My Players Are So Fierce-Chapter 425

Chapter 425: From Today Onwards, The Gnoll Ferryman of the Styx River Will Be Renamed as Hog

The undead had become a plague in the Smuggler’s Woods.

This wasn’t something that happened in the past few days. Ever since Hog established connections with the Plague Clan, this special “strategic resource” had been growing at a terrifying rate in the Smuggler’s Woods.

With the arrival of plague mages and necromancers from Plague Town, the ratio of gnolls to undead in the Blood Claw Clan’s territory had reached an astounding 40:1.

It was fortunate that the undead didn’t need food or rest, otherwise, the logistics alone for this force would have been enough to make Hog and its clansmen collapse.

These many mouths would have been enough to gnaw through every piece of bark in the Smuggler’s Woods from top to bottom.

Even so, the Blood Claw Clan hadn’t been having an easy time lately. The gathering of so many undead had caused the death spirit energy concentration in the area to skyrocket. This cold power of the dead was a terrible pressure on living beings. While intelligent life could resist it through courage, animals with keener senses weren’t so stubborn. As a result, the mass exodus of animals from the woods made it very difficult for Hog’s hunters to catch enough meat.

Fortunately, the previous deal with the Crimson Citadel had allowed Hog to stockpile large amounts of food in secret locations, which prevented its clansmen from going hungry during this difficult time.

But this couldn’t continue forever!

The threat of depleting resources was unacceptable to any ruler with foresight, let alone someone as clever as Hog.

It could clearly see the threat if this situation dragged on.

And it wasn’t just Hog, basically all the commanders in the Blood Claw Clan could see this problem.

“Chieftain! We need to make them leave quickly!”

Nash, Hog’s most trusted deputy, said to its chieftain with a worried expression:

“Our hunters haven’t caught any fresh meat for 4 consecutive days. Even the dumbest roe deer have fled en masse to Lake Shulps area out of fear of the undead presence. I sent people to fish, but we gnolls really aren’t good at that.

If this continues, we’ll starve to death.”

“Spirit energy! Corruption!”

Gold Tooth, the kobold leader standing on Hog’s other side, stuttered while leaning on its “luxurious bone staff” decorated with candles:

“The aura of evil spirits is changing the spirit energy! Our woods will be corrupted and polluted, we must, must drive them away!”

“Those damned mages are digging up the graves where we buried our clansmen, Hog.”

The berserker leader Maltai Dimwit also waved its gnoll club and shouted:

“They’re planning to turn our strongest berserkers into bones, this cannot be tolerated.”

“Shut up! All of you shut up!”

Seeing the other leaders also eager to offer their opinions, Hog immediately shouted:

“Listen to me, you fools. Bear with it a little longer, they’ll leave in two days at most. I’ll personally lead them away from our precious woods. Nash, did you find the route I asked you to look for?”

It looked at its deputy.

Nash immediately unfurled a beast hide map before its chieftain like presenting a treasure. Using its sharp claws to point at several markers and crooked routes on the map, it said:

“Go through here! Chieftain Hog, from here we can bypass the Transian watchtowers on the hills, cross two tributaries under cover of night and slip into East Prussia. From the landing point, it’s at most 3 hourglasses east to reach the Silan watchtowers.

There used to be many soldiers there, but that short Marshal took all the soldiers away and sent them to Transia, which caused their numbers to drop severely.

I sent some fearless hunters to check it out. Some of the gnolls who fled from Transia earlier are also holed up in the nearby valleys.

Our hunters have already contacted them. They were beaten badly by the Pioneer Army’s recruits, and as soon as they heard reinforcements had come from the Dark Mountains, they immediately expressed willingness to guide us. They know where the good stuff is in that area.

We just need to lead those damned mages over there and not worry about the rest. Our brethren there will help us finish what remains to be done.

But the problem now is, didn’t the Chief Flesh Render forbid us from expanding the war?

The mages under it won’t obediently listen to us either.”

“Heh, who needs them to listen?”

Hog sneered at this, saying mockingly:

“I admit those mages are formidable, but so what? This is their first time in Transia, they don’t know the way at all. Wherever I lead them, they can only follow.

Most importantly, our ‘friends’ will arrange everything.

Don’t worry, I guarantee those ‘noble’ and arrogant mages will only have this one path to take in the end.

So, go prepare.”

The Blood Claw Chieftain looked at the map before it and said quietly:

“I’ll lead them away tomorrow. Before I return, you all need to keep a low profile. We’re friends of the Transians now. But those Silans won’t acknowledge us so quickly, so be prepared!

If they insist on flexing their muscles against us poor local gnolls while not daring to challenge the formidable gnolls from the Dark Mountains, then give them something to remember!

Let them know that the Blood Claw Clan isn’t to be trifled with either.”

————————

Time flew by, and soon it was time to execute Chief Flesh Render’s orders. In the night of the Smuggler’s Woods, Hog rode its dire wolf leading a dozen clever hunters and berserkers at the front, followed by an army of 3,000 gnoll skeletons.

