Just as Starlight was knitting his brows, silently pondering how to cross this seemingly short but perilously exposed distance, Po Kong patted him on the back and began walking forward on his own.
“Wait! Po Kong, what are you doing? You’ll be exposed if you go any further!” Starlight hissed, seeing Po Kong stretching his limbs as he prepared to step out from the protective shadow of the forest.
Po Kong simply gave a relaxed wave and replied, “Relax. Remember when I introduced myself? I said I’m good at defense and leading an assault. I should be able to handle this. While I’m out front drawing their attention, you sneak in from the side and rescue the people!”
“But you... you didn’t even bring a weapon this time. How is a swordsman without a weapon supposed to fight them?”
Starlight didn’t doubt Po Kong’s strength, but during their entire day of movement, he hadn’t seen Po Kong carrying any kind of weapon, unless one counted the small utility knife in his backpack.
“Haha! So that’s what you’re worried about? Thanks for the concern! But I always carry my weapons with me, even if I don’t have the convenience of a mage’s storage space!” As Po Kong spoke, he turned around with a flourish. His arms flexed, and pale yellow battle qi surged instantly.
As the battle qi enveloped his body, the two grey bracers on his wrists shook gently before sliding off and hovering in front of him.
Under Starlight’s astonished gaze, the two bracers absorbed Po Kong’s battle qi and slowly twisted and deformed, finally transforming into a silver longsword and a dark grey shield.
“See? These are my weapons. Not bad, right? Besides, my mission isn’t to annihilate the enemy. If I really need to run, they might not be able to catch me. So, don’t worry and just play it by ear!”
Po Kong gripped the sword in his right hand, twirling it through the air, and held the shield firmly in his left. His voice was full of confidence.
Seeing this, Starlight said no more. He nodded and watched as Po Kong leaped out from the shadows, resolutely heading toward the bandit stronghold.
The moment Po Kong’s tall figure left the shade of the trees, he was spotted by the bandit sentries.
At that moment, his entire body was radiating a layer of bright yellow light, making him as conspicuous as a giant lantern.
However, he didn’t charge at the bandits. Instead, he approached the fence at a leisurely pace. It took him half a minute to cover the short distance of a hundred meters.
“Who are you? Stop right there!” The bandits’ tension eased slightly when they saw the intruder was just a young man. They shouted from behind the fence.
“Nothing much. I just heard there was a rogue hideout here. I’ve been getting a bit bored in the city, so I thought I’d come by and see if I could take over as a leader. What do you think?” Po Kong replied loudly in a cynical, mocking tone.
His youthful voice echoed across the open ground, drawing bursts of raucous laughter from the bandits.
“A brat who doesn't know the height of the heavens! You dare come here alone to act wild? Do you think having a bit of strength means you can forget who you are?”
“Hey, old men, isn’t strength the only thing that matters out in the world? I have the strength, so what’s wrong with wanting to be a leader?” Po Kong continued to speak as he walked, completely ignoring their ridicule.
“Hmph, then you should know the rules of our trade. Where is your initiation gift? You dare act so arrogant without proving yourself first?”
Hearing this, a look of sudden realization appeared on Po Kong’s face. “An initiation gift! Now that you mention it, I really didn’t know about that.”
“But since you brought it up... let’s use this! Make sure you catch it!”
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, the longsword in Po Kong’s hand was hurled out like a cannonball.
During his banter with the bandits, he had quietly closed the distance to less than thirty meters from the fence.
Before the bandits could react, a streak of pale yellow light shot forward and slammed violently into the massive log gate.
Shockingly, the destructive power of the thrown sword was no less than a boulder launched from a catapult. The logs, each as thick as a man’s thigh, disintegrated into a cloud of splinters upon contact as if they were made of paper.
In the next second, Po Kong charged straight through the newly created breach.
Only then did the bandits remember to sound the alarm, and the entire stronghold was suddenly thrown into chaos.
Starlight, watching from a distance, didn’t hesitate when he saw Po Kong dive in. He immediately ran in the opposite direction.
Taking advantage of the commotion Po Kong was causing at the main gate, Starlight used the enhancement of wind elements to successfully scale the rear fence, landing inside the stronghold like a ghost.
He had deliberately chosen a relatively hidden corner to slip in—the stronghold’s beast pens.
Since the camp was located in the heart of the marshland, ordinary mounts were difficult to use. The large pens held only a few draught horses for hauling cargo, while the rest of the space was used for common poultry.
A place like this wouldn’t have many guards under normal circumstances, and the chaos at the front gate had drawn away almost every bandit’s attention.
Only one person remained at the pens. Distracted by the distant thundering sounds, he was completely unaware that someone had slipped in behind him.
The bandit suddenly felt a chill creep up his spine and discovered with horror that he had lost all sensation in the lower half of his body. By the time he realized what was happening, a layer of white frost had tightly encased his entire form.
Just as he opened his mouth to cry for help, an icy blade radiating cold air was quietly pressed against his throat.
“If you don’t want to die, don’t make a sound. Just answer my questions!” Starlight warned the bandit, who was nearly frozen into a block of ice, in a low voice.
The bandit nodded with great difficulty, forcing his cry for help back down his throat. He was already so cold that he could barely move his jaw; having missed the initial window to scream, he now had no hope of doing so.
“Tell me, where is the captured caravan?” Starlight continued his interrogation.
When the bandit heard the question, a strange look flickered in his dull eyes. Whether from the cold or some other reason, he shivered and turned his head toward the deeper part of the stronghold.
“Over there?” Starlight muttered to himself, looking in the direction the bandit had indicated. To prevent the man from making any noise, he waved his hand and froze him completely.
Once that was done, Starlight immediately sped off in that direction.
However, at that moment, he suddenly caught a fleeting sense of something abnormal in the air.
When he tried to stop and examine it closely, the strange sensation vanished without a trace.
The feeling was hard to describe—utterly ethereal. It was fundamentally different from the information gathered through mana perception or his five senses. Yet, it left Starlight with a faint sense of dread, as if some unknown danger were quietly approaching.
It had to be said that the commotion Po Kong was making at the main gate was unexpectedly massive; he had more than exceeded his assigned task.
Starlight ran the entire way without encountering a single person, which saved him a great deal of trouble.
“I wonder how Po Kong is doing. I hope he can hold out until I get everyone out! I’ll come help you as soon as I’m done here!”
Starlight thought as he ran, quickly reaching the inner section of the stronghold.
He saw several crude buildings constructed sparsely at the foot of the mountain. Judging by the rough craftsmanship, this was clearly not a permanent residence but rather a collection of temporary shacks.
Tara’s caravan had dozens of people taken. To hold that many people together, they would need a spacious area. Starlight’s gaze quickly locked onto the largest building among them.
According to his mana perception, there were indeed living people inside those buildings—and quite a few of them.
He crept toward the large house. After a careful inspection to ensure there were no traps, he kicked open the flimsy door.
The interior was just as crude as the exterior. A massive iron cage dominated the room, filled with dozens of people tied up and lying in heaps.
Almost every captive was injured. Many had wounds that were still seeping blood, and some were already unconscious on the floor. A faint smell of blood and a nauseating stench of decay permeated the room.
The bandits seemingly didn’t care whether these prisoners lived or died, leaving them to fend for themselves; the only thing they had done was throw them into the iron cage.
Seeing this, a surge of intense anger and sympathy rose within Starlight. He knew he had to act quickly to rescue these innocent people from their suffering.
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