"Aside from Rein and Matteo, everyone, return to your original positions!" Weilun waved grandly, and the elite Night Watchmen immediately ceased their rest, each with bow drawn and arrows ready, continuing to hide in the surrounding grass encircling the area.
It was still the short statured Matteo who went forward to lure the enemy, while Rein hid alone on the outer side of the valley, not far from the narrow passage.
"Swoosh, swoosh!"
As Matteo ran and shot, the group of fishmen warriors, as expected, brandished their weapons and charged toward the encirclement while yelling chaotically.
Just when everyone thought that the enemy would barge into the encirclement as before, the tall spearsman suddenly roared loudly!
And these fishmen warriors actually began to slow down, barely stopping at the mouth of the valley.
This immediately caused Weilun's expression to drastically change as he thought to himself, "This is not good!"
Because the Night Watchmen were far fewer in number than the fishmen, if they were forced to fight, even if they could defeat the fishmen, nearly half would escape, not achieving the desired outcome.
Moreover, in a head-on battle, the Night Watchmen would inevitably suffer significant casualties.
This was something Captain Weilun did not want to see.
The tall spearsman then stepped forward from the rear of the fishmen warriors, looking at the valley littered with fishmen corpses, and couldn't help but roar again in anger.
Matteo was even more anxious; he not only stopped retreating but also advanced toward the narrow passage, fiercely shooting several arrows at the clustered fishmen warriors.
But except for the first arrow that killed one fishman warrior, the other two arrows were deflected by the tall spearsman with his gleaming spear.
Matteo wanted to continue shooting, but he found out that he had already used up the dozens of arrows in his quiver!
At this, Matteo was flustered!
The man was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
Rein, lying in ambush outside the valley, also sensed that something was wrong.
Through the grass, his eyes could clearly see twenty or thirty fishmen gathered at the pass, refusing to enter the encirclement in the valley.
This seriously contradicted Captain Weilun's plan to lure the enemy.
Rein could even faintly hear Matteo's cursing and mocking voice in the valley.
"Has the fishmen learned their lesson? Do they know it's a trap inside?"
"Probably, after all, there are fishmen corpses everywhere inside, and the people hadn't had time to deal with them before the second wave of fishmen arrived."
Given this, Rein had a bold idea!
"If you don't want to enter, then I'll force you in!"
The next second, Rein shook his Dual-Handed Greatsword, and the soft sheepskin covering it was instantly flung aside.
With a forceful tap of his toes, the ground beneath him sunk, and like a tiger descending the mountain, he charged directly into the rear of the fishmen warriors!
At this time, Captain Weilun, lying in ambush in the valley grass, had large beads of sweat forming on his forehead!
"What should we do?"
"Charge out directly? No! That would definitely lead to a melee. We are too few in number, even a victory would be a pyrrhic victory!"
"But if we don't charge out, once they block the pass, we'll be even more passive!"
"Regardless, we have to charge!"
Just as Weilun was about to rise, he suddenly discerned a disturbance at the mouth of the pass among the fishmen.
He immediately focused his attention and saw a bright silver light suddenly appearing behind the fishmen, darting left and right, seemingly driving the fishmen warriors into the pass.
"Is... is that Rein?!" Weilun couldn't help but blurt out as a flash of realization crossed his mind.
That glow was indeed Rein, who had activated 'Blacksmith's Power lv3', and supported by his strength of 10 (+6), Rein was like an unleashed wild horse, rampaging through the group of fishman warriors.
More terrifying was the Fine Steel Greatsword in Rein's hands, which, propelled by a strength of 16, swung about like a high-speed sewing machine!
With a flash of light, severed limbs and body parts danced in mid-air.
"(Merfolk Language) Blah blah blah!" The towering spearfish warrior had, of course, also noticed Rein wreaking havoc behind him.
He immediately roared and, brandishing his spear, charged rapidly towards Rein.
"Bring it on!"
Upon seeing the towering spearfish warrior charging at him, Rein felt no fear; instead, a strong impulse to test his might surged within him.
"Leap Slash!"
Rein pushed off the ground with his feet, causing the dirt to explode, and he rapidly soared into the air, slashing downward with a fierce Leap Slash at the incoming spearfish warrior.
After this strike, Rein felt an exhilarating rush throughout his body!
"Crack!!"
The tall fishman warrior, who had raised his steel fork in a desperate attempt to block, froze on the spot.
By then, his steel fork was already split into two by Rein's sword, and more fatally, a bloodline had appeared on his forehead, slicing through his chest and abdomen down to his lower body.
