Chapter 110: Awoo~~~~

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Returning to the valley where Leo was stationed, the group reported the battle’s progress to him and patiently waited for the third gnoll hunting party to appear.

Unfortunately, the gnolls were wary as well. Before the third hunting party had even emerged from the Shattered Stone Hills, the gnoll chieftain seemed to have sensed something amiss. It led its followers back to the boarfolk lair and hid inside, refusing to come out.

They had not received word that the hunting parties had been annihilated, but their innate instinct for danger had detected something unusual in the surrounding mountains and forests.

Thus, they intended to remain in the lair, sending out only a small number of scouts to patrol the area while waiting for the two hunting parties outside to return and report.

“What do we do now?”

Watching the gnolls across from them sense danger and retreat into hiding, Magna and the others began to grow restless.

The enemy still numbered at least eight hundred, while their own side had only a little over four hundred.

If they faced the enemy head-on, even if all their ranged units unleashed their greatest firepower and achieved the best possible results, an equal number of foes would still reach their lines.

The Riverbend infantry numbered only a hundred. Once their tiny shield wall was overwhelmed by enemies several times their number, the crossbowmen and archers behind them would have no strength to resist.

Even if they won in the end, few of them would make it back alive.

“We can lure out another group,” Leo said calmly. “The enemy doesn’t know we’re here, nor do they know our numbers. We can send out a small force, just as we did last time, and lure some of them into the valley before wiping them out.”

“However many come, it’s better than fighting them head-on.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. Who’s going to lure them out?”

“Obviously, whoever looks weak. A force that appears too strong might draw the entire gnoll tribe out.”

As they discussed the matter, everyone’s gaze fell upon Fisha.

Fisha looked left and right, sensing that she was being insulted. She leaped onto a rock, draped in her Phoenix Coronet and Rosy Robes, spread her limbs wide, and did her best to display her tall and splendid figure.

“Kobolds aren’t weak! Kobolds are the strongest! Kobolds are invincible! Woof, woof, woof!”

Leo could only soothe her. “It’s not that you’re weak. It’s just that you look a little less threatening, which will make the enemy lower their guard.”

Then he encouraged her. “Fisha is clever and brave. Defeat the gnolls, and you’ll become Queen of the Kobolds!”

Fisha thought Leo was right and began wagging her tail furiously. “Fisha is clever and brave, and Leo is brave and clever! Clever and brave Fisha will lead the kobolds, defeat the terrible gnolls, and become Queen of the Kobolds!”

Leo was startled and hurriedly explained, “I don’t mean for you to defeat the gnolls by yourself. You’re supposed to lure them out first, and then everyone will defeat them together.”

At the Crocodile Mire, Leo had already witnessed Fisha’s military leadership firsthand. He was terrified that, in a moment of excitement, she would lead the kobolds straight into a suicidal charge and get the entire force annihilated.

With Leo’s encouragement, Fisha set out with her kobold troops.

Like an anxious old father, Leo kept reminding her not to recklessly attack the Shattered Stone Hills, not to use Boom-Boom too soon, and not to believe anything the gnolls said.

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“All you have to do is fire a few volleys of arrows at the gnoll guards. The moment you see any enemies come out in pursuit, run straight back to the valley.”

As Leo escorted the kobolds out of the valley, watching their advance with a worried expression, the remaining chieftains exchanged glances.

Magna stroked his chin in confusion. “Why does this feel like he’s coaxing a child into going off to war?”

Vicky disagreed. “It feels more like he’s sending a foolish daughter away to study.”

Everyone nodded, finding the comparison profoundly apt.

Leo’s foolish daughter had a mind of her own.

She led her troops into the forest near the Shattered Stone Hills and ordered them to halt. Then, facing the boarfolk lair, she gave a long howl.

“Woof, woof, woof! Awooooo!”

The more than one hundred golden-furred kobolds beside her joined in with a unified howl.

“Awooooo!”

The wolf howls echoed throughout the valley.

Inside the boarfolk lair, the enslaved kobolds had the keenest ears. One black-furred kobold chieftain, who had seen much of the world, hurriedly reported to the gnoll chieftain in a growling tongue the gnolls could barely understand.