These skeleton soldiers were more formidable than the previous elites.

The gnoll necromancers had equipped them with thick bone armor and weapons imbued with foul poison. Most importantly, this was a fully equipped and staffed skeleton army.

It had everything from infantry to archers to skeleton mages and cavalry, plus carrion birds flying overhead as scouts. Besides the 8 plague mages and 12 necromancers protected at the core of the skeleton army, there were also quite eye-catching “giant zombies” in the formation.

Uh, these fellows were actually just undead Gnawbone berserkers.

Something went wrong somehow, but anyway, while Hog was “luring and killing” those Gnawbone soldiers who had major grievances against it, there seemed to have been a “mutiny” in Plague Town as well.

In any case, there were no living Gnawbone berserkers there now. The Plague Clan’s mages had turned them all into more powerful and loyal gnoll zombies.

It’s hard to say whether Lame Claw’s urgent need for “test subjects” was a factor, but anyway, Hog felt this matter definitely couldn’t be separated from itself.

It was Hog who personally ignited the hidden conflicts between the Gnawbone berserkers and plague mages, but for Hog who would definitely have to “do all sorts of evil deeds” in the future, this was just an insignificant attempt.

It was being very careful in leading the way now. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Leading this formidable army behind it towards the human armament factory and military camp at Anderma Hills, orders from Chief Flesh Render required them to destroy such strategic locations to delay enemy activities.

The nearly 3,000-strong skeleton army made very, very little noise marching at night, as if in “silent mode”. Those cold plague mages even used spirit energy techniques to cast concealment mobile formations on this army.

Just from this point, one could see the extent of the Dark Mountain gnolls’ “martial virtue”. Even for what they considered a “small-scale raid”, they put spirit energy to use where it counted most.

In comparison, the local gnolls’ minor skirmishes were really like mud that couldn’t stick to the wall.

Hog couldn’t help but grumble inwardly that there were reasons why the Dark Mountain gnolls looked down on these “outlander gnolls”.

The two sides had almost nothing in common at any level.

It had been quite close to Lame Claw recently, and heard from the mentally unstable Lame Claw that some gnoll commanders in the Dark Mountains had already proposed to distinguish between the glorious Dark Mountain tribes and outside gnolls.

Those fellows came up with a very insulting new name for outside gnolls.

They wanted to call all other gnolls except themselves “jackals” to show the difference between them.

As for what kind of animal a “jackal” was, Hog wasn’t clear yet, Transia didn’t have such strange creatures, but it could guess with its balding tail that it definitely wasn’t a good term.

“It’s just ahead, my lord!”

After marching like this for 5 hours, Hog sat on its dire wolf drinking some honey-sweetened water, then took out the beast hide map and pretended to study it under torchlight before saying very obsequiously to the mage leader “Plague Fang” beside it:

“Just past the small hills ahead, we’ll officially enter Anderma Hills territory. That will be the last stretch of Smuggler’s Woods. The Transian armament factory is nearby, while the Silan military camp my pups discovered is further away, it’ll take another day’s march to reach.”

“Hmm.”

Plague Fang nodded coldly.

It couldn’t be bothered to say much to Hog, partly due to its arrogance, and partly because this fellow had accidentally burned off its own tongue while learning plague magic.

Even if it wanted to speak, it couldn’t say much.

However, after marching for another 20 minutes, Plague Fang’s expression suddenly changed.

This mage leader riding a tall dire wolf raised its sinister and terrifying bone staff, as if giving an order, making the 3,000 skeleton soldiers stop at the same time. This scene made Hog shrink its head.

The other mages quickly rushed over to join Plague Fang.

They realized something was wrong. After communicating through spirit energy resonance, another one-eyed mage took up the whip in place of Plague Fang and severely lashed at Hog while berating:

“You mongrel! Why didn’t you report that there’s a vampire’s mage tower 10 kilometers directly ahead?”

“Huh?”

Hog, stunned from being hit, asked blankly:

“What do you mean ‘mage tower’? My pups told me there was a strange building there, they thought it looked like an abandoned barn or human windmill. That weird thing doesn’t look anything like Flesh Render’s mage tower!”

“Damn!”

The Blood Claw Chieftain’s irritating response perfectly matched its self-established image as a “bootlicking fool”, and made the questioning gnoll mage look completely desperate.

To be honest, it was very difficult to see desperation on this face with facial nerves paralyzed from long-term toxin exposure, but the facts were before their eyes.

Through the carrion birds’ reconnaissance, the gnoll mages had realized the seriousness of the problem.

A small mage tower stood ahead!

If there were vampire spirit mages stationed there, it meant their army of this size could not possibly pass by without alerting them.

Having or not having mage tower spirit mages were two different concepts. Even the well-traveled plague mages didn’t dare to act rashly now.

Being discovered was a small matter, but being unable to complete Chief Flesh Render’s instructions was a big deal, the Chieftain’s most insane corpse constructor Lame Claw never had enough test subjects.

