Warhammer Fantasy: I Have Total War System

On the northern slopes of the Mourning Mountains lies the cannibalistic camp.

As night fell, thousands of bonfires illuminated the ravaged mountain pass as if it were daytime.

The animal skin flags of the five cannibalistic war gangs—Gold Tooth Tribe, Forkstick Tribe, Sons of the Mountains Tribe, Mountain Eater Tribe, and Blood Drinker Tribe—fluttered in the night sky.

The aroma of roasted meat, the sour smell of ale, and the stench of the cannibal's sweat permeated the air for miles.

The passes of the Chinese people have long been trampled flat.

Instead, there were cannibalistic slaughterhouses stretching for miles and altars for sacrificing the gluttonous god.

"The flesh of the Aurora Man is really chewy."

In the very center of the camp, in the most spacious area where the campfire burned the brightest, the ogre tyrant Gresu the Gold Tooth was slumped on his wheelchair throne made of ironwood and countless gold and silver treasures.

Beneath the throne were several layers of thick animal hides, carried shakily by dozens of weaklings. On either side of the throne squatted two burly men, each over three meters tall, wielding giant axes and fiercely scanning their surroundings.

Big Gold Tooth picked up a freshly roasted thigh, peeled off the outer layer of jade armor, and stuffed the meat and bone into his mouth in one bite.

The crunching sound of chewing filled the air, and stains dripped down his layered chin. The tyrant's small eyes, squeezed into two thin slits by his fat, revealed a satisfied look.

"Unlike those green-skinned orcs, whose meat tastes like vegetables and is awful."

"I haven't had this for decades. It's so satisfying to have it once in a while."

Beside him, an ogre hunter leaning against a white fanged beast, the one who had saved Li Lin's life on the battlefield, was picking at bits of flesh between his teeth with a small knife.

Hearing this, the hunter smiled, then laughed loudly and replied in a gruff voice, "If the leader likes it, I'll go catch a few more later."

"Catch five or six more, alive, the dead ones are sour." Big Gold Tooth burped and casually spat the bone in his mouth to the idiot beneath him.

At that moment, a commotion arose at the entrance to the camp.

Heavy footsteps approached from afar, accompanied by the ogre's characteristic roar, which sounded like a burp.

Several burly men with iron stomachs, who were responsible for guarding the camp, tried to stop the intruders, but they saw these cannibalistic men, who were three or four times the size of normal people, being overturned like children by the mountain-like intruders.

"Big-gold-teeth-!"

Tal's roar from the back of his head shook the campfire three times.

The tyrant of the Chabang tribe was in a sorry state.

His armor was covered in cracks and dents from the Haotian War Hammer, half of his beard was burned off, and his entire body was covered in charred flesh.

Around the camp, ogre leaders from other tribes put down their food and looked in this direction.

Only the tyrant and his men seemed completely unconcerned, continuing to devour their golden, oily delicacies.

"You have quite a loud voice," Big Gold Tooth let out a loud burp after his meal, baring his yellow teeth and revealing a ferocious grin. "If you have something to say, keep going."

Tal Backhead rushed to him in three steps, his nostrils spitting out swirling air that made the campfire in front of the big gold-toothed wheelchair throne flicker violently.

"Why don't you attack!"

"Why are you just watching from behind?!"

Big Gold Tooth picked at his ear with his greasy fingers, flicked out a clump of earwax, and hit a good-for-nothing on the forehead next to him. The big-nosed little guy was knocked unconscious.

"First, our agreement is that you take your people and make a quick buck to prove that these Aurora people are rolling in money and that their stuff is easy to steal."

"But what did you bring back this time? Gold coins? Meat? I didn't see anything!" The tyrant made a mocking, high-pitched voice, while the hunter, giant, butcher, fire stomach, and other officials beside him laughed so hard they almost fell over.

"you--"

"Secondly," Big Gold Tooth raised his foot and stomped heavily on the ground in front of Tal, making the pebbles on the ground jump up, interrupting Tal's words.

"You humiliated me in front of so many people. I want you to take off your legs, roast them, and then offer them to me by hand."

"I'll forgive your little bit of rudeness."

The bastards carrying the throne also let out a series of sharp, eerie laughs, the laughter of the Golden Tooth tribe's demons echoing like thunder throughout the camp.

Anger churned in Tal's mind; he knew he had become the other man's laughingstock.

He turned to look at the cannibalistic tyrants and treasurers of the other tribes around him, and roared as he questioned them:

"Are you really willing to let this coward who dares not go to the battlefield lead you?!"

No one responded. Most of the demons' eyes gleamed with ambition, but they were more eager to see someone become the first cannibal to try something new.

"Fine," Tal clenched his fist at the back of his head, glaring fiercely at Gresu the Gold Tooth, who was sprawled on the throne picking his teeth, "then I'll start this!"

He let out a rhythmic roar, followed by a deafening beastly howl that exploded from the edge of the camp in response.

A stone horned beast covered in rock exoskeleton crashed through more than a dozen tents blocking its path, hurtling towards the center of the camp like an out-of-control mountain.

Many ogres scrambled to escape, and Tal Backhead seized the opportunity to pull out the thunderous hammer that had blinded General Zhao from behind.

He roared, gripped the giant hammer tightly with both hands, and smashed it down with tremendous force towards the tyrant's head.

