The harpy messengers I sent out were extremely fast flyers. However, the nest wasn’t exactly near us either. If you added in the fact that the lizardman reinforcement couldn’t possibly be faster than these harpies, the entire back and forth would probably take over half a month.
While waiting for these messengers to do their job, I wasn’t idling around either. I commanded the army to assault the ratman nest several times however they all ended in failure.
After the third assault failed, I experimented with dispatching our new slaves into battle. I had a hundred rodent slaves enter the nest to scout it out. The plan was to have them prod around the nest and return once the spears came raining down. Surprisingly, the rodents inside the nest didn’t attack them right away but instead waited for the rodent slaves to enter the nest and then…well, that was the end of the story.
I couldn’t hear any noise unique to fighting emanating from the cave and based on the movements within, it had basically been determined that they had left my control.
In short, they were now escaped slaves.
In the face of that, even I didn’t know if I should consider myself smart or stupid. I already knew that those rat slaves didn’t choose to be my slaves of their own volition but I still couldn’t curb my desire to take a chance and finally dispatched them in an experiment. As for the results…having left the range of my supervision, they naturally went back to their visit their moms.
Faced with the prospect of an unassailable rat nest, Numila first reacted with disdain, followed by indifference before finally becoming the annoyed harpy witch we see today. They were nothing but a bunch of walking steaks so why were they so damned hard to kill!? Numila found herself screaming that in her head one day.
Strictly speaking, the whole reason for this stalemate was because I didn’t want to suffer too much losses before we assaulted the prison exit. Besides, we didn’t actually have any reliable intelligence on the interior of the nest. All we had was the information given to us by the lieutenants who surrendered. Whether or not that was even trustworthy was still up for debate.
If I had to describe the situation we were in right now, it would be as such:
Imagine you were playing League of L**ends and you were about to camp the bushes in order to ambush that lone enemy in the solo lane. Yet the moment you step into it, you found yourself surrounded by the five heroes from the other side…seeing you appear, they immediately pounce on you like a bunch of ravenous wolves and before you could even react, inflict an inhuman level of torture upon you — Crowd Control skills, focused attacks, weakening debuffs, the whole shebang — killing you in one wombo combo…
In order to avoid such an awkward situation, the best option would be to avoid the bushes entirely and find some way to gain vision over the bushes. After all, there’s no guarantee that there wasn’t a Gare* squatting in the bushes waiting to jump you.
That was basically my train of thought now –avoid the bushes and gather intelligence.
Based on what we knew so far, the rat nest was in fact, occupied with enemies and their numbers weren’t low either. They even picked up a ranged skill in the form of throwing javelins. In the field of ranged attacks, I dare say that I was the leading expert, at least when compared to the other creatures in the Prison of the Dead. With the enemy in the dark and us in the light, I truly didn’t dare to launch a full-scale assault.
Since an assault wasn’t an option, what was? Calling in your brothers, of course.
With regards to our passive situation, Numila wasn’t the least bit comfortable with it at all. On multiple occasions, her temper would get the better of her but thankfully, I was there to stop her before she tried to assault the nest herself. What was hidden in that nest; who amongst us truly knew the answer to that?
Was that report about the 5000 warriors true? Were there only five four-star rat lieutenants waiting for us inside? These were all questions we couldn’t answer. After all, just because the rat slaves said something didn’t mean we should believe them as is. The only people who would take their word at face value were…fools and the gullible…without any way to verify those claims, there’s no way I would allow my direct subordinates to risk themselves any further.
Thus, I needed those lizardmen to reinforce us. They weren’t my direct subordinates anyway so who cares if they died.
Naturally, Numila wasn’t the only temperamental one here, Manasha was as well. However, after a round of persuasion, she calmed down as well. Since the medusas were lacking in numbers to begin with, that resulted in them picking up the excellent habit of not pushing themselves too much.
Thus, after calming down, she wasn’t one to foolishly risk her clan. Of course, she wasn’t being cowardly but rather it was a matter of perspective. Had it been her only, I bet she would’ve charged in already and slaughtered these rats, everything else can come after the killing.
(TL: Honestly, I’m not sure what the author meant by behavioral problems??? Anyway, I changed it to a matter of perspective. )
The days we spent waiting for the reinforcements were drab but in order to prevent any unnecessary losses, we ended up sieging their nest for twenty days. On the twentieth day, the messenger we sent out finally returned along with a division of 2000 lizardmen.The lizardwoman leading the division was the sister of the current head of the lizardman clan, Westley’s sister, Weslin.
Weslin was one of the lizardmen captured by Habona. As the sister of the clan leader, she naturally held an influential position amongst her clan. However, because Westley ended up pledging allegiance to Habona after she beat him up, it wasn’t a stretch to consider Weslin as one of us.
Of course, that didn’t mean that she was one of my direct subordinates.
Because we already made the decision to wait for reinforcements, we ended up digging a hole near the ratman nest to use as a temporary habitat.
