The people who came to witness the sacrifice just now were still singing happily, waiting for the ritual feast to begin, but now, the cheerful chanting of the Takas was replaced by the cry of night animals.
Xun gritted his teeth and shouted, "What are you waiting for? Kill them!"
One Taka quickly moved to Hajime, but the black panther turned around, grabbed the Taka's spear in his mouth, and started wrestling with the Taka on the ground. Everyone watched as the black panther jumped onto the Taka who was lying on the ground, and then heard the Taka let out painful screams. The black panther got up from the ground, circled around Hajime, and roared at any Taka who came near Hajime.
Seeing this, Xun became even more angry. He grabbed the spear and said, "I will kill him. You kill the others." He walked towards Hajime and the nine pregnant women.
The remaining nine Taka people again raised their spears and aimed at the backs of the nine women. Just as they were about to pierce the pregnant woman's back with their spears, nine glowing arrows flew out of the darkness on the side where the villagers were standing and struck the nine Taka people in the head.
The six Takas guarding the villagers quickly turned around to look for the enemy. As a result, they were also shot in the head by the same glowing arrows and fell to the ground dead. Two wolves jumped from the roofs of the two houses closest to the villagers.
The wolf carrying Yul headed straight for Hajime, who was a few feet away. Abrafo and Michio jumped off the back of the second wolf. As soon as Abrafo and Michio jumped off the wolf's back, the wolf started attacking the Taka closest to the villagers. A large group of Taka gathered just a few feet away from the villagers, and Abrafo rushed towards them while Michio stayed behind to protect the captured villagers.
"So, you like fire?" Abrafo smirked. "I'll give you fire." He swung his sword in the direction of a large group of Taka and the line of fire flew straight to the gathered Taka. He turned to the villagers. "What are you waiting for? Run!"
Yul drew his sword and jumped off the wolf's back. He swung his sword towards the rope binding Hajime's hands and cut the rope. He quickly took off the cloth that blocked Hajime's mouth.
"Are you injured?" Yul asked worriedly.
Hajime shook his head and spit out the cloth in Hajime's mouth. "Save the pregnant women," Hajime said as he stood up. "Michio! Don't let them take those baskets!"
Michio took out a handful of talismans and threw them into the air, and glowing arrows quickly appeared in the dark night. Michio used his own energy to shoot the floating glowed arrows straight at the Taka, who was guarding multiple baskets. Michio rushed towards the ten Takas with his three-section staff and knocked them down one by one.
Hajime looked for Xun in the crowd, but didn't see Xun, so he grabbed Yul's arm and said, "Take the children and leave quickly."
Yul asked, "Where are the children?"
"Lock inside those baskets by Michio," Hajime said. He looked at the frightening pregnant women. "Let's go."
As the Taka helped each other put out the fire that had been set on their furs, houses in the village began to be engulfed in flames. Seeing the village begin to quickly catch fire, the uninjured Taka began to run away, leaving the injured Taka behind.
U-ri rode on the back of a wolf and approached Hajime and Yul from around the burning house. U-ri looked at Hajime and U-ri said, "Let's go. The diversion I created won't deceive them for long."
Yul said, "U-ri, change of plan. Get off the wolf." He looked at the nine pregnant women. "You nine ride the wolves back. Three on each wolf and head to Dongxue Village. If possible, take the older children with you."
"Let's go get the children," Hajime said.
The three Tanzanies and nine pregnant women ran towards Michio and the baskets.
The women quickly help tied the children to the backs of Yul, Abrafo, Michio, and U-ri using the same rope that bound their hands.
Hajime sat on the black panther's back and looked down worriedly. Yul smiled at Hajime and said, "Go... mark the way and wait for me in Dongxue Village."
Hajime glanced at Yul again, knowing that now was not the time to extend the brief farewell. "Everyone, be careful. Once the villagers reach a safe distance, I will send the wolves and the panther to pick you up." He said and caught up with the three wolves.
The woman sitting behind Hajime held two babies in her hands and asked, "Just leave them like this? Will they be in danger?" She expressed her concern.
Hajime looked at the newborn in his arms and said, "If we stay with them, we will cause them more harm."
Yul picked up the baby in his arms and said, "Let's go."
Abrafo, U-ri and Michio each picked up a baby from the basket, and the four Tanzanies began to escape from the abandoned village. Not long after walking out of the village center, they heard the loud shouting of gorillas not far from the abandoned village.
