In the vast and sprawling Giant God Mountain Range, there actually hide many individuals who have escaped the exploitation of nobles and taken refuge in the mountains, often referred to as wildmen.
Due to the lack of resources in the mountains and the fierce local customs, many wildmen disguise themselves as thieves, leading the nobles living at the foot of the Giant God Mountain Range to ignore them; as long as these wildmen obediently pay taxes when they come down from the mountains to trade, the nobles are unconcerned.
However, tracking down the tax evasion of wildmen incurs enormous costs, so as long as they pay some form of protection fee in the form of mountain goods, nobles will generally not pursue the wildmen too rigorously.
Darsi is one such wildman.
Life in the forests is extremely harsh; Darsi’s parents passed away soon after he was born. When Darsi was eight years old, his mother went down the mountain to sell goods and ended up gambling all the money away and fleeing, leaving only Darsi and his long-term bedridden sister to rely on each other.
“What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and get moving.”
A thief kicked Darsi in the buttocks, causing him to fall hard into the mud, which elicited laughter from the surrounding thieves.
Due to the ongoing wars in the Northern Border, more and more people have become wildmen in the mountains, but even more have chosen to turn to banditry.
Originally, refugees and wildmen could still face off against these thieves, but at some point, these thieves had not only acquired many high-quality weapons but also had professional mages among them.
Darsi’s village was thus attacked; among the bandit group was a second-tier mage, allowing them to capture everyone in the village, including Darsi and his sister, with little effort.
Bound and struggling to rise, Darsi was quickly tripped and fell back into the mud.
“Be gentle, this one is the future brother-in-law of Count!”
Upon hearing this, the thieves laughed even harder.
“If we deal with that woman, wouldn’t that be equivalent to dealing with the Count’s wife?”
There was no reluctance among the thieves as they eagerly debated, though they were on the fringes of the law, their connection to the nobles was tenuous and disposable.
One of the second-tier professional mages elaborated, “You’re thinking too highly of her. This kind of woman is just a momentary distraction for the Count; she doesn’t rank high on the agenda.”
But after saying this, the mage licked his lips, seemingly contemplating the thief’s earlier suggestion.
Darsi struggled to rise once more, his fists tightly clenched behind him, his eyes bloodshot. Though he wanted nothing more than to kick these thieves in the face, the disparity in their strength was too great.
Though Darsi had inherited hunting skills and physique from his parents and was only fourteen, he was already the toughest fighter in the village, with a clear mind and nimble hands, adept at setting traps. With a family heirloom bow and arrows, he could even contend with wolves and bears in the forest.
However, all this was meaningless in the face of the thieves’ better equipment. Even if Darsi could hit those thieves in unarmored areas, the other villagers were unable to; their axes for chopping wood could barely scratch the thieves’ leather armor and could not inflict any substantial damage.
Moreover, there were professional mages among the thieves; two fireballs burst forth, scattering the villagers and causing panic and disarray.
This was a nearly instinctual fear that ordinary people had towards professionals; even Darsi felt his legs go weak at the sight of the fireball.
In this way, Darsi was captured by the thieves, overwhelmed by the immense gap in strength that had left him utterly hopeless.
As the crude words of the thieves grew more vulgar, Darsi’s fists became tighter, the blood vessels in his eyes increasing; however, he found himself powerless, as slow-moving villagers were ruthlessly slaughtered by the bandits. Darsi believed that any sign of struggle on his part would lead the thieves to mercilessly kill him.
The thieves, getting carried away, proceeded to drag Darsi’s nearly lifeless sister down from her horse, hoisting her over their shoulders and heading deeper into the woods.
Darsi prayed fervently, constantly asking the Goddess to save him, but just as he feared, his prayers received no response.
Indeed, how could a person who only prayed daily and had never provided for the Goddess hope for a reply? Darsi laughed at himself; perhaps the Goddess only responded to the nobles who tossed gold coins into donation boxes.
Watching the thieves carry his sister, who was barely alive, while they laughed lewdly, Darsi clenched his fists, preparing for one last desperate fight; even if it had no effect, he wanted them to experience the same humiliation.
But at that moment, it seemed as if the Goddess truly responded to Darsi’s earlier prayers, as the leading thieves suddenly began to shout: “Invasion! Invasion!”
Before the thieves and captives in the back could react, deafening explosions erupted, and Darsi could feel the terrifying heat and shockwaves from behind.
Was this magic? Or a miracle? Darsi, in complete confusion, looked at the scene unfolding before him; it seemed even the thieves’ leather armor couldn’t fully defend against the fragments generated by the explosions, as many were felled to the ground, screaming in agony.
Some thieves were less fortunate; a few were struck by the explosions and were killed on the spot without even registering what had happened.
The remaining thieves immediately dropped Darsi’s sister and pulled out their weapons, looking toward the area of the explosions, still unaware of what was unfolding.
“Don’t be afraid; such powerful spells definitely can’t be cast in succession. Find the enemy and counterattack! Counterattack!”
The professionals in the group swiftly began to give orders, restoring some semblance of rationality among the thieves, who clustered together to protect their mages.
Darsi immediately crouched beside his sister; though he wasn’t sure if it was a case of the black eating the black, he didn’t care anymore; he only hoped this group of thieves would perish!
“Darsi, the stone!”
His sister opened her eyes, turning her body to remind Darsi. Darsi quickly reacted and, following his sister’s gaze, spotted a jagged stone and immediately began grinding it against the stones that bound his hands.
Though the initial explosions seemed powerful, Darsi felt that the combat power on both sides was probably even; he had experienced the thieves’ strength firsthand, and judging by how they formed ranks to protect the mages after the explosion, he knew these were no ordinary thieves.
Even among the bandit groups in the Giant God Mountain Range, this group’s combat quality was undoubtedly top-tier; merely the fact that they could follow orders put them ahead of many noble private soldiers.
