Time always passed quickly when one's imagination was running wild. Before he knew it, the sky had gradually darkened.
Because they were traveling on horseback this time and were not in a hurry, Roddy took a route that he had planned beforehand — passing through a low-level biological area in the Silent Forest and see if he could get a few animal furs along the way. This way, he could take the shortcut and earn some extra money at the same time.
"It's not easy to live a frugal life!"
Roddy sighed. Although this trip to the Orc Kingdom had a small harvest, there were not many things that could be exchanged for money. The big problem of "funds" could never be avoided. The food and drink of more than 30 people every day was not a small amount. Although the remaining money was enough for them to eat for a month, without a fixed income, Roddy was really not confident.
In the evening, this man, who was now a level-8 army soldier, casually walked into the Forest of Silent Words. Before midnight, he found a flat and safe spot to set up his tent and leisurely lit a bonfire, roasting the turtledoves he had casually shot down over the fire.
Accustomed to being alone, Roddy did not seem to be lonely at all. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoy the freedom of being alone in the forest.
"It would be great if there was a built-in MP3 player to play some music."
"There's no cumin here. What a headache. There's no pepper either … Tsk tsk."
A quiet night, an orange bonfire, and a relaxed young man talking to himself. This scene was all too familiar to Roddy. He had spent countless nights like this. Now that he thought about it, he could not help but sigh.
Gazing at the roasted chicken on the bonfire, Roddy carefully checked the temperature of the fire. He pondered over his plans for his Level 10 class advancement. If nothing unexpected happened, he would have to make a trip to the Silent Forest. That was because his former mentor lived in this forest.
But it's year 588 now … What is that mentor doing at this time?
With this thought in mind, he reached out to fiddle with the bonfire. But just as dinner was about to be finished, a rustling sound came from not far away, and it was destined that Roddy's dinner was not going to be very satisfactory.
***
The darkness of the forest was not completely blinding. On the contrary, under the silver-white moonlight, the leaves, branches, and soil covered with fallen leaves were clearly visible to the naked eye.
For the Wood Elf Natha, the forest was far less scary than in the eyes of humans. In fact, from a certain point of view, the dense forest gave the Wood Elves a greater sense of security. Unlike other elves, the Wood Elves had a deep bloodline with humans, so they were not staunch vegetarians and also had to rely on hunting in the forest for a living.
While Natha was a powerful youth in the village, even though she was highly talented and was praised by all the veteran hunters, she was still a "newbie". She was always making mistakes. Unfortunately, Natha made many mistakes today, leading her into an unprecedented danger.
Because of her cold and unsociable personality, Natha never liked to hunt with her companions from the village. So every time she went out, she would choose to leave the group and act alone.
In the past, Natha almost never missed, but today, her luck was obviously very bad. First, she shot a wild boar because her arrow missed by three centimeters, and the boar ran away with its wound. Then, she consecutively missed three different prey because of all kinds of unimaginable mistakes. This made the young Natha a little angry, and the chaotic situation caused her to make a big mistake.
She unintentionally trespassed into the territory of an adult Steel-tailed Leopard and angered it.
For Natha who was not strong enough, the Steel-tailed Leopard was not something she could afford to provoke, so she immediately chose to escape. But she did not expect that the leopard would pursue her all the way until now!
After running for a full two to three kilometers, the black shadow was still relentlessly chasing behind. Natha felt that the opponent seemed to want to tire her to death. She had a short bow and five arrows in her quiver. Although there was still room for a counterattack, she knew that she had lost the upper hand in shooting. If she chose to fight with her life on the line, there was almost no chance of winning!
Her breathing became more rapid, and her legs became numb and heavy. In the darkness, there was no obstacle in the forest that could help her get rid of the leopard. This made Natha feel a little cold in her heart. But just as she was thinking whether she should risk it and turn around to fight, an orange light appeared at the end of her vision, making her raise her eyebrows.
A bonfire? Could it be that there was a human adventurer here?
The Wood Elves would not light bonfires outside of their camp. They were very particular about the use of wood and never used living trees. So when she saw the flames here, the Wood Elf Natha instinctively thought of the only possibility — the person in front of her should be the 'human adventurer' that the Elder mentioned.
She relaxed a little. She knew that the Steel-tailed Leopard was afraid of fire, so at this moment, Natha immediately changed her direction and turned towards the leaping flames in the forest. She believed that when the Steel-tailed Leopard sensed the flames, it would definitely choose to stop chasing.
