Rifle charge in Ark, but without a mount

Claude was waiting patiently. He had no negative emotions in his heart and entered a state of light meditation. The bonfire reflected his face red, illuminating the edges and long eyebrows on his face.

But unfortunately, nothing happened that night. He slept soundly in the second half of the night and did not encounter anything strange during his sleep.

"You didn't get any rest last night, okay?"

Xinteleya looked at Claude curiously and asked him.

Claude was a little tired, after all, he hadn't had any real sleep for a week. He waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.

Walking out of the cave where they lived when they came, the cold wind refreshed him.

'What a cunning and cautious prey.'

With a smile that carried a special meaning on his face, Claude called upon his companions to set off on their journey.

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Generally speaking, traveling is not a comfortable thing. Travelers must not only consider the dangers encountered on the road, but also consider their own food and fuel reserves. They must carefully calculate their remaining resources and the places where they can get replenishment. Not to mention the physical fatigue and poor accommodation conditions.

Although traveling can cause so many troubles, the reason why people are still fascinated by it is the desire for exploration and curiosity hidden in everyone's heart. People are born with a desire to explore the unknown and are born with curiosity about the unknown, and some people have a stronger desire for the unknown. For them, seeing magnificent scenery and learning about unknown things can bring them a greater sense of accomplishment than anything else, and they are more likely to become excellent adventurers.

Just like now, even though Claude was not someone who wanted to be an adventurer, he was still amazed by the scenery before him.

Under the azure sky was an endless grassland. The breeze blew, stirring up waves of grass. The low hills in the distance were covered with a layer of white snow, and the wind blowing from there was a hint of coolness. The sunlight was slightly blocked, leaving a clear dividing line on the ground. There were some trees at the foot of the mountain, surrounding a small village.

There was nothing blocking his view, as if he could see all the way to the end of the world. This magnificent view made Claude's heart seem to float in the wind.

A brisk melody suddenly sounded, and Hinterea turned her head to see Claude whistling. He held the steering wheel firmly in his hands, and the wind blowing in from the window ruffled his hair, leaving a strand of hair covering his face. It was obvious to the naked eye that he was in a good mood.

The melody gradually became more passionate. Listening to the sound, one could seem to imagine a grand triumphal ceremony, the red carpet covering the entire street, the sound of iron boots trampling the ground, the spears flashing with cold light, and the flower petals thrown from the attics on both sides.

The off-road vehicle stopped lightly at the entrance of the village, and the melody in Claude's mouth just ended.

I opened the car door and got out. What came into view was a dilapidated village. Even the words on the sign at the entrance of the village had been weathered and blurred and could not be seen clearly.

"It seems that my luck is not good. There is no one here." Claude looked down at the road covered with dead leaves.

Xinteleya did not ask why, because it was obvious that the leaves had fallen all over the road, but not a single leaf was broken, which meant that no one had been walking around here in a short period of time. Even if a village was very xenophobic, it was impossible for people not to come out of their houses. The only explanation was that there was no one in the house.

He drove the car into the village road, crushing the leaves on it, leaving a very obvious trail, until he drove the car completely in and parked it where they could see it.

After a brief exploration of the village, it didn't look like a natural disaster, but rather a voluntary evacuation, because all valuables and pots and pans were taken away, not even a piece of clothing was left. It seemed that the previous owner of the village was no longer planning to return.

It was still the familiar process, collecting fuel and lighting the bonfire. After these days of getting along, the two of them became very tacit, but the atmosphere was also a bit dull. When a pot was set up on the bonfire, a mixture of dried meat and biscuits was cooked in it.

Xinteleya suddenly broke the atmosphere and asked.

"What song were you humming just now? It sounds interesting."

"I just heard it a lot, so I can't help but learn it." Claude's answer seemed irrelevant, but the white Kuranta girl didn't continue to dwell on this topic.

She reached out her hand and stroked her messy hair. Her long hair was very difficult to take care of, especially when she was on the road. She didn't have much time to do it every day. Now that she had a rare free time, she wanted to take care of her hair.

Claude, who was sitting opposite her, also noticed that his hair was messy, but his hair was not long, so he easily completed the task with his hands. He returned to his usual meticulous state.

Xinteleya felt a little regretful because she thought that Claude looked better with his slightly messy hair.

Holding her comb in her hand, she suddenly had an idea.

