[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-black-dragon-necromancer":3,"chapter-black-dragon-necromancer-black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-9":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Black Dragon Necromancer",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2312769,4521,"Chapter 9","black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-9",9,"\u003Cp>Perhaps the annihilation of the goblin wolf tribe shocked nearby powers; for the next year, the swamp remained untouched by any faction, not even merchants dared to appear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After summoning each of his vassals to make empty promises, Sakavi decided to sleep a long sleep—he was now eight years old, and after another eight years of slumber, he could emerge to bring chaos to the land. After instructing his vassals to wake him immediately if anything arose, Sakavi closed his eyes and began gaining new Dragon Heritage in his dreams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Great Master, I deeply apologize for waking you at this hour, but we face an unsolvable crisis and humbly beg you to come in person and guide us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sakavi snapped open his eyes and saw a goblin standing before him—his mind filled with confusion. When had goblins appeared in the Great Swamp? But he had no intention of voicing such an insult to their feelings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is that so? Which foolish tribe dares challenge me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, Master. This time it is General Sak the Great Hammer, under General Gosh the Great Hammer. From my reconnaissance, he leads five hundred boar-man warriors, twenty of whom wear iron armor, one hundred wear leather armor, and fifty shamans accompany the force.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This must be a punitive expedition against me! A true man avoids direct confrontation—Sakavi felt he ought to retreat and avoid the storm, but he couldn’t say that outright to his subordinates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How many troops do we have?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Under the Great Master’s leadership, we command five hundred lizardman spear-bearers, two hundred archers, one hundred eighty sorcerers, and three thousand fish-men armed with short crossbows.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These subhumans breed so prolifically? Sakavi knew lizardmen gave birth once a year, one clutch at a time—he’d only slept five years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Surveying his forces’ strength, Sakavi resolved to hold his ground—until the enemy breached the lizardman stronghold, he would not flee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing all his vassals assembled, Sakavi declared loudly: “Listen well. My orders: lizardman forces hold the main stronghold under Loen’s command—no offensive actions. The elderly, weak, sick, and young shall be relocated to the fish-man tribe.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One thousand fish-man archers and crossbowmen shall reinforce the defense; the rest shall be commanded by Priest Grap. Toad-men shall harass the enemy with ambushes—no close-quarters combat. Snake-men are the reserve force—stay with me, ready to strike at any moment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After speaking, Sakavi told them to adjust tactics according to circumstances—no need to report back. Once all confirmed understanding of their duties, he dismissed them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Five days later, Sak’s army reached the swamp’s edge. They say ten thousand men stretch beyond sight—but Sakavi saw the encampment of five hundred and still thought it formidable! Trenches, palisades, and fortifications—all present. Clearly, this was a disciplined army. This battle would not be easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike Sakavi’s anxiety, the lizardman tribe was brimming with confidence. Most were young warriors who had only recently matured in the past two years, untouched by the savage battles of earlier years, their hearts filled with anticipation for the coming war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the third day after the boar-men established camp, they began advancing toward the lizardman tribe. The boar-man shamans pressed their palms to the ground—mud surged upward along the path from swamp edge to stronghold, forming a broad road capable of accommodating dozens side by side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a roar, Sak ordered his troops to push forward shield carts and battering rams. Behind them, every soldier carried a round shield. Watching such cautious enemies, Sakavi clenched his fists for the lizardman tribe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Loen was no fool—he ordered ballistae to target the rear ranks. After several volleys, Sak realized the casualties were too high and commanded his shamans to destroy the ballistae atop the walls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Loen struck back—sorcerers focused fire on the opposing shamans. The boar-men clearly hadn’t expected so many lizardman sorcerers; their shamans suffered heavy losses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Loen basked in his tactical brilliance, several towering warriors burst forth—unfazed by arrows. Before anyone could react, they leapt onto the walls and began slaughtering indiscriminately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Loen flew into a rage and ordered arrows to kill them. Though these boar-men wore iron armor and were all third-rank or higher warriors, they could not withstand the close-range crossbow bolts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their deaths bought precious time for their comrades—the battering ram reached the gate. The crude wooden gate shattered under a few blows, and dozens of armored boar-men surged inside, pushing rapidly inward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brutal hand-to-hand combat erupted. Lizardmen were as strong as boar-men, but as amphibians, they excelled in water warfare. As the melee turned against them, Loen ordered the numerous fish-men to unleash volleys as cover—lizardmen began retreating to form a phalanx.