Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 302 - 295: The Swordsman and the Distressed Young Girl

Chapter 302: Chapter 295: The Swordsman and the Distressed Young Girl

Yalunte traveled north along the west bank of Roen River, traversing the roads lying within Odelanqi territory. Although he was a wanted criminal in Odelanqi, the inefficiency of information exchange in this world coupled with the passage of many years meant that few people could recognize him; mainly the upper echelons of Odelanqi and some core leaders of the Church Court.

It was exactly for this reason that he didn’t need to conceal his features excessively, which would only make him appear more suspicious.

Yalunte rode his horse at full gallop. Unlike the leisurely progression of the Advance Team, he would not stop unless his horse dropped dead; even at night, he would keep on moving.

As a lone wolf, on the back of his hand, a Messenger Rune was drawn for direct communication with the Headquarters. Unlike Earth’s electromagnetic wave communication technology, magical messaging was interaction between one pair, hence he could only establish contact with the Headquarters, with no way to reach the Advance Team members.

Besides changing into new clothes, he carried a semi-automatic pistol along with over a hundred bullets. Ever since he learnt that Cheng Ziang was his son, he became intensely interested in this combat style that involved firearms along with melee weapons and wanted to learn this modern swordsmanship from Earth.

Apart from cajoling Li Si into handing over a pistol, he had also expressed the idea of having the Headquarters forge a long sword for him. Whenever it came to such demands for a change of equipment, the Headquarters always tried to fulfill them as much as possible. Thus, Li Si agreed to his request. If Wang Xu approved, Earth would immediately begin crafting a new long sword for him.

After galloping on a horse for two days and a night, while Yalunte was fine, the horse was on the verge of collapsing. Recalling Li Si’s warning before he set off, Yalunte decided to set up camp for rest and recuperation, allowing the horse to take a break. After all, the horse was the property of the Headquarters, and if it dropped dead due to exhaustion, he would surely raise suspicions at the Headquarters regarding whether he had sold it off again.

The speed at which Yalunte traveled was astounding. A journey that took the Advance Team half a month, he covered in less than a week. However, the comparison wasn’t entirely fair since the Advance Team had to carry a large amount of munitions northward, so their slow pace was quite understandable.

"Can’t bear any more?" Sighing, Yalunte looked at the dense jungle in front of him. No matter what, the horse wouldn’t move ahead. With no choice, he sighed helplessly, tying the horse to a tree trunk to rest and graze. Meanwhile, he took a little break.

For this mission, the Headquarters had unusually prepared some canned foods and compressed dry rations for him. This made Yalunte feel quite useful.

Using the can opener in his dagger, he unsealed a can of braised pork and heated it over a fire. For the sake of opening cans, he had exchanged the short sword he carried with him for a military dagger.

Li Si had initially intended to prepare some self-heating military meal packs for him, but considering that he might not know how to use them, she discarded the idea. After all, the food could be eaten cold or hot, and she didn’t wish to manage him any further.

After some fiddling, he finally prepared a meal of braised pork over rice. He took out his portable lunch box, casually broke two pieces of wood to use as chopsticks, and began to savor his meal with relish.

Rice had only been introduced to Otherworld two or three decades ago, but it quickly won over the people of Otherworld. Although rice cultivation wasn’t very common in the northern regions, only taking place in coastal plains, it was one of the important food grains of the northern population.

Out of all the countries on Earth exporting food grains, India was undoubtedly the largest supplier. They sold a large amount of rice to Otherworld, acquiring numerous gold coins in return, replenishing their gold reserves.

The large scale exportation by India had made rice very popular in the northern parts of Otherworld, even rivaling wheat and corn, which were the staple food grains.

Yalunte had learned to use chopsticks over a decade ago. This convenient way of eating was quite suitable for his carefree attitude. He would casually break a couple of pieces of wood to use as chopsticks while eating, and then discard them after he was done.

After finishing his meal, Yalunte glanced at the horse and noticed that as the reins were long, the horse laid down on the ground after eating its fill, occasionally chewing on weeds brought to its mouth.

He sighed deeply. Truly, the horse issued by the Headquarters was of no use. It made him reminisce about his own horse, which unfortunately, he had to sell because of his lack of funds.

