Akulda led the thousand warriors from their city, Siol, toward the north. Considering that one Rakshasa warrior could take on ten Pangolins, it was definitely a large number.

However, what worried Akulda was the sticks that made thunder-like sounds that the outsiders had brought, but Akulda had an idea about what to do with them.

‘I heard that there were Wizards among the fishes. That weapon must be related to magic. But if it is able to make that big of a sound, then ultimately, it must be mere deception with no substance.’

Putting together the stories told by the Rakshasas who had escaped the village, Akulda came to the conclusion that the weapon might not be anything to write home about. Once it let out a loud sound and spewed fire, it required preparations such as struggling to fold another small stick into the initial stick, which took a long time. When Akulda asked one of the fugitives why they didn’t attack the enemies while they were getting their weapons ready, they replied that the enemies had been stationed all over, preventing them from predicting which sticks would fire next.

‘However dangerous the weapons may be, they would’ve come to crush us without even giving us a chance to resist if they really were that impressive. As long as our warriors take advantage of the downtime when...