NEC Chapter 101: The Young Ones Have Already Defeated the Enemy

After the sand people in the bandit gang realized their situation, they first began camping far apart during rest times, staying away from the main camp to avoid those mysterious "heavenly fire and iron rain" attacks that were clearly targeting the densely packed bandits.

Subsequently, they secretly left marks in the sand dunes, signaling goodwill to the local sand people, indicating they were being forced to guide and hoping for forgiveness.

The moment the ogre leader's two heads were eliminated, the sand people in the bandit gang became desperate.

They frantically sent signals, begging for mercy, pleading to be spared, "We are willing to serve the local lord, please spare our lives."

Upon receiving these signals, the local sand people tribes also panicked.

Unlike the sand people in the bandit gang, the local sand people had more comprehensive information. The Lord of Vast Sea Territory had only sent out three young centaurs!

Just three!

This had crushed a bandit gang of over six hundred people, which even included ogres and Silver Armor level warriors.

No wonder the lord showed no concern about our departure and even said to let us help capture bandit prisoners.

This was clearly a test all along!

At the crucial moment, the sand people Grand elder, weathered by wind and sand, seized this last chance to show loyalty. On one hand, he mobilized his entire extended family to move to Vast Sea Territory, demonstrating loyalty willing to live or die with the domain. On the other hand, he deployed all the hunters in the tribe to approach that battlefield at full speed.

During the period when the bandit gang continued advancing, through continuous relay of information, they provided the centaur squad with more accurate intelligence.

The final killing blow was that small desert lake.

Through the coordination among sand people, not only did the sand people in the bandit gang lead the bandits there, but they also secretly punctured the water carts in the convoy while the celebrating bandits went into the water, then slipped away.

This fatal finishing blow indirectly led to the subsequent complete rout of the bandit gang.

And these goblins fleeing in panic and scattering in all directions became the sand people's "certificate of allegiance" to express their loyalty.

Capturing panicked prey in the desert was a talent carved into the sand people's bones. They could accurately determine the number, distance, and condition of targets through the most subtle vibrations of sand grains and intermittent sounds carried by the wind.

A distinctive whistle, like that of a night owl, rang out, and nearby sand people squads immediately responded. They leaped onto light sand sleds pulled by giant sand beetles, rapidly converging from sand dunes in all directions.

Lassos, nets, short arrows, long knives, throwing stones... they tied up those who surrendered and killed those who resisted.

When encountering powerful hobgoblins, they would summon more sand people hunters, using numerical and terrain advantages to make driving sounds from all directions, causing opponents to flee in panic, exhaust their stamina, and finally fall into desperate situations.

If they really couldn't take them down, the sand people had one final trump card.

Call for the centaur squad.

When not pressed for time, Little Kaga led his companions to practice shooting with opponents, using those struggling enemies as practice for hitting slow-moving targets.

If they needed to rush to the next group of enemies, then grenades followed by cruise missiles, blast and wrap up to move to the next location.

Of course, there were also those ogres.

The sand people dared not provoke these big fellows, so they arranged elite hunters to bite down hard and pursue relentlessly.

With their formidable strength, these few ogres managed to seize most of the remaining food and drinking water during the chaotic rout and controlled over a dozen terrified pack beasts.

However, having lost their sand people guides, they too became lost in the endless desert maze.

After wandering in circles for a long time, when that desert lake where bandit captain Larila had met his end appeared in their vision again, the ogres realized they had circled back to the original location.

This plunged the ogre leader into deep confusion.

This one was considered intelligent among ogre tribes, otherwise it wouldn't have thought of the brilliant idea of marrying in and waiting for the wife to grow up, but faced with the current situation, neither force nor intelligence seemed able to help them escape their predicament.

It began self-examination.

The relatively "rational" head on the left looked longingly into the distance, "Should we... not leave yet? This place isn't safe..."

The head on the right was filled with frustration and despair, "Leave? Where to?! There are enemies everywhere outside! And those terrifying monsters that can easily kill Big Two-head! We're finished! Completely finished..."

"But if we don't leave, staying here is also waiting for death!"

The right head sobbed, with a kind of desperate resolve, "What you said... seems right too. Then before we die completely, let's be more active! In the future... there won't be any more chances!"

After a "friendly" and efficient self-negotiation, the ogre leader seemed to have an "epiphany."

It wiggled its fat buttocks, returned to the center of the crude camp formed by the pack beasts, embraced the two female ogres, and pressed them beneath it.

Thus, under the watchful eyes of the sand people, this group of ogres stopped by the lake and refused to leave, spending each day in daytime debauchery, nighttime debauchery, then more daytime debauchery...