"Sizzle!"
The next second, pale blue blood burst out from the bloodline like a fan-shaped fountain!
The towering fishman warrior instantly split into two halves, his eyes bulging and his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something...
Seeing their leader fail to withstand even a single strike sent the remaining fishman warriors into a terrified disarray!
A group of surviving fishman warriors, their desire to fight completely obliterated, involuntarily hid in the narrow pass.
Although they knew it might be dangerous inside, staying outside meant certain death!
Between a possible death and an inevitable death, no one would foolishly choose the inevitable.
It was the same for the fishmen.
"Yes!!"
"Rein did an amazing job!"
"...."
At this moment, the elite Night Watchmen hidden in the bushes had all excitedly stood up, completely ignoring the less than ten 'defeated soldiers' who rushed into their trap.
The fight Rein had fought in less than half a minute had them boiling with excitement!
The subsequent battle was without suspense.
After several volleys of arrows, the valley was almost entirely filled with the disgusting smell of rotting fishman corpses.
"Haha, good job, Rein!!"
Weilun strode over to Rein and gave him a hearty hug while he was still savoring that sword strike.
After Rein's rapturous Leap Slash, the fishman warriors dared not face him anymore, desperately squeezing towards the pass and rushing towards the valley.
Thus, Rein stopped and carefully relished that 'Leap Slash.'
This was the best 'Leap Slash' Rein felt he had executed since he started learning the Giant Bear Sword Technique!
The system notification confirmed this.
"[Your skill 'Giant Bear Sword Technique' has improved, Experience +248]"
"[You have survived a battle, Night Watchman Professional Experience Points +83]"
The progress bar of the Giant Bear Sword Technique surged significantly, jumping from lv3 (101/500) to lv3 (349/500), passing the halfway mark.
Moreover, the Night Watchman's Profession Level also showed a significant increase, reaching lv2 (137/300).
The gains were indeed substantial!
The successive annihilation of two groups of fishmen warriors meant that the 'backbone' of this small Evilfin fishmen tribe had been broken.
After a brief rest, Captain Weilun started directing the final battle.
However, this time, no matter how Matteo lured them, the remaining Evilfin fishmen would not leave their camp to pursue him; instead, they seemed to harbor a faint fear of Matteo, who was alone.
"What should we do?"
"Just charge in! The remaining fishmen seem to be all weak and sick."
"We can't just charge in; we need to move in from the riverbank and encircle the fishmen camp!"
"Alright! Then let's move quickly and drive them into the forest from the shallows."
"Yes, and then kill them one by one."
"..."
Rein's recent battle had completely buoyed the morale of the Night Watchmen.
Everybody was chipping in with suggestions, and in the midst of their many voices, the rough plan was completed, with Captain Weilun barely getting a word in.
However, Weilun didn't mind at all but instead nodded with a smile again and again.
It had been a long time since he had seen his squad this spirited.
As the captain, Weilun found it hard to believe that all this was triggered by a young man whose lips were still downy with youth!
To have such strength at such a young age was no small feat!
After the plan was set, the elite members of the Night's Watch quickly began to act under Weilun's command.
Rein took the lead, his Dual-Handed Greatsword swinging with a continual whooshing sound, as they rapidly advanced along the riverbank, cutting straight through.
It was like a sharp knife slicing along the riverbank, separating the fishmen camp from the stream.
And right behind Rein were ten Night Watchmen wielding bows and arrows.
They followed behind Rein, continuously drawing bows and shooting arrows, driving the fishmen deep into the forest.
Most of the fishmen remaining in the camp were old, weak, or sick. From the moment Rein and the others appeared, the whole camp fell into chaos. Few had the courage to resist and most were frantically running without choosing their paths.
Any slight hesitation could result in the fishmen's death under the sharp arrows of the Night Watchmen.
Thus, this fight encountered hardly any resistance and was akin to a swift breeze sweeping away the leaves, utterly defeating the remaining fishmen.
After the panic, the fishmen that fled into the forest realized that it was a dead end as well.
Not to mention anything else, just the fierce beasts lurking in the Nightingale Forest would consider them as food and devour them completely.
So, these scattered fishmen could only choose to run back toward the stream from the forest, where they were once again faced with a barrage of arrows.
The elite Night Watchmen killed these returning fishmen one by one.
In the end, the fishmen who truly managed to escape into the river were few and far between.
By this point, the small Evilfin fishmen tribe was completely doomed.
