Lord of Rot

Sunlight pierced through the sparse leaves, falling upon Bai Lu’s forehead.

The wind parted her choppy white hair, and her silvery-white eyelashes fluttered gently.

”My... ch... ild...”

The voice drifted from a great distance.

She scrambled to her feet and saw a blurry figure sitting before her, one that looked very much like the Elf King from her memories. Although she couldn’t make out his face, she could hear the tender care of a respected elder in his voice. Her body felt like a flower meeting the sun, relaxing as it stretched out.

The Elf King said, ”The cataclysm has begun. Only... screw your mother!”

Bai Lu’s eyes fluttered open in a daze.

”Screw your mother! That’s my damn armor!”

The scenery of the Elf Forest and the Phantom of the Elf King all vanished. Before her was a crowd of foul-mouthed, brutish soldiers squabbling over weapons and armor.

”QUIET!”

The barbarian woman, Lin Nuo, bellowed like a lioness, and the chaotic scene instantly fell silent.

”Form a line! No snatching!” She strode over to the two young Soldiers who had been fighting in front of Bai Lu. She looked down on them, her presence overwhelming. ”You both want it?”

The two young Soldiers shook their heads repeatedly, chuckling nervously. ”No, we don’t want it.”

But Lin Nuo was all smiles. ”Oh no, you do!”

She turned her head and yelled, ”Someone get over here! Give these two two extra sets of armor each. If they can’t wear them, they’ll carry them. If they can’t carry them, they’ll tie them to their bodies and drag them along!”

”Ma’am, I really don’t want them!”

”Ma’am, I was wrong!”

”Then what are you waiting for? Scram!” Lin Nuo glared. She may not have been a qualified drill instructor, but she was absolutely a commander capable of keeping unruly Soldiers in line.

”Yes, ma’am! Scramming right now!”

The two scurried away as if they’d been granted a royal pardon.

Lin Nuo turned to Bai Lu, her brow furrowed. ”You haven’t been resting well lately?”

”I’ve been resting just fine,” Bai Lu replied, shaking her head.

”Go back and rest,” Lin Nuo said. ”A vicious battle awaits us, and we can’t count on these bastards.”

’It wasn’t that she hadn’t been resting well. She just couldn’t stop herself from feeling drowsy.’

’Ever since she’d gotten news that the Half-Beastmen were coming to the Lu Leiyi Continent, she had felt mentally exhausted.’

Bai Lu asked, ”Has the Baron said when we’re moving out?”

”No,” Lin Nuo said, shaking her head. ”If we’re lucky, we’ll head out to attack them tonight. Judging by the raiding party, their main force can’t be far from us. A Cavalry unit wouldn’t get too far ahead of its support.”

”And if we’re not lucky?” Bai Lu asked.

”If we’re not lucky, we’ll abandon Bonta Market and flee back to the Eastern Gorge tonight.”

Bai Lu’s heart clenched. Her left hand gripped the hilt of the sword at her waist. She nodded with a grave expression, having made some kind of decision. ”Right.”

’The Half-Beastmen were enemies of the elves. With their army approaching, she couldn’t possibly flee. She had to be on the front lines for this battle. It wasn’t just about hatred; she also had to prove to Baron Leech that she hadn’t deceived him, that she truly possessed the resolve to slaughter Half-Beastmen.’

The atmosphere throughout Bonta Market had changed again, becoming fraught with paranoia and fear.

The market’s merchant caravans had already departed one by one. Only the local residents remained in the town, the doors of every house shut tight.

While everyone outside was busy, Leech sat in a chair, his eyes shut tight.

He had already animated the Dwarf Half-Beastman’s corpse. To get enough intelligence, he had to suppress his physical revulsion and plunge his Spiritual Power into its body.

Memories surged forth like water from an open floodgate.

The first thing to enter Leech’s mind was language—the language of the Half-Beastmen, which consisted mostly of roars.

