Four professionals surrounded him, and fighting spirit erupted from two of them. Clearly, they were also warriors.
As for the female archer, she lowered her bow and prepared her arrow with a slight magical fluctuation.
And Lone Wolf was completely concealed within the shadows and constantly moving about, like a reaper harvesting lives in the deep night.
"Assassin? warrior? And magical archer? This can indeed form a high-level adventurer team…"
If not for him killing one of them previously, this group could be even more perfect.
Fang Yuan slightly smiled and disappeared in an instant…
With the power enhancement of the Disaster Halo, his speed was astonishingly quick, immediately appearing before the two warriors.
"Mad Lion Beheading!"
"Fighting technique: New Moon!"
The two warriors were not flustered and each released a surge of fighting spirit to attack.
Furthermore, at the instant when the three of them interacted, an arrow had already been released by the female archer and appeared in front of Fang Yuan like a graceful swan.
"Hmph!"
Fang Yuan laughed coldly, and aquamarine armor instantly appeared on his body.
This armor seemed real and had a metallic glow. Only with careful examination would one realize that they were formed from wind attribute fighting spirit and had combined together with the original suit of armor.
Smack!
The magical arrow hit his shoulder and instantly exploded, disappearing without a trace.
The two surges of fighting spirit offense also landed on Fang Yuan's body, but he was still nonchalant. An aquamarine glow flickered and then vanished.
Poof!
Before the two warriors had the opportunity to gasp in shock, a bloody wound appeared on their necks and they slowly collapsed.
"F-Fighting armor? High-level professional?"
The female archer let out a piercing howl and ran away without looking back.
Fang Yuan did not chase after her, instead turning around suddenly with his left hand stretched out and grabbing a black dagger.
On the other end of the dagger, Lone Wolf was staring at the armored figure in astonishment, his mouth full of bitterness.
Despite already putting in lots of effort in collecting intelligence, he was completely unable to imagine that this knight who had just obtained his title was actually a high-level professional.
Furthermore, even the Fighting Armor was condensed.
With the Fighting Armor on top of the original armor for dual defense, no matter how average professionals attacked, they might still be unable to inflict much damage.
That was still a better scenario than now, where his dagger infused with all his power was directly gripped by the opponent. He was essentially tightly restricted by what seemed like ten pincers, completely unable to move.
"Lone Wolf… you have committed unpardonable crimes. Today, representing the baron, I give you my judgment!"
Fang Yuan slightly exerted force with his palm and the black dagger was grabbed. With a casual flick of his hand, a loud, explosive sound rang out from the sky, and a huge hole opened up on the back of the escaping female archer. She still ran a few more steps due to inertia before collapsing.
But Lone Wolf was already not able to see much.
That was because, at the next instant, a powerful surging force viciously landed on his chest, creating a large hole in it. He flew upside down and landed on the ground as blood and saliva foamed from the sides of his mouth.
"I am a lone wolf… From the start… I should not have been enticed into abandoning my freedom…"
As the life in his eyes dissipated, Lone Wolf suddenly felt a strong sense of regret.
Unfortunately, nothing he could do now would help the situation, and after a while, he descended into eternal darkness.
…
"Impossible!" From afar, the leader in the black shirt let out a surprised cry.
"Disaster Halo? He's already advanced to a Disaster Knight? And that Fighting Armor… High-level professional? Are the people collecting intelligence good-for-nothing fools? They actually told me this person was previously just an average hunter! If this type of person is average, then what are we? Useless garbage?"
Probably because his emotions were too intense, he directly exploded in vulgarities.
After firmly taking a few breaths, he still made a decision. "Change of plans. Abandon the defense. We leave immediately!"
Even though he had more ambush possibilities than just Lone Wolf, and even had the 'Lone Wolf Handler', facing a Disaster Knight who had already condensed Fighting Armor, he didn't have a sliver of confidence.
But at this time, he suddenly saw that after the subordinates led by Knight Luhn had defeated the remaining Mad Wolf Bandits, they directly charged toward his hiding place without stopping.
I was exposed? When? The pupils of the leader in the black shirt shrunk to the size of a needle tip, already having no time to think.
That was because Fang Yuan suddenly appeared nearby and whipped out his sword. "Get out!"
Kaboom!
Aquamarine fighting spirit exploded like lightning and thunder.
Wood remnants flew all over. The original building split into pieces, revealing a group of awkward black-shirted people.
"Since all of you remained hidden, you must know more than Lone Wolf. Capture them!"
Fang Yuan waved his hand.
Nurturing a group of subordinates was not to let them freeload.
Even though they had the enhancement of the Disaster Halo, they also needed to undergo a test of metal and blood to become true soldiers.
"Kill!" Grace shouted, taking the lead in charging forward.
Many squires and guards shouted and surrounded this group of people.
On the other hand, Fang Yuan jumped agilely and came before the leader in the black shirt. "Let me guess, you're… Earl Floren."
