[Stone Fortress, West side of the southern territory]

The moment an explosion rung out somewhere in  the stone fortress, Both Tetra and Einar then looked out of their window, only to see their whole tactical area being overrun by enemy forces. Due to the fact that this came into a sudden attack, a lot of the southern warriors were caught off guard as they fought bitterly with the invading force from the western tribal warriors.

But before the southern forces were even able to react to defend themselves, the whole open area and inner places in the fortress were immediately filled with the western force warriors. Even the walls could be seen being slowly overtaken by western forces, despite  the aggravated roars from the defending units.

To be exact unknown to everyone in the defending camp, not only were the fortress walls compromised, but about three man made hidden passageways were created which led to the foot of the mountain are scattered in three specific places in the fortress for a flank attack. One is in the training ground, one is in the storeroom, and one is somewhere along the basement of the fortress.

Just by looking at where the passageways are located, one can even think that perhaps this locations were pre-planned targets from the start. However if that was the case, accurately targeting the location and making a passageway towards the target in one weeks time is something unprecedented and impossible even for a group of people with superhuman strength to even hide.

Thus it can only be concluded that that perhaps something mysterious or a third party may have been involved in the process of this attack in the stone fortress. One aspect that proves this fact is the actual point that non of the western forces had ever been from the stone fortress, thus it will be impossible for the enemy to0 actually pinpoint their critical location.

Adding the point of this sudden attack, the act of infiltration and the appearance of this thick fog is also a factor which leads to something supernatural. No matter what if one can analyze this situation, they would naturally came into conclusion that something was amiss.

Upon seeing the chaos all over their tactical base, Tetra and Einar quickly made their move towards the open area in  order to assist their men who were fighting bravely against the tide of the enemy forces.

"This attack is planned, this is not something that can only be done overnight... is this what they have been doing for the past week? no this is impossible!" reacted by Einar as fury painted all over his face

"Uncle snap out of it! we need to help our men" reminded by Tetra

"... Your right! lets go!"

Following Tetra from behind, Einar then followed her lead as he occasionally look out of the window and see the chaos happening outside the wall. But just as soon as they turn a corner, they then witnessed a hall full of dead bodies from both the southern forces and the western forces.

Just by this sight alone, they can say that a fight had broken out in this area a couple of minutes ago. But the one who hailed victory in this bloody hallway were the southern forces. In fact the warriors in the southern force just finished killing the warriors from the west, in that exact moment when the fight had just barely ended, about 15 of them looked over to Tetra and Einar's direction and realized that they were the executives of the southern force.

"Chiefs!!! We just finished cleaning up the enemy who attacked us, about 10 of our men died, nevertheless we took out all 30 of them" 

No need for formality! Quickly have your men lead us to the nearest exit, the whole fortress is being under attack! we need to push back the enemies" commanded by Einar

"The base is under attack?"

"Yes! so get a move on!"

Hearing Einar's urgent tone in his voice, the warriors in the hallway then immediately agreed to do was was tasked as they led the way towards the nearest exit towards in the area. Coincidentally the exit near them leads to the door facing the walls of the fortress and near the open area.

From that point no enemy forces had hindered their way, in fact all they ever encountered were warriors running in different direction, presumably they have locations that they had in mind that should be defended. Even thought they could ask for their help in clearing out the enemies on the wall and the open area, Einar concluded that this group of 15 warriors from some unknown camp is enough to act as an aid for him to battle it out, plus Tetra is with him, another Chief level person.

As they made their way towards the exit, they then finally arrived before the door as one of the men in the group pushed it with brute force in order to give a dominating entrance for the attacking force. However the moment he opened the door and surprised the attacking forces while killing another hostile enemy, his head was then pierced through by a spear from the side, thus killing the first warrior who walked out from the door.

But the southern warriors that followed after were fearless as another two of them rushed over the hostile enemy wielding a spear and brutally beat it to death using their immense strength, afterwards the rest of the group rushed out towards the stairs as they fought off against the wave of enemy forces.

In response to their attack, the western warriors attention then shifted their aggro towards this place as they saw the presence of two chiefs in that particular location. Just by seeing their immediate shift of aggro from the fodders to the executives of the fortress, Tetra and Einar then realized the intent of the enemy forces.

With such fervor, the enemy forces were intent to kill the leading forces in the area, causing Tetra and Einar to react fiercely and charge out on their own. With Einar on the lead he took out his sword and begun slashing down his opponent, before he used skills related to their kind of race.

"War Cry!!!"

Roaring out in a load voice, apart from some of the hostile forces near him being suppressed, the allied forces in the area near him were greatly buffed by a type of morale as they all excitedly charge towards the enemy forces despite the difference in numbers. Such a skill can only be used by the relative chief level people of each tribe, meaning even Tetra herself could use such skill.

Following the usage of his war skill, Einar then immediately chucked down his sword towards the suppressed enemy before him as he took its double sided battle axe and chopped down another enemy from his left.

Following his lead, Tetra rushed over towards the sides as she swiftly dodged multiple strikes from the sword of her opponent, before she used her own sword to chop off its arms with two consecutive strikes before killing him off with a slash through its throat. Afterwards using the sword in her hand she then switched her handling on its hilt in a throwing position and threw it towards another enemy charging from behind her and squarely hitting its defenseless head.

