After having some fun with Erin, Rhode returned to the front lines soon after. Fortunately, nothing much happened and he didn’t waste too much time. It had only been three to four days since all this tossing and turning and during this time, Chaos had been really generous in not messing with him, which made him heave a sigh of relief. In the end, although he didn’t get whether Erin was really having a child out of her, since his younger sister said there wasn’t a need to worry about this question for the time being, he put it aside for now. Anyway, even humans could engage in intimacy while being pregnant. Moreover, even if the stomach had gotten bigger, the man could still enter from the back…
Well, enough of this nonsense. After Rhode settled the trouble at Erin’s place and returned to the front line of the Country of Light, Gaya, who had left earlier, also returned safely. And with it came a wonderful news: the ‘solution’ that she mentioned was finally in place!
Upon hearing this news, Rhode was naturally excited. Although he seemed indifferent in front of Erin, as a matter of fact, he didn’t want to use his own final means if possible. Now that Gaya found a useful solution, it could also be said that he looked forward to seeing if there were more secrets that he hadn’t discovered in the Eastern Plains. However, when he witnessed the ‘secret’ that Gaya said, he was stunned.
“Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”
Although Rhode had seen many strange and awesome things in this world, what Gaya brought over was still out of his expectations. He gazed at the pack of hounds ahead that were sprinting around wildly before him. He knitted his brows and swept a glance at Gaya in confusion. Meanwhile, the black-haired young lady stood quietly at the side, holding her harp that never left her arms and looking calmly at the scene.
The hounds were much smaller than the hounds that Rhode usually saw. Strictly speaking, they were like fluffy and adorable masses of fur and looked like pet dogs instead. But this world wasn’t a game, after all. And it wasn’t like cuteness could instant-kill an enemy. Otherwise, if Rhode had a group of pandas, wouldn’t he be an almighty killer already?
But he quickly discovered that these ‘hounds’ behaved differently. Their eyes were as scarlet as precious jewels and even though they had different fur colors, similar red patterns of flame could be seen covering their bodies. And although their actions and behaviors seemed cute and obedient, they somehow brought a bizarre sense of menace.
I may be charming and lovely, but I bring death… Where did these lyrics come from again?
“They look like creatures from the fire elemental plane, but with the aura of the lower planes…”
There was no one more sensitive than Lydia in sensing evil. Moreover, Rhode also felt the faint scent of the lower planes emanating from the hounds’ bodies, so it wasn’t surprising that Lydia noticed it too. She gazed at the hounds before her, but her face didn’t show much disgust. On the contrary, she was just like Rhode who had put on a curious look, sizing them up.
“Alright, I acknowledge your victory, Gaya. Now, can you explain yourself?”
After examining the hounds, Rhode had no choice but raise his hands in surrender. He was certain that these hounds weren’t a species from hell, but neither were they elemental creatures. Rather, they were genuine creatures of the main plane. But what astonished him was that the aura of hell and fire elemental scent on their bodies was so strong. The only thing that could explain this was that they had the blood of certain demonic creatures flowing in their bodies. However, it seemed so unorthodox.
In the Dragon Soul Continent, the main plane was a place that suppressed the characteristics of other planes, as well as their creatures, to a certain extent. It wasn’t only in terms of strength, but also in terms of bloodline. One of the characteristics was that if those creatures gave birth to children, the children wouldn’t look any different from normal people in appearance, but they would still have an overwhelming advantage in terms of bloodline.
For instance, Lize and Anne belonged to this category. The angel bloodline and beast bloodline in their bodies was definitely stronger than its human counterparts. However, their bloodlines were concealed in their bodies until they were awakened. Although there were a lot of half-beasts roaming the continent, they only gained their power after being awakened through various means. And this was also true for humans and animals. Even Christie, who was equipped with the power of the Void Dragon, was the same. As the ‘other Christie’ chose an ordinary human as her mother, Christie was born as an ordinary human. She was also physically weaker, and it seemed completely impossible for her to inherit any power…
This was a major feature of interracial marriage on the main plane. But of course, if both parties were of the same race as each other, it wouldn’t affect anything.
But these hounds that appeared before Rhode were all creatures that had awakened the power of their bloodline, which was really odd. Because even if they were half-beasts, not all half-beasts were able to be awakened. Of course, due to the large number of half-beasts, it was a matter of chance. However, it didn’t seem like a matter of ‘chances’ for these hounds; they seemed like they were ‘mass-produced’ instead.