Although it was just a guess, he was already very sure of himself.
"Yes or no, what's the difference? Since you've already succeeded the power of Glendon, you should know those that are hostile toward him are definitely not limited to the Stan Duchy," the man in black spoke ambiguously.
"Nice, it looks like you're Earl Floren. To think you came knocking on my door before I went looking for you. It looks like it's time to square accounts!"
Unfortunately, no matter how greatly the opponent wanted to conceal this, Fang Yuan had directly ascertained the truth from his expression and reaction.
"You know the Mind Reading Technique?"
The leader in the black shirt was astonished, an even greater sense of fear enveloping him after his secret was exposed.
"I originally wanted to ask you some things, but now that I think about it, there doesn't seem to be anything of special importance. You should just go and die."
Fang Yuan walked forward a few steps and slashed with the heavy sword in his hands.
A huge pressure instantly compressed the surrounding air. The black-shirted person had no choice but to brandish a soft sword resembling a poisonous snake, pressing hard against Fang Yuan's sword technique.
Ding!
After a dull sound, a huge vibrating force transmitted from the edge of the sword directly into this leader's body.
He trembled and instantly shrivelled up like a deflated rubber ball, as if the all organs and bones in his body had shattered.
"Too weak! You're too weak!"
Fang Yuan sighed and immediately clapped his hands. "Look after the remaining people. Also, gather the surviving villagers and extinguish the fires. And inform the senior constable."
"Yes, Master!" Grace replied loudly.
After experiencing this battle, although most of them were injured, and some even died, the remaining ones had grown a lot.
…
With Fang Yuan's mediation, the aftermath of the village proceeded orderly.
"Sir Knight, we have obtained many spoils of war!"
Afterwards, Fang Yuan, who had taken off his armor, saw Garce with a face full of happiness reporting, "In total, we seized eighteen horses, twenty people, and various supplies, as well as gold and silver accessories, for a total of fifty Stan gold coins."
This realm's main currency was still the gold and silver coin system. What was known as the Stan gold coin was naturally the gold coin cast by the Stan Duchy, and it fetched a high price.
When Fang Yuan inherited his position this time, he only had to pay a hundred gold coins to the baron as an 'inheritance tax' or the 'tribute'.
In other words, he has offset that by half this time.
"Pass all of the captured people to the constable. As for all the horses, military equipment, and gold and silver, we'll keep them."
Fang Yuan nodded his head. "All who achieved victory in this war will be rewarded. Those who died in battle will be given five gold coins as compensation to their bereaved family, and I'll also promote their family to become a free citizen and obtain fifty mou of land."
"Thank you very much, Sir!"
Garce's gaze suddenly lit up.
Having fought and risked their lives, wasn't it for all this?
With so many rewards, facetiously speaking, it was worthwhile for their dead companions even if they returned to the embrace of Hess.
Fang Yuan looked on at this, extremely calm.
To him, using both kindness and severity to tug at people's heartstrings were just trivial matters that he did casually.
He did not even care about the gold and silver. If he could actually use it to inspire his subordinates to die, why not?
The only issue was that he had to devote particular care to who an outsider was and who his own people were.
Just like this Haier Village. As it was not his own territory, he did not bother to take care of it.
It was obvious that a bandit group that came out to loot and kill could not possibly have such a huge amount of gold and silver on them. Most of those fifty Stan gold coins were definitely the treasures of Haier Village.
However, since they were in the hands of Fang Yuan, they had become seized and seen as war trophies. Even Baron Shawshank was unable to ask him to surrender them.
They had already saved the village, so how could they demand so much?
Instead, those large batches of overly conspicuous grains and textiles were too eye-catching and difficult to carry around. Those could be given to these poor villagers. It was already sufficiently benevolent for the compassion of a noble.
After half a day, public cemetery of Haier Village.
Fang Yuan came alone and saw the surviving villagers burying their loved ones. Quiet sobs endlessly resounded, instantly turning into a scene of distressed crying.
Standing under a tree's shade, he suddenly turned toward an empty side and said, "A very sorrowful scene, isn't it?"
"If it were a war, their ordeals would be more miserable than this by a hundred times," a calm voice replied, and a person walked out from the shadows.
He was thin and tall, and wore a long gray robe with a hood. His face was emaciated, yet his eyes were full of spirit and contained a scholarly aura.
"Sorcerer?" Fang Yuan nodded his head. "What about you? Which side are you on?"
"Office Sorcerer Heim. I have seen Sir." Heim bowed slightly. "I'm really sorry. As the grand duke doesn't much manpower here, I made Sir encounter such an incident."
"Nevermind…" Fang Yuan waved his hand and did not make a fuss.
In reality, without even needing to guess, he already knew the intentions of Grand Duke Stan. The appearance of the sorcerer at this moment was merely to befriend and express goodwill toward the winner.
These were the cold and ruthless game rules of this world!