As for whether the leopard would attack the unknown merchant group or adventurer, Natha did not worry at all. She did not intend to have any interaction with the other party, not even the slightest bit of curiosity.
Wood elves usually ran silently in the forest. However, since Nata had been running for so long, the sound of her footsteps was very clear as she twisted left and right. What was even more obvious was the sound of her feet landing on the ground which was becoming more and more obvious …
The Steel-tailed Leopard began to accelerate.
Although the distance was still 40 to 50 meters, Natha could already see the figure in front of the bonfire. What made her a little surprised and disappointed was that there was only one person in the camp.
Not far away, the reins of three horses were casually tied to a tree. They seemed to have heard the noise and were anxiously scratching their hooves. But even if the horses made such an obvious warning movement, the person sitting in front of the bonfire seemed to be in a daze. He was holding a few large leaves in his hand, fanning the white smoke from the flames while singing a strange 'song':
"Only you — can accompany me to the west, Only you — can subdue demons and ghosts …"
Natha frowned. After turning around a huge tree, she suddenly slowed down and her footsteps instantly lightened. Then, he leaped forward and silently disappeared into the shadows of a thicket.
At this moment, she was already 20 meters behind the person who was roasting meat. Natha believed that with her stealth ability, the other party would only think that there was some movement beside him, and definitely wouldn't notice that she was behind him.
Looking at the darkness in the distance, Natha let out a sigh of relief. The Steel-tailed Leopard that had been chasing behind them stopped. The huge figure with its slightly raised tail looked at the bonfire hesitantly, its round eyes glaring angrily as if searching for something. But from this angle, Natha, Roddy, the bonfire and the Steel-tailed Leopard happened to be in the same line … So the first thing the leopard could see was the bright flames, followed by the humming Roddy. It couldn't see Natha's figure at all …
The huge leopard crouched down, and the feline's unique ambush posture proved that it didn't give up on its desire to attack. Obviously, after losing its target of Natha, its anger didn't subside, and instead, it turned its prey to the human in front of the bonfire.
The so-called 'fear of fire' was only an instinctive fear, but an adult leopard had higher intelligence and naturally wouldn't be scared away like other animals. What it understood was that this' new prey 'in front of it didn't have any helpers or threats, and was simply a delicious lamb that fell from the sky … No matter what, it couldn't let go of him.
The decision was made in an instant. This Steel-tailed Leopard was already an adult, and its stamina, confidence, and strength were at the absolute peak. So when it slowed down and gradually moved to the edge of the bonfire's illumination, it had already proved its determination to kill this human.
Thus, in this quiet night, the wood elves and leopards broke the silence and forcefully forced an undeserved battle onto the young man who was sitting in front of the bonfire and roasting meat.
He didn't even have the chance to protest.
… …
At this moment, Roddy's mood was actually quite complicated.
He had stayed in the forest for too long, so his never giving up vigilance allowed him to discover the source of the sound early on. If it was in the past, he would have shot a few arrows the moment he heard the sound, regardless of who the other party was.
But the reason why he hadn't made a move yet was because Roddy's level was high enough that he wasn't afraid of all the creatures within a 20-mile radius. Secondly, it was because Roddy could hear the light footsteps coming from the wood elves of the Silent Forest. Coincidentally, Roddy's mentor was also from this race that lived in the forest.
Thinking that he would still have to deal with this race in the future, he didn't make any excessive reactions.
But speaking of that 'mentor', in fact, Roddy had only met her a few times. That cold-faced old virgin had only given him leveling missions and taught him the most basic skills. After he reached the threshold of Level 30 as a Ranger, he hadn't seen her again.
In his memory, that old virgin was like a block of ice, cold and indifferent to everyone. Now that he thought about it, he realized that he had almost forgotten what she looked like.
Sitting in front of the bonfire, Roddy listened to the sound of the footsteps getting softer and softer. He couldn't help but feel a little helpless. It seemed that the wood elf couldn't deal with the guy who was chasing him and could only come to the bonfire to divert his attention. Roddy couldn't help but sigh inexplicably as if he was destined to be alone for the rest of his life.
But he didn't complain too much. He quickly made up his mind: I'll use this opportunity to show off in front of this wood elf and then get close to her. Since I'll have to come again in the future, I'll leave a 'good impression' and increase my 'reputation' first!
Well, it's decided then!
Roddy tore off a chicken wing, blew on it, and bit off a piece of meat. It tasted good, so he nodded and … stood up slowly with the chicken wing in his mouth.
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