My Players Are So Fierce

Chapter 246:

Pangolins are animals widely distributed across various parts of the continent.

They also exist in Transia, and not just one species. Certain parts of their bodies are used by alchemists as basic materials, but due to the Ten-Year War, there weren’t many hunters to catch them, allowing these animals skilled at hiding to nearly overrun the forests.

Gnolls’ favorite foods used to be rabbits, wild boars, and deer, but when extremely hungry, if they couldn’t catch humans, they would also catch pangolins to satisfy their hunger.

The problem is that pangolins have many scales that are difficult to deal with, which are quite unfriendly even to gnolls’ sharp teeth.

Hog didn’t like the taste of pangolins, just as it couldn’t understand why its codename would be called as such.

In fact, it wasn’t just Hog who couldn’t understand.

Lady Adele, who came to deliver the order, also couldn’t understand why Master Murphy insisted on giving Hog such a strange codename.

If it was based on the characteristics of a concealer, wouldn’t “Night Bat” or “Snake” be more fitting? And it would better suit vampires’ aesthetic view of animals.

Although Lord Murphy explained that it was an association he had when he saw a nest of pangolins while out yesterday, Adele guessed that the truth probably wasn’t so simple. As a blood-related descendant, she could more clearly sense Lord Murphy’s emotions.

When the master said the name “Pangolin”, he obviously had a kind of inexplicable sense of joy in his heart, though it was unclear what he was happy about.

But one thing was certain: this codename was definitely not chosen randomly.

Now, the freshly minted Blood Vulture “Senior Agent Pangolin” Comrade Hog was waiting in a solution cave on the third level of the sewer. It had changed into a set of tailored old leather armor, with two wave-bladed assassin knives and two eagle-claw throat-slitting knives inserted at its waist.

This outfit was slightly different from ordinary gnolls.

Generally speaking, gnolls make their own armor, thus full of a rough “clan style”.

However, although they are barbaric, they also learn.

Especially after the fourth Black Disaster swept across the continent, gnolls learned many things from various parts of the continent that they had overturned by half, which led to some leather armor made by skilled old gnolls being no worse than that made by human craftsmen.

But overall, the gnolls in Transia had not developed their own survival system, which resulted in very few of them owning armor.

Armor is also a symbol of status in gnoll tribes.

Now, the 15 “clansmen” of varying heights and builds behind Hog were all armored, though only with old goods scavenged from the Blood Rat Gang, but could already be considered well-equipped.

The clansmen Hog had chosen for himself included kobolds in addition to gnolls.

Seven kobold elites were mixed among them. These widely distributed but weak-natured species didn’t look as fierce and powerful as gnolls from the outside.

They always hunched their bodies with long, bare tails, heads similar to wild dogs, and a pair of “big eyes” that emitted light in the dark.

Kobolds are also quite a magical race.

They reproduce even more than gnolls, giving birth to over a dozen in a litter, three to four litters a year, which means that even the most learned Spirit Mage on the continent can’t say exactly how many kobolds there are.

But the reason kobolds can live well under the noses of other races is that they are not actually aggressive, and are good at digging holes and content to live in dark caves.

Their food is also easy to obtain. The omnivorous kobolds can even survive on eating grass when extremely hungry.

This quite easy-to-feed characteristic makes kobolds the favorite vassal race of other races, and the kobold civilization system is even more backward than the clan-based gnolls. They don’t even have their own language and writing, so there’s no sense of honor or loyalty to speak of. There are even large numbers of kobold laborers helping dwarves dig in their mines.

However, kobolds have a very unsettling characteristic.

Part of their cowardly nature is very similar to “domestic dogs”, that is, they are harmless when they have no master, but once they have a master’s command, kobolds will quickly become aggressive and cruel.

Before their master dies, they will offer loyalty and be very obedient.

But once the master dies, these fierce fellows will scatter, becoming harmless again until the next master who conquers them appears.

Gnoll clans often tame large numbers of kobolds as servants, helping them dig out hiding caves, helping them smelt crude weapons, helping them serve as cannon fodder in battles, and even in years of great disaster, kobolds are also very good “hunger-satisfying food”.

After all, the cost of keeping them alive is basically negligible.

In addition, in some of the bizarre legends about kobolds, there is a saying that would anger dwarves. It is said that because kobolds have lived underground for a long time, they have also been noticed by Mother Earth Gaia, so among the vast number of kobolds, some individuals who can use crude earth spirit energy are often born.

These individuals are respectfully called geomancers and often serve as leaders of kobold tribes.

