Battle with Ram-Headed Laborers

"With no strength to speak of, few would dare roam the Wasteland recklessly." The Ram-headed People chief smiled casually.

"What strength could I possibly have? I'm just driven by copper coins, born with a life of toil!" Li Ziran replied absently from atop the great horned sheep.

"Wizards make good money, don't they?" the Ram-headed People chief asked kindly. "I heard you earn more in a single day than my entire tribe does."

Li Ziran nodded. "Naturally. But great wizards can earn that much. A menial like me probably earns less than even your errand-runners." He sighed softly. "Such a bitter life!"

Seeing that he could not pry out any especially useful information, the Ram-headed People man changed the subject. "Low-grade healing potions are rare. Can you refine them, sir?"

"No, but I know someone who can." Li Ziran neither confirmed nor denied much. There was no need to be overly polite with strangers met halfway down the road. "In the Gray Wolf Territory we just passed through, there's a wandering bard. Such potions are his specialty. That man loves drink, and he usually takes out three to five bottles a day to trade for drinking money."

"Really?" The Ram-headed People man's eyes widened. Clearly, this was extremely favorable news.

The news was naturally true. It was not particularly valuable information, but letting it slip out now and then often earned some goodwill.

"Probably, but they aren't cheap. You know the value of this kind of potion. I was only hoping to hitch a ride with your caravan and buy a bottle. After all, this is hard currency!" Li Ziran said as he surveyed the Wasteland scenery.

The night was already deep, hazy and indistinct. The breeze borne by the Elemental Tide brushed across everyone's faces.

The two chatted idly like this, the Ram-headed People man constantly asking questions without end, while Li Ziran humored him with casual nonsense out of politeness.

As the caravan traveled onward, the sky gradually brightened. By the light of dawn, Li Ziran could see that the land beneath them was no longer the red sand of the Wasteland, but cracked earth like shattered roof tiles.

Clearly, only a few hours ago, this place might have been a pond rich in water.

That was the Wasteland's terrifying power. No matter how abundant a water source was, it could wipe it out completely within half a day.

Li Ziran drew a deep breath. Mixed into the dryness was a trace of fierce, fiery stench.

Not long ago, a rain of fire must have fallen here. Fire elements in the Elemental Tide had densely gathered, turning into balls of flame that dropped from the sky.

But the air told Li Ziran something else as well: the swamp was still some distance away, so he could calmly keep chatting for a while.

Rare patches of black soil gradually appeared amid the cracked ground. Several tender green shoots were visibly swaying in the Wasteland's scorching wind, and the air blowing toward them was no longer as dry as before.

Such abnormal green grass could not survive. Within a few moments, it would surely wither and become fertilizer for the Wasteland.

The Ram-headed People man spoke less. The swamp was not far from here, yet this flock of sheep had not kept to their prior agreement to stay away from it. Instead, they were actively heading toward the swamp.

The grass grew thicker, and faint hair-thin streams could be seen winding through the gaps between the blades.

This was terrain entirely different from the Wasteland, yet it was fleeting. Within a few hours, these streams and grasses would vanish without a trace.

But at last, he saw a pond. Spear grass as tall as a person grew thick along its banks.

"Li, we've reached the destination!" The Goathead Chief smiled beside him, yet showed no intention of leaving.

Li Ziran naturally understood. The instincts he had honed through years of scraping by told him trouble had arrived.

It was not easy to encounter a wizard in the Wasteland. On the other hand, if they met a wizard willing to accept the Witch Doctor's employment, it was far better than running to a territory and finding hard labor for coin.

The key was that the risk was low.

Even if the Witch Doctor did not hire them, it would not stop them from lingering. Sometimes, they still liked playing bandit.

In such a desolate place of barren mountains and evil waters, this was the perfect kind of business.

Clearly, this band of Ram-headed People had chosen the latter.

Li Ziran had experienced this more than once. Looking at the ram chief who stubbornly refused to leave, he asked calmly, "Thank you for taking me farther along the way, but I don't have anything else on hand to thank you with."

"Li, you're overthinking it. This was entirely a gift. But if you can provide another healing potion, I believe this place will absolutely be safe." The Goathead Chief spoke gently, but in the distance, the Ram-headed People had already begun pulling curved blades hidden among their horns. The last sliver of moonlight before dawn shone upon them, reflecting a gloomy, cold gleam.

Li Ziran took a step back. His fingers slowly slipped to his waist and gripped the slender red cord. His smile was even kinder than the Ram-headed People's. "I'm telling the truth. You can go ask around in the Gray Wolf Territory!"

"Oh, it seems we can't reach an agreement." The smile vanished abruptly from the ram chief's face. Two huge rams behind him immediately revealed their gleaming curved blades and closed in on Li Ziran from both sides.

"Wait, Chief. Let's part on good terms!" Li Ziran hurriedly retreated. The red cord on his belt had silently snapped beneath his fingers, and two frogs fell into the mire.

