It was dawn in the Thorns Swamp.
The thin fog had yet to clear and the sun had yet to rise. A group of demihumans gathered around a dead th.o.r.n.y tree and dug for worms. Each time one of them dug out a fat white worm, he would cheer and stuff the worm into his mouth to chew.
The demihumans were never picky about food.
The Woodworms were a delicious breakfast to them. If they found none, they could always make do with some tree bark.
Suddenly, a terrified yell came from nearby, "Run! That humanoid monster is coming!"
The group of demihumans raised their heads and saw the nearby demihumans who were scavenging for breakfast desperately running away.
"What humanoid monster?"
They were still confused until a familiar figure appeared in their sight.
"The humanoid monster that killed the Bone Emperor?"
"Ah!"
They immediately became terrified. They began screaming and running away just like the others.
"They"re really cowards!" Ayrin exclaimed while sitting on the Shoal Lord.
After an entire night of tracking, they finally found a large settlement of demihumans. There were at least two to three thousand demihumans in this area. However, the moment they saw Ayrin, they ran away immediately and did not show any intention to fight at all.
"I think you can"t do anything about them." Stingham gloated, "Did we come here for you to race against them?"
"Let me try."
Ayrin did not seem discouraged at all. He shouted towards the desperately running demihumans, "Run if you want! I"m only interested in the fastest one, whoever runs the fastest, I will take him on."
"What?"
The demihumans trembled.
They began checking on their companions and slowed down.
"Run faster!"
"Why are you slowing down? You can run much faster than me normally!"
"I"m already running very fast, why are you running so slowly?"
The demihumans slowed down and urged their companions to run faster.
Soon, they were crawling like turtles.
"This works?" Stingham was dumbfounded.
Instinct again?
Did he research demihumans for years?
Is he a psychology master who majored in demihumans?
Rinloran and Moss were completely speechless.
"It really worked!"
Ayrin"s eyes beamed.
He immediately shouted towards the crawling demihumans, "Starting from now, whoever is the slowest to get over here, I will kill him!"
The demihumans s.h.i.+vered. However, they hesitated and did not approach Ayrin.
"Looks like the pressure isn"t enough." Ayrin mumbled to himself. Then, he shouted again, "What? You didn"t hear me? You think you can escape? Stingham, show them your one shot one kill Green Dragon Spear!"
"Throw at that tree, show them what true power is!" Ayrin shouted and pointed at the dead tree the demihumans were digging worms out.
"You want to establish superiority? But why ask me? My aim is terrible!" Stingham immediately s.h.i.+vered like those demihumans.
"It"s fine, just aim and throw." Ayrin spoke confidently.
"Don"t blame me if I miss." Stingham shouted and threw his spear.
Boom!
The dead th.o.r.n.y tree was incinerated by a streak of green flames.
"What!?"
Stingham opened his eyes wide in disbelief.
"Haha, I knew you could do it!" Ayrin laughed. Then, he stared at the demihumans who were even more scared, "See that? Are your feet faster than this spear?"
Before the demihumans could act, Stingham shouted in disbelief, "No way! What happened?"
Boom!
He threw his Green Dragon Spear again and accurately hit another th.o.r.n.y tree.
"Another hit?"
Stingham was dumbfounded. He threw again.
Boom!
Yet another th.o.r.n.y tree was burnt to a crisp.
"I actually...... can aim?"
Tears of joy flowed down his face.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Streaks of green flames flew and th.o.r.n.y trees kept getting vaporized.
"Hahahaha...... One throw one strike!"
Stingham"s maniacal laughter rang out, "Hahaha, I"m a genius! I can suddenly aim!"
"This idiot, he actually didn"t know the benefit he gained from the Skeleton Army!" Rinloran saw Stingham"s proud att.i.tude and lamented.
"These people are really devious."
"They look scary."
"Are they all humanoid monsters?"
Seeing the power of the Green Dragon Spear and Stingham"s behavior, the demihumans became even more scared. However, they suspected that if they went to Ayrin, even scarier things would happen. So, they were like statues and did not dare to move.
"He"s just throwing at trees now, but next will be at you all! Hurry up, I will accept those who come to me as retainers. If not, you will end up like those trees!" Ayrin demanded.
"Retainers?"
A few demihumans mustered up enough courage to ask, "You"re saying you aren"t here to kill us? You want to lead us?"
"Yes! I will organize you into an army. I will be your leader. All you have to do is obey my orders!" Ayrin proclaimed.
"Really? Such a powerful humanoid monster will become our leader? Become our Boss?"
"With such a powerful humanoid monster Boss, n.o.body will dare to bully us again!"
The demihumans opened their eyes wide.
Boom!
In the next moment, Stingham jumped in fright as the demihumans desperately ran towards Ayrin.
These demihumans look much stronger than normal arcane masters, yet they just surrendered like that?
