Upon returning to the farmhouse, the old woman warmly prepared food to entertain Niu Zida, Yor, and Misato Shizuku. After a simple meal, he let the Goblins rest. Of course, even at such a time, Niu Zida did not forget to set up Goblin sentries near the farmhouse. After all, his meager resources could not afford losses, so caution was necessary. Otherwise, perhaps a dozen routed thieves could charge, and his dozens of Goblins would be wiped out.
It proved that Niu Zida's foresight was correct. Because they were quite tired, Niu Zida ordered everyone to rest upon arriving at the farmhouse. While they were sound asleep, the sentries issued a warning: a few routed thieves had indeed made their way there. After all, this place wasn't far from the village, so it was reasonable for some panicked and scattered thieves to end up here.
Niu Zida didn't demand the complete annihilation of these routed thieves. Instead, he had the Goblins capture and surround them. These thieves were already like startled birds; after being surrounded by a group of Goblins, they readily surrendered their weapons and became captives in a daze. In fact, if these people were to be judged by their combat power, including the weapons in their hands, if they were truly organized, they would be stronger than the approximately eighty Goblins remaining now.
"Did all of you come out to attack the village this time?"
Bringing up the captives, Niu Zida leaned on Yor's beautiful back to interrogate these thief captives. The thief captives didn't expect that the one interrogating them would be a Goblin who could also speak human language. They all looked at each other, unsure how to answer. Finally, a bolder one spoke up:
"This time it was all of us. The boss was very angry about being repeatedly attacked by the villagers before, so this time he was determined to occupy the village."
"Oh? Were your casualties heavy from the previous two attacks?"
"We lost dozens of people, I guess. Many people said it was like a grim reaper came to attack everyone at night, so they didn't want to continue attacking the village."
"Then do you know who the real attackers were?"
"I don't know..."
Niu Zida proudly pointed to the beautiful woman carrying him and said:
"It was my maid, Yor, and another maid, Misato Shizuku. They were the ones who attacked you three times in the past few days. Unexpected, isn't it?"
Hearing Niu Zida say this, the thieves indeed showed expressions of disbelief. They hadn't expected that their last three attacks were only due to a group of Goblins and two women? Although these two women were indeed very beautiful, they didn't look like they could kill dozens of their comrades.
"If you don't believe me, you can try. I'll give you one chance. If you can defeat Yor, I'll release you now."
Hearing such conditions, the thieves naturally wanted to try. Otherwise, being considered afraid of a woman would be too humiliating, wouldn't it? One strong thief, who seemed to be the most capable among them, wanted to duel Yor. However, Niu Zida shook his head and said:
"All of you come at once. If you come one by one, I think it's a waste of time."
With that, he ordered the Goblins to return the weapons to these thieves, while he remained on Yor's beautiful back, his feet in the stirrups. Seeing that the Goblins looked down on them so much, the thieves felt insulted. They had already been somewhat unconvinced when they were captured and saw only Goblins and women here. Now that they had a chance, they naturally rushed forward for revenge.
However, there was no suspense in the two-sided confrontation. Yor was as swift as the wind, instantly knocking the weapons out of these men's hands, and at the same time, she cut a slit in each of their clothes, proving that she could kill them. Because everything happened so fast, these thieves didn't even react.
"How... how could this be...?"
"Now you know, don't you? It was my maid who attacked you that night."
At this, the thieves were truly convinced. Indeed, it was Yor who attacked them. Such a huge disparity in combat power completely crushed their will to resist. If they couldn't even win a direct fight with weapons, what was the point of being released, other than waiting to be slaughtered?
"We... we surrender... we'll do anything..."
Intimidated by Yor's formidable power, these thieves were truly convinced this time. Seeing that these few thieves were completely subdued, Niu Zida then said:
"Besides that cave to the north, do you have any other lairs?"
"There's another place where supplies are stored, not far from the main lair. It's also a cave."
"Are there many people there?"
"Not many. Almost all of our people were brought out to attack the village this time. There are probably only a few people left guarding the supplies there."
"We're going there. You lead the way."
Niu Zida ordered one thief to lead the way, while the remaining thieves were tied up and left under the care of Misato Shizuku and a few Goblins. He himself, with all the remaining Goblins and Yor, headed towards the cave where the thieves stored their supplies.
After walking for most of the day, they reached the cave at night. Niu Zida, riding Yor, used stealth skills to infiltrate the cave, causing casualties. Outside, he had the Goblins make a commotion, creating the illusion of a large army approaching, and then deliberately let two thieves escape.
"Master, why let them escape?"
"Of course, it's to let them return to the main lair to report. This group of thieves suffered another defeat attacking the village and was chased all the way. At this time, returning to their lair, they must be like startled birds. We'll create a commotion, put on a show of a large army surrounding them, and when the people from the supply lair run back, they will surely feel that even their reserve supplies have been occupied and that they might be surrounded. The thieves will then collapse without a fight. Oh, and order the Goblins to set fires here, so that the people who run back to report will be more believable."
After saying that, Niu Zida ordered the Goblins to set fires. Of course, he was reluctant to burn the supplies in these caves. He just had the Goblins gather dry wood and branches outside to make a show, creating the illusion of a blazing fire.
After setting the fires here, Niu Zida once again led the Goblins to outflank the main thief cave. Sure enough, there were already quite a few scattered, defeated thieves returning, some even resting unguarded at the cave entrance. However, seeing the blazing fires at the outpost, some people's expressions became tense and uneasy.
Niu Zida blew the Goblin bone whistle, startling the thieves again. He then had Yor use her stealth skills to re-enter under the cover of night, sneak in, kill a few people, and then retreat. After all, his side only had Yor as a high-level combatant, so besides cooperating with the Goblins to create a diversion, Niu Zida only had Yor strike and run, never lingering in battle. Otherwise, if people really discovered that his side actually had very few people, it would be dangerous.
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