Lord of Rot

Leech rode Rocket, flying through the sky. After leaving the desert floor far behind, he soared above a sea of clouds where the temperature dropped considerably.

The light of dusk shone from the west, spilling across the sea of clouds and searing the cotton-like white clouds to a golden yellow. Some of the light fell directly on the right side of Leech’s face. In that moment, he seemed to transform into a Knight in golden armor.

He had set out ahead of his troops, disregarding his own safety, a selfless scout exploring the dangers ahead… by flying at an altitude of over ten thousand feet.

From the ground, even someone with the vision of a Transcendent looking up would see nothing more than an insignificant black dot. Besides, at ten thousand feet, he was well out of attack range. Unless a Griffin or a Giant Dragon suddenly shot out of the sky, he was quite safe.

For this expedition, the team was only assigned two Corpse Ghosts.

Biqi and Jonney. If not for the need to be prepared for any contingency, Leech wouldn’t even need an army. He could have sent Jonney alone to sweep the enemy forces.

After all, the Corpse Ghosts were his precious assets. Repairing them cost a great deal of gold each time. Without the Rhino Horns given to him by Prince Hoffman, the Transcendent Corpse Ghosts would be consumable items—gone for good once broken. Things were better now; if they were destroyed, he could still extract the Extraordinary material, so the loss wasn’t as severe.

Still, he had no intention of using Corpse Ghosts as his main force in war. First, there was the old problem: Corpse Ghosts were not cheap to create and were expensive to maintain. Second, it was inconvenient for Corpse Ghosts to be seen by ordinary people. If they appeared too often, someone would eventually notice something was wrong. When that happened, he would surely become a public enemy.

Until he was strong enough to ignore the whole world, it was best to keep them hidden.

Lin Nuo and the other few Transcendents were the main force for this operation.

Then there was the young Black Sand, taking part in his first battle with the troops. Before he could truly prove his worth in service to Leech, he needed to show his potential. If his hands trembled just holding a blade, he would be useless even if he became more than a Transcendent.

In addition, there were over twenty Wandering Knights and 50 infantrymen who had been hastily assembled.

Leech wanted to use the coming battle to assess the true strength of the Half-Beastmen.

Judging by the Half-Beastman legion that had landed, the Corpse Ghosts and Transcendents Leech had on hand were definitely not enough. His side was even at a numerical disadvantage. He had to try using ordinary people in the war.

He was able to make such a decision partly because the desert was not his territory, and partly because of the Wandering Knights’ previous rebellion.

In summary: he wouldn’t feel bad if they died.

’According to Mengo’s memories, it should be right around here.’ Leech looked down from high in the sky at the desert floor below, which gleamed dazzlingly, bathed in the golden light of dusk.

Looking down from above, he could just barely make out a few small black dots.

”Coo!” Rocket suddenly chirped.

”You can see them?” Leech asked in surprise, looking down at Rocket. He had almost forgotten that Rocket had the head of an eagle, with incredibly sharp eyesight.

”Coo.”

”Are those Half-Beastmen right below us?”

”Coo!” Rocket nodded slightly and spread its wings, circling in the air to confirm that the Half-Beastmen were indeed directly below.

Leech shifted his Spiritual Power to Jonney. The Corpse Ghost immediately raised its right hand and made a fist.

The troops halted.

Now that their position was confirmed, it was time to attack.

The battle was placed entirely under the command of the female barbarian, Lin Nuo. She didn’t know how Jonney communicated with the Lord flying high above; she figured it must be Magic.

Having someone scouting from above provided a huge advantage in battle.

With such a significant advantage, she knew her Lord didn’t just want a victory; he demanded a total victory!

Marching in heavy armor had left the men drenched in sweat. Fortunately, the Warg Riders had been completely wiped out. Otherwise, the Half-Beastman party would have spotted them from this distance, and they would likely have been the ones ambushed first.

Lin Nuo gave a series of quick hand signals. The Wandering Knight, Buerwell, nodded and led the Cavalry away in another direction to lie in wait.

The remaining infantry rested where they were, composing themselves.

Every man’s heart was pounding. They knew they were about to face a horde of monsters completely different from humans—creatures that loved to eat brains, were hideous and fierce in appearance, and possessed immense physical strength.

