Quadruple split.

Chapter 2694 [Eagle Claw Gorge]

Game time AM00:26
Blood Barbarian Region, Western Eaglehorn Canyon

"Kevin! What were you doing just now?!"

The dwarf captain of the fifth battalion under the Second Mixed Warband of Dunbua City, a man from the Church of Justice, glared at his comrade, who had just retreated from the front lines. His left shoulder armor was completely shattered, and only two-thirds of the lion-shaped longsword in his hand remained. He kicked the squad leader in the knee and said, "Can't you fucking understand human language?"

"Woo!"

Kevin Shadowsong, a young half-elf from the Cult of Abundance who had just been promoted to high rank three months ago and was theoretically supposed to be transferred from Dunbua City back to the City of Light in a few more months, was kicked to his knees and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry, Captain."

"You fucking have the nerve to call me company commander?"

Having reached the peak of the high-level realm for over a decade and having been stationed in Dunbua City for over ten years, the just knight Arahn Wildhammer delivered another punch to Kevin Shadowsong's chest, sending the tall half-elf flying three meters away. He roared, "Anyone who didn't know better would think you were the captain, or that you thought you were a general? Is that so, General Kevin!"

"No, sir."

Although he crashed heavily to the ground, Kevin, who was not seriously injured, struggled to his feet and said, his face flushed, "I'm sorry, sir!"

Boom! ! !
The dwarf charged forward and headbutted Kevin Shadowsong on the forehead. Before the latter could fall, the dwarf swiftly grabbed him by the collar, roaring with spittle flying, "Listen up! Kid! I don't care what you were before or what you'll be in the future, but this is the battlefield, and you're one of my soldiers! Don't tell me you're just a tiny placenta, or even if you're a holy child! A chosen one of the gods! If you dare disobey orders, I'll still curse your mother until she's ruined! Got it?"

"Understood, sir!"

Dizzy and lightheaded, Kevin nodded forcefully, gritting his teeth despite his mild concussion, and said, "I'm sorry, sir!"

"Fuck your grandpa."

Arahan, cursing, loosened Yingge's collar and gritted his teeth, saying, "Now, give me an explanation. Why haven't you, you stupid pointy-eared fool, led your men down to the gorge yet, even though the scheduled time has passed? Why did you waste a full twenty minutes at the gorge ahead! Twenty damn minutes!"

"Kut was captured inside by several harpies. Although our priests and priests shot down those birdmen immediately, many gray dwarves blocked the way, and we were unable to open a passage and rescue Kurt after two attempts."

Shadowsong slumped to the ground, panting heavily as she said, "Kurt has been desperately trying to squeeze out. He doesn't want to die. I'm his captain, and I can't watch him die."

"Very well, from now on you are no longer his captain."

Arahan stared coldly at Shadowsong and said in a chilling voice, "You have disobeyed orders, Mr. Kevin Shadowsong. Although you are a good captain, you are clearly not a qualified soldier. Therefore, I do not believe you are qualified to continue serving as a squad leader under my command. Any objections?"

Yingge shook her head vigorously and said in a deep voice, "No, sir, I have no objections."

"From now on, you will be assigned to my combat battalion as the vanguard."

Arahan narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Unfortunately, as the vanguard unit with the highest casualty rate, you probably won't have the chance to play the hero and save people again for a long time to come."

Yingge twitched the corner of her mouth, stood up unsteadily, and gave Arahan a knightly salute: "Yes, sir."

"What about Kurt?"

Arahat turned and looked around, then asked casually, "Were they rescued? Or are they dead inside?"

"They've been rescued."

Yingge gave a weak smile and nodded vigorously, saying, "Although I lost an arm and went blind in one eye, at least we managed to rescue me."

Arahan nodded expressionlessly and said, "Then let him take your place. I'll send someone to give the order. Now, get the hell out there and wait for orders."

"Yes."

Yingge struggled to stand up straight, bowed to Arahan again, and then staggered toward the vanguard. She tripped once more, managing to regain her balance, but—

"They don't look like they'll survive the next assault at all."

Rugal, the vice-captain of Arahan, a tall orc priest who was three times the size of Arahan stacked on top of him, squatted down and tilted his head to say to his captain, "He was almost exhausted just now. Our vanguard hasn't even started the hard battle yet. If we let the vanguard take over in twenty minutes as originally planned, that kid will most likely not come back."