“Woof, woof, woof! More than a hundred werewolves have come outside!”

The gnoll chieftain was startled as well. Werewolves possessed combat power far beyond that of the various wild races, enough to rival dire wolves. They were also exceptionally intelligent and cunning, and skilled at launching attacks under cover of night.

The gnolls were no match for werewolves. No matter how many of them there were, they would eventually be hunted down to the last.

The black-furred kobold chieftain thought the same and repeatedly urged, “Why don’t we surrender?”

The gnoll chieftain flew into a rage and struck him directly with its hammer. Poor fellow—he had not even been chieftain for a few days before his skull burst and he died.

The gnoll chieftain pricked up its ears and carefully listened to the howls outside, hearing the occasional “woof” mixed among them.

It gazed into the distance. Focusing its eyes, it saw a group of golden-furred kobolds flickering in and out of view among the distant woods.

“Bullshit! They’re just a group of feeble kobolds, your own kind!” the gnoll chieftain roared. Pointing at a familiar-looking black-furred kobold, it ordered, “You—go persuade those kobolds to surrender. If they refuse, kill them!”

After giving the order, it felt a growing sense of unease. It turned to the boarfolk chieftain beside it and added, “You go too!”

As vassals of the gnolls, the new black-furred kobold chieftain and his people were too weak to resist. He could only lead more than a hundred black-furred kobolds and fifty or sixty boarfolk hunters straight toward the woods where Fisha was waiting.

The surviving members of this boarfolk tribe had long since lost nearly all their powerful warriors. Only this handful of hunters remained; the rest were young, and the gnolls were constantly eating them.

At present, the boarfolk lair contained two boarfolk tribes. They belonged to the weaker one. The other had more than a hundred warriors and hunters, and thus possessed a greater voice.

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Although there were several black-furred kobold tribes, each was only a small clan of a few dozen. After being enslaved by the gnolls, they had been forcibly merged into a single tribe, whose numbers continued to dwindle.

When Fisha saw the enemy emerge, she leisurely retreated several miles before allowing them to catch up.

She climbed to a high place, once again clad in her Phoenix Coronet and Rosy Robes, and activated her power of preaching.

“I am clever Fisha, Queen of the Kobolds! I command you to submit to me!”

“Follow me! There will be meat!”

Her power of preaching, ineffective against humans, worked astonishingly well on kobolds.

The black-furred kobolds sized up the members of their own kind across from them. Every one of those kobolds was plump and well-fed, armed with fine weapons, while they themselves were so starved that their legs trembled, their bodies thin as stray dogs. One after another, they began to waver.

Their clansmen were eaten every day while serving the gnolls. Wouldn’t it be better to follow the kobolds on the other side?

At least kobolds didn’t eat kobolds!

The boarfolk chieftain sensed that something was wrong and shouted angrily, ordering the black-furred kobolds to attack Fisha.

Fisha continued her incitement. “Kill them all, and you can join my tribe! Eat meat every day! No one will eat you!”

Before the boarfolk chieftain could even object, several black-furred kobolds pounced upon the boarfolk and began tearing into them.

These kobolds were too primitive to possess even basic weapons, and they were no match for the boarfolk.

But once the fighting had begun, there was no room for hesitation. All the black-furred kobolds bared their teeth ferociously and threw themselves at the boarfolk around them.

The scene instantly descended into chaos as more than a hundred black-furred kobolds clashed with several dozen boarfolk.

Fisha pointed toward the battlefield. “Fire!”

All the kobold guards had already loaded their crossbows. At her command, they pulled the triggers without hesitation.

Some of the clever kobolds drove heavy javelins into the ground, rested their crossbows against them, and precisely picked off the boarfolk nearby.

The foolish ones paid no attention to whom they were targeting, caring only about rate of fire and suppressive power.

Half the bolts struck the boarfolk. Half flew off into the distance, never to be seen again. Some even pierced the bodies of the black-furred kobolds, taking their lives.

Entangled and savaged by the black-furred kobolds, the dozens of boarfolk had no chance to escape before Fisha’s crossbowmen wiped them out completely.

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