The battle began and ended quickly, lasting less than three minutes. No one in our team died, and apart from a few minor flesh wounds at the beginning of the battle, no one was injured. The silent forest returned to its calm state after the brief fight, except for a hint of the scent of blood in the air.

Tus walked through the bodies on the ground to the injured leader of the bandits, holding his sword pointed at him as he asked, "How did you know that a merchant caravan would pass through here? This area is not particularly inaccessible, so why did you ambush the caravan here?"

"Hmph, wasn't it your caravan leader who informed you about the caravan's route through this passage yesterday?" the bandit leader sneered.

"What?" Tus' expression darkened, his brow furrowing. After a moment, he grabbed the bandit leader from the ground and shouted, "Where did you get the information from? It was supposed to be sent to us through a private channel! You..."

"Hahaha! In this day and age, as long as you have money, we know not only your route but also the value of your goods. Don't worry, we were only scouting, and if we hadn't returned, the rest of us would have completely blocked your way! Let's just say it's a territorial dispute! Hahaha!"

"Release him!" I exclaimed.

A warning alert flashed in front of my eyes, and as I looked towards the direction of the attack, I immediately understood what it was. I took a step forward and grabbed Tus by the collar from behind, simultaneously using an ice totem to launch the bandit leader into the air.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion resounded from above, and the bandit leader was blown into pieces in mid-air, his remains falling to the ground. The components of his armor clattered onto the ground, thankfully avoiding any gruesome falling body parts.

"Ah, Lord Yuri, thank you for saving me," Tus said gratefully after I released him.

"You're welcome... Well, let's not be polite here. Since you're the leader, it's up to you to make a decision now. The enemy has already said that there are people waiting for us on the road ahead, and the self-destruction just now has sent a signal to his companions, which means we don't have much time," I informed him.

"You're right, we don't have much time indeed. But if we take a detour... I don't know which way would be better, because besides this route, the only other route through this area would be the abandoned path near the Duoge Academy," Tus mused. However, the archer we had introduced earlier, who was standing beside him, suddenly spoke up.

"Maybe that person just now told us about the roadblock ahead to make us take a different route. And as you said, Tus, the only other route besides this one would be the old path next to the Duoge Academy, so they might be waiting for us there."

"He's right. It's risky no matter which route we take now, so Tus, you have to think it through," I added.

Tus found himself in a dilemma. But I took the opportunity to look at the other six mercenaries who were all above level 20, and I noticed that they were also watching us, their eyes filled with an inexplicable expression.

Could it be that they were questioning the magic I had just used? Well, it didn't matter, I would be exposed sooner or later, after all, I was completely inept at swordsmanship.

However, at most I can say that I failed in learning magic and turned to learn swordsmanship, so I can still use ordinary magic. After all, there are examples like this, a lot of mages in the academy have transferred to Duoge Academy after only a month of study.

The other mercenaries dare not speak up. The previous battle has made it clear that there is a big gap between them and us. Now they look at Hei Luoli with fear in their eyes. After all, her DPS, like a cannon, turned dozens of enemies into ghosts.

"Well, I've made up my mind. Let's continue on the original route. After all, that way will be faster. There's no other choice. Both routes in front of us have the risk of encountering enemies, so we should choose the more advantageous route."

Listening to Tusi's words, everyone nodded.

I don't have any objection, after all, no matter what, our goal is to reach the destination, so the route in between is not a problem for us.

In this way, we, in the silent forest, set foot on the road again. However, for safety reasons, we all extinguished our torches. Several assassins and archers became scouts walking at the front of the team.

And as the strongest assassin among them, Oyado naturally walked at the very front of the team.

However, among the many blue names, Oyado's green name is also very noticeable, so there is no need to worry.

And according to Oyado's agility, if there is any danger, it would probably take her only a second to get from the front to my position.

Although there are quite a few of us, this time's operation is almost without any sign of life. We are all mercenaries who often roam outside, so concealing our own aura and actions is nothing new to us.

However... for me and Bai Yueguang, it is quite troublesome because we can only continuously click the button for the skill of hiding aura. After all, this skill only lasts for 30 seconds, so we have to keep clicking to use it.

Although higher-level assassins or similar occupations may have abilities to hide aura for a longer time with better effects, most of them are abilities that come with the occupation. There are very few that can be learned directly, which is why I haven't encountered and learned such a skill so far.

"Bai Yueguang..."

As we walked, I thought of something and said in a very low voice.

"Yes?"

"Do you find it strange?"

"Strange?"

"Yes, we have left the official road for a long time, and we haven't made a fire. In that case, we should have encountered monsters or beasts a long time ago, but now... we haven't encountered anything, right?"

"Well..."

"And those monsters shouldn't be scared away by our large number of people. After all, there are so many scouts in front, they should have encountered them already."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"Maybe... even more powerful monsters have taken over this place. This is usually the situation in games..."

Just as I finished speaking, a tentacle pierced through the body of a mercenary less than three meters in front of us, and he turned into a human skewer without even uttering a scream. Blood splattered onto a nearby mercenary, scaring him greatly.

"Be careful! The enemy is underground!"

The swordsman in black armor shouted loudly, and the mercenaries around immediately scattered away from the dead mercenary.

Monsters emerged from underground, and countless tentacles bloomed like petals!

"The... Hell Spider Lily?"

I read the name of the monster and chuckled bitterly.

Looks like... a troublesome enemy.