Cthulhu Gonfalon

The four young people had a solid base, with excellent coordination and trust among each other, which allowed them to fully exert their power for a long time even in the face of an enemy far more powerful than them.

However, this did not change the balance of strength between the two sides. As time went by, the spellcaster’s power was constantly consumed, and the situation became even more untenable. When the moon rose, they’d finally reached their limit.

“My magic has almost run out,” said the priest suddenly, his face covered in sweat. “I can only use one or two more recovery spells at most.”

At this moment, the archer had run out of arrows. He could only continue fighting by using the arrows on the ground that he’d already shot.

As for the mage, the youngest and the weakest of the four, he had run out of strength, so he was lying on his belly in a tree, exhausted and out of breath. The dizziness and headache caused by his depleted magic made him unable to talk. He could only tell the others with a pitiful smile that he absolutely had no strength to escape.

The warrior let out a wry laugh and said, “Well then, I will shield your retreat. In the future, if we have the opportunity to kill the old bear, that’ll be revenge for me.” They were obviously so familiar with each other that even without using names they knew who was being referred to.

The priest immediately became angry, shouting, “As the servant of the God of Glory (the chief god of human beings), how can I abandon my partner to escape? Are you trying to insult me?!”

“It’s just a temporary retreat,” said the soldiers, forcing a smile. “When fighting, there are always attacks and retreats, and I’m asking you to retreat because you can help the others leave alive. If you don’t retreat, I won’t have the confidence to do so!”

The priest was speechless, but he just stubbornly shook his head and never agreed.

The two sides could not reach an agreement, but the bear wasn’t going to quietly wait for them as they negotiated. Seeing that the enemy was distracted, the bear immediately intensified its attack and focused on the group’s flaws. With only one attack, it tossed aside the priest with his hard shield, leaving a crack in the shield. The priest felt a sharp pain in his chest when breathing and coughed violently.

“Oops!” The soldier was shocked, waving his sword in a hurry and trying to draw the attention of the giant bear so he could buy time for the gunner to rescue the priest. But in that moment, the giant bear’s violent intent spurred it on: its strength substantially increased in a short time, and it struck them with its claws and pounced on its opportunity. The warrior responded in kind, withholding the attack with his shield. But the last of his remaining strength wasn’t enough for him to stand his ground, so he staggered back and finally fell to the ground.

As he fell, his heart sank. Damn!

The giant bear roared loudly and rushed toward him, but he felt sore all over with no strength left to save himself. He could only wait to be killed.

Just then, a sneer came from a nearby place. A gray figure, which had been hidden in the underbrush before, rushed towards him in an instant and stopped in front of him.

The giant bear roared, rushed towards him, and immediately arrived in front of him. What it found waiting for it was a brightly lit sword.

The light of the sword flashed, and blood splashed everywhere. The giant bear, which had been sprinting, lost its balance and hit the tree beside it. Blood spewed from its jagged wounds like water from a spring.

Only then did the warrior see his benefactor, the one who’d beheaded the giant bear to save him and his companions. He was of medium build and handsome, but his eyebrows and eyes showed an excessive perfectness that was somewhat strange. It made others think he was more a portrait or statue than a living human being. This man was not tall, wore lightweight black leather armor, carried a long gun on his back, and held a sword still dripping blood. The leather armor, gun, and sword all glimmered amid the darkness. At first glance, it was easy to see they were powerful and expensive weapons with enchantments.

Judging by the gun, sword, and assault, this benefactor was obviously a knight. However, unlike the knights who wore heavy armor, he was dressed in leather armor, so he could focus on maneuvers and attacking.

Although he’d dashed so far and killed the horrible giant bear, the powerful knight hadn’t even broken a sweat, and he was still breathing regularly. After a long exhale, he completely regained his composure, as if the startling moment had nothing to do with him and he was just passing by.

Paying no attention to the stares of the others, he walked over to the dying giant bear, wiped the bloodstains on its thick fur, and then put his sword back in its scabbard. Then, without looking at the group of four, he walked straight away.

Saving people and killing a bear didn’t seem worth mentioning to him.

“Great…great knight…please accept our… our gratitude…” stammered the priest loudly. He was first to recover and called out to the knight with a tingle in his chest.

The knight in black armor stopped without looking back but waved toward them.

“You guys did a good job, but you need to be more cautious and ask your seniors more questions to learn from their experience,” he said in a clear and powerful voice. “Go on with your lives, and one day you can also wield a sword like me!”

Without another word, he walked away, leaving only the four adventurers full of gratitude and the giant bear that was finally dead.

