Outside the knight's territory, more than a dozen elite horse bandits clad in heavy armor surrounded a young man with black hair, looking like a dark cloud approaching menacingly. A black battle flag fluttered above their heads, making a cracking sound in the wind as if it were a proclamation of death. The horse bandits all had stern faces, with a bloodthirsty glint in their eyes. They tightly gripped their gleaming swords, axes, and hammers, and the warhorses beneath them restlessly pawed the ground, seemingly excited for the upcoming slaughter.
Behind them were over a hundred fierce and ferocious men, following on foot like a pack of hungry wolves, closely eyeing the village ahead. These more than a hundred people quickly split into two groups, front and back, tightly surrounding the peaceful knight's territory village in the valley, forming an impenetrable net of death.
In the village, the sudden sound of the bronze gong shattered the original tranquility. The villagers realized in horror that disaster had befallen them. However, faced with this tide of horse bandits surging in, where could they flee? The surroundings had already been blocked by the horse bandits, and the hope of escape was like a flickering candle in the wind, on the verge of being extinguished.
This group of horse bandits was none other than the Skull-Cracking Horse Thieves' Gang that had entered Meyer City a few days ago. They had thought they could plunder freely in this city, but unexpectedly, after the Saree Circus left, Meyer City had almost become an empty city. The merchants related to the circus had all evacuated one after another, leaving only some small vendors barely making a living on the streets. Kanoqa, the leader of the Skull-Cracking Horse Thieves' Gang, along with a group of his old comrades, had been retreating all the way here with low morale. They had wanted to ransack the city but had gained very little. After several days of looting, apart from capturing some farmers and their wives, they had almost achieved nothing. Not only were they short of gold coins, but also there was little food left, which made the internal contradictions within the gang increasingly sharp.
Dreyfus, the former steward of the Saree Circus's thug group, had his own little plans in mind. He had originally wanted to inform Kanoqa, the leader of the horse thieves' gang, about the news of the young master who was a bit simple-minded, but he was worried that he would lose favor after the new leader took over. So, he set his sights on Noel, the young leader who was eager to relieve his father's worries and earn merits. The two hit it off immediately. One led all the former members of the thug group, and the other brought out over a dozen elite old comrades behind his father's back, and they set off towards the knight's territory together.
"That second leader, if it weren't for my father, he would have died without a burial place long ago." Noel tightly gripped the reins, his heart full of resentment. He remembered the scene in Meyer City when a group of leaders were shouting about rebellion due to dissatisfaction with the current situation, which made his father cough up blood in anger, and a gloomy look rose on his face. "Now that there's a little difficulty, he wants to take the opportunity to seize power. What a despicable old thief!"
Dreyfus beside him quickly put on a flattering smile and said, "Young leader, don't be impatient. Wait until we loot the valuables from this village and bring them back to the city to ease the situation. It won't be too late to settle scores with these troublemakers slowly later."
Noel nodded slightly, raised his hand, and a magic light spell shot up into the sky, bursting into brilliant colors in the air. This was the signal to attack. As the son of a powerful mage, he had been trained in magic since childhood. Although the power of his spells was not as great as his father's, he was already quite proficient in parlor tricks like the fireball spell and the ice pick spell. He waved the battle flag of the horse thieves' gang, pointed his long sword at the knight's territory, and shouted loudly, "Everyone, charge!"
In an instant, the foot bandits surged forward like a tide, while the elite horse bandits held the rear. Noel took the lead, galloping towards the gate of the town wall. The dust kicked up by the horse's hooves filled the air, as if it were the prelude to death.
"The horse bandits are coming! The horse bandits are coming!" The village guards at the entrance of the village shouted hoarsely, and the sound of the bronze gong rang out urgently, each sound hitting the villagers' hearts like a hammer, and fear spread rapidly like a plague. The village that had been in a happy banquet was instantly plunged into chaos. The men hurriedly got up, the women screamed in horror, and the children stared wide-eyed, looking at everything blankly.
