The raid

****Hey reader, giving a heads up, some parts in this chapter can be disturbing for some****

It was time. Walking through the village Chris couldn't believe that it was the same place he walked in a few hours back. The loud chorus was now replaced by a silent melody, almost as if it was trying to mimic the forest around it. The muddled streets were now empty, with the occasional sighting of some saugetiers, there was no other sign that it was a buzzing village a few hours back. Most of the abled-bodied saugetiers were part of the attack and had already moved into their positions.

His group was now moving to the rendezvous point, consisting of Darius, Ruthan, two of the big Saugetiers who were guarding the hut along with a few other saugetiers. They all looked intimidating, Chris guessed it as the personal pack of Ruthan. Adag had left the mud hut earlier and was nowhere to be found.

It was still dark and a few hours before sunrise, a small Sinop light crystal helped them see barely ahead, looking at it Chris wondered what was so special about these crystals that a horde of three thousand Saugetiers were about to risk their lives for.

With bare minimum visibility, their pace was slow, they walked for what Chris felt like hours. Chris realised they reached their destination when Darius gave them the signal to stop. It was still very dark.

Chris tried to move in front to check his surroundings, Darius immediately held his hand.

"Careful."

At this, Chris stopped and looked in front of him, though the forest was covered in darkness, up ahead he could with more attention see small pockets of lights at different positions. They belonged to the six groups of saugetiers. Seeing how far they were placed from each other he could vaguely guess that there was a valley ahead of them.

Chris wanted to ask Darius a few questions, but due to Darius's suggestion, he had to act the part of someone who cannot speak. With nothing else to do, he waited.

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The sun was rising and along with it, the cover of darkness dispersed, revealing what Chris had guessed. Underneath was a huge valley, and in between lay a wide path. Chris and his group were placed on a high vantage location giving them visibility over the whole valley. The valley had enough cover for the troops to hide at the same time enough open space for a successful charge. It was the perfect spot for an ambush of this scale.

The spots where he had seen small pockets of light, now revealed the six groups of saugetiers, they were positioned almost parallel to each other on opposite sides of the valley. Darius had mentioned earlier that the six groups will all charge together, and the wide formation will converge together to form a circle around the Inseki troops. The attack will take place from all sides, with no route to escape.

Three thousand against five hundred, the odds were entirely in favor of the Saugetiers to add on top of that was the geographical advantage they held. It dawned on him that it was going to be a massacre.

((And I wanted to be a part of this?))

There was something else bothering him as well.

((Why would the Inseki take this route? The risk was too high. Did the benefits outweigh the risks? Or were they oblivious of the hidden village?))

That's when he sensed it, something familiar, the same feeling he felt when inside the Anabastha forest. It was coming from the opposite direction, it was drawing close.

Darius shouted, "They are here."

He saw the troops emerging from the edge of the valley, noticing first the Huge beast in the middle of the marching troops. It had six legs, with a huge bulky body, its head was almost half the size of its body with a huge single horn right in the middle. It's exterior, though had a brown color was sparkling under the sun, reflecting luminous colors. He couldn't help but feel amazed by the majestic beast.

Attached to the beast were huge chains connected to the large carriage behind, the carriage was almost thirty feet long with more wheels he could count, it was evident that it was carrying something heavy.

He felt the familiar energy again, this confirmed for him that it was coming from inside the carriage.

((Isn't that supposed to be a Sinop crystal?)) He had to control himself from asking Darius about it.

His attention then fell upon the troops that were protecting the carriage. They looked like the miniature version of the big beast but with more humanoid features. Their hands and legs were lean with a very bulky torso, their heads were huge with two large horns, unlike the Saugetiers guards, the horns of the Inseki felt a part of them and not an extension.

They all wore light green clothing, they didn't hold any weapons nor were wearing any armor. They were marching in perfect ranks guarding the carriage, two of them were riding the great beast.

"The Brumbar tribe were escorting it? what were you thinking leach?" Darius shouted.

"Now now no need to get emotional nephew, our plan is foolproof, we have all the advantages, and with Adag helping us this is a sure-shot victory."

"What if he comes leach? none of the strategies will work, he will wipe us all out, did you forget what happened last time?"

"We have intel from the Eidechs that he is engaged somewhere else, also he wouldn't come for something so small? Focus on the task at hand, we have a lot at stake here."

"Not "WE" leach, "YOU" have a lot at stake here, I don't know what you are trying to pull by associating with Adag and Eidechs, they are just playing you, Fool! it's all about their eternal conflict, we are just their pawns, your leaching won't work on them as it did on my father."

The beastmen behind Ruthan came closer towards Darius, Ruthan held out his hand.

"It's ok boys, my nephew is just emotional, you see we don't have such fond memories with that lot down there, anyways no points in brooding about the past huh, so what say Darius I keep my boys away from you and your friend for now, how about you focus on the job at hand?"

Darius didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought, so with that out of the way why don't you give the signal Darius."

"You should have told me that it was the Brumbar tribe, this changes things, we will have to adapt our strategy." His tone was calmer now.

"My nephew we have three thousand disposable beastmen right under us, use them the way you want, they don't need to know that we changed the strategy huh?"

Darius kept silent.

"I am sure that brain of yours can come up with something quickly, oh, by the way, if this mission fails I doubt that Adag will find only me accountable, it won't take him much time to find your little hiding spot in the forest along with your sister. You see I already told him about it. I think this should be enough motivation for you"

Chris couldn't take it anymore and stood up, but Darius held out his hand preventing him from moving towards Ruthan. He looked at Darius whose eyes were blood-red, he knew what they were trying to tell him.

