Chapter 257：Encounter with the Wuto Mercenary Corps

Chapter 257:Encounter with the Wuto Mercenary Corps

Through mountains and valleys, they journeyed, encountering no terrifying monsters or other adventurers along the way.

To ensure their safety, Jonah led them on a route that avoided areas frequented by dangerous creatures.

"This is a Rock Snake, a common venomous serpent in the wilderness. One bite and you're done for," Jonah said, as he reached out and grabbed a two-meter-long snake hidden in the crevice of a rock.

The adult-sized snake, as thick as a human arm, blended in perfectly with the nearby rocks. Charlotte hadn't even noticed it until Jonah grabbed it.

The snake had a triangular head, revealing sharp teeth as it lunged towards Jonah with its thick, muscular body.

Unfazed, Jonah casually pulled out a thin rope from his waist and swiftly tied up the snake's head.

With his other hand, he grabbed the tail and loosely tied a knot before stuffing the entire snake into a large cloth pocket attached to his waist.

It wasn't the most professional method, but it seemed to have done the trick. They had successfully captured the Rock Snake.

"While it's not a monster, we can still sell it for about five to six hundred copper coins as it's used for brewing liquor," Jonah explained.nove(l)bi(n.)com

Charlotte nodded thoughtfully. Along their journey, gathering and capturing things that could be sold was the survival wisdom of adventurers like Jonah.

Their target for today was the Shooting Star Mouse, but those creatures were clever and agile. Even if they reached the Giant Stone Valley, there was no guarantee they could catch one.

But this Rock Snake was worth a solid five to six hundred copper coins, and capturing it meant their trip wasn't in vain.

Swoosh!

Celia, who was walking behind Charlotte, suddenly raised her hand. Her silver spear turned into a streak of light, whistling through the trees. Celia herself leaped forward like a nimble cheetah.

Soon, she returned carrying the spear with a plump rabbit pierced through its belly. It weighed over ten kilograms and had smooth gray fur.

"Hehe, we have dinner sorted for today," Jonah grinned, pleased with Celia's catch.

"This fur is nice, and the rabbit is really fat. We might be able to sell it for a hundred copper coins," Celia added, removing the rabbit from the spear and handing it to Jonah.

Charlotte watched as Jonah skillfully tucked the rabbit into the bundle hanging from his waist. His eyebrows raised slightly, impressed by the fact that Jonah and his siblings followed the philosophy of wasting nothing, even if it was just the leg of a mosquito.

"Let's keep going. We have to climb two more mountains and pass through a canyon to reach the Giant Stone Valley," Jonah said, and the trio, content with their findings, continued their journey, heading towards the next mountain to climb.

Along the way, Celia hunted two more rabbits, swiftly skinning them. However, since it was inconvenient to carry the meat, she left them behind.

They were really fat rabbits, probably fattening up for the autumn season. All meat, no bones.

Following his principle of not wasting food, Charlotte silently stored the rabbits in his spatial ring.

Now he had his dinner sorted as well.

"Having a spatial ring is so convenient. When I have money, I'll buy one too," Jonah said, enviously eyeing the ring on Charlotte's hand. Suddenly, he felt that the bundle hanging from his waist wasn't so appealing anymore.

"Yeah, it's incredibly convenient," Celia added, equally envious of Charlotte's ring.

As adventurers in the wilderness, carrying large bundles on their shoulders would not only attract unnecessary attention but also restrict their vision and mobility.

With a spatial ring, they could hide all their spoils and avoid leaving behind things they couldn't carry.

"When you have enough money, you should buy one with a larger capacity. Mine is only 1 cubic meter, and it fills up easily with just a few things," Charlotte reassured them. He wasn't worried about Jonah and Celia trying to take it from him because the two of them combined couldn't overpower him.

"But how much does it cost? It'll take a long time for me to save up that much," Jonah said, feeling a bit discouraged.

"It's okay, just save up slowly," Celia said optimistically, unconcerned.

They had spent over two hours to get here, and the sunlight only shone on half of the cliff, unable to reach the bottom of the gorge.