U-ri said, "We must run faster. We have companies."
The four Tanzanies were about to cross a river when the first gorilla pounced on them. Yul drew his sword and shouted, "Go ahead! I'll take care of this!"
The other three Tanzanies quickly crossed the stream and ran to the other side. They continued running without looking back. When the gorilla pounced on Yul again, Yul stabbed the gorilla in the chest, killing the gorilla instantly. To Yul's surprise, the gorilla that had just attacked them was much smaller than the one they had defeated two days earlier. He didn't stay long to study the dead gorilla, fearing that the other gorillas would catch up to him, so he quickly crossed the stream.
U-ri turned around and shouted to the people running behind, "The villagers said that Dongxue Village is not far from here. Wen lied to us about the distance between Dongxue Village and the abandoned village."
Michio gasped and asked, "How close?
U-ri said, "On the other side of the mountain in front of us."
Michio looked up and found that the mountain was still some distance away. He frowned and said, "That's still far from us."
U-ri said, "The village said we can only run until we see the first pavilion. After that, the Taka people will not chase us."
The four Tanzanies began running at full speed. After a good half of hour of running heading towards the mountain, the gasp escaping U-ri's mouth formed brief clouds of mist visible in the moonlight. With a child on his back and holding a newborn in his arms, U-ri ran on the high grassland, his heart beating rapidly. Although U-ri is considered an elder, U-ri's physical strength is still no less than that of those twice as young as him. The faster he ran on the grassland, the louder the child cried, perhaps because he was afraid of what was chasing him. U-ri also wanted to stop and cry, but he knew that once he stopped running, he would be crushed to death, so even though his old bones were getting weaker, he continued to run without looking back.
As U-ri approached the clearing, a black gorilla leapt at him from the darkness, but the gorilla was shot down by four arrows. U-ri jumped over the dead gorilla and continued running.
Shortly after U-ri jumped over the dying gorilla, Abrafo and Michio jumped over the dying gorilla, each holding a baby in their arms and a toddler on their backs.
Yul was the last one to jump over the dying gorilla, but after his feet landed on the ground, the dying gorilla grabbed Yul's ankle. To prevent the baby in his arm from falling to the ground, Yul's hand tightly grasped the baby in his left arm, and Yul knelt on one knee. Yul turned around and cut off the gorilla's hand with his sword. He quickly stood up and continued to chase Abrafo and Michio. When grunting and grumbling sounds came from not far away. Yul knew that the savage men were catching up to them.
"The village is just ahead," Abrafo said breathlessly. When Abrafo turned to look at Yul and Michio, Abrafo saw a large troop of gorillas approaching quickly behind them. "Hurry, they can't get into the village."
"Michio, stop!" Yul shouted. Yul stopped quickly as he heard the branches swaying, making a sound like water rushing ashore.
"What are you doing?" Michio asked, stopping a few yards away from Yul.
"I need to buy time for everyone to escape. If this continues, if they catch up, the villagers in front of us will probably die," Yul said, stabbing the sword into the ground and handing the baby in his hand to Michio's left hand. He then began to remove the straps holding the child to his back and quickly secured the child to Michio's chest. "Now, go." He pulled his sword from the ground and swung it quickly into the stomach of a small gorilla who jumped at him.
The gorilla troops lined up and roared loudly at Yul.
Yul's eyes were fixed on the troop of gorillas. His hand tightened around the hilt of the sword. He prepared to defend himself if the gorillas attacked him, but instead of attacking him, they stared at him with ferocious eyes, stood a few feet away from him, and growled at him.
"Since you stole our feast, you will be our feast tonight." Xun's voice sounded from behind the twenty gorillas. The gorillas stepped aside, and Xun, a large gorilla walked in, facing Yul. He smirked. "If you want to save the village, first you must defeat us." He looked at Yul and smiled.
Yul stared at Xun, the only white gorilla among the black and dark brown gorillas. Xun was larger than the other gorillas, and Yul was shocked when the white gorilla standing a few feet away from him spoke to him.
Xun smiled and said, "Don't be so shocked. Those people's expressions before they died were all the same as yours now." He raised his wooden spear and pointed it at Yul. "Would you rather fight me one on one, or would you rather have my army crush you to death and drag you back to our cave?"
Yul just stared at Xun and said nothing.
Xun smiled and said, "So, you must be the bravest among the brave. The one the white-haired boy mentioned."