Chapter 216 - 215: The Plan of Attack

Ronin and his men watched from behind the hill for the entire afternoon.

Even as the sun sank behind the mountains and twilight descended, they didn’t see a single suspicious creature emerge from the cave.

To be honest, the wait was starting to make him drowsy.

Fortunately, once the sun had completely set and night fell, a light flickered to life inside the cave, followed by the movement of shadows.

"Here they come!" Ronin whispered.

Everyone tensed. After waiting for the better part of the day, they were finally seeing the enemy.

Soon, a small squad emerged from the cave.

Last time, Ridder had only seen three of them, but this time there were four times as many—a total of twelve.

’It must be because Ridder and his men stumbled in here last time. They must have heightened the enemy’s vigilance, which is why they’ve increased the number of patrols.’

Under the moonlight, the group split into four teams of three, then began patrolling in four cardinal directions—forward, backward, left, and right.

One of the teams headed in the direction of Ronin and his men.

According to the intel from Ridder, these guys had an exceptionally keen sense of smell. He and his men had hidden well in advance that night, but their scent had given them away.

Ronin focused for a moment. A southwesterly wind was blowing through the forest, so it wouldn’t carry their scent down the hill into the valley below.

Besides, there was a distance of one or two hundred meters between them. Even if the enemy had the sense of smell of a hound, the chances of them catching their scent were extremely low.

Ronin’s concern seemed to be unfounded.

The patrol had no intention of coming up the hill. They simply circled the valley floor, pacing back and forth.

If the valley floor was a rectangle, then the four teams were simply patrolling back and forth along its four sides.

They looked as if they were guarding a perimeter, preventing anyone or anything from the outside world from setting foot in the valley.

’Their patrol radius is this small?’

A flicker of doubt crossed Ridder’s and Macken’s faces.

If they had been in charge of this area’s defense, they would have certainly established watchpoints on the hillsides and posted sentries.

The flat, barren valley below hardly required twelve men to patrol it; three or four would have been more than enough.

Time trickled by. Half an hour, then an hour...

Ronin watched the figures move back and forth. ’They’re like pre-programmed mobs in a game,’ he thought, ’just endlessly repeating a fixed route.’

The group’s initial tension gradually gave way to confusion, and eventually, even a touch of boredom.

"My Lord, what’s our plan?" Ridder asked in a low voice.

They had come prepared with a plan for conflict, but they hadn’t anticipated this strange standoff where neither side engaged the other.

"We’ll keep observing. Let’s understand their patterns first, then see if we can find an opportunity to snatch one of them away quietly."

The observation continued for three days.

During this period of intelligence gathering, Ronin and his men confirmed two things.

First, the inhabitants of the cave did not come out during the day.

Each day at sunrise, the patrols would retreat into the cave.

And each time night fell, they would emerge once more.

They repeated the same routine every night, truly like programmed automatons, tireless and unwearying.

Ronin couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. ’Don’t these people need to eat or drink?’

’Is there a plentiful supply of food and water inside the cave?’

Second, based on the information from Ridder’s battle and a comparison with their observations of the enemy’s attire over the past few days, they made a rough assessment of the group’s strength.

The twelve-man patrol was likely led by a Bronze Level Knight, supported by two Advanced Level Knights. The rest were probably a mix of Basic and Intermediate Level Knights. Overall, their strength wasn’t formidable.

Another night fell.

After observing for a while longer, Ronin and his men quietly withdrew from the hillside and returned to their temporary camp, about half a mile away.

"There’s no point in observing them any longer."

The logic of these cave dwellers was clearly not normal. Continuing to watch them would be a waste of time and wouldn’t yield any more valuable intelligence.

Hearing their Lord’s words, the men’s expressions turned sharp. ’It’s finally time to act!’

"Tomorrow morning, I want everyone to gather as much dry firewood as possible. At noon, rest and recover your physical strength and Spirit as usual. In the afternoon, we’ll take the firewood to the cave entrance and light a fire for them."

"My Lord, you want to use fire to smoke them out?"

"That’s a great idea!"

"They’re in a sealed cave. Once we fill it with smoke, they won’t be able to stay inside!"

Some were confused, but others had already grasped Ronin’s intent.

"I’ve been pondering something for the past two days. Why don’t they come out of the cave during the day?"

Ronin answered his own question.

"After thinking it over, I came up with one possibility: they don’t like the daytime. Or, to be more precise, they hate the sun."

Creatures that fear the sun were rarely documented in this world, but before his transmigration, Ronin had read about plenty of them.

Take Vampires from movies and TV shows, for example. That race is terrified of sunlight; some even turn to ash the moment they’re exposed to it.

’On Earth, such things are fiction. But in a world where Extraordinary Abilities are real, isn’t it entirely possible for a sun-fearing creature to exist?’

"Since they don’t want to come out, we’ll force them out."

"The fact that they can smell indicates they need to breathe."

"Once I send smoke into that sealed cave, it’ll be like smoking rats out of a hole. The people inside won’t be able to take it and will be forced to rush out."

"And once they rush out into the sunlight, the advantage will be mine."

"Even if they don’t fear the sun, I still need to draw them out of the cave to deal with them."

"After all, that cave is their home turf. There could be traps or other mechanisms inside."

Knowing these dangers, if he didn’t account for the enemy’s home-field advantage and just rushed in, it would be no different from walking into a trap or a lamb walking into a wolf’s den.

He had no intention of following Wiggin’s example on the battlefield.

Ronin then discussed the next day’s attack plan with his men. It was past midnight before they retired to their own caves to sleep, leaving Tom and a few others to stand watch in shifts.

Just after midnight, a familiar line of text appeared.

’April is over. Today is already May first.’

’Time flies. Eight days have already passed since I left Black Earth Town. It’s time to sound the horn for battle.’

’I’m eager to see just what kind of unusual thing is hiding in that cave.’

Ronin allocated all the Attribute Points to himself before slowly closing his eyes to get some proper rest.

The night passed uneventfully. Early the next morning, everyone began gathering dry firewood in the forest.

One bundle, two bundles, three bundles...

Ronin stashed an even larger pile into his Space Ring.

The Knights were very strong; each could carry several bundles on their back. Since their targets wouldn’t emerge during the day, they moved all the firewood they had gathered directly to the flat ground at the mouth of the valley.

Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, it was afternoon.

Ronin stood up, gazing at the silent mouth of the cave. "It’s time to attack!"