Chapter 212 “Blood Skull Flag” (part two)
Moments later, Old Smoke and Longbottom both ran in. From our General’s appearance, his armor was already stained red with blood: “Boss, we encountered the enemy! It’s the prairie natives! About 3,000 people, all cavalries… … Bloody hell, why did such a group come into our place? And there’s the people standing post at the corridor, why didn’t they send word!”
With that, Longbottom then frowns as he exclaimed at the sight of the monster: “MAMA, what the hell is that thing!?!”
“Silence Longbottom!” Du Wei said at once. He didn’t want to annoy the monster and harm Muse in the process. This monster is clearly is high class demon beast. With Muse in its hand, the defenseless brat will definitely die if the wished to pluck his heart out!”
Nevertheless, Du Wei was also surprised at the news.
3,000 horsemen from the prairie?
Both shocked and angry, he grits his teeth as he looked at the monster: “I have a look outside first…. But you must promise me that you won’t hurt my friend, got it?!”
After getting the monster’s agreeing nod, Du Wei can only leave Old Smoke in charge: “You keep watch here.” He Then pull Longbottom out of the farmhouse with him and had 100 guards surround the place without anyone space to leave or enter.
“All four rescue team has returned from the mountain.” Longbottom plainly reports. When he saw the smoke signal sent out by Old Smoke, everyone was already rushing back down the mountain. However, when they were outside the village, they ran into the prairie natives. These people were very rude. The moment they got close, the two sides were already clashing with their blades drawn, hence the bloodied appearance of Longbottom. Fortunately, Longbottom’s men were strong, so most of the deaths were on the enemy’s side, with a dozen wounded too!
Well, it’s impossible come out unscathed in a battle. For Longbottom’s side, they also had around twenty injuries with a few seriously wounded, but thanks to their armor, there were no fatalities.
After the first skirmish, the other party retreated back outside the village and even they seem to be surprised by the number of imperial soldiers present.
Looking at the perimeter outside the town, Du Wei estimates there are at least a couple of hundred horsemen.
This is actually the first time Du Wei came across such a large number of prairie warriors. Unlike the cavalry knights of the empire, every single one of these prairie natives looked exceptionally strong with their wild nature. In a lot of cases, these people even had beards growing on their faces; this made them even more intimidating than normal.
Covered with a headscarf on their heads, these people didn’t wear armor like the empire’s cavalries. Instead, they all wore leather clothes in all shapes and colors. The reason for this is because the prairie lacked iron, so their ability to produce armor is hampered by their surroundings.
No matter how he looked at it, Du Wei can only see hundreds of wolves with eyes filled with the desire to hunt!
Under the cover of several cavalry knights and academy students, Du Wei went forward with Longbottom behind him.
Squinting his eyes, Longbottom peered over at the enemy only to have his attention caught by something pinned to a spear. The thing atop of the spear is actually an entire sheep skin, but it’s the mark on it that’s important!
This symbol is clearly a skull drawn up by blood.
Who knows how this skull was drawn, just a few strokes was enough to make it so lifelike, especially those eyes. It was like it was alive and would give off the illusion of staring right at you if you face it!
Longbottom immediately had his expression changed the moment his eyes lay on the thing: “AH!! It’s the blood skull flag!”
How can Du Wei not be surprised when even this General 250 was showing such an expression: “What is a blood skull flag?”
Longbottom expression was very strange: “Damn it… … In all the years I’ve been in the Northwest, I only seen the blood skull flag once.”
He then explained: “Boss, the barbarians in the Prairie have a lot of tribes and the largest one is the royal tribe. This tribe is chosen through an election made by all the other tribes. When they gain the title of being royalty, the tribe at the time is given the right to control the royal court and give orders to the other smaller tribes. However, even the flag of the royal tribe is not as influential as this blood skull flag. In the prairie, there is a iron law rule that every person must comply and that is when they meet up with this blood skull flag, they must stop whatever they are doing and kneel down to the ground and worship this flag. This even applies to the prairie king himself! No matter how power the royal tribe at the time is, if they offend the blood skull flag, they can forget about keeping their royal status!”
Du Wei frowns: “It’s that great?”
“Our empire has magicians….. While these prairie natives have their shamans. We believe in god, but they believe in their ancestors. To them, a shaman is the medium in communicating with the spirits….. Also, more often than not, shamans are very powerful people that are highly respected. Even for the chief of a large tribe, they must pay their respects to even the lowest of shamans. In addition to the prairie king, there is also the ‘shaman king’ in the prairie. Because of the legends passed down through the natives, the shaman king is supposed to be the descendant of the most powerful ancestor. For this reason, the status of the shaman far exceeds even the prairie king. From some of the rumors I’ve been told, this entity has an extremely long life span and his powers are is one of a kind!”
Du Wei also narrowed his eyes: “Let’s hear it.”
