Chapter 72: Adventure in the Withered Swamp

On a floating archipelago near the city of Kanasen, there was a private territory of the Weilin family. This was a massive open-air platform carved out against the edge of a cliff, with the ground paved in smooth black basalt. The platform offered an excellent view, overlooking the rolling, starlit dust clouds below, as well as the flickering lighthouses of the Astral cities in the distance.

Feeling extremely bored, Sakavi had a sudden inspiration and asked the city lord for this place, intending to hold a banquet lasting ten days. The dining table was a massive, low, circular stone sofa surrounding a raised area in the center. This way, whether it was the humanoid form of dragons or their true forms, they could all be seated comfortably. The cushions were stuffed with shadow leopard fur and winter wolf down, appearing both luxurious and extremely comfortable.

Today was the seventh day. The main course was ribs of giant stone cattle from the high mountain regions, which had been marinated in spices and red wine beforehand and were currently being roasted over the central charcoal pit. There was also a whole tender lamb from the grasslands, stuffed with rosemary, numbing mushrooms, and other exotic spices, slow-roasted on an outer ordinary charcoal grill, with the skin charred and crispy.

The appetizer was crystal sturgeon slices, taken from the fattest parts of giant sturgeon from the extremely cold Crystal Lake, cut into transparent slices, served on an ice platter, and seasoned with lemon juice and a sauce with a minty fragrance. There was also a glowing mushroom salad, made from magical mushrooms that grew in caves and emitted a faint light automatically, mixed with crisp wild vegetables, offering a refreshing taste.

Other dishes more common in the multiverse, such as salt-baked giant sea shrimp, moonlight silver salmon jelly, charcoal-grilled deep-sea giant squid tentacles, tiger-skin griffin eggs, and wild mushroom night-dew soup, had all been eaten over the previous six days. Today, everyone unanimously requested something new.

Of course, there was also starlight wine as a beverage. This precious wine produced in the elf territory was stored in transparent crystal bottles, and fine starlight seemed to flicker within the liquid, with a crisp and sweet aftertaste.

However, Sakavi was in no mood to eat this table of food, because while he was seriously roasting the giant stone cattle ribs, Aikuilong returned, bringing news of the loan negotiations.

Sakavi: "Aikuilong, have you been hit by an illusion or eaten poisonous mushrooms? You actually dared to bring me back such an agreement. Are you trying to anger me to death?"

Weilna: "He was robbed. Didn't you see he didn't even have his underwear on? Hahahaha!"

Su Lai De: "Have the Bailong Sect become this poor these days? But then again, Sakavi himself doesn't seem to have ever worn clothes. They actually aren't afraid that if they lend the money, it won't be repaid."

Sakavi: "Weilna, you are at least the number two person in the Duke's territory. You actually have the nerve to mock me. If it really can't be repaid, let's see what you do."

Weilna: "You overestimate me too much. I am just a vassal under your command. Your money has nothing to do with me."

Sakavi: "Now it does." Sakavi took out a humanoid puppet, pressed a dragon scale onto it, and muttered something. Suddenly, the puppet decayed rapidly and eventually turned into a pile of dust.

Weilna: "What is this? Why did you suddenly take out a puppet? Are you cursing that dragon-kin from the Bailong Sect who cheated you out of your money?"

Sakavi: "No, I am dissolving our vassal contract. This is called a conversion curse, which can convert the fate of a puppet and a person. I used it in reverse, and I can dissolve the vassal contract. Isn't that very reasonable?"

Weilna: "So you were cursing me! Why are you so petty, you guy? Didn't I just use your name to kill people and set fires? You dissolved the contract; how am I supposed to avoid those enemies in the future?"

Sakavi: "It should have been dissolved long ago. This is the respect you deserve. Now half of the debt is yours. How do you plan to repay this money?"

Weilna: "A drow elf who honestly repays debts is not favored by the Spider Queen. Do you think I will repay this money? Giving even one gold coin to the Bailong Sect is an insult to me, an intriguer."

Sakavi: "I'm not going to bicker with you anymore. How do you plan to handle this plane? Who will sit in charge and preside over the situation? This time, two Legendary Rank druids are coming. It won't do if we don't have someone powerful watching over it."

Weilna: "Listening to you, it sounds like you intend for me to stay. Don't even think about this; I couldn't possibly agree. You should let Su Lai De and his wife come. It just so happens that we can use the plane as a dowry for Inolin. How much of a bride price do you intend to give? Your subordinates are getting married; don't even think about reneging on the debt."

