Chapter 331: Sergeant Chuck's Mission (2)

Taru agreed and left.

"Minna, gather everyone! We have work to do!"

The Harpy nodded, pushed open the window, and flapped her wings to take to the sky. Soon, a sharp whistle echoed over Whirlpool Town.

Chuck didn't stay idle either. He unrolled a massive map on the desk, displaying a large island surrounded by water on all sides—a map of Puji Island.

Chuck quickly located Whirlpool Town on the western side of Puji Island. Pressing a finger against Puji City in the center of the map, he traced a path to the west-northwest. This was the exact direction of Daixunna's escape mentioned in the letter.

After notifying the patrolling officers, Minna flew back to the police station. Seeing Chuck studying the map, she didn't disturb him and instead picked up the letter on the desk to read.

"A Church of Evil Gods hideout discovered outside Puji City... The evil god priest, Daixunna, is fleeing west-northwest... Whirlpool Town Police Station is responsible for interception."

Minna understood what their mission was.

"Minna, based on the fugitive's speed and the time elapsed, she should be in this area right now."

Chuck drew a circle with his finger north of Whirlpool Town. It was a dense mountain forest, perfect for hiding.

The Harpy nodded.

"Understood!"

Thanks to their wings, the Harpy officers returned much faster than the others.

"Sisters! Follow me!"

Minna took to the sky with four other Harpies. They needed to stay one step ahead of the main force, locate the enemy, and guide the rest of the team.

It wasn't long before all the patrolling officers returned, lining up in the main hall of the police station.

Chuck stood before the seventeen officers who were on duty for the holiday.

"Colleagues! We have an emergency mission. We are to assist Puji City in intercepting a fugitive named Daixunna."

At the same time, a strange thought popped into Chuck's head: 'Why does the name Daixunna sound a bit familiar?!'

But now was not the time to think about that.

"Lokin, Chuck, Tapp... the five of you will stay behind to guard the station. The rest of you, mount your hyenas and follow me!"

Of the five staying behind, only one was a gnoll; the rest were kobolds and Troglodytes. Officers from races like Troglodytes and kobolds were generally responsible for town security, while gnolls and Harpies handled hunting down fugitives.

This had nothing to do with strength, nor was it racial discrimination; it was simply because the others couldn't ride hyenas as skillfully as gnolls could.

Aside from the five who had been called out, the other officers jogged with Chuck to the animal pens in the backyard of the police station, where the professionally trained hyenas were kept.

These hyenas weren't just mounts for tracking fugitives; they were the officers' comrades in arms. In terms of actual combat power, most of the officers and the hyenas were at the peak of Low Tier professionals (Level 4), and some officers likely wouldn't even be a match for a hyena.

Hearing the officers running over, the hyenas nested in the straw alertly stood up. They trotted to the gates of their pens, wagging their tails and shaking their heads to welcome their masters, whining eagerly from muzzles full of interlocking fangs.

Chuck inserted his Key to unlock the wooden gate of a pen. A brown-yellow hyena, significantly larger than an ordinary one, immediately reared up and pounced on him. Chuck quickly caught it, turning his head away to avoid the tongue trying to lick his face.

"Bloodclaw, stop fooling around!"

The hyena, Bloodclaw, was Chuck's personal mount, as well as the leader of this small pack of thirteen hyenas.

Chuck rubbed the head of the hyena that had pounced on him to act spoiled, gesturing for Bloodclaw to settle down, while simultaneously blowing the Bone Whistle hanging around his neck.

Upon hearing the Bone Whistle, the professionally trained hyenas pulled away from their masters' embraces and ran into the courtyard, sitting in two ranks of six. The officers quickly saddled their hyenas, then stood beside them once they were secured.

Seeing that all twelve officers were ready, Chuck vaulted onto Bloodclaw's back.

"Move out!"

Chuck patted Bloodclaw's rump, and Bloodclaw took the lead, charging out of the police station and onto the streets, with the twelve other hyenas following closely behind.

The joyous townsfolk on the streets quickly cleared a path when they saw the pack of hyenas. After the pack rushed past, the festive atmosphere was somewhat diluted.

"It's a holiday, what's going on?"

"The hyena pack has been deployed; there must be some dangerous criminal."

"With Sergeant Chuck there, it'll be fine."

The deployed hyena pack only became a topic of conversation for a short while before the celebrating townsfolk put it out of their minds. They trusted the police to handle these matters well, as they always had. The people were used to being protected by the police station, and the holiday celebrations continued.

Only the families of some officers harbored a trace of lingering worry in their eyes; officers rarely died in the line of duty, but rarely didn't mean never.