"Claude, can you help me comb my hair? It's inconvenient for me to comb it without a mirror." She felt her heartbeat quicken in an instant, and she began to regret saying this. But inexplicably, she didn't say anything else.

"Of course, I'm happy to help you." Claude agreed without any hesitation.

This man is always like this. He seems to be very cold on the surface, but those who know him well know the enthusiasm hidden in his heart. He almost never refuses the request of his friends.

He reached out to take the comb, but he held it as if he were holding a sword. It seemed as if he would use this comb to slit someone's throat in the next second. Seeing this, Xinteleya's eyebrows jumped.

Claude had never combed any woman's long hair. He certainly had no experience in this, but he was still confident. What gave him this confidence was his absolute control over his hands. He could use a sword to pluck the wings of a fly as easily as breathing. So he also had absolute confidence that he could do all the delicate work.

Standing behind Xinteleia, he held up her long hair that was as white as silk. The hair flowed in his palm and seeped out from his fingers. Claude felt the coolness of his fingertips curiously and forgot what to do for a moment. But he quickly came to his senses, stretched out a comb, and tried to straighten it out.

The fine teeth of the comb slid smoothly through the hair like running water, gathering the scattered hair together. Claude pinched the hair with his deft fingers, gathering them together, and with his other hand he picked up the hair tie and lightly tied them together.

Seeing her hair style exactly the same as usual, Claude was very satisfied. He stared at her hair for a long time, just like appreciating a work of art. He also reached out his hand from time to time to twist her head. It was not until he heard the unbearable cough that he realized that such behavior was very rude to a lady.

Coughing awkwardly twice, feeling somewhat ashamed of his complacency, Claude returned to his seat as if nothing had happened.

Fortunately, this strange atmosphere soon passed, after all, they were too familiar with each other, and soon returned to their previous normal state.

After dinner, Claude began to wipe his sword blade, and turned his head to the side, indicating that she should go to bed first. She naturally put her weapon next to the sleeping bag and crawled in. Claude stood guard at the door of the house.

A tiny bit of energy was injected into a rune on the armor, causing it to glow. This rune had never played its role before, and Claude didn't know if it would be useful today, but he had a feeling that the being in the shadows would take action soon.

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The immortal black snake had accumulated countless experiences during his long life, but all his experience was unable to deal with the situation he was facing now.

Everything was going according to his plan. The child, Tallulah, would eventually walk on the path he had prepared for her. And the empire would eventually become great again under his plan. The black snake wrapped around the soul of the Draco girl, intending to find a gap in it and dye it with his own color. Under his arrangement, that was her destined fate.

But, suddenly, Claude appeared out of nowhere. He thought he was a young man from nowhere, but he didn't expect that he could easily destroy his plan beyond recognition, making it almost impossible to continue, but more importantly, his secret.

What Claude said to Tallulah also caused a great shock to Black Snake. The information contained in those words shocked even him, an immortal. His words were like a sharp scalpel, dissecting the entire Ursus Empire to the core and revealing every fig leaf. It also had a great impact on Black Snake's worldview, causing him to fall into long-term thinking.

This also made him very curious about Claude. He was curious about how this man who looked so young and had a young body knew these things?

In order to get the answer, he took a reckless action, which was not his style, but Claude's words had a huge impact on him, making him lose his composure.

That action brought it a lot of danger, fortunately he had a backup plan, otherwise it might have been seriously damaged. But the things he really cared about still had no progress, which made him very unwilling and he didn't want to give up directly, which was also extremely rare in his long life.

After two weeks of lying dormant, he believed that the target had relaxed his vigilance. This time he was fully prepared. Even if the other party discovered him from the beginning, it would not cause any harm to him. Moreover, this part of the soul was originally a weight that could be discarded. Even if he encountered the worst case scenario, he could accept such a loss.

It was early morning, a time when people were most defenseless. Something invisible to the naked eye began to spread towards the sleeping Claude. It started from the sleeping bag outside, seeping into his body and entering his soul as if it were flowing through the water.

This process is slow, and he did it very carefully, preferring slow progress rather than alarming the other party.

It was not until an hour later that he finally entered the target's soul. This made him feel a little relieved, as everything seemed normal.

"Finally here."

He was startled, and then he saw Claude standing in front of him. He leaned on the hilt with both hands and held the long sword in front of him.

Before he could say anything, Claude said with an impatient look on his face.

