Chapter 76: Archipelago Residents

"Keen, I am very clear about your past misdeeds. Don't think about hiding anything. My drow elves will let you know what 'serious consequences' means. Your position as Viceroy can be retained, but it is best to stop your little tricks. I am not that stupid king."

"My master, please be sure to believe me. Under the constraints of the vassal contract, I will be a loyal and reliable servant. Hamodo will be an important source of your wealth."

"Very good. Zoge, I am more at ease with the trolls. As long as you are willing to serve me, you will obtain unexpected wealth, and of course, territory. The island area of Gray Leaf Island is too small. Of course, everything requires a price. Although I have a lot of territory, I will not give it to any subordinate who has no contribution."

"Respected Black Dragon Duke, the troll race is willing to become your most savage war hammer. Please give the order, let us go and smash whose city, and grind it into powder!"

"I need an army. How many people can you send? This will determine your value."

"Gray Leaf Island has five large tribes and twenty small tribes, with a total population of about five thousand. I don't know exactly how many. You must know that I am only the nominal Great Chieftain and cannot fully control the tribes below."

"That means you cannot provide me with excellent warriors. Fine! I will go there myself, and by the way, I will deter those guys who don't intend to listen honestly. Why didn't the dwarves send anyone? Do they not intend to recognize my rule? Or do they intend to go to war with me?"

"Duke, I think you have misunderstood them. Because in the past many years, a certain Viceroy often robbed the dwarves' merchant caravans, leading to their deep hatred for humans. Why don't you let our Sea Wing race persuade them!"

"No need. I have my own arrangements for this matter. I want to know how many troops your Sea Wing race can provide and what spells you are good at."

"Duke, we are born to belong to the ocean. The wind is our invisible wings, and the waves are our eternal allies. Every adult Sea Wing clansman is a natural pet of the wind and waves. There are currently two hundred maritime elites waiting for your dispatch at any time, swearing to tear any madman who dares to defy you into pieces. In addition, there are thirty new bloods who will reach adulthood soon, ready to serve you at any time."

"Possessing both wind and water magic at the same time is very unusual! Your wisdom seems to be very high. Why are you limited to this small Monoke plane?"

"You are right, Duke. We are indeed a race that loves poetry very much. We were once pets of the Elf God King Corellon. Later, because we were seduced by a certain green dragon during the war with dragons, we betrayed the elf race. That God King was very angry and cast a curse."

"'Since you despise the land so much, from now on, the land will become your prison. Your bloodline will be forever connected to the sea; leave the water and you will decline, land and you will die.' All architectural skills and advanced magic books about the Cloud City-States gradually were lost, eventually becoming legends, and only some poems are still passed down among us."

"That is to say, you cannot leave here? Is there any way to lift the curse?"

"Once, a certain necromancer tried to transform our clansmen into undead forms, successfully walking out of the plane. There were also some humans who once sealed Sea Wings in a piece of seawater and brought them to other oceans. We have tried countless ways to lift the curse, all of which ended in failure. Perhaps the wise Duke can think of a way."

With Sakavi's current ability, he could completely manufacture a kind of puppet and transfer the curse through a contract method. However, there is no need to offend the elves for now. Perhaps one day he can research a way to lift it, let them break the shackles themselves, so that trouble can be avoided.

"Do you still have inherited magic knowledge in your tribe? If I teach outside wind magic, can you master it quickly?"

"Yes, in our nest, there is magic knowledge carved on stone tablets, which was passed down during the Dragon Era. It's just that with the passage of time, the inheritance has gradually become incomplete, and our strength has also declined from generation to generation. Now the highest is only at the High-Level."

"If the Duke is willing to teach, we can learn new magic very quickly. Please be sure to believe us. Most Sea Wings can read Common, and we won't cause you any trouble."

Sakavi was noncommittal about this. The attitude of this magical beast was too aggressive. If he were allowed to be too powerful, it would be very easy to create a risk of losing control. However, the human side was an even more unstable factor. Currently, the Duke's territory could not spare manpower, and the islands needed powerful force to counter threats, and also needed checks and balances.

