My Kingdom Building Done Right!

Chapter 106: An Inevitable End [Part 2]

Left with nowhere to run, Ross stuck to his only option. To brace himself for the impact.

But he still had one last saving grace. There were dozens of people in front of him who could mitigate the impact of the boulder. He hoped they would be enough to stop its momentum.

The boulder soon crushed the people in front of him, and its weight pressed against the shield in his hands. The warriors by his side and at the back understood what he did and imitated him, forming a small bridge of shields above their heads.

The boulder rolled through the vanguard with horrifying ease. Bones snapped and bodies broke.

The dead and dying were driven back by its unstoppable weight, their mangled remains slamming against Ross and the others beneath the shield formation.

The impact drove the breath from the chieftain’s lungs, but he held on for dear life. Time seemed to have slowed down considerably in that moment of life and death.

Ross thought he would be buried then and there, but perhaps due to the bodies that blocked its path, as well as the bridge of shields that lay in front of it, the boulder lifted off the path before crashing down past them.

The warriors behind Ross were crushed by the boulder before it finally veered off the path, falling to the side of the mountain.

The sound of pained moans of the seriously injured and the dying warriors woke the chieftain from his senses.

He was still alive. But his near-death experience made him want to continue lying on the ground to catch his breath.

Unfortunately, they had forgotten one major problem.

The Gryphon was still there.

It merely stopped attacking because it was curious about what would happen if the boulder had hit the invaders. Now that the fun moment had passed, it resumed its relentless attacks on the warriors who had survived that ordeal.

Of course, the Gryphon wasn’t alone. A volley of arrows once again rained down on them from the fortress, showing no mercy in the slightest.

Out of desperation, the warriors started running away, heading to the base of the mountain to seek shelter from the trees.

They no longer wished to continue this suicidal charge. After all, it would only lead to their deaths.

As the invaders retreated, cheers rang out from the fortress. The defenders were still high from their adrenaline rush, with some of them wanting to charge down the mountain to pursue their foes.

However, they understood that doing so would needlessly risk their lives. So, they stayed put.

Ross continued to lay on the ground and play dead, hoping he wouldn’t be targeted by the Gryphon.

The warriors on his side, who somehow survived as well, were doing the same thing, hoping no stray arrow would land on their bodies.

Silas and his men watched this turn of events with grim expressions on their faces.

In fact, the surviving warriors from the other middle-ranked tribes were getting desperate. Not only was it impossible for them to fight back, but their paths of escape were also blocked.

There were traps everywhere. Plus, opportunistic monsters lay in wait to attack those who left the main group.

Fury, Fenn, Russel, Blitz, and the Earth Elemental targeted small groups of warriors, whose sightings were reported to them by the Squirrel Network.

Of course, they didn’t dare clash with Ross’ barbarian army because they would simply be overwhelmed by them.

They might be strong, but they weren’t suicidal!

Perhaps finally reaching his limit, one of the warriors that lay beside Ross decided that enough was enough.

Using the flat of his axe, he slammed it on his chieftain’s head, knocking him unconscious.

"I captured the chieftain!" the warrior shouted. "Please stop! We surrender!"

As if a dam finally broke, the other warriors playing dead stood up in response and hoisted their unconscious leader to show those who were in the fortress that they had their chieftain in their hands.

"Stop the attack," Leone ordered.

"Stop the attack!" Jason shouted in order to make sure that the other warriors heard their chieftain’s order.

Ulric and Kael repeated the orders, which made the defenders finally stop drawing their bows.

Astravor glanced at the barbarians who surrendered before flying away to hunt those that had escaped.

Leone had explicitly ordered that it didn’t matter if the warriors of the Bloodtusk Tribe were all wiped out.

As for the other tribes... Leone decided to wait for two more hours before taking action. Those who survived would be captured, and their tribes would have to pay their ransom.

"Have you located the Chieftain of the Ashclaw Tribe and his men?" Leone asked Daedalus.

"Yes," Daedalus replied in an amused tone. "Lucan is playing with them right now."

"I see." A sneer appeared on Leone’s face. Just like Ross, he had no intention of letting the Ashclaw Tribe leave this place alive.

He had heard many bad things about the Ashclaw Tribe. Now that they were in his grasp, he would not let them get away so easily.

The young man then sent Blitz a telepathic message. This was one of the special abilities he gained after his territory was upgraded to Rank 2.

Leone could now communicate with his vassals directly as long as they were inside his domain, making communication much easier.

After passing Harold’s location to the flying squirrel, the little guy called out its buddies and headed there to personally capture the Chieftain of the Ashclaw Tribe.

Meanwhile, Ulric and the warriors of the Aslan Tribe headed down the mountain to take the unconscious chieftain up the cliff.

As for his men, they were told to stay put and behave themselves.

Now that the two ringleaders of this war had been captured, Leone had finally met his objectives.

All that waited for them was the cleanup and dealing with the survivors.

Leone also planned to meet the representatives of the other tribes that were currently outside of the forest.

Since some of them belonged to high-ranking tribes, forming a connection with them would help him in the long run.

An hour later, Fury, Fenn, Russel, and Blitz returned while carrying the Chieftain of the Ashclaw Tribe.

They broke his arms and legs, ensuring he was incapable of running away no matter how desperately he wanted to.

Leone praised the four of them, promising to give them a reward at a later time.

Meanwhile, he ordered Ulric to break Ross’ arms and legs in front of Travis, so the Young Lord of the Darkmane Tribe would understand that any arrogance from him would not be tolerated.

A moment later, Ross’ pained scream was heard inside the fortress.

This made Travis tremble in fear. Others only heard Ross, but he had been forced to witness the horrifying scene.

"Watch closely," Jason said coldly. "If you don’t, the same thing will be done to you. We only need you alive. That doesn’t mean we can’t make you suffer, right?"

With a threat looming upon him, Travis watched as Ulric slowly and painfully broke Ross’ limbs starting from his fingers, then his hands, and then finally his arms.

Ulric did the same for the chieftain’s feet and legs, enjoying this brutal method of torturing their enemy.

Kael was also at the scene, watching everything with a faint smile on his face.

The Chieftain of the Riverfang Tribe hated Ross very much because their tribe had been bullied by them so harshly during the past few years.

Ross’ screams as he begged for forgiveness was just pleasant music to his ears.

’I’m glad I chose to serve the right Master,’ Kael thought as he tried to burn this memory inside his head.

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine a scene where a chieftain of a middle-ranked tribe would beg for forgiveness just to save his lowly life.

Kael felt a rush that he had never felt before, wishing that he could swap with Ulric and personally torture Ross for the years of suffering he and his tribe had endured under their oppression.

’Well, I’ll just ask Leone if he can give me the honor of personally killing this bastard,’ Kael thought. ’I will definitely make him die a very slow and painful death.’

Kael then glanced at Travis, who was kneeling on the ground, his face pale from fright.

The arrogant young man who could move unhindered in the domains of the middle and lower-ranked tribes was nowhere to be seen.

His pale expression filled with fear, anxiety, and regret made the corners of Kael’s lips curl up.

In the face of his Master, even the arrogant son of the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe could not raise his voice. After all, he feared that the same suffering that Ross was being subjected to would also happen to him.