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Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 401
🕑 Added 2024-06-14 19:41:50 +0000 UTCChapter 401: None Left Alive
Beneath the vast prairie lies an ant nest of indeterminate scope, filled with countless ants. As the bowman said, once a target appears, the swarming ants become as terrifying as a tide of sand.
The ant nest is a miniature reflection of human society, akin to the comparison between ordinary people and Nen users. Among the myriad of ordinary ants, there is a queen who commands all, as well as variant ants equivalent to Nen users.
Ordinary ants do not voluntarily enter the royal city, but the more dangerous variant ants will invade it and attack any visible life.
The establishment of the defensive line in Jidi is to guard against the invasion of these variant ants, which are also an important source of meat for the people of Jidi.
The ringing of the bell is to alert everyone in Jidi of an external invasion. Salin thought it was the variant ants coming to deliver themselves, but this time it wasn't the variant ants; it was the ferocious Sand Thief army.
While Luo and his group entered from the eastern mountain path, the Sand Thieves came from the western mountain path, approaching from different directions.
When Luo entered, he counted the number of members responsible for the eastern defense, combined with the people of Jidi, arriving at a conclusion of nearly four hundred.
In fact, there are fifty-man teams stationed in the other three directions, meaning the estimated number should be increased by about one hundred fifty.
The Sand Thieves approached from the western prairie, causing significant commotion, but for some reason, the soldier ants in the ant nest showed no reaction to their arrival.
They never attack those coming in, but will actively attack anyone trying to leave.
This behavior remains a mystery to everyone in Jidi.
The Sand Thief army smoothly crossed the prairie and reached the open space outside the imperial capital. The first to notice their grand arrival were the residents responsible for the western defense, who, shocked, immediately relayed the message back.
Within five minutes, most of the members responsible for the western defense line were massacred by the Sand Thieves, their bodies hacked to pieces, blood splattering everywhere.
Dozens of people were hardly enough to satiate these bloodthirsty Sand Thieves. The brutal scene of them hacking their targets into mincemeat was overwhelming.
"In the forbidden zone, there are actually survivors."
Gerrot stepped on a mangled corpse, looking at the torn beast-hide clothing with some surprise.
He glanced at the fifty captives tightly controlled, initially intended as cannon fodder to test the prairie. They had come all the way without any incidents, so whether to keep them now was worth considering.
Noticing Gerrot’s cold gaze, the captives huddled together began to tremble violently.
"There might still be some use for them."
Gerrot muttered to himself, a mere change in thought pulling the captives back from the brink of hell.
"Kill everyone inside, leave none alive!"
Gerrot ordered the eager Sand Thieves, then crushed the head of the corpse under his foot, fragments of bone and blood splattering on his calf, exuding a cruel aura.
"Did you understand?" Gerrot said coldly.
"Understood!"
The Sand Thieves raised their weapons and roared, then swarmed into the city.
Miria huddled in the crowd, lowering her eyebrows to the ground, gritting her teeth, not daring to look at Gerrot.
The cruelty of the Sand Thieves had reached an inhuman level.
"Will anyone come to wipe out these beasts!"
Miria wailed in her heart, likely echoing the thoughts of other captives.
However, everyone knew that was an unrealistic expectation. Even the united forces of the three major Oasis Nations couldn't eradicate the Sand Thieves. What other method could possibly do it?
If any existed, it would be divine retribution...
A sense of despair welled up in Miria’s heart. She had survived the journey with the Sand Thieves but was acutely aware she would eventually die at their hands.
Now, the surviving humans in the ancient imperial city probably couldn't escape the Sand Thieves' clutches either.
Inside the city, the defensive personnel scattered in all directions regrouped in Jidi. Every man holding a weapon was on high alert.
"Old men, women, and children, all run to the east, hurry, hurry!"
The bowman shouted with all his strength, veins bulging on his face and neck.
The elderly, women, and children in Jidi obeyed the command, forming a team to flee eastward, while the remaining men took up weapons to form a defense line towards the west.
"The enemy is numerous and extremely ruthless, it's the Sand Thieves' way!" The bowman said angrily, glancing at Ali’s group, and said in a deep voice, "You must join the fight. If we can't hold them off, everyone will die with them."
Without giving Ali a chance to ask, he took ample arrows and climbed to the rooftop of a house.
"Sand Thieves!?"
Ali's heart trembled. Why were the Sand Thieves here, and in such numbers? How many exactly?
