I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 562: Chapter 364: Twists and Turns, An Unexpected Scene

Then, he gave the order to his men. "Listen up, brothers! After the next volley of arrows, everyone charge with me."

"Yes, Big Bro," came the replies from the bandits hiding in the tall grass.

A guard, his ears glowing with a faint golden Spiritual Light, listened intently to the conversation coming from the distant tall grass.

Despite the great distance, he was using his awakened Superpower to enhance his hearing, allowing him to make out the bandits’ conversation with perfect clarity.

"Captain, the bandits are preparing to charge after our next volley of arrows."

Upon hearing the intel from his comrade, the Guard Captain’s gaze sharpened. He turned to the other guards, who were standing ready, and said,

"Listen up! The bandits are going to charge us after the next volley of arrows. Everyone, prepare for battle!"

Just as the Guard Captain had told the Merchant Team Leader, these guards were all experienced professionals.

Even though they were facing a band of bandits that nearly doubled their numbers, their expressions were grim, but not fearful.

"Damn it! Come on, you damn bandits!"

"My axe is thirsty for a fight."

"We’ll see what’s harder—these bandits’ skulls or my Wolf Fang Club."

Knowing the bandits would charge after the next volley, the guards began cracking their knuckles, eager for a fight.

Meanwhile, under the hazy Night sky, a large swarm of pitch-black creatures was rapidly approaching the lakeside battlefield, completely unbeknownst to the humans preparing to clash.

"Loose!" At the Guard Captain’s command, another volley of arrows rained down on the distant tall grass, felling many unlucky bandits.

"ARGH..."

The bandits who weren’t killed instantly fell to the ground, clutching their wounds and letting out agonizing screams.

"Brothers, charge with me!"

As soon as the volley ended, the Bandit Leader ignored his men who lay wounded but still breathing on the ground—men who might have been saved. He raised his Spiritual Longsword, let out a great shout, and was the first to charge out from the tall grass.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Seeing that their Big Bro had already led the charge, the other bandits let out a roar and stormed out from the tall grass.

For a moment, their battle cries shook the heavens. Their momentum was immense; they seemed unstoppable.

"Meet the enemy with me!" Seeing the bandits swarm out from the grass, the Guard Captain gave the order to engage. He was the first to leap from behind their defensive works, and the other guards immediately followed.

They chose not to wait for the enemy behind their fortifications because many non-combatants were taking shelter there.

If the guards fought within the fortifications, it would be easy to injure those people by accident.

In the business of escorting merchant caravans, the primary mission is to ensure the personal safety of the clients.

If the guards defeated the bandits, but the merchants all died in the process, the mission would be a failure.

A failure like that would ruin their reputation, and no caravan would dare hire them for protection again. Thus, they had to meet the enemy outside to ensure the merchants’ safety.

The white orbs of light hanging in the sky illuminated the impending battle with perfect clarity.

With their backs to the carriages, the guards clutched their weapons, their gazes like torches as they watched the horde of bandits rush toward them.

The Bandit Leader at the forefront was a burly, barrel-chested man standing 1.85 meters tall. He emanated the Spiritual Energy Wave of a Second Order Middle Stage cultivator.

A step behind him were ten minor chieftains, each one possessing the Spiritual Energy Wave of a Second Rank Initial Stage cultivator.

Behind them were over a hundred more bandits. Twenty to thirty of them had cultivation levels ranging from First Rank Initial Stage to Tier One Peak; the rest were ordinary people.

A bandit gang with a backbone of over forty Cultivators and a total of nearly two hundred men was not a force to be underestimated.

One hundred meters, eighty meters, sixty meters...

The charging bandits continuously closed the distance with the waiting guards.

When the distance between them closed to fifty meters, a piercing bestial roar suddenly erupted, so sharp it made one instinctively cover their ears.

"ROAR..."

The guards and bandits, who were on the verge of clashing, all froze for a moment upon hearing the sudden roar.

The charging bandits halted, turning to look in the direction of the roar. The guards did the same.

RUSTLE... RUSTLE... RUSTLE...

A rustling came from a dense patch of tall grass nearby. Illuminated by the orbs of light in the sky, everyone saw an immense figure moving within it.

"Shit, that thing is massive!" A bald bandit with sharp eyes saw the creature in the grass more clearly than the others and instantly let out a terrified cry.

The words had barely left his mouth when the giant creature crawled out of the tall grass. It was a colossal centipede, twenty-five meters in length.

To describe this centipede, one could draw a comparison to the old, green-skinned trains of Blue Star.

Its body, linked segment by segment, looked just like a series of train cars.

After crawling out of the grass, the giant centipede raised the front of its body, looming over the humans and radiating an incredibly powerful Spiritual Energy Wave.

"My God! Second Order High Rank... no, wait. This is a Mutant Beast at the Second Order High Rank, and it’s on the verge of breaking through to the Peak!"

The Tier Two Cultivators present extended their Perception and immediately identified the source of the incomparably powerful Spiritual Energy Wave emanating from the giant centipede.

An ordinary Second Order High Rank Mutant Beast was already terrifying enough. One that was on the verge of a breakthrough would be completely unstoppable.

In that instant, the guards and bandits, who had been on the brink of a bloody battle, lost all will to fight. A single thought surfaced in everyone’s mind: ’Run. Run with everything we’ve got.’

It was only natural for everyone present to have this thought.

There were nearly three hundred fifty people present, but even if they put aside their differences and joined forces, they would be no match for a Mutant Beast on the verge of reaching Second Order Peak.

Therefore, a swift retreat was the only logical choice.

"Brothers, fall back!" the Bandit Leader yelled, turning to his men.

"We’re gonna die! Run!" The once-aggressive bandits completely lost their nerve, turning to flee in terror.

"Captain, what do we do?" a guard asked in a trembling voice, his palms slick with cold sweat.

"Go! Forget the cargo! We take Shopkeeper Wang and his people and get out of here now!" Like the Bandit Leader, the Guard Captain—a Second Order Middle Stage cultivator—decisively ordered a full retreat.

But just as the guards and bandits turned to flee, the giant centipede monster—looming over them, on the verge of breaking through to Second Order Peak—unleashed another piercing, eardrum-shattering roar.

"ROAR..."

As the sharp roar echoed, the tall grass surrounding the battlefield began to shake and rustle.

Immediately after, creature after creature crawled out from the grass. They were pitch-black, 1.2 meters long, with segmented bodies, a pair of legs on each segment, and two long antennae on their heads. They swarmed out, completely surrounding the humans who were about to flee.

Centipedes. So many huge, black centipedes.

Under the white light orbs, as far as the eye could see, the entire field was a tide of black centipedes. There had to be at least ten thousand of them.

"We’re surrounded by the Centipede Swarm! We’re dead!" Seeing every escape route cut off, the fleeing bandits let out wails of despair, their faces pale with misery.

"Big Bro, what do we do now?" the bald bandit cried out to the Bandit Leader, his voice cracking as he watched the black centipedes close in.

"Fall back! Everyone, fall back!" Faced with this hopeless situation, even the Bandit Leader had no answers. He could only shout in a panic to his men.

Then, something completely unexpected happened. The guards and bandits, mortal enemies who had been about to fight to the death, now huddled together.

They took refuge within the circular defensive wall formed by the carriages, bracing themselves against the encroaching Centipede Swarm.

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