Sakavi: "The bride price is a life-saving ring. I have already asked Gelapu to negotiate with the Black Forest. It won't affect their marriage."

Weilna: "Why are you three still eating!!! My roasted whole lamb has been eaten up. You don't even know how to leave a little for me? You have no conscience."

Inolin: "This has nothing to do with me. It was all eaten by Weikesi. He is the biggest and eats the most. He must be punished by roasting another one for everyone."

…………

"General Manager Weilna, the gnoll Jiske has come to report. Please give your instructions!" Looking at the young gnoll performing a standard military salute, Weilna tried hard to suppress her laughter and waved her hand to indicate that so many formalities were unnecessary.

Jiske was currently trying his best to put on a posture he thought was steady and cold, but those yellow eyes that kept turning, revealing nervousness and excitement, betrayed him. His attire could be called a visual disaster, perfectly interpreting what "over-the-top mix-and-match style" meant.

The most eye-catching thing was his fire-red mohawk hairstyle, which looked like it had been soaked in low-quality dye and was glaringly bright. This tuft of red hair had been carefully groomed by him, standing high on the top of his head, forming a sharp contrast with his own earthy-yellow fur, as if a cluster of eternal flames had been ignited on his head.

He was wearing a gray military overcoat of a human clerical officer that was clearly too large. The shoulder seams hung down to his upper arms, and the hem dragged to his calves. He deliberately did not button it, showing off his furry, muscular chest like a boast. The cuffs of the overcoat were rolled up messily, revealing his forelimbs wearing leather bracers and sharp claws.

He had a thick, slowly burning cigar slanted in the corner of his mouth, trying to imitate the style of a human officer or a gang leader. From time to time, he would puff out smoke, and he even tried to spray smoke from his nostrils, though it didn't seem to go very well.

Unlike his "humanized" attempt on his upper body, his lower body completely returned to the gnoll tradition. A pair of leather trousers with metal patches, and a beast-skin belt full of wild style, hanging with several small metal skulls.

"Jiske is here! Your attire is different again this time. Who are you imitating this time?"

"Reporting to the Duke, I am imitating General Manager Weilna, whom I have always admired. I feel extremely honored to be able to work for her today."

"Don't talk nonsense. I don't know you, and I've never dressed like this."

"Reporting to the General Manager, as your firm supporter, I believe that one must have one's own style and cannot blindly imitate you. My hairstyle represents my attitude toward the Duke's territory, my military overcoat represents my current status, and the cigar is to be as cool as you."

"Not bad, not bad, hahahaha, young people really have vitality, hahahahaha, Weilna, you have an enviable supporter."

"I hope all of this is a dream." Weilna covered her face helplessly, unwilling to look at this guy who was serious but also very ridiculous.

"Alright, alright, let's talk about some serious business. That Jiske, how many people did you bring this time? We are going to fight a big battle to clean up the plane this time."

"Reporting to the Duke, this time I brought five thousand gnolls as the vanguard army, and the subsequent one hundred thousand lizardmen are ready to attack at any time, guaranteeing the completion of this combat mission."

"So many people? Sakavi, aren't lizardmen mainly engaged in port and river transport tasks? Why mobilize so many people? You should have sent more ogres instead."

"That's right, and because of this, the lizardmen lack serious combat experience, and there are many of them. It's good to let them gain some experience this time. Jiske, I'll leave the command to you this time. If you dare to mess it up for me, you'll see what happens."

"Guarantee no problem, Duke, please look. My people have already started scouting the Withered Swamp area. The brothers in the crystal ball are a High-Level combination known as the 'Shadow Fangs.' The elder brother, Kaimeng, is an assassin skilled in shadow stealth and fatal strikes, and the younger brother, Suola, is a ranger proficient in natural tracking and survival. They are excellent scouts."

When Kaimeng and Suola stepped onto the edge of the Withered Swamp, that scent of death, mixed with rot and sweetness, immediately enveloped them. Even with the protection of amulets, they still felt as if their lungs were blocked by cold silt.

"This place... even the shadows are sticky." Kaimeng whispered, his body seemingly merging into the shadows cast by the twisted, withered bone forest on the edge of the swamp, almost impossible to be detected by the naked eye.

"Watch your step, and the air. Every breath here is weakening us." Suola responded, crouching down to inspect the black mud. He noticed some unnatural depressions and drag marks, not from beasts, but more like traces of some sticky object moving.

When they passed a seemingly calm mudflat covered in bright moss in the crystal ball, Suola suddenly pulled Kaimeng. His sharp eyes discovered extremely fine bubbles emerging from under the moss. Just as they stopped, several strangling vines they had originally thought were withered branches shot out from the mudflat like black lightning, aiming straight for their ankles!