The tyrant remained completely still.

He didn't even stand up; he simply lazily reached into the pile of treasures beneath him and pulled out a short scepter that was entirely golden and inlaid with a sapphire at the top.

With a slight flash of the scepter, the tyrant casually flung out his Jade Warrior Armor, which collided with the Thunder Hammer.

At the moment of impact, a massive, visible shockwave exploded outwards from the two individuals.

The campfire was blown out, and the barbecue grill and the charcoal-grilled jade on it were overturned to the ground.

Tal felt an indescribable force travel from the hammer handle through his entire body, as if a thousand-meter-high mountain had crashed down on him.

His arms instantly lost sensation, his tiger's mouth split open, and blood splattered everywhere.

The Thunder Hammer didn't even have time to unleash half its power before it flew out of his hand and smashed into the camp a dozen meters away, sending up a burst of flashes of electricity.

The tyrant of the Chabang tribe plowed a long furrow in the ground before finally falling face-up into the ashes of the campfire, his limbs twisted like a lump of rotten flesh.

"Kill him."

The sound of Big Gold Tooth chewing rang out, as if instructing his servants to quickly add more food. "No, eat him. The person who prepares the most variety will receive the tyrant's most generous reward."

After a brief silence, countless enormous shadows gathered from all directions.

Strong men with iron stomachs, gluttonous butchers, hunters, and even tribal chiefs who were just watching the show from the sidelines.

All eyes were fixed on the back of Tal's head, his eyes, hidden in the crevices of flesh, gleaming with a greedy and cruel light.

Tal's vision blurred as he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. He heard the sound of bones being chewed and the mournful cry of his mount coming to an abrupt halt.

Gregory the Gold Tooth didn't look at the horrific scene behind him.

He took a piece of freshly roasted meat from the hunter and began to mutter to himself as he ate it:

"Please, buddy, don't be so angry."

"Such a big thing happened, I had to come and see."

His tone suddenly changed from that of a cruel tyrant to that of someone having a casual chat with a neighbor.

The ogre officials around them showed no unusual expression, seemingly already used to their leader's strange behavior.

"Look, your brother helped that little guy, and I helped that little guy too, so I helped your brother, which rounds up to the point that I helped you."

As Big Gold Tooth spoke, he gestured with his fleshy leg in the air, as if he were bargaining with someone he couldn't see.

"Alright, let's go now, but don't forget—the contract will eventually come to an end."

After saying that, Big Gold Tooth let out a hoarse laugh.

The campfire was relit, and the noise in the camp gradually returned to normal.

The number of flags around the camp decreased from five to four. The flag of the Chabang tribe, along with their totem and the bones left over from their master's meal, was thrown into the fire and burned fiercely.

"Come on! Bring the wine! Bring the meat! I didn't say stop!"

The feast continues.

The tyrant and his men feasted on meat and drank wine to their hearts' content.

However, his gaze drifted intentionally or unintentionally towards the outside of the camp, to an inconspicuous, dark sand dune in the far distance.

"People from Aurora, they just have a lot of clever ideas."

After he finished speaking, he looked away, stuffed a piece of rib dripping with oil into his mouth, and chewed it with a crunching sound, bone and all.

-----------------

Behind the sand dunes.

General Feng Yao crouched in the shadows of the sand ditch, suppressing his breathing.

Behind him, the two Hongwu governors, both clad in brocade robes and black garments, also held their breath and remained motionless.

Their attire was completely different from that of ordinary Aurora soldiers—the collars of their black robes were turned up high, covering half of their faces, revealing only pairs of cold, stern eyes.

Besides the usual sword at his waist, he also carried several Heavenly Fire Thunderbolts, and on his back was an iron object shaped like a basket.

A Hongwu commander put down the jade slip he was using to spy on the distant scene and reported in a low voice: "General, the Chabang tribe that traded with us has been completely wiped out. The tyrant Tal Backhead himself was publicly executed by Big Gold Tooth, and his troops have all been absorbed by the Gold Tooth tribe."

Feng Yao sneered: "Useless piece of trash. He couldn't even manage to lure Big Gold Tooth into the game. He deserves to be swallowed whole, skin and bones."

He didn't glance at the ogre camp again, and turned to walk south of the dunes.

The two Hongwu governors immediately followed, their feet barely making a sound on the sand, like three sand snakes gliding under the moonlight.

"General," one of the Hongwu commanders said tentatively as they walked halfway down the sand dunes, "the allied forces' deserters have already entered the Nanli territory."

"If we continue chasing, we might run into Han Cheng's men—"

Feng Yao stopped in his tracks, turned around, and stared expressionlessly at the Hongwu Governor who had spoken.

The man immediately knelt on one knee, cold sweat pouring from his forehead.

"I have spoken out of turn, please forgive me, General."

Feng Yao did not look away.

He remained silent for about ten breaths, each breath causing the Hongwu Governor to bend over even deeper.

"Go back and accept the punishment of having your tongue cut off. There will be no next time."

"Thank you, General!"

After crossing the last sand ditch, a hidden military camp suddenly came into view.

The tents were arranged like a chessboard, with no campfire, and the dark shadows flickered in the night.

As Feng Yao entered the camp, hundreds of Hongwu commanders appeared like ghosts, all kneeling on one knee to welcome their commander.

"Pack your things and continue north."

"Let's see where they can run to."