Viper Joy
The entire settlement feels extremely tense.
Teams of warriors that had just been drinking Ayrag before is now on patrol and the horse riders could be seen scouting the area
Almost all of the warriors and horse riders of the tribe is now out and ready. Xeqani do not simply wanted to kill Aeryon.
He wanted to crush him and his tribe in such a way that no one would ever dare to do what he had done ever again.
Xeqani ambition is large and vast.
He wanted to establish a large tribe on the south and for that to happen, people have to have a degree of respect to him.
And fear.
These two things are pivotal in him making a play for the position of a large tribe.
He waited in his tent, closing his eyes, sitting cross legged.
Before, he was surrounded by woman and wine but now that he is about to fight, he focused himself.
This is the reason why the Xewa tribe had become so successful. If the leader is like this, how could the subordinate not be affected?
Self-discipline of Xeqani made his soldiers a formidable force around this area.
The tribe members were not informed of the raid but they know that something big was going to happen today so the men readied their weapons and even the woman is ready to fight
The life in the Great Steppe is a life full of constant conflict
While the different tribes sometimes formed alliances and worked together to survive, more often than not they fought each other bitterly, competing for resources and control of the land.
In addition to fighting among themselves, the tribes of the Great Steppe also battled with the Yan Empire, located to the south.
For their part, the Yan played a sophisticated political game with the herders to their north.
First the Yan would side with one group, then another, constantly changing their relationships and allegiances in order to weaken all sides and prevent any tribe from gaining enough strength to rise and challenge them.
The people of the Great Steppe suffered frequent hardships due to severe weather and shortages of good grazing land for their animals.
They often fought among themselves over food, goods, and even women, and they viewed other tribes with the same suspicion as their more distant rivals like the Yan.
It is because of this constant conflict, the division between genders in fighting became prevalent among the tribe. Woman are weaker than men but that does not mean they could not fight
In the Great Steppe, if you do not fight, then you die.
So, if you want to survive, fight. If you want to live, fight.
Not far away from the settlements behind some low-lying hills, there is garron and his soldiers on horsebacks. Beside him, sitting on horseback is his sworn brother Waqu.
'Is it wise to do that?' Waqu asked.
Garron only smiles.
'It is a bet'
'You bet on that young man?' For a moment there is silence between these two sworn brothers.
Garron look at Waqu smiles and nodded
'He is alone. At most he has fifty men with him. The Xewa tribe almost has a thousand. The result is already determined.' But Garron only smiles.
He still remembers how easy it was for Aeryon to tear apart through the attack of his men. It was like a tiger entering into a pen full of sheep
The moment he enters, he eats all the sheep.
It is stranger at least to the eyes of the warriors and the horse riders how garron could have such a goodwill toward someone who had killed his warriors and his horse riders.
But Garron once lived when his tribe was one of the large tribes of the Great Steppe. In the tribe, he saw many great people, great warriors and he saw it in Aeryon.
Even though he is enemies with Aeryon right now, he could still respect his enemies. I his eyes, Aeryon fit the image of a hero.
His eyes are shining and he waited
Then he said
'Only then it would be called a bet' he finally answers his sworn brother. Waqu hearing the answer of his brother could only sigh
'We wait and when the wind blows and picks its direction, we would follow the wind. And see if we could reap benefits'
And Garron laughed
….
The night becomes deeper and some people thought Garron might have been mistaken.
Some of Xeqani advisors even said that garron might be lying and the story he told might simply be a tall story
Xeqani even wanted to call back Garron but it was then that there is a ruckus.
His advisors rushed out and Xeqani frowned as he opens his eyes.
Someone enters his tent and kneeling in front of him, the messenger quickly declared
'The Son of Rakarys has come!' Xeqani face is ugly.
Even though there is a possibility, he still could not believe that this young cub is really so brave that he would really come to challenge his tribe
This is basically a humiliation to him
'It is useless to be merciful before' he thought to himself as he spit to the side.
He wanted to be generous and shows that he is open hearted to the other tribe and he could be merciful.
In a way, he tries to emulate those Yan princes
Who could have thought such decision bring such a calamity?
'Hmph' however he snorted in disdain.