((Not now)).

He didn't know what he would have done if Darius hadn't stopped him.

Ruthan looked at Chris and back at Darius and with a smirk on his face said, "I see both of you are pumped up now, why don't we use it to better use, huh?"

Chris tried his best to calm himself down, he guessed Darius was doing the same. While Ruthan and Darius were busy talking, the Inseki troops almost reached the center of the valley.

Seeing this Darius gave the signal to one of the saugetiers, who took out the large horn he was carrying and blew, followed by an echoing sound throughout the valley, marking the beginning of the raid.

The Saugetiers who were hiding had no reason to stay hidden anymore, they started to move downhill. The charge had begun, the pace was slow at the start, but the more they started to descend the more they gained momentum, not heeding to anything between them, a wave of three thousand saugetiers descended upon the five hundred Inseki troops.

The Inseki went into alert the moment they heard the horn, Chris thought seeing such overwhelming numbers of Saugetiers charging at them the Inseki will try to flee, but what unfolded was something unexpected.

Without missing a step and maintaining a steady pace the Inseki troops got into their formation, if Chris thought the Inseki looked odd, their formation was even odder.

They formed a circle around the carriage in two-line, with each Inseki soldier forming a pair. These pairs instead of facing the charging saugetiers faced each other. The ones in the front had their bulky back exposed towards the direction of the incoming attack, while their partner faced the direction of the incoming charge.

This is when the ones in the front did something completely unexpected. Holding their partner they turned upside down, retreating their hands, legs, and head behind their bulky backs. While their partner in the back held them in position covering their own body behind the exposed backs of their partner. This was repeated for all the troops leaving no space between the formation.

Chris was confused.

The saugetiers heeding no mind to it kept charging down, they were coming down in huge folds, the momentum kept picking up. The sheer force of the momentum was going to break the Inseki formation, he feared they were about to be squashed under the charge. He almost closed his eyes.

Just when the first line of Saugetiers were about to make contact, the Inseki who had their head exposed started releasing something from their mouths, covering the entire area in front of them. In an instant it was covered in something white, tracing his memory from the story Darius had spoken, he knew it was mist.

((What kind of magic created the mist?))

Seeing the mist the Saugetiers who were in the front tried to stop, but the momentum was too great, with such numbers marching down slowing down was almost impossible, the ones in front tried their best to halt the charge but it failed miserably, it quickly turned into a stampede, scores of saugetiers toppled on each other stuck between the mist and the charge from behind. It quickly turned into chaos with hundreds getting crushed underneath.

The downhill advantage quickly turned against them.

Those who were still coming down had to choose to either enter the mist or wait to be crushed. Many chose the former and entered the mist.

Saugetiers in hundreds stepping on their dead or half-alive comrades kept entering the mist, with many still charging in.

This was when the mist which was pure white, started to change its color, right at the center of the mist, dark red spots started to emerge, which slowly spread out, quickly dying the whole mist blood red.

Chris knew he wasn't imagining when he saw the mist turning darker shades of red with each beastmen stumbling into it. His stomach churned realising what was happening.

He looked at Darius, who to Chris's horror didn't have any change of expression.

((Did he know this was going to happen?))

Watching the mist turn red from the distance, the charging saugetiers slowed down, and the charge came to a halt.

The valley came to a standstill, the rising dust, the warcries, clinging weapons, footsteps of hundreds of Saugetiers all came to a halt, one would be almost deceived to believe that there was nothing happening under the valley.

But this stillness would be easily betrayed if one saw what scene unfolded at the center of the valley.

The Inseki troops still kept their round formation, the area around them was still covered in blood-red mist, surrounding the Inseki and the mist were hundreds of Saugetiers.

They were waiting for the mist to clear, with all their eyes matching the blood-red color of the mist. It didn't matter if they were standing on the dead bodies of other saugetiers, even those who were barely alive were offered no help. They all stood there looking across the mist, waiting.

Chris got chills looking at this sight. ((What did they all go through to drive them so mad for Inseki blood?))

It looked like a stalemate, but the advantage still lay with the saugetiers, they were playing the waiting game, Inseki magic was not infinite and soon they would run out of the mist.

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The waiting game continued for some time, with the Saugetiers on the edge of the mist refusing to move an inch and the mist refusing to diffuse.

After what felt like a really long time the Saugetiers started to sound their warcries again, this made Chris look at the mist, which turned less dense, gradually the mist was clearing.

This is when he saw what the mist was trying to hide, hundreds of beastmen lay motionless around the area where the mist cleared. What remained of them was just their skin and bones, empty husks that were dried out.

He almost puked and imagined what horrors Darius would have felt seeing his own father and whole village like that. ((How did he keep his sanity?))

He looked at Darius, who still didn't have any change in his expression, without even flinching he kept looking down at the valley under.

But he was surprised when he looked at Ruthan, who had his eyes closed, and was visibly shaking. ((Not so tough as you show yourself to be huh?))

He looked back into the valley, the mist was entirely gone. The Inseki who were releasing the mist looked visibly exhausted. They weren't moving much.

The saugetiers didn't attack even after the mist cleared, maybe watching the dried dead bodies of their comrades they were afraid. They held their charge almost as if waiting for something.

Seeing this Darius gave another signal, and the horn blew for the second time. This was enough for the saugetiers to let go of all their doubts. With new confidence, they charged again.

As they charged in, Chris just like the Saugetiers thought the battle was over, still having the numbers advantage, they could easily overwhelm the Inseki. But what unfolded next was not something they expected.