Lord of Rot

SPLASH!

SPLASH!

The ocean waves relentlessly crashed against the reef, exploding into a white curtain.

The splashing spray transformed into a mist in the air, carried by the cool spring breeze to sprinkle upon his face.

Leech gently wiped his face. ’He had to hand it to his men for managing to find their way up such a difficult path.’

A cape. A cliff towering over the sea. Slaves and militiamen stood guard before a cavern. By the time Leech arrived, they had discovered a corpse on the ground.

It was the height of a seven or eight-year-old child, with blue skin, long fingernails, and a large belly. It was wrapped in animal hides.

The corpse’s head had been caved in by a hoe. The blood that flowed out was also blue. The blue blood ran down the reef and mixed with the seawater, vanishing without a trace with each splash of the waves.

”Milord, be careful!”

Seeing Leech approach, a quick-witted militiaman immediately went to support him.

Leech waved his hand. ”What happened?”

His physical fitness was second to none in all of Porcupine Territory. He could ride a horse and wield a spear; he wasn’t some feeble noble who needed help after taking two steps. In the Lu Leiyi Kingdom, aside from those born with disabilities, all nobles had to learn to fight. The vast majority became Knights before becoming lords.

In truth, he didn’t need to ask for details. A red dot had already appeared in his vision, so this was undoubtedly a cavern.

Now that he was here in person, the red dot turned yellow. When he shifted his gaze to the ground, the yellow dot became a green one.

The militiaman answered, ”When one of the slaves found this place, he suddenly disappeared. A few of us came looking for him, and that’s when we saw this blue-skinned monster rush out.”

He kicked the little blue-skinned creature on the ground resentfully. ”It wasn’t even that strong. And its cry was awful, worse than a braying donkey!”

Leech stood at the cavern’s entrance. It was surprisingly wide. The construction was similar to his own castle, with large, hewn stone blocks laid to form the walls. It was clear this cavern was unusual, not like the rat holes from before.

The cavern still had its light-swallowing property. Even with his subterranean vision, he couldn’t see very far.

About a few dozen meters inside, a stone staircase led downward into pitch-black darkness.

Leech’s mind raced. ’If this place is only filled with these little blue creatures that even a slave could easily kill, how should I clear it out?’ He was reluctant to deploy his own people. ’But in a cavern this large, could it really be just them?’

’The best way would be to control a corpse and have it scout inside.’

’Why should I do it myself?’

It was as if he’d had a sudden epiphany. He was an expert at this kind of thing—turning a situation to his advantage. ’Why should I get my hands dirty when there’s a group of mercenaries planning to sneak into my territory?’

Any treasure discovered in one’s own territory belongs to the lord. A lord possesses absolute authority over their land. This wasn’t tyranny; it was written into the laws of the Lu Leiyi Kingdom. Not even the King could seize this right. Anyone who dared to snatch the interests of the nobility had better be prepared to get pricked.

”You don’t need to worry about what happens next,” he said.

The militiamen were, of course, aware that their lord had a mysterious team. In Porcupine Territory, where idle chatter filled the days, every little thing became a topic of conversation. Now, people at the dinner table would still talk about the gold carriage that passed through last year. Information didn’t travel fast in this remote region, so having something to talk about was a blessing.

At least the people of Porcupine Territory had plenty of topics to discuss.

From manure fertilizer to the water mill, the waterwheel, the plow, then to slaves and stolen manure, building houses, drinking boiled water, and so on—there were new things to talk about every day.

Starting today, they would have a strange new cavern to add to the list.

Everyone left. Leech thought for a moment and ultimately decided not to ’pull’ the cavern back to his castle garden.

’From what the mercenaries said, more people might come searching here in the future. Besides, there’s no way to hide the discovery of a cavern in the territory.’

He chose to ’build’ on the spot. The stone structure beneath the cliff vanished, replaced by a huge, natural pit. A tombstone appeared in its place.

When Leech chose to ’open’ the tombstone again, the stone structure refilled the pit.

...

Outside Porcupine Territory, the fully armed members of the Howling Wolf Mercenary Corps were waiting with eager anticipation.

So much time had passed, and there was still no sign from their comrade.

When they had previously tried to sneak into Porcupine Territory, they ran into patrols. For such a poor and remote backwater, to have hundreds of people strolling around outside... its defenses were practically tighter than East Port’s.

It wasn’t that the mercenaries couldn’t get in, but they didn’t want to alert the enemy.

”There’s news!”

Someone returned and said in a low voice, ”The mark’s on the tree. Let’s move out.”

The members of the Howling Wolf Mercenary Corps suppressed their excitement and entered the dense forest. Following the markers left by their comrade, they easily slipped into Porcupine Territory.

Meanwhile, Baron Leech of Porcupine Territory was lying in ambush on the other side, enduring the sea breeze and waiting quietly.

He had just given an order for Gelan to restrain everyone and keep them from leaving their quarters at night.

He had truly gone to great lengths to ensure the mercenaries could successfully sneak into his territory.

Soon, the mercenaries, who thought their infiltration was flawless, arrived at the cape.

In the distance, a ship rocked on the waves. It was the pirate ship. They had heard the stories about Porcupine Territory.

And on a reef, the mercenaries saw their comrade.

”How did it go?” they asked, moving closer.

But their comrade raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for them to be quiet.

The reason wasn’t the need for silence, but the fact that Leech couldn’t make the corpse speak. Its vocal functions were damaged, and besides, it had no breath. Forcing it to speak would, at best, produce a zombie-like wail.

The group nodded in understanding.

Leech had the dead Mercenary gesture for the others to follow. The sea breeze blew past, nicely masking the smell of preservatives on the corpse. Even if something seemed off, the mercenaries would just assume the scent was coming from the sea.

”’Thirteen people in total, men and women,’ Leech counted in his head.”

”’Most are wearing leather armor. One is in iron armor, and there’s a little girl holding a wooden stick... a Mage?’”

There were no Mages in Lu Leiyi who used Magic Wands to cast Magic. Scholars created Magic with knowledge and arcane arts, casting it with Spells. What good was a wooden stick?

The mercenaries were thrilled. They entered the cavern on the cape and lit the torches they carried.

”This is the place?” someone asked.

Leech had the corpse nod, then led the group down the stone steps.

On the other side, once he confirmed everyone was inside the cavern, Leech got up, walked over quickly, and casually ’closed’ the cavern.

The stone structure vanished, leaving only a natural cave and a single tombstone.

Caught like rats in a trap!

”What’s that smell?”

”I think I smelled it earlier.”

The mercenaries noticed something was wrong. Why did their comrade leading the way have such a peculiar smell? It wasn’t foul, but it was hard to ignore.

The torchlight illuminated his face, which was unnervingly pale.

GAK GAK GAK GAK! The strange cries rose and fell all around them.

They had already descended the stone steps and were now completely underground.

The torches illuminated a ten-pace radius. It was a dilapidated underground structure with collapsed stone pillars and human heads impaled on corroded iron spears.

At this moment, the group holding torches were like living targets.

A short, blue figure charged into the torchlight.

”Monsters! Attack!”

Someone bellowed. The fastest to act was the man in iron armor. He swung his warhammer as if smashing a melon, bursting the little monster’s head and sending its body crashing to the ground.

The GAK GAK GAK cries grew more and more frantic.

The sound of dense footsteps closed in, surrounding them!