Indeed, as Feld had guessed, the other party didn't intend to follow the plan. The intelligence Raymond received was deliberately leaked as a decoy. The Sers Trading Company acted a day earlier than planned. If they had waited for two more days, Feld wouldn't have been able to find any trace of their passage.
"Let's go, follow them!" Feld directly climbed out of the window with Chi-Chi and quietly trailed behind the carriages. The carriages quickly passed through the inner city gate, obviously having been arranged in advance since it was late and the gate was normally closed at this hour.
Feld didn't have any connections to arrange this, so he simply took out a magic stone, used its invisibility effect, and with the cover of night and the yawning guards, leaped over the towering city gate with Chi-Chi in his arms.
"Hmm? Did something just pass by?"
"What? Did something happen? Are you half asleep? I told you not to play cards and get some sleep. We're on duty tonight."
"Okay, maybe I just imagined it... Damn, I'm so tired..."
The invisibility effect of the magic stone was excellent in the dark, and as long as Feld moved quickly, the soldiers couldn't even see whether he was a man or a ghost.
After passing the city gate, Feld took Chi-Chi and leaped across rooftops, following the carriages to the outer city gate. The outer city gate was much more relaxed. Seeing the carriages approaching, the guards simply stepped aside, and the gate remained open, as it always was.
Still utilizing the invisibility effect of the magic stone, Feld jumped over the heads of several soldiers without being noticed.
Next, they waited for the caravan to leave the protected zone.
"Chi-Chi, guess which carriage is carrying goods and which one is carrying people?" Feld asked with a smile, leaning towards Chi-Chi who was beside him.
Upon hearing this, Chi-Chi immediately looked at the six carriages, her eyes flashing with insight. After a moment, she said, "The first, fourth, and last ones are carrying people, meow!"
"How do you know?" Feld was somewhat surprised.
"With my 'Sense of Wind'," Chi-Chi replied.
"Magic, huh?"
"Mhm, meow~"
"That's really handy," Feld exclaimed. While he could also distinguish between which carriages were carrying goods and which were carrying people, it was based on experience.
"In a convoy like this with six carriages, the second, third, and fifth ones carry goods, while the first, fourth, and sixth carry people. This ensures all-round protection for the cargo," Feld shared his experience, and Chi-Chi listened attentively.
"The ones at the front clear the way, those at the back provide rear protection, and the ones in the middle have to watch both sides and oversee the entire operation. Therefore, it's almost certain that the one in the middle is carrying a platinum-level mage."
"In battle, we should target the fourth carriage first. Once we've dealt with that and the people inside, the rest won't pose much of a threat."
"Got it, meow!" Chi-Chi nodded enthusiastically.
Feld rubbed her little head, and the two continued to follow the carriages.
After more than an hour, they left the protected zone.
"The difference in tiers is too big. You step back and wait for me to deal with them, then you can clean up the battlefield," Feld said.
Chi-Chi nodded, feeling somewhat disappointed. She wanted to fight alongside Feld, but she knew she was still too weak. She could be of some use in gold-level missions, but in platinum-level missions like this, she would only be a burden.
So she looked at the weight-bearing armor she was wearing, determination flashing in her big eyes. She needed to get stronger quickly so she could help the big guy!
As the convoy was traveling, in the middle carriage, the mage was playing cards with his teammates.
"I mean, can't you guys be a little more vigilant? What if someone attacks us?" Another platinum-level warrior looked at them helplessly.
These guys really lacked vigilance.
"Come on, Dakota, I've been using my magic sense all along, and there's not even a rabbit within a radius of five hundred meters. You can rest assured," the mage said indifferently.
"Besides, we deliberately set off a day early. How could anyone attack us at this time..."
His thoughts were interrupted as he suddenly froze.
Because he found two people in his perception out of nowhere.
Those two people were less than fifty meters away from the convoy, and he couldn't understand how this was possible since he had been releasing his magic sense all along.
However, before he could figure it out, a heavy hammer suddenly smashed through the carriage's compartment. Seeing the hammer so close, the mage could only manage to utter, "F**k..."
Then his upper body was directly crushed by the heavy hammer.
The middle carriage was instantly torn in half by the heavy hammer. Several guards inside were even thrown out, only the platinum-level warrior landed steadily, but his face was full of horror.
Dead... A platinum-level mage died just like that...
Why wasn't there any warning?!
It's very simple.
Because Feld was holding the "Angel" heavy hammer all along. Under the effect of the anti-magic field, the platinum-level mage couldn't perceive his and Chi-Chi's presence at all.
Only when he threw the heavy hammer could he sense it, but by then it was too late.
The unprepared mage directly faced his full-force throw of the hammer. It was like an ordinary person being hit head-on by a hand grenade, his upper body instantly exploded, dying instantly.
And as Feld threw the heavy hammer, he rushed towards the carriage.