"Keen, how many people do you currently have under your command, and how many are capable? If you rebuild the fleet, how long will it take you?"

"Duke, I currently have three thousand armed personnel under the Viceroy's office, and twenty are capable of Mid-Level or above. According to last year's tax revenue of fifty thousand gold coins, if I rebuild the fleet, it will take three years. The shipyard in the port area cannot build large ships. Currently, humans and mermaids are at war, and it is impossible to sell complete ships. We can only buy damaged ones for repair."

"In terms of personnel, Hamodo has a total population of 500,000, of which 200,000 are engaged in sea transport-related work. Recruiting sailors is not a problem. However, Duke, you may have overlooked one point. Most people on the island believe in the Church of Justice, and this is an important commercial stronghold on the sea."

"Don't bother with the Church of Justice. If they don't take the initiative to cause trouble, just pretend they don't exist. How many adventurer teams are there on the island?"

"Duke, you may not understand adventurers very well. It is more appropriate to call them bandits and murderers than explorers. Most of the time, they are undertaking all sorts of shady business. There are also mercenary groups, which are about the same, but they are good hands at cracking down on bandits and cultists. The security of Broken Star City is also their responsibility."

"Currently, there are fifteen adventurer teams registered in the Adventurer Association, all of which have more than five people, two of which have Mid-Level capable people. As for mercenary groups, there are five registered in the Viceroy's office, and they are currently employed by the Viceroy's office. Duke, is there anything else you want to know?"

"Very good, no need anymore. Zoge, I am going to Gray Leaf Island now, you come with me."

"At your command, Duke!"

Departing from the Viceroy's mansion, Flint Island came into view after twenty minutes, with the central volcano, "Throat of the Forge," quietly emitting thick smoke. Dense vegetation was barely visible on the island; in its place were exposed rocks, massive mine pits, and a hellish orange-red glow emanating from deep within the mountain. The air was filled with the scent of sulfur and molten metal.

The scene on Shell Cliff Island was completely different. The towering white cliffs on the west side were covered with Sea Wing nests, like giant beehives. When his massive figure swept across the sky, a large number of Sea Wings flew up from the nests, circling and chirping in the air, not attacking, but a kind of warning and demonstration. Their wind magic disturbed the clouds.

The terrified fish-men were fleeing in all directions on the beach, and the entire tribe fell into chaos. Those messy nests and reef buildings now became fragile barriers to protect the cubs. And the young and strong fish-man warriors had already abandoned the land and were rushing toward the waves at a near-crazy speed, swimming desperately toward the deep sea.

Looking at the fish-man group falling into madness and trampling on each other, Sakavi realized that his dragon might was more like an incomprehensible natural disaster to these low-level creatures, and continuing to stay was meaningless.

He let out a low roar mixed with contempt and boredom, his wings stirred the humid sea breeze, and his massive body drew a pitch-black arc in the air, turning toward Split Scale Island, which was filled with an atmosphere of chaos and tyranny.

The barren outline of Split Scale Island expanded rapidly in his vertical pupils. Unlike the order of the Emerald Plain or the dual balance of Shell Cliff Island, there was only naked survival of the fittest here. On the canyons and terraces where the terrain was relatively flat and easy for predation, the "settlements" of ogres were like scabs on the earth, scattered and distributed.

Their buildings could be called crude monuments of savage power. The materials were mainly giant, unpolished rocks, mixed with twisted wooden boards and broken sails looted from shipwrecks. The main structure was a shed built messily with giant wood, the roof covered with thick, long-rotted beast skin, emitting a strong fishy stench.

The most eye-catching were the "trophy totems" standing beside the sheds, made of whole withered trees, hung with air-dried beast heads, rusted armor, and even skulls of members of hostile tribes, used to show off their martial power and cruelty.

In the center of some slightly larger settlements, one could also see primitive pits built with mud and stones, filled with charred bones and ashes, which was clearly a place for sharing a "feast."

When Sakavi swept across at low altitude, and the shadow cast covered these nests, the reaction on the ground was swift and violent. Groups of ogres rushed out from their respective sheds. They did not flee in fear like the fish-men, but waved thick wooden sticks embedded with bone fragments and giant stone axes, emitting hoarse roars at the sky.