After an unobstructed run out of Whirlpool Town, the group's pace slowed down. First, the road conditions had deteriorated, and second, the snow in the wilderness was ankle-deep.

The officers leaned low on the hyenas' backs. The hyenas plunged their legs into the snow and pulled them out again in a continuous cycle. The journey was silent, the surroundings so quiet that only the panting of the hyenas could be heard. The white breath exhaled by both the officers and the hyenas drifted into the air.

They rode all the way to the edge of the mountain forest.

"Halt!"

Sergeant Chuck pulled on the reins, and the well-trained Bloodclaw came to a stop, prompting the rest of the hyena pack to halt as well. Chuck exhaled a puff of white breath and dismounted.

"We'll wait here for a moment."

The letter sent from Puji City wasn't real-time intelligence. He needed to wait outside the forest for the Harpies to bring the latest news before deciding on their next move.

"Everyone, as I said before we left, our mission this time is to assist the Puji City Police Bureau in intercepting a fugitive. This fugitive is an evil god priest, an extremely dangerous individual with the strength of a High Tier professional."

The officers were slightly startled upon hearing this, but they quickly regained their composure. Sergeant Chuck was very satisfied with their reaction.

"You don't need to worry too much. We're only assisting with the interception; the Puji City Police Bureau will be the main combat force. Moreover, Officer Minna has already taken a team ahead to make contact with the Puji City pursuit squad."

Chuck was a Level 9 Warrior. Within the team, there were also two Level 5 Warriors and one Level 6 Warrior, plus Bloodclaw, who rivaled a Mid-Tier Warrior. This meant the Whirlpool Town group possessed five mid-tier combatants. The remaining nine officers and twelve hyenas were all at Level 4.

With such overall strength facing a High Tier professional head-on, it was still unknown who would emerge victorious. Not to mention, they were only assisting with the interception. Furthermore, the Afiaiv Kingdom explicitly stipulated that when encountering an invincible enemy, a sergeant's priority must be preserving the lives of their team.

Chuck had Bloodclaw howl every now and then. It wasn't long before one of the Harpies Minna had taken with her followed the sound and found Chuck and the others waiting at the edge of the mountain forest.

"What's the current situation?"

"Reporting to Sergeant Chuck, Sergeant Minna has already located the pursuit squad. However, the target is very cunning. She has been using the complex terrain of the mountain forest and magic to evade the trackers' line of sight. Even with Sergeant Minna's reinforcements, the Harpy squad has been unable to lock onto her position, and we nearly lost her several times."

"Who's leading the Puji City pursuit squad? What's their status right now?"

"The squad is led by Officer Malu and Officer Samoru. They're currently trailing behind the target, using the hyenas' sense of smell and the Harpies' aerial advantage to hunt her down. However, the main force led by Officer Samoru, riding hyenas, hasn't been able to catch up. The narrow confines of the mountain forest severely impact the Harpies' combat abilities, and Officer Malu doesn't dare take the risk."

The Harpy took a breath and continued.

"But once night falls and we lose the Harpies' visual advantage, the difficulty of the pursuit will inevitably increase. Officer Malu asked me to pass on a message: she will attempt to lead the Harpy squad to force the target toward Kazte Valley, and she requests that you head there in advance to intercept her."

Chuck immediately unfurled the map and found the location of Kazte Valley. It was a lush, heavily wooded valley flanked by mountain peaks. If the Whirlpool Town group could reach the end of the valley ahead of time, they could cut off the target's escape route.

The plan was viable!

"Good! Tell Officer Malu that I will act according to the plan."

"Consider it done."

As the Harpy took to the sky, Chuck turned to his team.

"Move out! Destination: Kazte Valley!"

The officers mounted their rides and followed Chuck as they charged into the snow-covered mountain forest. The pack of hyenas ran across the snow, occasionally snapping branches hidden beneath the drifts with sharp cracks. Every now and then, snow would fall from the trees above, landing onto the officers hunched over their mounts.

While cresting a high ridge, Chuck came across a treeless clearing. He halted the team, climbed atop a snow-covered boulder, and gazed at the distant sky.

Far off in the sky, a flock of Harpies was circling, casting spells down into the forest below. They were attempting to obstruct the fugitive.

Harpies possessed a wingspan of nearly three meters, meaning the narrow terrain of the mountain forest severely restricted their flight. Consequently, they could only harass the enemy from above. However, with the canopy of branches acting as a shield, as long as the evil god priest wasn't completely foolish, she wouldn't easily be injured by the magic.

Chuck spotted a figure as crimson as fire—that was Puji Island's illustrious Sergeant, Malu Bloodfeather, a powerful Harpy at the High-Tier Level.

