Beastmen are a brave and skilled race in combat, and with diligent training, female individuals can also possess physical combat abilities that rival those of males.
Unfortunately, in Wansheng Country, avoiding women, children, and the elderly on the battlefield is an ingrained concept and tradition.
Though the war had been at a stalemate, Wansheng’s military had begun to recruit a large number of female soldiers, yet the ratio of male to female soldiers had never exceeded seven to three.
In this era where everyone was conscripted for war, most Beastmen women participated in the war by managing production.
Being used as bait to capture Slave Hunters was certainly safer than clashing directly with the Luo Ze Empire on the frontline, but among the soldiers sent here by the higher-ups of Wansheng Country, there was still a large proportion of males.
In order to leave the impression with the secretively scouting Slave Hunters that "all the men of this village have gone to war, leaving only weak girls behind," these male soldiers were forced to don women’s clothing.
As the saying goes, one only dresses in drag for the first time or countless times.
At first, these male soldiers were extremely resistant to wearing wigs and women’s clothing, but now, having gone through mental transformations like "Is this, is this me? Why am I so cute?" "This is just for work." "I wanted to be cute on my own," each soldier who arrived to don women’s clothing enjoyed it thoroughly.
So much so that, at first glance, it was impossible to tell who the real girls were from the cross-dressing experts.
It was truly a case of the hares running by the foot of the wall, who can distinguish if I am male or female.
However, this time their disguise was pierced by Bai Jin’s "Ghost Shadow Formation."
After all, many of the cross-dressers’ busts were padded, and the people who fell into the trap usually surrendered quickly; they had no experience fighting while wearing the false gear and did not pay too much attention to it.
Seeing their favorite clothes being sliced open by the little black ghosts, many cross-dressers became angry from the bottom of their hearts, braving the danger of being attacked, swinging their gleaming blades towards Yang Yu and his group.
Iyas drew her bow, and a holy ripple spread from her, repelling several approaching soldiers in an instant.
Releasing the bowstring, Iyas executed a "Penetrating Shot," nailing two Beastman Soldiers to a nearby wall with her arrows.
But the soldiers surrounding them were too numerous; as soon as they repelled one wave, another came charging at them.
Yang Yu’s body tensed slightly, emitting a chilling roar, and the soldiers surrounding them momentarily lost some of their fighting spirit.
After using "Frustration Roar" to reduce the enemies’ attack within the area, Yang Yu activated "Steel Body" and "Copper Wall Iron Curtain," holding his shield as he faced the attacking soldiers.
At the same time, Yang Yu also activated "Heroic Spirit."
The skill’s healing effect was weak, and Yang Yu hardly used it, but now, with no healer fully operational, that bit of healing was better than nothing.
The other soldiers, hearing the noise, rushed to the scene, and more than two hundred of them surrounded Yang Yu’s group.
Alas, these two hundred or so people were no match for Yang Yu’s squad.
Yang Yu stood back to back with the huge Silver Wolf, and together with the magic at Bai Jin’s feet, they constructed a defense nearly impossible to breach; Bai Jin stood within, calmly chanting magic, setting up Magic Arrays, and massively unleashing Magic Energy.
Some found an opportunity to take down Bai Jin first, either to be crushed by Iyas’ swift arrows or to be caught off-guard by Yang Yu’s agile speed.
In a flash, more than half of the two hundred soldiers were decimated, and the situation quickly turned; Yang Yu and his team went from defense to offense, knocking down soldiers who were retreating due to their shaken morale.
A two-tailed Fox Beastman lay cautiously on the rooftop, unbelievably shaking her rose-colored tail. She was not a soldier from there, but was simply bringing comfort items to the soldiers sticking to their posts on behalf of the Acting King of the country.
She had heard somewhat of the border soldiers’ deeds; as long as it was a Human, regardless of good or evil, they would send them to the court for judgment.
This practice was indeed questionable, but it could not be denied that the existence of these border soldiers had curbed the increasingly rampant Slave Hunting.
In the end, she followed the orders of the Acting King and brought gifts of comfort to visit the soldiers at the border.
Little did she know that as soon as she set the gifts down, this incident would occur.
She also followed and took in the entire sequence of events.
Anyone could see that the soldiers’ approach was too harsh and biased.
She had intended to secretly help Yang Yu and the others escape while they were being captured.
As a Quasi-S Class adventurer, she was quite confident in her abilities.
But Yang Yu and his team dealt with the situation so competently that she simply couldn’t find an opportunity to intervene.
Upon introspection, she admitted to herself that even she and her team could not be completely sure of such a deft handling of the situation.
Yet Yang Yu and his team had indeed accomplished it.
Skill coordination was certainly one reason, but such teamwork and understanding couldn’t be honed in just a day or two.
They were a mature team. Was she really going to help, or would she just be getting in the way by intervening now?
Xin Mang Madeline didn’t even know whom to assist anymore.
The soldiers of Wansheng Country had been so savagely tormented; as a representative of the Acting King, should she not go out there to salvage some dignity for Wansheng Country?
But so far, Yang Yu and his team hadn’t killed a single person.
It was the soldiers who struck first and turned things into what they were now; intervening on her own would conflict with her own morals.
Xin Mang was deeply conflicted atop the rooftop.
The black-haired wolf-eared girl leading them had clashed with Yang Yu several times, but each time she was frozen by Bai Jin, then kicked away by Yang Yu as if she were a soccer ball.
As the leader here and a Powerful individual, it was truly face-losing to be kicked away like that.
Deep inside, the wolf-eared girl knew that a person with such strength couldn’t simply be an ordinary Slave Hunter, but she sincerely wished for no human to set foot in Wansheng Country.
Suddenly, the wolf-eared girl’s keen senses caught a noise from a wooden hut, and as if remembering something, she yelled toward the hut:
"Madeline, in this situation, don’t you want to step in and help?"
Hearing this, Xin Mang, who had just resolved her indecision and was about to move away from the eaves, abruptly froze in place.
As Xin Mang was contemplating whether to rescue or not, Yang Yu went up with a kick, sending the black-haired wolf-eared girl who had just gotten up flying again.
He then took Bai Jin and Iyas, mounted on Lotcar’s back, and took off into the distance.
As Xin Mang watched Yang Yu disappear, she completely lost her chance to choose.
She leapt backward, onto the nearby trees, activated Speed, and vanished into the forest without a sound, pretending she had long since left the area.