The midsummer sun shines through the dense trees, creating a picture of light and shadow on the ground, and the refreshing breeze passes through the forest, blocking the summer heat. From time to time, the sound of birdsong came from the forest, and the whole forest was unusually quiet and peaceful. The rolling hills are covered with a layer of indifferent verdant greenery, which makes people feel relaxed and happy to look at.

Rhodes withdrew his gaze from the landscape in front of him, looked back at the map in his hand, and drew a circle on it.

It had been two days since they left Deep Rock City, and during this time, everyone's journey was quite smooth, twenty-five mercenaries who had undergone nearly a month and a half of rigorous training, and finally barely got out of the division, plus Rod and a total of thirty-one people after leaving Deep Rock City, set foot on the road to the forest path.

Although it seemed to many that opening the way through the Land of Atonement was a very difficult and difficult task, Rhodes did not think so, and he was well aware of the situation in the Land of Atonement, which had long ago been a front-line fortress in Parfield, but had been completely abandoned by its inhabitants after hundreds of years of fighting. But it would be too much of an exaggeration to say that the Land of Atonement is poor and white, although it has been a large ruin after years of baptism, but Rhodes knows that the road is high in the Land of Atonement, and the former fortress still barely maintains a certain degree of integrity. As long as he can break through the perimeter, enter the fortress, and then activate the construction system, he can renovate and repair the fortress. After that, Rhodes will be able to build a summoning gate inside the fortress, and as long as the summoning gate can be built, then Rhodes will be able to connect a two-way plane passage between the mercenary stronghold in Deep Rock City and the Land of Atonement, and at that time, any problems will no longer be a problem.

Once the dimensional passage is established, then Starlight, which has the aid of a stable rear, can clean and rectify the surrounding area, and by that time, it will not be difficult to rebuild the connecting trade routes and master this area.

Of course, it is impossible to develop an area just by relying on this group of mercenaries, but Rhodes also knows that there are many wanderers on the edge of the Land of Atonement, although their population is not large, but the collection is also an objective number, if you can win the help of these aborigines, then it will be beneficial for the next development.

But until then..................

"Commander."

Lando's voice rang in Rod's ears, which made Rod unconsciously gather his thoughts, and he looked away from the map and looked at the ranger standing not far in front of him.

After the Midsummer Festival battle, these rookies have matured a lot, coupled with the rich hòu bonus that Rhodes gave them before, so that Lando and others finally have the money to change their guns, and now Lando is no longer than before, he is wearing magic leather armor, a wide forest cloak wraps his body, and behind Lando hangs a pitch-black giant wooden bow and a quiver is filled with magic arrows made by Labis, and with two daggers hanging from Lando's waist, and a circle of flying knives hanging diagonally on him, Now Lando really looks like a ranger master. It's just that his respectful and somewhat cramped eyes still betray his body.

"What's the matter?"

Rod glanced at Lando, then asked. According to the plan, not far in front of him is Shenxi Village, which is also the last resting place before Rhodes and others enter the forest path, originally Rhodes's plan was to rest there, and then enter the forest path but now .........,

"Commander, there seems to be something wrong in front, just now we went to the front to investigate, and found that there is smoke and sparks in the direction of Shenxi Village, it seems that they are fighting, I have sent Joey and them to check, do you want the brothers to prepare?" …,

"Let's take a look."

Hearing this, Rod immediately retracted his thoughts, he stuffed the map into his arms, and then stretched out his hand to make a gesture behind him, and seeing Rode's gesture, the mercenaries who were originally following Rod were also immediately ready, they gathered together and followed Rod forward.

Deep Creek sits on the edge of the Twilight Forest, which is also the frontier of the Parfield civilization, and when Rhodes reached the mountainside, he quickly saw black smoke and fire not far below.

At this moment, Shenxi Village is surrounded by billowing smoke, and from a distance, you can vaguely see many people surrounding Shenxi Village, holding weapons and confronting the villagers. If it were an ordinary village, I am afraid it would have fallen by now, but as a human gathering place located on the frontier of civilization, the defense of Deep Creek Village is still quite well-done, tall, sturdy, and the walls made of logs block the threat from the outside world, at least so far, it is safe.