“They’re Flesh Hunters.”
Perhaps feeling satisfied after witnessing Rhode scratching his head, Gaya didn’t make things difficult for him and introduced the hounds.
“Flesh Hunters?”
The name sounded brutal, but didn’t exactly seem like a good match for the small hounds… Just imagine a panda being called a ‘wolf’. Off-putting, wasn’t it?
“Yes, Your Majesty Rhode, Your Highness Lydia. They came from the Eastern Plains and are our… ‘specialty’.”
For some reason, before Gaya said the last word of the sentence, she paused for a while, which seemed really strange to Lydia and Rhode. He thought he had a good understanding of the Eastern Plains. Back then, in the game, he had a high reputation and favorable relationship with the Eastern Plains, so why didn’t he ever hear about this specialty? Even if he were unlucky enough to not encounter them, shouldn’t one of the many players in the game have encountered them before? Moreover, these creatures were rather unique. Regardless of power, they were fluffy and absolutely adorable. Rhode was sure that they would be considered a great gift for girlfriends, at the very least. But he didn’t remember seeing anything like them even on the forums, which meant that no players discovered them. Combined with the fact that Gaya hesitated with her words, something strange must be going on here.
“Specialty? I’ve never seen them before…”
“Of course, Your Majesty Rhode. They were sealed by the elders and are never released unless in times of critical necessity. If it weren’t for this emergency, I wouldn’t want to release these creatures.”
In response to Rhode’s question, Gaya didn’t have the slightest intention of hiding the truth. However, her words still left Rhode and Lydia rather surprised. After all, from the looks of it, these little hounds were lovable. But after listening to Gaya’s words, it felt as if she guarded against them as though they were vicious aliens. But perhaps she also witnessed their confusion, which was why she didn’t wait for them to ask and quickly gave an explanation instead.
“I think you have already noticed the aura of purgatory from them. In fact, that’s exactly what they are. They were originally creatures from the lower planes…”
After Gaya explained, Rhode and Lydia were finally able to understand the history of these creatures, which was quite a melodramatic story.
It was a long, long time ago (though the exact years can’t be verified), a great demon from hell sneaked up to the main plane, changed his appearance, and entered the Eastern Plains as an outsider. As for the reason why this Hell Lord chose the Eastern Plains, there was no way to prove it. What was known was that apart from using his humorous personality and charming looks to capture the hearts of many young ladies in the Eastern Plains, he also relied upon his clever words and evil magical spells to manipulate innumerable villages, turning innocent young ladies into his slaves.
Despite that, none of the others knew anything about it. It was only until one of the young ladies became pregnant and gave birth to a half-human, half-dog baby that it came to everyone’s attention. A long investigation ensued, and it was only then that people discovered the outlander’s true nature. But it was too late because by then, the Hell Lord had established an evil sect in the Eastern Plains and swindled many young ladies into joining him. Then, he ‘spread seeds throughout his land’ and made the young ladies pregnant.
They gave birth to many disturbing, dog-headed children with human bodies. And like their father, the children were lustful and greedy. They also seized young ladies of villages back as their slaves. And such despicable acts were, of course, intolerable, so the Eastern Plains, along with the battle angel army, took on the Hell Lord’s evil sect. Their attacks eventually succeeded in wiping out the sect, and the Hell Lord, who was the main culprit, was annihilated entirely.
But it didn’t end there, for after destroying the evil sect, the people realized that the Hell Lord had used a secret technique to bind the bloodline of his children to that of the people in the Eastern Plains. Not only that, but the Hell Lord also used the power of this bloodline to unleash a curse, that as long as there were people in the Eastern Plains, his heirs would never be killed. That was why after countless unsuccessful attempts to kill and purify the sinister children, the elders of the Eastern Plains had no choice but to seal up these creatures and imprison them in the depths. After all, according to the Hell Lord’s curse, they would need to kill all their people in Eastern Plains in order to completely destroy his heirs. But… How could they bear to do that!
It was only natural that Rhode wasn’t aware of this story because it was deemed humiliating and disgraceful in the eyes of the Eastern Plains. That was why after sealing the creatures, people kept their mouths shut on this matter. After so many generations, except for the elders of the Eastern Plains, everyone else basically knew nothing.
