RISE OF EROS

The attacking knights were puzzled because they did not know how it was that the beastmen seemed to be waiting for them, however, they did not delay long in that thought because they believed that regardless of whether they were waiting for them or not, the bull-men had no chance of survival.

Being confident, the knights in heavy armor charged toward the village at high speed, which was surprising considering the heavy armor they and their horses had.

The bull-men stood bravely holding makeshift wooden and stone spears. Although these bull-men were physically large and muscular, they were not warriors, only herders and cattle keepers, so they were obviously no match for the attacking knights.

The battle was one-sided. After only 15 minutes the village had been destroyed and the bodies of the bull-men could be seen everywhere. Rivers of blood ran down the streets of the small village and buildings had been burned or demolished.

Despite the knights' joy at having triumphed, their commander wore an unpleasant expression. After a while, the other men began to notice that their commander did not look pleased and the second in command, did not hold back and asked, "Is something wrong commander?"

"I see you still don't realize it. There is not a single woman or child in this place," the commander said in a grave voice, and only at that moment did everyone notice that what their commander was saying was true.

That was a serious situation for them because the fact that all the women and children in the village could escape meant that the bull-men knew of their arrival quite some time ago and if this village knew this, probably the leaders of the beastmen knew it too.

When the commander came to that realization, he immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "We must go!!! Quick!!!". Although the other knights did not understand the reason why their commander was panicking, none of them reneged and began to move.

They were not slow, however, when they emerged from the village they had just destroyed, what awaited them was a cavalry of 5,000 men in armor not inferior to the armor that they were wearing.

Upon seeing the cavalry waiting for them, the village destroyers had ugly expressions because they knew who these men were. This cavalry belonged to Marquis Cupal who is the nobleman whose territory is the closest to the western savannah where the beastmen live.

The falcon sent by the leader of the Falcon clan was quite special and fast, so it reached Marquis Cupal in a short time. The marquis reading the message immediately organized a group of knights and sent them out.

Marquis Cupal took the request for help from the beastmen very seriously because for him everything that affects the beastmen affects him. His territory is the closest to the territory of the beastmen and for that reason, he has many privileges.

First, the king allows him to have a large army in order to help the beastmen if necessary, without leaving his territory unprotected. They are also the main trading partner of the products created by the beastmen, so they can acquire animal products at low prices, making their territory quite prosperous.

So when he received news that beastmen villages were under attack, the marquis did not hesitate and sent 10,000 men to support the beastmen.

These 10,000 men then split into two groups to cover more ground and as the village destroyers were operating in the vicinity of the marquis' territory, his knights found them before the beastmen who had left the savannah city longer ago than them.

The village destroyers who were only a small group of about 100 knights were with heavy expressions, as their enemies outnumbered them 50 to 1, the result was obvious.

When everyone was stunned the commander of the village destroyers shouted, "Tactical E" and without waiting for the response of his men, the commander turned around and began to flee.

The others took a few seconds, but they also turned around and began to flee in different directions. That was "Tactic E", it was a disorderly escape intended to confuse the enemy and allow several of them to run away.

However, they were naive because at the moment that the Marquis Cupal's men noticed that the bull village was under attack, they threw out the signal and not only did the Marquis' other group of knights understand the signal, but the 1,000 beastmen who had come out of the savannah city had picked up on it as well.

By the time the men who attacked the beastmen's villages began to escape, they had already been surrounded and were trapped like rats. The commander of the village destroyers was stunned to see how they had been surrounded because he did not understand how they could have taken such quick action.

In spite of everything, the commander would not allow himself to be taken alive. He was the only one who knew why they were destroying the beastmen's villages and he could not allow himself to be captured, so, seeing himself cornered, he put his sword to his neck and tried to commit suicide.

Unfortunately, just as when he gave the order to retreat, he again took too long to make his decision. The commander had barely drawn his sword when a cat-man struck his hand disarming him and at the same time, a hawk-man struck him in the back of the neck knocking him unconscious.

The man did not even know what hit him, but he managed to dazzle the cat-man who disarmed him before he lost consciousness and could only regret having underestimated the strength of the beastmen.

The second in command of the village destroyers, noticing that his commander had been knocked out immediately drew a crossbow and aimed in that direction, but he was not aiming at the beastmen, but at the commander himself.

This man had a direct order to kill the commander if he was captured. He had no idea why he was given that order, but since it was a direct order he did not question it and simply carried it out.

However, again this man also underestimated the strength of the beastmen because before he could pull the trigger of the crossbow he was killed by a bull-man who with one blow took off his head.

The man did not even know how he died. Many ignorant humans believe that beastmen are stupid because of their animal characteristics, but only the truly stupid would think so because the beastmen are not only as intelligent and cunning as humans, but they are more brutal.

For beastmen, their clan and family are sacred, so the worst thing you can do to a beastmen is to hurt his family because you would become the prey they would hunt for the rest of their lives.

The battle did not take long because it was 11,000 against 100, that was not even a battle, it was a one-sided massacre. Only the commander of these 100 men was captured alive, as they only needed him to know the reason why they were attacking the villages.

The beastmen thanked Marquis Cupal's men for the timely help, but the captain of that cavalry refused to receive the praise saying, "You do not need to give thanks. We benefit a lot from your products, it is normal for us to help in your time of need."

The cavalry captain's words were not untrue. In Cupal territory, the beastmen were really very much loved because everyone knew that their good lifestyle was thanks to them.

This friendship and gratitude in Cupal territory was so great that even speaking bad of the beastmen in front of the locals, could generate trouble unless the beastmen that you were talking bad things were proven criminal beastmen because if this is not the case, you would make enemies of everyone there.

That's how strong the friendship of these two territories was, even Marquis Cupal had beastmen in his cabinet of assistants. After chatting for a while, they all left in the same direction.

Normally after solving the problem, the marquis' men would return to their territory to report, but this time they had to find out the motives of the attack, and for that interrogating the captured commander was indispensable.

The problem was that the beastmen would not allow him to be interrogated in the territory of the marquis, since it was their villages, their brothers and sisters who were attacked, so they took him to the city of the savannah where he would be interrogated by the clan leaders themselves.

Having no other choice, the marquis' knights followed them. They understood the thinking of the beastmen, so even though they had to make a long detour, they did not complain and just accompanied them, even if the savannah city was a little far from there riding in horses they could make it in a couple of hours.