Chapter 5: Song of war

They walked deeper into the stronghold, heading for the core of the base.

Nie Yan although tired still looked around enthusiastically. Since he arrived, he had never gone this deep before.

One thing he noticed was that the deeper they went, the lesser the amount of bandit's he could find.

After some time, Nie Yan saw a house up ahead, being guarded by some bandit's wearing red leather armor he had not seen before.

ELITE BANDIT'S level 9

Seeing their levels, Nie Yan was once again surprised.

'Since when did we have such a strong force like this? they are even stronger than the captains' he thought he had seen it all before, but it seems like this bandit group still had some cards up their sleeve's.

Once again he understood what the saying a frog in a well meant.

The captain spoke to the two guards at the front of the house for sometime before calling Nie Yan over to follow him.

The guards looked towards Nie Yan silently sizing him up. Realizing he wasn't a threat, they lost all interest and resumed their post.

'Rude' although offended, Nie Yan didn't show it. He meekly passed the guards middle and followed the captain to the door of the house.

~knock knock knock~

The captain knocked softly before waiting for a reply.

'Will they even hear you if y_' his thoughts trailed off when he heard the voice of the bosses right hand man

"Come in Wang lei."

Not wasting anytime, the captain urged Nie Yan to follow him before entering the house.

The inside of the house was shocking to say the least. Instead of fur coats and weapons on the wall that Nie Yan had expected, there were just some chairs for comfort and portraits on the walls for decoration.

It seemed like a house fit for a married couple instead of a bandit bosses lair.

The captain turned around and said sternly

"Don't speak unless spoken to, and also don't wander around and just follow me. Do you understand!"

"Yes"

"Good"

Seeing that Nie Yan was behaving well, the captain Wang lei had a better opinion of him.

'Besides I was going to do that even without your advice.'

They reached the inner sections of the house, and they saw the left hand man bickering with the right hand man. What it was they bickered over, Nie Yan didn't want to find out.

'Dont look for trouble and maybe trouble won't look for you.'

"Captain Wang lei greets the two hands"

"Nie Yan greets the two hands"

The two of them greeted. Although Nie Yan did not know how to greet superiors in this stronghold, he allowed captain Wang to greet first before mirroring his actions.

"You may rise. tell me, what brings you here?" The right hand asked

"Hey am not done with you" the left hand yelled, but was promptly ignored.

"I come with grave news." he stopped and gave his two superiors a look which said shit has gone down.

"Well what is it"

"Oh sorry for the suspense. I sent our guy here a mission to go down to the village and recruit some men because he is about to reach captain level, but he came back late both disheveled and alone. His squad is dead."

The atmosphere in the room became serious all of a sudden. The right hand man looked at Nie Yan sternly and asked.

"I want you to explain everything that happened from when you left the stronghold till when you went to the village."

Although nervous, Nie Yan retold every single thing that happened, slightly changing his escape, for they didn't need to know that he had left his men to die while running away like a coward."

"Hmm, this is serious" the right hand man put his hand to his chin deep in thought

"Pah what's so hard about this, if they want a fight, why don't we give them a fight!"

It was at this moment that the left hand man spoke for the first time after Nie Yan started talking.

"It's not that simple pan long, we have to tell the boss if we want to proceed." The left hand man chided

"Tch! you're always overthinking things" pan long stomped out of the room clearly angry.

Seeing pan long had left the room, the right hand man focused his attention on them.

"wang lei, I want you to go back and prepare the other captains, just in case. For now I am going to meet the boss"

"Yes sir. Nie Yan let's go."

Outside the house, Wang lei suddenly stopped walking.

"Nie Yan I want you to be prepared to fight well. Although you're almost as strong as a captain, you still have to be acknowledged by the boss before you can truly be a captain." Stopping for a second to allow the information to sink in, he continued "To be honest, you can thank the immortals and the villagers for giving you this opportunity."

Leaving the area on a good note, Nie Yan went back to the parade ground where the boss gave his speech on new rules. For a reason he had an idea that this place was going to be full in not so long.

Sitting alone on the ground, Nie Yan was deep in thought.

'I should stop risking my life like this. I knew something like this was going to happen but I still walked into it. What if I wasn't able to escape? I have to play it safe from now on.'

Deciding to change his approach in this life, Nie Yan started thinking of what captain Wang lei said to him.

'So I just need to make a good impression huh' He couldn't help but smirk a little 'not the first time.'

Time passed slowly, and the parade ground slowly filled up with bandit's and thieves.

When the parade ground was finally full, Nie Yan couldn't help but marvel at the discipline of this band of misfits.

Although they were called thieves and bandit's, their obedience could match that of the military back in real life.

*Step Step Step*

Nie Yan came out of his stupor when he heard steady footsteps slowly moving towards the podium.

The image of a 7'5 giant could be seen by all. He stood imposingly, his eyes scanning the face of all the bandits.

When his eyes met that of Nie Yan, he stopped for a second before continuing.

From that short second that their eyes met, Nie Yan could see the anger hidden in his eyes.

After sometime of silence, the boss finally said his first words.

"Today I come here with sad news for today, we have lost ten of our brothers."

The news was like a bomb she'll as every bandit or thief in the stronghold exploded with chatter and murmurs.

"Silence! are you mad. You are in the presence of the boss so show some respect" the left hand man shouted.

The parade ground immediately became silent, almost as if their earlier outburst was just imaginative.

With the parade ground being silenced the boss continued. "I am sure most of you noticed the commotion at the gate of our stronghold, that was caused by one of our brothers surviving the sneak attack made by both shanhai village and the immortals." letting his words sink in, he continued "We went there on peaceful terms and they chased us out with violence. It would seem that our long term of peace has made the villages under our care grow some backbone, so why don't we remind them of who we are once more by making an example out of shanhai."

At the end of the speech, the bandits exploded with cheers and roars of acknowledgement.

Even Nie Yan was influenced. when he looked back at the podium, the boss was gone, being replaced by the right hand man.

"I want every bandit to group up with their respective captains and head down the mountain. For a group of scrubs, we do not need tactics"

Utilizing the momentum made by the boss the right hand man gave his swift orders before leaving the podium too.

Like a group of wild wolves, bandit's and thieves alike gathered behind each of their captains and stormed out the stronghold, bloodlust visible in their eyes.

Nie Yan joined a random group and also stormed down the mountain. Weaving between trees and under branches, Nie Yan finally caught sight of shanhai village. But unlike before, it seemed prepared for a fight.

They put furniture and other household tools at the gate of the village t o block an oncoming attack, while applying an improper line formation of villagers and players behind the barricade.

The bandits seeing the villages defence didn't slow down, but instead sped up. The thief leading the charge showed excellent agility as he launched off furniture after furniture, using the barricade as a spring board to launch onto a roof of a house, where he made into his archers nest.

Following his example, the other bandit's climbed the barricade. although they were not as nimble as the thieves, they still had experience traversing rough terrain. It didn't take long for the sounds of battle to be heard.

It was the start of the songs of war.