Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 449: Modified - 414 Scent Map

Thud.. Thud.. Thud..

The "Storm Horn" smoothly docked at Harrisburg, led by Gary, the Marines took the lead, and squads of fully armed crew members were already jogging and lining up at the port.

Besides firearms and sabers, every crew member had a belt of "activated shark hide" in various colors but identical styles around their waist.

As the earliest forces cultivated by Aiven, the veteran crew who had followed him through numerous battles had long been armed to the teeth by him, proving their loyalty.

Though still within the kingdom’s organization, with Aiven’s current status, no one could hope to mobilize a single person without his approval, effectively making them akin to his private army.

Aiven, of course, did not hesitate to invest in them.

As the navy soldiers finished assembling, an official representative of Sir Bin, a deputy of the governor, had rushed over upon hearing the news. Of course, for such a vicious incident to occur in the colony, these administrators were the most anxious.

Moreover, as an autonomous colony, even the highest administrator, the governor, was elected by the council, so the bureaucratic class naturally valued public opinion.

The deputy quickly sought out Aiven:

"General, the governor has urgently allocated two hundred military horses and jungle survival supplies for your department. Do you need anything else?"

"Thank the governor for his kindness; we don’t need military horses. Just hand over the wilderness survival supplies for two hundred people to us."

Aiven declined his offer.

The navy under his command had no training in horsemanship; they couldn’t even run smoothly on flat ground, let alone in the mountains and forests.

Furthermore, venturing into undeveloped, complicated terrains, military horses are not necessarily more useful than human legs, and his soldiers had secret weapons.

Riding military horses, just carrying horse feed is already a considerable burden.

"Understood, sir, I got it."

Only commanders have the right to decide what equipment to use, so the deputy did not insist.

Soon, the soldiers, carrying supplies prepared by the colony, including field tents, marching rations, and various tools generally not available on the ship, set out.

Without needing new guides, they were already setting off towards the wilderness deep in the west of the continent, led by Aiven, initiating the pursuit mode against those natives!

Leaving behind only a small portion of the crew on the "Storm Horn" deck under the leadership of First Mate Boris, observing them with attention.

They would remain on standby, ready for combat at any time since no one knew where that group of natives would end up drifting to.

The personnel accompanying the pursuit included Milan, Gary, and Roddy, the three official knights, and two hunter guides, Wilde and Mike, dispatched by the garrison commander.

With Fleck, possessing late-stage apprentice knight strength, represented the relatively stronger individual forces among the two hundred elite soldiers.

The intelligence sent by the seagull previously had already clearly informed Aiven of the situation. Even after orchestrating the massacres at four pioneer towns, the native tribe, Araucan Clan, clearly was not yet satisfied.

In the few days it took for intelligence to be relayed by the kingdom, they had already continued moving northwards. They even caused another massacre in Sir Bin State, resulting in the deaths of more than a hundred pioneers.

This was also the main reason why local officials were willing to provide strong support to Aiven and his men.

Knowing that there were a large number of totem warriors among those natives, even the higher-ups, no matter how impatient, could not simply send ordinary soldiers to their deaths.

Killing a few people alone wouldn’t cause heartache, but if they kept adding fuel, turning it into a continuous supply of sacrifices for those twisted blood sacrifice rituals, causing the opponent’s strength to keep increasing would be a big problem.

And the "Storm Horn" along with Aiven and his officers, was the closest equivalent armed force to those natives.

Among them, Aiven’s personal strength was the primary factor.

After all, having the achievement of "slaying" a Tier 3 Great Knight, and being an official wizard known for dealing with mysterious events, no one was more suitable than him so far.

For Aiven, this sudden event was originally within his jurisdiction. Moreover, with the new personnel of "Storm Horn" now comprising nearly half of all crew members, it was just the right opportunity to complete a reconsolidation through a collective action.

At this point, whatever the original intention of the natives attacking the pioneer townships was, it no longer mattered.

As Aiven understood from the moment he set foot on the New Continent, it was a conflict of survival space and interests between two races, with no right or wrong, only strength or weakness!

Once colonization (invasion) begins, unless one side is completely defeated with no chance of recovery, the war will never end.

The main force marched out of the city limits in grand scale, reaching uninhabited regions.

Aiven suddenly waved his hand and gave the order:

"Everyone, marching mode!"

Under the surprised gaze of the new Sub-Lieutenant Roddy and the two hunters.

"Invincible in battle!"

With a unified shout, the shark hides around the soldiers’ waists squirmed and expanded, though it only covered their waists and legs, partially undergoing the process of colonization transformation.

In this state, without the need for combat, the endurance time of the "activated beast hides" greatly extended. Combined with human endurance, it was sufficient for long-distance marching.

In areas with complex terrain, this was much stronger than relying on military horses, a miracle even the strongest knight could not achieve.

"Move out!"

Swish! Swish! Swish!....

Though burdened with over 40 kilograms each, they walked with SPEED, faster than normal people jogging.

They were heading to the last attacked township to meet with the liaison personnel and scout team there.

By this time, the seagulls had long been dispatched ahead, hovering high above everyone’s heads, continuously sending back intelligence from the frontlines.

