Lord of Rot

When the battle began, Qiao and the Porcupine Soldiers stayed together, their hearts pounding as they listened to the tremendous noise coming from the mud pit.

Suddenly, the grass ahead parted, and Elo stumbled out, spitting blood.

Qiao jumped in surprise. He wanted to run over and help Elo, but didn’t forget to shout a warning, ”Quick, get ready!”

’Elo’s so badly hurt. He must have run into danger.’

Fortunately, they were all veterans with excellent reflexes, so they didn’t panic.

The ten Soldiers formed a shield wall and advanced slowly, moving to protect Elo behind them.

The undergrowth was torn apart as the Giant Lizard charged out.

”Four Gods above, what is that monster!” Qiao broke out in goosebumps.

It was as tall as a man at the shoulder, with a massive head like a millstone and eyes as large as two fists.

Its body was caked in thick mud armor. Every time it writhed, large chunks of half-dried, stinking mud fell away.

The Giant Lizard’s slowly swishing tail occasionally slammed into tree trunks, making them tremble. Slender trees were snapped in two.

It left a trail of destruction as it slowly crawled forward.

’Elo is wounded, and Ma Wei’s fate is unknown. Can my ten Soldiers really handle a monster this terrifying?’

”Don’t fight it head-on! Keep your distance,” Elo said, clutching his chest and coughing. ”It’s poisoned, but because it’s so massive, the venom will take a while to work.”

Without waiting for Qiao’s order, the ten Soldiers acted as one, retreating cautiously with their shields raised.

The Soldiers kept facing the Giant Lizard at all times. Turning their backs on such a terrifying beast would be suicide.

The Giant Lizard struggled to move through the forest. Its body was too cumbersome, and the dense vegetation, though easily broken, still slowed it down. It could only watch helplessly as Elo and the others got further and further away.

The pain from its severed tongue fueled its rage.

What enraged the Giant Lizard even more was the sensation of its strength draining away.

”SHUNK!”

A large chunk of the mud armor on the Giant Lizard’s head shattered.

”ROAR!” The Giant Lizard bellowed in pain. A foul stench erupted from its gaping maw, its jaws stretched to an impossible width, its bare jaw muscles twitching.

The roar scattered the wind. A figure was squatting on the Giant Lizard’s head, gripping a sword with both hands. It was Ma Wei, who had vanished moments before.

He had just plunged his sword into the Giant Lizard’s skull with a two-handed, reverse grip.

The Giant Lizard thrashed its head wildly, sending Ma Wei and the sword flying.

As the glowing green Longsword was ripped free, blood erupted from the top of the Giant Lizard’s head.

The furious struggle didn’t last long. Everyone present noticed the Giant Lizard’s movements growing sluggish. Its body swayed, and its eyelids began to flutter.

Finally, after a long struggle...

”CRASH!”

The Giant Lizard crashed to the ground.

Its great maw opened and closed reflexively.

The light slowly faded from its two fist-sized eyes.

’It’s dead!’

”Cough, cough... Nearly broke a bone,” Ma Wei grunted, pushing himself up from the ground and rubbing his chest.

He walked over to Elo and handed him the glowing green Silver Steel Sword. ”That was a close one. Tougher than that long-haired ’lady’ we ran into last time.”

Elo put away the Silver Steel Sword, then casually grabbed a bottle from his belt. He bit down on the cork and pulled it out with a POP.

”Pah!” He spat out the cork, tilted his head back, and downed the bottle’s contents in one go.

In that instant, his wounds seemed to heal somewhat, and his spirits visibly lifted.

”If I hadn’t been trying to get her pants off, I would’ve just cut her down and collected the bounty,” Elo said. ”I really don’t get you. The city is full of all kinds of women, yet you’re always chasing after things that just *look* like women.”

Ma Wei gave him a mysterious look. ”You wouldn’t understand.”

Seeing that the two had no intention of stopping their banter, Qiao couldn’t help but interject, ”Sirs, about this thing...”

”This should be your nemesis,” Ma Wei said, pointing to the dead Giant Lizard. ”Take it and that severed tongue back with you. That should be enough for you to report back to the Lord. I already checked the mud pit. It’s just full of small lizards, probably this thing’s offspring. If you’re worried, you can send your men in to clear them out.”

Qiao immediately ordered the Soldiers to go in and clear them out.

The ten Soldiers rushed in, and in a short while, they had dragged out over twenty lizards. The longest of them was about the length of a grown man lying down.

It was basically one strike per kill. In front of fully armored human Soldiers, the ordinary lizards stood no chance; it was a slaughter.

These ”giant lizards,” a rare sight on any normal day, looked positively tiny next to the corpse of the true Giant Lizard.

Qiao said with great sincerity, ”Thank you, Mr. Ma Wei, and Mr. Elo!”

