"I lay in the dust for a long time, silent, forgetting the seasons. —Gibran, Sand and Foam

No one wants to hide in the sand in the scorching sun, unless you have a layer of skin with no sweat glands and enough to resist the heat and dehydration and rough grit, and a pair of crocodile-like eyes with two layers of eyelids and instant membrane protection. It's certainly not a physical construct that humans can have, but the Lizardfolk Marauders of the desert can, and they can handle this kind of ambush mission buried in the sand.

Just as Santos' "Sand Rhino Caravan" carefully avoided several suspected quicksand areas, and walked into the ambush circle of lizardmen marauders from the shady side of the towering sand dunes, the attack swept in like a sandstorm.

The lizardmen, who had endured three or four hourglasses in the hot sand, sprang out of the sand like fish tossed into a frying pan, armed with steel-forged sickle-bladed scimitars and throwing obsidian axes.

For a time, the enemy flocked to the "sand rhino caravan" from all directions.

"Don't mess around! Take care of your camels, the warriors will give me a defense against these short reptiles! The others will form a circle, and they will all take up your weapons for me, and prepare for battle for your own lives!"

Santos saw the attack and drew his scimitar from under the cushion with agility that was completely inconsistent with the fat body, activating the ring with a protective arrow spell that he had paid a lot of money for. As the leader of a caravan that has successfully traveled through the desert all year round, he is certainly not a fragile lamb to the slaughter, and he makes the first due judgment in the face of an attack.

The throwing axes of the lizardmen raiders only injured a few unlucky samurai and some of the Beit slaves who carried the baggage and took care of the camels in the crowd, and at most killed a few horses ridden by the samurai on the periphery of the caravan, but these samurai had already jumped down in advance before their mounts fell to the ground, skillfully resisted with their shields, and used their scimitars to flick away the flying axes that broke through the air, and even a nimble and powerful samurai used a scimitar to skillfully send the spinning axe back, directly smashing over a lizardman who threw the axe.

"Well done!" the samurai cheered.

After the lizardmen threw the first round of axes, some samurai took out their bows and arrows to retaliate, and the daring samurai manipulated the desert horses around the flanks and backs of the lizardmen, and harassed and attacked in the way of "mangus", that is, using the tactic of using the speed advantage to twist the bow and shoot at the enemy behind the enemy.

In the face of the resistance of the hired samurai, the lizardmen raiders chose to retreat into the sand and dig quickly, while others chose to resist the samurai's arrow rain because the sand under their feet was too hard to excavate, and threw the remaining axes into the enemy's line.

Lizardmen are protected by rough and tough skin and scale armor, and armed with some previously looted broken armor to arm their hearts and heads, as well as relatively fragile joints, and are rarely a threat to them with a normal riding bow unless they use crossbow arrows.

It took only a dozen breaths from the start of the assault to the skirmish of the mercenary samurai who came into contact with the guards, and the scythes of the lizardmen's raiders clashed with the shields and scimitars of the samurai.

Individual lizardmen are not as tall as human warriors and are less powerful, but desert lizardmen are better at cooperating with each other. They are adept at attacking their opponents in small formations in groups of two or three, and the oviparous lizardfolk will ally with their hatching companions from an early age to become familiar with this hunting and warfare style.

Therefore, although the caravan escort samurai were more numerous, and the samurai themselves were stronger, the lizardmen used their agility and small battle formation to offset this disadvantage. As the scythe blade tore through the air, every now and then a life was harvested. However, this did not make any difference to the outcome, and the escort of more than thirty experienced samurai was sure to win the battle against the lizardmen raiders.

Santos looked at the caravan warriors and lizardmen raiders who were fighting together, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Something is wrong? Something seems to be wrong! This path was temporarily changed by the war between the two tribes of Salem and Sashan, and it was too close to the dragons' domination that no caravan would normally venture here. ”

"Even if these lizardmen knew about the tribal war, they ambushed here to attack the caravan that was diverted, but ......"

The number of people is wrong!

The number of lizardfolk raiders was too small, and the seasoned leader of the desert traders immediately reacted that according to his experience, these lizardmen raiders liked to take advantage of their numbers when looting caravans, and in order to be safe, they usually had to be twice the number of people in the caravan before they chose to attack. Besides, the weapons wielded by the lizardfolk raiders were made of steel, not obsidian, which only the large raider tribes could afford.

There won't be just a dozen raiders for a large tribe to attack, so the remaining lizardfolk raiders can only be-

"Beware of going underground!" the caravan owner who had discovered the problem only had time to shout out his judgment.

The second round of attacks in Santos came before they could finish shouting. Twice as many lizardfolk raiders as the first raiders broke through the sand in the middle of the caravan's circle!

Unlike the first wave of attacks, which opened the way with throwing axes, the lizardmen and marauders of the caravan this time took out several leather pouches from their waists and spilled out the green powder that filled the entire circle with smoke.

"Hold your breath and assault freely......! ”

The sand rhino that Santos was riding was the tallest camel beast in the caravan, and he was not shrouded in poisonous fog in the pavilion, and he had time to give a warning. But others were not so lucky.

Even the sand rhino rider under his seat was not spared, accidentally inhaling a puff of thick green smoke. I saw the rider covering his neck, and the huge pain made him fall off the sand rhino, and he could only writhe in pain on the ground. In this way, he inhaled some poisonous mist, and finally foamed at the mouth, his face was pale, and his eyes protruded in a strange posture, and he died at the feet of the sand rhino.

Others who were shrouded in the poisonous fog were mostly the result if they didn't hold their breath. After inhaling the poisonous gas, camel beasts, including the sand rhino, although these animals were able to last longer than humans because of their physical toughness, they also went crazy for a while, and they also died.

The huge sand rhino, in the face of the threat of death, suddenly erupted, and it frantically ran out of the area covered in a thick green poisonous fog. Under the domination of the will to survive, he rushed in any direction of the desert in a panic, and ran for dozens of breaths. However, due to the inhalation of a large amount of poisonous gas, the four thick thighs of the giant beast could not support its body, and it fell to the ground with convulsions.

Santos, riding in the sand rhino, looked back in the direction of the caravan with fear and distress.

"Damn, these people must be coming for me, they probably know the recipe on me!"

"Those green-skinned crumbs!"

Lizardfolk raiders are immune to most toxins due to their race, and they are also accustomed to smearing their weapons with poison to add to their lethality. However, when plundering the caravanserais, it is rare to use such a large area of poisonous mist to attack, such an attack will kill the precious camel beasts in the caravanserais, and will reduce a lot of gains.

And this attack on the "sand rhino caravan", after the camel beasts died, it would be difficult for them to take away the remaining goods, and the lizardmen raiders did not have so many camel beasts to prepare! If it was really an ordinary ambush, paying the casualties caused by the first wave of blows, in exchange for a bunch of goods that could not be taken away, this attack would simply be a big loss.

Unless the lizardfolk raiders are not interested in the finest papyrus and silk fabrics that appear to be transported by caravans, but on other "goods" that are of higher value and can be easily taken away.