Arahan didn't say anything, but said irritably, "Can you please stop squatting down when you talk to me? It makes me look really bad."

"Just bear with it, it hurts my neck to keep my head down like that."

Rugal shrugged and pressed, "So what exactly are you thinking?"

"Teach him a lesson."

Arahan snorted and said indifferently, "If he dies, he dies. If he doesn't, he'll learn a lesson. Even if he doesn't learn a lesson, I've still taught him a lesson. Nobody can blame me."

"Tsk tsk, you rascal..."

Rugal clicked his tongue, then changed the subject, sighing, "If this were before, I would never have imagined that someone like you, who just loafs around all day, skipping training and cheating, could be this hardworking. When you were competing with that Levi and that loofah for the company commander position, you seemed to have given up drinking for two whole days."

Arahan rolled his eyes and said irritably, "That's because Priest Black Van is a crazy lunatic with a screw loose, and only a lunatic like him can solve the problems on the Blood Barbarian side. Otherwise, we wouldn't bother playing wilderness survival with him."

"Okay, okay, whatever you say."

Rugal chuckled, then suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "But seriously, if your Holy Son of Justice were really under your command and didn't obey orders, would you really dare to insult his mother to the point of ruining her reputation in her old age?"

"Of course I dare! What's there to be afraid of?"

Arahan smiled proudly and said in a deep voice, "Let's see if he disobeys orders faster or I resign faster."

"That's fucking shameless."

"Show some respect, you bastard, or I'll smash your balls in with a hammer."

"You've managed to hit my crotch, you damn drunkard."

……

Meanwhile, not far away
"Kevin? What are you doing here?"

Asra, a lizardman shield warrior belonging to the vanguard under Arahan and a close friend of Kevin Shadowsong, looked at the man in front of him with some confusion and asked, "Are you here to deliver a message?"

"I'm here to help you fight the barbarians."

With his armor almost half-shattered and his body covered in wounds, Yingge chuckled, plopped down next to Asura, and asked without looking up while applying hemostatic medicine to his shoulder, "When do we set off?"

"Uh, once the guys in front have stepped down, it'll be our turn."

Asura instinctively replied, then his eyes widened in shock, and he exclaimed in bewilderment, "Wait a minute? You mean 'us'? You think you can fight us together in this state?"

"Haha, go for it! What's wrong with going for it?"

Yingge grinned and said happily, "I voluntarily worked overtime for twenty minutes just now, and I haven't had my fill of killing yet."

"Willing to voluntarily work overtime for twenty minutes?"

A dwarf priest from the Knowledge Cult nearby leaned over and exclaimed, "Holy crap, was that the squad that made the company commander so angry he pulled out his beard?"

Yingge shrugged and said cheerfully, "A cow's hindquarters, perhaps?"

“Niu Chuo, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a company commander get so angry.”

The dwarf priest nodded, then added with a smile, "Although it's my first time fighting alongside him too."

Asra sighed heavily, then took out a bottle of suspicious-looking green liquid from his pocket and shoved it into the singer's mouth: "Drink this first."

"What's this? Poison?"

Yingge casually took the bottle from her friend, pulled out the stopper without hesitation, and drank the liquid inside in one gulp. Then, she collapsed to the ground in a spasm, gasping for air like a fish out of oxygen.

Asra nodded slowly and said leisurely, "That's right, you still have time to make your will." "My...only...wish is...is..."

As Yingge painfully choked herself, she managed to say, "I'll make you, you beast, die...die with me!"

"Okay."

Asura surprisingly nodded readily, then pulled out another bottle of the same suspicious liquid and drank it all in one gulp. After that, he and Yingge collapsed to the ground and started convulsing.

The dwarf priest beside him gave a forced smile and succinctly commented, "Crazy."

……

Time flies, time flies
Two minutes later, Yingge, who was the first to be relieved from the pain and felt completely relaxed, suddenly sat up and asked her friend who was still convulsing beside her, "What the hell was that?"

"Lu...Ms. Luna's latest development..."

Asra, barely managing to lift his head, gasped for breath and said, "God knows what that is."

When he said the last sentence, he became just as energetic and spirited as Yingge.

"A very specific description."

Yingge nodded slightly and asked, "So, what about the effect?"