"I won't waste any more time talking to you, or you'll run away."

As soon as he finished speaking, an extremely ominous premonition spread in Black Snake's heart. He did not hesitate to use his backup plan and wanted to leave here.

………………

His premonition came true.

Unable to move, as if the entire soul was firmly stuck in place by an invisible cage. Before I could panic, suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of me.

Claude had already sat up from his sleeping bag, holding a golden circular cage with light as the thread in his hand. He watched a wisp of black gas rushing around inside. There was no doubt that he was holding the soul imprisoned by the rune.

As soon as the thought came to mind, the cage began to flash with electric light and a faint scream came out. After five or six times in a row, it finally learned its lesson and started to stay inside obediently, no longer running around.

"Well, even for those who want to murder me, I am sometimes willing to give them a chance to speak. Explain yourself. I am here to listen."

"There's no need to worry. We still have plenty of time for you to tell me everything you know."

The black soul in the cage began to tremble uneasily.

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"What?! All the food in the car is gone?"

Claude, who was in a good mood, stared at the empty trunk in amazement.

A New Beginning: Chapter 30 Sacrifice

It was not a good situation now, Claude was sure of that, because there was a lot of leftover food, so they did not bring it into the house, but put it in the car. But now looking at the pried open lock, Claude fell into deep thought.

The two of them did not fall asleep at the same time, but kept watch separately. And their car was parked very close to the house. Logically, with their hearing, they should not be unable to detect people approaching. But throughout the night, apart from the hunting, Claude and Xinteleya did not hear any other sounds.

Crouching down and observing carefully, he finally found a few shallow footprints behind the vehicle. The footprints were very small and did not look like a man's. The traces were also very shallow, indicating that the person was not carrying any heavy objects and was relatively light.

After walking around the car half a circle, we found footprints again in front of the vehicle, but this time they were obviously much deeper, indicating that a lot of things were being carried.

Claude frowned as he could not see anything more. They were still a long way from their destination. If they lost all their food reserves, especially the most important fresh water, it would be difficult to reach their destination. Of course, there were ways to get food by hunting, but it would be very uncomfortable if they could only eat meat in the future.

So Claude decided to catch up and take a look, and if that failed they would continue on their way.

"I'll go take a look. You take good care of the things we have left. Don't let anyone steal them. Otherwise, we won't be able to get there."

After giving instructions to Xintlia, Claude took all his weapons and walked towards the back of the village, following the footprints that were getting deeper on the ground.

It was difficult to leave footprints on the dead leaves in the woods, but the crushed leaves were clearly visible. Following the trail, Claude was getting further and further away from the village, approaching the low hill.

After walking for nearly 1 kilometer, Claude looked at the footprints on the ground, which never stopped. He was a little surprised because he knew that they had brought a lot of food. And the thief carried such heavy food and walked for 1 kilometer without taking a breath. It seemed that the other party had very good physical fitness.

The footprints extended all the way to the foot of the mountain, and further up was a mountain road made of gravel. There were no footprints on it, but it seemed very likely that the other party had gone up the mountain. He carried the spear on his shoulder and walked up the mountain road.

Fortunately, there was no fork in the mountain road, and it led directly to the top of the mountain, saving him a lot of time. The iron boots stepped on the gravel, causing the gravel to rub and roll against each other, making a sound of clacking. The slope of this mountain road was very steep, and with these easily rolling stones, it was difficult to stand firmly on it. And as long as someone came here, it would make a lot of noise.

Finally, after climbing for 15 minutes, Claude was about to reach the top of the mountain. The intersection at the top of the mountain was composed of two huge rocks. There was a small path between the two white rocks. Just pass through them to reach the top of the mountain. This place is very dangerous. If there is one person defending here, it is enough to block the attack of more than a dozen people. So when passing through these rocks, Claude was very careful.

Just as he was about to successfully reach the top of the mountain, there was a sudden sound of breaking through the air. An old dagger pierced the stone wall in front of Claude like a crossbow. Looking at the tip of the knife that pierced several inches into the stone wall, Claude's eyes became solemn.

"Go down the mountain, don't come here."

A clear and dry voice sounded, making it clear that the person who said this was a girl.

Claude looked around, but he didn't see the attacker, or rather, the attacker was very far away from him and out of his sight.

"Miss Calm, I don't mean to hurt you."