He had now completely mastered their language.

In Mengo’s memories, it was mostly the Dwarf Half-Beastmen who communicated this way. He wasn’t sure if it was due to their low intelligence or because roaring was a better way to show off their strength.

Mengo, the robe-wearing Dwarf Half-Beastman, did not care for this method of communication, as it was not ”aristocratic” enough for him.

Leech quickly sifted through Mengo’s memories. There was little to be learned from the creature’s short life. Mengo came from a tribe and had a mother, but it was difficult to know who his father was. Dwarf Half-Beastmen had no concept of marital fidelity; children born into the tribe were raised communally.

Mengo was a standard Dwarf Half-Beastman, but he had an exceptionally gifted twin brother, Mennen. Mennen had been born strong and had grown to nine feet tall by his teens!

Dwarf Half-Beastmen, by contrast, only grew to just over five feet tall, about the same height as an average human.

Being so tall meant he was exceptionally gifted, and Mennen did indeed rely on his natural talent to become a powerful Demon Beastman.

Leech’s research revealed that these so-called Demon Beastmen were similar to human Transcendents—both represented a leap in Life Level.

Once he became a Demon Beastman, Mennen naturally escaped the cannon-fodder fate of the Dwarf Half-Beastmen. Furthermore, he kept his younger brother Mengo by his side, using his status to force-feed him benefits. For instance, the Warg that was on the verge of becoming an Extraordinary-level magical beast had been acquired for his brother through Mennen’s own connections, all to improve Mengo’s chances of survival.

Riding his brother’s coattails, Mengo wormed his way into the position of deputy commander, cutting a rather imposing figure.

Back then, however, Mengo was just a pants-less Half-Beastman who rode his Warg around, laughing like a fool. That changed when he met a noble Half-Beastman lady. She wore exquisite Scale Armor that traced her captivating curves, but when Mengo tried to profess his love for her, he was ruthlessly kicked aside and then thoroughly thrashed by his own brother.

Mengo later learned his brother had done it to protect him. A lowly Dwarf Half-Beastman professing love to a noble Half-Beastman was like a human slave professing love to a princess. The light punishment was a sneer and a whipping; the severe one involved a Knight, eager to defend the lady’s honor, simply lopping off the offender’s head.

To make himself worthy of her, Mengo began to study how nobles dressed, frantically draping himself in as many ornaments as he could possibly wear.

On this campaign, that beautiful and charming noble lady had also set sail with them, but the ocean waves swallowed her ship. Mengo’s love died with her.

But the creed of being an elegant noble had taken root in Mengo’s heart. He absolutely refused to be anything less than elegant and aristocratic, and he also refused to eat brains.

It was said that a belief of ”eating a body part strengthens your own” was common in some Dwarf Half-Beastman tribes, which was why they were particularly fond of eating brains.

Because of his insistence on elegance, Mengo didn’t even wear the armor his brother gave him onto the battlefield, opting instead for a fine-looking robe.

’The noble lady looks a bit like Galrona from the movies. His taste isn’t half-bad.’

Leech looked at the image of the noble Half-Beastman lady in Mengo’s memory and praised his taste. She was far more beautiful than the more grotesque Half-Beastmen. If he had lived in a Dwarf Half-Beastman tribe like Mengo and suddenly saw a noble Half-Beastman maiden one day, he too would have been stunned by her beauty.

’It’s all about the contrast.’

’Now the two of you can be together as butterflies in the afterlife.’

Leech continued to sift through Mengo’s memories.

First was the journey from the Panbo Continent to the Lu Leiyi Continent. Mengo’s memory contained only an endless sea and countless days of sailing. Fortunately, the Dwarf Half-Beastmen were naturally optimistic... which was possibly related to their low intelligence. They suffered no psychological illnesses and were a rather cheerful bunch.

After braving violent storms and losing many ships, they finally arrived on the Lu Leiyi Continent.

