Joel sat on the stone pier wearing a rabbit-skinned cloak that was keeping warm, chewing grass roots in his mouth, and the bitter smell gradually spread in his mouth. He raised his cold gray eyes and looked at the grassland in front of him. This was a grassland filled with the air-conditioning slowly flowing down the snow-capped mountains, and the tough wild flowers swayed slightly in the wind.

The sun is warm at noon, and the stream formed by melting snow water on the snow-capped mountains flows through this grassland and the town not far away.

Then Joel saw a mercenary wearing a chain mail approaching him. The sword around his waist was still bleeding. He held three black rabbits in one hand and pushed away the mask of the iron helmet with the other. Joel saw a young and handsome face and golden pupils - this was really the most ordinary face. Joel secretly swore to the gods.

However, from the accent, this mercenary is not a citizen of the kingdom, but a person from the principality. But it doesn't matter. The kingdom and the principality have been living peacefully for decades, and merchants and mercenaries have become accustomed to the interactions.

The mercenary threw the black rabbit at Joel's feet, and Joel saw the impatient look on his face. He wore a black shirt and a finely crafted chain mail, which was obviously not from the hands of a craftsman. The principality has always been famous for its trade, and it can buy the best equipment at the best price. As long as you have copper plates, no matter you are a prince or a nobleman or a mercenary thief, you can get such a outfit.

"Good job, mercenary." Joel frowned and looked at the black rabbit under his feet. Their heads were almost falling off. It seemed that the murderer's swordsman was quite "superb".

"Note your wording, I'm a knight!" the young mercenary pointed at Joel in dissatisfaction.

The gods were above. Joel prayed secretly, but he was not doing mercenaries yet? But he still didn't say this, but just shrugged: "Whatever you are."

"Give it, my reward. I'm almost fed up with you kingdom silly guys." The mercenary raised his hand and covered his iron mask, then extended his tight palm wrapped in iron armor towards Joel, looking like a landlord who was collecting debts.

I was almost fed up. Joel reached out from under the cloak and threw a small cloth bag to the mercenary. The mercenary grabbed the small bag made of coarse cloth, and then weighed it.

The mercenary suddenly discovered something wrong, then opened the coarse cloth bag and found that there was nothing else in it except a few copper plates.

"This is different from what he agreed to!" The mercenary suddenly shouted, as if he had been deceived.

Joel just looked at him coldly and didn't say much. He didn't think anything was wrong - except for the stupid head in front of him - he only promised to give him so much from the beginning, so there was nothing "different".

"Good luck rabbit feet! Shouldn't there be a good luck rabbit feet here?!" The mercenary shouted without any grace. He reached out and raised his mask again. Joel saw that handsome face was twisted by anger.

Good Lucky Rabbit Foot? Joel frowned. He did have the habit of putting good Lucky Rabbit Foot in the money bag given to the mercenaries. It was a small decoration, a small playful look that Joel's wife did when she was free. But a mercenary who helped hunt rabbits cut the rabbit out of shape. After seeing the rabbit's corpse, Joel's wife shouted "Gods are above."

So this time there was no good luck rabbit feet. But how did this guy know? Joel was a little confused. He was like he came here specifically for good luck rabbit feet.

"Not this time." Joel spitted the grass roots in his mouth aside, then stood up from the stone pier, bent down to grab the three black rabbits tied together.

After lifting the black rabbit up, Joel stood up straight again. Joel's figure was already tall in Lengxi Town, but he was still half shorter in front of this handsome mercenary who looked like a girl.

"The last time I cut off all the rabbit legs for me, so this time I didn't." Joel explained, trying to relieve the anger of the impatient young man in front of me, "and this thing is useless, it's just an ornament. The real craft of making lucky rabbit feet has been lost."

"No! That makes no sense!" The mercenary was still relentless. "Last time, the man cut off the rabbit's legs, but he got the rabbit's feet. I gave you the rabbit intact, but you only gave me a few copper coins?"

What a complete completeness. Joel looked at the almost broken rabbit head and the rabbit blood dripping on his shoes. The price of this rabbit skin was at least twice as high as that of a truly complete rabbit skin. Perhaps the golden eyes mean greed.

Joel already understood that if he didn't find a way to pay the reward that satisfies the greedy mercenary, he would keep making trouble.

"You come here again tomorrow, and I'll let my wife make one for you at that time." Joel sighed.

"I don't have that time!" The mercenary stared at Joel with his eyes tightly, as if he was afraid that he would just run away.

Joel was almost fed up, but he still didn't hit the mercenary. Because he could believe that this guy might draw his sword to threaten him at any time. Although Joel also had a sword around his waist, it was a rust sword, which was just used to scare people, and it was completely different from the shiny sword of the mercenary in front of him.

Mercenaries are such a group of guys. No matter how good they are, their nature is the same, greedy and no honor.

"Then there is nothing to do." Joel said in a helpless tone, and his heart began to become alert. There was always something wrong with this mercenary.

The mercenary's golden eyes suddenly looked at a black rabbit foot on Joel's waist, and then he pointed, "Isn't there another one?"

