Primitive Man

"It's a message from the mining village! They say they want food delivered. Apparently, they are starving," Gundo said as she looked at the papers she received, while Garnt looked at them, his head feeling rather heavy.

"Baktou, you got me this time. What do you want? To starve my people, so you can enjoy feeding your village? What did I do to you so you have to hurt our people?" Garnt questioned, then looked at the papers to understand what he would do.

[Garnt, you better send food to those people because they might commit cannibalism if you keep them starving for too long. Since you're in the main village, you can control people, but the same cannot be said for the sub-villages, right?]

Gundo feeling her son's distress quickly hugged him from behind looking at his cold hands, and quickly decided to give the warmth he needed to Realx, so he could make a correct decision.

"We are always with you Garnt. Take the decision you want, even if it is wrong, I will always support you," Garnt smiled hearing Gundo's kind words, and he decided to send a huge cargo of food to the mining village and hotspring village knowing it would greatly affect the main village.

[It is a good decision. You can keep people under your direct control satisfied, but if other people feel hungry, they will definitely do something bad. Let's see how this develops.]

And with that plan in mind, the winter started casting a frosty veil over the main village.

Days passed, and the frosty air carried whispers of uncertainty. The main village noticed the strain on its resources, and murmurs of discontent began to circulate. Garnt's decision was met with mixed reactions from the villagers, but none of them rebelled against him.

It was a time that tested the limits of human loyalty to Garnt and his leadership. As everyone expected, the people in the main village weren't going to blame everything on Garnt, knowing that it was also their responsibility.

[First priority is children and pregnant women, then normal women and elderly people and finally men in the village. We have to make sure people are fed in this order, so none of them would feel sick.]

Eva placed the order, and Garnt executed it. For some time, everything went smoothly until Garnt received the devastating message about what had happened in the seaside village, which was one of the most important sub-villages in Garnt's faction.

"Patriarch, we received a message that Baktou has invaded the seaside village and completely taken it over within a few hours. The sailors who managed to escape during the invasion are here seeking refuge, and..." The person reporting the incident paused for a moment. "Captain Magi's status is unknown. We don't know whether he is dead or alive."

***

"Keep the casualties low! We are not here to massacre people, but we just want to capture this base so Garnt won't have access to it," Baktou muttered to his handpicked soldiers, who were not even a suitable amount if he wanted to capture a huge village like the seaside village.

It had ballistas installed outside, so the danger of the whole army wiping out wasn't zero, but there was an unknown factor among this group that had the power of a thousand men, and that was Baktou himself.

Bolstered by the power of their wild DNA, Baktou and Kalina, his not so friendly companion, charged towards the wall with a speed that defied normal human capabilities. The ballistic creaked as they turned towards the approaching intruders, but Baktou had no intention of letting them pose a threat.

"Slow! Too slow! With those, you can't challenge me," Baktou shouted and with a sudden burst of strength, he crashed through the wall, sending debris flying. Kalina followed suit, showcasing agility that belied her appearance. Inside the village, chaos ensued.

"Monster! You have both strength and agility to surpass me. Truly a monster!" Kalin muttered showing her dissatisfaction and Baktou couldn't help but reply to her words. "A monster you and your people created! Just shut up and-"

Baktou couldn't even finish his words when an arrow pierced the air and struck him in the back. To everyone's shock, it rebounded harmlessly. Baktou smirked and turned to Kalina, who asked, "What should I do?"

"Find their leader. Bring them to me," Baktou commanded, his eyes scanning the surroundings. Without waiting for Kalina's response, he shouted to the villagers, "Surrender peacefully, and no harm will come to you. Resist, and you'll face the consequences!"

Confusion gripped the villagers and sailors alike, but defiance simmered beneath the surface. Baktou, undeterred, took the lead in the battle.

Surrounded by a sea of apprehensive faces, Baktou stood at the epicentre of the chaos he had unleashed. A group of ten, no, twenty villagers and sailors cautiously approached, armed with makeshift weapons ranging from wooden clubs to rusty swords.

