novelraw Chapter 594 - 593 - Devastated Villages
Chapter 594 - 593 - Devastated Villages
The Dar Empire was large but it was not larger than the Karridan Empire. It was actually smaller due to the fact it heavily relied on slavery. Their commoners could even own slaves but it also meant their lives were of far more leisure than others.
Slaves could fulfill mundane to necessary tasks and even be part of their army so the vast majority of the citizenry simply made sure to have children and relax through their cultivation.
Why risk their lives in the Hinterlands when a slave could do it? Why spend years collecting herbs, pills, and resources when the slaves could do it? Essentially, why do anything remotely straining when slaves could do it all?
If Lind would sum up the Dar Empire in a single word, it would be hollow.
They had Sun Tiers but he came to learn most of them were pill cultivators or wicked techniques. They did not hone their own strength nor did they really try to do more than the bare minimum.
Part of the reason the empire was so terrifying, however, was due to the Soulless and their army. They took the slave training seriously and the Soulless went without saying
The total number of Soulless was unknown but Lind now knew the limit of 1 controller to 10 Soulless and it had to be maintained or it seemed the Soulless would finally die. Thus, all he really needed to know was how many controllers there were.
The idiots happily bragged and it was not hard to get their numbers but it still came to nearly 10,000 Soulless. In the grand scheme of things it was a drop in the bucket to the near 200 million population but that included the vast quantity of slaves.
The real number of citizens barely cleared 50 million.
Lind had spent the better part of 30 years carefully planning and building the path to the Dar Empire. Due to the isolation of each empire, getting assistance was not easy, but not impossible. He had learned there were teleportation arrays but only for use by the imperial families.
They could still send true Sun Tiers or, as had been seen by the scouts, send them the normal way by the trade routes. The Soulmancers had taken up residence in a palace they held in the capital.
They did not come out but they were felt as all the citizens were worried.
Lind ignored them for now as he first wanted to save the outskirts. Save was the correct term.
Villages were dotted around the Dar Empire but they were solely farming or hunting villages. Further, they were hardly what Lind would call villages in the first place.
Work camps or slave pens would not be far off. Instead of houses, they were literally fenced in pens holding 2 to 3 hundred people at a time. Most of them were human but he saw demons as well.
There were almost no aether children but he spotted a couple. Their conditions ranged from robust to barely alive. Their cultivations were regulated but sporadic at best. His Eyes burned with rage as he saw clearly forced advancement and the damage it had wrought in their dantians and meridians.
"How many of these places are there?" Lind's ice cold voice made Gravis shiver. He had seen Lind frustrated or irritated, but true anger was rare. He made a note to never, ever, get Lind angry.
"At a rough count there are close to 1000 villages like this. Not all are as populated as this one but that is because it is a mining town. They need a lot of labor plus they have a lot of…turnover." Gravis paused on the last word as he saw an emerald glow flare around Lind for a moment.
"My Emperor, you should let us–" Sheena was making a rather valid reminder that Lind was very important but his emerald eyes locked her in place. While she had become a Sun Tier like Gravis, they felt like they were looking at a god at that moment. Lind was only barely into high Moon Tier but his power was terrifying when he applied it.
Where other Moon Tiers would be wiped out, Lind simply destroyed his enemies.
"I have to create the weaving to protect you all and to save them. Never forget that." His cold reminder was all he said but some of the soldier's following them had never seen Lind in action and were nervous.
Their forces had grown and while Lind's excellent rule was beloved, very few of the current crop knew the kind of power their leader could bring to the fore. It simply did not equate in their heads that a good production master could also be a devil on the battlefield.
"I will begin my weaving, when you see the signs, go." Lind then took to the sky which shocked many of the newbies. No one could fly save beasts but Lind took off like it was nothing. Gravis merely smiled and Sheena looked like she was pouting.
They both prepared to move at a moment's notice.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Merrick was enjoying himself immensely. Demons acted so cold and angry but they were the most vivacious creatures to his mind. He tired of them quickly but he never tired of the game.
He was a large man but not overweight. He had decent physical abilities but also did not train himself too much. He simply did enough to make the boredom pass. The feeling of accomplishment sometimes was enough between his 'meals.'
Currently, a slip of a demoness was glaring at him with crimson eyes. She was basically in 3 strips of cloth but it hid nothing of her voluminous chest and wonderful hips. Her violet hair actually made her lavender skin stand out in a lovely way.
"Ah, such a good crop this year!" Merrick's balding head and dark hair trailed his arms and chest but he happily stood with a metal studded paddle as well as other tools of his choice. He did not inflict pain if they obeyed but he admitted it was less fun when they did.
He enjoyed breaking them!
His silk curtains and drapery over the bed showed how much he abused his position but the higher ups did not care so long as the consignments kept coming.
If he was only a degenerate, Merrick would not have been too much of an issue, but he was also one that took his job seriously. He liked the benefits so he did not shirk.
It was due to this that his door burst open and his assistant came running in so that he did not get angry. His lascivious face vanished as a serious one took its place.
"Report." The assistant had come in during much worse so he was actually glad his superior had not started yet.
"Sir! As ordered we had scouts out looking and they reported movement to the north. Just now a sheen of green or emerald light has covered the village." Merrick was annoyed it was not nothing but sighed.
"Seal her back up for now, I will be out but get the–" He was about to relay orders when the roof vanished in an explosion! They were already there?!
He saw his forces were fighting back but he was stunned at the power of his enemies. Sun Tiers, they were all Sun Tiers!
How did the enemy have so many Sun Tiers?!
"Where is Lady Soulmancer?!" His attendant gulped and pointed up. Merrick looked up and felt the blood drain from his face. A silver roc had its claws covered in blood as the Lady Soulmancer had been torn in 2!
"FALL BACK! COME BACK TO THE MANOR!" Merrick was not a coward. The manor had far better defenses and he activated them. Formations lit up only to be shattered by emerald flames!
A dragon! It was the cursed dragon!
Emerald reptilian eyes stared coldly at them as the silver roc flew over the charging army. His slaves were supposed to be defending them but all he saw were their masters. Where were the slave defenders for the last stand?
What was going on?!
He was about to shout more orders when a ferocious shout was followed by the broadest woman he had ever seen slam a warhammer down on his attendant! The slim man was turned into a bloodmist as if he was nothing!
The man had been a Moon Tier!
"Ah, good, I found you first! Gravis will owe me a drink tonight!" Sheena was covered in the blood of others but there was not even a scratch on her chainmail and armor.
Merrick went to summon his own weapons from his ring when a dagger stabbed him in his bareback.
He slowly turned around to see a grinning demoness covered in his blood. Her crimson eyes laughed at him as she quickly stabbed him over and over.
Normally, a World Realm could not harm him, but the dagger was his for toying with her later. He had left it out and it had plenty of power to cut him up.
As the darkness closed in he saw the massive woman nod in approval before he noticed a final detail.
The slave collar on the demoness was gone! He was able to just make it out in the corner and felt the final shock.
The formation had been shattered!
It meant the moment the attack started, all the slaves were freed! What kind of monster did they provoke? What was that man?!