Lord blessed by the elves

Chapter 74 Black

Watching the dust kicked up by the convoy, Butler Buffet trembled with anger, his beard bristling. He asked with utter resentment, "Young Master! Are we really just going to let them go like this? The Master risked his life to get those..."

Kruse didn't answer directly, but the smile on his face deepened and turned cold. He turned to look at Wilstone, who was silent but smiling, and asked softly, "Is everything ready?"

Wilstone placed one hand on his chest, bowed slightly, and gave a knowing smile, his eyes flashing with a hunter's sharp light: "Rest assured, everything has been arranged. Whatever they've swallowed, they'll have to vomit it all back, with interest."

“Alright, let’s go!” Kruzeli landed back in his room, retrieved his meticulously forged knight’s sword and draped it at his waist, then quickly walked out of the castle with Wilstone.

Outside the castle, Edin and several knights, along with ten elite militiamen, were already fully prepared and ready to go.

When Butler Buffet saw this, his mouth opened slightly, but he eventually turned around in silence to stop the second young master and the eldest young lady, so as not to cause trouble for the eldest young master.

The group silently and swiftly disappeared into the path outside the territory, successfully meeting up with Cooper and his men who were already waiting there.

Cooper did not disappoint. He gathered the most skilled, ruthless, and daring outlaws from the original refugee gang, forming a dark mass of more than forty people.

Their equipment was rudimentary, but their eyes held a wolf-like ferocity, clearly indicating that they were all accustomed to living a life of danger and bloodshed.

"Wilstone, have you figured out the exact number of guards protecting the other convoy?" Kruse asked in a deep voice as he quickly changed into the tattered refugee clothes that Cooper had prepared for him.

“It has been confirmed.” Wilstone, clearly well-prepared, replied immediately, “The guard leader is Doron, and with three others, there are four Bronze Knights in total. Under them are about thirty apprentice knights and thirty fully armed soldiers. The total fighting force is about sixty-four men.”

Upon hearing this number, a clear sense of unease and guilt flashed across the faces of Cooper and his several leaders.

They only had a little over fifty men on their side. Apart from the knights and militiamen brought by Kruse who were relatively well-trained, the forty-odd men he had gathered himself, although they were brave and willing to fight, were at best a rabble with poor equipment. How could they possibly compete with a regular noble guard?
Kruze keenly sensed their tension. After changing his clothes, he looked around at everyone, his tone calm and confident: "Don't worry, we're not going to confront them head-on. We're hunters, we're going to ambush them!"

He already had a plan in mind, pointing to a narrow valley in the distance that they had to pass through: "We'll ambush them there. We'll take the high ground and disrupt their formation with falling rocks and arrows. Once they're in disarray, Kaldor's men will launch an attack from the other side. With our combined attack from the inside and outside, wiping out this convoy won't be difficult."

Kruse's men quickly met up with Cardo and his team at the pre-arranged ambush location.

To ensure everything went perfectly, Kaldor spared no expense this time, gathering an additional Bronze Knight he knew and dozens of notoriously fierce outlaws.

At this moment, the total force gathered here exceeded one hundred men, a dark mass lurking in the mountains and forests, exuding a restless and dangerous aura. As soon as the two leaders met, Kaldor's sharp eyes swept over Kruze and his men's equipment like those of a hawk.

He noticed that only a handful of the opposing force were equipped with real iron weapons; the rest mostly used simple stone axes and bone knives. However, the long spears gripped tightly by six of them made his pupils shrink, and a strong sense of dread immediately rose in his heart.

The spearhead was clearly crafted from the bones of a large magical beast, making it one of the most sought-after items in the "Wild Dog Market"—items that were priceless and impossible to find!

This type of standard bone gun is not something that ordinary groups of refugees can easily obtain.

Kaldo immediately made a judgment in his mind: the tribe of "Little Robert" in front of him must have a deep and intricate relationship with the market's management, and even with those mysterious chiefs, which was far beyond what they, as scattered soldiers who could only plunder in the wild, could afford to offend.

After all, they need to go to the market to trade necessities every now and then, and offending the "insiders" would have unimaginable consequences.

He had originally planned to take advantage of his numerical superiority to get a larger share of the spoils, but that idea was instantly abandoned.

"Everyone's here, shall we get started?" Kaldo suppressed his thoughts, turned his gaze to the winding, narrow canyon passage below, and asked Kruze for confirmation.

Kruze remained calm, pointing to several key locations that had already been scouted above the canyon. He instructed, "No rush. Once their convoy is fully inside the canyon, follow my orders. Let them taste the 'rockfall feast' we've prepared. Kill as many as you can, but the most important thing is to disrupt their formation and create panic."

He paused, then turned to Kaldor, clearly assigning the most important tasks: "Once they're thrown into disarray, we'll immediately charge down from both sides. Each of us will take care of two of the four Bronze Knights. It must be a swift and decisive battle; we must not give them a chance to mount any effective resistance!"

Kaldor had no objection to this clear and efficient plan, nodding emphatically: "Good! We'll do it your way!" With that, he led his men without hesitation, quickly and quietly infiltrating the ambush position that Kruze had designated for them, hiding like venomous snakes, waiting for their prey to fall into the trap.

Behind the dense bushes on the west side of the canyon, Kaldor was intently watching the passage below when Sam, another bronze knight he had summoned, approached silently like a ghost.

Sam's face hardened, and he made a clear cutting gesture across his neck with his rough fingers, his gaze darting meaningfully toward the direction where Kruze and his men were lying in ambush.

Kaldor's expression turned grave. He slowly shook his head and lowered his voice, saying, "Sam, I understand what you mean. But we can't touch these people. They have standard bone guns that have leaked from within Wild Dog Market, and they definitely have close ties with Darnes' gang. It's not worth offending the market's core for some spoils."

Upon hearing this, Sam grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, his face radiating a sly confidence: "Wild Dog Market? Humph, I've had enough of the jerk attitude from Darnes and Curiti's gang! Let me tell you, I've already made contact with 'Wolf Market' in Ancheno County. They'd love to have us there, and the terms they're offering are much better than here!"

(End of this chapter)