Celia set up a complex trap at the entrance, ready to catch the meteor mice once they rushed out and got entangled in the net.

Jonah had already sealed off the other entrances, went around to the back, stuffed some hay into the tunnel, followed by a wet leaf, and ignited it. With a hollow bamboo tube in hand, he blew with force.

Black smoke immediately rose, with half drifting into the sky and the other half blown into the cave by Jonah.

"This smoke..." Charlotte looked up at the smoke drifting into the sky, feeling a bit worried. Wouldn't it attract trouble?

"Don't worry, this repugnant smell will dissipate before it reaches the top of the cliff. People outside won't see it." Celia, who had finished setting up the trap and stood by, noticed Charlotte's concern and smiled.

Charlotte still felt something was amiss, but since Celia said so, he didn't say anything more.

However, just a few hundred meters away in the Giant Stone Valley, a group of orcs had noticed the smoke.

Leading the group was a burly black bear orc with a scar on the corner of his eye, looking quite fierce.

Three werewolves crouched beside him.

And not far from them on the cliff, there grew a tree covered in white spots, with a fist-sized red fruit on its branches, adorned with six stars, and a seventh star forming at the tail.

"Boss, it seems like someone is here. Should we sound the alarm?" one of the werewolves whispered.

"We've been squatting here for three days and haven't seen a single person. Unless they also know about the seven-star fruit here, why would they come to such a remote place? Let's go check it out." The other two werewolves also looked nervous.

"Don't panic, the seven-star fruit will ripen soon. Let's assess the situation first. If they're just passing by, then forget it. If they also have their eyes on the seven-star fruit, they can't blame us, the Wuto Mercenary Group, for being ruthless." Wuto grinned, revealing his blackish-brown sharp teeth, and got up, heading towards the direction of the rising smoke.

"Let's surround them." The other three werewolves followed suit, silently converging from three different directions toward the smoke.

In a short while, the Wuto Mercenary Group approached the source of the smoke and hid behind two large rocks.

"Looks like they're here to catch the meteor mice. One Level 3 half-orc, one Level 2 half-orc, and an ordinary human, a weak adventurer team." One of the werewolves whispered to Wuto who was beside him.

"Hehe, that little girl looks quite enticing. Squatting here in the middle of nowhere for three days, I didn't expect such fun to come knocking. We still have to wait a bit here anyway, so we'll have some fun with her, pass the time." Wuto stared at Celia, her captivating figure hidden under the animal skin tube top and short skirt, making him restless.

"You wait here, we'll go and bring her to you." The werewolves understood Wuto's intention and immediately jumped onto a large rock, tilting their heads back to let out a long howl.

The other two werewolves, who were converging from different directions, also emerged and took their positions, encircling Charlotte and the others, glaring at the three below who were surrounded and blowing smoke.

"Brother!" Celia grabbed the silver spear on her back, alertly watching the sudden appearance of the three werewolves.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Jonah, who had inhaled a mouthful of smoke from the howl, quickly threw away the bamboo tube in his hand and looked up at the three werewolves encircling them, instinctively clenching his fists, his expression equally gloomy.

Three Level 3 orcs, and they were werewolves, known for their speed and attack power.

"Encountering us, you guys are unlucky." A four-meter-tall black bear orc walked out from behind the boulder, looking at the three of them with a mocking expression.

"A Level 4 black bear orc!" Jonah's face turned pale. If three werewolves were already enough to make one despair, this powerful Level 4 black bear orc completely crushed any resistance in Jonah's mind.

"Sir, we were simply passing through this area and don't mean to offend you. Please don't blame us. We will leave immediately." Jonah tentatively said, stepping back two steps to put Celia and Charlotte behind him.

"Leave?" Wuto grinned, "Today, none of you will leave this Giant Stone Valley."

"We can offer you all our possessions, just please let us leave." Jonah clenched his teeth, and the hand behind his back gestured towards Celia.

"Doctor, when the time comes, you just run towards the exit of the gorge while we hold them off. From where we came in this morning, we'll keep them here for you." Celia whispered.

Charlotte glanced at her. It was clear that Jonah's gestures meant for the two of them to leave together, while he stayed behind.