Primitive hostility burned in their turbid small eyes, and their muscular bodies were tense due to the desire for battle, not hiding their desire to drive away this uninvited master of the sky, but they seemed not to dare to take the initiative to attack.

On the southwest side of the rugged coastline of Split Scale Island, there was a bay entrance cleverly hidden by wind-eroded rock pillars and dense mangroves. This was the old lair of the Gray Tail tribe, Bandit Bay. This place was a strategic frontier carefully chosen by the gnolls, adjacent to the main shipping lane.

This place faced the main trade route from the main island of Hamodo to Flint Island and even further areas. Merchant ships came and went frequently, providing the gnolls with sufficient "prey."

Looking from the sea, the bay entrance was obscured by a large number of black reefs and twisted rock pillars, as if it were a dead end. Only gnoll helmsmen familiar with the water conditions knew how to pass through the narrow and turbulent "Razor Waterway" and enter the calm lagoon inside.

The only land route was a narrow rock ridge path full of hidden sentries and traps, known as the "Coyote Trail." Any army attempting to wipe them out from land would pay a heavy price here.

A turbid earthy-yellow river, like an ugly scar, ran through a swamp and rock land intertwined with red and green, and finally flowed into a turbid lagoon half-covered by reefs. Those tiny figures wriggling on the riverbanks and rock walls, as well as the slender boats shuttling like water beetles in the lagoon, all signaled the prosperity of a predatory tribe that relied on waterways, was cunning and cruel.

The gnoll camp was entrenched in a weathered rock group that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, cleverly utilizing the natural terrain. The nests were excavated directly in the caves at the bottom of the rock wall, and the cave entrances were roughly reinforced with twisted hardwood and thorns, coated with a thick layer of sticky substance mixed with mud and filth as a crude waterproofing.

The periphery of the cave was defensive works roughly piled up with sharpened wooden stakes and giant stones, seemingly without any method, but secretly matching the terrain, leaving several hidden exit points and trap areas to lure the enemy deep.

In the open space in the center of the camp stood their belief totem, a wooden pole stained dark brown with blood, on which not only prey skulls were hung, but also woven into a giant and twisted symbol symbolizing the gnoll god Yeenoghu they worshipped. The altar stone under the totem had been soaked with blood stains for years, turning into an ominous purple-black.

Some crude sheds built of tattered beast skin and canvas were scattered around the cave, which were the residences of low-status members or slaves, adjacent to the foul-smelling garbage piles and bone piles that had been gnawed clean.

The dragon's shadow shrouded down like a curtain of death. The gnolls' reaction was swift and orderly. They emitted a series of short, hoarse barks as an alarm. Groups of gnoll warriors rushed out from the caves, holding spears with barbs and rusted scimitars, relying on rocks and wooden stakes, locking onto the dragon with those yellow-brown eyes.

When Sakavi's shadow swept across the cracked saline-alkali land in the eastern part of Split Scale Island, which was scorched by the scorching sun, a completely different scene entered his cold vertical pupils. This was the territory of the Scale Claw tribe, a place where primitive worship and cold-blooded nature were integrated into every inch of land.

Their settlement was built on a relatively dry highland, overlooking the sulfur-smelling swamp around it. The residences were mud-swamp nests half-buried in the ground, roughly built with sun-hardened mud bricks, reeds, and paste-like clay.

The shape was low and round, which could effectively isolate the scorching heat of the day and keep the interior cool and humid. The entrance of each nest was hung with curtains made of air-dried intestinal sacs or thin skin, swaying gently with the hot wind.

Outside some larger nests, one could see beast skins stretched and dried on wooden racks, as well as neatly stacked, polished bone fragments and stone fragments, which were workshops where they made weapons and armor.

The dragon's pressure descended like substance, and the lizardmen's reaction was calmly uncomfortable. Groups of lizardman warriors slid out silently from the nests. They held spears tied with stone fragments and heavy bone clubs. There was no expression on their scale-covered faces, only forked tongues occasionally probing quickly, sensing the dangerous aura in the air. ===== CHAPTER 77 =====