Chapter 249 – Sudden Change
By noon, Zhao Hai knew why Wales didn’t hurry earlier at morning. Wales and the others didn’t even stop during noon, and they just ate some jerkies on their mounts and drank a few mouthfuls of water. They didn’t stop during their trip.
Of course, the jerkies Wales and the others were eating were not that type of battle rations. They were a type of food that beastmen frequently ate, especially during a rush. They would prepare some when herding, and then put them in pouches to eat anytime.
These jerkies had a certain water content, so the storage time wouldn’t be too long. They were easy to make and common beastmen knew how to make them. They could count as beastmen’s dried food.
Once Zhao Hai saw this, he had to refrain from stopping as well. To be honest, when it came to sprinting, ground bulls couldn’t compare to windchaser horses. But to compete in endurance, windchaser horses would be far too worse. Zhao Hai and the others’ current speed could barely keep up with the speed of Wales’ group. If Zhao Hai stopped to eat now, it would surely affect the speed of the trip.
But this wasn’t too much for Zhao Hai. He found a time to enter the space, and then let Maylin make them a meal before returning back into the wagon, where he ate lightly with Laura and others.
Laura’s wagon wasn’t small, so it wasn’t a problem for Zhao Hai and others to eat inside it. At night, they started setting up camp. Just then, he had to admire the ability of the beastmen in setting up tents; they set up their campsite in just a short time. The whole process only took a little more than an hour. This speed was very surprising.
Luckily, Zhao Hai and others didn’t need to ready too many things. Just a single tent was needed to settle things, since it was just set up in order to put up a front.
Zhao Hai and Wales ate stewed mutton for the day, which the latter was very generous with. This was the difference between large tribes and small tribes. For people of smaller tribes, every goat was their fortune, which would be too much of a waste if eaten. But for Wales, the argali were just their food.
After the dinner, Zhao Hai didn’t chat with Wales. He felt that he and Wales weren’t of the same kind. Wales was smart and ambitious, while to be frank, Zhao Hai was just a normal person, working hard to live out his humble days.
Zhao Hai originally thought that they could reach Beast God City uneventfully, and then set up shop there to develop slowly like smooth sailing.
But he forgot about a saying, which goes ‘plans are never faster than changes’. Right at the 3rd day of their trip with Wales, a sudden change came.
They were still rushing ahead like before. As the Beastmen Prairie was too large, running into a small tribe in a few days’ time would not be an easy matter. Zhao Hai would still let blood hawks conduct reconnaissance in the sky, albeit in a very reduced range.
At noon of the 3rd day, Zhao Hai and the others were still rushing without rest. In order to ensure that their speed could keep up with Wales, Zhao Hai turned the windchaser horses that pulled the wagons into undead creatures during the 1st night when he returned to the space. With these undead that didn’t know what fatigue was, Zhao Hai’s group could easily keep up to Wales and others.
Zhao Hai drank some coya while sitting next to Laura after they had dinner. He had to admit that the design of Laura’s wagon was too ergonomic. If it weren’t for size issues, they could just sleep inside it.
Just then, a cry from the hawk in the sky grabbed Zhao Hai’s attention. Zhao Hai raised his head to look at a single blood hawk going in circles in the sky. He looked at the hawk carefully and his expression changed.
Laura and the others didn’t pay it any mind as the blood hawks would fly back to report in these days, so they guessed that it was probably due to having discovered magic beasts or some small tribes nearby. Perhaps Wales thought that the matter of grains was too important, so he didn’t go to the smaller tribes for a spin like before. Instead, he just moved forward. Zhao Hai was somewhat disappointed at this, but in order to get to Beast God City as soon as possible, he moved along with Wales like he had for the past few days.
Zhao Hai looked at the blood hawk for a while and then spoke to Laura, “Get ready. There’s a team of bull-headed cavalry coming our way. About 100 in number.”
Laura was startled and her expression changed, “Should we notify Wales?”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “Let’s not do so for now. Wales has the power to protect himself, since his escorts aren’t vegetarians. But why have the bull-headed cavalry come here? There are no large tribes nearby. Mobilizing 100 cavalry in one go, this tribe’s strength wouldn’t be too bad. How could they be here?”
