Erik von Shangel, he came from the hunting regiment of the famous Imperial Hunter Marshal Markus Wolfhart.

Since Marcus Wolfhart was canonized by Karl Franz as Marshal of the Imperial Hunter, he has obtained the power to recruit soldiers by himself. Formation of the Marcus Wolfhart Hunting Party.

The elite hunters of this hunting group were all selected by Marcus from the empire. The entire hunting group is full of excellent hunters from all the provinces of the empire. (On the contrary, the hunters of Aviland always despise the poor hunters of Midden), and the hunters of Rick always despise the hunters of Steele as a group of bumpkins and uneducated. Under the leadership of Te, these outstanding hunters from various territories of the empire gradually united together in the war and hunting, and quickly cultivated a close camaraderie with each other, thereby eliminating mutual dissatisfaction and regional differences.

With their hard work and under the strong leadership of Marcus Wolfhart, the Hunter Marshal, the Wolfhart Hunting Group quickly became the most powerful monster hunting group in the empire, whether Steele The Clawed Beast that leads the Ostermark, the Ice Dragon that leads the Ostermark, or the Great Horned Bull in the Drakewald Forest, the four-armed Bull Demon in the Reckwald Forest, or the evil Chimera beast that resides on the Black Mountains The Wolfhart Hunting Group all successfully completed the hunt, which earned them honor and status. Emperor Karl Franz rewarded these outstanding hunters of the empire more than once, and promoted some of the best hunters to general hunters.

In this Lustria expeditionary force of the Empire, apart from providing certain military supplies and mobilizing some provincial soldiers and militias, the nobles of Reikland naturally knew that relying on these basic troops alone wanted to conquer Lustria is very difficult, but it is very expensive to mobilize those elite imperial troops. It is necessary to persuade the emperor to approve it, and it is necessary to spend enough real money to hire them. It is not worth the candle.

Therefore, the nobles of Reikland decided to form an expeditionary force to explore Lustria, set up several outposts, and try to enter the jungle to search for ruins in order to get rich rewards. In return, the empire will naturally send more elite reinforcements.

Some Rickland nobles even pinned their hopes on whether the Hunter Marshal could personally participate in this expedition, but this is obviously impossible. Officer Ludwig and Hunter Marshal Markus Wolfhart), how could Emperor Karl Franz let Wolfhart personally dispatch for such a thing?

Only if the emperor or Wolfhart himself had a brain problem, would the hunter marshal go on an expedition to Lustria.

So the best thing to do was the second best, and the nobles of Rickland paid a lot of money to hire a hunter general in the hunting group. The fixed annual salary was as high as 1,000 gold marks, and invited him to go on an expedition to Lustria.

In the big tent, three officers surrounded a huge wooden table and a map on the wooden table.

"Although the expeditionary force built an outpost here, our situation is still not good." Richard, the imperial vanguard officer, pointed to the map and said, "Look, we only have one base on the coast. We have neither sufficient food sources nor sufficient strategic depth, and although the soldiers of the Ash Legion came to intimidate us before, some of their words are not without reason."

"What do you say?" Hunter General Eric asked, "How much do you know about the current situation?"

"Since we arrived here, we have sent a lot of scouts, a lot." Pioneer Officer Richard put his finger on the map: "As we all know, the location we are in is called the Temple of Tokan, but in fact the coast is far away from where we found The ruins are still sixty kilometers away."

"According to the Ashes Legion, the eastern part is the territory of vampire pirates. We don't know if it is because the scouts we sent out never came back, not a single one."

"The west is indeed as they said, there are traces of green skin tribes, those green skins are very special, some green skins are blue all over, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated. As for the south, the scouts only entered the ruins of the temple to search a little The treasure was withdrawn, but we still lost half of our men."

"As for the north, Fulgrim and his Legion of Ashes currently occupy three towns along the coast, namely Skogee City, Predator Harbor and Swamp Town, facing us across the sea," the vanguard officer continued: "After many The Ash Legion now has nearly 40,000 soldiers alone, and has a population of about 100,000. They seem to have reached a tacit agreement with the Lizardmen. They rarely enter the jungle, and the Lizardmen also These coastal ports were given their jurisdiction with confidence, and the two sides set up several trading points near the jungle. The Ash Legion used seafood, livestock and wood to trade with the Lizardmen, and the Lizardmen provided them with gold, silver, and high-quality products. medical remedies and magical jewellery, and even some domesticated Cold Ones."

"Damn it, you bloody traitor!" Imperial General Alaric yelled dissatisfiedly when he heard this, and the veteran hammered the wooden table vigorously, his teeth itching with hatred: "Sooner or later, we will have to include all these places. The embrace of the empire, we are the ones who bring civilization to these ignorant and backward places!"

General Hunter and the Vanguard Officer were also jealous of the huge profits. Eric took a few breaths and wanted to say something, but the Vanguard Officer hurriedly said: "No, we must not start a war with the Legion of Ashes now. Yes, when we first arrived here, they provided us with guides, and we currently don’t have enough food supplies, so we rely on buying from the Legion of Ashes!”