When hungry, they would tear at the dried meat from the cart frames, or simply slaughter a poor pack beast, roast it over a campfire until the fat splattered, and devour it in large bites.

When thirsty, they would scoop up muddy water directly from the lake and gulp it down.

Whether the toxins had evaporated or the ogres' purification magic had taken effect, the male ogre showed no signs of poisoning after drinking the lake water, but instead appeared unusually... excited.

Its daily routine became extremely monotonous. Except for necessary feeding and brief sleep, all remaining time was spent lying on top of the female ogres, thrusting vigorously.

It seemed determined to seize this final time window to release thirty years of pent-up frustration with double intensity.

Sand people sentries lay on the scorching sand dunes, watching in stunned amazement for three whole days, until an experienced hunter reminded his companions, "Hey, see that? That big guy... seems to have lost a whole size? His legs are shaking when he walks!"

The news reached the sand people Grand elder, who called Kaga.

When Kaga received the message and led his squad hurriedly to the scene, the Grand elder greeted him with a face full of smiles, first lavishly praising the young centaur hero's achievement in greatly defeating the bandit gang, then thoughtfully offered advice.

"Ogres are creatures with a little cleverness but can't escape their bestial nature."

"Look at that leader now, clearly he has accepted his fate. I sent sand people to try approaching, and it only roared a couple of times to drive people away without any intention of attacking. This is giving up the struggle!"

"However, ogres traditionally respect strength. Numbers alone can't subdue them. You need to come over and give it some powerful intimidation. There's an eighty percent chance of success!"

"Capturing such a large group of ogres, Lord Kaga, you would be the undisputed first warrior among all centaur tribes on the continent!"

Little Kaga snorted excitedly through his nostrils but quickly corrected his attitude.

"What warrior or not! I am the lord's most loyal guard! Serving the lord is my mission!"

"Right, right, right, serving the lord is our duty!"

After brief preparation, Kaga revealed himself on the high slope by the lake.

Following the ogre traditional rules taught by the old sand people, Kaga took a deep breath and, while beating his chest, issued a challenging shout toward the massive figure by the lake that was "diligently tilling."

Ogres had this tradition: when competing for leader position, which was also competing for mating rights with females in the group, there were three steps: challenge invitation, display combat, and actual combat.

Challenge invitation was when the challenger issued a battle signal to the current leader.

Display combat was like peacock displaying feathers, showing strength to each other, hoping to make the opponent retreat in the face of difficulty, thus achieving victory without injury.

If display combat failed, then came actual combat, where whoever won would be in charge.

When Kaga issued the challenge invitation signal, although the male ogre leader had somewhat weak legs and was trembling, he still struggled to get up from the ground, faced toward the high slope, and issued an unyielding response.

It accepted the challenge!

Little Kaga steadily raised his Red Arrow, first aimed toward his opponent, then redirected toward a patch of sand dunes by the lakeshore.

"Boom!!!"

The explosion tore through the desert silence! A flash of fire appeared on the high slope, and the top of the sand dune exploded violently! Yellow sand poured down like a golden waterfall, instantly burying a small section of the lakeshore!

The small flame that the two-headed ogre leader held in his hand for display quickly extinguished.

The left and right heads began another intense exchange.

"See! See!" the left head said with a crying tone, "I knew it! Good things that fall from the sky never last long! It's only been a few days!"

The right head continued with reluctance, "I was right to tell you to hurry up and do more, wasn't I? Ah? Look! If we had listened to me last night and not rested, we could have done it at least three to five more times! Now you regret it, right?"

The left big head was on the verge of tears, "But... but now I can't even... can't even squeeze out the thinnest clear water! What more is there to do!"

"Sigh! But you've already lost! Even if you could produce thicker stuff in the future, what use would it be? They... can only be enjoyed by that small centaur!"

"..."

After a bout of self-arguing, the ogre leader lowered its defeated twin heads, its massive body slowly collapsed onto the scorching sand, and issued a whimper of submission.

At this point, except for those unfortunate ones forever swallowed by the yellow sand, this massive bandit gang that had traveled thousands of miles intending to raid Vast Sea Territory was declared completely annihilated.

When steward Herlan, trembling with excitement and almost crashing through the entrance, burst into the lord's tent, Chen Mo was discussing something in low voices with Master Downs around a spell model suspended in mid-air.

Herlan bowed, raised both hands above his head, and presented a freshly written military report. Chen Mo took it, glanced at it, and casually set it aside.

Master Downs, seeing steward Herlan's trembling hands and slightly twisted expression, couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Chen Mo smiled slightly.

"Nothing major!"

"It's just that child Kaga has cleaned up all the bandits!"

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