madnovel Chapter 103 The First Battle of Mittal Village
Chapter 103 The First Battle of Mittal Village
The late summer night was chilly, and the thick, dark air covered the entire eastern forest. Even the autumn insects, which usually chirped all night, fell silent. Only the gentle night breeze rustled through the broad leaves and branches, making a low, husky sound.
A lone moon hangs in the inky blue sky, its cool silver light penetrating through layers of tree canopy, cutting out dappled shadows on the ground. The layers of shrubs of varying heights form a natural, concealing barrier.
Shu Hu stood alone on the highest point of the earthen slope. Behind him, more than a hundred carefully selected Dalits, who had undergone more than a month of intensive training, lay in the bushes. Everyone held their breath, their fingertips tightly gripping rough stones and broken branches. They even deliberately kept their breathing low, for fear that the slightest movement would expose the entire ambush position.
Shu Hu lowered his eyes to look at Dalit, who was lying in wait behind him. His broad chest rose and fell slightly, and his heart was filled with complicated emotions.
This was the first core mission that Vijay entrusted to him, giving him complete command and control of the troops. His master did not require them to kill the enemy, but only to use the mountainous terrain to create chaos and delay the Titi Village troops.
There's no need to hinder the achievement of the goal; as long as these Dalits dare to take action, the mission is considered successfully completed.
Shu Hu knew about this extremely low standard of mission, and he still almost dared not agree.
After spending some time with them, Shu Hu still had some expectations for the potential of this group of Dalits.
All of the more than one hundred people were selected through physical fitness tests. They had been running long distances with heavy loads and engaging in basic combat every day without interruption. Among them, those with different bloodlines such as eagle people and scale people had a primal wildness hidden in their bones. With a little encouragement, they might be able to form an effective restraint.
Even if they are no match for regular warriors in a head-on fight, they should still have a fighting chance by relying on the mountains and forests to spread out and delay the enemy.
But so what? They are Dalits!
How could a group of the most despicable Dalits dare to lay a hand on Brahma's followers?
He looked up and gazed at the border dirt road. The entire road was laid out before him in the moonlight, and as far as the eye could see, it was deserted, with not a soul in sight.
Taking advantage of the gap before the enemy arrived, Shu Hu slowly squatted down, lowered his voice, and controlled the volume to just cover the entire group of people lying in ambush. His gentle yet powerful words were carried into everyone's ears by the evening breeze.
"Everyone, calm down and think back to the past few months in Mittal Village. Before you fell into this territory, you could only scavenge for rotten food every day. If you were even slightly slow, you would be whipped. You had to endure the contemptuous and disgusted looks of everyone on the road!"
"But since we came here, our master has allocated us a special camp, providing us with plenty of wheat porridge every day, and complete coarse cloth clothing for all four seasons. There has been no unwarranted abuse, and we are never humiliated simply because of our lowly birth. Could you have ever dared to dream of such a peaceful life before?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire thicket fell silent. More than a hundred Dalits instinctively lowered their heads slightly, their eyes filled with an indescribable emotion.
The stark contrast between the ingrained suffering of generations of enslavement and the current comfortable and secure life makes it impossible for anyone to deny the hard-won kindness they have received.
Seeing that the crowd's spirits were beginning to lift, Shu Hu pressed his advantage, continuing, "Tonight, the people of Titi Village are eyeing our fields and plan a sneak attack to destroy our current peace!"
"Can you tolerate this outcome?"
As Shu Hu spoke, he carefully observed everyone, finally seeing a hint of anger in their expressions beyond their numbness and tension, but mostly fear.
Knowing their fear and apprehension, Shu Hu escalated the situation: "You don't need to fight to the death. Just follow me and charge out, disrupting their ranks with your charge, shoving, and tearing. Once you see the situation, retreat on my command."
"After the mission is completed, the master promises that everyone will be given fresh wild vegetables and stewed meat, and can eat their fill."
With threats and inducements, and the promise of meat, the crowd began to swallow hard, and a faint fighting spirit flickered in the eyes of many.
But just as this expectation began to rise, a young scaly man named Dalit timidly shrank back in the group and asked in a low voice, breaking the brief but intense atmosphere: "Commander... are we supposed to stop the followers of Brahma?"
These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the last vestiges of courage in everyone's hearts.
The doctrine of Brahma's division of castes has long been deeply ingrained in the marrow and soul of every Dalit through generations of enslavement. In their inherent understanding, offending a Brahma follower is blasphemy, a heinous sin that will condemn them to eternal damnation.
The moment the thought arose, an extreme fear originating from the depths of their souls swept over the entire ambush team. More than a hundred people trembled uncontrollably, their jaws chattering, and the faint trembling sound could be clearly heard in the silent forest. Their last remaining fighting spirit vanished completely.