“I see…”
Upon hearing Gaya’s explanation, Rhode nodded in understanding. Of course, he also knew why she was unwilling to release these creatures unless absolutely necessary. But…
“What about their strength? They can’t be that weak, right?”
The story sounded nice, but could these fluffy-looking, adorable little hounds fight against those skeletal dragons soaring in the sky? Even with their ‘undead’ attribute alone, it was impossible, right?
“…”
Facing Rhode’s question, Gaya didn’t provide an explanation. On the contrary, she extended her arm and caressed her harp’s strings gently.
“———!”
As a musical note filled with murderous intent abruptly burst from the harp strings, the adorable hounds playfully rolling on the ground suddenly stopped their movements, turned to look at Gaya in attention, and widened their mouths to let out ferocious growls. Not only that, but their bodies also began to transform.
Just like monsters in movies, the small stature of the ‘cute little hounds’ expanded and deformed, and their bodies grew to more than two meters long. But at that moment, although they grew larger, the fur attached to their body didn’t increase in length, but ripped open to reveal scarlet muscles underneath the skin instead.
In the blink of an eye, the lovely little hounds turned into creatures that were more than two meters tall, and their entire body was covered in scarlet flesh, reeking of a scary and evil aura. Not only that, but their heads were even more terrifying. Beneath the torn and turned flesh was a long, pointed mouth like a wolf’s. Razor-sharp teeth stuck out of their mouths, emanating an icy-cold radiance. A pair of blood-red eyes glinted like that of a beast’s in a deadly flash. Just looking at them made one’s heart skip a beat.
Furthermore, scarlet flames blazed on their bodies. The scorching heat alone was enough to make one wince.
The creatures stared at Gaya, letting out deep growls in their throats. Shortly after, a scarlet spear appeared in their hands one after another. They bent over and were about to attack Gaya. But the moment they moved…
“Hmph.”
Along with this snort from Rhode, a mighty dragon aura burst out of his body, enfolding the creatures in front of him. And upon sensing the powerful dragon aura, the restless and menacing creatures gave up encircling Gaya and turned around to glare at Rhode instead. Facing this powerful aura, they didn’t back down. They shivered and resisted to the death.
“Interesting…”
Gazing at the creatures before him that cowered to his powerful aura, Rhode didn’t think too lowly of them, since it was the power of the Void Dragon that they faced. If he were serious at intimidating others, even Gaya wouldn’t be able to resist, not to mention these creatures. If Gaya were to face his dragon aura head-on, perhaps she wouldn’t have resisted any better. However, the creatures had indeed piqued his interest about their strength. In terms of power, they didn’t seem weak at all. Even though they weren’t as strong as Lydia and Erin, they were only slightly weaker than Gaya. In that case, coupled with their ‘undead’ attribute, they would stand a chance against the skeletal dragons. But…
“Is there no way to control these guys?”
Looking at the hundreds of Flesh Hunters before him, Rhode looked at Gaya with a frown. But in response to his question, the black-haired young lady shrugged without any sense of responsibility.
“The only way is to imprison them in an enchanted field or tie them to blessed shackles like now. Other than that, I’m afraid the only way is to bring that Hell Lord back to life…”
It seemed like Gaya was indeed out of options. And perhaps that was why she seemed rather reluctant to release them from the seal. After all, if no one paid attention to these creatures and let them roam freely, they would only add to the disorder. When that happened, Rhode’s people would suffer, not to mention them defeating the enemies. But now, he could only brace himself to accept them. After all, Gaya only found and released them after he made the request. As for how to make full use of them, he had to be the one thinking.
If there were really no way, he could only give them up. However, he wasn’t completely helpless yet.
Indeed, it would be impossible for him to do it if he were in charge himself. He had limited time, after all. And he couldn’t be on the front line at all times, or else he wouldn’t need to find solutions like these creatures to help defeat the skeletal dragons. That was why he had to find someone who could keep the creatures in check and naturally, Lydia was out of his options as those creatures were heirs of a Hell Lord. As an archangel, Lydia had shown him a lot of ‘face’ by not already slashing them down with a sword.
In that case…
At this thought, Rhode couldn’t help but turn his hand around, and a pitch-black card appeared in his hand.
Looks like she’s the only one who can…
