CHAPTER 15: [The curse land] - [Smell lost] - [Aankh temple's confrontation]

——{one weeks later}——

The soldiers sent by Ying-ba and the survivors from the camp's attack arrived at their captured temple. Even though they weren't a big group and should have arrived earlier the drama from the attack was still present, children had lost their mothers, their grandparents and vice versa. They also took the time to bury the dead properly before leaving the camp with their hearts only filled with hatred and sadness, costing them quite some time

The group arrived at the Aankh temple's doors and the guards that were surveying the doors from the inside deactivated the sealing formation, thus unsealing the closed doors. This was a formation that was already in place when they arrived and was used in case of siege.

They entered and were met by multiple soldiers that were looking to see their wives and children. The soldiers were so surprised and heart broken then they fell into a coma, others went berserk and had to be restrained by those that didn't lose anyone or that were tough enough to keep themselves under control.

As a result of the news, the soldiers that had a very optimistic mood about war had their realities shattered, they gained true hatred for the monkeys and their fighting spirits skyrocketed. They all had the urge to kill any monkey that they would stumble upon.

Only two days later a small army could be seen in the surrounding of the temple, it was the combined elite forces of both Aankh and Ubaoo temple. The alarm was sounded, and the guards started shooting arrows at the attackers. After a while all the eagles were present at the wall somewhere on while overs were flying above it making it seem like an uncrossable fortress wall.

The eagles were all facing the monkey battalion, and their rage that had been directed by a small margin during the past days was now rekindled by the sight of monkeys that could be the authors of the deaths of their loved ones.

Without waiting for the orders of their generals, the eagles all took off and flew at a bullet speed into the facing army. A full out war had started in a fraction of seconds and the monkeys that weren't expecting the eagles to act this way were taken by surprise and a part of their forces instantly perished as the eagles collided with them.

One sixth of the monkeys were killed in an instant, but in the following the eagles that seemed to be overwhelming their enemies were pushed back by the adversaries. The monkeys that composed this unit weren't common soldiers but the strongest forces of the two monkeys temple, after getting over their surprise they quickly displayed their strength.

Things are not always like they seem at first or second look, the eagles' killing and intent were displayed the next instant and the then triumphing were frozen in place by the display of rage that was coming from their enemies.

The eagles were using their rage as a weapon to stave down their mortal enemies and lost all reason, becoming like wild beasts that were having their last struggles before dying. They all only had one thought, killing every monkey in this forest. The eagles lost all senses of self-preservation or pain, and their force rose to their limits.

Overcoming their abnormal state of fright the monkey quickly reacted and used their full power, the two forces now we're even in terms of fighting power. Using rage, will and number, the eagles were matching the monkey soldiers that were the strongest of their respective temples.

The soldiers from both sides had drawn their swords, and their blades reflected a red glow on the bodies of the fallen. Bodies were torn and cut, and the soldiers covered with the blood of their friends and foes. They swirled their swords to every enemy that came their way.

About ten minutes after the beginning of the confrontation, the soldiers from both sides could hardly recognize each other by clothing, and some killed their own in the confusion of the bloody battle. The commander of the eagle forces had yet to appear on the battlefield, as he was following the orders of Ying-ba in case of an attack. He had received the orders to wait until the enemy's forces were cut by half before joining in. The one Ying-ba had passed down control of the army to was none other than Gu-washi, his strongest and most trusted general.

Gu-washi had taken the position and had managed the army in an orderly manner, he not only managed well but had a very similar way of managing that looked a lot like Ying-ba's way of doing things. Thus, when the confrontation started, he reminded himself of the order from Ying-ba and waited for the good moment to strike.

Over the monkeys' side they did have some sort of commander, he was one of the main disciples of the Ubaoo temple that studied directly under Myott. He could be said to be the strongest presence in the battle, but he didn't have any experience in managing a war and was overwhelmed by the fights and killing ongoing all around him, all he could do was kill the eagles running at him.

'Our soldiers can't continue to fight like this for long, their bodies are breaking down. From the beginning they weren't even supposed to be able to fight like that, even though their mental attitude is at their strongest, and they can resist the pain of their muscles reaping and of their injuries their bodies were doomed to break down.' Gu-washi thought while watching the battle that was going on under his eyes.

A few moments later, he came up with the solution.

'I must soon join the battle, our men are at their limits. I will attack the center area of the conflict to give a finishing blow to the enemies. The enemies' state of mind has surely started to break down after fighting our monster-like troops. I will only need to show overwhelming strength for them to go insane, and I will use that to completely destroy them from the face of this earth.' Gu-washi said in a crafty and determined voice.

Five minutes later, the general joined the battle and destroyed the battlefield, by creating an earthquake at the center of the two armies. Every soldier was pushed away and fell to the ground, the eagle soldiers were pulled out of their abnormal state, and all confrontations stopped as everyone looked for the origin of the tremor. The dust settled and the Gu-washi appeared with a mighty appearance, looking ready to kill in an instant anyone present here.

As planned by Gu-shisan all the monkeys had a breakdown. They had always been the best, but today an army of normal soldiers had stood ground against them. Furthermore, this army seemed not to be afraid of death and always got up even after receiving a killing blow. Added to that there were far too many of those monster-like soldiers and the monkeys had felt overwhelmed. Lastly, the apparition of the generals was the finishing blow to make them lose all hope of leaving this place alive and making them go insane or beg for mercy.

Less than half of the monkey army tried escaping, and the rest begged for their lives or to be killed, while the last charged the generals in a last struggle of insanity.

Gu-washi cut down the monkeys running their way and his specialty being the bow, he was then able to kill all the ones that fled but one. That had the purpose of spreading the fact that the eagle soldiers are not afraid of death and pain and have an overwhelming strength in the monkey alliance, making them hesitate sending other troops other than their whole force.

The monkeys couldn't send their whole army on such short notice, so there was no risk of that happening because they would be leaving the temple as soon as Ying-ba arrived. By the time the monkeys learned about this and their army arrived, the eagle army would have left their current position.

——{four days later}——

Ying-ba arrived at the temple, he was followed by an entire village and looked happy as his idea of spreading his generals in the forest to find the eagle settlement ended up to be a good one. He had quickly succeeded in finding them, and they weren't theory hard to convince, as the people of this settlement knew of the war against the monkeys from a thousand years before.

Everything changed when he saw the reed ground in front of the temple and understood a war had taken place in this location. Gu-washi came to greet him and explained the situation, the soldiers were all resting or healing as they had over worked themself. And he had captured most of the monkeys in the prison under the temple.

He also explained that their settlement had been attacked and that the survivors from the attack were now taking care of the soldiers.

"Let's go to the meating room, and we will talk about our following actions." Said Ying-ba while containing his anger.

Once they all sat down in the room Gu-washi had prepared for future meetings, Ying-ba released a killing intent that was so strong that the generals felt it even though it was supposed to be impossible for people not designated as targets from it to feel it. His killing intent crossed the distance and Andha, Myott and Bahara all felt it. They were all taken aback by such a strong killing intent, and sweat ran down their hair less heads.

After he finished sending a warning to the monkeys, he sat down and ordered that the army advance to the Kaan temple directly after the recovery of the injured soldiers. He then introduced the new generals and congratulated Gu-washi and gave every general a task.

TO BE CONTINUED…