The Bloodhounds were running north, towards the central region within the Grey Zone. Their aim was to wipe out the Mekran village as per the orders of their Lord.
They did not use the ground, instead they were jumping from tree to tree in a running motion, with the usage of Aura their pace was staggeringly faster compared to a normal human. The Bloodhounds took the formation of the Falcon, 200 each on left and right in the form a wing coming forward while at the centre taking the form of an actual falcon's body the remaining 100 men and at their very front the beak which was Commander Periyan who was leading the formation.
The Talons consisted of the best fighters within the group, the reason they picked this formation was because "The Mekran tribe most of the time hides, they love their camouflage skills." One of the Bloodhounds said, "At noon, they always gather at their village. Our scouts did gather this information many years ago before falling for one of the traps set near their village." Another one of them joined in.
The Village of Mekran were deep inside the forest to make sure none could find it, they have set various different traps across the village to prevent anyone from entering it. But this cautious group had a weakness, they tended to return to their village in the afternoon to eat lunch.
The group deduced that the Mekran used the trees, by jumping from one tree to another as a method to traverse from and to the village. So the perfect time to wipe them out was at noon and they were much more proficient at moving through the trees which gave them more of an advantage.
On the way, they would behead anyone they saw since right now anyone whose not Estefan is their enemy and they were going all out.
A Mekran villager emerged from a bush when he heard some sounds from the tree, he saw black. So many dark silhouettes flying across the forest using the trees "What in the world is this happening?" The Mekran villager was confused but all of a sudden everything felt to do wobbly, it was as if the world was rotating and falling before the head rotated and he saw his own body.
The Mekran Villager was beheaded by one of the Bloodhounds who went down, delivered a clean slash before rejoining the formation
The Villager realised what happened after his head rolled on the floor and lifeless body fell in front of the head. Similar fate to anyone they say in their path. It was clean enough to ensure none survives, Bloodhounds were effectively trained to target the neck of their enemies.
A perfect way to subdue enemies faster and to prevent unnecessary issues when facing enemies because attrition is not viable especially when they lack enough soldiers to handle a large-scale battle. So kill as much as they can with incredible pace so the enemies have no chance to retaliate especially with numbers against the Bloodhounds who will have less soldiers but with higher quality.
As they were getting closer to their target, the Bloodhounds began to notice the traps. They can see through it due to perfect precise sight since they had to train hard with their eyes because they target the neck and must find their targets from a distance while jumping around fast. This helps them to see traps because they are also paying attention to any details.
They simply avoided all the trees since they were jumping from tree to tree, pushing and increasing their pace as they moved forward.
They got close and closer before finally reaching their target. The wings went across, practically surrounding the entire village while the body struck the village. 100 Bloodhounds rushed inside, the enemies had no chance.
Heads were falling down, "NO MERCY! KILL EVERYONE, FROM CHILDREN OR ADULTS. ALL OF THEM ARE TRAITORS TO HUMANITY AND OUR LORD." He gave out his order before his sword sliced open a neck with one strike especially as Periyan was now a one handed man, he was still capable of using a sword.
They would rush into houses, killing everyone. There was no questioning, no mercy but simply death. They were delivering death to doorsteps.
Meanwhile inside the central building in the Village, the Chief Mekran was enjoying his meal as one of his men served rice on top of organs inside the abdomen of a fresh corpse. The corpse was cut in a way that the entirety of its skin on top of its belly so the Chief has access to the abdominal organs.
After serving rice, he would mix it with the organs while eating it. The corpse had signs of dried tears. The person was alive when their belly was cut open but suddenly he heard the screams and shouts "Zuriti? How dare they?" He yelled before rushing down while holding a sword and a dagger on each hand.
The moment he landed down, all he saw was the heads and headless corpses of his people followed by black cloaked individuals holding blades which were long but very thin. He also saw red eyes everywhere inside the tree, "Tch, I am surrounded." Mekran murmured with annoyance before rushing towards the Bloodhounds with his sword and dagger.
He aimed for one of them, threw his dagger quickly to catch them off-guard before he lunged his sword to them but suddenly a Bloodhound appeared above Mekran with the sword in a position to cut his neck so he twisted his body to turn around and get his sword no top of his neck to prevent the strike from going through.
It worked, the sword hit his sword saving himself before he kicked the Bloodhound upwards and he did a quick 360 dive landing on the ground but the moment he did more swords were coming aiming for his neck.
He would flung his fist which has protective leather gloves which is durable enough to handle some strikes.
But he realised he was surrounded by Hounds meant for hunting predators because he was forced to clash his sword with all of them. They were perfect, really good that they knew when to strike him and when to wait because he was clashing faster but they would wait for their chance to jump forward.
