When Dawn Squad arrived at the mist-shrouded valley, the sight before them made their hearts tighten.
A massive village of blackwood buildings stood in the valley, brimming with the customs of the Southern Border.
The village stretched for several miles, large enough to house tens of thousands. It was surely Qili Cave, the largest settlement of the Miao Tribe in the Southern Border.
Qili Cave had long since lost the peace of days gone by.
The entire village was surrounded by a black tide.
The tide was made up of vicious Beast Demons and Li Tribe warriors with blood-red eyes, stripped of their reason.
There were tens of thousands of them, attacking the beleaguered village from every direction like a frenzied army.
The sounds of battle cries, screams, and roars rose and fell without pause.
All of Qili Cave seemed to have become a grinding mill of flesh and blood.
Around the village, a Southern Border defensive formation made of totem poles was struggling to hold.
Under the Beast Demon Army's onslaught, the formation's light dimmed, and it teetered on the verge of collapse.
Within the formation, Miao Tribe warriors wielding crude weapons fought desperately against the Beast Demons that had broken through the gaps.
Their faces were filled with despair. They knew they had reached the end of the road.
On the towering altar at the village's center, an old man with white hair and fine robes clutched a black staff, struggling to maintain the formation as it threatened to shatter.
His face was weary. He was surely the Miao Tribe chieftain, Tuma Gu.
"Chieftain! We can't hold out much longer!" A blood-soaked Miao Tribe warrior rushed to the foot of the altar and roared.
"The formation on the western side has been breached!"
"Our people are nearly wiped