16: Catfolk

Zhou Yu piled all the corpses together, then came before Avilan and knelt on one knee.

"Lord Avilan, the corpses have been prepared. You may begin."

"Very good, Zhou Yu. You did well." Avilan praised her, then began chanting a spell even he did not understand, as though it had been innate to him. A blood-red gate appeared above the corpses, and streams of blood extended from it, dragging the piled bodies into the gate.

Aslan frowned slightly at the sight. More than eight hundred Goblin corpses had only summoned fewer than a hundred Horned Demons, leaving Avilan somewhat disappointed. As for higher-ranking demons, Avilan had no intention of summoning them yet.

The reason was simple. They were short on manpower. Despair Fortress needed a great many hands for menial work. Summoning a high-ranking demon to do chores was one thing; whether it would even know how to do them was another.

"The Demon Gate must be built as soon as possible. At the very least, it can provide Despair Fortress with a stable source of population." Avilan spoke blandly as he watched the Horned Demons adapting to their new surroundings.

Zhou Yu immediately lowered her head. "Yes, Lord Avilan."

He waved a hand lightly and led everyone around toward the far right.

The extermination of the Goblin camp had not taken much time at all. Although they might have alerted the other two alien races, those forces could never have guessed that the Goblin camp had already been wiped out!

In this battle, a hundred of the thousand Ratkin had died. Yet none of them mourned. They stood quietly, their eyes blazing as they looked at Avilan as though he were a god!

"The Ratkin performed well this time. Bring the ten who distinguished themselves most." Avilan sat at the very front of the group and spoke indifferently.

The Horned Demon Commander beside Zhou Yu immediately saluted, then brought over ten Ratkin. Avilan bestowed names upon them one by one.

Suddenly, he looked at the five Horned Demon Commanders beside him and realized that they had no names, only the designation Horned Demon Commander. Curious, he asked, "Why don't you have names either?"

The five Horned Demon Commanders froze for an instant before quickly looking at Avilan with fanatical expressions.

"Supreme Sovereign, in the Demon Realm, only those above the fourth tier are qualified to name themselves."

Avilan nodded. After studying the other for a long while, a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "From this day onward, you shall be called Mize, the leader of the Horned Demons."

A delighted look immediately appeared on the kneeling Horned Demon Commander's face as powerful demonic essence surged toward him from all directions.

Avilan quietly watched the change before him, though his gaze remained fixed on the mana points steadily dropping.

Naming Ratkin around level ten had cost Avilan fewer than a hundred mana points. Yet naming a Horned Demon Commander had consumed nearly a thousand mana points.

As for creatures that reached the fourth tier, whether monsters or magical beasts, they would name themselves. Or perhaps naming and evolution only worked on creatures below the fourth tier.

"Let's go. To the Catfolk!"

Avilan spoke calmly and set off first with Zhou Yu. A thousand warriors silently followed behind them, with more than a hundred bound Goblins bringing up the rear.

"Who goes there?!"

The moment they neared the Catfolk camp, a furious shout rang out. More than a hundred Catfolk warriors stood atop the gate, weapons in hand, glaring viciously in their direction with killing intent.

The speaker was a mighty and imposing Catfolk warrior. His body was covered in reddish-yellow fur, while black stripes marked his arms. If not for that large feline head, Avilan might have taken him for a tigerfolk.

This Catfolk warrior stood over nine feet tall. Standing there, he was like a towering mountain, and the massive saber in his hand gleamed coldly with a chilling edge.

"Interesting."

Zhou Yu's eyes brightened slightly, a trace of interest appearing in her gaze.

She had already seen that this Catfolk expert was exceptionally powerful. Though he appeared to be a second-tier swordsman, he was actually a Third-Tier Great Swordsman.

That meant the Catfolk had two Third-Tier Great Swordsmen.

"Lord Avilan, this insignificant Catfolk tribe actually knows how to hide its strength."

She spoke softly to Avilan beside her, her tone utterly calm.

"Oh? Two Third-Tier Great Swordsmen? Then there must be some unspeakable secret here."

Avilan raised an eyebrow, greatly surprised. Within Essin City, a Third-Tier Great Swordsman was nearly invincible aside from the city lord. Why would they willingly end up in such a place?

After pondering briefly, he looked up at the Catfolk gatehouse and asked softly, "See whether we can subdue these Catfolk. I've suddenly become rather interested in them."

"Reporting to Lord Avilan, according to our intelligence, the Catfolk are vastly different from the other two races. They never loot homes or harass civilians. They only target merchant caravans, and each time they take only half their goods. They rarely take lives!"

Mize immediately stepped forward from behind them and reported respectfully.

Avilan nodded lightly. He did not care in the slightest whether they were good people. So long as they joined Despair Fortress, he had plenty of ways to control them.

"Zhou Yu, I'll leave them to you." After giving the Catfolk camp a deep look, Avilan returned to the rear to watch the show.

Zhou Yu greatly disliked communicating with these alien races. She glanced at Mize beside her, and Mize immediately understood, stepping forward to shout.

"Catfolk! We are warriors under the Supreme Sovereign of Despair Fortress! You must have received word by now that the Goblin camp has been wiped out. Do you Catfolk wish to follow in their footsteps?"

Taking a step forward, Mize looked at the burly Catfolk man atop the gatehouse. His voice was icy and thick with killing intent!

"Haha! Do you think our Catfolk are as weak as those Goblin trash? What a joke!"

The burly Catfolk man burst into laughter, his eyes wide and his aura fierce, like a standing tiger. With a sweep of his hand, the powerful auras of more than a hundred second-tier swordsmen instantly soared into the sky!

He nodded in satisfaction, his gaze sharp as lightning and his bearing overwhelming as he looked down at Mize and the others. "I advise you to get the hell back where you came from! Otherwise, once we start fighting, even that damned Despair Fortress will face nothing but destruction!"

"Impudent!"

A furious shout suddenly echoed through the air. It was not loud or imposing, yet it carried endless killing intent.

Zhou Yu's eyes snapped open, killing intent blazing within them as she looked at the burly Catfolk man with extreme coldness!

A terrifying aura surged into the heavens, stirring wind and clouds. Like a majestic divine mountain, it descended in an instant!

A terrifying cloud of fire abruptly gathered in the sky, roaring with blazing flames.

What?!

The burly Catfolk man's pupils abruptly contracted. His expression turned extraordinarily grave and shocked as he looked at the handsome figure in the distance, that figure overflowing with killing intent. His heart trembled violently in utter horror!

"Th-this... this is... a f-fourth-tier Great Mage!!"