The village gate and parts of wooden fences were destroyed by a ramming attack from the mercenary group. The civil militia who were merely armed civilians fell quickly apart as the mercenary soldiers flooded in. Other village residents, hiding in their home, trembled with horror and waited for their eleventh hour.
The Zes Mercenary Group was strong and in strict order. Also, they got excellent combat skills.
Of course, there were several mercenary soldiers hired from the village. However, they were in battle with a half-hearted attitude so they were not helping much. They’re probably thinking that the battle was already lost and preparing for the aftermath. Since mercenary soldiers who’re from the guild affiliated with the same country often knew each other, it’s very likely that they would receive mercy and favorable arrangements from the winning party after the battle.
“We need to close the door!”
Along with the civil militia, Shura was trying to stop those mercenary soldiers from entering. Now, the only person she could trust in this village was herself. The civil militia were also fighting to the death but there existed a huge gap in combat capability between them and their enemies. Mercenary soldiers were professional fighters with real combat experiences and each of them was as strong as three experienced soldiers in a regular army.
On the other hand, the combat capability of each person in the civil militia was even less than half of that of a soldier who’s newly recruited. Against mercenary soldiers, Shura wielded her sword fully infused with mana. For a brief moment, they were frightened by sword attacks of the highest rank swordswoman at expert level but soon they rushed towards her with their eyes full of desire.
“Hey, it’s an elf!”
Shure was an elf, a species of beauty and purity. However, she was half-blooded. One of her parents was a Moon Elf species who’s on the side of the power of Darkness and the other parent was a High Elf species who are on the side of the power of Light. But in human’s eyes, she looked just like a full-blooded elf.
Therefore, no human woman was more beautiful than her. And because of her light blue skin and red eyes which were symbols of Moon Elfs, she looked tough and strong but still, her beauty had never faded away.
As she was running over wooden fences, she cut through the waist of a mercenary soldier. His blood was spattering but he was still alive. He must be a skillful soldier since he could avoid her attack with an experienced move and get away with a non-fatal wound. Soon, other mercenary soldiers approached while thrusting their spears before her and bought some time for the wounded soldier to retreat.
Shura clenched her teeth. They were very good at joint attacks as well.
Meanwhile, a few people among the civil militia fell down with a death cry. Shura immediately flew and tried to rescue them but it’s a meaningless move. Soon, the formation of the civil militia collapsed and they were cornered. All the mercenary soldiers were flooding into the village simultaneously. With trembling eyes, Shura landed on the ground and looked around the surroundings. Several mercenary soldiers were running towards villagers’ houses to steal everything they could.
Now, the village was done. It’s time to retreat. At the moment, Shura still had a chance to escape over the wooden fences. However, she couldn’t just run away while leaving these villagers to be stranded.
Without knowing her father’s name, Shura was raised by a single mother. And her mother went to a battle, returning home as a dead body. After that, Shura got kicked out of her tribe since they called her a dirty half-blooded elf and regarded her as a disgrace of the tribe.
And with their warm hearts, these people living in the Aeem Village welcomed her when she had nowhere to stay. Obviously, she felt very appreciated by them.
She could not leave them behind, knowing that they would die in misery. At last, Shura ran forward and drew her blood-thirsty sword towards mercenary soldiers.
“Dammit, she’s really strong.”
Her attacks dampened the spirits of those mercenary soldiers severely at a moment. Although she seemed not to have a lot of combat experiences, a unique strength and speed of a mana-type swordswoman were more than enough to overpower these mercenary soldiers.
Shortly, there’s some casualty in the mercenary group as well because some unskilled, newly-recruited, and also hot-tempered soldiers ran towards her without cautiousness. Eventually, they were slain by Shura and their heads flew in the sky.
Mercenary soldiers saw Shura’s blood-soaked face and stepped backward. Indeed, mana-type swordsmen were dangerous opponents. Even being all by herself, Shura could give damages to these mercenary soldiers one after another.
“Damn, what is our captain doing? Hey! Tell the captain to move his ass and come over here quickly!”
At last, a huge and hairy guy entered through a broken door. He was Zes. Even though he showed up late, other mercenary soldiers had a big smile on their faces.
In the past, Zes was a knight wandering around several territories. Not long after, he got kicked out for causing big and small incidents within the territories. And now, he was leading the Zes Mercenary Group.
“I heard that there’s an elf here?”
As Zes yelled at his soldiers, they glanced at Shura. After examining her look, he made a disgusting smile and darted his tongue in and out. Actually, he was a little bit skeptical when he heard there’s an elf. But it was true. She’s a real elf.
“Yeah, but she’s strong.”
Zes also watched her moves so he knew how strong she was. The fact that the sword in her hand was infused with mana proved that she’s the highest rank swordswoman at the expert level.
However, Zes was also a high-rank swordsman at an expert level although he was one rank lower than her in terms of mana capability. Yet, he seemed not to be in an unfavorable situation. He got a lot of combat experiences and had hundreds of soldiers under his control.
Of course, the civil militia was fighting on Shura’s side but they’re being cornered into the backstreets of the village. At the moment, they were in a last-ditch stand.
Zes drew his sword and yelled at Shura.
“You should surrender. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Shura grabbed her sword much tighter. Because once she saw Zes’ face, she knew that her surrender meant a life full of disgrace and shame. So, she made up her mind to end her life right here.
“Come! You human bastard!”
Zes nodded his head as if he knew how she would respond. Female elves value their purity more than their life. So, when they’re about to lose their purity in danger, they commit suicide to protect their purity. Or, in other cases, they abstain from food and drink until their death.
