Chapter 9: The Swamp Crisis

Perhaps it was the total annihilation of the gnoll army that shocked the surrounding forces; in the year that followed, the swamp was not disturbed by any faction, and even traveling merchants vanished without a trace.

After summoning his various dependents to make empty promises, Sakavi decided to take a long sleep. Sakavi was currently eight years old; in another eight years of sleep, he would be able to go out and wreak havoc on the region. After instructing his dependents to wake him if anything happened, Sakavi closed his eyes and began to receive new dragon heritage in his dreams.

"Great Master, I am very sorry to wake you at this time. We have encountered a problem we cannot solve, and we hope you can come personally to give us guidance."

Sakavi opened his eyes abruptly. Seeing the goblin standing before him, his heart was filled with doubt. When did the Great Swamp get a goblin tribe? However, Sakavi did not intend to say such hurtful things to his face.

"Is that so? Which blind tribe has come to challenge me?"

"Yes, Master. This time, it is General Sak, the top commander under Warlord Gosh Hammer-Crusher. According to my scouting, he has brought five hundred ogre warriors, twenty of whom have iron armor, one hundred have leather armor, and there are fifty shamans accompanying the army."

This was surely a punitive expedition against him! A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him; Sakavi felt it necessary to go out and avoid the limelight, but he could not say that directly to his subordinates.

"How much combat power do we have in our hands?"

"Under the leadership of the great Master, we have five hundred lizardman spearmen, two hundred archers, one hundred and eighty warlocks, and three thousand murlocs who can use light crossbows."

Could these demi-humans really reproduce so quickly? Sakavi knew lizardmen laid a clutch of eggs once a year, and a large one at that! He had only been asleep for five years.

Looking at the combat strength of his subordinates, Sakavi decided to hold out to the end. He would not run away unless the enemy breached the main lizardman stronghold.

Seeing that the dependents of all races had arrived, Sakavi said loudly: "Listen well, everyone. I am making the following deployments: the lizardman troops will hold the main stronghold, commanded by Luo En, and are not allowed to take the initiative to attack. All the old, weak, sick, and disabled are to be relocated to the murloc tribe."

"One thousand murloc crossbowmen are to be transferred to assist in defending the city, and the rest will be commanded by Priest Grap. The swamp toad troops are responsible for sneak attacks and harassing the enemy; they are not allowed to engage in close-quarters combat. The snake people will be the reserve force, staying with me and ready to strike at any time."

After speaking, Sakavi told them to adjust their tactics according to the actual situation without needing to report back. After everyone indicated they understood their tasks, he let them go.

Five days later, the army led by Sak arrived at the edge of the swamp. They say that when ten thousand people gather, they are boundless, but looking at the camp set up by these five hundred, it was not small either! Trenches, obstacles, and fortifications were all there. It seemed the opponent was undoubtedly a regular army; this battle would not be easy to fight!

Unlike Sakavi's deep worry, the lizardman tribe was full of confidence. Most of them were young men who had grown up in the last two years and had not experienced the brutal slaughter of the swamp in previous years, so they were full of anticipation for the coming war.

On the third day after the ogres set up camp, they began to march toward the lizardman tribe. The ogre shaman pressed his hands to the ground, and the soil beneath the route from the edge of the swamp to the lizardman tribe quickly rose, forming a road wide enough for dozens of people to walk side by side.

With a roar from Sak, the ogres began to advance slowly, pushing shield carts and battering rams. The soldiers following behind each held a round shield. Seeing such a cautious enemy, Sakavi could not help but break into a cold sweat for the lizardman tribe.

However, Luo En was no pushover. He directed the ballistae to aim directly at the soldiers behind. After continuous shooting, perhaps realizing that the casualties were too high, Sak ordered the shamans to destroy the ballistae on the fortifications.

Luo En did not show weakness either, ordering the warlocks to concentrate fire on the opposing shamans. The enemy clearly did not expect the lizardmen to have so many warlocks, and the shamans suffered heavy casualties for a time.

Just as Luo En was proud of his command, several tall warriors who did not fear the rain of arrows suddenly rushed out from the opposite side. Before anyone could react, they had already jumped onto the fortifications and began to slaughter everyone.

Luo En was furious and ordered them to be shot to death. Although these ogre warriors wore iron armor and were all Level-3 warriors or higher, they still could not withstand the crossbow bolts fired at close range.

The deaths of these few ogres bought precious time for their companions. When the lizardmen were surrounding and killing these extraordinary warriors, the ogres' battering ram had already reached the gate. The crudely made gate was smashed in a few hits, and then dozens of ogre warriors in iron armor poured into the stronghold, pushing inward rapidly.

A brutal melee began. Lizardmen were as strong as ogres, but as amphibians, they excelled in water warfare. Seeing that they were gradually losing the upper hand in the chaotic battle with the ogres, Luo En immediately ordered the numerous murlocs to provide cover fire, and the lizardmen began to retreat to form a phalanx.

Under such a dense phalanx, even mid-level warriors could not slaughter everyone. At Luo En's command, the phalanx began to move forward slowly. Seeing that they were about to be squeezed out of the stronghold, the ogre commander ordered his troops to form a phalanx as well.