"Stay back! Don't underestimate him!" one of the villagers warned, fear evident in his voice.

Baktou grinned, his wild eyes scanning the encroaching crowd. "I suggest you listen to your friend here. It'll save you a lot of pain and I wouldn't have to kill my own people."

Everyone got confused as to why he called them 'his people', but they knew it wasn't the time to worry about every single thing.

Without warning, the first attacker lunged at Baktou with a clumsy swing of a wooden cudgel. In a blur of movement, Baktou sidestepped the attack, effortlessly grabbing the assailant's arm and redirecting him into the path of his comrades. Bodies collided, and the group stumbled, disoriented.

Laughter echoed from Baktou as he taunted, "Is this all you've got? You're like insects trying to challenge a hurricane. Listen to me, and surrender. I only want this land, not your lives."

Undeterred, the villagers regrouped, determined to overpower the intruders. Another wave of attackers surged forward, only to be met by Baktou's swift and brutal counterattacks. His fists moved like a tempest, each strike finding its mark with precision. A well-timed kick sent two opponents sprawling, and a spinning sweep of his arm disarmed another.

"Give up, and I might spare you the embarrassment," Baktou mocked, his voice cutting through the chaos.

His every move was a display of unmatched skill and power. With a wave of his hand, adversaries were sent sprawling, and with a swift kick, he disarmed a group of soldiers.

Baktou's voice echoed through the chaos, "I don't wish to harm you. Surrender now, and your lives will be spared!" They were even too shocked to react to his words, after all, he looked nothing like a human rather he looked like a wild animal that was going rampage inside the village.

Everyone in the village was ready to sacrifice their lives if it meant they could save their beloved seaside village, built upon their blood and sweat. However, seeing Kalina carrying Captain Magi like a ragdoll, shock and anger rippled through the crowd.

"Let him go!" the people in the village shouted, and Kalina looked at them with a side-eye, expressing her displeasure.

Baktuo reached and grabbed Magi, pressing his leg, causing him to awaken feeling the pain. As soon as he saw Baktou's face, a dark look came over his face.

"Traitor! You betrayed our patriarch! You filthy traitor!" Anger started to leak out of his mouth and his whole face, causing Kalina to attack him. However, Baktou looked at her with anger, as if telling her that no one should touch his people without his permission.

"Kalina! Act on our plan. Don't try to be a little hero. It wouldn't take me a few seconds to snap your arms and throw you away." He warned her, showing that they were indeed not on good terms even on the battlefield. Kalina just clicked her tongue in frustration.

'This filthy man dares to order me like this. As soon as I have the professor with me, the first thing I'm going to do is cut the dicks of these two brothers.'

She thought and quickly went back, while Baktou ignored Magi's angry shouting.

'You wouldn't get it now, but I haven't betrayed him.'

Baktou whispered to himself and quickly ordered his soldiers to put all the villagers in prison and the leader in special cells, so he could keep them under his supervision.

Meanwhile, Garnt was starting to feel rather tilted as he found himself cornered for the first time by the man he considered his own brother. Unami stood next to him, and they appeared to be having the worst day of their lives. Despite battling Moga and others before, this was the first time they felt cornered so badly.

"We can't battle now. We don't have food or people required for that. This is truly a checkmate move from Baktou," Garnt muttered, and Eva had to agree with him sadly.

[Are we going to abandon the seaside village for now?]

She asked because she knew the sea was the most important thing for them right now.

"No! We need to recover first. I don't know what Baktou expects after taking over the seaside village when we are this weak, but I can't allow Magi and his people to suffer. Once this crisis is over, we are going to completely finish this battle,"

[Does that mean-]

Eva paused for a minute, but she knew being vague about important matters like what she was about to talk about was the worst thing she could do. So she decided to ask the truth.

[Does that mean you are going to kill Baktou this time? Can you do that when the time comes without any hesitation? I just want to make sure that you won't make any mistakes on the battlefield. If you're going to do something, do it without any hesitation, and that's all I want from you.]