Cat Tribe

Zhou Yu piled all the corpses together, then came before Avilan and dropped to 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 an incantation he himself did not understand, as though it had been innate. A blood-red gate appeared above the corpses, and streaks 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 summoned fewer than a hundred Horned Demons, leaving Avilan somewhat disappointed. As for higher-ranking demons, Avilan had no intention of summoning them for now.

The reason was simple. They were short on manpower. Despair Fortress needed a great many hands for odd jobs. Was he supposed to summon a high-ranking demon to do menial labor? Never mind the efficiency—whether they could even do such work was the real question.

"The Gate of Demons must be completed as soon as possible. At the very least, it can provide Despair Fortress with a stable source of population." Avilan looked at the Horned Demons adapting to their new surroundings and spoke indifferently.

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

With a light wave of his hand, he led everyone around by another route toward the far right.

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

A hundred of the thousand Ratfolk had fallen in this battle, yet none of them grieved. They stood silently, their eyes burning as they looked upon Avilan as though he were a deity!

"The Ratfolk performed well this time. Bring the ten who distinguished themselves the most." Avilan sat at the very front of the formation and spoke calmly.

The Horned Demon commander beside Zhou Yu immediately bowed, then brought over ten Ratfolk. Avilan bestowed names upon them one by one.

Then he looked at the five Horned Demon Commanders beside him and noticed that they had no names, only the title Horned Demon Commander. Curious, he asked, "Why do none of you have names either?"

The five Horned Demon Commanders froze for an instant, then quickly looked at Avilan with fervent faces.

"Reporting to the Supreme Sovereign, in the Demon Realm, only lords above the fourth rank are qualified to name themselves."

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

The kneeling Horned Demon Commander's face immediately filled with delight. A powerful surge of demonic essence came rushing toward him from all directions.

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

Naming Ratfolk in the teens had cost Avilan fewer than a hundred mana points, yet naming a Horned Demon commander had consumed nearly a thousand.

As for creatures that had reached the fourth rank, whether Demonic Beasts or Magic Beasts, they would name themselves. Or perhaps evolution through receiving a name only worked on creatures below the fourth rank.

"Move out. To the Cat Tribe!"

Avilan spoke coolly and set off at the front alongside Zhou Yu. A thousand warriors followed silently behind them, and at the very rear were more than a hundred bound Goblins.

"Who goes there?!"

Before they had even approached the Cat Tribe camp, a thunderous shout rang out. Upon the stockade gate stood over a hundred Cat Tribe warriors, weapons in hand and killing intent boiling, glaring ferociously in their direction.

The speaker was an imposing Cat Tribe warrior with reddish-yellow fur and black stripes on his arms. If not for that enormous cat head, Avilan might have mistaken him for a Tigerfolk.

This Cat Tribe warrior stood more than nine feet tall. Standing there, he was like a towering mountain, and the massive cleaver in his hand gleamed with cold light, its edge intimidating.

"Interesting."

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

She had already seen through him. This Cat Tribe expert was extremely powerful. Though he appeared to be a second-rank swordsman, he was actually a third-rank great swordsman.

That meant the Cat Tribe had two third-rank great swordsmen.

"Lord Avilan, this insignificant Cat Tribe actually knows how to conceal its strength."

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

"Oh? Two third-rank great swordsmen? There must be some unspeakable secret here."

Avilan raised a brow, greatly surprised. Within Essin City, apart from the City Lord, a Third-Tier Great Swordsman could almost run rampant without opposition. Yet they had willingly fallen to such a state?

After pondering briefly, he raised his head toward the Cat Tribe's gate tower and asked softly, "See if we can subdue this Cat Tribe. I suddenly find them very interesting."

"Reporting to Lord Avilan, according to our intelligence, the Cat Tribe is vastly different from the other two tribes. They never rob homes or harass civilians. They only target merchant caravans, and each time they take only half. They rarely take lives!"

Mize immediately stepped forward from behind and reported respectfully.

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

"I leave Zhou Yu to you." After giving the Cat Tribe camp a deep look, Avilan returned to the rear to watch the show.

Zhou Yu greatly disliked communicating with these nonhuman creatures. She glanced at Mize beside her, and Mize immediately understood. He stepped forward and shouted.

"Cat Tribe! We are warriors under the Supreme Sovereign of Despair Fortress! Surely you have received the news—the Goblin camp has already been exterminated. Do you Cat Tribe wish to follow in their footsteps?"

Taking a step forward, Mize looked at the Cat Tribe brute atop the gate tower. His voice was icy and filled with intense killing intent!

"Haha! Do you think our Cat Tribe is as strong as those Goblin trash? What a joke!"

The Cat Tribe brute burst into laughter, eyes wide and aura fierce. Like a tiger standing upright, he swept out a hand. At once, the powerful auras of over a hundred second-rank swordsmen shot into the sky!

He nodded in satisfaction, his eyes sharp as lightning and his presence soaring like a rainbow. Looking down at Mize and the others, he said, "I advise you to get the hell back where you came from! Otherwise, once we start fighting, that so-called Despair Fortress will have only one road left—destruction!"

"Impudence!"

A furious shout suddenly rippled through the air. It was not loud, nor was it majestic, yet it carried endless killing intent.

Zhou Yu's eyes snapped open, killing intent blazing as she stared at the Cat Tribe brute with icy coldness!

A terrifying aura surged into the heavens. Winds stirred and clouds roiled, like a lofty divine mountain crashing down in an instant!

A terrifying cloud of fire suddenly condensed in the sky, flames billowing in great waves.

"Hm?!"

The Cat Tribe brute's pupils abruptly constricted. His expression became exceptionally grave and shocked as he looked at that handsome figure in the distance, that figure overflowing with boundless killing intent. His heart shook violently with utter horror!

"Th-this... this is... a f-fourth-rank Archmage!!"