The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 640 - 664: Be on Guard

Chapter 640 -664: Be on Guard

The process that morning was just as Lancelot had anticipated, they were walking through the wilderness, yet the surroundings looked as if they had been plowed over by a catapult, with upturned earth and exploded rocks everywhere.

But by the afternoon, those traps seemed to have vanished suddenly, allowing the army to advance much faster. Lancelot briefly left the group and climbed to a nearby vantage point to overlook the scene below. He saw the winding Demon Legion, resembling a poison snake traversing a Gobi, so long that it nearly seemed endless, the distance between its head and tail already surpassing ten miles.

In other words, if the mercenaries in the very front were ambushed, support would arrive very slowly, and even by human army standards, an ambush could end within fifteen minutes. This meant that in local areas, the numerical advantage that Sonam was so confident in might not exist at all, and as long as the demons’ attack was swift enough, they could whittle down their opponents slowly like sharpening a pencil, yielding far greater results than a main force decisive battle would.

Lancelot himself had done similar things before, which was why he knew this so well. And Sonam was not unaware of the dangers, but Serpent Demons, or indeed all High-rank Demons, had a completely different way of thinking. To them, the lives of subordinates were not worth fussing over, thus Sonam had said that if it weren’t for Lancelot’s interference, Twin Bridges Town could have completely buried that entire Demon Legion, without considering the huge losses her own side would suffer.

As for the current situation, what if they encountered an ambush? The Demon Generals only worried about their enemies constantly hiding, and they had no patience for a cat-and-mouse game. As for the loss of cannon fodder? Those guys were expendables, just like an archer’s arrows. When the battle was over, only elite infantry such as Berserk Demons and Brezu Demons would return with the Demon Generals, the surviving cannon fodder were to be disbanded (or rather, released) on the spot. With this mentality, it was no wonder the Demon Generals appeared so ‘careless’.

Although he completely disagreed with this viewpoint, that didn’t stop Lancelot from understanding how the demons thought. Only by knowing how the opponent thought could he try to persuade the Serpent Demon and subtly influence its value judgments.

However, at the moment, his options were very limited.

As the sun began to approach the horizon, Lancelot’s unease grew stronger. It wasn’t that his Spirit Perception sensed anything; rather, the changes in the surrounding terrain triggered his nerves as a veteran. On the right side of the road ahead was the wide Stygian River, and on the left was currently an open area, but in the distance lay a large forest of canine firs. Lancelot still remembered the scene from his first trip to the Great Abyss, if they continued to advance, that patch of canine fir would come ever closer to the road, which might be nothing for a small group of adventurers, but for an army, there was no more suitable spot for an ambush.

After the army set up camp, he went to find Sonam again, but the Serpent Demon was not only unworried but also appeared quite excited. In her view, if the enemy was actually planning to come out on their own, what could be better than that? As for Lancelot’s suggestion to change the marching route and bypass that forest, she flatly denied it.

“Use your brain, even if I agreed, would those three Flame Demon Generals agree? Understand your place, human, and stop bothering me with those impractical ideas!”

Lancelot wasn’t annoyed, as he himself knew the likelihood of taking a detour was slim. Immediately afterward, he proposed a second suggestion: to remind the entire army to be ready for battle, and to inform the main force in the rear of the potential ambush. After mulling it over briefly, Sonam agreed to Lancelot’s new suggestion, since there was no harm in doing so, and since payday was still several days away, she was not in a rush to have the ‘unqualified’ mercenaries disappear from the payroll.

When Lancelot returned to his squad members, Sonam had already sent word to the entire mercenary legion, everyone knew there might be an enemy ambush ahead. Each mercenary discussed this, reacting differently, some appearing fearless, some looking worried, and some seemed almost crushed by fear, perhaps ready to flee tonight.

“It was you who told the Serpent Demon, right?” Bruto immediately asked him as Lancelot approached, “Is there really going to be an ambush?”

“It’s highly likely,” Lancelot nodded, joining his companions seated around the campfire. “If I were the commander of the Demons, that’s exactly what I’d do.”

“Knowing there’s an ambush yet still moving forward feels terrible,” complained Tanya, the Half-elf, “Being a mercenary leaves us no choice, it’s really frustrating.”

“At least you know who the enemy is, and even which side of the road they will come from,” said the old Holy Warrior gravely. “If you’re prepared beforehand, then it’s not an ambush.”

“We don’t care where the Demons come from!” declared Flint, the Dwarf with bright yellow hair, firmly. “We will hold our shields and stand our ground, and let no enemy pass, no matter how many come at us!”

“I like your optimism,” responded Tiflin, the Magician, absentmindedly, as she kept her gaze fixed intently on the campfire, as if there was something in the flames that captivated her.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

“I heard that some Tiflin are Fire Readers who can occasionally glimpse the future in flames,” asked Rein, the youngest Gnome, curiously, “have you seen something?”

“Unfortunately, I’m a bit off my game today,” shrugged Musk, shifting her gaze from the fire, “Apart from a bunch of burning wood, I haven’t seen anything.”

—————————–

Another night of high alert passed uneventfully, and as the dark red sun of the Plains of the Abyss rose again over the horizon, the group resumed their march. Compared to the previous day, the mercenaries’ steps were heavier – not only due to the tense atmosphere but also because everyone was fully armed and ready for battle.

Just as Lancelot remembered, the previously distant forest drew nearer to the road as they advanced. The monstrous pines, rising over fifty feet high and thick enough that it would take five or six people to encircle them, looked like a wall slowly closing in. Everyone kept a wary eye on the shadows behind these giant trees, fearing that a fully armed host of Demons might burst out suddenly.

Just then, the advancing troops suddenly stopped. Lancelot’s heart skipped a beat, but turning his head, he saw that the edge of the woods was still over a hundred feet away from the road, not an ideal distance for launching an ambush.

“Stay alert!” Sonam’s voice, the Six-armed Serpent Demon, echoed in everyone’s ears. “Damn it, can someone tell me why we’ve stopped? What happened up ahead?”