Lord of Rot

Leech lived a relatively frugal life. Although he now had some money on hand, he ultimately only ordered thirty sets of clothes. A few formal outfits accounted for the lion’s share of the cost, being time-consuming, intricate, and expensive to make.

Total cost: 3 Jinri.

’The price of an excellent warhorse, gone just like that!’

He was already considered a noble with modest spending habits. As far as he knew, the wife of Bor II owned ten thousand dresses. If she wore a different one every day, it would take her a full twenty-seven years to get through them all. Furthermore, Leech knew that the queen’s collection was still growing steadily. People would gift her dresses for every festival, birthday, and ball. The queen probably couldn’t wear all her clothes in a single lifetime.

Her collection of over ten thousand dresses was a celebrated tale among the nobility.

It was perfectly normal for an ordinary noble to own one hundred, several hundred, or even a thousand outfits.

With just thirty sets, Leech could be described as a noble who was frugal to the point of being stingy.

...

On the training grounds, the Soldiers gathered, having donned their gear.

At his command, they had all put on full-body lamellar armor.

After successfully conquering the Headland Catacombs, Leech had poured vast sums of money into the blacksmith forge, masons’ construction teams, carpentry workshops, and brick kilns. He had increased investment in all of them, and their scale had surged.

Only a portion of the old and weak commoners were still farming; the younger ones had all gone to work in these sectors.

The natural outcome of this lavish spending was that, in a short period of time, all one hundred of Porcupine Territory’s Soldiers had been equipped with lamellar armor.

The lamellar armor was not ornate; one might even call it excessively plain. But in terms of durability and ruggedness, it was no different from the most exquisitely crafted suits.

Leech’s reasoning was simple. ’Just put a surcoat over it.’

’The cost is already so low; it would be unreasonable to demand fine craftsmanship on top of that. As long as it performs well, who cares about looks? Porcupine Territory values cost-effectiveness.’

Leech once again offered the position of ”Cavalry Captain” as a reward, preparing to use his Soldiers to gauge his own strength now that he had stepped into the Extraordinary realm.

He was worried he might lose control of his power—it wouldn’t do to accidentally kill someone—so he had the Soldiers put on their thickest armor.

He still remembered the feeling of being sent flying by Stacy with a single blow. At the time, Leech had considered his fighting skills to be above average for an ordinary person, yet in front of Stacy, he too had gone flying with a single move.

Stacy had meticulous control over her power, able to suppress it to the point where she could fight on the level of an ordinary person. He, on the other hand, was still just fumbling his way through.

Aina’s Extraordinary powers were healing and toxins, which offered little for him to reference.

Leech grabbed a two-handed sword.

He gave it a swing. A bit light.

’If it weren’t for the length, I could use it as a one-handed sword.’

’Looks like I’ll need to have a weapon forged that’s heavy enough for me,’ Leech thought.

”Let’s start with one pair.”

He was being cautious, starting with two Soldiers to test the waters.

Two Soldiers, wearing lamellar armor and nasal helmets, stepped forward.

The metal plates of their armor scraped together as they walked.

Their footsteps landed with a heavy, muffled thud.

After Quick-Blade shouted, ”Begin!” the two of them split left and right, launching a pincer attack.

They were in full-body lamellar armor, armed to the teeth.

’The Lord, however, is only wearing simple protective gear. How could we lose this fight?’

’After the last time, they’d studied his style. The Lord was highly skilled, but skill means nothing in the face of superior equipment. What use are fancy moves if you can’t even break through your opponent’s defense?’

’There’s no way we can lose!’

Each wielding a two-handed sword, they charged at Leech like a pair of heavily armored, metallic rhinos.

THUMP THUMP THUMP. The ground shook with their rapid advance.

Leech turned and charged the Soldier on the right, bringing his two-handed sword down on his opponent’s.

CRACK—!

The training sword let out a sharp crack. Then, with absolutely overwhelming strength, Leech pushed the Soldier back, slamming both locked blades heavily into his chest. The man was instantly lifted off his feet, flew backward several yards, and crashed hard onto the ground.

The scene felt familiar to Leech, only now he was the one dishing out the punishment instead of receiving it.

The entire field fell silent.

The only sound was the approaching footsteps from behind him.

Leech spun around, raising his sword to parry.