In the Plague Clan where internal competition was terrifyingly intense, the best outcome for those without value was to become a corpse mage.

The plague mages were no longer concerned with berating Hog’s stupidity. They huddled together whispering, and finally reached an agreement. The mage who questioned earlier turned his head and glared fiercely at Hog with his single eye, saying:

“Take a detour! Detour immediately, bypass that mage tower and attack the armament factory and military camp from another direction!

You!

You useless fool!

If you tell me you didn’t even reserve backup routes, I’ll definitely rip out your tongue!”

“There is! Of course there is, I prepared two routes for the Great Flesh Render.”

Hog handed over the beast hide map with a fearful expression, saying quietly:

“The second route is longer and more roundabout, but there are no watchtowers around it. However, this route requires first entering East Prussia from the woods, then walking along the border for half a day to circle back to Anderma Hills, but Flesh Render explicitly forbade us from expanding the war.

It won’t allow us to set foot on East Prussian soil.”

“That old undying bastard has all the good and bad words covered!”

The mage looking at the map cursed under his breath.

Fully proving that even in the Plague Clan, Flesh Render’s reputation wasn’t actually that good, but it had big enough fists and fierce enough spirit energy to suppress all dissent.

“Take the detour!”

A few minutes later, the plague mages reached an agreement. They threw the map back to Hog, saying:

“Walking more is better than facing a prepared mage tower. But all this delay and danger is caused by your stupid intelligence failure, Hog! When we return to Plague Town, you better pray for yourself.

You poor wretch!”

On the surface Hog looked terrified and desperate, but inside it was already overjoyed.

Aren’t you thinking too far ahead? At this point, you’re still fantasizing about being able to return alive to Plague Town?

Hey, do you have some misunderstanding about how these Transian barbarians operate?

If they let you return in one piece, I’ll write my name Hog backwards!

Meanwhile, at the top of that “vampire mage tower”, Lady Femis, who had been transferred here by Murphy’s secret orders, was reading a grimoire.

The walls of the “mage tower” around her were covered in the rough granular texture characteristic of freshly dried cement, with no decorations whatsoever inside.

This was just an unfinished building, not even having spirit energy inscriptions added yet.

The tower was rushed to completion just last night by workers from the Stonemason Guild. Although it was already in Transia’s 100-day grand construction plan and was specifically built as a magical place for Countess Femis of Anderma in her territory, the problem was that this thing was currently just for show.

The spirit energy waves it could emit relied entirely on Femis herself activating spells to stimulate resonance. In other words, the Blood Claw Clan hunters’ reconnaissance results were correct.

This thing was just a “windmill”!

The Plague Clan mages were just being too cautious.

“What kind of weird names has Murphy given me”

At this moment, Femis, who was alone in the tower carrying out the “tactical intimidation” mission, was flipping through the notes in her hand while complaining bitterly in her heart:

“What I need is a proper organization name that can attract warriors’ curiosity, definitely not these chunnibyou self-proclamations.

That bastard has definitely been influenced too deeply by his warriors’ unfocused style.

I’m not going to call myself some ‘Supreme Mage’ of Kamar-Taj. Even Tris wouldn’t dare use such a title, use it and you’d better be ready for spirit mages from all over the continent to come challenge you one after another.

Oh~ this name isn’t bad!”

Femis turned a page and suddenly brightened.

She flapped her wings to fly up by the window, while activating detection spells to observe changes at the border of Smuggler’s Woods in the distance, thinking to herself:

“Scarlet Devil Mansion… tsk tsk, quite suitable for me both literally and semantically. Ha, those fellows can occasionally be reliable too.

Hmm?

They turned back? So cautious?”

Due to the blood and seeds of life within her body, the young lady had an extra ability compared to other vampires – she could sense the natural spirit energy of woods.

She quickly sensed the changes in the situation within Smuggler’s Woods, which made Femis snort in derision.

Speaking of which, she hadn’t participated in a real battle since achieving Silver rank. She had planned to exercise her muscles tonight but didn’t expect these gnolls from the Dark Mountains to be so cowardly.

Is this a practical case of what those warriors often say about “the older you get in the jianghu, the smaller your courage becomes”?

Thinking thus, she activated her computation bead to tell Murphy who was waiting for news:

“The gnolls have taken the path you prepared for them”

“Say the code phrase! Didn’t we emphasize this earlier?”

“What’s wrong with you! Do we need a stupid code phrase for such a small matter… fine fine, ‘the eagle has returned to nest, the hunter can draw his bow’.”

Femis replied with an exasperated expression. Only then did Murphy seem satisfied, saying:

“Just trouble you to stay there for another 48 hours to monitor the following operation. Also, Tris and I have sorted out a codename for you.

From now on, you’re the testing group’s new customer service ‘Feifei’.”

“I hate that name, Murphy! Give me another one!”

“Alright, you can call yourself ‘Fei’er’.”

“…Let’s stick with Feifei then. Also, I hate you! Murphy!”

“Please use titles during work, my dear Feifei. Now, please address me as Administrator Alpha.”