The reason for coming to the Lu Leiyi Continent was unknown, the motive unclear. But does one need a reason to conquer a new continent and plunder its resources?

A new continent was reason enough to set sail!

Under Mennen’s command were over eighty melee-focused Dwarf Half-Beastmen, over twenty Warg Riders, over twenty archers, and four Mad Beastmen.

Mengo didn’t know much about the Mad Beastmen. He only knew they were as tall as his brother but were like feral beasts, completely devoid of reason. They had to be kept in iron chains and did nothing but eat and sleep. On the battlefield, however, their strength was immense, no less than that of his brother, Mennen.

They could occasionally distinguish friend from foe, but if no enemies were present, they would attack their own allies.

’Mad Beastmen. Low-intelligence, Extraordinary Half-Beastmen,’ Leech concluded.

’I’ll need to test them myself to know the specifics.’

Within the unit, Mennen had arranged a cushy job for his brother: managing the Warg Riders, who possessed the greatest combat strength and mobility.

Mengo had never lost a battle before, not until he ran into Leech’s Corpse Ghosts.

’Unfortunately, this idiot Mengo doesn’t know the legion’s total numbers. He only knows there are several dozen Demon Beastman leaders. If Mennen’s unit of 120 is the standard, then the legion has at least 3,000 soldiers. With both Demon Beastmen and Mad Beastmen, that means over a hundred Transcendents!’

Leech’s heart skipped a beat. And that was with half their forces lost to the sea. If the entire army of nearly ten thousand had landed, with hundreds of Transcendents, he would be no match for them.

’That is, unless my two Corpse Ghosts who are beyond the Extraordinary level attack simultaneously, and the army is stupid enough to single-mindedly chase after Jonney and the Water Nymph, ignore everyone else, and refuse to retreat.’

But amid the bad news, there was some good news.

Mennen’s unit was a reconnaissance force, sent ahead into the desert to scout. The main legion had found a place to make camp after landing and was now waiting for news.

’Mengo didn’t even know his own specific mission. In fact, he only attacked Date Palm Village because he was in a foul mood and wanted to vent after the noble Half-Beastman girl he had a crush on died.’

For a moment, Leech was at a loss for words. Baron Jin Fu had truly suffered a senseless disaster.

Having processed the information, Leech opened his eyes.

’The enemy has one Demon Beastman, four Mad Beastmen, eighty infantry, and twenty archers.’ That was a lavish force for a scouting party.

Leech’s first thought was to devour this enemy force entirely.

’The distance between us isn’t too great. If Mengo doesn’t return soon, his unit will definitely realize something is wrong.’

’So, I have to act decisively. We move out now.’

’Even though the forces at Bonta Market are a disorganized mob, with the Wandering Knights and my Extraordinary Corpse Ghosts, our chances of winning this battle are extremely high. In terms of top-tier power, we have a crushing advantage.’

’As for Cavalry, they have none, while we do. Another crushing advantage.’

’And that’s not even mentioning the infantry. For over twenty heavy cavalrymen, tearing apart a hundred-man infantry unit would be ridiculously easy—unless they have muskets.’

’Oh, right. I need to arrange for someone to bring over muskets, Alchemy Bombs, and cannons.’

He had no intention of leaving for now. The enemy had crossed an ocean; without a supply line, they were like a tree without roots. If he could find a way to devour them, Leech could profit immensely all at once.

The precondition was learning more about the Half-Beastman legion from Mengo’s twin brother, Mennen.

’But Bonta Market’s weak walls definitely won’t hold. Do I have to retreat to the gorge?’

’But that would be handing the Half-Beastmen over to Count Water Buffalo on a silver platter.’

’Then again, that’s not right. Other than myself and other Necromancers, no one would be happy about facing a massive army of enemies.’

Leech stood up and walked out of the room.

Lin Nuo and the others were already waiting outside his door.

He said, ”Prepare to attack!”