Chapter 204: Beastmen Attack

Sinuoli urged the caravan forward to the east through the morning mist. Considering the potential threat of Beastmen, he arranged as many scouts as possible and ensured that those among the migrating clansfolk capable of fighting were prepared for battle.

Adult Dwarfs are basically qualified warriors; relying on armor and weapons forged from pure steel, it is not difficult for them to deal with three or four human professional soldiers. But the problem is that compared to humans, the Dwarf population is far too small.

No Dwarf lord, unless driven to a dead end, would let clansfolk who have not undergone professional combat training step onto the battlefield. Facing the monsters and demons of this world, they lack the power to resist, and the losses would be too great to accept.

Sinuoli wanted to speed up the march, but he found he could not. The old, the weak, the women, and the children, combined with wagons fully loaded with goods, kept the speed pinned down.

At this moment, Sinuoli finally began to regret. He finally understood why, despite the difficult life, those clansfolk were unwilling to relocate before; in this era where dark forces are gradually rising, safety in the wilderness is too hard to guarantee.

In the morning, they only encountered sporadic Gor and Ungor, but by the time they ate lunch, the Rangers brought back worse news.

"Master Sinuoli, we have discovered Harpies!" As they spoke, they brought a disgusting corpse before Snuori.

It was a winged creature with the upper body of a human female and the lower body of a bird of prey. Unlike a woman's lips, their lips were twisted and slanted, extending to both sides to reveal fangs stained with blood and saliva.

"Trouble!" Sinuoli thought to himself. What he hated most was the enemy gaining air superiority, as this meant his every move would fall under the control of the enemy in the shadows.

"There are Centigors trailing us from behind!" Buluokesen also hurried over from the rear guard to report. Although the mountain roads carved by the ancestors were quite wide, the three-thousand-person caravan still snaked for over a thousand meters.

Centigors, that is, Centaurs, are the bodies of horses combined with the upper bodies of humans. These four-legged human-beast hybrids possess both speed and strength, and can wield barbaric weapons; they are natural mobile units and scouts.

"When night falls, we will have trouble!" The Dwarf leaders reached a consensus. The appearance of these guys meant the warherd was of a significant size.

"Otherwise, shall we turn back to Karak-Gerege?" Prince Sitelinge became somewhat worried.

"That is to say, head west?" Sinuoli muttered. The Grey Mountains run east-west, so going back meant going west. In his mind, he recalled the advice of the strange old Dwarf from before: when others tell you to go west, you should go east.

"No! We must continue forward!" Sinuoli shook his head and said.

"I say, you don't really believe that old man's words, do you?" Sitelinge was not so easily convinced.

"No, that settlement is too small to accommodate so many people, and it is not enough to rely on for defense. That is only one reason!" Sinuoli knew he needed to explain a thing or two to this young peer and newly-made relative.

"Another reason is that there are not enough supplies. Think about it, winter has just passed, and the food of the clansfolk there is just about exhausted, while our caravan's supplies are being replenished along the way. If we run out of food then, how can we defend? We would only be more passive!"

Sitelinge nodded and returned to his post; what Sinuoli said was indeed the truth. After lunch, the caravan continued to set off. This time, the Beastmen did not stop at reconnaissance; they began to harass Sinuoli's caravan.

Centigors carrying Flying Axes and Ungors holding bows and arrows raided, appearing and disappearing in the woods on both sides of the mountain road. Although the Centigors were slightly clumsy, their four legs moved like the wind; the Rangers could hit them but found it difficult to kill them.

And while Ungors are indeed the weakest in Beastmen society, compared to other kin, they undoubtedly possess a bit more agility and intelligence. Their developed hands can even craft profane talismans and produce weapons for their clumsy peers.

If the harassment by ranged units only made the Dwarfs somewhat annoyed and caused them to tighten their formation to protect the women and children more closely, by Twilight, they encountered a fairly decent ambush.

The Centigors that had been prowling on the periphery dropped their Flying Axes and switched to heavy Battle Axes and Halberds that required two hands to wield. They charged out of the woods under the supervision of a filthy Shaman, whose fur was painted with various primitive and terrifying cult runes.

These guys, who were born living in the wilderness, could easily hide in the forest. Fortunately, the Rangers, as a long-lived race, had accumulated experience in facing various races, and they discovered the Beastmen's secret gathering.

Sinuoli timely mobilized a portion of the Anvil Guard to the flanks of the caravan. They withstood the charge of the herd, but Artillery could not be deployed on the mountain road, and these clansfolk could not pursue them into the woods. The Centigors only left behind a few corpses, but they slowed down the progress of the caravan.

Having just fought hard to repel the Centigors, another group composed of Bestigors and ordinary Gors, led by a Beast-King, blocked the front of the team.

That Beast-King had massive, long horns on its thick-haired head, sharp and sturdy like swords, and its robust body was covered in scars and rough tattoos. The nickname "Beast-King Horn-Breaker" for Fatisi Qishi previously came from these creatures.

Sinuoli himself sat in command of the center army. Rogov, who was clearing the way in front—he was now a Leviathan Butcher—had a fight with that Beast-King. The two experts in using axes could be considered evenly matched.

The Beast-King stood over three meters tall. The social structure of the Beastmen is similar to other war-like races, where the one who can fight the best becomes the boss. However, in the battle against the Dwarfs, its height became a disadvantage instead.

Its Battle Axe swung wide, every move exuding a ferocious aura, but it could not be deployed when dealing with Dwarfs whose height, excluding their crests, barely reached its knees. Rogov rolled over and squeezed into the circle of its axe, hacking away wildly. The bigger the target, the more satisfying it was for his two-handed heavy axe to hack!

Soon the Beast-King was defeated, but it retreated back into the woods under the cover of its bodyguards, the heavily armored Bestigors. These guys were far larger and stronger than their kin, and they were also clad in armor looted from who knows where.

Besides being relatively tough, the Bestigors wielded heavy weapons with armor-piercing capabilities, and many clansfolk were injured under their attacks.

By Twilight, the caravan had barely traveled half of the planned route. When they stopped to rest, the leaders gathered together again.

"We cannot continue to march on the ridge; the long, narrow formation is constantly being harassed, and it is difficult to organize an effective counterattack!" Balin summarized everyone's views.