The heavy hammer veered off after hitting the carriage, smashing into the ground, then rebounded and spun in the air.
Feld made a big jump, grabbed the heavy hammer, and then fiercely smashed it towards the platinum-level warrior.
"Boom!!!"
A loud noise, like a small earthquake.
Chi-Chi, who had run more than a hundred meters away, hid behind a grassy slope, watching Feld unleash a series of slaughter.
The platinum-level warrior in front of him had only exchanged blows with him for over twenty moves before being defeated by a single hammer blow from Feld. Feld then followed up with another blow, smashing him to death on the spot.
The remaining gold-level guards were no longer a threat to Feld.
For Feld, the attacks of four archers and four crossbowmen didn't even require him to activate his magical defense. He could withstand them directly with his body.
The arrows that could penetrate the carriage only pierced his flesh by less than an inch. As long as he avoided vital points like the head and neck, they couldn't even be considered as minor injuries to Feld, who had super-strong self-healing abilities.
As for those sword and shield warriors, it goes without saying. None of them could withstand a single blow from Feld. Even if they raised their shields, they were directly knocked away along with their shields by Feld's hammer.
When they landed, the shield warriors appeared intact, but in reality, their internal organs were shattered.
Thirty-odd guards, all dealt with in less than ten minutes.
There were also two scouts who saw that the situation was bad and tried to escape, but they were also caught up by Feld and smashed to death on the spot.
Finally, there were a few cart drivers.
They knelt on the ground, crying and begging for mercy, claiming that they were innocent and just driving the carriage for money.
Their tearful appearance made Chi-Chi feel a little soft-hearted.
But the little kitty wouldn't make decisions for Feld; she just looked at him.
Feld grinned, "If you're in cahoots, don't try to absolve yourself~"
With that, he smashed them to death with a few blows.
Innocent?
This was like in the wasteland, those drivers who drove "goods" for human traffickers, saying they were innocent. Feld could only laugh his teeth off at that.
And so, the entire convoy, except for the startled horses, didn't have a single survivor.
"Alright, let's clean up the battlefield," Feld said, lighting up a cigarette.
Chi-Chi nodded and immediately ran off to clean up the battlefield.
The industrious little kitty was very nimble, and in no time, she had stripped the equipment off the bodies and piled them up. However, there wasn't much useful stuff left, as most of it had been smashed to pieces by Feld's hammer.
Fortunately, the loot wasn't bad. Besides some intact equipment and some money carried by the individuals, there were also eight storage rings. It's always good to carry some cash when out and about. The money from over thirty people added up to over thirty thousand gold coins. There was also some equipment that could still be sold, totaling about twenty thousand in value.
Next up was Feld's favorite time: opening the loot boxes. Among them, six were low-level storage rings, ranging from one to five cubic meters in storage space, containing some coins, arrows, and daily necessities. Then there were two high-level ones. One belonged to the platinum-level warrior, with a hundred cubic meters of space but no space extension. Inside was a large sword, slightly inferior to the one in Feld's hands, but still worth two or three thousand gold coins. There were also quite a few gold coins, totaling over six thousand. Additionally, there were over a dozen bottles of intermediate potions, one bottle of high-level recovery potion, and some miscellaneous items.
The most surprising find was a magic book, two magic scrolls, a magic stone imprinted with the "Purification" magic, and a magic wand. Among them, the most precious item was naturally the wand. It must have been a wand used by a platinum-level mage, worth at least twenty to thirty thousand gold coins. There was also the magic book, containing records of eight types of magic—three wood, one fire, one wind, and three universal functional magics. Feld couldn't learn from it, but Chi-Chi might be able to.
After cleaning up the battlefield, the next task was to inspect the cargo. Raymond hadn't specified what the cargo was, but he also didn't say they couldn't open it to check. So Feld jumped onto the carriage to inspect.
There were three loaded carriages, each with eighteen boxes. They didn't seem to be carrying people, which relieved Feld. Not that he didn't want to see human trafficking or anything, but this meant these things could be directly packed into storage rings and taken back, reducing the risk of exposure.
Feld then asked Chi-Chi to stand back as he wanted to open the boxes to avoid any potential danger inside. The boxes were locked, so Feld smashed them open forcefully.
When the boxes opened, Feld's eyes widened.
"What is it, meow?" Chi-Chi shouted from afar.
"It's a big treasure!" Feld laughed. "No wonder the Wolf Gang was so eager. Who wouldn't be dazzled by this thing, haha!"
With that, Feld took out the contents from inside the boxes.
Chi-Chi was immediately astonished. The thing, black, long, and thick, seemed to be... something Chi-Chi didn't recognize.
"What is it, meow?" Chi-Chi asked as Feld confirmed it was safe.
Feld smirked, infused it with magic, and a blue light illuminated the black, long, and thick object.
"A magic cannon!"
"I've been wanting one for ages!"