Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The fog was everywhere. Although it did not interfere to the point that they could not see anything, the limit of their field of vision was only four to five meters. Any further than that and it would be impossible to even see people’s shadows, let alone anything else.
Sean was leading the team inside the fog, and they had been walking for more than an hour already. However, no one in the team had complained even once. They all moved forward quietly and calmly, and everyone maintained a state of absolute concentration. Inside the fog, anything could happen. Therefore, they could not afford to relax and had to stay vigilant. Of course, this would, in turn, drain their mental energy. Fortunately, they were all veterans, so they would not waste too much of their energy.
In this fog that surrounded the Starfall Forest, it was very difficult for people to have a sense of direction. Even though there was no space distortion, if people were even a little bit uncareful, they could get lost. The usual methods for knowing which direction to head toward or how to create some sort of mark were all useless inside the fog. Instead, a special magic item called the Earth Lure had to be used. However, this kind of magic item also had its limits, becoming useless once taken too deep within the fog.
The dog-headed people’s camp was built in a very clever location. It was not very deep but could still be regarded as well hidden.
Suddenly, the thief who was exploring the way at the front of the group raised his hand. The team immediately stopped moving.
“Did you find it?” Sean asked softly.
“Yes.” The thief nodded.
Sean quickly walked to the front. As he walked closer and closer to the thief, a few black shadows started to faintly appear from within the fog in front of him. There was more than one shadow, and they were lined up in rows. Sean knew at a glance that it was the wooden wall around the dog-headed people’s camp. However, the way this wall was built had been based on the normal defense strongholds of humans. Therefore, it was at least four meters high.
Sean nodded, then motioned to everyone in the team behind him to follow. They all formed a line and moved forward together by following the wooden wall.
Not long later, everyone saw a person’s shadow that was around one meter tall within the fog in front of them. The person seemed to be holding a long spear in their hand. It was obvious that this person was a dog-headed guard. However, Sean had not ordered the team to attack, so naturally no one rushed forwards recklessly. They all looked at Sean, waiting for his next order.
“Don’t rush.” Sean did not dare to speak, so instead he just made a gesture.
This fog around the Starfall Forest could only block sight, but sounds were not blocked at all. Also, these dog-headed people had a very keen sense of hearing. At a distance where the shadow of a person could be seen, any sound would cause a reaction from this dog-headed person. This gathering location had only just been hit by the people from the Black Cat Business Guild. This meant that the camp was on high alert right now. Sean did not want to fight every single dog-headed person inside the camp.
Sean waved his hand to convey his message. The thief immediately nodded in understanding as the entire team began to retreat, leaving only the thief.
Not long after, the thief also started to slowly retreat backward. Then, he set up a trap for catching beasts when he was at an appropriate distance. The thief squatted down and began to gently tap on the iron weapon he was always carrying with him. The taps had a consistent pattern and were very soft, to ensure that the sounds would only be transmitted at a small range. Then, after waiting for a few seconds, the thief began to retreat while tapping on the iron weapon.
At this moment, Sean and others had already started to spread out into the surroundings.
They were not too far away from each other, just about six meters from the place where the thief had just set up the trap. This distance was the limit of what they could observe with their eyes within the fog. For those with a rank three strength, it would only take them around a second to cross this distance. The moment Sean started to attack would be the signal for the others to attack as well.
The sound from tapping the iron instrument had a bit of strangeness to it and this made it very easy to annoy others. This sound was effective against any humanoid creature.
This was the lure skill unique to thieves.
As Sean had guessed would happen, a few shadows appeared not too far ahead.
These shadows were no more than one meter tall. They were all armed with long weapons such as long spears and pikes. This was easy to tell from the shadows. Also, judging from the speed that the shadows were moving, they were still maintaining a very high degree of vigilance. Sean guessed that this was because they had just walked through the area, so a bit of their smell still lingered. After all, apart from having a good sense of hearing, the dog-headed people also had a very good sense of smell.
Suppressing his desire to kill by force, Sean waited quietly like a hunter for his prey to take the bait. He glanced back at the other members of the team. From where he was, he could only see the shadow of a spearman. Cecilia was still next to him, but she was not part of the group that would go and attack. After all, an apprentice magician had little value in a place where quick combat was needed.
