The flames burning Benson Town through the night were finally extinguished by the monster army under Clyde at dawn. Not a single soul roamed Benson Town; only monsters could be seen. The three earls had already withdrawn from Leopold Lake. They didn’t dare to fight against the monster army. Now, the nearest place under control of a human army was Ian Town, which had over 10,000 troops of Steinbeck Fief.
During the crisis in Benson Town, Ian Town had accepted most of the refugees. This was because basically all the villages and towns in the Leopold Lake Area had fled from the calamity. With the restrictions of the three earls, these refugees had ultimately chosen to seek refuge in Steinbeck Fief, expanding its population.
After all the humans had fled, the monster army dispatched troops to control the uninhabited cities and towns while plundering them in passing. Although Clyde hadn’t issued such orders, the monster troops under him understood these kinds of matters and quietly carried out these tasks. The intelligence of high-level monsters slightly exceeded even the Human Race. From a single hint, they could comprehend much.
There were still a large number of survivors in Benson Town, but they had all already turned into special war trophies of the monster army. However, because Clyde, the chief commander of the monster army, female prisoners received preferential treatment and were properly arranged. If the situation had been different, then their treatment would have been vastly different. They wouldn’t have escaped the fate of being treated as sacrificial offerings. In that case, there would have been no upper limit on their suffering.
Clyde changed into a new set of full-body armor and set off from the secret passage of the underground of Kelifu Prison, heading towards the underground world of the Needham Plains. This time, he acted alone. The smell of the sewers remained foul, so it was not suitable for girls. Even girls from different races would find it difficult to bear such a heavy stench. In addition, the humanoid monsters here, underground ratmen and insectmen monsters, would make girls feel very uncomfortable. This time, Clyde didn’t even bring along his younger sister, Bloodkin Lolita Lucifer.
The underground ratmen and insect men monsters added up to over 400,000. They had forcibly occupied the underground world of the Needham Plans for at least 200 years. According to the operation patterns of these monsters, these two species must have respective high-level ruler existences, Rat King and Insect King. If he could kill or control these two monster bosses, he would spare himself many unnecessary troubles. Like how a powerful dragon couldn’t crush a snake in its old haunts, gathering high-level monsters to clean up low-leveled monsters underground was not cost-effective. Although the costs were much lower than using human armies, the difficulty to completely exterminate these numerous monsters was very big. Driving them out, however, was not a problem. Clyde didn’t want to have to suppress them again and again; therefore, he chose to target the supreme rulers of the enemy. Using military force was a last option.
Clyde endured the stench with great difficulty and quickly passed through the underground sewers with the underground map he had found before, finally arriving in front of the passage dug by those humanoid monsters. Because the underground ratmen had suffered a crushing defeat not long ago, this place was much quieter. Along the way, Clyde didn’t see any humanoid monster nor any low-leveled monsters. Without underground giant rats and multiple-legged insect monsters, the underground world appeared strangely quiet.
As a dark existence, Clyde’s night vision was very strong. Even in this environment where you couldn’t see your hands in front of you, he could clearly see the surrounding circumstances without the illumination of any torches. In order to avoid being detected, Clyde had not brought a torch because its light was too conspicuous, and he might suffer surprise attacks from humanoid monsters hiding in the darkness. At that time, he would have to engage in many unnecessary battles.
The number of humanoid monsters forcibly occupying the underground world was over 400,000. Fortunately, underground ratmen and insect men monsters were enemies and always fought against each other. If they had joined forces to attack the world above, then they might have already defeated Marquis Charles.
After passing through the underground sewer area and entering the passage dug by the humanoid monsters, the bloody smell in the air significantly increased. In accordance with the investigation report from the ghosts, Marquis Charles had hired many adventurers and mercenaries to explore the underground world. These bloody smells might have been left by them. Because of his identity, Clyde could easily distinguish the smell of human blood that matched the similar bloody smells in Benson Town.
In the underground passage was a bloody tragic sight. Even with Clyde’s psychological endurance, he could barely endure. A large number of victims’ corpses littered the ground, ranging from skeletons to decomposing corpses of varying ages. Over 200 years ago when the Needham Plains had still been under the control of the Human Race, these monsters had already existed in the underground world. The human Suzerain of that time had also dispatched adventurers and mercenaries to investigate the matters of the underground world, but they had never returned. Because of the unusual changes in the human territories, they had finally withdrawn from the Needham Plains and never explored these missing incidents.
Among the people who had died in action were both adventurers and mercenaries. The attire of these two professions had almost no differences. Speaking about professions, there were people of all types. Although people with martial occupations were more in number, there were still a decent amount of people with magic professions. The worth of a magician was more than ten times the worth of a warrior of the same rank, not even including the price of the equipment and magic items a magician carried. An ordinary mercenary group and adventurer team wouldn’t have anyone with a magic profession as they were too expensive. Furthermore, the rarer the magic attribute of the magician, the higher the price. The price of a priest was even higher. Because priests had been monopolized by Light Church for a long time, their price was over twenty times that of a warrior.
