Chapter 1650: A Lurching Stop

Published Mar 16, 2026, 02:48 PM

Chapter 1650: A Lurching Stop The old woman tried, but she could not remember what the man's name was or what he was called. It was only his powers that had put an impression on her, which was the only reason she even remembered anything. Ning didn't push her to try and remember as much as he wanted to, and soon they stopped talking altogether. The carriage went past the hills and onto the grassland. The cool breeze made its way through the open slits on the carriage, leaving out the open end at the back. Ning looked at the horses that pulled on the carriage behind them and the man who guided them through the pathway. The carriage rocked back and forth, and Ning soon closed his eyes. He didn't need sleep, but there wasn't much to do. They would have to eat soon, so until then, he decided to rest. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂 The area darkened a while later and Ning looked around to see why that was. It turned out, they had entered the thick woods which would last for another hour or so before sunlight. Ning closed his eyes back and crossed his arms as he leaned on the side of the carriage again. With nothing to do, he began thinking of what he was going to do. He had had a single day of respite ever since he arrived in this world, each of the other one being either full of travel or full of drama. This one seemed to be the one that was full of travel. Yalkost was close enough that they would reach there by the end of the day. There was a town nearby apparently where they would stop to have some food around noon, which was what he was waiting for. 'If she remembers more about Shara and her power, do I have to go to the Empire?' Ning thought. The answer was clear. No, he would not have to go to the empire. 'What if I have to run from the empire then?' he thought. He wondered if the Golden Republic would be a place where he could go to. He could sneak in if nothing. He wondered along the topic when suddenly the carriage came to a lurching halt. He grabbed the side of the carriage to keep himself from slamming into Shara. "What is it?" "Why did we stop?" "Coachman!" People immediately began questioning the person in charge of the carriage. The man quickly looked into the carriage. "Don't worry," the man said quickly. "It's bandits, but our fighters will handle it." "Bandits?" "What?" "No!" "We're going to die." Ning jumped out of the carriage without a second thought, landing firmly on the dirt road. "Ning!" "Young man!" Many people were taken aback by his sudden action. Even the coachman began calling him out to get back into the carriage. They had fighters they had employed for this exact occasion. Ning pulled out his spear, not listening to the others. Shara tried to walk out, but he quickly turned toward her. "Stay back!" he said, forcing her back in. He didn't leave the carriage to fight, but to make sure it was well protected. In the case when the bandits proved to be too much for the hired fighters to fend off, he would join in, helping them. Ning could already hear people shouting toward the front and back, and a few people made their way toward the inner carriages. 2 women and 1 man came over, protecting the inner section. "Get back in, kid," the man said. "You'll get hurt." "I'm aware," Ning said. "Don't worry about me. I can fight." He looked beyond them toward the forest, seeing motion. The forest was darker thanks to the thick foliage and on top of that, the bandits seemed to be wearing clothes with a lot of leaves attached to it for camouflage. A few walked out, holding wooden clubs, or rusted swords, or even a homemade bow and arrow. Ning looked around. Were these the only ones here? Certainly not, right? He turned around, looking behind him just in case there were more bandits hiding on that side. They didn't seem to be, but he couldn't be too careful. "Surrender!" a voice came booming from the front, amplified using some sort of power. "Surrender and we will not harm you. All we will take is your money. You may keep everything else." "You will get nothing, you bandit scum!" someone shouted far to the front. "Die you pieces of shits!" another person shouted and seemingly went and attacked the closest bandit. Ning couldn't see this happening from his vantage point, but the sudden sound of battle made it clear that was what had happened. The group of 3 next to him immediately started fighting as well, their weapons moving to draw blood. Two used swords and one of them used a sort of pickaxe. It was an odd choice of weapon, but against the bandits, it was quite enough. Ning looked at the man with the bow in the distance and saw him shoot his arrow. Without thinking, Ning created a thin, but massive barrier around him and the carriage. The arrow clanked onto the invisible barrier and fell down. Ning let the barrier remain keeping it too no more power on his end at all. The bandit was too far, so Ning couldn't do much at all. The woman with the pickaxe suddenly raised it high and slammed it onto the ground. As soon as she slammed it, a wave of energy spread from her pickaxe, which traveled toward the archer. It arrived right beneath the archer and suddenly erupted into a spray of soil and stones. The shower of projectiles hit the archer on multiple parts of his body, not only wounding him deeply but also taking him out of the battle. The other bandits were cut down right before him. The sound of the bandits fighting lowered in less than a minute and the battle that seemed to have come out of nowhere had ended, just like that.

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