The two imperial generals, Eric and Alaric, frowned almost at the same time. Eric hesitated after hearing this, and told the vanguard officer: "Well, can you send someone to the Predator Harbor to tell Commander Fulgrim, If he is willing to hand over all the troops and towns, I can propose to the emperor to keep him an imperial viscount!"

Pioneer Officer Richard smiled wryly after hearing the words: "General Eric, if this matter was replaced by you, would you be willing?"

General Hunter was silent for a few seconds when he heard the words, and shook his head rather self-deprecatingly: "Well, then there is no need to say more, we traveled from the empire to this place for several months, and lost a lot of troops and killed a lot. Soldiers, if there is no harvest, how will we face the expectations of the nobles and the people of the empire who support us?"

Thinking of the astonishing wealth and large number of troops held by the Legion of Ashes, and thinking that when the Lizardmen are eliminated, these towns and residents who do not obey the management of the empire are destined to be defeated by the imperial army and honestly hand over their wealth, and these people He actually kindly came to remind himself of the danger, Eric shook his head, we are an elite imperial army, how can it be compared to you, a group of mobs made up of conscripts and weak mercenary regiments?

"Let's discuss other things for now. The first thing we need to do now is to get enough harvest. In this way, we will rest for another day, and then I will lead 2,000 people to go south to plunder the Tokan Temple. All the wealth in the ruins is in your arms, and the rest will be discussed later." General Hunter made a decision immediately.

"Yes!" The military discussion temporarily came to an end, and the three officers walked out of the big tent.

Pioneer Officer Richard guided General Hunter to an open space in the camp: "Look at this, General, this thing can be done today, and it will definitely help you in this war!"

Above the open space, the craftsmen of the Empire are doing the final finishing work, and a chariot assembled from wooden boards is undergoing the final test.

"The old-fashioned imperial chariot has long been eliminated by steam tanks, but I didn't expect it to be very useful in the jungle." Richard, the vanguard officer, said to General Hunter: "The war horses provided by the locals are really good. There are too few, and there is no way for us to organize a strong cavalry, but we can use local materials, use a mix of pack horses and war horses, and let the musketeers stay on relatively safe chariots, which is conducive to maintaining firepower output and retreat."

"Very good." Eric nodded again and again: "Let's get ready!"

"The only regret is that the expedition knight left." The general of the empire was a little disappointed, he was a strong man at the pinnacle of legend.

"Don't count on those Britannian knights. In the long history, we have not always been friends." Eric sighed softly: "In this dark age, the only thing we can rely on is ourselves."

"This is the empire!"

……… I am for the dividing line of the empire………

A day later, in the forest in the northern part of Lustria, along the forest path.

The imperial army of more than 2,000 people is slowly advancing in the tropical rainforest.

Muddy land, humid air, annoying mosquitoes, lush vegetation.

Green, endless green, towering giant trees, extremely luxuriant shrubs, and sticky and wet moss, all made the imperial soldiers who were accustomed to the climate of the imperial Black Forest feel extremely uncomfortable. It is obvious that November will not be very It was hot and dry, but almost all the imperial soldiers were already drenched in sweat.

Hunter General Eric held a large enchanted bow in his hand and walked at the front of the team. Behind him were the imperial pikemen lined up in several rows, followed by archers and crossbowmen, and then the imperial swordsmen. and two imperial tanks.

"Attention! Don't try to pick any fruit, and don't eat anything that looks edible." The general hunter kept ordering: "Don't be alone, gather together, no one knows what will be in the forest, call me Get up!"

"Yes!" The imperial army was quite cautious. They looked around cautiously. Many imperial soldiers had never seen such an environment, so naturally they did not dare to mess around.

"It was surprisingly quiet." It had been several hours of marching, and the entire army hadn't encountered any enemies. Eric took a few breaths, and his hands gripped the big bow hard, which made him feel better .

According to intelligence gathered by the Empire, Lustria is home to an abundance of carnivorous plants and predators, with fringe vines, bloodthirsty spore clouds, and thorny plants all seeking out unwary victims.

Big cats, man-eating monkey creatures, and swarms of humming giant insects haunt the jungle, and even deadlier, the ancient giants of the jungle, the reptiles that should have It has been completely extinct in the long history, but the fact is that they still haunt the jungle and are at the top of the food chain.

As the Hunter General, Eric can't wait to prepare for a good fight with these legendary giants.

However, everything was very quiet, huge banana leaves, vines and shrubs filled all the sights of the entire imperial army, the difficult climbing of old vines and dead branches, the damp and hot weather that could not see the sun, from the eyes to the soul , everything was submerged in green, and various levels of very clean green surrounded this expeditionary army from all directions. The fragrance of trees and the smell of decay were mixed together. Here, time seems to stand still, with occasional sunlight leaking from the dense leaves, moving slowly in the jungle full of fallen leaves.

