Chapter 97: Night of terror

“This sucks.”

A man who swept the sweat off his forehead shouted as he looked at the never-ending trails and bushes in front of him. All the men near him seemed to be similarly annoyed by the hot humid weather and long road ahead.

“Ugh! S***! That scared me!”

“Haha!”

“Loren, look at him. He’s scared like a pussy! Coward!”

“Hey, did you s*** in your pants?”

“I can already smell it coming from his pants.”

Men began mocking the man who was scared by a bird that suddenly darted out of the bushes. They enjoyed teasing each other to shake off the exhaustion from the long trip.

“This is so boring. Where are the monsters? Who said this mountain range was dangerous?”

“Hey Dogg, watch it. You can never underestimate it.”

“Hah! We have 300 people. What can go wrong?”

“Shut up! Stay silent!”

A man shouted, ordering everyone keep quiet. No one raised an objection at the order, moving silently. It was obvious that they feared the man who shouted.

“We will camp here tonight.”

Everyone stopped at the words. They moved out into the shadows away from the trail and sat down.

“Ughh, I’m dying.”

“I never thought walking was this hard.”

Everyone began moaning as they sat down to rest. Grigg, the leader of Black Talon, fighter group of the Black Brotherhood, frowned. The forest was extremely deep and long. The weather did not help them either and all the groans were irritating.

“Victor! Are we on the right path?”

He shouted at the man who was guiding them.

“Yes, we just need four more days and then we’ll arrive at Trina Village.”

Victor nodded, but Grigg still seemed to be irritated. He watched Victor with disgust as Victor turned his head away.

‘Dirty half-human bastard.’

Victor was a Humanos, a mix of human and Ainos. He was able to move more quickly through the woods than anyone in the group. That also irritated Grigg.

Men began preparing to set up camp, installing simple traps for monsters and searching the area for drinking water. Grigg called and gathered all the squadron leaders.

“Four days. We’ll be there in four days. We will pillage, kill, and rape. All the women will be taken as slaves.”

“Yes! I am looking forward to taking those Ainos women as my own.”

“Finally.”

“All of that hard walking will pay us back!”

“Can we really run rampant without worry?”

“Yes. We just need to destroy a village and return.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Most of the leaders seemed to be delighted at Grigg’s orders. But some were concerned.

“Shut up! Captain, I heard rumors that the Berdocs were captured alive like babies at Khaloda Village. We should be careful.”

“Yes, I heard none of the Ainos were injured.”

“That’s because they have potions! They have a bunch of them.”

“Right, Solad. We can get those too.”

“I heard the Ainos have a stock full of those potions. I’m looking forward to it.”

“There’s a saying that says to never to find an Ainos in the forest.”

“Hah! That’s because those cowards shoot arrows. We have shields this time. Their arrows will do nothing to us.”

The man raised a rectangular shield, made of wood with an iron covering on the front. It was heavy, but regular arrows could not penetrate it. It was also very long and big, enough to cover the entire body of a man. Everyone was equipped with this type of shield.

“They are nothing without their arrows.”

Everyone grinned at the thought.

“Four days. Keep your men in check for just four more days. We are almost there.”

“All the women are mine!”

“Hah, I’ll let you take the older ones.”

“You bastard!”

Everyone began shouting at each other while Grigg smirked.

“When can I eat something else than jerky?”

“I want something else…”

“Can we have some stew at least?”

“No. They will know where we are right away if we start a fire.”

“Dammit!”

Everyone was full of complaints but they kept it to themselves since they just needed four more days. They seemed unruly, but they were still trained mercenaries with lots of experience. The Black Talon was the strongest of the mercenaries within the Kingdom of Toria.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

“I need to take a piss.”

A man walked away from the group and began tending to his business while he looked at the sun going down. He suddenly noticed something strange.

‘Hmm?’

His opened his eyes wide, but that was it. He fell down the ground without saying anything else.

An arrow shot through the air and into the middle of the man’s head. He fell down dead. No one from the group realized what had happened yet.

‘It’s amazing.’

They were about 150 feet away, but the arrow did not miss its target. It was the signal of a start. Arrows were fired at unsuspecting men trying to rest for the night, killing all they touched.

“Ambush!”

About twenty men were killed at once and the other mercenaries began shouting frantically. All of the arrows that were fired thereafter were deflected.

“AMBUSH! Put up your shields! Form a line!”

“Ambush! Group up! Get your shields!”

“Get your shield up!”

Most of the orders were to put up a shield.

‘They sure are prepared.’

Joonbum was surprised as he watched them. No one seemed to be disoriented by the ambush. They knew exactly what they had to do and they began following the orders from the leaders around them.

“Poison! They have poison arrows!”

Howen signaled his warriors to back off as they prepared themselves for the attack. Silence fell. This was only the beginning.

The Ainos attacked them throughout the night. The arrows accurately pierced them as the darkness loomed over them.

“Ugh!”

“Jowen! Dammit!”

“They’re still here! Don’t let your guard down!”

An angry shout was heard throughout the area. As the night continued, the men died from a slight scratch from the poisoned arrows. A set of arrows was fired upon them the moment they were about to let their guard down.

‘They’re like gods with night vision,’ Joonbum thought as the Ainos reigned hell on the mercenaries as the darkness covered them. Their vast number did not prove to be useful as at least fifty of them died helplessly during the first night of ambush. They were barely able to move when morning began. They began moving quickly with Victor’s guidance, eager for revenge.

“We will camp here tonight. They will come again. We will install a fence and use shields and armor to deflect the arrows. Doyle, Jake, go lead a squad to ambush on them from the west while they focus on us. Anton, Kidon, take the east. We will attack them at once.”

Everyone began moving at Grigg’s orders. They needed to succeed in order to survive and they knew how, unlike the Berdocs. They worked quickly to make a temporary wooden fence out of trees with thick branches and began stacking them together. Its purpose was to block arrows or make the arrows lose momentum while moving through the branches so that they could finally deflect them with their armor.

“Be ready to move it out of the way and charge. We’ll show them who we are today.”

Everyone seemed eager to fight. There were no fear amongst any of them.

“Their tactic will be same. They will keep trying to wane us out by attacking through the night, but we will charge into their village anyway. They will come down at us when we get close. That’s when we wipe them out for good.”

Everyone nodded at Grigg’s words. They knew they had to follow their captain’s orders to survive.

The sound of a bird gave the men chills as it meant that night had fallen. They grew tense but began losing their focus as no attack started as the night continued. Then the arrows were fired.

“Ugh!”

“They’re here!”

A man fell down, blood spraying from his neck where the arrow had pierced him. But no other men fell to the arrows afterward. The arrows were successfully blocked by the fences and armor.

“It’s working! Don’t fear them! It’s our turn!” Grigg shouted. Arrows were fired at him, but they were deflected. At that moment, a whistling arrow was fired by one of the mercenaries, signaling an attack.

“Attack! Attack them!”

“Go after them!”

Everyone charged, but not all were lucky. A group of arrows fired upon them and then they disappeared. The Ainos who were sure to be cornered were nowhere to be found.

At that moment, a loud boom shook the mountain range and the forest began erupting with sounds. The mercenaries began screaming in fear as their night of terror began.