The moment she lost her sword, she then quickly picked up the fallen spear on the ground with a light kick from the tip of her foot and defended herself from another two attacking western warriors. Defending herself from their attacks using a spear, she then enacted a series of quick movements and maneuver on the spear which she efficiently used to parry their follow up strikes while following a quick stab to their throat's.

After that she then held the spear into a throwing position and threw it towards the enemy who planned to ambush Einar from behind.

Naturally Einar noticed her save as he saw a dead body being impaled by a spear. With his one hand holding a double sided battle axe, he then used his other free hand to pull out the spear from the dead body near him and defended himself  from the series of attacks in front of him using the unusual pair of weapons before throwing it back towards Tetra who made by by just using her fist to beat down an enemy.

The moment Tetra retrieved the spear she thrown out, her killing commences again as she easily killed the enemy in front of her while being mounted unto.

However no matter how fiercely they fought against the enemy, they cant seem to continue to push forward due to the concentrated wave of the enemy forces and this was realized by both Tetra and Einar. If this goes on, both of them would be overwhelmed by the number of the enemy forces despite their strength in defeating their opponent.

Thus in order to avoid that grim scenario, both of them agreed to fully retreat back inside the fortress in order to narrow down the scope of their battle and avoid being surrounded by the enemy force. This was all agreed upon by just a simple glance from each other. For people at their level, that simple but precise message and interpretation towards the intent is a must have to become a reliable leader.

Without any hesitation, Tetra then ordered out everyone for a full tactical retreat.

"Everybody! pull back inside the fortress! Pull back! we need to avoid being surrounded!"

"Pull back!" follow up by Einar to add depth on Tetra's order

Following the command from the people in power, the rest of the warriors who were alive then quickly pulled back inside while being on guard of the forces who kept attacking them up front. In the end each and every one of them looked out for each other while covering their escape route.

However the enemy forces wouldn't just let them leave that easily unscathed. Some of the western warriors who managed to climbed up the wall then quickly pulled out a bow aiming for the forces in the stairs and rained down a hail of arrow.

As the rain of arrow befall all of them, Einar quickly pulled up his cape which was made from thick hide of tempest bear which boast their tough defense, while Tetra took out the shield behind her and defended herself from those arrows.

Even thought they were able to defend themselves, the other people on their side weren't the same, naturally some people died along the way of their retreat.

Once the hail of arrows ended, Tetra then used her own hereditary attributive aura to form an ice wall between them and the enemies, before the warriors who survived closed shut the door and fortified it with her ice.

A hereditary attributive aura, is a type of specific attribute aura passed down from generation to generation. Only a special type of people can wield an attribute aura, such a person must have been a far off ancestor of Tetra. Her own attributive aura was passed down to her from her mother's side and her side from her parents. Nevertheless since the northern continent lack the ability to hold information, especially to their barbaric tribes, Tetra has no way to find out the origin of her attributive aura.

But knowing it or not doesn't affect her at all. Since it doesn't affect her, knowing its origin is something of not priority.

"Your attributive aura never ceases to amaze me, even your late mother used to wield it efficiently too" commented by Einar as felt nostalgia from Tetra's aura

"...I... lets go uncle! the battle is not yet over"

Agreeing to her words, Einar then looked over to the remaining people beside them who survived the onslaught that they had experienced. From the original 15 brave warriors who joined them earlier, only about 4 of them were left alive after undergoing that onslaught, even the warrior who spoke to them earlier was killed outside. Nevertheless there is a time and place to mourn for the fallen and now is not the time.

" We need to find another exit which has less concentrated enemy! follow me"

Under his words, all of them then begun to move.

*********

Back at the place where the meeting of leader were currently held 5 leaders in the room could be seen fully exhausted as dead bodies scattered all over the floor and blood spread out everywhere. Aside from the 50th Tribe leader who got killed earlier on, the rest of the leader managed to survive the attacks from the impersonating guards surrounding them

After killing the instigator of the impersonating group, everything then went downhill for the enemies as they were overwhelmed in strength by the various leaders in the room. In the end all the impersonating force will killed on this very spot.

When the bloody battle in this room ended, one of them then laid down the corpse of the 50th Tribe Chief and slowly closed his eyes which were full of shock and confusion.

38th Tribe Chief: "The fortress is under attack, it looks like this was a pre-planned attack and the enemy was fully prepared"

37th Tribe Chief: "Seeing that they had gathered their strong warriors enough to pressure us in this room, i believe that they aim to actually kill the leaders in the fortress... once the people in command feel, the defense structure of the fortress would also fall"

49th Tribe Chief: "A simple yet effective tactic... but if that were the case, then this people here are not the everyone from their team... looks like there are still strong rats lurking around our base"

40th Tribe Chief: "Each and every one of you return to your own forces, quell their confusion and lead them to fend off the enemies... as long as the war is not yet over, always stay cautious towards each other, after all we wont know when such impersonation attempt will take place"

After everyone came into a  single conclusion of retaliation, they all then quickly left the room as they rushed towards their own men to fend off the western forces.

***ReadAtWebnovel***