"Don't even think about it." Joel's expression suddenly became serious. He reached out and held the hilt of the sword around his waist, and at the same time sewed it into a cloak to block the rabbit foot pendant on his waist. It was the token of love given to him by Joel's wife.

"Hmph! Don't just send me away!" The mercenary also noticed Joel's movements, and he reached out to grab the hilt of the sword. However, unlike Joel, he pulled out the sword directly, and Joel noticed that there was still blood stains of rabbits on it.

There is only one meaning to draw a sword, and you need to leave some blood.

"It's time to leave some blood." The mercenary said viciously. Joel saw the grim smile on his face, and then he reached out and covered the iron mask again. From a gap between two fingers, the golden eyes seemed to be shining.

Joel quickly stepped back and jumped onto the stone pier behind him. The rust sword at his waist had been unsheathed. Although it was a rust sword that could not be cut into the mercenary's iron armor, it was better than nothing.

Joel recalled the skills he had learned from his swordsman before, and set up a parry posture.

"It's only a few hundred meters away from Lengxi Town, so you'd better not do this." Joel tried to threaten. Although he didn't expect the mercenary to listen, he was a madman who could draw his sword for a rabbit's claw.

"As long as you hand over that rabbit leg, there will be no problem." The mercenary said with determination, holding the sword, his golden eyes flashing with its unique light.

"You are robbery." Joel quietly searched for a retreat while trying to convince him - or delay time, "According to the laws of the kingdom, you will be hung."

"I just took back what should belong to me. This is not a robbery. And your law is useless to me." After hearing this, Joel cursed, then smashed the black rabbit in his hand towards his head, and then turned around and fled towards Lengxi Town.

Joel was wearing light black leather armor, unlike the lock iron armor worn by mercenaries. A guy without honor! Joel cursed himself secretly. The mercenaries in this principality were crazy! He had no idea what the consequences would be for him to do so!

No one is more familiar with this road back to Lengxi Town than Joel, not to mention that the other party is still a mercenary in iron armor. However, Joel was still surprised by the mercenary's reluctance to chase him. He was wearing such heavy armor and was not far away by Joel. Joel turned around. The mercenary was closer than before, but at this speed, he could not catch up with Joel when he arrived in Lengxi Town.

The mercenary's iron armor and sword blades flashed white under the sunlight.

Joel had already seen the wall of Lengxi Town, which was built with thick black iron tree trunks. The bottom was buried deep in the soil, the top was cut into sharp thorns, and wisps of smoke rose from behind the wall. It was almost here.

At this time, Joel saw that there seemed to be a man on the road ahead. He was sitting on a white stone with a thick wooden stick at his feet.

It's saved! Joel looked back and saw that the mercenary was still there, but his speed slowed down and was thrown away a lot. Joel turned his head panting, looked at the person sitting on the roadside, waved to him and shouted: "Hey! Friend! Save me!"

The man looked at Joel, then stood up, what a tall guy! Joel could tell from a distance that it was a tall man, tall and strong, just like a tall tower. When the man got up, he picked up the wooden stick at his feet. It was a black wooden stick as thick as Joel's thigh, which seemed to be stained with blood.

No, something was wrong! Joel saw the tall man wearing leather armor of a very rare style, like thick leather armor worn by the southern barbarians. An iron spike on the shoulder armor on his left shoulder was raised, revealing the rock-like chest muscles. Then the man raised the blood-stained black wooden stick and stared at Joel coldly.

"No, no!" It was too late for Joel to stop. The black wooden stick hit his face. Joel felt his nose turn into a bloody ball, and the whole world was spinning and thorned into a ball, followed by a burst of darkness.

Joel flew backwards, then fell heavily on the wet soil. He opened his eyes in pain, and his eyes were red in red. Then he saw a pair of iron boots standing with black mud and water coming over.

"Run so fast," Joel heard the mercenary say to the tall man, "just like a rabbit."

Then the tall man let out a harsh laugh. Before Joel could finish laughing, the mercenary's sword pierced his chest.

...

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...

I don't know how long it took to be silent in nothingness, Joel's feeling came back. At first it was vision, with darkness around it, but at least there was darkness, and there was nothing before that; then it was touch, cold, damp, disgusting feeling; taste and smell came back together, Joel smelled a rotten and moldy smell, his mouth was full of bitterness, copper rust and earthy smell; finally, it was hearing, Joel heard the rumbling footsteps coming from above, and the shouts of people.

Where is this? Joel found that he could move, so he moved his fingers, then his toes, then his arms, and feet. Finally, he found himself lying in a closed box or something. What's going on?

As his limbs gradually recovered their strength, something strange appeared in front of Joel's eyes.

h…hp? What is this? Joel saw a strange symbol and a red bar appearing in the upper right corner of his vision. The red bar is now growing slowly, and the border is constantly shining with a faint green light. Joel moved his eyes and found that the symbol and the red bar also moved.

This is... what magic? Joel was completely unsure of what was going on, but he reached up and touched it. From the touch, it was a wooden board. Joel pushed it hard, and the sound of the soil loosening came from outside. Is this underground?