With many questions left unasked, Ali gritted his teeth, picked up a long spear, and said to the Eagle Group, "Follow them into action."
"Yes!"
Everyone suppressed the cold fear coursing through their bodies, followed Ali onto the rooftop, and joined the Jidi residents in hiding, acquiring longbows and arrows.
Utilizing the terrain to deplete the enemy with longbows from a distance was a common warfare strategy.
The Eagle Group joined the lineup, and Buhara and the others couldn't stand by either, ambushing with the Jidi residents.
Soon, the sound of the advancing Sand Thieves reached everyone’s ears. Then, the sight of the dense black mass of people made the Eagle Group’s faces turn ashen.
How could they possibly resist such an exaggerated number with only a few hundred people?
Including Ali, the entire Eagle Group lost their fighting spirit upon seeing the Sand Thieves' numbers.
They knew well the terror of the Sand Thieves, not just their ruthless ways, but also their combat power comparable to elite royal troops.
The Eagle Group lost their will to fight, but the people of Jidi, fighting for survival, would not give up. They raised their bows, and without needing a command, as soon as the Sand Thieves entered range, a rain of arrows flew from the shadows of the buildings, covering the frontmost Sand Thieves.
Swish!
In one face-off, more than two hundred Sand Thieves fell dead from arrows, yet the Sand Thieves were no pushovers. They spread out like a large net.
Another wave of arrows was released by the Jidi residents, but this time the effect was less impressive, killing only fifty or sixty Sand Thieves.
"Damn it."
The bowman's heart was immediately overshadowed.
Usually, to deal with invading variant ants, everyone had honed their archery skills, as only ranged attacks could minimize casualties.
However, these Sand Thieves were more troublesome than the variant ants, with individual combat power not being weak, and such a huge number disparity, could they really hold out?
Whether they could or not, they had to fight to protect those behind them.
After several waves of arrows, the combat personnel in Jidi immediately changed positions, engaging in guerrilla warfare. However, the disparity in numbers was too great. After several rounds of fighting, they were eventually ensnared by the Sand Thieves' large net.
The encirclement gradually tightened, and the combat personnel in Jidi began to suffer casualties, entering a desperate battle.
Ten minutes later, the four hundred-strong team was halved, each corpse hacked into pieces, showcasing the Sand Thieves' violent tendencies.
As the battle circle shrank, long-range attacks became limited, forcing them into close combat.
At this moment, William, Geru, and Buhara joined the fray, wreaking havoc among the Sand Thieves, but there were simply too many of them. Every moment, someone from Jidi was killed by the Sand Thieves.
If this continued, even Nen users like Buhara would eventually be overwhelmed by the Sand Thieves.
They felt endangered, meaning the Jidi residents and the Eagle Group were essentially doomed.
When Gerrot led the remaining Sand Thieves and captives to the battle circle, only a hundred Jidi people were left.
Standing at the edge of the battle circle, Gerrot coldly observed Buhara and the others wreaking havoc, then quietly commanded his dozen or so Nen-capable subordinates to hold them off, allowing the other Sand Thieves to quickly kill the remaining people.
With his order, the dozen Nen users besieged Buhara and the others, tipping the balance. The Jidi people were swiftly torn apart, and within a minute, they were all but dead.
At that moment, a wave of Nen power surged from the sky, and the heads of a dozen Sand Thieves attacking the Jidi people exploded, killing them instantly.
Following that, a figure descended rapidly towards the Jidi people.
Whoosh!
Without a sound, the Sand Thieves were sent flying backward, creating a wide-open space in the encirclement.
That figure, faster than Salin, was Luo, arriving just in time.
His aura, infused with intent, burst from his body, sweeping over the two thousand Sand Thieves.
For a moment, the Sand Thieves hesitated, a flicker of fear in their eyes as they looked at Luo, but the reaction was not profound. These Sand Thieves were hardened individuals; even a demon in front of them would be slashed.
The aura had little effect but drew almost all the Sand Thieves' attention to Luo.
Gerrot frowned at the sudden appearance of Luo, exuding Nen power freely. His distinctive appearance immediately reminded him of the man described
by his subordinates, who could control quicksand.
"Is it the same person?"
Gerrot thought with a seven-to-eight certainty.
He stomped on the rocky ground beneath his feet, sneering silently.
If this were the desert, he would have to weigh Luo's threat more carefully, but beneath the imperial capital lay solid rock layers. Even if Luo could control quicksand, he couldn't deploy it here.
Moreover, he hadn't just brought a few hundred people.
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