Shangmeng, South Madur, Hot Springs.

Hot Springs Pass is an old pass in the city of Nanmadur, which was once a walled city of the Takayama tribe (Note 1) during the First Continental War. After the establishment of the Southern Madur state, the walled city was preserved as a historical site.

The reason why it is called Onsenguan is because there is a valley called Hot Spring Valley nearby, and there is a steaming hot spring in the ice and snow in the valley.

In the hot spring pass, a small group of South Madur defenders was stationed, about thirty people, and their leader was the black hand sergeant major.

The Black Hand, a native of the Alpine tribe, was not tall but quite athletic, and he was over middle age with bronzed skin and knotted muscles on his limbs and torso. On the border of the icy and snowy Kingdom of Southern Madur, the big bald head of the black hand is quite eye-catching.

He, along with his thirty Southern Madur soldiers, all dressed in the traditional Southern Madur alpine tribal uniforms, was patrolling everything around Thermopylae Pass, as was their daily task.

Since the founding of the Southern Madur state, there has always been an army stationed in Hot Springs, but the time is too long for no one to remember why such an army is here. As a result, the number of the army became smaller and smaller, from a regiment at the beginning, gradually reduced to a battalion, and now only these three squads of soldiers of the black hand remained: a team of archers, a team of sword and axemen, and a long team of spearmen.

And the Black Hand, since he was thirty years old, has been stationed in Hot Spring Pass. Every day, he would take his soldiers from Hot Spring Pass, walk along Hot Spring Valley to the foot of Sunset Mountain, and then turn back to Hot Spring Pass. This is also a legacy of history, and the garrison of Hot Springs Pass has been patrolling this route every day for hundreds of years.

Today, however, the hot spring valley is quiet, and the valley, which is already rarely inhabited, is quiet without any other sound at all, only the "puff puff" hot spring water is tumbling.

Pine is a unique plant in the Sunset Mountain in the north, its leaves are needle-like, whenever the ice and snow are overwhelming, the pine needles will hang a grain of ice beads, crystal clear in the sun, extremely beautiful.

And today, the strings of hanging ice beads are actually shaking slightly. The Black Hand was the first to notice a situation, and he took a closer look at the string of ice beads that were shaking, and suddenly, the bottom one of the ice beads fell and scattered on the snow.

"Yarlin, come and see, am I dazzled?" called the Black Hand.

A young soldier rushed over, "What's the matter, Sergeant Major?" The soldier named Yarlin was not very old, and he was also a native of the Alpine tribe, with curly hair and a face covered with freckles that belonged to young people.

"Look, Yarlin, why are these ice beads shaking, am I dazzled?" the Black Hand asked again.

Arrin also noticed the ice beads hanging on the branches, strings of ice beads, really as the Black Hand Sergeant Major said, shaking slightly, and every now and then, an ice bead would fall from the branch to the ground.

"There shouldn't be any shaking in the mountains, the geology in the hot spring valley has been stable lately, and I haven't heard of a geological eruption. Arrin muttered, but before he could speak, Sergeant Major Black Hand jumped up and shouted, "Assemble, assemble! Go back to Hot Springs, speed back to Hot Springs!

A group of unknown South Madur soldiers, led by the black hand sergeant, hurried back to the hot spring pass Chen Village, with the fall of the walled city gate, the black hand sergeant major climbed the wall of the hot spring pass.

"Sergeant Major, what kind of enemy could it be?" asked Arrin as he didn't fully understand yet, and he let out a breath of heat as he ran back and asked suspiciously.

"I don't know, there are a lot of people passing through the mountains, I don't know who they are, but it can only be that they are coming for us. Sergeant Major Black Hand looked at the large clearing in front of the walled city with a solemn face.

In the distance of the hot spring pass is the hot spring valley, outside the hot spring valley is a large pine needle forest, the only plant in the northern sunset mountain range, a large stretch of continuous land, in the snow-white earth, forming a jet-black border. And between these borders and the hot springs pass, there are snowfields about 1,000 degrees wide.

The white and flawless snowfield, on a fine day, can see the pine needle forest in the distance, and now, the Black Hand Sergeant Major and his soldiers are staring nervously in that direction.

The sergeant's order was simple, first level of alert, all soldiers went up to the wall, bows and arrows were ready. When faced with the fear of the unknown, human beings will always spontaneously increase the emotion of fear, and the Black Hand Sergeant Major does not give clear instructions. Most of these soldiers, who had never fought in the northern snowfields, were at a loss.

Fortunately, their sergeant major, the black hand, is still quite calm, he is very confident in his judgment, there are definitely people in the mountain, but he is unwilling to believe his judgment, because that is not a good result for himself, for Hot Spring Pass, and for these thirty defenders.

Not far away, at the edge of the pine forest, suddenly, a black spot came out. The black dot wandered around the snowfield for a while, and looked around for a long time.

In the sky above the white snowfield, the horn of the ox suddenly sounded, and before the horn fell, another black spot drilled out of the pine needle forest on the edge of the snowfield, and then another, another, another...