At the banquet, the beer barrels were knocked over, and the golden beer flowed onto the ground, mixing with the mud. The black bread, roasted vegetables, and other foods were scattered all over the place, and the tables and chairs were overturned in disarray. The originally cozy scene was in a mess. The villagers were panic-stricken. Some tried to flee, while others wanted to go home to get farming tools to resist. The farmers held hoes and shovels, the hunters grasped wooden bows and arrows, and the locksmith distributed the kitchen knives and axes he had forged to everyone. However, this village had not experienced war for too long, and facing such a powerful enemy, they didn't know how to deal with it at all. There was no one in the village who could act as a leader, let alone organize a defense or set up barricades.
The villagers rushed towards the town wall in a panic like headless chickens. At that moment, a loud bang came from the gate of the village and town, like a thunderclap exploding in the ears. In the orange glow of the fire, the gate was instantly smashed to pieces, with wood chips flying everywhere.
Immediately afterwards, a group of horse bandits clad in armor appeared in front of the villagers like demons. Their faces were hideous and terrifying, and their eyes revealed a bloodthirsty longing. The tall warhorses neighed, and the horse bandits on their backs waved their sabers, with a cold glint. Although there were only a dozen or so of them, their steel-like bodies and powerful auras made the villagers tremble with fear. Before even engaging in combat, the villagers' fighting spirit had dissipated completely.
In an instant, the villagers turned and fled in panic, throwing their farming tools and household utensils all over the ground. They were terrified, as if they were a flock of frightened sheep and pigs, running around in all directions under the pursuit of the horse bandits.
A dozen or so horse bandits spurred their horses into the crowd, waving their sabers recklessly. The sharp blades slashed across the villagers' heads, splitting the hard skulls instantly, and brains and blood splattered out. Some villagers were struck on the shoulders, and their arms were instantly severed, with blood gushing out like a fountain. The horse bandits became even more excited at the sight of blood, galloping through the crowd, and with each swing of their sabers, a life was extinguished.
The villagers fled in despair, looking back to see their fellow villagers and relatives lying in pools of blood, with tragic death scenes, while the horse bandits continued to pursue with devilish grins. They only hoped to run faster than those around them, even if there was only a slim chance of survival.
On the village roads, corpses in various states of death lay strewn about, with severed limbs soaking in blood, internal organs and tissues exposed, and the smell of blood filling the air, making people nauseous.
Some villagers had thought that they could survive by running to the back exit of the village, but when they panted and ran there, they found that dozens of fierce men had been waiting there for a long time. Blocked both in front and behind, the hope of escape was completely shattered.
These bandits rushed into the crowd like wolves pouncing on sheep, launching a heinous massacre. Whether it was the elderly, women, or children, none were spared. A woman who had just given birth was holding her baby in her arms and begging pitifully, but it didn't earn her any mercy. The horse bandits pressed her shoulders, split her head with one blow, and she let out a shrill scream and fell to the ground. The baby in the swaddling clothes was thrown onto the mother's pool of blood, and then a heavy boot stomped down mercilessly, shattering the baby's head instantly.
In a corner of the village, Castina witnessed all of this through the window. She was originally a soul from the Xia Kingdom in the Earth. How could she have ever seen such a cruel scene? The wanton killing by the bandits, the ruthless slaughter of the villagers, these terrifying scenes that had only existed in books before were now actually happening right in front of her eyes. Her beautiful face turned pale, and her eyes were filled with fear and shock.
Just then, the door was hurriedly pushed open, and Hall appeared in front of her, holding a guardsman's sword in one hand and a shield in the other, with an anxious look on his face. "It's chaos, everything is chaos." Hall's voice trembled a little. "This group of horse bandits doesn't intend to negotiate at all. Paying money won't buy us our lives. The front and back doors of the village are both blocked, and even climbing over the wall is a dead end."
Castina looked at her father's flustered appearance and felt a sense of helplessness welling up in her heart. She bit her lip and asked, "Don't we have any secret passages or something like that?"
Hall shook his head helplessly.
Castina sighed and said helplessly, "Then let's go down. The old butler's guards are only a dozen or so people. If the courtyard wall is breached again, it really will be hopeless. Maybe we can hold out for a while and buy our lives with money. Let's go."