Li Na saw everything through the connection with Void Eye. After the initial seven camps, she found another nine camps deeper into the forest. It was easy to tell that they were mercenaries with how separated they were. They moved in the original group instead of moving like an army.
"This is an easy sweep for us. They don't set up any patrol or watcher," Ashley showed up a paper with many dots on it. The dots were the camp's location. There were a total of sixteen camps with each camp comprising fifty to a hundred people, "We will split into two groups, and we will meet again at this camp. I will lead the first group, and Liang Suyin will lead the second group. I will split the knights with you."
"Why don't we split into three groups instead? It's faster that way," Kairu was at Primordial Rank, one of few that was closest to each Legend Rank, "Me and Wen, that's a solid group."
"No. You follow my order and follow Liang Suyin. I will split one hundred knights into the second group. We are on time, and we don't know when the World Government will start attacking us, so we must finish our business here as soon as possible in the safest way as well. We don't know if they have Legend Rank mercenaries or not. Move in a bigger group, so if something goes wrong, we can stall time with the number so we can regroup." Ashley did not hesitate to oppose Kairu's idea about the three groups.
Abaka mentioned there was no Legend Rank, but they did not know if what Abaka mentioned was all mercenaries. There must be a reason too why the Polar Guild did not try to take over Mongolia. Regardless of the reason, they needed to cull the Polar Guild's force so they would not come to the border again.
The Flaming Lion wanted to protest, but Wen stopped him. The Jade Eagle shook his head, telling him not to argue anymore, "Good if you understand," Ashley then started to make a route for the two groups, "I will take this route, and you will take this route."
Ashley was the first one to leave with her four hundred knights. Despite their heavy armor, the knight moved soundlessly. Not even vibration could be felt from the ground despite moving in formation.
"We are on an official mission, Kairu. We just need to listen to the command and get the job done," Wen scolded his friend after Ashley left, "I know you are close to Legend Rank, but this is more important than individual achievement. We need to get the job done with no casualties. That's why we are here." Wen and Kairu were the fastest to reach Primordial Rank. The reason was that both had gone on their way, exploring the Earth. They had fought the strong and high-rank zombies, preventing the zombie to form a big group and so on.
"If that's the case, we will provide support while you two go on rampages," Liang Suyin was more on the softer side. She knew that the two beastmen did not want to share the level with the others, "And please don't make a big commotion. We don't want the next camp to notice they are under attack."
*** ***
Ashley soon arrived at her first camp. From Li Na's scouting, there were sixty people in this camp. The rank was unknown because Li Na could not use Detection through Void Eye. Dozens of tents stood with the men gathered around the bonfire, drunk. Ashley could hear the mercenaries complaining.
"Why are we staying here? Can we just take over their city and stay there instead?" That was the most common complaint, but of course, no one could give the man the answer because they were paid to follow the order.
"Stop complaining, you bastard! You are ruining the mood here. As long as they keep supplying the drink, then I don't care where to sleep. We will finish the contract in a month. We can cash out and leave this backwater world!"
Ashley had finished using the Detection, and none of the mercenaries noticed that. There was a subtle uncomfortable feeling when someone used Detection, but because they were drunk, they failed to notice that uncomfortable feeling, "Ancient Rank is the highest," She muttered while sending a signal to her knight to surround the camp. After all her knights surrounded the camp, Ashley leaped from the tree. She leaped far and landed next to the bonfire.
The mercenaries were surprised at first with most of them picking up their weapon. However, the surprise turned into laughter, "Even God is helping us now. God sends one of his b*tches for us to en— Huh?" The man could not finish his words because his head flew into the air with his vision turned upside down.
After the first head, Ashley's figures blurred once more. Her sword released the energy and cut through the mercenaries. Within five seconds, she killed over twenty mercenaries. Only, the mercenaries were alarmed. They shouted to call out their friends inside the tent. At the same time, the four hundred knights rushed into the camp. It did not take long for Ashley and her knight to finish off sixty-five mercenaries.
Ashley shook her sword from the blood before sheathing it back. She walked to the leader of the mercenary who was sleeping when she launched the ambush. He was on his knees with no hands and three swords on his back, "We are just mercenaries. We are just following—" She cut his head before he could finish his words. Her mission was to eliminate the threat to Mongolia, she did not take prisoners or slaves.
"Don't burn their bodies, just leave them be. We don't want the next camp to notice our attack!" Ashley raised her sword and gestured to her knights to move to the next camp.
*** ***
In another area, Kairu and Wen took the lead to ambush the camp with fifty mercenaries. The knights surrounded the camp, ensuring there was no one escaping while Wen and Kairu barged into the camp with their surprise attack. Fifty mercenaries with the highest Ancient Rank was nothing for the duo. The two beastmen mercilessly killed the mercenary in sight.
"They really leave nothing for me," Li Na complained from outside the camp. She wanted a few of the mercenaries for her to summon. Void Eye was just level 789, not even Epic Rank. She wanted a few mercenaries for her new summon, but Kairu and Wen did not leave a single one to escape, "Don't you want to kill the mercenary too, Sis Suyin? They are quite high-rank."
"Do you forget my ability? If I fight, the other camp might notice us," Liang Suyin shook her head. Her fire might reveal their location and arouse suspicion from the other camps, "We will have ours later, maybe."
Liang Suyin was about to order her group to move to the next camp, but she noticed someone missing from her group, Delia. She panicked for a moment and asked Li Na, "Where's Delia?"
"She's hunting," Li Na answered casually as if it was nothing weird.
Liang Suyin was bewildered for a moment, giving Li Na a second glance, "What do you mean she's hunting? Is there someone who can escape from the camp?"
"No, she's hunting the beast in this forest. She found the mutated deer just two minutes ago and went to hunt the deer," Li Na replied casually, "There's no need to worry about her. She's in my vision and safe."
Liang Suyin blinked her eyes. She thought Delia followed them to gain experience in fighting, but she was wrong. Delia was hunting the delicacy that only existed here, "If you say so."
The group continued, and the mercenary failed to provide a surprise for them. The mercenary did not expect the ambush which led to their doom. After the sixth, they were supposed to meet Ashley's group in the seventh camp.
"Are there any casualties?" That was Ashley's first question when they met.
"Nope. They lowered their guard which made it easy for us," Liang Suyin shook her head.
"Good. We will start the next camp," Ashley was relieved with no casualty. The reason they regrouped for the last three camps was because the mercenary number was larger. The one ahead of them had over two hundred people. That would be hard for them to sweep them smoothly like the previous camp. The bigger number meant there might be a high rank in this camp, a Primordial Rank or maybe the Legend Rank.
"Me, Wen, and Kairu will storm into the camp to catch their
attention. The knights will surround the camp, make sure no mercenary escapes from the camp," Ashley gave her command to the team. The knights spread out, surrounding the camp. Then she made the signal, and three of them burst into the camp. The yell and scream resounded as the big camp was more organized than the smaller camp. One mercenary hit the bell while yelling 'We are under attack!' 'We are under attack!' 'We are under attack!'