The House of Menlo was located in a small mountain in the Valley of Sunshine. Many caves had been excavated into the belly of the mountain, intersecting with each other. Many shockingly powerful defensive measures had been set up inside.
Han Shuo flew through the air and stopped on top of an ancient tree more than ten meters tall. His eyes looked towards the source of the noise.
Thick smoke billowed out of the caves where the House of Menlo's troops were stationed. Some of the caves' entrances were ablaze.
Many stone chambers had been excavated from the caves. The stone chambers were like individual rooms, with all sorts of living facilities within. Many of the stone chambers were even more luxurious than some of the shops in the Valley of Sunshine. It was very normal for a fire dragon to burst into flames as soon as it was thrown in.
At the exit of the small mountain, a group of masked people moved quickly. Some of them were fire mages who chanted fire spells from time to time and spat out tongues of flame towards the cave entrance.
This group of people moved nimbly and cooperated very well. The fire mages set the fire while the wind mages used the wind to fan the flames. A few archers wielded bows and arrows and forced the House of Menlo's men who had poked their heads out of the cave to go back in.
The small mountain covered a large area. After the originally empty belly of the mountain was excavated, many caves and stone chambers of various sizes appeared. This group of troublemakers only targeted one corner of the mountain to destroy. Once people from other places came to help, they immediately retreated and hid in the surrounding bushes to conceal themselves.
They were obviously very familiar with the surrounding terrain, and they were very good at changing places after a battle. Once they were discovered, they would immediately retreat while fighting, then make a big circle and come back from another place to wreak havoc for a while.
Under normal circumstances, this group of troublemakers with only a few dozen people would very likely be consigned to eternal damnation when the first wave of attacks was discovered and they didn't retreat.
However, the House of Menlo's situation was also very chaotic. This group of troublemakers was not the main force this time. A group of four to five hundred bandits with messy clothing was the main target of the House of Menlo. For some unknown reason, these bandits had gathered around the House of Menlo and attacked any House of Menlo who came out of the cave. Both sides were locked in a fierce battle.
Watching from afar for a while, Han Shuo didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw Trunks and his gang taking advantage of the chaotic battle to cause trouble everywhere. He hadn't expected that Trunks would actually have such talent in this area. The mission against the House of Menlo this time was originally just to arouse the House of Menlo's suspicions of the other factions. Who would've thought that the situation would develop like this? This was rather surprising to Han Shuo.
Even more people were wearing shining armor and wielding sharp weapons as they returned from a distant path. From their clothing, Han Shuo could clearly tell that this group was also from the House of Menlo. There were about five to six hundred of them, and each of them had an extraordinary aura. They should be the elite troops of the House of Menlo.
The direction in which this group of people were returning was precisely where Trunks and his men were. Seeing that Trunks and his men hadn't discovered any possible danger, and were planning on causing more trouble, Han Shuo finally no longer stayed where he was and flew towards them.
The sky was already beginning to brighten, and the stars had hidden themselves in the depths of the sky. It looked like it would be dawn soon. Just as Trunks was about to launch one last attack during the chaos, a black shadow landed in front of him with a whoosh.
Trunks was startled, but when he realized that it was actually Han Shuo, he immediately let out a sigh of relief and said, "Why are you here?"
"I was passing by here on the way and just happened to see the returning elites of the House of Menlo, so I was planning to come in from here. Let's leave quickly?" Han Shuo smiled faintly and didn't waste any words, explaining the current situation to Trunks.
When he heard that the elites of the House of Menlo had returned, Trunks growled lowly and made a gesture towards the mercenaries in the distance.
They were all masked fellows. When they saw Trunks' hand signal, they immediately understood. They did not gather together and leave. Instead, they became more and more scattered. Each and every one of them used the terrain to conceal themselves and gradually disappeared without a trace.
"Let's go!" Trunks didn't remain idle either. He turned his head and smiled at Han Shuo before burrowing into the dense thicket.
The thick snow on the towering ancient trees blocked the light from above. It was difficult to walk through the dense thicket, but Trunks' figure wasn't obstructed at all. He led Han Shuo through many winding paths and left the House of Menlo's mountain in half an hour, appearing on the road to the Valley of Sunshine.
"They're all old mercenaries of the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band. When the old chief was still here, everything around the Valley of Sunshine was under our control. We're so familiar with the surrounding terrain that we can walk around with our eyes closed, so you don't have to worry about their safety." Trunks explained to Han Shuo once they left the House of Menlo's mountain.