Looking at the black shadow gradually forming on the edge of the pine needle forest in the distance, the black hand sergeant's cheeks couldn't stop stirring, and the soldiers beside him also saw the scene in the distance, and they all looked at their black hand sergeant in surprise. One soldier was so nervous that as soon as he let go, his spear fell off the wall.

At this time, the Black Hand Sergeant Major didn't have time to care about the gaffes of the soldiers next to him, and there were ten thousand voices in his heart telling him, "That's a big army, and Hot Springs Pass can't stand it." However, the sanity of the black hand forced him to stick to his post.

"Yarlin!" "Sergeant Major of the Black Hand turned his head sharply and cried out, "go and ride my horse, and at once, immediately, back to the city of Southern Madur, and tell the king that the Desiks are coming!"

Yes, as more and more black spots emerged from the pine needle forest, even at a distance of a thousand grams, the Black Hand Sergeant Major could faintly see the huge beast. In the northern mountains and wastelands, there is only one beast with such a huge size, more than five grams of length and brightness, and at the same time can gather in large numbers, and that is the totem of the northern giant Desik Empire, Steppenwolf.

Yes, on the other side of the snowfield, there was a large number of wasteland cavalry, brave Desik warriors and their ferocious mounts.

No longer need to be urged by the sergeant major, Yarlin climbed down the steps of the walled city, ignoring the painful part of the fall, Yarlin climbed on the sergeant's tall horse, and went out of the gate, and the gate behind him fell again, and the closed gate seemed to indicate the fate of the soldiers in the walled city.

At this time, the Black Hand Sergeant Major suddenly didn't want to speak, for so many years in Hot Springs, these soldiers had always been regarded by him as colleagues, friends, and relatives, and he was familiar with each of them, each of them had habits and hobbies, and he was timid or daring. They live together in the icy northern frontier, guarding the frontier for the southern Madur kingdom and the alpine tribes.

For so many years, it was not clear to them why the Kingdom of Southern Madur had stationed such an army in a remote area like Hot Springs, where there were no villages and no shops, and they never evacuated even if they lacked supplies and equipment.

And today, one of the most elite wasteland cavalry of the Desik Empire descended from the sky, and they came to the hot spring pass in an instant as if they were teleported by a magician.

The cavalry horn in the distance began to "whine" and hurry, and the team of Steppenwolf was forming a team, and the leading general or captain had already arrived not far from the hot spring pass, and the male body in a fur jacket was reflected in the pupils of the thirty hot spring pass guards.

"Soldiers, do you remember who we are?" the Black Hand Sergeant Major, who was at the hot spring gate, suddenly asked the soldier beside him in a deep voice. The soldiers, who had been confused and frightened to the extreme, suddenly felt that the courage began to return to their bodies, and in Hot Springs, the Black Hand Sergeant Major was their everything.

"We are the soldiers of South Madur, and we are the defenders of South Madur Hot Spring Pass. Now, unknown enemies (Note 2) are trampling on our territory, and the only thing we can do is to stain their boots red with our blood. ”

"Don't be afraid, children", the Black Hand Sergeant Major's voice became tactful again, "I'll be with you." Now, take up your arms and cherish the last moments of your life. With that, Sergeant Major Black Hand put on his visor, took his sword, and stood at the front of the walled city.

The soldiers, wiping away the tears from their eyes, took off their obstructive leather armor and shirts, picked up bows and arrows, knives and guns, and stood side by side with their sergeant major.

"Don't be afraid, kids. Sergeant Major Black Hand, repeatedly.

"Woo woo!" The deep sound of the horn resounded through the snowfield, and the Wasteland Cavalry, riding the Steppenwolf, formed countless rows of black dragons, heading in the direction of Hot Spring Pass. As Steppenwolf approached, the soldiers could already clearly see the white mist exhaled from the Steppenwolf's bloody mouth, and the entire snowfield began to shake slightly, and then became more and more intense.

Steppenwolf's line came to a halt behind their commander, moving in unison, showing what a formidable army they were. The commander kicked his mount and slowly walked to the walled city, shouting at the defenders of the walled city, "Surrender, warriors of Southern Madur, you will be treated with respect and kindness." ”

All the Southern Madur soldiers looked at Sergeant Major Black Hand in unison, and he replied with only one word: "Shit!" (Note 3)

Feathered arrows flew in the sky, and blood stained the snowfield.

Note 1: The Alpine tribe, once a primitive indigenous tribe in the northern part of the Southern Madur Kingdom, became the dominant ethnic group in the country because of their assistance to the first king of Southern Madur.

Note 2: It has always been a tradition in the mainland that before the war, there must be an official letter declaring war, if not, then the side of the sneak attack will be despised by everyone, so here, the Black Hand Sergeant Major did not name the identity of the enemy, even if it is a clear fact that the Desik people are exposed.

Note 3: I can't help but pay tribute to the famous plot in one of my favorite famous books when I was a child. Do any book lovers know which famous book it is?

PS: Thank you for appearing on the book.