Chapter 50

A gentle breeze rustles.

The forest, river, and sunshine made for a lovely day.

The Dragonfolk Diugus lurked underwater at a river bend, glancing back.

Diugus knew his master was silently observing the battle nearby.

In a stretch of river, an illusory eye hid in a crevice, spying on passing creatures.

As the water turned murky and quivered, a tiny Giant-tooth Fishfolk servant came into view through the illusory eye's sight.

A stone dropped into the river where Diugus lay hidden.

【Ready, the enemy approaches!】

After receiving his master's cue, Diugus gave the prearranged signal underwater; the Grey Scale Dragonfolk, Marsh Snakefolk, and Lake Frog People Knights behind him instantly understood and tightened their grips on their weapons.

gurgle gurgle

Five Giant-tooth Fishfolk servant vanguards emerged first from the river bend.

They instantly spotted the fierce, powerful warriors lurking underwater, and were so shocked their minds went blank, their souls seeming to leave their bodies.

Splurt- a crimson flesh pillar like lightning shot through the brains of five Giant-tooth Fishfolk servants in an instant; their bodies were then pulled back and easily swallowed whole by the hulking Giant Frog Monsters, each as large as a tank.

The fishfolk servants had no time to react, not even making a sound.

Though Diugus had dealt with those five fishfolk servants, he felt no excitement, still staring intently toward the bend ahead.

gurgle gurgle

This time, six fishfolk servants swam over together.

Without a hitch, six of the unused Giant Frog Monsters in unison shot out their red tongues, piercing the fishfolk servants' heads and swallowing them whole.

The whole process was smooth and swift, just like the previous kill, with no wasted motion.

Diugus watched the scene and thought, 'I need to breed more Lake Frog People; this Giant Frog Monster is truly useful.'

When fighting underwater, after finding a good hiding spot, the Giant Frog Monster's steel-hard, lightning-fast tongue attack makes it a superb assassin.

Even a sudden attack like this would likely be too fast for someone of Second Rank strength to react.

Then came the third and fourth attempts.

Each time, the Giant Frog Monster could instantly ambush and kill those Giant-tooth Fishfolk servants, then devour them.

The Dark Scale Tribe possessed thirteen Giant Frog Monsters, which took turns feeding.

However, no matter how large its appetite, the Giant Frog Monster still has a limit.

When each Giant Frog Monster had swallowed an average of eight Giant-tooth Fishfolk servants, they began to feel somewhat full.

At that moment, the Giant-tooth Fishfolk vanguard finally caught the scent of blood drifting in the water; even though the corpses were quickly devoured, some blood still seeped out.

Looking ahead at the river bend, where only the sound of flowing water broke the silence, they clearly sensed something was wrong and grew wary.

They signaled and began to slow their march.

Several strong Giant-tooth Fishfolk chiefs led over a hundred fishfolk servants to investigate.

The river wasn't particularly wide, but this bend had been eroded over time into a fairly large oxbow.

It's not difficult to accommodate a hundred combatants at once.

The Giant Tooth Chief urged the fishfolk servants ahead to move forward; although the fishfolk servants felt somewhat afraid, they still slowly swam past.

As soon as they turned the corner, their figure disappeared from the Giant Tooth Chief's sight, and then there was suddenly no sound.

"Let's surge forth all at once—I want to see what monster it is!" the Giant Tooth Chief not only wasn't afraid, but became even more furious.

Behind it were thousands of troops and an invincible leader; even if ahead lay a powerful river monster, it felt no fear whatsoever. Accompanied by a sudden surge of many fishfolk servants, the giant frog monster that had been lying in wait was instantly thrown off rhythm.

Even if the frantic red tongue wildly flicked and killed a fishfolk servant one by one, it still could not eliminate all the fishfolk servants in one go.

However, once the Giant Tooth Fishfolk realized something was wrong, there was no need to finish them off all at once.