It was Violet Snow who brought Weslin to my personal cave. At that moment, I was alone by myself so I decided to experiment with some new gear designs out of sheer boredom. I ended up crafting a few sets but because they were still ridden with flaws, I had no intention of using them immediately.
Westley had seen me before and knew of my relationship to Habona. Thus, the fact that he sent over Westlin confused me. If I’m not mistaken, he still had a younger brother so why did he dispatch Weslin? Shouldn’t fighting and leading the troops be left to the males to handle?
Putting down the prototype in my hands, I raised my head just in time to notice the lizardwoman approach me. She didn’t seem to be in the best of moods but upon seeing me, she suppressed the dissatisfaction in her heart and even went so far as to throw me a forced smile.
While her name, Weslin, sounded lovely, in reality, she was very bit a traditional lizardwoman. In other words, she was a bipedal giant lizard…in that case, how should I react to a female lizard smiling at me? As expected, it had to be that, didn’t it: Flashing an accommodating smile amidst a shower of cold sweat.
“Now that Westley’s the clan leader, are the other clan elders being compliant?” After exchanging some pleasantries, I immediately voiced the main concern I had. Regarding the progress of the lizard subjugation plan, Habona had sent some messengers with reports as well. However, these reports didn’t contain much information and all I could glean from these reports was that the plan was proceeding smoothly though there was still some resistance.
Now that I had a first party source on hand in the form of Weslin, I naturally had to question her. After all, the lizard subjugation plan was of extreme importance to me. To the me who wanted to assault the prison exit, their cooperation was invaluable.
If the prison exit was akin to a dragon’s roost or a tiger’s nest, then the ratman nest which delayed me for over twenty days couldn’t even be considered a childcare center.
“We did in fact encounter some resistance, however all these hindrances were nothing before the might of Mistress Habona.” The moment she mentioned Habona, her face lit up.
Compared to that forced smile she gave me, the attitude she had towards Habona was rather…how should I say it, anyway all you had to know was that it sent shivers down my spine. Plus, whenever she smiled, my eyes would inadvertently stare at her wide open jaws…that’s right, it wasn’t some dainty cherry but rather, it was a couple rows of razor sharp fangs. Fangs that could rip your head in a single bite, don’t cha know!
“I just knew that Habona could handle it, instead it was us who needed her help, truly that’s a little…”
Whether it was out of the awkwardness of needing help or the spine-chilling rows of fang Weslin displayed, the expression I had on right now was a little awkward.
“Mistress Habona is the most dashing warrior I’ve ever seen, the power she possesses is enough to put her at the top of the prison’s food chain. Not only that, Mistress Habona is so gentle and treats me so well…normally she’s so cool as well, she’s just so perfect!”
The moment she mentioned Habona, her overly excited reaction seemed to give off the impression of an obsessed fan?
“How is she gentle? That wolf who casually swears at the drop of a hat and has violent tendencies…” Come to think of it, weren’t Violet Snow and Habona still on horrible terms? No wonder this little white puppy jumped out the moment she saw Weslin gush over Habona.
“Even though your status is higher than mine, I won’t deny that, but I won’t allow you to badmouth Mistress Habona!”
“If you don’t retract your comments just now, I don’t mind challenging you to a duel.”
“But I didn’t say anything wrong, she really is an uncouth wolf!”
“Mistress Habona isn’t uncouth at all, furthermore, her form is so elegant when she fights…”
‘Habona isn’t uncouth at all’? I seemed to remember her picking up Violet Snow and calling her a mutt on our first meeting. Exactly how did you associate the word elegant with this fellow? How was she gentle? How was she not uncouth?
Obsessed fans are truly scary…
“Err, Weslin, don’t tell you’ve fallen for Habona?” It was merely a probing question but who knew that she would actually lower her head in embarrassment at that mere thought. Even Violet Snow lost the desire to bicker…if Weslin was a human, I could imagine her beet red face right now.
Seeing that look on Weslin’s face, even Violet Snow was shocked into silence. Her jaws fell to the floor as if she was looking at the Lord Jesus himself. What the h*ck, this bit of revelation was just too stimulating, Weslin and Habona…a woman and another woman, was that truly alright?
Come to think of it, how did I even notice a lizard’s embarrassment? Fine, I guess that wasn’t the main issue now. The main issue was that the moment I asked that question, she actually acted in a way that left me at a loss for words. She, knelt before me…
Using a pair of pitiful eyes, she pleaded with eyes watering: “Truth be told, Brother hoped that I could follow Master Mo Ke and…if possible…if possible…engage in an in-depth relationship…”
Follow me…in-depth relationship…truth be told, I was disgusted. What the h*ck, we weren’t even the same species and neither did we have the same sense of beauty, how does he expect us to get together? If I really had to fall in love with a giant lizard, I rather you killed me on the spot!
Hearing that, Violet Snow threw me a sinister smile that seemed to say, so that’s it. Until now, I hadn’t realized that the normally icy cold Violet Snow actually had such a gossipy side to her.
Were you picturing me spending time with that giant lizard? Well, that’s impossible. All I can say to express my determination is: over my dead body!