”We’re just doing a job for pay. You should be thanking Lord Leech.”

As he said this, Ma Wei glanced up at the sky.

There were no birds. His deliberate bit of flattery had been for nothing.

”Of course!” Qiao didn’t understand the meaning behind Ma Wei’s glance. He nodded and said, ”The Lord gave me everything I have. I will work hard to repay his kindness.”

”Well, have fun with that,” Ma Wei said with a smile. ”We won’t be going back with you. I’m sure the Lord already knows everything that’s happened here.”

’I don’t understand what he’s talking about. We’re more than a day’s journey from Porcupine Territory. How could the Lord possibly know?’

Nevertheless, he took out the money he had prepared. ”This is the payment from the Lord.”

Before he left, Leech had instructed him to pay Ma Wei and Elo as soon as they completed the mission and let them go on their way.

Ma Wei took the pouch. Inside were two Jinri and a pile of Silver Moon.

’The Jinri must be the bonus Leech promised, but this pile of Silver Moon... that must have come out of Qiao’s own pocket.’

He didn’t refuse. Who would say no to money?

As Ma Wei looked at Qiao, he found himself liking the kid.

”We’re off!” Ma Wei waved and helped a leaning Elo walk away.

Qiao’s voice followed them. ”May the Four Gods bless and protect you.”

”Did nobody tell him we Hunters don’t believe in the Four Gods?” Ma Wei asked.

”Pfft, haha.”

”What are you laughing at, Elo!”

”You’re embarrassed,” Elo said, pointing at Ma Wei and roaring with laughter. ”Someone thanked you, and you got embarrassed.”

”I swear, I’ll throw you in a brothel and make you service the male clientele!”

”No, you can’t do that.”

”I will,” Ma Wei said angrily. ”And I’ll tell them you like it in the throat!”

”Damn you, Ma Wei... Ma Wei, I was wrong, I’m begging you, please don’t! I can’t take that, I’ll die!”

The two departed, bickering, far more relaxed than when they’d first arrived in Porcupine Territory, despite their injuries.

Qiao looked at the Giant Lizard’s corpse and recalled his Lord’s final order. ”Get over here! Load this thing onto the wagons!”

’Even though we brought several wagons, can we really haul this massive thing back?’

...

At Porcupine Castle, the bird enchanted with the Eagle Eye Magic wasn’t very obedient; once it flew beyond Porcupine Territory, Leech completely lost his feed.

To avoid revealing his undead servants, Leech had used a corpse bird to watch the hunting party. He hadn’t dared to get too close, so he only knew that the battle had been perilous.

Qiao’s return with the Giant Lizard’s corpse drew crowds of onlookers from all over Porcupine Territory.

It took several wagons just to barely haul the front half of the Giant Lizard. The rest of its body, from the torso down to its tail, was simply dragged along the ground behind them.

A little girl standing on the side of the road tugged at her mother’s sleeve. ”Mama, what is that? It’s so scary.”

The woman wasn’t sure. ”It must be a dragon. How frightening!”

It was clear that Porcupine Territory would have a new topic of conversation at the dinner table for years to come.

Qiao hadn’t even dared to rest on the way back, traveling through the night to finally return to Porcupine Territory.

Leech finally laid eyes on the monster that had killed Qiao’s entire family.

A Giant Lizard, about 1.7 meters tall at the shoulder and sixteen or seventeen meters long.

’Can lizards even grow this big?’

Leech circled the Giant Lizard twice. ’And this head... it looks like a dinosaur. It even has a bit of a Godzilla vibe.’

The lizard’s corpse was relatively intact. Some of its scales had been hacked off, but these were just superficial wounds.

There were only two major wounds. The first was the sword wound to its head—the fatal blow. Potent venom had entered its brain, killing the Giant Lizard.

The other was its tongue, which thankfully, had also been brought back.

”Take the corpse to Pigtail Bay,” Leech ordered. ”Return immediately after you’ve delivered it. No one is to go near there.”

”Yes, sir!”

No one dared question the Baron’s command, even if it was baffling.

But some speculated it might be related to Porcupine Territory’s hidden forces. A few people remembered that the territory had more than just its official Soldiers; there was a secret contingent that had chosen to remain in hiding. It seemed likely they were concealed somewhere near Pigtail Bay.

Along with the Giant Lizard’s corpse, a magical herb and a wagonload of preservative materials were also sent to Pigtail Bay.

As darkness fell, corpse birds circled the sky, making absolutely sure no one was approaching the area.

After a while, two women—one tall, one short—approached. They effortlessly shouldered the Giant Lizard’s corpse, a feat that had strained multiple wagons, and carried it toward the Pigtail Bay headland.

They moved everything, trip by trip, until only the empty wagons remained.

Leech opened his eyes. ”Have someone bring the wagons back.”