The worth of people with martial professions could also be differentiated. Low-level mercenaries and adventurers were basically all swordsmen, warriors, archers, thieves, and so on. They mainly used light equipment. Because of their limited funds, they had no money to purchase good equipment initially. Basically, all used cloth or leather armor. Only light armors were available for purchase cheap. As for their weapons, they generally used iron swords without a decent shield. At most, they would use a simple wooden shield. With such equipment, dealing with goblins and spirits, low-leveled monsters that would just use clubs as weapons, was fine, but encountering underground ratmen and insectmen monsters would be tragic. Even if they were lucky enough to escape death, they would still be seriously injured.
Nevertheless, the low-leveled mercenaries and adventures had no choice. They didn’t have money and could only make do. Meanwhile, knights, martial artists, crossbow archers, assassins and so on were all money burning professions. Although they were cheaper compared to magicians, they were still too expensive for average people to pursue. Generally, these professions needed plate armors, heavy armors, chain mail armors, or strengthened leather armors, which average people couldn’t afford. Especially knights, their complete sets of equipment including mounts could exceed the costs of some of the magic professions.
All the corpses in the underground sewer area belonged to the Human Race. They seemed to have all died tragic deaths. Their flesh was badly mangled, making it impossible to see their appearances. Most of the corpses were dismembered, and their body parts scattered. Looking at the scars, it seemed they had been torn apart. In addition, bite marks covered some. Clyde barely stopped himself from vomiting. After carefully inspecting several corpses, he determined that these victims hadn’t died in the hands of the underground ratmen.
Clyde had seen the attacking style of the underground ratmen in Benson Town. The corpses wouldn’t have such serious damage. After all, underground ratmen fought for money and valuables. It was not necessary for them to be so ruthless towards the enemys’ corpses. The humanoid monsters that had killed these low-leveled mercenaries and adventurers must have been the other humanoid monsters lurking in the underground world below the Needham Plains, insect men monsters. The victims were still wearing their equipment, which was the best proof. If this had been the work of the underground ratmen, the equipment would have already been looted. they would not have simply chewed on the corpses.
Insect men monsters were humanoid cockroaches that stood and walked upright. They looked a lot more disgusting than underground ratmen. Each of these oversized cockroaches had a cockroach head and four limbs, similar to the Human Race. The feeling of disgust one felt upon seeing them far outclassed the underground ratmen. If underground ratmen were bandits, insect men monsters would be ruthless murderers. Their methods were far more excessive than the underground ratmen. Now, even Clyde felt somewhat guilty, feeling that he had attacked the wrong party. He should have dealt with the insect men monsters first.
Underground ratmen had originally had an advantage in the battle of supremacy for the underground world. But, after their defeat in the battle of Benson Town, the vitality of the underground ratmen had been greatly damaged. If the insect men monsters reversed the tides and gained the upper hand by taking advantage of this situation, the Needham Plains would be in even more danger.
Clyde followed the bloodstains on the floor and soon found traces of insectmen monsters. Several tall humanoid cockroaches squatted while chewing a human corpse with their backs facing Clyde. Although the corpses were already beyond recognition, these insect men monsters enjoyed mauling the body without actually using it for food.
Later, Clyde would realize that he had misunderstood the insect men monsters. All insect humanoid type monsters had similar hunting methods. Chewing and biting their enemies’ corpses was their innate nature. He didn’t understand this the first time and believed that this was a horrendous attribute unique to insect men monsters.
Those insectmen monsters didn’t notice Clyde behind them. But, when Clyde raised his sword and prepared to kill those disgusting monsters, an ear-piercing shriek suddenly came from the front, a special sound used when communicating.
After hearing their companion, these insect men monsters rose without any hesitation and rushed towards that direction, leaving behind the mangled corpse. Clyde hesitated for a moment before lowering his sword. While it was not difficult for him to kill those insect men monsters, he wanted to first confirm why they were gathering. If he killed them now, it might alert the other insect men monsters and make it more difficult to find their true underground lair. Clyde’s instincts told him that these insect men might be much more intelligent than the underground ratmen, making them even more difficult to deal with.
Under the concealment of shadow magic, Clyde followed those insect men monsters and explored the underground world. The insectmen monsters couldn’t see him unless he attacked, so he could secretly follow them to their real underground lair. Along the way, Clyde saw many insect men monsters heading deeper into the sphere of influence they controlled. Clyde temporarily forgot about the underground ratmen and decided that investigating the insect men monsters was more important.
From the front came vague weapon collisions. It seemed that some unlucky mercenary group or adventurer team had fallen into an underground trap meticulously set up by the insect men monsters. Then, they had instantly turned from hunters into prey. Occasionally, screams could be heard. Originally, Clyde hadn’t intended to go there and join in the fun, but those insectmen monsters he was following continued rushing towards that direction. He guessed that they were reinforcements. Clyde was helpless in this situation, but since he was too lazy to look for new guides, he just followed them to watch the situation.