Laura had also frowned, “Let’s not think about it too much. We’re still in the fringe areas of the prairie. The ones active here are small tribes, while the medium and large tribes are further inside. The other party is all cavalry and 100 isn’t a large number. Unfortunately, we don’t know which race they belong to.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “We’ll know it soon. The other party will be able to see us after an hour, so we’ll just have to be more careful.” Laura nodded. When it came to their safety, Laura didn’t worry in the slightest. They just didn’t want to expose themselves too much.
They were being careful, but they weren’t too worried. Now that they were next to Wales, anything could be settled by him. This was the logic of ‘a large tree is good for staying under it’.
As expected, after an hour, a very loud galloping sound came from far away. The galloping was like rumbling thunder, which would let any listener know that whatever was running would be heavy. Wales and others also went on alert.
With the galloping sounds, Zhao Hai and the others could see that a black line was slowly coming after them from their front left. Then the black line was followed by a layer of green stuff behind it. When they got closer, Zhao Hai and the others found out that the green stuff was actually broken grass raised up in hands.
Very soon, the team of people got closer, and Zhao Hai could gradually look at them clearly. But when he did, he was shocked, because they were herculean bulls as well.
What differentiated them from Wales and others was that this team didn’t raise battle flags. They had wounds, and some were even covered in bloodstains. One could tell at a glance that they had been through a great battle. This team of people was protecting a single person.
That person was also a herculean bull. He was wearing a bright yellow robe, but he had obviously been through a great battle as well, so his robe was full of bloodstains.
These 100 people were holding weapons with bloodshot eyes and faces full of fatigue, but their killing aura was soaring sky high. It was as if they had killed during every step of the way.
Zhao Hai and others were dumbstruck when they saw them, but soon they understood. The one leading this team must be a prince of the Herculean Bull Tribe. If not, why was he wearing a robe and why were they so discomposed?
Right now, Wales was even more shocked than Zhao Hai, because he knew these people. The one in the robe was exactly his 6th brother, Mendez!
If it was asked who of the Herculean Bull Tribe treated Wales the best, it would be Mendez, of course. Wales’ father also treated him well, but it was more like a form of admiration, while Mendez displayed caring love.
When Wales saw Mendez looking so worn, he was shocked before his heart sank. He knew why Mendez was in such a way; It must be that something had happened in the tribe. When he connected this to the jackals’ attack on him, a bad feeling surged in his heart.
Wales immediately made his way to the cavalry, while Yale and others also recognized them. Everyone stopped as they looked at Mendez and the others in shock.
Mendez also saw Wales, and the murderous expression on his face disappeared instantly. His eyes closed, his body swayed, and he collapsed from his mount in an instant.
Wales immediately got down from his mount when he saw this, but he never expected that Mendez’s collapse was just a start. The cavalry warriors who followed Mendez, upon seeing Mendez’s collapse, had also fallen from their own mounts one after another.
This situation was like how Chinese people put dumplings into pots. In just an instant, everyone fell down from their mounts, which frightened Wales and others a lot. Every escort got down from their mounts and ran towards the cavalry.
Zhao Hai’s group looked at all of this idly. He didn’t know what became of the trip. Why would herculean bulls, who were known for being powerful and enduring, be in such straits?
Zhao Hai immediately jumped down from his wagon and walked towards the people. He spoke to Meg as he walked, “Meg, help me out.” Meg heeded with a sound and took out her own iron scroll.
There were 5 magics in the Demon Sealing Iron Scroll;
Protection Of Angels, which was a single target protection magic, level 6;
Blade Of Judgement, which was a single target attacking magic, level 7;
Descent Of Holy Light, which was a group healing magic, as well as a group attacking magic against dark creatures, level 6;
Holy Light Step, which was a teleport type single target escaping magic, level 6;
Holy Recital, a single or group attacking mental magic, level 7.
These light magics were only level 7 at the highest, but they included 3 aspects like attacking, protecting and escaping. One could say they were very practical. In a light mage’s hands, this was an incredible treasure already.
Zhao Hai walked quickly towards the crowd of people, while Wales had embraced Mendez and called out his name. But it seemed like Mendez and others were very tired as they had all lost consciousness.
Zhao Hai walked to Wales and said, “My brother, let my fianceè take a look. She knows some healing magics.”
Wales raised his head in a hurry after hearing Zhao Hai’s words. He glanced at Laura and Meg at Zhao Hai’s side, who were wearing ordinary home clothes. He couldn’t tell how either of these 2 knew magic.
Zhao Hai smiled and spoke to Meg, “Meg, help out and see.” Meg heeded with a sound and then walked forward.