The night pa.s.sed quietly, undisturbed until some shadowy figures rustled in the bushes on the outskirts of the village, who dispersed and surrounded the huts. A couple of the shady figures gathered not even a rock"s throw away, discussing what they would do next."I say we attack that large hut near the middle. That must be the leader"s, why else would it be so much bigger?" one of them said to the other.
"No," the other outright rejected it as the leader of the gang. "I don"t want to get caught in the middle like that. What would be the point of surrounding them as we have? Just attack each of the huts on the border of the village. With only thirty or so huts, our band of forty should be able to double up on the outermost huts. Then, when the leader comes out, me and you will take his head."
"But Yaro, I don"t want to wait for the others, they"re too slow. How come me and you don"t just ambush that big hut? With us two being perennials and you about to become a high-perennial, their leader should fall easily," The other figure was too impatient.
"You may be right Yoro, but according to our intel, the lead gorilla was accompanied by a leopard when he showed up a few moons ago and won the territory. They should be good friends and not too far apart in strength, but with our numbers being greater and if we brothers attack in ambush when he shows his face, wouldn"t that be the perfect chance for us both to silence him before he gets any help from his friend?" Yaro"s devilish teeth and bear-like features were revealed in the moonlight.
Yoro matched his older brother"s fiendish smile. "Haha, sounds like a plan to me. Okay, then let"s pay attention to that middle hut. The moment someone steps out, we both strike. Sound good, bro?"
"Mhm, that"s exactly what I was thinking. Great minds think alike, we just gotta be careful. You"re still at the low perennial stage like him, so don"t go overboard," these brothers were all a ruthless bunch, but they still cared for each other and tried to avoid what they can. If not, they would have perished long ago. "You just need to strike first and defend so I can land the finis.h.i.+ng blow. By the end of tonight, we"ll each have a divine core to help push for a breakthrough, you"ll be a mid-perennial and I"ll be a high-perennial. From that point on, this territory and everything in it will be ours."
They both lifted their claws for a silent high five and split up, one to the east and one to the west. All preparations for the ambush were finished and the gang of night prowlers crept into the village. One pair to a hut, this was their strategy to finish each gorilla off quickly and move on to the survivors with overwhelming numbers. They were all waiting for their boss"s signal.
Roar!
A low roar was heard throughout the village. The lighter sleepers opened their eyes in curiosity and the rest rolled over before lifting their heads. But as they lifted their heads, the walls of their homes had already been blown apart by the charging a.s.sa.s.sins.
Various growls and roars rang out as the fights commenced. Some unlucky gorillas were injured before they could make a sound. Others had put up enough resistance to get through the first clash without any damage. Yaro and Yoro were waiting patiently for the clan leader to show himself.
ROOOAARR!!
Both of the brothers looked to the south side of the village in search of the source of the roar and halted their panoramic views. The hut was destroyed just like the others, but not by their men. Someone from inside had bolted out first and had managed to finish off both of the attackers with a single strike and before vanis.h.i.+ng into the night.
"Yoooo! Who gave you the right to disturb my beauty sleep! Rathe don"t do wake up calls!"
The front door of the northernmost hut slowly creaked open. A ma.s.sive, broad figure stumbled out while rubbing his eyes. In his free hand, he was dragging two lifeless bodies of his home"s intruders. Once in view of everyone, Rathe yelled, "What are y"all trying to do!?"
"What!?" yelled Yaro. The dastardly duo felt like they were caught with their pants down. "But he"s supposed to be…"
Next, more gorillas rushed out of their nearly demolished huts and hurried to support the others.
The two brothers were at a loss for words. All of the outermost huts that they had specifically targeted, seemed to have the strongest gorillas. "This… This can"t be happening." Yoro was distressed.
Never would he and his brother have guessed that these gorillas had built their huts not in just any random order, but according to their level of power. The stronger they were, the further to the edge of the village you were and the simpler the hut. The only exception was Ania, who was in charge of defending the weaker gorillas while the other experts would fend off any invaders in direct combat.
"Surprised?"
The low, subtle voice sank into Yoro"s mind from the depths of the darkness. Yoro scuttled around peering into the dark, searching for the voice"s origin. It felt as though death itself was stalking him.
"That big guy may not have noticed until you attacked, but you can only blame yourselves for lumping me in with him." A patch of small red streaks slowly became visible. They floated and glided through the darkness, catching the Yoro"s eye.
The Stone-paw Bear instinctively lowered his guard, entranced by some sort of shadowy illusion.
This moment of hesitation was all Vloz needed to finish things quickly and orderly. Before any sound could escape from Yoro"s mouth, his head was separated from his body and toppled to the floor. Vloz grabbed Yoro"s husk and dragged it back into the village, claiming his trophy of war.
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When Yaro saw his brother"s decapitated body being drug through the dirt, even the fur on his face seemed to pale.
"Come on out you coward! Or do you want me to drag you out like your sorry excuse for a brother!" Rathe had already started to charge at top speed for the ringleader. "You Stone-paw Bears think you know stealth? When compared to my brother, you aren"t even qualified to play hide and seek."
Yaro scrambled to his feet and tried to turn tail and run but he was caught dead in his tracks because there stood Vloz only three krin in front of him. With a thud, Vloz dropped the unmoving body of Yoro to the floor, stopping Yaro from even breathing.
"Thanks for keeping him company Vloz, but I"ll take it from here!" Rathe"s two fists pounded against each other to pop his knuckles, letting loose a small boom and coating his hands in his essence gauntlets.
Without a chance to respond, Yaro immediately put up his defense for the swinging Rathe, confident in his ability to take a few blows. What he was worried about was escaping that the Blood-spotted Leopard in front of him.
"Don"t get distracted! If you get distracted with him, then you have no hope of taking me head-on with your pathetic power." Rathe"s energy seemed to explode just before it made contact.
That paw, the pride of the Stone-paw Bears, was crippled under the impact of Rathe"s punch and the force was driven back into Yoro, concaving his chest. Blood flew from Yoro"s mouth as he, just like his brother, crashed to the ground, no longer breathing.