Even if a handful of fishmen managed to flee, they were no longer a concern. Without a tribe and settlement to rely on, the remaining isolated fishmen were likely to become prey to other beasts soon.
In the dense and overgrown Nightingale Forest, the roles of hunter and prey could switch far faster than one might imagine!
[Your skill, Giant Bear Sword Technique, has improved; Experience +49]
[You have gone through a battle; Night Watchmen Professional Experience Points +15]
Since the intensity of this battle was very low, almost like sweeping away fallen leaves with an autumn breeze, the Experience Rein gained was also much less.
Of course, this was all expected.
While Rein was checking the system messages, the Night Watchmen were not resting, but were quickly starting to loot the battlefield for spoils, heads bowed.
Although the weapons of these Fishmen were crudely made, sometimes one could find quite a few good items among them.
Once, someone had killed a Fishman and discovered that it was actually carrying a piece of Mithril ore the size of a fist; that person made a fortune on the spot.
So, after the Fishmen had been completely eliminated, the Night Watchmen began to search for battle loot.
"Rein, don't just stand there, come help!" Captain Weilun called out to Rein with a smile and a wave.
Truth be told, it wasn't that Rein looked down on the Fishmen's poor weapons and equipment.
Rather, Rein believed that, as this was his first time participating in a Night Watchman squad's battle, it was more beneficial for him to show restraint concerning the loot to integrate better into the team's collective.
Seeing Rein's expression, Weilun immediately guessed something and laughed heartily, "Haha, Rein, do you think the battle loot each person picks up belongs solely to themselves?"
"That would be total chaos!"
Rein's brow furrowed, could there be some etiquette involved?
"Uh, Captain Weilun, isn't it that way?"
"Of course not, the distribution of battle loot is carried out according to regulations. Otherwise, those who get injured and can't pick up any loot would be at a huge loss," Weilun explained.
"Fairly distributing battle loot is a tradition of the Night Watchmen, which, after long practice, has gradually been improved upon and formed into specific rules," Weilun briefly explained to Rein the loot distribution rules of the Night Watchmen.
"...."
Rein nodded continuously as he listened. He hadn't expected that there were actually intricacies involved just in the distribution of battle loot.
For instance, in the loot distribution rules of the Night Watchmen, thirty percent was handed over to the Empire, and the remaining seventy percent was allocated to individuals.
Within this remaining seventy percent, there were detailed rules regarding rewards for those who performed exceptionally in battle, the proportion of loot distribution based on different combat roles, the pricing of enemy weapons and equipment after the battle, and even how much compensation one should receive for having an arm severed on the battlefield.
However, no matter how one calculated it, Rein had been incredibly instrumental in this battle and could almost directly claim half of the total amount of the seventy percent of the battle loot.
After much searching, nearly half of the loot found by everyone turned out to be his!
This suddenly made Rein, who had come to the realization, feel a bit embarrassed, so he quickened his pace and began searching the Fishman camp.
The corpses in the valley had been thoroughly searched earlier, and now it was mainly the Fishman camp area.
Rein stepped into one of the stilt houses and found it contained only numerous clay pots and dried fish, the entire house reeking of a strong fishy smell.
This made him involuntarily furrow his eyebrows.
Perhaps this fishy smell was a rare delicacy for the Fishmen, but for humans, it was somewhat unbearable.
Rein casually rummaged around and could say he found nothing of value.
So, he quickly left and moved on to the next stilt house.
"Huh! This stilt house seems quite a bit larger."
Rein noticed the difference as soon as he entered; since the stilt houses all had a conical appearance, the larger size wasn't easy to distinguish from the outside.
But one could tell the difference once inside.
This stilt house had a lot more furnishings, and in one corner, there was even a worn wooden box.
Rein's eyes lit up immediately, and he used his greatsword to pry open the box, revealing a glint of shine within. There were a small amount of gold and silver coins, a piece of green agate, three or four pieces of magnetite, and a nugget of gold?
Rein picked up the supposed gold nugget with delight, but as soon as he held it, he felt that the weight was off—it was clearly too light!
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be just a high-quality piece of brass ore.
Rein was greatly disappointed at this discovery.
Since the wooden box was beginning to rot and was too heavy to carry conveniently, Rein took the coins one by one and placed them in his pocket and packed the green agate and others into a large cloth bag.
"Huh! What's this?"
Suddenly, Rein discovered that in the half-empty wooden box, beneath several larger pieces of magnetite, there was a fist-sized, slightly luminescent mysterious ore.