The loud sound of the horn followed by the cries of the guards, alerted the entire village as people were jolted awake. The eyes of the men, who had panicked faces at first, turned bloodshot when they witnessed the sight of their trembling wives and children. With whatever weapons they could find on sight, the villagers rushed out of their houses. The farmers carried pitchforks and hoes while the lumberjacks wielded axes. The rest of the militia forces hastily put on their old, worn-out armor and brought forth their military swords and spears.

The couple dozen bandits, on the other hand, were the least bit perturbed by the warning signal. Instead, leisurely expressions could be found on their faces as if the entire act was akin to a light stroll in a park.

shua!

A swishing sound cut through the air from atop the wooden platform in the village, which made the bandits slow down for an instant. An iron arrow pierced the soil like a javelin just a few meters ahead of the group. Expressions of interest and amusement donned on the savage lot as they gazed towards the culprit, the first guard who blew the horn. His body was tensed like a bowstring with a face of distraught as he clutched hard onto his bow, while a few other archers positioned themselves beside him on the platform.

"Hahaha, is that a warning shot? Let me guess what it meant~~ 'Don't come any closer or we will shoot!' Hahaha," the bandits laughed, mocking the villager's action.

"It's more interesting this way. What kind of fun exists in slaughtering people who have already given up."

"kehkeh, you guys can take it easy. I'm going ahead to have some fun with them," a pale guy with slant eyes spoke before he bolted away from the group. A few others followed behind increasing their pace, two of them equipped with bows and quivers. The bandits numbered around twenty-five, and six people had detached away.

The slant-eyed bandit dashed like lightning, covering half the distance within a matter of seconds. The guard who had fired the arrow became flustered at the blinding speed and he hurriedly notched another arrow in his bow, took aim, and fired. The archers beside similarly shot towards the group charging behind.

ding!

The slant-eyed man had a sinister smile as he casually swung his dagger, deflecting an arrow to the side. Leisurely twisting his body, he dodged another one that barely grazed his worn-out rags. The rest of the arrows were off the mark completely, and they sunk into the ground as the bandit whizzed past them, his speed not decreasing in the slightest. The ones behind him also remained unfazed, as they parried a few arrows with their swords while sprinting. The detached group of six had already crossed the fifty-meter mark.

After the volley of arrows ended from the villager's side, the two bandit archers each notched an arrow in their bows and jumped forwards like a cheetah as they aimed. The moment they reached the highest point in the air, the bowstring was released with a melodious twang!. Two piercing sounds, drastically different from the ones created by the village archers was heard, as their arrows sliced through the air straight onto their targets.

screech! screech!

One arrow directly lodged into one of the militia archer's skull before he could react to it. The momentum flung him backward, throwing him down the platform, as he landed on the ground with a loud thud, never getting up again. The other archer was pierced right in the palm while he was fastening the bow. A gut-wrenching scream was heard from his mouth as he knelt on the platform, clenching his mutilated hand.

Meanwhile, the bandit archers landed gracefully on the ground before sprinting again. Their actions were as smooth and flawless as flowing water, and their speed was not hindered in the slightest during the entire execution.

Atop the platform, the guard had an expression of disbelief witnessing the feats performed by the bandits. Glancing back, he saw the scarce amount of militia that had hurriedly assembled. The majority of villagers had not arrived yet since not much time had passed since the warning signal. Resolving himself after seeing the disparity in their strengths, the guard climbed on to the wall, ready to jump out at any moment.

"They have already reached the gate! We can't let them breach it otherwise we are doomed! Follow me outside!" the guard shouted, before jumping over the wooden barricade. He was one of the older personnel with plenty of experience, so his words were not refuted. The assembled militia, numbering around fifteen hurriedly started climbing the platform, following right behind.

The guard landed in front of the gate with a forward roll and immediately charged towards the incoming bandits, specifically the slant-eyed man who was ahead of the group. His eyes glowed with determination as the man resolved his heart for the encounter.

'One strike! If I could just get in one strike! It doesn't matter what happens to me...'

"kekeke, Oye! Don't kill the ones with my mark," the slant-eyed man shouted with an excited laugh, sadistically gazing at the man closing in.

Both the guard and the bandit approached each other in the middle of the field, under the night sky. It seemed the outcome would be determined in an instant. As soon as the guard entered his striking distance, he pounced at the man ahead without any consideration for danger. He had planned for a mutual takedown since he knew there was no chance of winning against such a skilled individual in a head-on confrontation. The guard spread his arms far and wide as if attempting a bear hug, with a clutched short sword in one hand. Just when he thought he had squeezed the man, his arms sliced the open air, catching onto nothing.

crack!