"It will restore your physical condition to its best level within an hour. Those with injuries will ignore the pain, and those without injuries will unleash their potential. After an hour, you will be a puddle of mud for at least three to five days. The side effects vary from person to person and are only effective for those below the Epic rank."

Asra stretched and yawned, cracking his knuckles as he said, "When we go up, you'll be at the very back, and I'll get a few Dawn and Abundance brothers to cover you."

Yingge was taken aback at first, then shook her head frantically, saying, "No, no, I came here to risk everything..."

"Now is not the time to risk everything."

Asra casually interrupted Yingge, saying seriously, "Our strategic goal today has never been to send people to their deaths. Although I don't know the specifics, I can guarantee that now is not the time for us to risk our lives for victory. Besides, if the company commander really wanted you to die, he wouldn't have sent you here. When we were counting people, we had to report our dormitories. He knew you were my roommate, and he still sent you to this vanguard unit that I'm in charge of. What else could it be but asking me to take care of you?"

Yingge: "This..."

"Stop with all that 'this' and 'that', I'll give you my spare sword."

Asura casually unfastened the longsword from his waist and tossed it to Yingge. He slowly stood up, narrowed his eyes, and looked at the retreating rotating squad in the distance. He said in a deep voice, "It's our turn."

"Gan."

Yingge gripped the rather unwieldy longsword tightly and gritted his teeth, saying, "If I get killed up ahead of you, it'll be because of this worthless piece of junk sword of yours."

"Fuck you."

Asra chuckled and cursed, then took a deep breath, glanced around at his comrades who had silently risen and were ready for battle, took his spare sword from his back, raised it high, and roared, "For the Holy Alliance, for the Lord we all believe in!"

"For unity, for our Lord!" *50
"Array up!"

"Yes!"*50
"on!"

……

My vision gradually blurred.

Blood splattered in mid-air.

The deafening roar gradually faded into the distance.

The dwarf priest, who had been mocking himself and Asura not long ago, lay not far away, his chest covered with claw and sword marks from the harpy, but he did not appear to be dead.

"Go away!"

Kevin Shadowsong shoved aside the birdman who was about to pounce again, cursed, and swung his sharp sword down in a backhand strike.

"die!"

The harpy, its eyes bloodshot, slammed down its claws. Judging from the length of the weapons, the harpy, with its long legs, would most likely strike Kevin first.

Then--

As a slender, withered vine broke through the soil, the harpy, which had been tugged, suddenly lost its balance.

Despite the vines being incredibly fragile, and despite the banshee's natural physical coordination allowing her to adjust her posture in less than half a second, for the Abundant Knight, who was already planning to strike back, that half second was enough.

puff!

Warm blood bloomed just inches away, and the ferocious succubus collapsed helplessly onto the blood-stained, muddy, and ruined ground.

"Take him down."

Shadowsong casually picked up the dwarf priest, who was on the verge of losing consciousness due to excessive blood loss, and tossed him to his teammates behind him, letting out a low growl in a hoarse voice.

Asra is a despicable liar.

What's with all this talk about rushing to the back, finding a few brothers to cover you up? But the moment the fight starts, they all howl and pounce on the enemy like damned believers seeing a drowning dog.

Asra is a despicable liar.

Whose spare sword is so sharp and sturdy? Whose main weapon broke in two while fighting a third person after killing two barbarians?
"You son of a bitch, don't you dare die!"

Before he could catch his breath, Kevin Shadowsong charged relentlessly toward his friend, who was forced to use his shield to smash the enemy because his weapon had broken.

The damn blood is flowing more and more; their reinforcements have arrived!

From the Cliff of Headless Heads, from the Bloodfeather Plateau, from the dark corner of the heavens!

"Don't die!"

Watching his friend's figure gradually being swallowed up by more and more enemies, Yingge desperately urged his legs on.

Even if it's too late, even if rushing forward would only be a pointless death, but—

Om-! ! !
A piercing bugle call rang out from not far away.

The ferocious bloodthirsty barbarians retreated like a tide.

What? What happened?

Yingge raised her head blankly, made eye contact with her friend across the distance, and then subconsciously looked in a certain direction.

Then they saw—

Further away, hymns resounded, starlight faded, and night was as bright as day.

The Holy Church's joint investigation force arrived at the battlefield at dawn.