Han Shuo had already observed these people's actions from the high ground just now. They had great teamwork and were quite strong. Most of them had the strength of journeyman swordsmen or knights. There were also a few adept mages and swordsmen among them. There were also many with extraordinary archery skills. It looked like it was indeed as Trunks had said, they really were old mercenaries of the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band.
With such a group of people, in addition to Trunks' planning and organization, the Soul Destroyer mercenary band's future path would be much smoother.
"Right, what's going on on your side? Why did a bandit band come to the House of Menlo?" Han Shuo couldn't help but ask as he recalled the situation just now.
Trunks couldn't help but laugh at Han Shuo's question. He then explained, "When we were heading to the House of Menlo, we coincidentally saw this bandit band planning to rob a group of merchants. Before the battle, we pointed the way for these merchants and they followed our directions to hide in the House of Menlo.
In the end, they alerted the House of Menlo and the bandits started fighting with the House of Menlo. We took advantage of the chaos to cause trouble everywhere. We originally thought that this group of bandits would be immediately defeated and we had already made plans to retreat. Who would've thought that the elites of the House of Menlo would be transferred out of the mountain tonight? We don't know what they were going to do.
When the bandits saw that there weren't any more elites of the House of Menlo coming out to attack them, they arrogantly continued to attack. We also took advantage of the situation and stayed for a while longer. You saw what happened afterwards! "
"So that's how it is. Are there many such bandit factions in the mountain range surrounding the Valley of Sunshine?" Han Shuo nodded and asked with a smile.
"Of course. It's precisely because the Valley of Sunshine is in the middle of three countries that many large merchants want to do business in the Valley of Sunshine. That's why there are many bandit factions in the surrounding area. There are even two bandit bands with thousands of people. They were formed by wanted criminals from the three countries.
The leaders of these two bandit bands are a man and a woman. The man is called Gustav, nicknamed the Butcher. He's an infamous wanted criminal in the Kasi Empire. He kills without batting an eyelid and is extremely cruel and cold-blooded. If a caravan were to run into his bandit band, it would truly be bad luck. He would plunder all the normal goods and take all the beauties. If he's in a bad mood, he'll kill the rest without leaving a single survivor.
Back then, Florida worked with Gustav to frame our old chief, causing him to meet with misfortune. Even my little sister went missing with him. I'll kill this Gustav sooner or later!
There's also a woman called Janet. Eh, this woman should be considered to have inherited her father's business. Her father was a bandit, her grandfather was a bandit, and her great-grandfather was also a bandit. They're from a famous bandit clan near the Valley of Sunshine. She was raised to be a bandit from birth. Although this woman isn't a good person, she still abides by the rules. When her bandit band runs into merchants, their lives are usually not in danger as long as they don't resist!
Apart from the two largest bandit bands controlled by these two, there are still a dozen or so bandit factions of various sizes in the surrounding Valley of Sunshine. It's just that the remaining ones are a bit smaller in scale and aren't as famous or powerful as these two, "Trunks slowly explained to Han Shuo.
Han Shuo listened for a while and carefully inquired about the strength of those bandit bands before nodding, "It looks like the Glorious Tanai bandits and mercenaries complement each other. Whether it's bandits or mercenaries, they're both indispensable!"
"What do you mean?" Trunks asked.
"Without bandits, merchants won't need protection, and mercenaries won't be able to make money. Without mercenaries, merchants won't dare to come here to do business, and bandits won't have anything to steal. Therefore, it's completely reasonable for both bandits and mercenaries to exist in the Valley of Sunshine.
With the strength of the four factions in the Valley of Sunshine, they should have the power to exterminate these bandits. However, perhaps it's because they understand this that they didn't make a move and allowed the bandits to exist. "Han Shuo smiled faintly as he explained.
Trunks chuckled when he heard Han Shuo's words, "That's right, the old chief understood this long ago. I didn't think you'd figure it out so quickly as well!"
Nodding, Han Shuo looked at the sky and said, "Let's go, it's getting late. Let's hurry back to the Valley of Sunshine. I also want to go take a look."
Ever since the Rainbow Sickle mercenary band had left, Han Shuo had always felt a voice calling out to him from afar. Han Shuo had originally thought that the Little Skull had run into danger again, but he realized that something wasn't right after a bit of careful observation.
It wasn't until later on that Han Shuo focused his attention and carefully sensed that the voice was coming from the Dark Forest. This place wasn't very far from the Dark Forest, and the cemetery of death was in the Dark Forest.
When Han Shuo realized that the call seemed to be coming from the Dark Forest, he immediately understood that the earth elite zombie had successfully broken out of the ground. However, due to the boundary of the cemetery of death, he couldn't use his senses to find Han Shuo, so he could only passively send out signals.
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