He struck the incoming sword from the right and pushed the Bloodhound back but before he could give a second attack, another attack came from the left which forced him to change his direction and face the incoming attack.
It was surprising for the Bloodhounds because they didn't expect they'll face someone who was proficient in swordsmanship. This also surprised Mekran because he wasn't told there was a new faction inside the grey zone but the battle was about to end.
Overwhelmed by so many attacks, Mekran was distracted enough for Periyan to push his sword through the solar plexus of Mekran "I knew it, it was you Periyan. Only you would use such annoying tactics." Mekran snickered.
Using the aura Periyan successfully pierced through Mekran whose skin is harder than normal due to consumption of human meat with demonic energy. "What is an owner-less hound doing now?" Mekran yelled in a disrespectful way to agitate but Periyan laughed "Baron, I have already found my new Lord." Hearing those words suddenly made Mekran shout "WHO IS IT? WHOSE YOUR NEW LORD?"
Commander Periyan would laugh "You don't have to know!" But Mekran insisted "I must know, tell me Periyan." He screamed because he was that adamant.
"Sure." Periyan continued "Grandson of Lord Simon." Hearing that made Mekran say "No no no no no." Before Mekran was beheaded by Periyan with a clean slice.
It's over, they won as Periyan looked at the head of Mekran which had tears on it. "Foolish Baron, still loyal to Lord Simon." Periyan sighed before he ordered his men to clean up the village by killing the survivors.
As he walked he remembered the past, The City Rammstein was established by Lord Simon Angeras. Before him the City was a tiny settlement established near the border but Lord Simon built a massive fortress City to strengthen his influence over the border regions and establish stronger control.
He then gave the City to one of his friends who belonged to a rice farming family in the western region which is now the Grey Zone. The farmer became a Baron who swore his fidelity towards the Lord and after Lord Simon's death the demons poured in. The Baron did his best to delay the invasion, he watched Duke Gerin the son of Simon Angeras flee and abandon the City.
Then Ulf came by himself but he saw Ulf fail as well and be taken away by Duke's men. He put more resistance towards the Demon and was pleased by this strength. The Demon granted him a deal.
The deal was simple, for the sake of the last remaining people of his the Baron must walk the path of Demon. Hunt humans and deliver it to the Demon while also consuming Human flesh, in return the Demon won't touch the last remaining bunch of his people.
The Baron had no choice but to accept it, eating human flesh meant the person would get addicted. The Baron who now had the Demon name got a power boost with consumption of Human flesh as well. So they never bothered to stop because it was now beneficial and the Duke was constantly a hundred humans in the name of reclaiming the City.
Mekran understood that the Demon and the new Duke had a deal because the Demon rarely came out from Rammstein.
It was as if the demon didn't care about the rest of the Duchy or Kingdom, it just stopped bothering about it and opted to peacefully consume human flesh hunted by them. A weird thing happened because he never bothered to look into it because at this point it didn't matter, he was already eating human meat, the current lord is someone who he hated.
He knew it, the ones who served Lord Simon are bound to hate Duke Gerin but the reason why he got surprised hearing about the Estefan is that for Periyan to serve Estefan then it means the Grandson is as good as the Grandfather.
Mekran regretted, he wanted to see one competent Angeras before his inevitable death and he couldn't.
The Commander ordered his men "Prepare to secure the entire Grey Zone. Kill anyone who is not affiliated with us, no mercy." He gave his orders.
The reason why they weren't giving back-up to Estefan was because he didn't want to be an annoyance, him and his people could secure the entire region for themselves. Also re-use the bases of other factions as their outposts to keep all the region under their control. Grey Zone was after all a large region and they lacked manpower but had quality in them in terms of Soul Essence usage and swordsmanship.
They were killing all the survivors, some did try to escape but due to the fear they fell into the traps made by themselves.
Bloodhounds didn't disable the traps but used it in a way to strengthen their new outpost because the knights stationed at the wall will have no idea about the traps nor the capability to traverse through the trees. So it was advantageous for them, since they had the option to enter or leave the village in a way better.
Estefan was walking towards the enemies, the Zuriti village consists of three total villages placed in a proper horizontal line. In front of each village to form three total metaphorical walls before entering the City region.
Each village was headed by a chief given the name Zuriti and they were all obsessed with the Demon. They would experiment with themselves to turn them into Demons or Demonic creatures making them formidable for any enemies but Estefan didn't care about it because he must destroy them in order to recapture the City.
He was willing to kill anyone and destroy anything for the sake of his revenge.