But the training sword was already cracked. Upon impact, it shattered instantly.

Still, he managed to knock the two-handed sword from the ambushing Soldier’s grasp. The weapon spun through the air and stabbed into the ground with a THUNK.

Leech turned and kicked the man in the chest.

THUD!

’Was that the sound of a boot kicking armor, or a sledgehammer striking it?’

Another fully armed Soldier in lamellar armor was sent flying. He crashed heavily to the ground, then tumbled twice before skidding to a halt.

”Cough! Cough!”

The two Soldiers took off their helmets, coughing and clutching their chests.

”I yield!”

He conceded decisively.

”I yield, too!”

A single blow from Leech felt like being struck by a charging Knight with a couched lance. The impact left them dizzy and seeing stars.

Leech now had a rough understanding of his Extraordinary power. It was just as he’d expected: a simple amplification of his physical strength.

He casually picked up a two-handed sword from the ground, looked at the silent Soldiers, and said, ”Two pairs.”

Four men stepped out.

Without needing to confer, all of them chose to carry shields.

Even though they were fully armored, none of them dared to relax. They had just witnessed the Lord’s terrifying power; even their heavy lamellar armor might not be enough to withstand his blows.

The four men raised their shields, hiding their bodies behind them as they closed in from all sides, gradually shrinking Leech’s space to maneuver.

Leech aimed for the Soldier in front and brought his sword down on the shield.

CRACK!

The Wood Shield splintered.

The Soldier staggered backward, but since the two-handed sword was now stuck in the shield, it pulled him forward, leaving him precariously tilted, on the verge of falling but not quite.

Seeing their chance, the other three charged forward, intending to pin Leech from three sides and trap him completely.

The sword was stuck fast in the shield, so Leech simply let it go. The Soldier in front, now without anything to brace against, was pulled to the ground by the weight of his own lamellar armor.

Facing an attack from three sides, Leech leaped high into the air. In an incredible display, he performed a split, planting one foot on the shield to his left and the other on the shield to his right. He bent his knees slightly, then kicked out hard.

The Soldiers on his left and right only saw their own shields fly back and slam into their chests, sending them flying.

He landed.

The last Soldier saw his chance and slammed his shield into Leech’s body.

But Leech didn’t budge, as immovable as an iron wall.

He simply turned his head to look at the Soldier.

And then.

”Aaargh!”

The last Soldier was also sent flying.

Quick-Blade, who was armored and eager for a turn himself, unconsciously wiped the cold sweat from his brow. He had really thought they were going to win and had been on the verge of shouting his approval.

’Good thing I held my tongue. That was too close!’

Quick-Blade couldn’t help but wonder, ’Even Lord Lieder wasn’t this terrifying back in the day, was he?’

The former Baron Porcupine, Lieder, had been a great fighter—truly ferocious—but that didn’t mean he could single-handedly sweep aside four fully armed, shield-bearing Soldiers with brute force, sending them flying with a single blow.

’Only a charging Knight possessed that kind of terrifying destructive power.’

’If the Lord were on a horse in battle, who could possibly stop him?’

Quick-Blade tried to picture Leech in the battles he had fought in his past. Leech, mounted on an armored warhorse, lance couched for a charge... The conclusion he reached was terrifying: he would be unstoppable.

Absolutely no one would be able to stop him.

The prowess of one man rarely played a major role in war, but Quick-Blade was certain that in a small-scale battle, Leech alone could decide the outcome.

Even on a large battlefield, Leech could serve as the tip of the spear, leading a squad to tear open the enemy’s formation.

The rumor circulating among the Soldiers that their Lord was a Giant Dragon in human form now seemed quite apt.

Leech was unaware of the awe he inspired in his Soldiers. The four-on-one attack had taught him one thing: two fists are no match for four hands.

It’s hard to win a war by yourself.

’A Transcendent is extremely valuable, but it isn’t that hard to gather a mob of soldiers. What if these well-armed elites were replaced with militiamen? And what if those militiamen were replaced with slaves?’

’Imagine several thousand militiamen or slaves making a suicide charge. Could I stop them?’

’I couldn’t.’

’So, unless it’s absolutely necessary, I must never allow myself to be surrounded. It’s best to be cautious whenever possible.’

”Let’s continue! Four pairs, all at once!”