The combat record was abysmal this time around. After countless battles, my subordinate count had fallen to slightly less than 300. Now, it dropped even further, coming in at 237 after that damned attack by the half-orcs. The hellhounds had lost some members as well, their numbers only came out to 45.
As for the half-orcs, they lost over a hundred people and only had 49 members remaining, all of whom were one-star.
My face instantly fell as the numbers ran through my head. As No.5 continued recounting our losses, my face got darker and darker. At the side, the half-orcs were already shaking in their boots, not a single one dared to breathe too loudly for fear of catching my attention. While they didn’t understand what was being said, certain things didn’t need explaining.
“Ask them. Why did they attack us.” I sought out Violet Snow once more to be my translator. I still wasn’t sure if any one of them could understand me so asking her to help would simplify matters alot.
She found a relatively older half-orc and went about her translating duties.
The two engaged in a surprisingly lengthy conversation. There were multiple times where I wanted to interrupt them but thinking about it, she probably had her reasons for talking this long. And so I decided to rest at one side while she continued her enquiries. A while later, she finally came over to deliver her report.
As I hugged my little babies, (the grimoire and the egg) I quietly listened to her. Immediately, I was shocked by the first sentence that left her mouth.
“These half-orcs originated from Abaddon but due to the civil war between half-orcs, their clan members ended up either being taken captives or being thrown here by the victors.”
“They were dumped here from the outside?” Due to the wide variety of unique races here, I had long suspected that this world was connected to the outside world via multiple channels. If this was true, the Prison of the Dead might just be the last stop in my journey to return home.
“Was that so strange?” She gave me a puzzled look, clearly not understanding the source of my surprise. “I was thrown in here from the outside too.”
“…” From her words, I concluded that “thrown in here” was a common theme among the residents.
“Oh, I just realized, the Prison of the Dead should be linked to the ancient Blood Sea as well, shouldn’t it? You must’ve climbed up from there.”
What’s with that “Ah hah” look you’re giving me, why do I suddenly get the feeling that there’s a lot of things you haven’t told me!
“That’s…true, I did climb up here from the Blood Sea so there’s a lot of things I still don’t understand. I hope you will explain them to me.”
“Hmm, where should I start…let’s start with those half-orcs.” Her face scrounged up a little as she pondered this issue. Obviously, my lack of knowledge was giving her a headache.
In the end, she decided to start with our initial focus point: “As I was just saying, these half-orcs were originally from Abaddon, one day they were visited by a pair of uninvited guests, they were six-star lust demons…”
The demonic half-orcs were a warlike race in Abaddon and as such played a decisive role in any conflict. In a sense, they were similar to the Hu people of Ancient China (includes the mongols) in that they were nomadic and warlike.
Their clans came in various sizes from large to small with a grand chief ruling over his own clan as well as having some control over the surrounding smaller clans.
It was in this backdrop that the pair approached the head of one of the smaller clans. The head was entranced by one of the lust demons and ended up submitting to her. The first order given to him was to subjugate the surrounding smaller clans.
Initially, this went well with the small clan only targeting clans weaker than it. This clan rapidly grew in strength as it did so until they finally ended up offending the large clan ruling them.
In order to wrest control back from the lust demons, that large clan launched a blitz attack on them.
Naturally, the smaller clan ended up getting dispersed. The might of a large clan simply wasn’t something a small clan like theirs could compete with. Some of them were exiled while some of them were taken as captives. A small portion of these ended up being thrown into the Prison of the Dead. However, the vast majority of the clan weren’t that fortunate and ended up getting killed in the war.
These half-orcs standing before me were the survivors who got thrown away. When they first arrived here, they had around 500 people with their head being a three-star half-orc.
Under the leadership of this orc, they quickly got used to living here. Since they were new here, they didn’t possess a nest to call their own and ended up being bandits, robbing and killing whoever they encountered.
“Then, do you know of the method to leave this damned place?” If there’s a way to throw people in here, there should be a way to send them out as well. Regarding their sob story, I couldn’t care less, all I was concerned with was how to leave this place.
I want to return to the western human realms to see Nicole once more. Of course, if given the chance, I would love to see that lovely fallen angel loli, Yi Yi, I still owed her my thanks for saving me.
If I wasn’t wrong, being able to reincarnate in the Blood Sea was all thanks to her efforts.
“The method to leave this prison…I only know of two methods. The first is to evolve into a four-star and find the exit yourself. While the exit is guarded by multiple prison guards, these guards will not hinder a four-star from leaving. Of course, this only applies to you yourself.”
“If you insist on bringing along your subordinates, you can only rely on the second method.” Violet Snow rubbed the ground with her tiny paws before calmly continuing under the anxious gaze of my eyes.
