Final Lord

Chapter 297 Emptying the Minotaur
The stern of the hill gun gently slapped the ground, the splashing mud tracing a firm arc in the air. He solemnly declared:

“We refugees who escaped were all taken in by a kind-hearted lord.”

He said, taking his poisoned spear from behind his back. "Look," he said, "this is the weapon bestowed upon us warriors by the lord."

Aisana flicked her forked tongue, keenly sensing the powerful toxic aura emanating from the poisoned spear. She didn't know the source of this aura was the Strange Mushroom King, a natural wonder, but she could sense that any creature struck by this weapon would suffer excruciating pain.

Aisana immediately judged that this was definitely an expensive weapon, but it was currently in the hands of an ordinary caveman.

"In the Lord's territory," Shanpao's voice suddenly softened, as if reciting some sacred scripture, "there is an ever-flowing spring of life, and beside the spring grow fields enough to feed billions of people."

We cavemen live in dry, warm military nests, and every day we can drink meat porridge mixed with fresh mushrooms..."

Shanpao, like a bard, loudly praised Wang Bufu, describing him as a great savior.

The most crucial point is that what he said was almost entirely true, without any exaggeration.

The young Medusa warriors gathered around without them noticing, their scales rustling like fine rain. When Shanpao described a river hanging upside down in the sky over Wang Bufu's territory, teeming with fish, each Medusa showed an expression of shock and longing.

“Most importantly—” Shanpao suddenly opened the tattered leather pouch at his waist and poured out a dozen gold coins. “The lord said that all races that come to him will become his subjects, not slaves. We will have our own homes and our own income. We will work and be paid.”

The crisp sound of gold coins clinking echoed through the cave, making the Medusas' hearts flutter.

Although the Medusas are powerful in battle, they have low productivity and are currently in a communal ownership stage, meaning all the gold coins they obtain belong to the tribe.

Their own gold coins... it was like a dream to them.

Having laid the groundwork enough, Shanpao revealed his true intentions: "If you're willing, I can ask the lord if he'd be willing to let you follow him as well."

Aisana's tail suddenly snapped, scraping against the rock face with a piercing sound.

She suddenly closed in on Shanpao, her fangs flashing between her lips: "There are no free gifts in the underworld! What exactly does that lord want?"

Her voice, like the spitting of a snake's tongue, was filled with anticipation and unease: "Medusa's venom? Our petrification abilities? Or..." Her gaze swept over the soft snake tails of the young tribesmen, and some unsavory speculations were about to surface.

Shanpao suddenly burst into laughter, his broken teeth glowing in the sunlight: "Chieftain, you're overthinking it!"

He slapped the slave brand on his chest and shouted, "The lord even takes in stinking cavemen like us, how could he be greedy for those things? He said—"

Shanpao suddenly imitated a dignified yet gentle tone, "'I only want two things: loyalty, and your hard work in building our homeland!'"

An eerie silence fell over the cave, even the poisonous fog seemed to solidify. Aisana's vertical pupils trembled violently as she stared at Shanpao for a long, long time…

“Lead the way.” Aisana suddenly spoke, her tail tip sweeping the gold coins from the mountain cannon into a neat line. “I will go to see that lord myself.” She turned and pointed out three of her most elite warriors. “Salice, Murphy, and Sheena, you will accompany me. The rest of you—” Her gaze swept over the tribesmen who were drunk at the banquet, and her voice suddenly turned cold, “Pack your belongings immediately, but do not make a sound.”

Hillbilly's scales stood on end in excitement; he hadn't expected the chieftain to be so decisive. Just as he was about to speak, Aisana suddenly pulled out a dagger and pressed it against his throat.

“Remember,” Chief Medusa’s voice pierced to the bone like an ice pick, “if what you say is true, you will become our Medusa’s eternal benefactor. But if this is a trap… I will make you watch your own heart being ripped out, and you will die before me!”

……

The undead truck riders have been incredibly busy lately—if they had feet.

Just days before, they had transported a group of slaves who had escaped from the Minotaur labyrinth to the desolate wetlands. The dull thud of their wheels rolling over the humus had barely faded when another group of ragged cavemen climbed onto their carriages. The rusted hinges groaned under the weight of the load, and eerie fires flickered in the eye sockets of the skeletal warhorses, as if silently complaining about this relentless, arduous task.

The two groups of slaves had just finished their transfer missions and hadn't even had a chance to catch their breath when a group of minotaurs with jingling nose rings and menacing horns roughly squeezed onto the cart.

The weight of these behemoths made the floorboards creak, and the sulfurous breath dimmed the phosphorescent flames on the shafts.

After finally getting these irritable passengers to Sunset Mountain, the joints of the skeleton's wheels were almost falling apart.

Before they could even untie their reins, four more Medusas with shimmering scales slid out of the mist from the direction of the swamp, their snake tails making a sickening scraping sound as they snaked their way up the carriage.

The undead knight touched his bare skull, thankful that the undead had no flesh and blood. If it were a human cavalryman, such a high-intensity round trip would probably have exhausted him to death long ago.

Fortunately, this is the last trip.

The afterglow of the setting sun pierced through the clouds, casting dappled light and shadow on the rugged mountain road.

The skeletal wheels of the undead truck crunched over the gravel with a dull creak, as if telling of the weariness of its continuous journey.

Wei Yi leaned against the edge of the carriage, her slender fingers unconsciously stroking the rusty railing, but her gaze remained fixed on the distance—the Minotaur labyrinth gradually disappearing into the twilight. The once brightly lit stalactite dome now only had a few dim fluorescent lights left, like the last gasps of a dying beast.

She suddenly nudged Wang Bufu beside her with her elbow, the force so strong that the gold coin bag in his hand almost slipped from his grasp.

“Brother,” her voice held a mixture of amazement and mockery, “when we came here two weeks ago, this was still the underground city-state that the Tauren were so proud of, with furnaces burning day and night and slave markets bustling with activity.”

She counted on her fingers, “And now? The dwarven furnace is cold, the goblin lair is empty, the stubborn Shadowscale and Cavemen have all packed up and run off with us, and you didn’t even spare the Tauren!”
The Minotaur are gone, and our Sunset Mountains and desolate wetlands have suddenly gained over 300,000 people. Is that right? Aren't we being a bit too savage?

Wang Bufu laughed, the gold coin pouch jingling at his waist.

(End of this chapter)