The besiegers of the village, on the other hand, looked very strange, except for a limited number of people, most of them were unclothed, but surrounded by a few animal skins, barefoot and armed, brandishing weapons such as wooden clubs and machetes, and shouting loudly outside, looking like primitive people with stone tools and clear paper. Inside the walls, Nong Xi saw several hunters standing on the towers shooting arrows with bows and arrows, trying to disperse the enemies who had surrounded the village, but their numbers were too limited, and the "primitives" were obviously experienced in this area, so despite the efforts of the guards, it did not make any difference.

"It's a barbarian."

Seeing these people, a mercenary of a relatively large grade touched his beard, and then showed a disgusted expression. Hearing what he said, the other mercenaries also showed a bit of disgust and seriousness. And Rod nodded, it was obvious that he also knew the origin of these people.

These "hominids" are not really from the Stone Age, in fact, they are coming from regions beyond the borders of civilization. Of course, these people are not good goods, almost 80% of them are former criminals, even felons, who have escaped from prisons and execution grounds and started a life of wandering. And in order to avoid getting caught themselves, almost all fugitive criminals choose to go to areas outside the borders of civilization. There was no order, no law, and no soldiers who captured them, and it was a paradise for those who committed crimes.

But they got their own excuse and lost everything. Beyond the borders of civilization, there is nothing.

Without food, drink, or clothing, in order to be able to continue living, these criminals began to gather and use the forest as a cover to loot the surrounding businesses and towns. The range of activities of these people was very large, and they were very familiar with the surrounding area, so gradually many regular merchants no longer chose to pass through here. Only those black businessmen who trade in smuggled goods and take risks will choose to take this path.

But this did not deter the criminals, who could not get supplies for the caravans, so they turned their minds to the villages, and in fact, almost every border village was looted by these criminals, and they even sometimes went directly into the villages to take women to satisfy their own desires and reproduce. Due to the remoteness of these places, the garrison army is beyond the reach of the whip, and it is difficult to have some defense. And these aborigines are also unable to leave their homeland for various reasons, and in the end they cannot do anything but rely on themselves.

And those wandering criminals are also called barbarians by many mercenaries, I have to say, although these people look very embarrassed, but the tempering of the areas outside the border of civilization has allowed them to have a physique and strength beyond ordinary people, and even for many mercenaries, they are great enemies. …,

At this moment, the grass next to Rhodes suddenly began to shake, and then, Joey, dressed in black leather armor, quietly slipped out of it, followed by four other thieves.

"It's a barbarian, boss, there are a lot of them, these guys are really ruthless............"

"How many people are there?"

Rod frowned, then asked, and Joey scratched his hair before answering.

"There are about a hundred of them, and they have almost surrounded the entire village, and although the people inside are still holding on, I don't think they will last long...... Boss, what do we do? ”

"What should I do?"

Hearing Joey's inquiry, Rod glanced at him as if he were looking at him as if he was looking at him in vain.

"Of course you killed them, you've been training for so long, isn't that just for this moment?"

"Ugh

Hearing this, Joey's face showed a few embarrassed smiles, he didn't know what to do, but the number of the other party was too much, although after such a long time of training, Joey's own plan can be regarded as reaching the level of the player, otherwise he would not be qualified to appear in the team, but a rookie is a rookie, and when he saw that there were many people on the other side, his heart immediately panicked.

But for Rhodes, that's not the problem. In the half-dimensional space, he had simulated this kind of similar battle in the mountains and fields more than once, and the mercenaries themselves were also very experienced in combat, although these barbarians on the other side seemed to be numerous, but Rhodes knew very well that they were not vulnerable at all.

Thinking of this, Rod had already made up his mind.

"Lando, you lead people to occupy the high ground on the right, and then see my signal to attack the left and force them over! Joey, I want you to send someone to touch their people on the periphery now, don't let them find out about our existence, I'll only give you three minutes! ”

"That's good, Captain."

"Understood, Boss."

Hearing Rod's words, both of them nodded quickly, and then quickly scattered away, and watching their backs disappear, Rod turned his head and looked at the others.

"Follow me."

Then, he calmly gave the order...... ）