blueteamnovel Chapter 77: Mistaken for a stray dog on the street
Chapter 77: Mistaken for a stray dog on the street
The heat rays, powerful enough to melt gold and penetrate stone, would have unimaginable consequences if they struck an ordinary creature with no resistance.
Their flesh was like butter sliced by a hot knife, easily cut open, with severed limbs flying everywhere. The wounds were charred by the high temperature, so little blood flowed out, only a burnt smell filled the air.
All the gnolls who dared to stand were cut in half at this moment; those goblins who were no more than a meter tall had their skulls shaved off.
Some unlucky gnolls even lost their lives because they held their heads too high, even though they knelt down.
Upon seeing this, the other gnolls were terrified and immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, burying their heads deep in the earth.
What exactly is that laser-like breath? When did the red dragon develop this kind of attack method?
And those earth spikes that grow like fangs—shouldn't the red dragon's earth magic abilities only be manifested in powerful melee combat?
Too many questions filled the minds of these gnolls and goblins. Fear and receiving too much information in a short period of time had made them somewhat numb.
In the blink of an eye, there was no creature taller than a meter around Thor anymore, and the dead and wounded gnolls and goblins numbered almost half of the total.
He looked at the essence increase prompts that popped up below his line of sight; most of them were 0.1, and a few were 0.3 or 0.4. His total balance had returned to 34 points.
Sure enough, as long as you are strong enough, the speed at which you can acquire spiritual essence will increase exponentially.
Back when I first hatched, it would have taken me months to accumulate this much, but now, in just a few minutes, I've harvested a third of the low-level monster templates.
This instantly dissipated his anger. He looked around at the terrified, filthy monsters, raised his head, and let out a loud roar.
"Very well! It seems that those of you who remain are intelligent and have sufficient reverence for power. Raise your heads, for I now bestow upon you the honor of facing me!"
The goblins and gnolls around them didn't dare to raise their heads. Looking at the corpses lying all around them and smelling the strong burnt smell in their nostrils, their bodies trembled like leaves.
It was terrifying! Absolutely terrifying! Many of our companions lost their lives simply because they were a fraction of a second too slow to react.
Who knows if raising your head might displease the red dragon in some way and turn you into a corpse in the blink of an eye.
Thor didn't seem to care much about this and continued to roar:
"Who's your leader? Stand up!"
The rolling sound waves echoed through the canyon, and the resulting gale-force winds made the fur on the heads of the nearby gnolls fly backward.
However, several seconds passed without Thor receiving any response. His golden vertical pupils contracted instantly, and he opened his mouth to reveal a sinister smile.
"Looks like you guys haven't learned your lesson yet, daring to ignore my question. Well then, I'll kill half of you as well."
The cruel words carried an aura of destruction that seemed intent on burning everything in the world to ashes.
The gnolls and goblins kneeling around him tensed up upon hearing this. A few of the bolder ones quickly and timidly raised their heads.
"The...the boss has been killed by you."
"You were trampled to death just as you fell."
Thor looked in the direction a gnoll was pointing, and on the ground where he had been standing, there was still a pool of flesh mixed with hair and blood.
Is this the leader of this pack of gnolls? He's so weak! When he stepped on him just now, he thought it was some stupid wild dog.
Now that the gnoll leader is dead, what about the goblin leader?
Thor then turned to look at the green-skinned dwarves on the other side.
These creatures, born chaotic and evil, each have flat faces, large noses, and mouths full of tiny fangs.
Upon seeing Thor's gaze, these stinky creatures immediately began squeaking and squeaking incessantly.
"The Queen didn't come."
"The Queen is still in the cave."
"It's waiting for us to bring food back."
Queen? A female goblin whose territory isn't even as big as a village dares to call herself that!
Thor exhaled two plumes of disdainful smoke from his nostrils and spoke.
"From now on, there will be no more queens."
From this moment forward, everything you filthy, lowly creatures possess—including your loyalty and your lives—belongs to me. You must unconditionally obey all my commands, understand?
The gnolls and goblins around them quickly responded loudly, fearing that if they were even a little slow, they would lose their lives on the spot.
Listening to the sounds rising and falling around him, Thor felt his red dragon bloodline yearning for conquest greatly satisfied, and he couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
These gnolls and goblins, though dirty, stupid, weak, and almost useless, at least had some cleverness.
However, it could also be because he wasn't quick enough; he had already ate it all.
Thor didn't care at all. Monsters in the wilderness were like weeds; as long as there was enough food, they would keep sprouting up.
His gaze swept around, and two overturned carts in the distance quickly caught his attention.
Is this what those gnolls and goblins were fighting over? Caravan goods? Animal hides and jewelry? Or ironware and spices?
Under the watchful eyes of the monsters, Thor leaped into the air, spread his wide wings, and glided for dozens of meters before landing beside two carts.
He extended a claw, its sharp, knife-like golden-red nail slicing across one of the rough cloth bags.
A crisp tearing sound rang out, and the linen fibers of the woven bag snapped, revealing hard, grayish-black wood blocks inside.
"This thing is..."
Thor squinted in confusion, then curiously picked one up and brought it to his nose to sniff.
A keen sense of smell immediately distinguished the aroma of wheat flour, bran, and salt from that sour smell.
"Black bread? How could it be black bread?"
Undeterred, he opened the other bags, finding either unpalatable grains or moldy dried meat inside.
This kind of thing is something that even a serf in a landlord's house with a little conscience would look down on, yet it has attracted these gnolls and goblins to fight over it.
Damn it! This isn't robbery, it's like they're being treated like stray dogs on the street, with people casually giving them some worthless trash to save themselves trouble.
After all, the price of hiring just a few more mercenaries would be much higher than that of these trash.
Only creatures that have lived their entire lives in the wilderness and have never seen anything good would treasure these moldy jerky and black bread.
These cunning caravans dared to use this as toll! Now that we've subdued these goblins and gnolls, we must settle our scores with them again!
Once the canyon is taken over, all caravans that pass through it will have to repay all outstanding debts, with interest.
If you don't skin them alive and squeeze every last drop of oil out of them, you're not a proper red dragon.