Kaimeng's short blades drew cold light in the shadows, precisely severing the vines, and foul-smelling black juice flowed from the cut ends. Suola keenly noticed that after the severed vines fell back into the mudflat, they were quickly swallowed by the silt, as if they had never existed.

Continuing deeper, the ink-green poisonous fog became thicker and thicker. Suddenly, the black water area ahead began to "boil," and three highly bloated venom corpses, dripping with sticky venom, crawled up. They did not roar, but only made a nauseating, sucking-like wheezing sound, stumbling forward. The plants on the ground they walked over withered and turned black instantly.

"Don't let their body fluids splash on you!" Suola warned, while drawing his enchanted longbow. The arrows were like meteors, precisely piercing the head of one of the corpses, but the corpse only swayed and did not fall. Instead, the venom sprayed from the wound shot toward Suola as if it had a life of its own!

Kaimeng appeared from the shadows, his twin blades coated with shadow energy, each strike striving to sever the joints of the corpses, avoiding the venom splashing caused by frontal hacking. The battle was short and intense, and the corpses eventually turned into three pools of constantly wriggling poisonous mud, but the brothers' weapons and leather armor were left with traces of corrosion.

Just after solving the corpses, an extremely faint air vibration sound, like bones rubbing against each other, came from overhead. Kaimeng didn't even think, relying on intuition, pushed Suola away, and rolled to the side himself.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Several skeletal raptors with a wingspan of nearly three meters swooped down like black lightning, their rusted bone claws digging deep into the ground where they had just been standing. Ghostly green soul fire burned in the eye sockets of these raptors, and their attacks carried cunning coordination. One attracted attention, while the other launched a surprise attack from the blind spot of vision.

They were incredibly flexible in the air and could easily dodge most arrows. Suola had to use expensive explosive arrows to cause effective damage to their dense bone frames, while Kaimeng constantly used shadow jumps, trying to attack their relatively fragile cervical spine connections. Seeing that they couldn't get any advantage, after emitting a few whimpering cries, they fled into the depths of the swamp and disappeared without a trace.

After getting rid of the skeletal raptors and arriving at a relatively open area filled with mushrooms that looked like ghost faces, an even more bizarre attack descended. The ghost-face mushrooms around them began to distort, emitting silent screams. The brothers felt a sharp headache, and the scenes before their eyes began to shake and overlap. The swamp wraiths used the ghost-face mushrooms as amplifiers to launch a mental attack! Crisis descended once again.

Kaimeng's shadow affinity gave him a certain resistance to this type of attack, but Suola, as a ranger with a closer connection to nature, took a greater impact. He saw dead comrades beckoning to him and heard calls that did not exist in reality. He was almost about to walk involuntarily toward a seemingly calm but actually deadly mudflat.

"Suola! Wake up!" Kaimeng growled, slapping an amulet containing holy light energy onto his brother. Suola shuddered, the hallucinations receded, but his face remained pale, covered in cold sweat.

After a series of attacks, the brothers finally approached the core area of the swamp. Here, they discovered unusual traces; some low-level undead were moving slowly around a small, half-collapsed altar built of black stones, as if receiving some invisible command.

In the center of the altar remained an extremely faint but high-quality necromantic magic fluctuation. This fluctuation was out of place with the surrounding environment, like traces left behind after being deliberately covered up. Just as Suola tried to approach the altar to collect a sample of the sacrifice, the entire mud ground beneath their feet suddenly came alive!

A massive sludge lurker, composed of silt, bones, and countless tormented souls, suddenly rose up! "Retreat!" Kaimeng made a split-second decision, grabbed the still-weak Sola, and activated his strongest Shadow Shuttle ability; their figures instantly faded, and they teleported several hundred meters away, narrowly escaping danger.

They did not look back, fleeing toward the outside of the swamp at the fastest speed. Behind them was the dull roar of the silt lurker, mixed with anger and disappointment, as well as the death aura of the entire swamp, which seemed to have become more active after being provoked.

Watching the adventure experience of the gnoll brothers, Sakavi had a new understanding of Jiske's ability. He had only mentioned it casually, yet he had actually organized a behind-enemy-lines reconnaissance unit, and the effect seemed quite good.

"Duke, if you let my subordinates take a large team, I guarantee to capture the lich inside. Please give me this opportunity."

"No need. There is no need to send so many people to die for such dangerous things. I will go see it myself. Perhaps there is some surprise waiting for us inside." ===== CHAPTER 73 =====