“Let’s say it like this. Even if a regular shaman runs off to a tribe and say their ancestor wishes for them to offer their life, the herdsmen will without hesitation kill his family before committing suicide!” Longbottom’s bitter smile looked like even he couldn’t believe it: “The way these prairie natives worship their ancestor is already at the level of being a fanatic. If you never lived there, it will be very difficult for you to understand this. Then there is the war 20 years ago. Did you know the empire couldn’t gain the upper hand at the beginning of the war? With the support of the shamans, even the empire’s magicians couldn’t break through, and that was without the Shaman King making an appearance! But then a strange thing happened later……”
“What is it?”
“Towards the end of the war, rumor has it that the Shaman King suddenly issued an order for all shamans to leave the battle. According to what I know, the Shaman King claimed the souls of their ancestor gave him a signal that they are bound to lose the war. But the royal tribe at the time wouldn’t give up. Without the support of the shamans, these natives were no match for the empire’s magicians and were finally defeated. As you know, the empire forged a blood feud with the prairie natives in that war! But instead of pushing their hate on the Shaman King that gave such an odd order, these fanatics turned their focus on the prairie king instead! After the war, the guy was ripped apart by his very own people!”
Du Wei can’t help but whisper a word: “That crazy?!”
Longbottom sighs: “When I was in the Northwest, I also had the chance to see the blood skull flag. At the time, I deliberately provoked two tribes to fight each other. In that battle, more than 20,000 people were going at with blood shot eyes….. In the end, someone came over with that flag and announced the Shaman King forbids the battle. Even in the midst of battle, these blood crazed people abandoned their weapons and just bowed there on the ground like they were enchanted or something. After retreating, these two tribes never once provoked each other!”
It was at this moment, the other sides horsemen parted aside to let three people come out on horseback. The one leading in front was holding the blood skull flag and the two old timers behind had long braided beards…….
The weird shape was very interesting in Du Wei’s eyes, but Longbottom’s expression immediately went dark when he saw them: “These guys are shamans!”
Shaman?
Du Wei came down with interest as he carefully observed the two bald grandpas’. Other than the colorful fur coat and long beard, he really can’t see anything special about the two.
Coming up to Du Wei with 20 meters between them, the fighter holding the flag was very rude in his words: “The other side is to listen up! While in front of the Blood Skull Flag, none is to block its path! Anyone daring enough to defy the Shaman King will face disaster, you people understand!”
Longbottom sneers loudly: “Who the hell are you and what tribe are you from?!”
The Prairie man puffed his chest and said: “I am the royal courts golden sword fighter!”
“Royal tribe?” Longbottom sneers: “Royal tribe? Which tribe is the Royal family now? Humph, you people are getting too arrogant! Back in the days, even the prairie king has to be polite to me when speaking! Get someone with status over here then talk!”
The Prairie warrior was furious: “Who are you? How dare you insult me!”
Longbottom sneers again. Turning around, he gave one of his subordinates an eye: “Do you see? They have the Blood Skull Flag so fly my banner!”
One of the guy behind Longbottom laughed out as he took off his helmet. From it, this guy took out a flag with a sword and helmet embroidered on it. Then picking up a spear, he raised the flag into the air.
Sure enough, the prairie warrior immediately turned pale the moment he saw it. Unlike before, his tone became much more respectful: “You… You are lord Mossad?”
“That’s right, it’s I!” Longbottom grins menacingly: “Go find someone who is qualified to talk!”
No longer daring to say anything else, this guy gave Longbottom a deep glance: “Since lord Mossad is back in the Northwest, I’ll go back to ask the shamans to come forward.”
With that, he raised the flag and turned back.
Longbottom smiles as he looked at Du Wei: “Boss, my banner is not bad, right? A sword on the left and a helmet on the right. In the prairie, a helmet represents friendship and a sword represents an enemy. The meaning behind it is to tell the foe that they to choose, be my friend or be my enemy!”
Du Wei nods with a pleasing laugh, “A very good choice.”
At this time, the Prairie is already talking with the shamans in the back. Giving each other a look, the two shamans began riding over.
“I like to ask which is lord Mossad?” The bald old guy on the left spoke first.
In the face of a Shaman, Longbottom’s attitude became much better that he even made a greeting bow:
“I’m Longbottom. Respected shaman, please state your purpose here. I need an explanation for why your army is in the empire’s territory.”
“Lord Mossad, first of all, I like to express my respect for you. Even in the prairie, you are a famous character.”
The shaman faintly smiles: “As for why we are here is because we gained general Rugaard’s permission to enter these lands. All these brave warriors you see behind me are here to protect us in our mission to carry out the Shaman King’s order.”
“Oh?” Longbottom flinched: “The Shaman King’s direct order?”
“Yes.” The attitude of this shaman may seem amiable, but his tone was firm: “Our great Shaman King’s favorite pet had wandered off and is currently hiding in this village. It’s a very precious demon beast so I’ve been given order to get it back at any cost. After scouring for clues, we are certain its hiding somewhere around here. So please, move aside and let us conduct a search.”
The Shaman King’s pets?
Du Wei immediately thought of the strange red haired Monster in the farmhouse.
But… … Make way and let them search?
Though this shaman was very polite in his attitude, but Du Wei’s temper said otherwise!
This is my fucking land! You say you want to search then you can search? Where’s the law in that?
Shaman King? Is the Shaman King really that great?!!