Chapter 1204

Darcel pondered, lightly tapping his chin. “The other party clearly came prepared and determined to take action. No matter how cautious we are, there will always be a moment of negligence. Therefore, violent conflict is inevitable.”

Neera expressed deep concern. “How could this happen? Could it be the same people who attacked us in the middle of the night before?”

The first attempt didn’t succeed, so they’ve brought enough manpower to try again?

Darcel shook his head. “It’s not that group of people.”

Seeing his resolute assertion, Neera couldn’t help but question, “How can you be so sure?”

Caleb remained silent on the side, muttering complaints to himself.

Of course, he knew that he had already sent those guys to meet their maker.

Lord of the Night paused for a moment, then responded calmly, “That group was severely hit by us recently. They won’t recover so quickly.”

“I see…” Neera didn’t quite understand, but she chose to believe whatever he said. “If it’s not them, then who is it this time? Does the Gordon family have so many enemies?”

Shane’s face turned serious. “Actually, it’s not too bad. However, the guild’s attitude towards the Gordon family this time is rather intriguing, and it’s attracting a lot of attention. So, it’s hard to say how things will turn out.”

Caleb casually rubbed the back of his head, his tone as laid-back as ever, showing no signs of nervousness.

“Actually, whether we have enemies or not is no longer important. Once you enter this dense forest, everyone wants to break-through the encirclement and come out on top. Whether it’s between the guild and Lordsworth Estate, or within the guild and the estate itself. In fact, their relationships have long been strained.”

Darcel also said, “Now is not the time to worry about who they are. We’ll figure out what’s going on once we’ve captured them and thoroughly interrogated them.”

“Capture them? But are we confident enough to confront them directly?”

A shadow passed over Darcel’s eyes. “If conflict is inevitable, then we should steer it towards the outcome we desire. They have the advantage in numbers, so we can’t overpower them. Instead, we must outsmart them.”

Shane also agreed. “That’s right. Even if we confront them head-on and win this round, the journey ahead is still long. Who knows what violent conflicts might occur in the future? If we exhaust all our energy and strength here, causing casualties, it would not be beneficial for us in the long run.”

Neera understood their intentions.

“So, your idea is to strike first, catch them off guard, minimize our own involvement as much as possible, and aim for a swift victory?”

“Bingo!” Caleb gave a thumbs up. “That’s exactly what I mean.”

The group chatted as they slowly moved forward.

After some thought, Neera casually glanced around, pretending to be nonchalant.

“If we want to gain the upper hand, the only thing we can use right now is our surroundings. But looking around, aside from the dense forest, there doesn’t seem to be much else we can utilize.”

In the face of the current situation, although she was slow to accept it at first, once she understood, her mind worked quickly.

“Ms. Garcia, you’re so clever,” Caleb praised her with a smile, “Just a moment ago you seemed confused, but now you’ve quickly come up with a strategy.”

Neera felt somewhat embarrassed by his compliments.

“Mr. Medicina, you flatter me. I’m just brainstorming, I haven’t come up with a solid plan yet.”

Beside her, Darcel watched her intently. A hint of admiration surfaced in his deep, obsidian-like eyes.

Shane spoke up at this moment, “There’s nothing here we can use to our advantage, but that might not be the case up ahead. It seems to open up more in the front, like a relatively flat valley.”

Darcel nodded. “That’s right. The valley lies ahead. The surroundings are flat, but the middle is slightly lower, forming a pond. We can take advantage of that place to set a trap.”

Neera was surprised. “You seem very familiar with the terrain here. Have you been here before?”

Upon hearing this, both Caleb and Darcel’s expressions subtly changed.

Caleb thought to himself. How could I not be familiar? This guy rose to power during the initial election at Lordsworth Estate, it all started from this very place!

No one probably knows the situation here better than this man…

Darcel would certainly not admit it, so he casually made up an excuse, “Before I came in, I checked the information and maps drawn by others.”

Neera chose not to doubt his explanation and nodded. “So that’s how it is.”

Shane said, “Alright, let’s do it this way. We’ll catch the prey in the trap when the time comes. It will definitely save us a lot of effort.”

Darcel nodded. “For now, let’s pretend we haven’t noticed anything. We’ll set up camp when we get there. They’ve been following us all this time without making a move. They surely don’t want to reveal anything. They’ll probably wait until the dead of night to act. We can discuss further once we’re there.”

And so, the matter was settled.

And so, the group continued on their journey as if they hadn’t noticed a thing.

As evening fell, they finally reached the valley.

Darcel had given prior instructions, specifically to not venture into the valley, but to pitch tents along its edge instead.

This way, those who were tracking them could not get close, remaining completely unaware of the situation in the valley…