Shu Hu's heart sank upon seeing this.
He himself was a descendant of the first generation of alien people. He became a slave after his tribe was destroyed in his early years. He did not have the deep-rooted theocratic shackles of the second and third generations of Dali, nor did he expect that class fear would bind everyone to such an extent.
Just as he was about to speak to comfort and dispel the shackles in everyone's hearts, a series of swaying black shadows appeared on the dirt road in the distance. The raiding team from Titi Village was quietly approaching under the moonlight, and was only a hundred paces away from the ambush position.
There was no time for further psychological counseling. Shu Hu gritted his teeth, straightened up abruptly, and roared, "Everyone, charge with me!"
The instinctive imprint formed by long-term training temporarily suppressed the fear in his heart. Most of Dalit had no time to think and followed Shu Hu as they rushed out of the bushes and swept towards the enemy troops like a tide.
However, thirty or forty people were still held captive by the fear of divine authority, their legs rooted to the spot, their bodies trembling and not daring to move an inch.
The raiding party from Titi Village had planned to sneak in under the cover of night, but they never expected to be ambushed halfway. They were all stunned and hesitated for a few seconds, missing the opportunity to adjust their formation.
Shu Hu leaped to the front of the group, fully activating his innate bloodline. Several tough vines extended from his arms, which he swung fiercely left and right, each strike leaving deep bloodstains on the opponent's flesh. Taking advantage of the enemy's momentary surprise, he knocked down four or five Titi villagers who were walking in the front row.
However, the Dalit ambush troops that followed behind completely failed.
As they rushed towards the enemy, the dogma of "not offending the people of the heavens" repeatedly tugged at their minds. Most of them just stood there blankly, uttering a few mumbled shouts before freezing in place. Only four or five of the most resilient alien races dared to take the initiative to charge forward and tear into the enemy.
After a brief moment of shock, the villagers of Titi Village finally realized what was happening.
By the light of the moon, they could see that those blocking their way were all lowly Dalits. A boundless ferocity instantly surged in everyone's eyes. In the rules of this land, slaughtering the lowly was not only not a crime, but rather a meritorious act of washing away filth.
"A bunch of lowly slaves dare to block the road!" The two leaders roared angrily. The entire group of villagers from Titi Village raised their fists and feet, aiming their blows at Dalit's vital points, each strike intended to cause serious injury or death.
Dalit, who had been standing sporadically resisting just moments before, was quickly knocked down one after another, his painful screams echoing through the forest.
Most of the Dalits did not react at all, even though their fighting strength was no less than that of most of the Titi villagers in front of them.
But they would rather kneel on the ground, exposing their necks to be slaughtered, than put up the slightest resistance.
Those who fared slightly better simply stood still, crouching with their heads in their hands, looking for an opportunity to escape.
Shu Hu watched helplessly as Dalit was wounded in large numbers, without achieving anything. His anger surged, and he activated his bloodline talent with all his might. The vines in the sky lashed out like long whips, forcing back a circle of Titi warriors who had surrounded him.
This unusual movement immediately attracted the attention of the team's core members, two fierce warriors. One of them strode out of the crowd, gathered his strength, and casually delivered a heavy punch to Shu Hu's waist and abdomen.
A dull thud exploded, the immense force piercing through flesh and causing Shu Hu excruciating internal pain, his vision blurred, and he nearly fainted on the spot.
The immense force sent him flying, knocking down several Dalits behind him.
Despite the excruciating pain, Treebeard still remembered Vijay's mission to hinder them, and, fighting off the dizziness, roared at the top of his lungs: "Retreat! Everyone retreat!"
As he roared, he picked up a limp and trembling Dalit with one hand and threw him forcefully into the woods behind him, while he covered the retreat of the remaining men in batches.
The villagers of Titi Village were not about to let these lowly slaves who dared to obstruct them get away so easily. They shouted and chased after them in droves, all the way to the rear reserve ambush camp. The dozens of reserve Dalits left behind were also caught up in the melee, and none of them escaped unscathed.
Killing was not the top priority for Titi Village; after venting their anger, they did not exterminate the entire village.
As the fighting in the forest gradually subsided, the two leaders of Titi Village, Aro and Vikant, stood amidst the wounded Dalits, coldly observing the tragic scene before them.
Vikant kicked aside the body of a horned Dalit, his shoe grinding hard against the Dalit's head, leaving a smear of red and white fluid mixed with mud on the ground. He wiped his feet with disgust on his clothes and sneered, "That Vaishya master Mittal is insane, actually sending filthy Dalits to obstruct the legitimate mortals."
His brother, Aloy, frowned, a hint of apprehension creeping into his heart. It wasn't because of Dalit's seemingly insignificant ambush: "Our plan to launch a nighttime attack has been discovered beforehand. Will there be another ambush tonight?"
