Chapter 32

"It's… over!" Babeli's face was filled with terror; he could already foresee what was coming.

And so it was—the iron-scaled fire lizard surged forward wildly and immediately crashed into the ranks.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, the Demon Snake Tribe members in front of the iron-scaled fire lizard were smashed apart like clay pots.

At this moment, the swamp troll finally reacted.

With a roar, it charged straight at the iron-scaled fire lizard.

Thud!

A massive muffled crash echoed as the two colossal beasts collided.

The iron-scaled fire lizard slammed its massive head into the swamp troll, while the swamp troll used both hands to desperately brace against the impact.

Once their momentum ceased, the true struggle began.

The swamp troll freed its right hand, drew the massive Shi Fu from its waist, and smashed it directly onto the iron-scaled fire lizard's head.

Aow! —the pained iron-scaled fire lizard retaliated, whipping its iron-hard tail, like a steel whip, toward the swamp troll.

In an instant, dust and smoke rolled across the wasteland as the iron-scaled fire lizard and the swamp troll fought fiercely, neither gaining the upper hand.

"Damn it, get out of the way!" Babeli's face turned ashen; he urgently ordered his clan to retreat.

He was furious!

That damned human knight had lured the iron-scaled fire lizard to attack them.

"My lord, look over there!"

But before Babeli's thought had even finished, another of his subordinates cried out in alarm.

Following his subordinate's pointing finger, he saw over a hundred humans charging toward them.

"Son of a bitch! So you were all planning this!"

When he saw the knight who had lured the iron-scaled fire lizard standing among the ranks, Babeli realized at once—he had been tricked!

"Brave warriors of the Storm Legion, charge!"

"Kill!" A cry rang from afar—the humans surged forward even faster!

"Damn it! Charge with me! Kill every last one of these hateful humans!"

Seeing this, Babeli had no choice but to order his men to fight back.

Of course, he had not yet realized how different these humans were.

Only when the two sides clashed did the knight who had lured the iron-scaled fire lizard unleash his aura, and only then did Babeli realize in shock—he was a seasoned Bronze Knight.

"Damn it, wasn't it said that the Storm Domain hasn't had any nobles for a long time?"

Of course, the surprise wasn't just from this one Bronze Knight.

The combat power of the other five full knights and Gervas's Earth Knight strength quickly became apparent.

Instantly, the Demon Snake force fell into disadvantage.

Babeli turned his gaze toward the swamp troll—it had already been mutually wounded by the iron-scaled fire lizard, and neither side had won.

"Damn it!" Babeli cursed, but at that moment, the Bronze Knight from the human ranks had already charged up close.

Clang! Their weapons clashed; Babeli's face instantly twisted with fear.

His opponent's strength was far greater than his own.

"Is that all you've got? Die, Demon Snake!"

In contrast, Lei Meng's face lit up with delight; his longsword, empowered by aura, grew even sharper.

Puff! —the Demon Snake leader's head flew high into the air.

"Your leader is dead—run for your lives!" Lei Meng skewered Babeli's head on his spear and roared at the surrounding Demon Snakes.

The Demon Snakes still fighting upon seeing this instantly lost their courage.

"Run! Our leader is dead!"

"Run! We can't beat them!"

Defeat came like a collapsing mountain—the Demon Snakes fled in panic.

"Don't let them escape—not one alive!"

"Yes, my lord!"

His subordinates rushed after them.

In truth, even without Gervas's order, his men would have chased fiercely—especially the guards.

After all, today's reward offered a chance to become a knight's squire.

Half an hour later, the battle on the wasteland ended.

This time, with six knights present, not a single Demon Snake escaped the pursuit.

And the battle between the swamp troll and the iron-scaled fire lizard had also ended.

The final result was mutual devastation—both now lay on the ground, barely breathing.

"We won! We won!"

"Ha! We defeated the Demon Snakes—our lord is mighty!"

"Our lord is mighty!"

The guards began cheering.

When the cheering ended and the men were assigned to clear the battlefield, Gervas walked up to the iron-scaled fire lizard and the swamp troll.

He delivered two more slashes to the swamp troll, then turned to face the iron-scaled fire lizard.

Under normal circumstances, at this point, Gervas should have finished off the iron-scaled fire lizard too, then claimed a large amount of beast meat.

But as he looked at the beast's labored breathing, its huge yellow eyes fixed unblinkingly upon him, Gervas found he could not bring himself to strike.

"My lord, the beast has tremendous vitality—if we don kill it quickly, once it regains its strength, we may not be able to handle it!" Lei Meng whispered a reminder.

"Lei Meng, I want to spare her life!"

"This...?" Lei Meng could hardly believe it. "My lord, the corpse of this Iron-Scaled Fire Lizard is worth at least a hundred gold coins!"

"I know!" Gervas nodded.

Seeing that Gervas had made up his mind, Lei Meng's eyes filled with complex emotion.

Remembering how he himself had once been saved by Lord Gervas, "My lord, you are the most merciful noble I have ever seen!"

Afterward, Gervas and his party did not touch the Iron-Scaled Fire Lizard; they took only the head of the Demon Snake and the corpse of the Swamp Giant Demon, leaving all other remains of the Demon Snake where they lay.

When they returned to the distant earthen ridge and saw from afar the Iron-Scaled Fire Lizard struggling to rise, then slowly consuming the Demon Snake corpses to regain its strength, Gervas waved his hand, and led his squad back in triumph.

Whoosh!

"Look over there—what is that?"

"Good heavens, what a huge monster! So terrifying!"

"This is the Swamp Giant Demon. I've heard of it—it's the guardian beast of the Demon Snake. A few years ago, a small town on the border was overrun by the Swamp Giant Demon, and every villager was slaughtered! Look, aren't those the Demon Snake corpses?"

"Good heavens, so many Demon Snake corpses, and such a massive Swamp Giant Demon—our lord has slain them all! Our lord is truly mighty!"

"Yes, our lord is mighty!"

"Our lord is mighty!"

Back in the village, even though the Swamp Giant Demon was dead, its towering, massive frame, its greenish-blue skin, and its terrifying face with two protruding fangs still terrified the villagers greatly.

Many children, upon seeing it, screamed and ran back home.

Of course, there were the timid—but even more were those bold enough to enjoy the spectacle.

Seeing the giant demon's corpse, which required a widened and lengthened cart to haul, along with the Demon Snake's head, someone—no one knew who—started shouting, and soon the entire village echoed with cries of "Our lord is mighty!"

Naturally, the civil magistrate would later inform the villagers of the full details of how the Hellish Demon Snake and the Swamp Giant Demon were slain, to highlight the lord's valor and authority.

This was also why they had gone to the trouble of bringing back the inedible Swamp Giant Demon and the Demon Snake's head.