And her partner was the gnoll Sergeant, Samoru Deceptive Blade, who was also a High-Tier Level gnoll. Even now, Chuck found it somewhat hard to believe that two such formidable sergeants had failed to catch up to a single evil god priest.

Of course, Chuck didn't doubt the capabilities of these two renowned big-city sergeants. The only explanation was that the evil god priest was simply too good at running.

After taking a moment to assess the battle, Chuck leapt down from the boulder to Bloodclaw's side, remounted, and continued the journey.

Galloping all the way, Chuck led the team into Kazte Valley. The valley was filled with coniferous forests that maintained their lush green hue even in the dead of winter.

By now, the sound of magical explosions was clearly audible; the impact points of the Harpies' spells were less than five thousand meters away from them.

Chuck noticed that the magical explosions were growing more frequent. This was Malu Bloodfeather acting according to their agreement, driving the target straight toward Kazte Valley.

In the latter half of Kazte Valley, Chuck found a narrow choke point. It was situated right between two mountain faces, flanked by steep cliffs on both sides. Running between the cliffs was a passageway roughly five meters wide, with a single tree and some bare, leafless bushes sitting squarely in the middle.

It was a perfect spot for an ambush!

"Halt!"

Hearing their sergeant's order, the team came to a stop.

"Graham! Hadosan! Obi! The three of you cover our tracks! The rest of you, come help me set up traps!"

Following Chuck's orders, the team sprang into action. They brushed away their conspicuous footprints in the snow and strung up white silk threads to create tripwires. Chuck even buried a bear trap.

The sounds of magic were drawing closer and closer. With no time left to lay down more defenses, everyone hurriedly took cover with their hyenas. Chuck hid himself in the tree alongside the path.

A few minutes later, Chuck spotted the enemy slithering across the snow, and his heart skipped a beat.

No wonder the two great sergeants hadn't been able to catch her—the evil god priest had modified her own body! She had transformed into a half-human, half-snake monstrosity with a humanoid upper body and a serpentine lower half. Her snake tail slithered rapidly across the snow; with just a single sweep of her tail, she could traverse several meters.

The evil god priest wasn't wearing a shred of clothing. Her long, wine-red hair indicated her female identity, but even a man with the most twisted tastes wouldn't be able to enjoy the sight before him.

Her exposed skin was sporadically covered with emerald-green Scales, and the bare patches bore snake-like scale patterns. Her vertical, slitted pupils looked incredibly hideous and terrifying.

The evil god priest—Daixunna!

Seeing the snake-woman's long, wine-red hair, Chuck suddenly realized why the name Daixunna had felt so familiar.

Daixunna had been a moderately famous circus dancer. Back when Sergeant Chuck had taken his family on a trip to Puji City, he had seen her perform. At the time, Daixunna had delivered a breathtaking dance for the audience, leaving a very deep impression on Chuck.

Yet right now, there was no way Chuck could connect this half-human, half-snake monster to that beautiful dancer.

Fearing that he might be discovered prematurely, Chuck didn't dare stare any longer.

She was close!

Chuck gripped his blade tightly, calculating the enemy's distance from the traps.

Finally, the snake-woman struck the white silk tripwire. Tripped up while moving at high speed, she tumbled over, letting out a meaningless hiss. Chuck caught sight of a forked tongue and sharp fangs flashing in her mouth.

Carried by her momentum, the snake-woman couldn't control her body and tumbled across the ground, hitting the bear trap buried in the snow. Unfortunately, the trap failed to latch onto her slippery serpentine tail; it merely left a few bloodstained green Scales lying on the snow.

"Strike!"

Seeing the enemy hit the dirt, the officers hiding in the shadows revealed themselves and swarmed forward. But the fierce hyenas were even faster than the officers.

When facing an enemy, these well-trained hyenas displayed a side entirely opposite to the one they showed their masters. Their snouts wrinkled, their eyes turned ferocious, and clear drool dripped from between their interlocking fangs as sharp claws popped out from their sprinting paws.

In her panic, the evil god priest thrashed her snake tail. The tail whipped through the air with the whistling sound of a lash, occasionally striking the snowy ground and sending plumes of snow flying.

After forcing back the encircling hyena pack, Daixunna steadied herself and evaluated her situation.

Through the falling snow, Daixunna despairingly realized that she was completely surrounded. Standing right behind the ring of hyenas were gnolls dressed in white winter combat uniforms, their blades drawn.

Seeing the fugitive encircled by their allies, the dozen or so Harpies flying in the sky slowly descended, alighting on the rocks and trees around the perimeter. Minna and the other four Harpy officers from Whirlpool Town were among them.

But the most eye-catching of them all was the owner of a pair of blood-red wings—Malu Bloodfeather.

"Daixunna! You can't escape! Surrender!"

'''html