He lazily leaned against the tree trunk, tossing the plastic packaging and utensils into the fire. The fire instantly billowed out thick black smoke. Yalunte held no concept of environmental protection; all he noticed was that the black smoke was choking and with a pressing need to pee, he decided to enter the dense forest to relieve himself.

Just as he was about to unzip his trousers, suddenly, he felt magical fluctuations in the air. He subconsciously raised his hand to check, but no messages had arrived.

Although Yalunte was not suitable for learning magic, as an experienced swordsman, he was quite sensitive to magical fluctuations.

He squinted, discerning the direction of the magical fluctuations. Soon, he locked on to a direction. The magical fluctuations were indeed coming from that direction.

Yalunte frowned, reaching back to unholster the gun at his waist, removing the safety and getting ready to pull the trigger. Although he was a swordsman, he was not limited to cold weapons alone. The reason he’d never carried a gun before was simply due to his fear of being reprimanded by his superiors if he ended up losing it.

The irregular fluctuation of magic was approaching, which meant that something—or someone—was casting magic spells while moving closer. As his left hand held onto the handle of the gun, his right hand reached for the hilt of his sword.

Yalunte usually kept his weapons fully loaded, despite the danger it posed. He felt that it enabled him to respond to danger more quickly.

Actually, he preferred revolvers to semi-automatics. He had confiscated a few in the past and found them easy to handle. However, according to Li Si, there were no spare revolvers, so he was given a semi-automatic to use in the meantime.

With the magic fluctuations growing stronger, he could hear movement in the dense forest, making him more nervous. He stared intently in the direction of the noises.

Not far away, a booming explosion blasted the thick shrubbery apart, creating a vacuum. Yalunte could faintly see several figures running desperately towards him.

It was clear that this group was being pursued. Their target wasn’t him. Yalunte looked at the horse lying on the ground, showing no interest in the commotion outside, and decided to let it sleep.

After some consideration, he decided not to alarm the group for the time being. He let go of his weapons and extinguished the burning campfire with his urine. Then he leaped up into a tree, diving into the dense foliage as nimble as a monkey.

The extinguished fire, saturated with urine, gave off a disgusting smell that almost made him vomit. Disgusted, he waved his hand in frustration and pinched his nose, keeping his eyes on the approaching commotion.

A fireball hit a tree, blasting it apart and sending wood splinters flying everywhere. The magic-generated flame, however, quickly vanished without igniting the tree.

Judging by the intensity of the magic, Yalunte estimated that the fireball’s level ranged from two to three. Only Otherworlders could use magic, but it was Earthlings who provided a level system for assessing the strength of magic. This classification system was even adopted by some magic academies as a standard to evaluate students’ magic skills.

As the tree was blown apart, three figures scurried out of the underbrush. They were two women and a man, all wearing fancy novice magic robes with dark cloaks. If Yalunte was not mistaken, they were likely students from some magic academy.

They were only in their twenties. The man frantically urged his two companions forward, his young face a mask of panic.

His good luck ended abruptly as an ice spike shot out of nowhere, piercing his chest and vanishing. He fell to the ground with a large bloody hole in his chest, dying before he could utter a single word, his wide eyes frozen in shock.

The two girls screamed in terror as they were splattered with the man’s blood. Struggling to their feet, they tried to escape.

Suddenly, a figure in black sprang from the underbrush, lifting a magic wand and casting a spell without warning. There was a sudden explosion under one girl’s rib cage. Blood and flesh flew as she fell to the ground, covering her wound and writhing in agony before she finally died.

"Xuela, Xuela, don’t..." The girl’s companion sobbed in fright, looking on helplessly as her friend died in agony.

Seeing the girl dead, the figure in black stopped pursuing. He was a man in his forties or fifties, dressed entirely in a black cloak, exposing only his ruthless face.

"Xuela, Harris, why..." The girl cried out in disbelief, her eyes fixed on her two dead companions.

"What’s the point in all this? If only you hadn’t run, they wouldn’t have died that horribly." The man finally spoke, lowering his magic wand.

"Why, why, Master Odelas... why are you doing this?" The girl stared at him in terror, her voice barely a whisper.

"Don’t blame me, you only had yourselves to blame for hearing a secret you shouldn’t have known. You wanted to run because you were trying to leak the secret, right?" The man said coldly.

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