However, the ogres did not have the support of numerous archers and gradually began to fail. Seeing that his subordinates could not hold on, Sak took his battle axe and prepared to rush into the battlefield. Seeing this, Sakavi hurriedly ordered the snake demons to step forward and intercept this high-level warrior.

Three Level-5 snake demons actually fought this Level-7 warrior into a sorry state. At the same time, the ogres inside the stronghold finally could not hold on and began to withdraw from the battlefield. Luo En immediately ordered a pursuit.

Unexpectedly, while fleeing, the ogres were able to regroup under the commander's orders. Under a wave of throwing axe attacks, the lizardmen lost more than thirty warriors in an instant.

Watching the ogres retreat in an orderly fashion, Luo En could only order a retreat to defend the stronghold. After a day of bloody battle, two hundred lizardman spearmen were killed, fifty archers were killed, three hundred murlocs were killed, and one hundred and fifty ogres were beheaded.

In the evening, under Sakavi's orders, Luo En sent an envoy to sue for peace, proposing that both sides stop fighting in exchange for returning the bodies of the ogre warriors and sending potions worth one thousand gold coins.

Sak agreed immediately. It was not that Sakavi was timid, but if the lizardman tribe fought too well, Warlord Gosh would come personally. It was enough to let them know that the Great Swamp was a hard nut to crack and they could not chew it.

After resolving the ogre crisis, Sakavi finally found time to study this goblin. Before Sakavi could speak, the goblin began to tell how hard it was to find this place.

Through his narration, Sakavi roughly understood the process. It turned out this was Gray Bark, his mole in the goblin tribe from back then.

After becoming a dependent, he had awakened his assassin talent, grown to Level 4, and relied on the dependent connection to find his way here. Seeing this goblin, Sakavi felt angry at his other dependents; a group of dependents fed with all kinds of resources were not developing as fast as a wild one.

"Master, I have a skull here. It has a scent similar to yours. I found it in the nest of a Great Earth Bear."

After saying this, Gray Bark took out a skull. It looked like it belonged to one of Sakavi's blood relatives, but it was hard to tell which one exactly.

Since Gray Bark had such talent, Sakavi felt it would be good to let him help find where his other brothers and sisters were. A few days later, he actually found another skull. According to Gray Bark, it was discovered in the swamp toad tribe and was being used as a spellcasting material. It looked like this one belonged to his older brother, Lei En.

Looking at the highly efficient Gray Bark, Sakavi felt he should give him a good name to encourage him to continue working hard. No sooner said than done, Sakavi immediately called him over and told him that from now on, he would be called Gop Shadow.

Having a name and a surname was definitely respectful enough. This empty promise really moved Gray Bark to tears. An empty promise that can be eaten is a good empty promise.

In the last battle, Sakavi saw numerous extraordinary ogre warriors and felt it necessary to get some books to facilitate the advancement of his dependents. Such books were generally not for sale, but one had to try to know if it was really impossible.

To Sakavi's surprise, the lizardman caravan actually bought two incomplete books for mid-level warriors. Luo En explained that there was a black market in Hammer City, and some books looted by tribes that they could not use themselves would be taken to the black market for trade.

Looking at the two books, "Berserker" and "Shield Bearer," Sakavi felt that Luo En had been scammed. These were clearly basic books for military training, without any high-level content, yet they asked for two thousand gold coins.

After instructing Luo En to go and train the soldiers, Sakavi called Gop and told him to go to Hammer City to see if there was any chance to steal a few books involving the extraordinary.

Gop accepted the order and left. A month later, Gop returned empty-handed. It turned out that the library in Hammer Town had a powerful formation, and with Gop's strength, he could not get in at all.

However, Gop did bring back news that interested Sakavi. He smelled a scent similar to Sakavi's at the Winged Cavalry station in Hammer City.

Sakavi made a prompt decision and ordered Gop to go and eliminate this black dragon blood relative. In order to maintain his faith, the Five-Headed Dragon Queen Tiamat had once issued an order prohibiting chromatic dragons from killing each other; violators would not have their souls enter the temple.

However, there were loopholes in everything. Doing it directly was not allowed, but it did not say that letting others do it was not allowed. For this reason, Sakavi prepared three plans to ensure this blood relative died an unnatural death. To Sakavi's surprise, three months later, Gop returned empty-handed once again.

According to Gop, Domina was no longer in Hammer City but was stationed at the Black Stone Fortress north of Hammer City. The first time he gave Sakavi's good sister the poisonous smoke that would make a dragon furious, the furious black dragon was knocked unconscious by a punch from a Winged Knight.

The second time, he mixed crushed poisonous mushrooms into the meat Domina ate, but as soon as the mushrooms took effect, the accompanying shaman saved Domina.

The third time, before he could take action, he was discovered by the alert guards and almost did not make it back. Hearing this, Sakavi wondered if Tiamat had already noticed him and was deliberately letting him fail repeatedly.

Just as Sakavi decided to give up, Priest Grap, who came to report his work, said he could try. It was not that Sakavi did not trust him, but as an amphibian, he would be finished if he left the water for three days, and the Black Stone Fortress was more than two thousand kilometers away.

However, since his subordinate patted his chest and promised he could, it did not seem right to dampen his confidence. After asking for a map, Grap set off without even asking for travel expenses.