The slant-eyed man had jumped backward the moment just before the guard threw himself. The ground had cracked on the spot where his forward momentum was transferred. The man could only helplessly see the smiling face of the slant-eyed bandit as he slowly floated out of his reach. He could never have imagined his opponent to be able to instantly swap directions, even when running at such a blistering pace.

Bitter despair filled the guard's heart once he realized the situation. It seemed as if all the determination and courage he had squeezed out at his declining age, had been mocked. Gritting his teeth, the guard tried to steady himself by stomping his foot ahead, but that just made him stumble forward into the bandit, resembling a goat delivering itself to the butcher. He only saw a red line bisecting his view of the sadistic face of the slant-eyed man, after which his vision got darker and darker, finally changing to pitch blackness.

"AHHHHHHHH!" the guard tightly clutched his face. Dropping down his sword, he helplessly collapsed onto the ground.

"Keke, don't go anywhere. I will play with you soon," the slant-eyed man licked the blood on his dagger with a sinister smile.

The village militia, who landed behind from atop the wall, were furious at such a vicious display. With killing intent overflowing from their bodies, they charged straight at the slant-eyed man with intentions to flay him alive. The remaining bandits rushed past their sadistic friend, intercepting the militia, while the bandit marksmen halted their advance, participating in a long-range battle with the remaining archers atop the platform.

The purpose of the militia vanguard was to stall for time while preventing the bandits from breaching the gate. Once all of the men from the village gathered, the bandits would easily get outnumbered. Once that happens, they would just have to open the gates and swarm those savages from all sides. Even if the bandits were ridiculously strong, they would eventually tire out at some point. Although many among the folks would have to sacrifice their lives, at least the village would be saved.

Unfortunately, they had greatly underestimated their enemies' abilities, while equally overestimating themselves. The battle outside the gate did not even last for a few breaths after the two sides clashed, as the villagers were either pierced, hacked, or chopped by weapons.

The fighting experience of the two sides was far too wide to even consider. Most of the villagers' strikes were either parried, or dodged completely, and while they struggled to regain their balance, a sword pierced their throats or an axe bludgeoned their heads. Even if they managed to block the strikes, the sheer heaviness in them made their hands numb, and their stances crumbled. The second blow would arrive right after, finishing the job.

Three people who had surrounded the slant-eyed man in hopes of revenge could not even graze his rags as he moved around like a ghost. It was like a two-year-old kid trying to catch an adult. The bandit played around for a while completely dodging any attacks, before the trio suffered the same fate as their comrade, as their eyes were slit one by one.

The bandit marksman had already concluded their battle if it could be called a battle that is. The village archers were either outright killed with arrows piercing their brains or hearts, or were prevented from shooting any further through broken hands and wrists. The detached group of six had to wait for another couple of minutes for the remaining brigade to reach the village.

"Hurry up and break the damn thing already! I'm sick of this noise!" one of the bandits equipped with dual-wielding axes was irritated as he glared at a certain direction after the battle was concluded.

pssh! pssh! stab! stab!

Ear piercing screams resounded from the victims of the slant-eyed man, as he slit open their limbs and stabbed all over their bodies with maniacal laughter. The very first guard, the one who blew the horn, had long since succumbed to the painful torture, as his broken mutilated body lay dead, drenched in viscous blood in the middle of the field.

As per the order of the ax-wielding warrior, a massive human, over two meters tall walked forward from the group, approaching the gate with a colossal sledgehammer in his hands. The area of the hammer was as big as a man's head, fitted on top of a thick, long iron shaft.

A dangerous glint appeared on the giant man's face, as he raised the massive hammer behind winding his waist like a heavy catapult, and swung with all his might. The hammer was propelled forwards, picking up tremendous winds as a reddish glow illuminated it's trail under the dark sky before it struck the gate with ferocious momentum.

BOOM!!

The air currents generated by the hammer sliced radially outwards, as the thick wooden gate exploded with a jaw-dropping sound. Splinters flew everywhere, and dust rose from the ground partially blocking the sight. The wooden walls surrounding the gate were uprooted along with the soil, and a cyclone of some sorts, blew in the area for a short period, tearing up the nearby vegetation and blowing out the bonfire like flames.

Once the dust settled, both sides could finally see each other. A large number of villagers had assembled in the small plaza, just behind the gate, all of them wielding weapons. People were added to the dumbfounded crowd, with each passing second from the back. They foolishly stared at the aftermath of the hammer strike with expressions of shock and disbelief adorning their faces.

Not even a few minutes had passed since the warning horn resounded in the area, but the bandits had already breached the main gate.