Chapter 116: The Muhe Plain

"Look at that pack of curs below, running so energetically. Should we go down and burn their tails to make them run even faster?"

"Iroge, we have more important things to do. Do not waste time on such trifles." Morax promptly stopped the red dragon's mischievous intent, and Iroge reluctantly extinguished the fireball in his foreclaw.

A hunt was unfolding in the distance. Several squads of terror demons were moving across the plain, barely making a sound with their footsteps, appearing and disappearing in the shadows and mist like ghosts. Their movement trajectory utilized the shadows of the terrain for short-range, high-efficiency folding.

A herd of demonized bison was being silently driven and separated by three groups of terror demons. There was no visible howling or communication between the terror demons, yet their actions were coordinated flawlessly.

One terror demon feigned an attack to draw attention, while two on the flank instantly lunged from the shadows. The entire process was efficient and cold, like a precision killing machine operating automatically.

Vikes looked down with great interest at the surging tide of terror demons below, his eyes flashing with the look of someone appraising a rare collection:

"Interesting... truly interesting. These 'curs' with their brains gnawed by the Abyss are much smarter than their relatives in the material plane who only know how to howl.

Not only were they not burned into lunatics, but they seem to have... opened their minds, even learning to play with shadows as toys. It's a pity; no matter how fancy they play, they are still things that cannot be brought to the table in their bones, and they have no taste for us."

Morax's gaze was fixed on the silent coordination of the terror demon captain, his voice mixed with a low vibration, like the friction of rocks inside a mountain:

"The level of organization is too high; this is not the order that beasts should have. A complete shadow force is lying right under our noses. To occupy and hold such a vast territory, brute force alone is not enough.

They have schemes, patience, and a 'will' that we cannot yet see clearly pulling the strings behind them. It is not surprising that they have such wisdom. But this precisely means that the threat is real."

Although they had a mission, Morax still intended to clarify the specific situation of the demons to reduce the pressure on the subsequent clearing troops.

After some searching, they finally found a camouflaged main nest. From a distance, it looked like a rugged rocky area, but in the vertical pupils of the dragons, such clumsy camouflage was of no use.

The entrance might be a huge spiral ramp leading underground, with totem pillars over ten meters high, inlaid with huge shadow crystals and wolf king skull sculptures, standing on both sides of the entrance.

The surface part might be a low but extremely vast dome-style fortress, covered with grooves and holes conducive to shadow lurking, with almost no windows.

It was surrounded by multiple concentric defensive works. The outermost layer was shadow traps and warning runes that were difficult to detect; the middle layer was a low wall dug with deep trenches and covered with bone spikes; the inner layer was a special "silent zone" constantly patrolled by elite terror demons.

Because there was no intention to attack the terror demons for the time being, they did not go down to investigate, so as not to disturb the demons and cause unnecessary trouble for the subsequent mission.

They were built at the borders of other powerful demon tribes or on key passages leading to the Muduo River, and were purely military fortresses. The walls were composed of multi-layered shadow-solidified substances and rammed earth, which were extremely tough and could absorb a certain degree of sound waves and energy impacts.

The ground outside the fortress was covered with intricate trenches, pits, and tunnel exits, facilitating the rapid maneuvering, raiding, and retreating of terror demon warriors.

There were no conspicuous high towers, but there were many hidden shooting holes and observation posts. The center of the fortress might have a summoning/amplification array, used to strengthen shadow energy in the area or conduct collective mental shocks during wartime.

After their detailed observation, they discovered an interesting phenomenon: traditional demons from the Abyssal plane had not been completely driven away, but had firmly taken root in some barren lands.

In the northeast corner of the plain, an area intertwined with scorched black and dark red, there were countless cracks emitting blue smoke on the ground, with faint magma red light visible inside. There was no green, only twisted objects resembling scorched dead trees.

Even during the day, one could see sporadic pillars of fire or smoke from explosions. The tribe members, whose forms approximated humanoids, had lava cracks on their bodies and gathered around the cracks, seemingly absorbing heat.

One could see low walls and towers roughly poured with lava; the buildings were rough but full of aggression.

The border of the territory was a piece of scorched earth and broken crystalline land, obviously the result of high-intensity energy conflicts (fire and shadow). Both sides had continuous small-scale conflicts here, forming a "burning front line."

The west bank of the Muduo River was a hilly and wilderness area with a dark red tone. The terrain was relatively "natural," but covered with huge claw marks, impact craters, and piles of bones. There were no fixed buildings, only temporary camps built with giant beast skeletons and furs that could be discarded at any time.