Thus, even elf hunters do not chase after female elves. Because even if they captured female elves, they would be dead very soon. Instead, elf hunters chase after male elves who do not care about their chastity at all. Male elves seldom commit suicide. So, elf hunters can make quite a lot of money if they sell male elves to those high class, homosexual noblemen.
‘It can’t be helped.’
In a low tone of voice, Zes ordered his soldiers to prepare a gag and iron nets. Even though Shura refused to surrender, he didn’t want to kill her. If he could capture her alive, he could have some fun with her even though he wouldn’t be able to sell her for money. As Zes approached Shura, some empty-handed soldiers gathered around Zes and Shura.
“Good luck, captain.”
As Shura rushed forward with her sword, Zes with a chuckling face bounced off her sword and pushed her away with his shoulder. Shura was pushed back but didn’t give up and stretched her sword with all her strength. Yet, Zes could defend her attack easily. After they exchanged several attacks with each other, the real duel had started.
Zes had an edge on strength. Although Shura had quite an edge on mana capability, the gap in mana capability between them was not as significant as that in strength. Besides, some of the onlooking mercenary soldiers were also occasionally attacking her in surprise. Shura was in real trouble.
A dark shadow fell across her face. Not only Zes was a tough-enough opponent for her but also she was completely surrounded by her enemies.
Shortly after, a spear was thrown at her and grazed her face. Because of that, she lost her balance so the neck and neck duel between her and Zes became one-sided. Of course, Zes did have a numerical superiority because he had his soldiers on his side. While Shura was outgunned, Zes could attack her with his restrained moves to the masthead.
Clang. Clank. Clang
Whenever their swords were in contact, sparks flew up. And sword attacks were exchanged at a giddy speed but still, the duel was already one-sided. While keeping her eyes on other mercenary soldiers as well, it was not easy for Shura to defend herself from Zes who was attacking her at full blast.
Shura was continuously on her defensive stance. Gradually, a feeling of despair could be seen in her eyes.
‘I will lose if I keep fighting like this.’
Shura was completely in a daze due to enemies’ attacks from every direction. Most of the attacks were not so dangerous but she still had to respond to every one of them. So, she kept losing her advantages. A duel is also a fight of gaining more advantages from each other. Every mistake could give a huge opportunity to the opponent. And that’s when a fatal injury could start to happen.
In fact, she should’ve lost the duel a long time ago. Zes was an excellent swordsman and she had to fight against a large number of enemies. Yet, she could still keep fighting because they were not actually trying to murder her.
And she knew exactly why. They’re trying to rape her.
“Kyaaaa!”
A half-naked young lady jumped out of a house. Soon after, one mercenary soldier with a wicked face grabbed her hair, threw her down to the ground, and jumped on top of her. The young lady’s name was Benny who lived in the village and was always nice to Shura.
Benny stretched her hand desperately to ask for help. However, there’s no way Shura could help her. In fact, she was in danger as well. Some mercenary soldiers, who received Zes’ order to bring iron nets, sneaked behind over the wooden fences and were approaching Shura.
Zes was also aware of this and cornered her more ferociously. As Shura was in confusion, not a single mistake could be allowed for Zes as well. Once she gets captured in iron nets, it’s so obvious how she would react. To have fun with her for a longer time, he shouldn’t let her bite her tongue to kill herself.
“No!”
Shura heard Benny’s scream. Since Shura couldn’t let Benny suffer such horrible pain, she jumped and drew her sword towards the guy who was on top of Benny. She knew Zes would attack her immediately after but she didn’t mind. Actually, that’s why she wanted to. However, she couldn’t even save Benny and she failed to defend herself as well. She got captured in a lot of iron nets thrown from behind her.
“Grunt”
As she rolled on the ground, she wielded her sword but iron nets were not cut off. Only a little scratch. Soon, mercenary soldiers rushed towards her. They grabbed her arms and legs and then put a gag in her mouth.
She got captured for sure. With trembling eyes, Shura stared at those mercenary soldiers who were pressing down her body. Because of the gag in her mouth, she couldn’t bite her tongue as well.
“Kekeke. From now on, I will be your husband.”
With an outcry, other mercenary soldiers gathered around Zes who made a disgusting face.
“You would allow us to have some fun as well, right captain?
“Go away, you bastards! How dare you! There’s a lot of ladies in the village. You should try them!”
So, the mercenary soldiers had left with disappointment.
Her sight became dark. Shura stopped her resistance, staring at the other mercenary soldiers who were hired from the raided village. Some of those mercenary soldiers had a crush on her before. However, all of those mercenary soldiers hired from the raided village turned their heads and looked the other way. Obviously, their life was more precious for them.
At the moment, there were tears in her eyes. Actually, she was also a little bit interested in some of them before. Therefore, she became so resentful with herself.
At last, Zes approached while dragging his belt.
“Argh…”
Shura’s scream was scattering through the gag in her mouth. Zes held his breath and put his hand on her waist armor which was covering her lower body.
At that moment when Shura was blankly staring at the sky with resentment, she could see a dark shadow of a person in her eyes. It’s a young man who had a pitch dark hair which she always wanted to have. As he landed on the ground, he poked his sword behind Zes’ neck.
Zes was making a gushing sound with astonished eyes. With his trembling hands, he grabbed his neck around to stop his blood pouring out. Finally, the dark-haired man spun around his shining sword, cutting off the bodies and heads of the mercenary soldiers who had gathered nearby.
The man glanced at Shura.
“Huh, isn’t an elf? Why is it here?”
“······.”
“Yet, it’s a half-blood. I mean, you must’ve gone through many hardships due to your lineage.”
A young man with his face heavily soaked in blood was smiling innocently. Suddenly, Shura remembered her mother in a flash. Her mother used to look at her with such an innocent smile.