Di Wugesi raised his left hand, then swept it forward, making the gesture—【Kill!】

The long‑enduring Gray Scale Dragonfolk and Swamp Snakefolk excitedly let out low growls and hissing cries; the former wielded a long‑handled iron fork, the latter a pair of sickle‑like weapons, and they began slaughtering the incessantly surging fishfolk servants.

The iron fork pierced the fishfolk servants' bodies, and the sickle mercilessly cut off their ugly heads.

Hundreds of Lake Frogfolk auxiliaries assisted these powerful Dark Scale warriors.

The Lake Frogfolk knights, meanwhile, controlled their mounts, the giant frog monsters, from behind, continuously using their red tongues to flick and kill any fishfolk that threatened their own warriors.

It was clearly not their first time fighting in such coordinated fashion; they appeared quite practiced.

Di Wugesi did not intervene; he simply watched from the rear as this melee unfolded.

It needed to conserve its strength to deal with the strong ones among the Giant Tooth Fishfolk.

Suddenly, Di Wugesi noticed several strong Giant Tooth Chiefs appearing on the battlefield.

Unlike those fishfolk servants, the Giant Tooth Chiefs' weapons were all forged from the hard bones of demonic beasts—bone spears and bone knives, which shimmered with a faint elemental glow.

As soon as they appeared, they suddenly killed several Lake Frogfolk auxiliaries.

Swish! Swish! Several red tongues shot out from the rear at high speed; in an instant, they slew three Giant Tooth Chiefs who had reached First Rank.

Without their chiefs' command, the remaining fishfolk servants instantly scattered and fled toward the rear.

"Charge!" Di Wugesi half‑emerged his head from the water and let out a loud shout.

Nearly two hundred Gray Scale Dragonfolk and Swamp Snakefolk, upon hearing the leader's order, hesitated not at all in pursuing those panickedly fleeing fishfolk servants.

The rear‑standing Giant Tooth Fishfolk army, which had halted its march to await the scouting results of the vanguard, instantly fell into chaos.

The news quickly reached the ears of the Purple Scale Leader stationed in the middle of the army.

"Ch-chief, there are enemies ahead... attacking our vanguard."

"A bunch of useless trash!" the Purple Scale Leader flew into a rage, kicked the stuttering fishfolk scout who had come to report the news, and then commanded the giant catfish he was seated upon, "Let's go, we're heading over."

The massive giant catfish flicked its tail and began to accelerate through the water.

The fishfolk servants ahead panicked and hastily made way for their leader's mount.

Occasionally, a few slow-reacting fishfolk servants failed to dodge in time, were struck by the giant catfish, their bones instantly shattered, either severely wounded or killed on the spot.

The giant-toothed fishmen had long grown accustomed to this; their cruel nature meant they had little objection to their leader's brutal conduct.

Instead, they gazed greedily at the corpses of their comrades.

Chewing sounds rang out.

The battleground where the dark-scaled warriors fought the vanguard of the giant-toothed fishmen was a river bend.

Diugus stood on the shore, beside him lay a one-horned demon leopard, which watched the huge black shadow moving beneath the distant river toward them, narrowed its eyes, and said, "Here they come."

Under the master's mage's eye, Diugus had advance knowledge of the general information of the giant-toothed fishmen army.

For example, the presumed leader, a violet-scaled fishman, and that enormous giant catfish monster.

"In underwater combat you cannot unleash your strength, black panther; patrol the riverbank and wait for an opportunity to strike." Diugus stroked his black panther companion, then pulled the sharp iron trident planted in the ground; the battle aura peaking at fourth rank swiftly enveloped his body and weapon.

The next moment, the dragonfolk stepped on the waves, speeding like a whistle to meet the recklessly charging giant catfish and slay it.

Such a massive monster must not be allowed to charge into the battlefield, otherwise the dark-scaled tribe's warriors would surely suffer great losses.

(End of chapter)