Considering the exaggerated total number of kobolds, even if this proportion is very low, there are enough geomancers among kobolds. There are also rumors that gnoll secret mages initially learned how to manipulate spirit energy from kobold servants, but this rumor is unfounded.

In any case, by the time of 1111 in the history of the continent, gnolls and kobolds had become a symbiotic group.

Both sides take what they need.

Oh, by the way, all legends about kobolds will not lack stories of kobolds and candles. They need lighting to live underground, so the first candle in this world that brought light was made by kobolds.

On this point, even the elves with the strongest self-esteem cannot deny it.

It can be said that it was the kobolds who brought the first ray of light to the unsettling darkness of this world, which is their greatest, and possibly only, contribution to this world.

And candles are a symbol of status and position in kobold society. They always put their favorite candles on top of their heads, only lighting them when necessary.

For example, now the 7 kobold elites in Hog’s clan were arranging their precious candles, and helping each other put the best candles in the strange hats on each other’s heads.

There was a special base on that hat for placing candles.

Like a strange ritual, it made the kobolds about to embark on the escape route feel satisfied, and quickly smoothed out the fear in their hearts.

This was the “supplies” Hog had exchanged for them from the Blood Rat Gang. Just these thick and large candles that could burn for a long time were enough to make these not-so-bright elite kobolds offer loyalty to Hog.

After all, other gnoll masters wouldn’t bother to actively seek candles for their kobold servants.

“Hog, are they coming or not?”

Just as Hog was preparing for the imminent “escape”, Nash, the gap-toothed gnoll beside him, anxiously approached and asked:

“It’s been 7 hourglasses of time, and there’s still no movement from them. I suspect they’re all dead. Why don’t we leave first?”

Nash’s words immediately elicited approving howls from the other gnolls.

They were all clansmen carefully selected by Hog, stronger than ordinary gnolls but not to the level of elite leaders, and each had cunning Traits, with brains a bit better than ordinary clansmen.

Hog liked such gnolls.

It didn’t like those fools who acted recklessly relying on strength, those guys couldn’t be controlled at all, but these companions could.

They could understand its plans and why they needed to do so. Realizing that everyone’s interests were aligned, they could even do things well without Hog’s supervision.

Hog obviously believed this was what a qualified clan should look like.

“Be patient, Nash, my barbarian leader,”

Hog imitated Master Murphy’s tone when speaking, saying calmly to its impatient companions:

“Of course we can leave now, but with just this few of us, even if we make it back to Anderma Hills alive, we won’t get King Kenport’s attention. Have we gone through all this just to go back and continue being cannon fodder? No! We poor souls who have lost our own clans have reorganized into the Blood Claw Clan, we have agreed to survive, and to live better.

We need them! More and stronger clansmen, just like hunters need fierce hyenas.”

It was not yet Proficient at painting rosy pictures for its clansmen, it said:

“If each of us has 3 barbarians under our command, then when we band together we won’t be bullied by other clansmen. If each of us has 5 barbarians under our command, then we can make King Kenport look at us differently.

We are all powerful warriors who have survived 3 matches in the arena, this is our advantage. If we want to gain recognition, we must strengthen this advantage.”

Nash beside immediately made a strange cry.

It felt what Hog said made sense.

But it really didn’t want to stay here any longer now. For 7 days it had been killing ghouls here to exchange for clansmen. Those disgusting rotten flesh had almost made it lose interest in eating meat. If it stayed any longer, it estimated it would really go mad.

However, 7 days had already allowed Nash to see Hog’s uniqueness.

This was not an ordinary gnoll, it was wiser than ordinary gnolls. Perhaps Hog’s constant boasting that its bloodline came from the holy land of Moss Valley might not be a joke.

It really came from the Dark Mountain range, from the birthplace of the god-like powerful King Gnawbone.

This invisibly added a “mysterious orthodoxy” to Hog in the eyes of the gnolls. In their crude and wild worldview, places like Transia were just the edge of the world, only the Dark Mountain range was the “center of the world”!

As for Moss Valley, that must be the holy land at the center of the world.

“They’re coming, I hear the sound,”

The hunter “Old Blind Eye” of the Blood Claw Clan howled. This one-eyed gnoll hunter grabbed its vampire hunting crossbow and aimed forward. Other gnolls also grabbed their flail weapons.

Under their vigilant gaze, over a dozen gnoll gladiators were jumping down from the second level of the sewer to the third level.

“Foolish! Quick, stop them! This noise will attract ghouls!”

Nash shouted.

Immediately two barbarians rushed over to help their pitiful clansmen. They had obviously suffered in the arena, each fellow carrying a bloody smell.