They had easily slaughtered the Soldiers of Date Palm Village, but they had also been slaughtered by their Lord’s guard.

The sight of Jonney was a reassurance; no one thought they would lose.

The sky gradually dimmed as the sun completely hid itself below the horizon.

「Meanwhile, at the Half-Beastmen’s temporary encampment.」

Mennen was tearing into a large piece of meat. He wasn’t very fond of humans, especially slaves. Their texture was poor, and the meat had a sour taste. He much preferred beef, or mutton.

Beef had a good texture. As for mutton... he had heard from another Demon Beastman that many Half-Beastman nobles had a fondness for sheep. Apparently, a sheep’s rear was more exciting than that of a Half-Beastman noblewoman. You could play with it and eat it—a perfect plaything and meal in one.

”ROAR! ROAR!”

”Hungry!”

”Hungry!”

The roars and shouts from outside the tent grated on Mennen’s nerves. He slammed a roasted leg of meat onto the table, pushed aside the tent flap, and stepped out. Just as he expected, the group of low-intelligence dwarf Half-Beastmen were gathered in a circle, whispering amongst themselves.

They just stood there holding the food, too scared to take a single step forward.

Four strong, lumbering figures, bound by iron chains, struggled and writhed. Every movement sent the chains rattling—CLANG CLANG—but they still couldn’t reach the food.

Mennen himself had been born a dwarf Half-Beastman, but his talent had awakened, and he had become a Demon Beastman. He considered himself a different race from these stupid dwarf Half-Beastmen. But every time he saw them make such a fuss over the simple task of feeding the Mad Beastmen, a nameless rage flared within him.

There was another reason, too. For some reason, he felt a sense of oppression, a deep physical and mental discomfort, and he wanted to vent his anger.

”ROAR! What! Are! You! Doing! ROAR!” Mennen resorted to the dwarf Half-Beastman slang he hadn’t used in a long time, which involved interspersing his words with meaningless roars.

The dwarf Half-Beastmen cowered in terror, turning to look at Mennen with fearful eyes.

In their rigid caste system, the lowly dwarf Half-Beastmen were born to fear the upper echelons, like the Mad Beastmen and Demon Beastmen.

One of the dwarf Half-Beastmen, retreating too far back in fear, was seized by a Mad Beastman that shot out a hand and grabbed it. It opened its mouth and took a bite.

CRUNCH!!

Its head exploded.

”Eat! Eat! ROAR!” The Mad Beastman gnawed on the still-twitching dwarf Half-Beastman in its grasp. Seeing this, the other three Mad Beastmen struggled frantically, wanting a bite for themselves, but were held back by their chains.

And so, the other three Mad Beastmen thrashed about in a helpless rage, yanking furiously at their chains, desperate for freedom.

”Throw them the food!” Mennen roared in anger.

Only then did the few dwarf Half-Beastmen toss the food out.

Having eaten, the Mad Beastmen were pacified. They sat their asses on the ground and focused intently on the food in their hands.

Night had completely fallen.

Mennen looked up at the sky. The moon was bright, and the stars were sparse.

It looked like there was an eagle circling overhead.

’Why isn’t Mengo back yet?’ He felt something was wrong. But the chances of Mengo’s Warg Rider unit running into trouble were extremely low. Unless he’d suicidally attacked a Demon Beastman—or at least a group of them—the mobility of the Warg Riders meant they could always escape even if they couldn’t win.

”ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!” The Mad Beastmen, who had just quieted down, suddenly grew restless again.

Mennen turned his head and saw the four Mad Beastmen struggling wildly, their chains pulled taut.

”L-Lord, they’ve already been fed,” a dwarf Half-Beastman stammered from a distance, wanting to make it clear that the Mad Beastmen’s rage had nothing to do with him, but too afraid to speak up.

Mennen ignored the dwarf Half-Beastmen, because he too could feel that something in the air was unusual.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—!

Arrows suddenly rained down, and several of the unprepared dwarf Half-Beastmen were struck and killed instantly.

”Ambush!” The reason for the unease clicked in Mennen’s mind. He roared, ”Prepare for battle!”

”KILL!!” A group of Soldiers with shields was already charging forward, catching the dwarf Half-Beastmen completely by surprise!