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In such a dense formation, even mid-rank warriors could not cut freely. Loen gave the order—the phalanx slowly advanced. As the boar-men neared being pushed out of the stronghold, their commander ordered his own phalanx to form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the boar-men lacked the overwhelming archer support—and began to falter. Sak saw his men crumbling and grabbed his battle-axe, charging into the fray. Sakavi immediately ordered snake-men to intercept this high-rank warrior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three fifth-rank snake-men fought the seventh-rank warrior to a standstill—meanwhile, the boar-men inside the stronghold finally broke. Loen ordered pursuit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unexpectedly, even in retreat, the boar-men regrouped under command and unleashed a volley of throwing axes—thirty lizardman warriors fell instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the orderly withdrawal of the boar-men, Loen could only order a retreat to the stronghold. After a day of bloody combat, two hundred lizardman spear-bearers, fifty archers, and three hundred fish-men were dead; one hundred fifty boar-men were slain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, under Sakavi’s orders, Loen sent a peace envoy—offering to return the boar-men’s corpses and one thousand gold coins’ worth of potions in exchange for ceasefire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sak immediately agreed. It wasn’t that Sakavi was cowardly—he feared that if the lizardmen proved too formidable, General Gosh himself would come. Let them know the Great Swamp was a bone too hard to chew—that was enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the boar-man crisis resolved, Sakavi finally turned his attention to the goblin. Before he could speak, the goblin began recounting how arduous his journey had been.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through his tale, Sakavi pieced together the truth—this was none other than Graybark, his former mole within the goblin tribe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After becoming a vassal, he had awakened the Assassin talent and risen to the fourth rank, guided here all along by the vassal bond. Seeing this goblin, Sakavi seethed at his other vassals—pouring resources into them yet still being outpaced by a wild one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Master, I found this skull—it carries a scent similar to yours. I discovered it in the den of a great earth-bear.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Graybark produced a skull. It clearly belonged to one of Sakavi’s blood relatives—but which one, he could not tell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Graybark possessed this talent, Sakavi decided to task him with locating his other siblings. Days later, he found another skull—Graybark claimed it was discovered in the toad-man tribe, used as a spell component. This one, Sakavi guessed, belonged to his elder brother, Lei En.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Graybark’s efficiency, Sakavi decided to give him a proper name to motivate him further. Without delay, he summoned Graybark and declared: “From now on, you are Gorp the Shadow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A name, a surname—true respect. The empty promise moved Graybark to tears. A good promise is one you can swallow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the previous battle, Sakavi saw numerous boar-man high-rank warriors and realized he needed books to help his vassals advance. Such books were rarely sold—but one must try to know for certain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Sakavi’s surprise, the lizardman traders had actually acquired two incomplete manuals for mid-rank warriors. Loen explained: in Great Hammer City, there exists a black market—some tribes trade stolen books they cannot use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the manuals—“Berserker” and “Shieldman”—Sakavi suspected Loen had been cheated. These were clearly basic military training texts, lacking any high-rank content, yet priced at two thousand gold coins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After instructing Loen to train the troops, Sakavi summoned Gorp and ordered him to journey to Great Hammer City—see if any opportunities arose to steal books on high-rank cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gorp departed and returned empty-handed a month later. The Great Hammer City library was protected by a powerful array—his strength could not penetrate it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Gorp brought news that intrigued Sakavi—he had detected a scent similar to Sakavi’s at the winged cavalry garrison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sakavi acted instantly: order Gorp to eliminate this black dragon relative. To preserve his faith, the Five-Headed Dragon Queen Tiamat had decreed: no chromatic dragons may kill one another—violators’ souls would be barred from the divine temple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But every rule has loopholes. Direct action was forbidden—but no one said others couldn’t act. Sakavi prepared three schemes to ensure this relative died by unnatural means. To his surprise, three months later, Gorp returned empty-handed again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gorp reported: Domina was no longer in Great Hammer City—she was stationed at the Blackstone Fortress to the north. First attempt: Gorp released a poison smoke that enraged dragons—only for the enraged black dragon to be knocked unconscious by a winged knight’s punch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second attempt: Gorp crushed toxic mushrooms into Domina’s meat—but as the poison took effect, the accompanying shaman revived her instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Third attempt: before he could act, alert guards spotted him—he barely escaped. Hearing this, Sakavi wondered: had Tiamat noticed him? Was she deliberately causing his failures?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Sakavi decided to abandon the mission, Priest Grap volunteered to try. It wasn’t that Sakavi doubted him—he was an amphibian who couldn’t survive three days out of water, and Blackstone Fortress was over two thousand kilometers away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But since his subordinate had pledged confidence, Sakavi dared not crush his spirit. After receiving a map, Grap departed—without even asking for travel funds.\u003C\u002Fp>",1602,"2026-06-20T13:10:04.638Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","1df386e58f0c1aa53b5b5bfd7e1de2eacdadc651b0bab6108afe4fc0d67ae0b8","black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-10","black-dragon-necromancer-chapter-8",145,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fblack-dragon-necromancer-cover.jpg"]