Even if the whole tribe of Brolgadhr united, how could it fight against his tribe?
If they could fight against his tribe, how could Rakarys died under his hand? Xeqani got up and walk out from his tent and it was at this time, he heard a shout that echoes resoundingly in this silent night
'Xeqani, you killed my father. Prepare to die!'
Aeryon did not wait. Tonight, the clouds did not block the moon and the moonlight is bright, illuminating the area of the settlements.
Aeryon charged with his horse.
One could see his gallant figure rushing forward and the horse riders and the warriors of the Xewa tribe was shocked when they saw this
There is no hesitation and no fear, one horse and one man seem to be freely riding, the sight of a heroic warrior.
If there is an army led by such a young and brave leader, right now the morale should have soared
Once Aeryon said he would kill, he did not mince words, he simply rides toward the enemy
'kill him!' one of the veteran warriors shouted. The horse riders also move forward rushing their hose to meet against Aeryon.
A young warrior, dashing and valiant, riding a horse with a sword in his hand charges forward against hundreds of men.
One of the veterans of the horse riders are the first one that came close toward Aeryon. A long spear in his hand, the distance shortened, and Aeryon enter his range of attack.
'Die!' the spear stabbed with power and accuracy. Aeryon laughed, his body move to the side, only a few inches to the side, but that small movement make him able to dodge that spear.
before that horse riders had the chance to pull back his spear, a sword swipe around his neck, his head separated from the neck, flying to the air as the horse keep riding forward, carrying a headless horse rider.
The battle only just begun but Aeryon had already take his first victim. More and more horse riders engaged with Aeryon
They held their weapons and attacked Aeryon furiously.
Aeryon moves like a loach, his body dodges the spear and his hand is swift and strong, hacking people.
Sometimes a head would fly up into the air, other times, a limb would fall down to the ground, the sound of shouts and screams now fills the area.
Red blood drenched the green grass
It is night and even though the moonlight illuminates it is still dark.
People could miss their attack in such an environment but Aeryon using a sword kills people like a butcher
If he misses once, he hacks a second time and he would hit his target.
If the second time, he also misses, he hacks it three times and so on and so forth. His momentum froward doesn't seem to stop. Five people came and five people died.
Ten people came and ten people died.
The more he fights, the faster his killing became
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
There is sound of piercing through the air and Aeryon move his horse to the side, and a rain of arrows landed a few second later on his original position.
People wanted to box him in and entangled him in one spot but not many people could pin him in one spot.
He dodges spears and kills people before they could even box him in and he knows how to command his horse to always have a way out of an encirclement.
'Kill!' he shouted. He is alone and his shout is drowned by the other people shouting for his death.
But he only laughed heartily. The horse riders use arrows, spear and all other kinds of weapons they could use to kill him.
They fought him desperately. But more and more people die under the hands of Aeryon. Those who are watching from the distance almost could not believe their eyes.
'is it someone with innate strength?' some people thought.
But even people with innate strength needs to have people guarding them
But Aeryon alone is enough to deal with their warriors and horse riders.
By now, twenty people had been killed by him in such a short time.
He breaks through one encirclement after the other, coming closer and closer to the settlements. And the horse riders and warriors also began to be dispatched more and more
Right now, there is one hundred people encircling him in every direction.
But no matter how many that come, they would be cut by him.
Whoosh!
An arrow rain once again descended from the sky.
This time Aeryon jump from his horse and the horse was turned into a porcupine-like animal. The horse was puncture to death by sharp arrows.
But Aeryon escape the arrow rain.
He laughed, his entire body is now slathered with the blood of his enemies
And in this kind of condition, he rushed into the formation of the horse riders and warriors with a roar.
Rains of arrow descended upon him but he always seems to be able to escape it like he has an eye behind his back.
The entire battlefield is also very chaotic. Who would have thought trying to kill one person would be this hard?
….
In the distance, Waqu could only shakes his head as he looks at his sworn brother, Garron smiling widely.
He turns back and look at his two hundred men.
'Call the others and bring them here. If the situation unfolded the way I expected, there is a chance to make a killing' he then laughed
Waqu seeing his sworn brother laughed could not help but smile
'When the Viper laughed, that means someone will get bitten'
...