But the good news was that when these fellows escaped, they also “casually looted” the gladiators’ armory, giving them leather armor and weapons.

They even brought some jerky as rations for the journey.

“Good, good!”

Hog stood up, shaking its short tail.

It went forward under the protection of a group of elite kobolds, looking at these miserable gnoll gladiators before it, among which were mixed a few aggrieved kobolds whose candles had been snatched away by little players.

Hog’s “wealthy” kobolds immediately came forward, distributing the smallest and thinnest of their candles to their clansmen, after all, a kobold without its own candle was really too pitiful.

“The fact that you could come here shows that you’ve all made up your mind to escape from the vampire city. I will lead you out underground, we will return to the wilderness that belongs to us,”

Hog said loudly:

“But I will only take my clansmen away! If you want to leave, you must join us, join the Blood Claw Clan!”

“I don’t like this name,”

An elite barbarian with drooping arms said discontentedly:

“It sounds like a name vampires would use! I hate vampires.”

“This is indeed related to vampires, my clansman,”

Hog snorted, pointing at its head:

“Don’t forget where we escaped from. We must repay the vampires’ humiliation a hundredfold! This name is to remind us not to forget the great sins of the vampires!”

“Fine, then I’ll join. My clan is gone anyway,”

That barbarian sighed and said:

“I saw with my own eyes my chieftain’s head cut off by the vampires’ lackeys. His head is now displayed in the Blood Rat Gang’s warehouse. They say they want to use that head to make some magical items.”

“We’re the same,”

The other gladiators were now so frightened they just wanted to run quickly, and didn’t object to Hog’s requirement for them to join the clan.

Soon, Hog’s clan expanded to over 30 members.

Apart from him, all were absolute elites who had achieved 3 victories in the arena, plus 10 elite kobolds. Though small in number, the quality was superb.

“Let’s go! Leave this place,”

Hog waved its hand, leading its clansmen quickly along the river channel in the third level underground cave towards the deepest part. It took the lead in jumping into the rapid water flow below, holding its breath while searching for that confirmed underground passage.

It quickly found the place.

After all, it was the location Lady Adele had repeatedly described to it while holding a map.

Those vampires had even “thoughtfully” locked up a skeleton, deliberately arranged in a strange way and hung below the entrance of the passage as a marker.

The bedraggled gnolls were continuously pushed into it by the water flow, then moved forward along the dark and damp underground waterway covered with moss.

They didn’t dare to stop, could only quicken their pace.

Finally, after tens of minutes of rapid movement, they reached the final exit. Climbing up along the steep rock cave, what met their eyes was the quiet wilderness under the night and the serene Kadman River flowing across the land.

“Ha, we’ve escaped!”

Nash excitedly shouted.

It waved its claws, revealing the brand on its shoulder representing gladiator slaves. Other gnolls and kobolds all had similar shameful marks.

Hog had one too.

But that was personally branded on it by Lady Dorothy. It had to have this mark to lead these fierce gladiators.

“Good news, I’ve been here before,”

Hog pretended to climb high and survey the surroundings as if distinguishing the terrain, then it said to its clansmen:

“Anderma Hills is just opposite. Once we cross the river we can find our clansmen. Let’s go! We need to reach there before dawn.”

“Hog! There are people ahead!”

Old Blind Eye quickly discovered movement in the abandoned village near this riverbank. It grabbed its hunting crossbow and shouted:

“Seems to be our people, a migrating clan. Should we go over and take a look?”

“Of course we should go over,”

Hog’s eyes rolled, and it ordered:

“Get ready for battle.”

“Huh?”

Other gnolls looked at their chieftain in surprise. Hog explained:

“Once it’s known that we were slaves, we’ll be seen as a joke by our clansmen. We must hide this secret. And look at our miserable state now! Do you think if we go over, those clansmen will spare us fellows who look like beggars?

Survival of the fittest is the gnoll’s law of survival!

Either we absorb them and equip each of us with barbarians and servants, or they absorb us and turn us into their servants.

You choose!”

“There must be females in that clan. A gnoll without a mate will be sneered at,”

Nash bared its teeth in the darkness and said in a low voice. The other gnolls immediately started howling, their eyes shining like real wolf cubs.

“Hey, let’s go, two for each!”

Hog waved its hand.

The gnoll gladiators immediately followed it forward.

“All the candles of those kobold servants over there belong to you!”

It shouted to the elite kobolds in its clan, and the kobolds also became agitated.

Candles!

Ah, candles, beautiful candles

Light in the darkness, that which makes one intoxicated. For it, kobolds could give everything, just like the hungry and thirsty gnolls now.