Nora did not know that she had been marked with a magic mark, nor did she know that she had lured a troop from the Kingdom of Karen into the tribe's hideout. She only wanted to leave the camp as soon as possible and go back to see her mother and the elders.
She used her hands and feet to walk through the forest for the entire night. Her eyes that could see in the night allowed her to clearly identify her surroundings. When the sun rose, the exhausted Nora finally entered the tribe's territory.
Although it was called a territory, it was actually a temporary shelter after countless migrations. The 'territory' was no different from the surrounding forest. There were no man-made structures. If it were not for the 'tents' that were woven from leaves to keep out the rain, no one would think that there were people living here.
In fact, more than 200 of Nora's tribesmen lived in this forest that was no more than 300 meters in radius.
When Nora entered the forest, she could see many of her tribesmen turning their heads to look at her. Their gazes were numb and calm. None of them had ever eaten their fill. The long period of starvation had caused them to be emaciated. Some of them had even lost their teeth due to malnutrition before reaching the age of 40. Their clothes were tattered. Most of them chose to drape animal skins over their bodies to keep out the rain.
"Nora, you're back? Did you find any food? "
Nora heaved a sigh of relief when she finally saw her mother. However, she could only shake her head and answer, "I'm sorry, mother. I was in a hurry to get back. I didn't manage to find any food."
Their language was different from the common language. However, if one were to look closely, they would notice that some of the syllables were similar. It was obviously the product of a long period of isolation. However, Nora and most of her tribesmen had never come into contact with 'humans' since birth. Therefore, they did not know the difference.
"Oh … I see …"
Nora's heart ached when she saw her mother's gloomy gaze. She had a younger brother before. However, ever since he was born, the tribe's living conditions became worse and worse. In the past three years, the number of times he was able to eat meat could be counted on one's fingers. Last year, he died prematurely because he could not survive the winter. This was a huge blow to her mother. Although she was not even 40 years old, her face was haggard as if she had aged.
Nora could not help but think of the bowl of hot meat soup. If her brother could eat such food, he would probably still be alive …
Unable to settle down, they had forgotten how to farm. Most of them could only rely on sour wild fruits and mushrooms to satisfy their hunger. The hunting team in the tribe used to be strong, but in recent years, most of them never returned. Now, it had shrunk to its limit — Nora believed that if a few of the adult men who could hunt died, then the old, weak, women, and children of the tribe would lose all hope of surviving.
But how to change this situation?
She did not know. Perhaps only the elders knew.
Recalling her experience of narrowly escaping death, she hurriedly went to the center of the clan's encampment to look for the "elder." The so-called "elders" also lived in "tents" on trees. There was no strict hierarchy here. After Nora climbed up the tree trunk, she reported her name outside the 'tent'. After getting a response, she bent over and climbed in.
The elder's name was Luther. His appearance was quite different from the other clansmen. The biggest difference was that the elder did not have a tail. Instead, he had a few more pairs of horns on his head and he was taller.
There were some people in the tribe who did not have a tail like the elder, but many of them died because they were too old and could not survive the winter. The elder was the youngest among them, but he was already more than ninety years old. His white hair and sagging skin showed the fact that he was aging day by day.
"Nora, what's the matter?"
Elder Luther slowly opened his eyes. Most of the time, he was resting with his eyes closed. Only when the hunting team returned would he come out to preside over the distribution of the prey.
Nora did not dare to hesitate and honestly told him what had happened. But after she finished, she noticed that the elder's expression was a little solemn …
"Elder?"
"Go and inform everyone. We are preparing to move."
"Uh, Elder, why is this —"
"Go at once!"
Elder Luther's face darkened. After so many years of exile in Tasman, it was not uncommon to deliberately let go and then come back. A qualified hunter would definitely not rashly return to the tribe. But now that there were not enough hunters, they could only transfer the younger generation who had decent stamina to the front line. He did not expect to meet someone they should not have provoked so coincidentally …
He knew the relationship between Tasman's undead and "lambs," so he knew that he could not afford to provoke someone who knew "magic." The only thing he could do now was to quickly escape from this place …
"Maybe … we can't run anymore?"
He knew that with just two hundred or so old, weak, women, and children, they were not qualified to fight anyone. But when he thought about how he had become like this from a human, he could not help but think about the choice he had been hesitating about for a long time …
However, the sudden shriek made him freeze in his tracks.
"Ah —"
He jumped out of the tent and found that a group of figures had suddenly rushed into the forest!
