Ackley understood that these guys must be secretly monitoring him, and any behavior of calling for help would eventually be discovered by them. So this time he did not report the matter to his superiors, but secretly came to the appointment himself.
When he arrived at the agreed location the next day, he found only a note left there, which told him to cross the wall and go to the mountain east of the camp to find the largest fir tree.
Ackley did not have his usual long sword and armor, but only a three-edged bayonet used on air rifles. He held the bayonet in his hand and covered it with his sleeve. Then he used his fighting spirit and jumped over the wall.
The mountain mentioned on the note was quite a distance away from the camp. There was a plain between the mountain and the camp, and there was nowhere to hide if people walked on it.
Ackley knew that if the enemy hid in the mountains and observed this side, they would be able to see clearly whether there was anyone around him. If someone followed them, they would naturally hide. And if no one followed them, then even if something happened in the mountains, others would not have time to rush out of the camp to support him.
The tallest fir tree was indeed very conspicuous, and Ackley found it without much effort. He walked under the tree and saw that there was indeed a man in black waiting there.
The black man covered his entire face, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed. He held a long knife in his hand and looked at Ackley coldly: "Ackley, you made a big mistake, but you still have a chance to make amends. If you bring enough information, I can still show leniency and spare your brother Julio."
"Who are you? Do you think I'd be stupid enough to believe what I hear from a strange guy?" Ackley slowly approached the man in black.
The man in black laughed in a low voice, "Of course I'm prepared." He took out an imaging crystal from his pocket and projected the image onto a stone. What was shown was a young man practicing martial arts in a training ground. At this time, a man in black passed by him from behind like a ghost, but he had no reaction. If that man had a sword in his hand, he would be able to kill Julio without any difficulty.
"Well, I didn't lie to you, did I?" the man in black said, "We can kill Julio anytime we want. You'd better think it over carefully."
Ackley said, "I brought a Chinese melee weapon, which is made of a very good steel. It can easily pierce the enemy's armor."
He pulled out a three-edged bayonet from his sleeve and showed it to the man in black. The man in black was slightly startled, then took a step forward, looking very interested.
"But how can I guarantee that after you take this weapon, you will really let my brother go?" Ackley asked.
The man in black laughed and said, "If you cooperate with us, why should I annoy you through your brother? We just need to cooperate as I said at the beginning."
Ackley looked helpless. He handed over the three-edged military dagger in his hand. The man in black took it immediately and looked at it carefully. But Ackley secretly took out a scroll from his sleeve. This was a scroll of immobilization magic that his sister Jenny gave him, hoping that he could use it for self-defense. Although the requirements for use are not high, it is very effective. Once its effect is released, it can cause the bodies of surrounding enemies to stagnate for a short period of time. Depending on the conditions of the targets, the immobilization time will vary from a few seconds to more than ten seconds.
This scroll was valuable, but Ackley had no better way to catch this guy who looked like a mid-level warrior.
In order to attract the other party's attention, Ackley said: "The wounds caused by this kind of weapon are difficult to heal. Even healing spells are ineffective."
Just as the man in black listened to his words and looked at the bayonet in amazement, Ackley instantly detonated the scroll in his hand, and a wave of magic swept across the area of 7 to 8 meters around him. As expected, the man in black was shocked and stood there in a daze.
Ackley quickly snatched the triangular bayonet from the opponent's hand, and then stabbed directly into the opponent's arms and thighs.
"Ah!" The man in black screamed and fell to the ground, but Ackley pulled out his bayonet and continued to stab him in the limbs.
"Ah! Damn it! You, you are crazy! Do you know? Your brother will be killed immediately like this!"
"I don't know, but I know that if you break your leg, the threat to my brother will be much less. Don't think I didn't see that the person in the crystal image is you. I want to see if you are still so smart after breaking your leg."
"Ah! You actually don't care about your brother's life or death. You are so cold-blooded and heartless!" The man in black screamed while struggling.
"It's ridiculous. How could I be controlled by you like that? Since you have already decided to deal with him, I can't change anything on his side. Even if I cooperate with you, you will put both him and me in danger all the time. Why don't I knock off your claws first? Maybe I can still help him, don't you think?"
The man in black gritted his teeth and said nothing. Ackley repeatedly stirred his wound with a bayonet. The man in black screamed a few times at first, but in the end, he began to make no sound, and finally black blood flowed from his mouth. Ackley then realized that the other party had prepared poison in his mouth in advance. Seeing that the situation was irreversible, he committed suicide by taking poison.
Ackley reluctantly searched the man's body but found no useful clues.
Finally, he had no choice but to drag the man's body back to the training camp. He finally wrote a letter and handed it to the intelligence officers who came to investigate, hoping that they could find a way to give it to his brother and give him a warning. This was the only thing he could do now.
However, a few days later, the intelligence personnel brought him back a bad news. On the third day after he killed the man in black, his brother was stabbed from behind in the training ground of the Duke's Mansion in Green Forest City. At this time, the warning letter had just arrived in Green Forest City.
Ackley didn't cry or show any other unusual behavior. He just doubled his training after normal training, hoping to numb himself through constant training and stop thinking about his brother.
Fortunately, Jenny understood him very well. She wrote a letter to comfort him and even took time to visit him.
In this way, time passed, and Ackley finally completed the recruit training and was assigned to the Guard in the eastern region.
Two months later, a war with the kingdom broke out.