The pursuers didn't hesitate, charging forward, only to vanish again.
"What's going on? How did they just disappear?"
"Everyone, keep your eyes peeled and be careful. These bastards are cunning, especially the grass. Watch it closely."
"Spread out and search! We must find these people, and when we do, kill them all!"
"We clearly saw them enter here, how could they just vanish? Do they know invisibility spells?"
Zhao Yun's army didn't possess invisibility spells, but in this dense jungle, their inherent troop characteristics gave them abilities akin to it.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, someone screamed, drawing everyone's attention.
"What is it? Who's screaming, damn it?"
"Ah! Ah! Ah!!"
As more screams echoed, they finally realized they had fallen into Zhao Yun's trap.
While the enemy was frantically searching for Zhao Yun and his men, Zhao Yun and his forces had already launched their assault. Soldiers hidden in trees, underground, and within the jungle began raining various attacks upon the enemy.
The numerous traps laid here also served their purpose, and the enemy found themselves under constant bombardment, their soldiers falling one by one.
This incensed the enemy commander. They desperately tried to locate Zhao Yun, but every time they thought they saw him, he would suddenly disappear.
It was as if he possessed the ability to turn invisible, vanishing right before their eyes.
"Damn it! If you have the guts, come out and fight!"
An enemy general roared in fury.
Seeing the enemy's rage, Zhao Yun drew his bow, pulled the string back to a full moon, aimed, and fired!
"Whoosh!"
An arrow flew towards the enemy leader, striking him directly in the forehead. The enemy commander was thus killed by Zhao Yun's shot.
"Damn it, Alto has been killed!"
"Our general is dead, we need to get out of here! You deal with these elusive bastards on your own!"
Alto's soldiers, witnessing their general's demise, no longer lingered and retreated along the path they had come.
"Damn you bastards! Your general is dead, so you will obey my orders! I command you to stop!"
"We aren't your soldiers, why should we stop for you?"
"Because I am a general, and you are soldiers! You are now under my command, understand? I advise you to listen obediently and not provoke me. I have a short temper!"
...
Zhao Yun found it highly amusing that the two sides were arguing at such a moment.
They were in the midst of battle, and yet they were arguing. He didn't know what to say.
Following a volley of arrows, Zhao Yun and his men appeared and then disappeared again. The enemy suffered another thousand casualties, which further solidified the resolve of the retreating soldiers to leave.
"Deal with them yourselves, we're going back."
With that, the young general led the remaining soldiers back the way they came.
"That idiot, I'm sure they won't last long." Another general glared at the departing soldiers, furious at their actions. Leaving at a time like this was tantamount to seeking death.
Indeed, as those soldiers departed, Zhao Yun immediately ordered a portion of his men to pursue and slaughter them.
Slaughter was the word. Zhao Yun's soldiers remained hidden in the jungle, no need to even show themselves, simply unleashing a volley of arrows to finish them.
It was that simple.
In such an environment, attempting to escape was futile; Zhao Yun would not allow it.
The enemy resumed their search for Zhao Yun and his forces, but regrettably, as time wore on, not only did they fail to find Zhao Yun, but their own soldiers dwindled.
They had started with fifty thousand men, and now only a little over twenty thousand remained.
Their numbers had been halved.
"Jack, I think we should leave this place," one general said, the idea of retreating dawning on him after experiencing the enemy's hit-and-run tactics.
"We came all this way, why should we leave? I disagree," Jack refused.
"Shit! It's our troops who are dying! Your five thousand men haven't suffered many losses, so of course, you don't care!" the other generals shouted indignantly.
"Fine, I also feel this place isn't ideal. We'll leave!" Seeing that so many wanted to go, Jack could only agree to lead his men away.
But leaving this place was not easy either.
On their return journey, the soldiers had set numerous traps, and those in front were once again ambushed by various contraptions.
"Damn it, these bastards! How do they set traps so quickly? We've only been gone for a short while!"
"It's places we haven't passed before we left."
They began to head towards the jungle.
But!
"Ah!"
Another series of screams erupted. More men had fallen victim to the traps, and several were killed by mechanisms.
"Damn it!"
These soldiers were completely unsuited for jungle warfare. They were toyed with by Zhao Yun and his men, and with every step they took, they were subjected to a barrage of trap attacks.
Zhao Yun, in particular, would always lead a group of men, hidden amongst the dense foliage, to launch a volley of arrows before swiftly retreating.
Or they would descend from above, ensnaring enemies by the neck and hanging them from trees to be strangled.
Zhao Yun's soldiers were like jungle killers in this environment, disappearing immediately after striking, instilling fear in the enemy.
The enemy's morale plummeted, and they had no desire to fight.
They sped up their pace, desperate to escape, but every stretch of ground they covered came at a heavy price.
By the time they finally emerged from the jungle, a headcount revealed that their entire force had been reduced to a mere few thousand.
Fifty thousand men, down to a few thousand. The cost was staggering, their faces grim.
"Rumble!"
"What's that sound?"
The remaining few thousand looked ahead, their faces changing once more. They roared, "Cavalry! Damn it, they're here again! Let's fight!"
They no longer wished to return to the jungle. They would rather face the cavalry head-on than die inexplicably in the unseen depths of the forest. Many were now even terrified of the jungle itself.
Zhao Yun had instilled a primal fear of the jungle in them.
A few thousand men, their morale completely shattered, facing Zhao Yun's cavalry. The outcome was self-evident. They had only one fate.
Annihilation.