"No wonder everybody despises the demihumans since the Era of the War with Dragons...... They are really dumb......" Rinloran could not help but shake his head.
"Will these cowardly bugs be useful as an army?" Belo snorted.
"If we think about how to use them effectively, there will be a way."
Ayrin was elated after seeing the demihumans rus.h.i.+ng to him and calling him Leader or Boss. He turned to look at Belo, "Even Stingham has become powerful now. Although these demihumans are cowards, they aren"t lazy. They must be useful."
"Hearing you say it like that, we believe it"s more credible." Rinloran and Belo glanced at Stingham and snorted.
"Haha, Ayrin, don"t say I"m powerful. I will feel proud if you praise me like that." Stingham laughed and proudly swung his Green Dragon Spear.
Rinloran and the others almost puked blood.
You take that comparison as praise?
What is the brain of that idiot made out of?
"Leader! What should we do next?"
Seeing Ayrin and the others not attacking them, the demihumans stopped being afraid. They became eager to work on their next a.s.signment.
"Good fighting spirit. You"re all hardworking fellows!"
Ayrin laughed, "Next, we must expand our army. The bigger the army, the less likely others will bully you. Where are the other demihumans?"
"They are inside the Metallurgy Forest!"
"Leader! We will bring you there!"
The demihumans rowdily shouted and happily led the way as if they had been Ayrin"s retainers for a long time already.
A group of at least two to three thousand demihumans noisily led the way.
Soon, they crossed the muddy th.o.r.n.y forest. A camp radiating heat and flames appeared in their view.
Within the camp, there were wood and ores brought from other places piled up everywhere. Simple furnaces were built randomly throughout the camp.
A large crowd of demihumans were busy at work. Many of them were smithing on large rocks, some even rolling on top of the slag that had yet to cool.
The dense and humid thorn forest isolated the noise and heat. From a glance, it was evident at least ten thousand demihumans had gathered here.
"Single-eye Man-eating Troll?"
"He didn"t die in the battlefield and survived?"
In the buzzy camp, an especially tall figure attracted the attention of Ayrin and the others immediately.
It was the Troll who was mentally damaged by Ayrin.
"These guys...... really have the nature of fearing the strong and bullying the weak......"
What made Ayrin speechless was that the demihumans were extremely scared of the Troll. They were forced to death and yet did not dare to disobey him. Yet now that the Troll was mentally damaged and became an idiot, the demihumans swung their whips and drove him to work.
Ayrin"s arrival immediately caused chaos.
After seeing Ayrin"s face, the camp where over ten thousand demihumans gathered immediately exploded. All demihumans scattered and began escaping.
"Don"t run!"
"Be obedient and stay!"
"He"s our Leader now! He"s here to recruit all of you!"
"We will follow Leader from now on and work for him!"
What left Ayrin and the others speechless was that before they thought of doing anything, the demihumans who led the way shouted proudly. They even took the initiative to spread out and surround the escaping demihumans that numbered over ten thousand.
"Quick, be obedient!"
"Don"t dawdle! Leader wants to organize a larger army!"
The ten thousand demihumans were actually controlled by the two to three thousand demihumans. They brought the ten thousand demihumans before Ayrin and the others.
The group of demihumans who surrendered earlier actually became bossy around the other demihumans.
Even Stingham was dumbfounded.
What was even more surprising was that one s.h.i.+vering demihuman was chosen as representative to be a negotiator of sorts.
"Are you really going to be our Leader? You aren"t going to execute us?" The demihuman who was chosen seemed so scared his legs could give way at any moment.
Ayrin slapped his own chest confidently and promised, "Of course, not! We want to make a huge army! I will be your Leader!"
"Really?"
The camp instantly started cheering in the next second.
"Leader, what weapon do you want?"
"Leader, have you eaten breakfast?"
The demihumans excitedly started flattering Ayrin.
Some demihumans even brought a few pots of some unknown bone and meat soup to Ayrin.
"Is Ayrin really going to eat it?" Moss and Stingham looked at Ayrin and seemed worried.
"That"s not delicious. Prepare yourselves, I will bring you to eat delicious monsters later!"
"After eating monster meat, maybe you"ll become stronger!"
They felt relieved as Ayrin seemed uninterested in the "food" from those pots.
"Monsters?"
The demihumans trembled.
A few demihumans were so scared they spilled the stuff in the pot and scalded their feet.
"Relax. Are you worried you can"t beat monsters even after following me? Are you afraid you can"t eat monster meat?"
Ayrin looked pa.s.sionate, "We will catch monsters. Those who surrender will be your mounts and monster companions. Those who won"t surrender will be eaten!"
"Yeah, why should we be afraid of monsters if we follow Leader!? Even the Bone Emperor is no match for him!"
"I haven"t tried monster meat before!"
"We can eat monster meat if we follow Leader!"
"Let"s go, we will catch monsters!"
The demihumans immediately became enthusiastic. They put on their crude equipment and began preparing for battle.