"~" In the depths of the forest, there seemed to be something moving. An imperial hunter immediately turned around in shock, and drew his short bow in one direction of the forest: "Who is it!"

There was nothing, the forest seemed to be quiet again, and there seemed to be fog in the forest, making everything illusory.

"Where?" When the imperial hunter turned around again to check another line of defense, a blow dart suddenly flew from the canopy in the distance and pierced his back. The imperial hunter screamed, and he was about to Fighting back, the intense numbness of his body engulfed him.

"It's... poisonous." The excellent imperial hunter died on the spot after uttering the last word.

"Enemy attack!!!" General Hunter issued a sharp warning sound, and the imperial army immediately woke up in panic. The spearmen and swordsmen lined up in two rows, and the archers and musketeers immediately rushed towards the enemy. Fired in the direction of the blowing arrows, hundreds of feather arrows and dozens of projectiles whizzed away towards the depths of the forest.

Nothing happened, they just knocked down a bush and shot through some leaves.

The treetops in the distance swayed from side to side under the attack.

Then, the silence was restored, and faint whispers came from the depths of the jungle. General Hunter drew the big bow in his hand several times, but couldn't find the target at all, so he had to put it down: "Keep going!"

What he didn't notice was that on the canopy not far away, a chameleon saw the human army continue to advance, stuck out its tongue, and held a hollow branch in its hand. It jumped lightly and took out two A poison dart disappeared on the canopy of another giant tree in the sky.

"Pfft~"

"Ahhh!" Another imperial soldier was hit by a poison dart! The poison on the poison dart killed him instantly.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" The imperial army fired wildly again in panic, but still found nothing.

In this way, for the next two hours, people in the entire imperial army were continuously hit by darts or poison darts, and died painfully under the action of the toxin. The soldiers were panicked and their morale was low. In such an environment, although the loss was not too great, everyone was in danger. The soldiers crowded together and looked around in fear.

It seemed like every tree, every shrub, and even every vine had become a dire threat!

"Hiss~hiss~" The whispers of reptiles surround the woodland, sometimes far away and sometimes near, seemingly absent.

"Form densely, pay attention to the surroundings!" Eric was already sweating profusely at this time, and he could always feel that there seemed to be something in the jungle watching them.

That look is chilling.

Fortunately, after a long march, the ruins of the lizardmen finally arrived, and the legendary Tokan Temple appeared in front of the soldiers of the empire, and just like the legend, the ruins were full of gold, silver, enamel and precious stones of various colors , the ruins are covered with moss and vines, as well as collapsed walls and trees. It can be vaguely seen that this was once a glorious temple, but for some unknown reason it fell to this point.

"Oh my God, that's a lot of gold, Ms. Fortune, I've never seen so much gold in my life!"

"Charlemagne bless us!"

"We're rich!"

"Great! This piece of gold is mine!"

"It's enamel! I love this!"

Seeing such an astonishing amount of wealth, the imperial army immediately went into disarray. The soldiers who spent two hours in the oppressive and suffocating atmosphere could hardly restrain their madness. They desperately took any valuables Stuffing them into cloth bags, pockets, and even armor, many soldiers simply threw away their weapons when they searched for heavy ground and could not walk. Big fight.

General Hunter wanted to stop the chaos of these soldiers, but he could do nothing. At this time, only gold and gems were left in the eyes of these imperial soldiers. Even Eric himself couldn't help digging in the ruins. The dog-headed gold with bigger fists made him smile: "Your Majesty will like this."

"Roar~roar~~~" Just as the imperial army was in a mess, greedily taking the wealth in the ruins, there was a wave of roaring from the depths of the forest.

In the next second, dozens of giant beasts rushed towards the ruins from all directions. These giant beasts were composed of dinosaurs, ankylosaurs, tyrannosaurs, and salamanders that breathed fire!

Behind these giant beasts is an army of thousands of lizardmen! With wild howls, and shields and maces in hand, they join the fray!

"Roar~ Get rid of these hot-blooded species, for the big plan!" Surrounded by hundreds of temple guards, the big white lizard brother-Rock and the two skink priests were satisfied to see the human army fell into the trap, brother -Rock held the ancient sacred artifact Urumak sledgehammer in one hand, and the ancient sacred artifact generation shield in the other, pointing to the imperial army that was still busy searching in the ruins and gave an order: "Forward! For Iraq Taza, for the big plan, for Lord Crocker!"

What responded to him was the roar of a giant beast that could spread ten kilometers away.

The jungle trembled endlessly, and the lush forest sea swayed back and forth without stopping for a long time.

The imperial army is surrounded by lizardmen.

The Imperial Army had only just reacted when the first Dinosaur knocked over and crushed several Imperial Spearmen on the spot.

Seeing with his own eyes the lizardman army in all directions, there was only one thought left in Hunter General Eric's mind.

"The hunter is the prey."