Here, one could see large-scale, chaotic, but explosive hunting and migration. Giant predatory demons chased poor demonized beast herds like a tide. They also had violent internal slaughter for prey or territory, and the blood energy on the battlefield formed a faint red mist.

The shadow energy of the Shadow Abyss would erode the edges of their territory, trying to "digest" this area. The Howling Blood Clan occasionally organized suicidal charges, rushing into the shadow mist to destroy wildly, and then were silently swallowed by the shadow tactics of the terror demons. The two were in a pure, endless war of attrition.

At the southeast end of the plain was a purple-green mottled area that made one extremely uncomfortable. The ground was covered with a thick layer of wriggling unknown fungal mats, on which grew huge vesicles, nodules, and constantly opening and closing spore sacs. There were viscous pus streams flowing slowly.

Here, one could hardly see "individuals" in the traditional sense active. But the fungal mat itself was slowly expanding, and the spore sacs periodically erupted clouds of purple-green spores.

Sometimes, the fungal mat would suddenly bulge to form a temporary giant beast made of flesh and carapace, which would melt back into the fungal mat after being active for a period of time. This was a collective, slow process of phagocytosis and transformation.

The weirdest confrontation appeared here. Shadow energy seemed unable to completely decompose this substantive biochemical pollution, and the fungal mat was also trying to "infect" shadow energy.

The border formed a "swamp" intertwined with rot and shadow, constantly changing. Both sides suffered heavy losses here, but neither could completely eliminate the other.

In the downstream area of the Muduo River, there was an area with obvious metallic luster, where there were regular mine pits, furnaces, and forging grounds on the ground. The buildings were riveted or fused with rough but polished metal plates, bones, and rocks, with clear geometric structures, such as watchtowers and walls.

One could see squads of burly humanoid demons wearing rough metal armor patrolling, transporting ore, and operating furnaces.

They even domesticated some armored iron-clad demon beasts as mounts or pack animals. There was a clear, compacted road network within the territory.

This was the most vigilant opponent of the Shadow Abyss terror demons on the plain. Both sides had direct competition for the black iron ore veins. The border was a stage for fortress confrontation, positional warfare, and elite squad infiltration warfare.

The metal weapons and armor of the Iron Skeleton Warband had a certain resistance to shadow attacks, and their orderly nature also made the group intelligence advantage of the terror demons less obvious. The war between them had lasted for thousands of years, and obviously, neither could eliminate or drive the other away.

After observing the entire plain area, they flew over the Muduo River and flew toward the Black Iron Mountains. After flying for hundreds of miles along the mountains looking for the river mentioned in the intelligence, they finally found the target.

It was not a magnificent river, but a shy stream hidden in the shadows. Its river channel was narrow, and the water quality appeared somewhat turbid due to minerals. The trees on both banks were unusually dense, with vines hanging into the water, almost completely covering the river surface. The twisted forms contaminated by the Abyss made them feel very uncomfortable.

The three dragons lowered their altitude and flew directly into the narrow "Dark River" valley. The light here dimmed instantly, as if entering another world.

Huge, twisted trees intertwined into an airtight black net above the river valley, and the blood-red sunlight could only cast mottled spots of light. The air was filled with the smell of rotten leaves and damp soil.

The river flowed slowly here, the water surface was black, floating with rotten leaves, and the bottom could not be seen. The three dragons could feel the ominous life breath hidden in the water. Vikes suddenly fired a breath at the water, and a skeletal iron giant crocodile floated up. This kind of demonized giant crocodile was the absolute ruler of the river in this area.

Passing through the long and narrow river valley, the view suddenly opened up. The salty and humid sea breeze hit their faces, and the full picture of Shadow Bay was finally exposed to the five dragons.

This was a perfect horseshoe-shaped bay with two huge natural stone pillars at the entrance, like guards. The bay was calm, the water was pitch black, reflecting the steep cliffs around it.

The shore of the bay was not an orderly port, but a chaotic and dirty camp. Dozens of pirate ships of various sizes were moored at simple wooden piers. Of course, the ones occupying this place were not ordinary pirates, but murlocs that had been contaminated.

Because they often sneaked into the plain area through the Dark River to harass and plunder the terror demons, and also ambushed other demon forces that occasionally passed by at sea, they became notorious, but because no one could find their location, they had always existed.

Of course, the main reason was that this was also a stronghold for some evil organizations. In order not to be targeted by demon lords, they borrowed the name of murloc pirates to ambush other demons or seize some magic artifacts, which led to quite a lot of treasures being hoarded in the stronghold on the cliff.

One of Morax and the others' purposes was to occupy this place and obtain the treasures inside, so as to pay the military pay that had been in arrears for a long time.