His back was drenched in cold sweat, which he had not experienced for many years. The increasingly heavy rain made his hands and feet cold. Nora, who had just walked out of the tent, was also dumbfounded. She watched as a group of tall, strong men in armor rushed into the camp as if they had appeared out of a nightmare, bringing with them a wave of screams …
The hunting team was currently on their way out, so those who stayed here basically had no combat power to speak of. Apart from Elder Luther and five or six older hunters, the only ones who were slightly stronger were the young women at Nora's level.
When the remaining barbarians faced the two-meter-tall barbarian soldiers, they basically had no time to resist and were pulled down from the trees like sacks. They instinctively resisted and landed on the armor, but other than causing a "Jingle" sound, there was no other effect.
The sound of hooves coming from the other side of the camp made Elder Luther give up on the idea of escaping. Even if ten or twenty of them managed to escape, they would sooner or later die in the dangerous forest. What was the difference between escaping and not escaping?
For all these years, Luther had been hiding here and there. Seeing that they were all going to die here today, he could not help but think of a "desperate fight". He roared, and his originally slack and thin body suddenly expanded under the influence of some kind of power. His body grew from 1.8 meters to 2.5 meters.
"Demonization!"
The three pairs of horns on top of his head also expanded by more than ten centimeters. His steel-like muscles and the bone plate that grew out of his shoulders made him look extremely imposing. His fingernails were half a meter long, and at a glance, they looked like rows of sharp sickles!
This was the first time that Nora had seen the elder use his full strength. His valiant appearance caused her to freeze in place. In her heart, she suddenly felt that the enemy was dead for sure.
Lu De was indeed valiant. He rushed head-on towards Erwin, who was the tallest among the Barbarian soldiers. "Bang!" Lu De's first strike hit the shield. Then, as fast as lightning, his second and third strikes hit Erwin's chest. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" After the sounds of impact, the huge Erwin was actually sent flying. He rolled several times before crawling up with his face covered in dirt.
"Bah! If it wasn't for the boss not allowing us to kill people, damn it … "
His curses were spoken in the language of the barbarians, and Luther couldn't understand them at all. So, the elder continued to lead the five or six old hunters, who had also transformed, and rushed towards the barbarian soldiers. But before they could run for a few steps, arrows flew in front of them.
The sound of the arrows tearing through the air caused Nora's legs to go weak. She had already realized that she had brought disaster to the entire tribe, but there was no turning back now. She wanted to escape, but after taking two steps, she was blocked by the pointy-eared elf who had been chasing her relentlessly …
"I'm going to kill you!"
She hysterically tried to resist, but in the face of Natha's skillful interlocking technique, she, who had not undergone any training, was defeated after three moves. She was immediately pinned to the ground and subdued. In despair, Nora tried to raise her head to look at Elder Luther, but all she saw was his last struggle like a cornered beast.
In fact, this couldn't even be called a "struggle". After Roddy's "Force Field Impact Arrows" released energy, a few of the elders who had transformed into demons were sent flying. Before they could get up, Merinsera's "Wind Shackles" had already singled out everyone who tried to escape or resist and tied them up …
These people who had no equipment, magic, or combat power were basically no different from scarecrows in Merinsera's eyes. The ten necromancers also freely used arcane spells to trap the fleeing people. Akasha was the only one who walked gracefully on the battlefield, occasionally raising her hand to cast spells, but she was actually healing the "mutants" who were too heavily injured.
After all, Roddy had ordered that no one should die as much as possible. Sometimes, the barbarian soldiers couldn't hold back, so it was easy for accidental casualties to occur.
In less than ten minutes, only sobs and moans could be heard on the battlefield. Luther's forehead was bleeding, and his body had already returned to its original thin and weak state. He panted heavily as Erwin forced him to kneel on the ground, and his spirit was even more dispirited than before.
What would await him … being imprisoned? Killed? Or turned into an undead?
Who was this person in front of him? A human? But did a human know magic? Or were they all undead?
He didn't know the answer in his mind. The only thing he knew was that he and his clansmen couldn't escape death. The grief and indignation in his heart couldn't be concealed. But when the imposing figure with the short bow on his back walked in front of him, he saw her staring blankly at the top of his head for a long time.
Just as he was wondering what her intentions were, her cold gaze shifted to his face.
"You are the leader, right? Tell me … how did you get infected? "
Roddy frowned as he asked this question. Then he realized that there was a problem with the language, so he asked another question, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
As soon as Roddy finished speaking, Elder Luther started trembling like a sieve.
The humans and undead of Tasman all used the Bringan language. Although Luther had been away from human society for decades, he could still recognize this slightly strange common language. What made him excited was not Roddy's accent, but the information in his words …
"How, how do you know about the 'infection'?!"
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