Due to fear of encountering Ursus or Sarkaz, the caravan required everyone to not light fires, sleep in the vehicles, and move in groups even just to go to the toilet. Flandre thought this might be effective, but not by much. After all, on the way here, she had noticed eyes watching from both sides of the road several times. With so many vehicles passing, the tracks on the road couldn't be hidden at all. If someone had designs on the caravan, this bit of concealment was useless.
But she didn't bother to care; she could detect anyone beforehand anyway.
The first half of the night passed peacefully. Flandre leaned against Ch'en, flipping through a book. For her, night and day made no difference. Plus, she had slept intermittently in the vehicle all day, so she wasn't sleepy at all now. However, shortly after the shift change in the second half of the night, Flandre looked up towards the north. Then she nudged Ch'en's shoulder.
"Sister Ch'en, wake up, Sister Ch'en!"
The first to wake wasn't Ch'en, but the Shadow Guards in the same vehicle. They alertly picked up their weapons and looked around. Ch'en was still a bit dazed when she woke up.
"What's wrong?"
"A group of people is sneaking in from the north, about fifty or sixty of them. They're about four or five hundred meters away, right behind that hill." Flandre pointed to a small hill not far away.
Hearing Flandre's words, Ch'en was instantly wide awake. She looked at the Shadow Guards; one had already sprinted towards the direction Flandre pointed, using the cover of night. Soon after, bird calls came from that direction. After listening carefully, one of the Shadow Guards said:
"Miss Flandre is right. It's Ursus people, about fifty of them, armed with weapons. Their target is clear; it should be our caravan."
Ch'en sat up quickly upon hearing this. "I'll go notify the caravan leader!"
But she was held back by a Shadow Guard. "No need. At this distance, the caravan won't be able to react in time. Even if they all wake up, it takes several minutes to start the vehicles. If someone panics and makes a mistake, it could cause even more trouble."
The Shadow Guard expressed that in times of danger, one cannot trust the human nature of most ordinary people. When facing danger, everyone instinctively tries to avoid it, and fear causes actions to become distorted. It was highly likely that a caravan that could have started in minutes would not only fail to leave safely but also crash because some people fought for the road to escape.
"Then what should we do?" Ch'en gripped her weapon.
Although she asked, she knew there was only one choice: repel or defeat all these Ursus people; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable once they charged into the crowd.
"Don't be afraid, let's go together!" Flandre stretched, saying she could finally move around after sitting for so long.
Ch'en also smiled after her initial tension. "Alright, let's go together!"
Having made their decision, the group slipped out of the vehicle. They didn't alert anyone else in the caravan. A group of ten—Ch'en had brought five Shadow Guards this time—silently left the caravan, reached the hill, and met up with the scout.
"They're almost up! It looks like they plan to launch a charge on the caravan from this high ground," the Shadow Guard said.
"Are they all here?" Ch'en asked.
"Of course not. Only about ten are coming up; the others have gone to block the front and back of the caravan," the other replied.
"It seems they plan to use the hilltop to apply pressure, making the caravan unsure of their numbers and causing them to panic, so they can fish in troubled waters." Ch'en nodded, immediately guessing their strategy.
This was actually quite normal. Even if Ursus soldiers' quality was far higher than the caravan's ordinary people, if they moved together, it would be inevitable for some caravan members to escape in the chaos. If the caravan had any military force, it might even cause unnecessary casualties. But with this pincer attack and "blossoming from the center," as long as the ordinary people fall into chaos, combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
But they didn't expect a monster like Flandre to be in the caravan. She had discovered them from hundreds of meters away. And within the caravan, there were also the Black Cloak Shadow Guards, the former elite guards under the Great Yan Crown Prince.
Since only about ten were coming up, their group of ten was exactly one-to-one. While the overall quality of the Ursus army was indeed among the best in Terra, that was relative to ordinary people. Everyone present had the strength to handle a ten-man squad alone, so these ten were wiped out instantly without even sounding an alarm.
After dealing with the enemies on the hilltop, they began to split up. Flandre would go alone to handle the dozen or so at the rear, while Ch'en and the Shadow Guards would deal with the enemies at the front. This split was proposed by Flandre. The reason was simple: she could wipe out everyone at the back at once, but Magic couldn't turn off friendly fire.
So even though Ch'en felt it was inappropriate for Flandre to face twenty-odd people alone, she had no choice but to agree. After Ch'en and the Shadow Guards left, Flandre rubbed her belly.
"Just right, I haven't eaten in a long time... Flandre is hungry!"
As she spoke, she turned into a blood mist and floated down the hill. Meanwhile, the twenty or so people at the rear of the caravan had just arrived and were waiting for the signal.
"Hmm, what's wrong with Pavlov and the others? Why haven't they signaled yet?"
"Don't be in such a hurry. I observed this caravan during the day; they're all ordinary people. They won't be a match for us at all."
"Just in time, my military service is almost up," one soldier grumbled. "When I get back this time, I'll apply for discharge and go back to marry my beloved Natalia."
"Yeah, yeah! My wife sent a message earlier... with this money, I'll retire with you."
While the Ursus people were chatting, the blood mist Flandre had turned into silently surrounded them.
"Why does it feel like it's getting foggy?"
Before the man could finish, he suddenly realized the banter and breathing of his companions had disappeared. Sensing something was wrong, he tried to stand up but found he had suddenly lost his strength. He rolled his eyes to look around. Then, a head of brilliant blonde hair appeared. The other person gently crouched beside him and made a slit across his neck with a cold hand.
As he closed his eyes, he had only one regret: Natalia, I'm sorry I can't marry you.
The twenty people died silently. Flandre used the blood mist combined with a Weakening Spell to easily control them, then picked them off one by one. Drinking the blood of twenty people at once made Flandre look much more radiant. She licked her lips and gave an elegant bow to the corpses.
"Thank you for the treat!"
With a gentle press of her hand, the corpses sank into the earth.
After finishing her side, Flandre quietly returned to the vehicle. Her perception told her that the battle at the front had just begun. Ch'en and the Shadow Guards had quickly found the Ursus people at the front. However, the enemies were gathered together, clearly intending to block the exit.
Ch'en made a split-second decision to launch a direct assault. The Ursus people never expected that they had been discovered. In an instant, half of the twenty enemies were gone. The remaining tried to resist, but the gap in combat power was too large; in less than two minutes, Ch'en and the Shadow Guards had killed all the enemies at the front.
However, the noise of the battle was still significant. At least the guards on night duty for the caravan noticed. When that guard saw the twenty-odd corpses of Ursus soldiers on the ground, he was nearly scared witless. He hurried back to wake the caravan leader.
Upon learning this, the leader also instantly lost his wits.