-------------------------------------------------------------3rd Person POV------------------------------------------------------------
"It's time. Everyone, we march forward. Remember to put up a signal once you encounter a bandit group that you can't handle. Also, when you see the signal, send a portion of your group to help them. Only send the reinforcement if they are within a quarter hour from your position. We don't need a hole in the net."
The day has come and everyone part of the 'compression ring' plan has assembled in their designated place.
The group of village defenders from the Molten Titanium Village are stationed on the left most side of the region, bordering the cliffs near the ocean.
At the order of the coordinator for this side of the ring, each group steadily marched inwards of the region, keeping an eye out for bandits.
As the operation started, each groups' leaders started giving reminders to each of their own team members. Some to warn them of the dangers, some to remind them of why they fight, and the others to dream of what riches they could earn once the operation ends.
"Everyone, don't lose your guard even for a moment. Remember that we are going to go through a series of battles. We can't let the bandits escape, and we can't give them enough time to act against us. I want you all to conserve your strength and finish every battle as fast as possible."
The current leader of the Molten Titanium village, bron, was also doing the same. As one of the senior members of the village defence force, he was left in charge of the group taking part in the operation. He is not only one of the most senior members of the defence force but is also the most active as he has experience in handling a large crowd, though most of that experience comes from tending to his herd.
"Sir! How can we finish the fight fast if we need to conserve our strength?"
"What I mean is don't make mistakes! We are a group! You don't have to take on the bandits by yourself. Assist those beside you as you trust them to assist you when you are in need! This whole operation is relying on how fast we can compress this ring before the bandits regroup and try to pierce through it."
"Temp Leader bron is right! If we let them regroup then they will concentrate their entire force into one side of the ring. That unlucky side will get annihilated as the bandit escapes. I don't know about you but I don't want to be the unlucky side that gets killed because some group became lax with their attacks!"
"Rick, I could do without the 'temp'. Anyway, the operation has already started. Follow me and remember what we told you!"
"Sir, yes, sir!!"
The operation is underway and the first few days have been a success for the defence force of the region. The bandits have been caught off guard that they couldn't react fast enough to even pass the information to the other bandits.
Each of the different teams have been taking care of groups of bandits left and right. The progress of the plan has been good. The teams are slowly constricting the ring, however, as they slowly compress, the bandits also notice how a group of people are gathering.
The teams are now so close that each of the teams is a stone's throw away. This made it easier for them to reinforce each other but at this stage, battles against bandits rarely happen.
As the bandits see a tide of combatants on the horizon, most of them choose to run away. There is no point fighting a group just to get annihilated because the nearby group could quickly reinforce them.
Progress is being made but the operation is coming into its first hurdle.
"There is a group of people on this side of the region. They seem to be slowly marching in this direction."
"We also encountered the same in this direction. What is happening?"
"Did they find our base? Are they already on the way here?"
"They are probably surrounding us now. Let's all scatter."
The bandits have noticed the operation. As they discovered enemies on all sides, they would retreat and ask for help with the other bandits. In the beginning, they were tempted by the possible loot from small groups of fighters but as soon as they were engaged in battle with the current group, the defenders would ask for reinforcements. This would lead to the annihilation of the bandits, which completely prevented any information from being passed back to the other bandits.
However, more and more bandits have turned tail at the sight of the wave of fighters slowly marching over the horizon.
"You idiots. If they were surrounding us then we would have heard of them coming but a lot of bandit groups have disappeared before we even caught a glimpse of this."
"She is right. If what you saw was correct, then the scale of this is greater than a simple attack on the base. Not to mention that we hear news of this tide of fighters at different intervals. This means that they aren't attacking this base as the centre. They might be trying to sweep a large area hoping to find this base."
"I have an informant that told me this is a region wide sweep of all the bandits. If we scatter now then it would just make it easier for them to finish us off. We need to concentrate all of our forces on one side and pierce through their net."
"I also have an informant. I'm coordinating with that person now. For now, we just need to call everyone back to base to avoid wasting fighting force. We will put up a show fight and at a critical moment, the informant will sabotage the enemy. We will break through the encirclement and get them. I'll tell everyone the details when everyone is here."
"You heard the leader, go and call everyone back!"
"Yeah!! It's time to rule this region!!"
"We will take over everything!!"
The bandits have figured out the plan and started to scheme a way to turn this problem into a solution for them.
The operation continued regardless of the bandit's plan. The defenders of the region have continued their march but barely met any bandits in their path.
"This is the base."
"We found the base."
"Do we signal the others now? What if the bandits inside the base break out right now? We don't have enough people to contain them all."
"How far are the groups from the other side of the region?"
"I don't know. We can't exactly time them since each group marches at different paces. Even if we do time it, they could be delayed for an indefinite amount of time because of the bandits. We don't really encounter the same amount of bandits."
"I receive orders from the coordinators. Everyone is to stop at this point and hide themselves. If bandits try to escape this way then we will engage and put up the signal right away. For anything else, we will wait here until the other side arrives."
The first group of the ring has received their next course of actions. They hunkered down and prepared for a long wait.
As they kept an ongoing surveillance towards the base of the bandits, other groups started to arrive one after the other. They spread the instruction to the groups near them and they too fall in place and set up their own guard site.
There has been no movement from the bandit's base other than the patrols walking above the walls. The defenders of the region assembled half of the ring and yet, the bandits have never reacted to them.
At first, they thought that their camouflage was working as it should. However, as more and more groups arrived, they noticed that no one came in and no one came out of the base. Its gates have been closed ever since the first group arrived and no other bandit was seen except for the regular patrols.
This continued on until the compression ring was completed.
When the last of the defenders of the region arrived, they began setting up fortifications. As the last group suffered a lot of injuries in fighting a bandit they encountered on the way here, they took a day to let them recover.
Tensions rise on the defenders of the region. They finally found the elusive bandit base and swept up all of the bandits in their path.
Every bandit in the region should be gathered here. Even if a few of them are acting as a spy in towns or cities in the region, their numbers would be too small to start up a bandit group again.
Once they succeed in this battle, they will finally return to the peaceful days they lived until bandits arrived in this corner of the continent.