Sean’s eyes were fixed on the place where the thief had just laid the trap. He had already created a simple concealment. This type of concealment would not trick anyone if it were outside of the fog or inside a normal forest. But within this fog, such a simple concealment was enough. In addition to the luring and interference that was being created by the thief, it was enough to attract the attention of the dog-headed people.
Bang!
A dog-headed person had finally stepped on the trap. The sound of the clamp closing had even created an ear-deafening noise within the entire area.
This was a special trap. Its corners were extremely sharp, and the force of the clamp was equivalent to a standard rank three wolf-shaped demonic beast. Even someone at rank four known for their physical strength would be seriously injured if they accidentally stepped on this kind of trap. As for dog-headed people, they had never been known for their physical strength. After stepping on the trap, the dog-headed person’s right leg was pulled off on the spot.
The sudden pain made it open its mouth, wanting to let out a scream. However, even though its mouth was open, only a hoarse babbling sound could be heard. There were no screams at all. Immediately after, it realized that its throat was also hurt. However, because the pain from the trap was so strong, its awareness of other injuries infinitely slower. It was no longer able to make any accurate judgments.
Within the next second, the dog-headed person felt a strong wind heading towards it. However, by then, its head was already spinning in the air.
Sprint.
This skill was now becoming a fixed method of attack for Sean. However, this time, his sprint did not stop midway. Instead, he had calculated the distance for a precise attack. The long sword in his hand pierced the dog-headed person’s throat with the acceleration of the sprint. Then, with one swing, Sean decapitated its head.
The attack had arrived too suddenly.
Any creature would have a slow reaction when facing a sudden situation. This was the same for all demonic beasts, wild beasts, humans, and humanoids. The only difference was that trained humans and humanoids had very short reaction times, perhaps less than a second. As for those more timid wild beasts, they would not react at all. Instead, they would flee at the first sign of a disturbance or trouble.
It was obvious that none of these dog-headed people had been specially trained.
Also, Sean did not give them any time to react. After his thunderous attack, Sean immediately swung the sword again, aiming for the head of the other dog-headed person closest to him.
As soon as the sword had flashed by, the second dog-headed person was killed just like the first. However, the second dog-headed person was a lot luckier, as it had not stepped on the trap like the first dog-headed person.
At this moment, the dog-headed people finally reacted.
However, it was already too late.
Anyers and the others had already rushed forward. The spearman who had been closest to Sean stabbed the body of a dog-headed person, nailing it to the wooden wall. Immediately after, Anyers followed with a swing of his sword and cut across the dog-headed person’s throat. The remaining two dog-headed people were also killed by two swordsmen and a spearman. All of their throats were slit so that they would not be able to make a sound.
This was something that Sean had specifically instructed the team members to do before the battle.
After a short and fierce confrontation, Sean and the others had won a perfect victory with their attacks.
When everyone else had gathered together again, Sean stopped examining the bodies of the dog-headed people.
A dog-headed guard was a rank two profession. It was considered a more common profession in the dog-headed people’s race. Generally speaking, the normal defense tasks at camps and tribes were all carried out by these dog-headed people. They did not have a particularly good combat power, but those who gathered in groups were still fairly threatening. Under normal circumstances, there would be three to five of them in a team, however, this number would double in special circumstances or more important locations.
Currently, there were only five dog-headed guards in front of Sean.
Logically speaking, the camp had only just been attacked by the Black Cat Business Guild, so they should have increased the number of guards. However, the current number of guards was only the standard amount. In an instant, Sean realized that there were probably not many dog-headed people left in the camp. If this was true, then it would be a good idea for them to completely destroy the camp, instead of forcing the dog-headed people to flee by killing their leader!
After all, Sean had never wanted to massacre everyone in the entire Gathering Place of the Dog-headed People. One reason was that he was afraid to waste time. The second reason was that the dog-headed people in this dungeon provided two-thirds fewer experience points than a normal rank two beast. But if he could slaughter the dog-headed people, then accumulating many small rewards to get a big reward would also be a good choice.
In an instant, Sean made a new decision, “Let’s take care of the three main targets first. Then, we will come back and deal with the remaining dog-headed people.”