This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 404, Section 403: Surrender
After the winged scouts repeatedly confirmed that there were no demon spies in the vicinity, a small squad of one hundred people quietly left Golden Valley City.

This team was jointly led by Angela and Baron Morton, and included a mix of Puji Masters and Winged Orcs skilled in reconnaissance. This was roughly the limit of the already limited defensive forces that Golden Valley City could spare.

Everyone prayed that the team would return safely.

All the Puji in the team are of the type that have tentacles and the ability to store magic.

The former is needed for moving things, while the latter is because this is an operation to leave the creep, and without [magic storage], Puji would starve to death halfway there.

Fortunately, although Puji's skills are not fixed, these two characteristics are relatively common, so there won't be a situation where you can't put together a team.

The distance from which a Puji master can command a Puji is about 300 meters. Beyond this range, the Puji will become slow to react or simply not receive commands at all.

Therefore, these round creatures are now trotting along both sides of the procession, closely following their respective owners.

During the march, a Puji commander couldn't help but pat his colleague on the shoulder: "Your Puji has infiltrated my ranks, and my formation is in disarray. Get it under control."

The Puji Master in front didn't even turn his head, replying impatiently, "Mine are all on the right, those are other people's. Besides, what's wrong with them being mixed together? If we encounter an enemy, we'll just swarm them anyway, won't we?"

"No... I feel uncomfortable when the formation is not neat."

While they were talking, the unidentified Puji quietly fell a few steps behind and blended into the group of Puji behind them.

Watching the Puji disappear from the group, the Puji Master who had raised the objection then directed his Puji to rearrange themselves neatly and nodded in satisfaction.

Tsk.

How annoying, such a perceptive pooji master.

This Puji was naturally controlled by Lin Jun using [Family Control].

Puji itself isn't anything special; at most, its self-destruct power is slightly greater than other Puji. Its main purpose is to act as a camera to follow and observe.

It must be said that the value of orc soldiers was fully demonstrated in this small-scale reconnaissance operation.

Not to mention the winged people's advantage in aerial reconnaissance, they had already flown to Warrior's Cape Bay and brought back intelligence from there after only half a day's journey.

Just as Baron Morton had said, the place had fallen. The winged scouts flew around but saw no living people, only charred ruins and corpses scattered everywhere.

Fortunately, no trace of the demons was found, indicating that they had left after looting the place.

Apart from the winged people, most of the other orcs on the ground are experienced hunters who can analyze various traces found nearby. Even the ratmen, who are generally considered the most useless, are at least good at sensing vibrations and can detect the presence of cavalry and the like in advance.

Nevertheless, Angela's heart remained in suspense.

They are playing a dangerous game of hide-and-seek, trying to steal the resources they need from the predator's territory.

If this hundred-man squad is discovered by any demon army, it will face total annihilation.

By then, it's estimated that only the winged people will have a slight chance of flying back.

Fortunately, they did not encounter any accidents until sunset.

As the last rays of sunlight disappeared on the horizon, the team successfully arrived at Warriors Point Bay.

This once prosperous small port town is now nothing but ruins.

Even the embers in those burned-out houses had long since died out.

In the cold night wind, only the chewing sounds of monsters devouring corpses echoed among the ruins.

With no time to rest, the team members began to drive away the wild beasts that were feasting under the moonlight and steal their dinner.

No one lit torches or used any lighting spells, as that would be tantamount to telling the demons that they were there.

While his men were collecting "supplies," Baron Morton stood alone by a broken wall, repeatedly stroking an exquisite pendant engraved with his family's crest.

As Angela passed by, she overheard Baron Morton whispering to the pendant, "My little Lucia..."

“Lord Morton, this is…” Although both were of Diamond rank, the Baron was clearly of higher status.

Faced with Angela's curiosity, Morton did not hide anything: "The Marlon Gem, also known as the Bloodline Gem, allows close relatives to sense each other's direction over a large range when they wear it together. The other one is on my daughter."

"Your daughter..."

After a brief silence, Angela encouraged softly, "The demons have taken too much, but as long as we keep fighting, there is still hope."

“It’s not just the demons,” Morton gave a bitter laugh. “Commander Angela, do you know that it took me a full forty years to go from a lowly knight’s squire to acquiring that small, not-so-wealthy territory before I even had the time to build a family and raise my daughter…”

“Last year, when the border was in crisis, I donated 70% of the grain reserves on my territory. This spring, I personally sent off 300 strong young men to join the army. I thought that this would protect my land and my family!”

He suddenly turned to Angela, his eyes flashing with fury: "And what happened? They didn't even give us a warning when the army retreated! They're using our lives to buy them a little more time!"

Angela could understand Baron Morton's feelings; their Golden Valley City was also one of those abandoned.

However, she could also understand the above decision. It was perfectly normal to sacrifice a small part from time to time for the sake of more people in the group.

Not to mention the United Kingdom, even their orc tribes are the same.

Those who were assigned to join the war were meant to be sacrificed.

The only difference between her and Baron Morton was that she still had family in the tribe, and her sacrifice was voluntary, while Baron Morton's was clearly less voluntary.

However, while she understood, she felt that Morton was being a bit too excited, and completing the mission was the priority.

Just as Angela was about to offer some words of advice, a soldier approached with a ragged human: "Sir, we've found a survivor, but he says he came from somewhere else and isn't a local."

The man approached and immediately knelt down, not to Angela, but to Morton: "Baron! Thank the gods, you are still alive! Those who escaped all say that you were killed by the demons while covering the retreat of your people..."

The man seemed very excited; it was clear he was genuinely happy that Baron Morton was still alive.

Looking at the people kneeling on the ground, Morton sighed deeply: "I wish I had died in battle back then..."

The next moment, the blade was drawn, and Angela retreated rapidly, relying on her years of fighting instincts, but the blade still grazed her right shoulder.

"You..." Blood trickled down between her fingers, and Angela clutched her wound. "Why is this happening?"

Morton's face contorted for a moment.

“He’s mistaken,” his voice was hoarse. “I wasn’t covering the retreat of my people… I was covering my family, and… I failed. So, I chose another path!”

As if to prove his words, dozens of torches lit up in the surrounding darkness, heavy footsteps came from all directions, and a group of pig-man soldiers wearing rough iron armor and with exposed tusks surged out like a tide, surrounding them.

Morton seized the opportunity to quickly retreat and stand next to the leader, who was taller and more robust than the other pigmen.

"Dad!" A cry rang out, and a girl was roughly pushed into Morton's arms.

The girl wore a gemstone pendant identical to Morton's around her neck. She clutched her father's clothes tightly and sobbed softly.

The pig-man leader grunted with satisfaction, his foul stench filling the air.

“Not bad!” He patted Morton on the shoulder with his thick fingers. “That’s it. Keep showing your worth, and I guarantee you and your daughter will live comfortably on my turf.”

He turned to the besieged crowd, grinning with his fanged mouth: "You too! Lay down your weapons, kneel down and surrender, and you'll live!"

Angela endured the sharp pain in her shoulder and slowly straightened up. She looked at Morton, who was tightly holding his daughter and dared not meet her gaze, and sneered: "How ironic, Baron. Just now you were condemning the kingdom for sacrificing you, but now you've chosen to sacrifice us to save your daughter's life."

She sniffed sharply, then steadily raised her longsword, the tip pointing directly at the pig-man leader: "Surrender... you fat pigs stink so badly, I can't stand it!" (This part is slow to write, the next chapter will be posted at midnight, read it tomorrow morning)
(End of this chapter)