Carnage in Hard Pine Village

Gordon Greer, the leader of the Bloodsail Plunderers, looked at the walls with suspicion, he had been told that this was just a small village and that his band would have no trouble sacking it, but he was skeptical because such a large wall could not have been built by a simple village.

-" Is this the right place?" Gordon asked one of the men who stood behind him.

"I'm certain of it." Kyle, one of Gordon's trusted men knew Hard Pine Village as he had grown up in this region. " I just don't understand where this wall came from." Hard Pine Village had always been the poorest and most underdeveloped village in the area, and for it to grow so quickly that they built a wall around it was a miracle.

-" Let's get this over with." Gordon lifted his sword and let out a shout, causing the twenty-and-something men behind him to draw their weapons in response. " Listen up my brothers! It's been months since we last sacked a village, and the time finally came, however, we need to be fast!"

The group of bandits lets out another wave of shouts, their blood boiling in excitement.

"All right, go ahead! Expect the city's magistrate, you all can kill every man you can find!" Gordon waved his sword in the direction of the village, and the bandits behind him rushed to the village like a pack of wild beasts.

From the entire group of twenty-eight bandits, only Gordon and four more men remained behind, looking at the situation with careful eyes

-" This doesn't seem right..." Ray, the second in command of the bandit group, gazed around, almost expecting an ambush to be ready. "How could such a small village have so many people working on a wall?"

-" Who knows? But, we have no other chance." Gordon sighed as he kicked a rock on the ground, he knew that bandits couldn't survive solely by attacking convoys and merchants, the life of an outlaw was stressful, and they needed a way to let it all out, and the best way to do so was to destroy a village. "It's been quite a while since the men had a woman, and I fear that just a bit more and they would revolt."

-" Without speaking on how requested this attack." Kaleb, the third in command shook his head and prepared his axe. "I'd rather face whatever is in the village than attract the young master's ire."

Gordon and the rest of the bandits nodded in agreement, their group only grew to this point thanks to the help of the Blooming Dark Rose Sect, and losing their goodwill would be their doom.

-" Enough of it, we should join them!" Gordon brandished his sword and began to follow the bloodthirsty horde of bandits.

Jack's body shivered in fear, he couldn't believe how unlucky they were for such a large bandit group to attack the village.. -" Where is Mathew? What is he doing?" Jack hastily searched around the large group of people in the village's square, but, Mathew was nowhere to be found.

-" I already sent someone to call him!" One of the stonemasons held his pickaxe with a mixture of terror and courage on his face. " Do you think that the magistrate can handle this?" It was no secret that the village's guards were weak, as they only began to train three months ago and barely had any equipment.

-" Even counting with the guards, he would still be outnumbered." Jack felt the urge to run to the forest, but, he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Mathew and the rest of the prefecture workers descending the hill.

"They've arrived!" One of the villagers shouted as he saw the group walking directly to the horde of bandits approaching the city.

-" Should we run?" Another village wasn't sure if facing the bandits was a good idea, and felt that abandoning the village would be the best choice.

-" Run? We just got back to our lands! We can't run!" Another village grabbed his shovel and bit his lips. " The elder and the woman should go to the forest! All the rest will help the magistrate in defending the city!"

Mathew was completely oblivious to what was happening in the village's square, as he only focused on the pack of bandits that had just crossed the unfinished parts of the walls. -" We can set up the cannons here." Matthew motioned for the guards to pass him one more solid round of ammunition before starting to load the cannon.

-" Are we really doing this?" Evan gritted as he looked at the iron weapons and the group of bandits.

-" Of course! Or do you think that it's better to face them in a regular battle?" Simon hastily jumped in front of his cannon and began to prepare it.

Evan saw Mathew and Simon at work, and with a firm gaze began to prepare the third cannon with the help of a guard, the process didn't seem that complicated, but, he had only seen it four times, and required assistance.

Mathew' was the first one to prepare the cannon, and gazed seriously at the group of bandits, who kept rushing toward them. -" Fire!" Mathew shouted as he lit the fuse.

The gunpowder's loud roar caught the bandits off guard, but before they could react, the iron ball smashed directly into the middle of the group, sending a mixture of blood and dirt into the air.

-" Good Lord! Was that a spell?" One of the bandits shouted as he closed his eyes in fear, only to open them and see the mangled body of many of his companions.

-" Be careful! They are using a strange spell!" Another bandit spoke up, his voice shaking as he looked at what was left of the three men who were hit by the attack.

The bandits were still frozen from shock when the second cannon fired, sending another iron ball in their direction, but, this time aimed at the right flank of the group.

Gordon watched as soil and body parts flew up in the sky each time the loud sound echoed. -" Fuck! Something is happening!" He quickly rushed to the front of the group and faced the three strange weapons.

The whole bandit pack was panicked, as only two attacks had killed five of their members, but, the presence of their leader was enough to calm them.

-" Focus! Destroy the weapon!" Ray gazed at the iron weapons and yelled out orders to his comrades.

-" No! That is surely a spiritual weapon! We must get them for ourselves!" Gordon gazed at the weapons, his eyes shining with greed, " Don't touch the weapons! Just kill those using them!"

Evan was way slower than Simon and Mathew, and only had finished preparing his cannon now, he aimed directly at the two men who took the front of the battle. "That appears to be their leader." Evan lit the fuse and looked anxious to test the man's strength.

Gordon bit his lips, and slashed at the iron ball flying in his direction, yet, he never expected the attack to have so much power, almost failing to deflect it. -" Don't try to block it, just dodge." The bandit leader's hand still trembled from the impact of the iron ball, and his sword had a big chip right in the middle.

-" Don't walk in a straight line!" Ray analyzed the weapons and could already tell that changing direction would be hard once their fuse was lit. " Be careful! Another attack is incoming!"

Mathew grinned as he lit the fuse, since one of the solid rounds had been blocked he decided that it was time to change their tactics.

The loud noise of the gunpowder exploding rang out again, and all the bandits ran to the sides, however, to their surprise, the attack now was made of small iron stones.

The bandits could do nothing but grit their teeth and endure the numerous, but minor, wounds inflicted on their bodies as a shower of small iron balls fell on them. Some iron balls even hit them on their faces and eyes, blinding a few bandits.

Gordon felt his blood boil in rage as the seemingly harmless iron balls inflicted small injuries on his body, stinging him with each impact and sending sharp bursts of pain throughout his body.

-" We should retreat! We can't handle this!" Ray shouted as the attack ended.

-" Retreat?!" Gordon ruffled his brow in rage and looked at the iron weapons, his desire for them growing as they demonstrated their power. " We will get the weapons, no matter the cost!" Gordon saw the new wave of iron balls coming towards them and took out a deep breath before howling in the direction of the attack, sending a shockwave that stopped all the iron balls.

Mathew grinned as he saw the method that the man used to stop the attack. " Oh? I wonder how many times he can scream.." Mathew looked at Evan, who had just finished preparing his cannon. " Keep shooting! Don't give them any break!"