Vikant, his face full of arrogance, completely disregarded Mittal: "Just a bunch of merchants' servants. Although that Vaishya master injured my third brother during the day, he's ultimately just a merchant without any backing. How much fighting power could he possibly have?"
"I've heard his granaries are overflowing with thousands of gold coins, and his grain and cloth are piled high like mountains. He's actually using these precious resources to feed his lowly servants! Such wastefulness makes him utterly unworthy of his wealth. Tonight, we must storm into the village and teach him a lesson he'll never forget!"
Vikander instinctively turned his head away, a hint of disdain playing on his lips.
He would never utter the words that he would take all of Mittal Village's savings along the way; that foolish brother is good enough as a handyman!
He has already had someone find out the location of the warehouse in Mital Village. He plans to take it over with his men and just give the leftovers to his brother!
After some ulterior motives, the two decided to continue with the plan, but since a night raid was pointless, they ordered the whole team to light torches for illumination.
The flickering flames revealed the losses suffered by the troops; more than ten villagers had been injured in the earlier melee.
Several people even had their arm bones twisted and deformed by the vines of the tree thorn, completely losing their ability to move, and had to be sent back to the village to recuperate.
The remaining forty-odd people, carrying torches, hurried along the dirt road toward the core settlement of Mittal.
The group was unfamiliar with the village roads and took several detours before finally catching a glimpse of the village's outline. However, the sight that came into view made the two leaders' hearts sink.
The entire Mittal region was deathly silent, without a single light shining through, and not a sound could be heard from the village, like a completely abandoned wasteland.
Aroye looked surprised and suspicious, turning to Vikant beside him: "Rumor has it that there are at least several hundred people in this Mittal village, and that Dalits were arranged to ambush our team. Why is there no movement at all now?"
Vikant sensed something was wrong, but his thirst for treasure forced him to suppress his unease, comforting himself with the illusion that "these are merely merchant-turned-Vaishya. Seeing our massive attack, they first betrayed Dalit to provoke us. They must have fled to Harappa with their confidants in fear. Now, the village must only have unattended granaries left. We can simply go in and loot everything!"
Upon hearing that gold, silver, and grain were within easy reach, the accompanying servants of Titi Village were overjoyed. They relaxed all their guard, held torches, quickened their pace, and steadily approached the main gate of the village.
Meanwhile, in the village of Mittal, Vijay stood atop a watchtower, using the flickering firelight in the distance to discern the enemy's movements, his eyes showing no sign of panic.
Treebeard had already sent Dalit, who was quick on his feet, back with the message.
Dalit’s swarm attack was ineffective; the entire force was scattered and suffered heavy casualties!
He had already gathered up the battlefield, feeling somewhat ashamed before his master, and would personally request his master's punishment later.
Vijay didn't care about the second half of the sentence, but the Dalits had at least completed their first attack, which satisfied Vijay!
They don't need to be involved in the rest!
Vijay had ordered all the lights in the houses to be turned off, and the elderly, women and children to hide behind closed doors. At the same time, he had gathered twenty servants with some combat skills and hidden them behind simple fences and watchtowers.
Tiye walked slowly to Vijay's side, the evening breeze ruffling his gray hair. His tone was somber: "The two leaders leading the team are both fierce warriors of Mahayoda, and the other ordinary servants are also at the level of apprentice warriors and warriors. In a direct confrontation, we will definitely be defeated!"
Vijay nodded slightly, his gaze falling on the approaching torrent of torches in the distance, knowing full well the perilous situation ahead.
"Pass down the order: wait until all the enemy troops have entered the outer streets before making a move. Do not expose the ambush too early," Vijay whispered to Rajan beside him. "Have your servants use the ruins of the buildings to intercept them in different alleys. Don't force them to be killed; just trap them and wear them down."
"Remember, prioritize the safety of your own people!"
Rajan bowed and accepted the order, then quickly walked down the steps from the watchtower and split up to relay the ambush instructions to the various alleyways.
The entire village was eerily quiet, with only the faint crackling of torches approaching from afar. Behind the earthen walls on both sides of the streets, twenty elite servants gripped their short spears and stone axes, holding their breath and waiting for the opportune moment to begin the battle.
Although the enemy didn't carry any sharp weapons, our side was equipped with blades, which was somewhat unfair.
But they came by surprise, so there's no question of fairness at this point!
In the distance, the team from Titi Village had already entered the outer lanes of the village, and their noisy conversations could be clearly heard on the evening breeze atop the watchtower.
They completely disregarded the village of Mital!
Vikant indulged in fantasies of plundering gold and silver and hoarding grain, completely unaware of the deadly danger lurking behind the silent earthen walls on either side.