“The second method is a lot easier, all you have to do is find the exit and breach it.”
“What’s their strength like?”
“I’ve never seen them before so I’m not too sure. But I’m sure they won’t be lacking any four-star undead.”
“…”
Why does the second method sound even harder.
“Oh right, didn’t you mention that they had a three-star leading them…” Putting aside the matter of leaving, I focused my attention back on the half-orcs. “During our battle, I didn’t see any three-star leading them, don’t tell me he’s already dead.”
She answered with an off topic response: “ I just learnt an unfortunate piece of news from that half-orc, it looks like you have to cancel that plan to subjugate those devils.”
“Why is that?”
“Why?” She raised her head and looked at the bone ceiling before answering in a helpless tone: “That enclave has at least two three-star demon childs guarding it. That three-star half-orc was killed by these two working together.
“…you’re kidding me.” Such a coincidence…I just decided on this new target and two days later, I stumble upon this piece of intelligence…although it’s a pretty terrible piece of information.
“That enclave is the largest among the local factions. While they are a mere 7 days away from us, I suggest you set your sights on a different target.” She pounded her paws on the ground to emphasize this need for caution.
“Master, here are the souls.” Having tallied up the damages, No.5 had the self-awareness to automatically offer up the gathered souls.
In total, we harvested over a hundred souls which was delivered to me by several large imps. These souls were split into equal portions to be divvied out.
Upon seeing the souls, the grimoire gleefully flew over and gulped down its share in an instant. It was at this moment that Vick popped out to try and steal some souls but the grimoire didn’t take too kindly to his advances. It tossed itself at the wispy dunce, scaring him away in an instant.
As for the devil egg, it seemed to have lowered its food intake. In the past, it would automatically absorb whatever was given to it. Now, it required me to feed it one by one. In fact, I actually had to place the soul onto its shell before it was willing to absorb it. Looks like it almost reached its limit or perhaps it just got sick of these souls.
As I fed the egg, Violet Snow would constantly throw me a strange look.
“What’s the matter?”
In the face of my questioning, she hesitated for a while before answering: “Is that your child? That can’t be true…you’re obviously…”
“Obviously what?”
“Nothing…”
…
…I absolutely detested this kind of people who left their sentences hanging like that. Even if that person was an adorable puppy, I still didn’t like it although that anger only lasted only a couple of seconds. Being so pretty made it a lot easier to forgive her.
“It’s not my child, it was birthed by one of my subordinates…” I gave a brief recounting of Mo Ci’s story, all the while, she had an expression which said “so that’s why”.
“You’re a really lucky fellow.”
“That’s right, I’m really lucky.” Having cheated death twice, I was definitely a lucky person. At the same time, I was also really unlucky…as for why, I’m sure it’s pretty obvious…
As I reflected on my life, Violet Snow unintentionally struck at my weak point once more: “If you were the one who got caught, that role would’ve probably fallen to you.”
“…there’s…there’s no way…I can give birth…” I had to admit, her words really hurt. Based on her words, she had always seen me as a female devil…
“I’m…a man! A bonafide guy!! You hear me? A guy!”
In order to avoid a certain dog from mishearing me, important things must be repeated thrice.
Unfortunately my indignant grief wasn’t able to change her view of me. Her ears twitched a little as she gave me a disbelieving look. She slowly trotted up to me and gave me a good sniffing. After that round of inspection, this girl calmly looked at me and said:
“No matter how you look at it, whether it’s your appearance, scent or soul, you’re definitely a lust demon. Furthermore, you have a really high-grade bloodline. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had the royal bloodline of a lust demon within you. It’s probably because of this status that you were able to gather this large amount of devils.”
“What lust demon! Let’s set the record straight once and for all! I’m a male! Except for my lack of a pee pee, how am I anything but a male! I still have a pure heart within me so don’t use those tainted eyes to corrupt me!!”
You’ve got to be kidding me! Even though I didn’t use a certain tool for over 40 years, thus turning into a sage, I still won’t allow you to treat me like a female! Back in the good old days, I was a stud who could fire off 7 consecutive shots in one night just by looking at a loli book!!
I’ve decided…before I die, I must grow a pee pee and at least have a night with a beautiful girl. This is my sole wish in life so God, please help me…wait, that’s not right. I’m the enemy of God now, a devil…my head is getting messed up again.
My protests fell on deaf ears as she relentlessly battered me with her words: “ Initially, I thought that you had relied on your feminine charms to maintain your control over these devils but clearly this isn’t the case since you don’t have that stench emitted by the carnal branch of lust demons in heat.”
“Neither do you have the stench of male fluid on your body. And so, I guessed that you belonged to the combat branch or the beguiling branch of lust demons. If you were a part of the carnal branch, I wouldn’t have allowed you to come near me.”