The instant the two Ram-headed People approached, the motionless sludge suddenly writhed. Before they could reach Li Ziran, a skeletal claw burst from the mire and clamped directly onto their leg bones.

Gurgle!

Half of each sheep leg sank straight into the sludge.

[Undead Art: Bone Claw]

The sudden change exceeded the Ram-headed People's expectations. Four gleaming curved blades stabbed straight into the mire, but instead of the scarlet blood they had expected, another bone claw appeared and seized the blades in its grasp.

Crack!

The curved blades shattered at the sound. The slender bone claws followed the broken hilts to seize their palms, and immense force dragged their entire bodies into the sludge.

All of this happened within the span of a breath. The heads of the two Ram-headed People who had arrived first were buried in the muck, their hind legs kicking wildly as they bleated hoarsely.

"That's... undead magic!"

A ram-headed man in the distance recognized what was happening and cried out in panic.

The moment the word "undead" was spoken, the expressions of the other Ram-headed People visibly changed. Their encircling formation, which had been steadily closing in, suddenly froze. As for the two Ram-headed People in the mire, their struggles grew weaker and weaker until they finally stopped moving. Yet from beginning to end, not one dared step forward to pull them out.

Necromancers were not only infamous in human lands. In the unrestrained Wasteland, they were even more terrifying.

Plague and undead magic were the nightmares of every living creature in the Wasteland.

Though it was only an ordinary Bone Claw, it was enough to frighten this group of relatively tame bandits.

"What are you afraid of? He's alone! Attack together! Necromancers are richer than wizards!" The Goathead Chief hardened his heart and took the curved blade from atop his head. "Even if we let him go, the Necromancer won't let us go!"

As soon as the words fell, he charged forward with his curved blade in hand. Seeing their chief's ferocity, the Ram-headed People behind him cast off their fear and rushed forward as well.

"This is bad!"

Li Ziran retreated continuously. What he feared most were these reckless lunatics who did not care whether they lived or died.

At the same time, he cut every red cord tied around his waist. Whenever a frog landed, a section of skeletal hand emerged and entangled a member of the Ram-headed People.

This red cord was his treasure, woven from the hair of the dead and infused with a Necromancer's magic. The moment it was cut, the Necromantic Power gathered within the cord could directly transform a corpse into a skeleton capable of battle.

Ordinarily, he would not need to worry if he encountered thirty or fifty Ram-headed People. But now, he had only collected thirteen corpses.

That meant only thirteen skeletons could hold them off. Given the skeletons' frail combat strength, surviving the encirclement and extermination by the Ram-headed People would be difficult.

The panic caused by the Bone Claws did not last long before the Goathead Chief's curved blade flipped up a skeleton hidden in the mire.

Slash!

After a flash of cold light, the Pigman skeleton was cut directly into three pieces.

Though the skeletons still struggled to block the enemies before them, before the Goathead Chief's peak combat power, they were nothing more than paper-pasted puppets.

"Chief, I can give you another potion!" Li Ziran said rapidly as he retreated.

But those words were like a matchstick tossed into an oil barrel, making the Ram-headed People, already excited beyond measure, even more frenzied. Each of them seemed to have been injected with a Berserk Potion as they accelerated their encirclement of Li Ziran.

"Oh, then fine. Give me the potion first!" Though the Goathead Chief said this, his pace actually increased another notch.

The instant the battle began, they had already decided Li Ziran was a fat sheep.

Li Ziran retreated swiftly. He knew his situation well. Forget this flock of sheep—if he were the chief, he too would swallow this prey whole without leaving any leeway.

He had said those words deliberately. He wanted to drive these people even madder.

Swamp water splashed everywhere. Li Ziran trudged through the mire, one foot deep and one foot shallow. Occasionally, with one careless step, the sludge would drag in his entire lower body.

This sorry state made the Ram-headed People feel even more that their prey was within easy reach. With the perfect balance of beastfolk, they could steadily close the distance through repeated leaps.

"He can't run anymore! Brothers, put your backs into it! I guarantee this brat has good stuff on him!" The Goathead Chief laughed loudly, and the Ram-headed People behind him grew more excited, their steps ever swifter.

But they did not notice that although Li Ziran was constantly retreating, not a single step took him into the depths of the swamp. If they had looked closely, they would have discovered that Li Ziran had been circling all along.

And now, over the shallow swamp covered by muddy water, a thin, hazy green glow began to rise.

When the green light reached his calves, Li Ziran, who had been running at full speed, abruptly stopped. He swiftly pulled a staff from his waist and lightly pointed it at the Goathead Chief charging at the front.

[Shapeshifting Curse: Frog]

This swamp gave birth to a strange magic. The eerie green light enveloped the Goathead Chief, forming an oily green membrane. Within that membrane, his body began shrinking at a visible rate.