As long as the Araucan Clan dared peek from the forest of summer thickets, without needing the pre-scattered potion for tracking, Aiven could discover them.

The coordination of aerial and ground forces bore faint hints of the future foresight of an integrated three-dimensional warfare.

Among the only one moving steadily with the team, Olivia felt a bit of peculiarity. Just yesterday, she was being chased, and today, she had become the chaser.

Destiny is indeed too mysterious. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

...

In the colonial economy, Sir Bin, as dependent on fur as East Lenz, is clearly more aggressive in his westward push compared to plantation-based Kajinia.

Even with the assistance of "Activated Beast Hide," by the time Aiven and his group reached the last attacked location—Novok Town, a day and a half had passed.

And here, they also saw the bodies of pioneers that had not been completely cleaned up after the attack.

Aside from all having lost their scalps, making their bloodstained faces extra gruesome, everyone’s hearts were also missing.

One of the bodies had its entire chest cavity torn open by enormous force, with not only the heart missing but also traces of gnawing on other organs.

"Are these disgusting guys cannibals? They actually gnawed directly."

Milan, standing nearby, furrowed his eyebrows deeply.

"There are not only gnawing traces on this body; there are many beside it, as if they couldn’t resist the temptation of flesh and blood while taking the heart and gnawed a few more bites.

Though it’s not the main point, it can basically be determined that these guys most likely ate the hearts straight after taking them."

Aiven had come to a conclusion after examining most of the pioneers’ bodies.

Seeing the round face of the new Sub-Lieutenant behind Milan remaining unfazed at such a sight, couldn’t help but raise his estimation of this little fatty a notch.

As for the current situation, it somewhat resembles the rumors among cannibals that eating an enemy’s flesh grants power.

Among the Atrean people, there are many groups who have been at perpetual war with each other, and there are not a few groups with traditions of cannibalism and blood sacrifice.

The most famous of these was the now extinct Azik Empire!

However, this Araucan clan originally had little power and no tradition of cannibalism. But after entering slaughter mode, the number of totem warriors in the tribe suddenly increased abnormally.

This must have some intrinsic connection between the two.

"We need to catch up and stop them from continuing.

Though power gained through such dubious means surely has major flaws.

But it doesn’t take much; just a group of dozens of totem warriors would be unstoppable by even the capital of the eleven colonies!"

However, just as they were about to set off again, they received bad news from the reception personnel who had already been waiting here.

The elite scout team that had been closely following the native tribe hadn’t transmitted any information for more than 24 hours, and the meaning behind such a situation was self-evident.

Moreover, the natives would surely now know that a pursuing force from the Kingdom existed behind them, and the difficulty of tracking them would climb steeply from now on.

At this point, Hunter Guide Wilde, clad in deerskin, approached Aiven and volunteered: "General, leave the tracking to us."

"Oh? Do you also have a way to track directly?"

Aiven knew that due to the harsh survival environment of the New Continent and the extensive equipment of rifled guns, many divine archers arose among the pioneers.

In a wilderness environment, they exert significant deterrence, and both Wilde and Mike are such elite divine archers.

They are equipped with the finest Kentucky rifles and possess extremely rich survival and hunting experience in the wild. Already, they have somewhat the style of snipers in wilderness combat.

This was Aiven’s initial impression of them.

Seeing Aiven’s doubt, Wilde smiled confidently:

"Come out."

Chirp chirp chirp...

A lively squirrel poked its head out of his breast pocket, hopping onto his shoulder.

After Wilde’s explanation.

Rodents’ sense of smell is ten times that of canines, and their discerning ability is even stronger. Once trained, they can easily identify potion scents sprayed on natives.

The only drawback is that they cannot understand complex commands and are very timid.

Now, its continuous jumping means that the natives indeed came here, and the squirrel indeed caught their lingering scent!

Though Aiven still did not place full trust in this creature with keen smell but small brain capacity.

Especially when Seagull’s aerial reconnaissance was fruitless, having to rely on scent tracking.

However, he had already prepared a better solution.

"Fleck!"

"Sir!"

He took out a massive bear pelt from the Magic Pocket, an unexpected find during the wolf hunt.

A bear’s sight and hearing are not particularly sharp, but its sense of smell is incredibly developed, being seven times that of a canine, even able to present a detailed scent map in the brain akin to a magical extraordinary ability.

Most of Aiven’s previously crafted ordinary "Activated Beast Hides" were focused on combat power.

But this bear skin has completely preserved its olfactory system; although it results in average combat ability, it can nearly replicate the bear’s sense of smell entirely.

Actually, sharks’ olfactory capabilities are similarly keen. If Baldwin, who has comprehensively inherited the abilities of the Horn Shark, were here,

With his extraordinary level, his abilities would surely surpass that of the bear.

However, Fleck, having already reached the late-stage apprentice level, donned the bear pelt, transforming into a mighty brown bear standing two meters tall.

The human brain combined with a brown bear’s sense of smell should be much more reliable than a squirrel.

He borrowed an extra bottle of potion from Wilde for a sniff and quickly pointed in a direction.

"Even though several days have passed and the scent is faint, the bear’s sense of smell tells me it’s in that direction!"

Simultaneously, Wilde’s squirrel made the same judgment.

"Well done, the direction is northeast, move out!"