Seeing that no more weapons were flying towards him, Claude knew that the other party had calmed down and continued speaking.

"Miss, I tracked down a thief who stole our food. Do you know who he is? Without food, our journey will be very difficult."

"Of course I don't know!"

Claude raised his eyebrows. Judging from the guilty tone, it seemed to be her.

"Then could you please allow me to come up and look for what we lost? Don't worry, if there's nothing I'll leave immediately."

"Then wait a moment." The voice suddenly became panicked, and there was a hurried sound.

There was a loud bang from the iron boots stomping on the ground, and Claude jumped out from the intersection. He had been waiting for this opportunity. This thief was very dangerous. If he was accidentally hit by her, Claude would be seriously injured or even die on the spot. He didn't know if the other party had any malicious intentions, but if he turned around and left now, if the other party attacked from behind, it would be almost impossible for him to avoid it. He certainly wouldn't gamble his life on the other party's character, so no matter how he dealt with this matter, he had to subdue her first.

The top of the mountain was a wide flat area, covered with gravel like the mountain road. There was a cave extending downwards next to it, and a petite figure in a gray robe was standing at the entrance of the cave. She was frantically trying to cover something with stones.

Hearing the noise, she quickly turned her head, but it was too late. Claude rushed over in the blink of an eye in the short 20-meter distance.

The opponent was visibly panicking. She pulled out a spear from somewhere and smashed it down on him. Claude's tense heart relaxed a little. It seemed that the opponent was not good at close combat and could not even use a spear. This guy did not use the most powerful spear blade to stab him, but used the spear like a stick, which could not bring out its lethality at all.

He paused for a moment, made up his mind, and then used his hand to block the gun, then grabbed her hand and subdued her.

The gun swept over with a strong wind, and the moment the gauntlet touched the gun barrel, Claude's expression changed slightly.

"bump!!"

With a muffled sound, the gun was deflected, and Claude felt a numbness in his hand. He didn't have time to admire the other party's powerful strength. He quickly reached out and grabbed the other party's wrist. Then he pulled hard.

The other party screamed, lost her balance, and was pulled up by him. Claude hugged her, grabbed her wrists with both hands, and tried his best to subdue her.

The girl in his arms also became anxious and began to struggle vigorously. The power that burst out at this moment almost made Claude fail to catch her, but in the end he was better and gritted his teeth and pressed her hands behind her back. But this did not succeed in subduing her. She began to kick her legs backwards vigorously, trying to kick Claude, but it turned out that this was impossible with the human body structure.

The child was like a big fish that had been caught on the shore, jumping up and down on the ground. Claude was like a novice who was fishing at sea for the first time. Facing the big fish he had caught, he was at a loss and could only hold it down with all his might. He had no other thoughts in his mind, only that he could not let it get away.

The girl who was being held down suddenly raised her head up fiercely and hit Claude's face heavily. Claude's head suddenly buzzed. He saw stars, but he still did not let go and firmly pressed her to the ground.

After an unknown amount of time, the other party's struggle finally weakened. But she would still jump up and down from time to time, trying to break free from his grasp. Claude seized the opportunity and quickly tied her hands tightly with the belt around his waist. Then he took off another belt and tied her feet up as well.

Claude stood up. With his current physical condition, he actually felt quite tired after all this tossing and turning. He let out a long breath and squatted in front of the petite gray figure. He reached out and took off her hood, and a girl from the Pelo tribe came into view.

The child had yellow hair and a pair of big pointed ears with black hair on the tips. Her hair was messy because of the struggle just now. There was a lot of dust on her face, but even so much dust could not hide her beautiful face.

She had a pair of bright eyes that were as clear as red crystal. Now these eyes were full of vigilance and ferocity. Although she was wearing ragged clothes, her face was not thin, but rather full of flesh, and looked very cute.

When Claude took off her hat, she kept turning her head away and trying to bite his hand, which looked a little...silly.

He stood up and went to the place where she had hidden the things just now. He pushed aside the gravel and found their bags underneath. He picked up the bags and placed them in front of the girl. The girl suddenly felt guilty and her eyes began to move around. She no longer dared to stare at Claude.

"Why did you steal from us?"

"I'm very hungry."

"You were hungry, so you took our stuff?"

"Because I'm hungry, I need to eat." The girl's face suddenly became righteous, as if she was saying the unchanging truth.

"Where is your home?"

"do not know."

"What is your name?"