The gods are on top! Joel pushed the wooden board hard, and the wooden board made an overwhelming creaking sound. Sand and soil slid down between the wooden board and the box. Joel also heard a slight breaking sound, but the wooden board was still motionless. Damn, it seemed that it was really underground.

At this time, Joel heard a man's voice coming from above, and the voice became a little weak through layers of soil, but Joel still heard: "Hey? Is there anyone here?"

"Help! I'm here!" Joel struck the board pressing above.

"Hey! Guys! Someone is buried here!"

Joel breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the man's voice and was saved.

Then there was a sound of turning over the soil, as if three or four people were coming, and several men were cursing and discussing something. As the sound of turning over the soil became closer, Joel heard something knocking on the wooden board above him.

"Damn it! It's a coffin, you won't be cursed, right?" a man said in confusion, his tone full of resentment.

coffin?

"Maybe it's the undead, hey! Brother Xiong, come here and add a buff for me!" said the voice that Joel heard at the beginning, and then a crisp sound of a bell came from outside.

b…buff? What is that? What are these guys? Before Joel could think about anything, the lid of the coffin was rudely smashed open. Because he had been buried in the wet soil for many years, the wood had decayed and broke easily. The white light stabbed in like a sword. Joel almost thought his eyes were going to be blind. Cold air rushed in. Joel remembered breathing this time, and the air poured into his lungs like clear water flowing into the dry land. Joel gradually felt like he was alive, and the red bar in his vision began to recover faster.

In the white light, Joel saw several black silhouettes.

"It's a person! Damn, how could he be locked in such a place?!" The man put down something in his hand and quickly reached out to break the fragile wooden board. With the sound of the wooden board breaking, the lid of the coffin was completely opened.

"Hey! buddy, are you okay?" A strong arm stretched out and dragged Joel out of the coffin. Several others hurried up to help, and Joel finally left the coffin.

The eyes gradually adapted. The first thing Joel saw was the sky. The gray-white sky was like a piece of dirty snow, and snowflakes kept falling from the sky. Looking down, Joel saw the lady in the distance looking at the widows in the West. The mountain was still white. Joel shivered. He was wearing his favorite rabbit hunting outfit, the hunter's conventional style and fine-crafted rabbit leather cloak, and the leather gloves with rabbit hair inside, but they were all dyed black and a little moldy.

Only then did Joel see the appearance of the four people who rescued him: the strong man who dragged him out of the coffin, wearing thick leather armor of the barbarians, painted into white symbolizing the kingdom; a man with a badge shield on his back, a straight sword on his waist, and could not see his face clearly because of his knight armor; a woman wearing a thick black leather cloak that protects the cold, with a black wooden longbow and a quiver on her back; and a priest who hooded a white cold hood with cotton armor, a coat of mail, and a priest who carried a sacred poem of the gods and a hammer symbolizing the judgment of the Libra.

This strange combination usually only appears among one type of people, that is, mercenaries. However, they all carry white double dragon emblems that symbolize the kingdom. Because the double dragons look in different directions, they appear in the shape of horseshoe, which is also nicknamed white horseshoe emblems by people from other countries.

"This is the first time I have seen a player buried under the ground." said the Priest, a strong man with a white beard, and a serious temperament that suits the priesthood.

But what was he talking about? Player? Joel was a little confused. He looked around. This was the cemetery in Lengxi Town. Joel used to come here with his wife to worship her father, but he always felt something was wrong... Many tombstones seemed to be much broken, with moss on it, and many were tilted. Cold-resistant weeds grew on the ground, and most of the walls of the cemetery collapsed, and the leavesless vines crawled over the remaining walls. What did the gravekeeper do?

"Hey, buddy, are you okay?" The Knight stretched out his iron armored hand and shook it in front of Joel.

Suddenly, Joel's eyes flashed in front of him, mercenaries, iron swords, barbarians...

Joel struggled to get up from the ground, and the strong man reached out to submit to him.

"It seems that he was very scared. There are people who do such pranks." The strong man frowned and said, his muscles were very developed, and he was carrying a giant axe full of notched on his back. Joel felt that he could not hold that weapon even with his hands.

But Joel has no time to care about this now. He looked at Lengxi Town not far away - no, it can no longer be called Lengxi Town. The black iron wood wall is already broken, and the collapsed and burnt roof is exposed from behind the wall. The church bell tower, which was originally the tallest building in the entire town, has also lost its upper half. Lengxi Town has turned into ruins.

"No, no!" Joel only felt that his wife's smile and daughter's crying face gradually recalled in his mind, as well as the people in Lengxi Town, their faces. "What the hell happened?"

There was also a sound of fighting in the direction of the ruins of Lengxi Town, which was the sound of waking up Joel. Metal collisions, shouts and screams.

"It's the Ice Skeleton, Sir Via is leading the troops to fight them." said the Priest.

Ice skeletons refer to snow robbers in the Widow Mountains. Their flag is a skull on a snowflake, so it is also called ice skeletons.

Joel only felt sad and angry: "But this is the territory of the kingdom! How dare the ice skeleton..."
To be continued...