Night pressed down on the blood-dyed village like tobacco ash on a sea turtle's back. Tongues of flame danced over wooden houses and thatched huts, and the stench of scorching and char blew in every direction. The scents of blood and fire rose together—this was the battlefield of a divine war of death and sacrifice.
The corpses of Kingdom Warriors in Cloth-covered Armor lay tangled with the bodies of Castilian veterans in Cuirasses, all soaking together in bloody water. The warriors' bright eagle-feather Bronze crowns were like parrots that had lost their eyes. And the veterans' heads in gleaming iron helmets were like dead silverfish on a shore reef.
Thirty Dog-kin archers and fourteen Kingdom Warriors stood together at the center of the farm after the death-or-glory slaughter, gulping down rough breaths. Not far away, the remaining twenty-odd Dog-kin archers were retreating while shooting arrows and shouting. They did everything they could to scatter the Castilian reinforcements' attention, but those reinforcements had already seen the large band of savages in the farm.
Warrior Captain Tai Juying's eyes were bloodshot. He looked at the few brothers he had left and pleaded with the red-haired Mikui.
"Damn it! Mikui! Of the fourteen warriors I have left, four are wounded and can't run! I have to bring them..."
"No! We can't delay! The Main God is witness! Forget the wounded—even the Cloth-covered Armor on your body has to be thrown away here!"
"The Main God is witness! I still have strength. I can fight in armor!..."
"Bullshit! Throw off that heavy armor, now! The rest of you, hurry and help the warriors take off their armor!..."
Red-haired Mikui's eyes were red too, but his movements were incomparably decisive. Holding a dagger, he rushed to Tai Juying's side and swiftly cut the ties on