After a long time, the excited soldier could not help but shout, “I have decided! After going back, I will continue to study diligently and strive to wield a sword like him as soon as possible! I have to practice hard, but I will also help others, just as he selflessly helped us!”

The priest, holding the holy emblem, was greatly moved by this celebration of what was true, good, and beautiful. “I will also work harder! If not, then in the future I won’t even be qualified to pay him back!”

The gunner said with a smile, “It’s not my style to pay back the favor of saving my life!”

Finally, the fatigued mage, who could not even climb down from the tree, said aloud, “I…I have to work harder too!”

The four friends looked at each other. Although they were all awkward, they saw a light in each other’s face and eyes.

If these four little guys were immortal, they could achieve something really great in the future, Ray thought silently. After returning to the campsite, he did not have a rest, but said quietly, “I can see that they are very talented!”

“How do you feel after you saved others and they were grateful to you?” Sui Xiong smiled and asked.

Ray thought for a moment, and shook his head, “It’s a bit boring, but it’s not a waste of time to help four nice young people.”

Saying so, he wrapped his body in a blanket and lay down to sleep.

Sui Xiong, floating in the air and watching him clearly fake being asleep safe and sound, could not help but laugh again.

He once again cast the spell of Eye of Position Identification and saw that Ray’s body was still red, but its color was a lot fainter than the first time he’d seen him. It was no longer so fierce but took on a little gentleness.

The next day, they easily walked out of the Graystone Mountains and entered the territory of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins.

The Commonwealth of Gold Coins was a great power located in the western Dominant Continent, which was based on business and was initially the merchant’s country. They did business with orcs in the Wilderness Empire, with the race of scales in the Wild Marsh of Ancient Woods, with the murlocs in the vast seas, and even with the Duchy of Thunder, Commonwealth of Mifata and Dhaka Commercial Association ,which were thousands of kilometers away to the south. Since the four northwestern towns had developed, they also did business with the pioneers who resided and made a living in the Ash Woods and desolate mountains.

The country consisted of dozens of aristocratic territories, large and small, but merchants had the same high status everywhere. In fact, a merchant in this country was considered a baron if he possessed the same wealth as a baron, a viscount if he had the same wealth as a viscount, an earl if he had the same wealth as an earl, and so on. If one’s wealth was comparable to the Marquis, of course, he would be regarded as a Marquis.

There was no Duke class because there was no dukes in this country.

This country, from top to bottom, was full of desire for and the pursuit of wealth. This not only created numerous adventurers who were courageous enough to take risks and explore, but also made the civilians work hard in order to pay various high taxes. The group of pioneers who were gathered under Rhode’s arrangement was mostly composed of both groups.

But Rhode recruited pioneers in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, and Sui Xiong and Ray were now in the easternmost Commonwealth of Gold Coins. They were quite far away from each other.

After entering the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, the living conditions were indeed much better than in the Graystone Mountains. That night, when he could finally sleep in a hotelbed, Ray laughed, and Sui Xiong also took the opportunity to give him some chicken soup for the soul and talk about the idea that “happiness lies in contentment”.

This time Ray didn’t push back. He smiled and slept in peace. It was unclear whether this was because of his good mood or his opinion on the idea.

But the next day, when he saw several emaciated people on the road, he frowned. “The lord in this place is not competent,” he said.

Sui Xiong also secretly shook his head. He knew that since this world was similar to medieval Europe, with low levels of productivity, death by starvation was inevitable. But when he witnessed the people starving to death, he still felt uncomfortable.

The floating jellyfish slowly flew to the dead corpses, waved its tentacles, and a blue and white cold light fell on the corpses and made them into fine pieces of ice that were eventually integrated into the earth. Their souls were gone long before, and even great gods could only bury them.

They continued to walk and found more people who had starved to death on the roadside.

This time Ray frowned more intensely. He looked around at the still luxuriant farmland, and anger flashed in his eyes.

“Obviously the fields are good, and there are forests and mountains nearby. How can so many people starve to death?!”

“It seems something is wrong with the lord of this place…” Sui Xiong again buried the bodies and whispered, “Better to investigate, right?”

“Is there something to investigate?” Ray asked with a sneer. “If the result of the investigation proves there is a brutal lord here, do you want to personally punish him, Your Majesty Void Mask? I’ll make it clear, I would oppose a lord for this reason, which is tantamount to provoking all the aristocracy. I am not crazy!”

“But you dare provoke a god, so what else wouldn’t you dare to do?”

“Provoking all the aristocrats may be more troublesome than provoking a god…”

As they walked and talked, they came close to a river flowing out of the forest. Just as Ray looked for a bridge to cross the river, he heard another cry for help…