Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 45: Strategy Before the Strike

You could call it greed, but everyone who lived by the sword wanted the retirement Yuval was thinking about. To achieve that, they needed money.

Even those who lived by swinging swords eventually had to think about their old age.

The Skull Mercenary Group’s greed was natural. There was no insurance to help if they got hurt, and even family had limits to how much they could help in this world.

The degree of closeness varied by household, but families willing to throw away their own lives to help others were few and far between. And most didn’t have the means to do so anyway.

In the modern world, disabled family members could get at least some help from the government or social organizations—unimaginable here. The heavy burden placed on them would inevitably lead to ruin, whether sooner or later.

What people saw as their bleak behavior was partly due to a cutthroat society.

The mercenary group’s greed was for their own survival. It was a world where you couldn’t survive if you weren’t greedy. That was true for Rowan too. Same for the hunter Geric.

The path to the small mountain far from the village was completely boring.

"I hope the village breaks their promise."

Keireon spoke while matching his stride with Merein’s.

"More vicious talk."

"Hehe."

Shield-bulk Keireon laughed meanly.

"Why? What’s wrong with it? We could deal with them for sure, right? Just starving them out would get us all the silver coins they have."

"We’re not bandits."

Merein was disgusted. It was literally a bandit’s method.

"The village probably has at least twenty silver coins. That’s why they’d pay eight for those brats’ ransom."

"It’s not ransom for the brats, it’s payment for killing the orc."

Keireon thought differently and shook his head.

"A show of force would be pretty good too. Just shooting fire arrows would make them surrender, right? Look how they sent us to deal with one orc they couldn’t kill—bunch of cowards."

"Shut up."

Merein responded coldly. Killing innocent civilians was what she hated most. Rear-picker Bedum, skinny with a tall lanky frame, joined the conversation.

"You ignorant fool. It’s a palisade that’s been buried in mud for ages. You think they’d panic over fire arrows? Not at all. I didn’t see their houses, but I bet they’re well-prepared."

"Hmph. Even so, what could a bunch of cowards do? They’re a group that couldn’t even properly threaten us when all their able-bodied men showed up."

That’s how Keireon and Bedum bickered. Rowan eavesdropped on them and thought of Keireon as trash.

’Crazy bastard.’

It was a mindset no different from that of bandits. He learned clearly that mercenaries could become robbers in an instant.

’Can we even make it to Torch Fortress properly?’

Unlike the trustworthy Yuval, Keireon’s vulgar thoughts annoyed Rowan. Rowan had seen Rakson’s death at the hands of bandits. He’d learned a lot from him, but there had been still more to learn when Rakson died, so seeing bandit-like bastards reminded him of Rakson’s death.

It made him feel truly disgusted.

They took a break before entering the foot of the mountain. To get here, Yuval had used the forest path on the opposite side of the ridge. It was a shadowed area that couldn’t be seen even if someone looked down from the mountain. Rowan admired Yuval’s thoroughness.

’Trees alone would’ve hidden us.’

They’d taken even more time to leave the path entirely and walk through rough terrain. Since there were no complaints, it seemed they did this often.

’Ah, come to think of it.’

When Yuval had talked about basic mercenary group tactics, he’d mentioned the advantage that mercenary groups who could move fearlessly through rough terrain had.

’They leave the path every time they go to strike enemies. Worth bragging about.’

He realized it was their pride and source of confidence. It was their own know-how, but knowing about it didn’t mean you could follow it—it was troublesome and difficult. People want comfort. Walking difficult paths when you haven’t even encountered the enemy? 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

’That’s tough.’

Even a captain couldn’t ignore his subordinates’ complaints. To actually practice this, you needed much greater influence than ordinary mercenary captains. And physically speaking, Yuval was a step below Keireon, yet he wielded great influence over the mercenary group.

"That mountain right there is the one the villagers told us about."

"It couldn’t be a trap, could it?"

At Keireon’s words, Yuval nodded.

"Look at the villagers’ faces. They’re not gutsy enough to devour a mercenary group."

"I’m a bit suspicious. Forty able-bodied men didn’t pick a single fight with us. I think they’re after something."

Rowan agreed with Merein’s opinion.

"I think we should be careful."

"Could there be multiple orcs?"

At the youngest member Sen’s words, Yuval scoffed.

"If so, they’d already have multiplied into the hundreds."

Yuval smoothed the dirt on the ground with his foot and grabbed a branch to explain the strategy.

"The circled spot is the small mountain we’re targeting. Today we’ll go up to the mid-slope. We’ll enter the small mountain not from the village direction but by circling around to the side. If there’s an orc, he’ll definitely have made a nice observation point toward the village."

Going straight out from the village would be truly foolish. Additionally, Yuval had gone to great lengths to walk through low ground, so there was no way he’d make a mistake here. It would be knocking down a tower he’d carefully built.

Entering from a different direction was right.

"Bedum, you need to watch for anyone approaching from the rear, so follow behind us."

"It’s what I always do, don’t worry."

"Sen, scout the right side."

"Yes, Captain."

Yuval’s eyes turned to Rowan.

"Mr. Rowan, I’d like you to scout the left side."

"No problem."

Rowan controlled the wolf Dono and the crow Kaiya. He could detect any hidden opponent.

"The rest will head straight toward the mid-slope and look for the orc’s traces."

It was a simple strategy. Deploy personnel to the rear to ensure safety, have small numbers on both flanks find the enemy, and have the center personnel quickly search for the orc’s traces.

"When you’re alone, never be distracted by the orc’s traces. You must focus only on finding the orc."

Yuval gave advice to Rowan. When Rowan nodded absently, Keireon stepped forward, pointed at Rowan’s head, and spoke seriously.

"Take the advice. You’ve never dealt with an orc, right? When your senses get drawn to the traces, an axe could accurately embed itself in your skull."

Rowan opened his mouth.

"Got it."

"Hmph."

Keireon turned away. Seeing he couldn’t even pick a fight, Rowan seemed like a pathetic guy to him.