Final Lord

Chapter 290 Using one tiger to devour another (2)

Wang Bufu narrowed his eyes slightly, a glint of light flashing deep within his pupils.

"If you have any Medusa to sell next, Chief, don't sell them to anyone else, sell them all to me. I'm willing to pay double the price to anyone else."

The entire hall fell silent instantly.

Keynes's wine barrel hung in mid-air, its murky liquid sloshing around the rim. Several minotaur guards, their nose rings jingling, exchanged shocked glances.

“Double?” Keynes slowly set down the wine barrel, his thick fingers tapping a dull rhythm on the armrest of the throne. “Do you know how much it costs to tame a Medusa warrior? Do you know how many gold coins a Medusa costs? They’re not the cheap stuff you bought.”

"Hehe." Wang Bufu chuckled and took out a jade-inlaid box from his bosom. With a soft click of the mechanism, twelve pigeon-egg-sized gems shone brightly on the velvet cloth.

Keynes' pupils contracted, startled by the energy emanating from the gemstone.

"Epic resource: Radiant Fluorite. One piece costs 100,000 gold coins."

Wang Bufu closed the box and forcefully pushed it in front of Keynes.

"This is the deposit."

His voice was as soft as if he were discussing the weather, “I can eat as many Medusas as you have. Don’t worry about the gold coins.”

Keynes' pupils suddenly contracted to slits. He jumped to his feet and clapped loudly: "Hahaha! Good! You're even more generous than I imagined!"

If we don't capture hundreds or thousands of Medusas, it would be a disservice to your efforts.

"Honorable guest, please wait a few days. Medusa slaves will be available soon."

Wang Bufu smiled and raised his glass to Keynes. That evening, Keynes was very happy, and Wang Bufu… was happy too!
……

The Poisonous Mist Swamp is shrouded in a gray-green miasma year-round. The rotting mud churns with toxic bubbles, and the withered trees twist like dying giants, their branches covered in eerie moss. This is a forbidden zone for life, yet it is the very home that the Medusa clan depends on for survival.

The anti-poison glands beneath their scales allow them to move freely through the poisonous fog, while outsiders who enter this place will die from festering sores in about two weeks if they do not receive timely antidote.

The caveman, Shanpao, lay prone in the humus at the edge of the swamp, his grayish-brown scales covered in mud, blending seamlessly into his surroundings. He held his breath, the tip of his tail trembling slightly with tension. In the distance, a Medusa sentinel perched on a dead tree, her serpentine tail coiled around the branches, her cold, vertical pupils scanning the movements on the swamp's perimeter.

"who!"

The hillbilly had barely emerged when her bow was nocked, the arrowhead gleaming with a poisoned light.

"Whoosh-!"

An arrow suddenly pierced the air, grazing Shanpao's ear fins and embedding itself in the mud. The splashed venom burned his scales, making a hissing, corrosive sound.

Shanpao froze, then screamed hoarsely, "Don't shoot! I'm a caveman fleeing from disaster! I have important news!"

Medusa's bowstring was taut, and a second arrow was already aimed at his brow. "Caveman?" Her voice was hoarse, like the scratching of a snake's tongue. "How did a Minotaur slave end up here?"

Shanpao struggled to raise his hands, revealing festering wounds on his wrists from the chains. "I...I overheard the minotaurs' plan! They're going to attack your tribe in three days!"

……

News of the impending Tauren attack spread like wildfire among the Medusa tribe.

Before the stone altar, Medusa Chieftain Aisana pounded the ground restlessly with her serpent tail, her golden vertical pupils narrowing to slits in rage. "How dare these minotaurs be so greedy!" Her voice echoed through the poisonous mist. "Last time they stole half of our swamp fish, and now they're back again?"

The tribesmen were thrown into chaos. The young warrior gripped his longbow tightly, his scales slightly raised with fighting spirit.

An older Medusa huddled in a corner, her tail tip nervously coiled around her young. "Perhaps we should surrender the fish... there are salamander nests deeper in the poisonous fog swamp; we can survive..."

“Hide in the mist. If we can just buy them time, they’ll retreat on their own,” said another one-armed Medusa. Her arm had been severed by a minotaur’s battle axe during the last minotaur invasion.

"Your old methods won't work!" Shanpao suddenly shouted. He staggered to the altar and pulled a rusty iron piece from his leather pouch, which was engraved with the Minotaur's battle axe emblem.

"This is an order I stole from a minotaur caravan—an underground merchant paid an exorbitant deposit to buy hundreds of Medusa slaves!"
They'll come out in full force this time, even if it means razing the swamp to the ground, just to capture enough people!

The shadow of the dead suddenly enveloped the entire area. The Medusas hissed and whispered, and the poisonous fog seemed to solidify.

"Hundreds? Our entire group only has a few hundred."

"What does that merchant want to do with us?"

"I don't know, but it's definitely not a good thing."

"Damn tauren, won't they even give us a way to survive?"

The Medusas gasped in alarm, their expressions filled with panic.

Just as despair was spreading, Shanpao suddenly opened the tattered leather pouch at his waist and poured out a pile of dark red arrowheads.

“But…we slaves are not to be slaughtered!” He gasped, raising an arrowhead. Beneath the patina, the carefully polished edge of the broken armor was faintly visible. “The dwarves secretly melted down the minotaurs’ discarded armor and forged these copper arrows. They are extremely sharp; they can even pierce through the thickest minotaur breastplates!”

The Medusa chieftain, Aisana, suddenly straightened her serpentine tail and snatched the arrowhead. Her fingertips traced the sharp edge, and blood immediately flowed freely.

Aisana's pupils dilated suddenly. "Why...why are you helping us?"

Hillbilly's Adam's apple bobbed, and he said in a very low voice, "Because we slaves have had enough of those brutal minotaurs."

We don't have the power to kill them, but you do!
So we're on the same side!

As long as you have enough arrows, not only will you not have your food stolen, but you will also win the battle and teach those minotaurs a lesson.

The problem now is that we don't have enough arrows; we're lacking some crucial materials.

The Medusa warriors below the altar had already gathered around, their scales rustling like fine rain. Aisana's tail slowly coiled around Shanpao's wrist, her venomous fangs barely visible between her lips. "What are you lacking?"

Hillbilly grinned and said, "Salt, ore, some materials, and Medusa's venom. And of course, gold coins."

More is better!

We need your help; only if you help us can we help you!

“No problem!” Aisana was very clear that this was a matter of life and death for the race, not a time for petty squabbles.

"I'll open our warehouses; take whatever you need! As long as you deliver the arrows on time!"

(End of this chapter)