Chapter 138: Conquering the Wild Boarfolk Tribe

Once the Boarman leader joined the fray, the two Boarman elders were completely defenseless. Though all were seventh-tier, the Boarman leader was supported by a large number of sixth-tier monsters. In less than two minutes, one of the Boarman elders was covered in wounds. Blood flowed freely from deep, crimson holes pierced by the leader's spear; there was not a single inch of the elder’s body left unscathed. With a final strike, the leader knocked the elder’s spear aside and plunged his weapon directly into the elder’s skull. As he withdrew the spear, a gaping hole remained where the elder’s brain had been. The corpse collapsed silently to the ground, eyes still wide open.

Having dispatched the first seventh-tier foe, the Boarman leader turned his attention to the second. He charged with his black spear in hand. The second elder was in no better state, his body riddled with wounds inflicted by the surrounding sixth-tier monsters. Being besieged by forty such creatures was more than even a seventh-tier could withstand, especially with several of them at the peak of the sixth tier. He gasped for air, his stamina depleted by the frantic defense he had been forced to maintain. He looked at the leader with a pained expression and asked in disbelief, "Leader, why? Why have you become a subordinate to them?"

He received no answer. The Boarman leader acted like a machine, single-mindedly executing Lu Sheng’s command. He drove his spear straight toward the elder. Seeing his former leader in such a state, the elder wore a bitter smile; he knew his end had come. Communication was impossible, so he chose to fight. He raised his own black spear to meet the charge, but before he could take a few steps, a barrage of attacks from the sixth-tier monsters descended upon him once more. Individually, these strikes were not particularly powerful, but he was forced to parry every one of them to avoid further injury. Given the state of his body, he dared not let his guard down.

"Sigh!" The Boarman elder let out a long breath. Despite his utter helplessness, he had no other choice. He had to fight. He swung his spear, sweeping away the incoming attacks, his aura surging. With no thoughts left other than to clash with his leader, he felt no fear of death. As he broke through the onslaught, his breathing grew heavier and more ragged, and fresh wounds appeared on his body. Yet, he ignored them, rushing toward the leader. He knew his only chance of survival was to kill him. If he succeeded, there might be a glimmer of hope. He sensed that after killing the first elder, the man controlling these monsters had fallen into a state of weakness. Of course, this was merely a guess—if the man weren't weak, why wouldn't he have acted himself? Why let his subordinates do the dirty work? The elder knew it was a long shot, but it was his only path to survival.

The two seventh-tier Boarmen collided. In the distance, Lu Sheng signaled his remaining sixth-tier subordinates to hold back, preferring to watch the duel. The combat between the two was savage; every impact devastated the surrounding flora, leaving no flower or tree intact in the wake of their residual energy. The leader thrust his spear; the elder parried and countered, but the leader dodged and lunged again. The elder would have evaded this strike, but his injuries slowed him by a split second. That brief moment was enough for the leader to pierce his side. Before the elder could react, the leader unleashed a flurry of strikes. The elder struggled to dodge, suffering two more wounds. As his injuries mounted, his fatigue deepened, and his spear-work became sluggish. The leader’s attacks were relentless, heavy and forceful. Forced into a purely defensive stance, the elder was driven back with every blow, his feet carving deep pits into the earth as he retreated.

Lu Sheng watched for a moment, knowing the leader’s victory was inevitable. It was only natural, given that the elder had already been severely weakened by the surrounding sixth-tier monsters. Less than a minute later, the leader knocked the elder’s spear away and struck him dead. The entire battle had taken only three minutes.

By now, the rest of the Boarman tribe had caught up. Without hesitation, Lu Sheng released the two newly acquired seventh-tier Boarmen, ordering his subordinates to begin the slaughter. Initially, the approaching Boarmen were overjoyed to see their three seventh-tier leaders rushing toward them. They assumed their true leader was still alive and that the two elders had simply reunited with him to return.

"Leader!" "Elder!" they cheered, rushing forward to meet them, assuming the sixth-tier monsters following behind were merely pursuing their leaders. But in the next second, the leaders began to cut them down.

"Squish!" A Boarman who had happily stepped forward to greet the leader was impaled through the head by a spear. The leader withdrew his weapon and turned to the next victim without a second thought. The dying Boarman looked on with a gaze of utter confusion, unable to comprehend why their leader would attack his own kin. Other Boarmen soon realized something was terribly wrong.

"The leader and elders—something is wrong with them!"
"They’re attacking their own!"

As the leaders continued their assault, the rest of the Boarmen grew wary, looking at them with a mixture of confusion and fear, desperate for an explanation. But the Boarman leader offered none. With a single step that shattered the ground, he lunged into the crowd. He wielded his spear mercilessly; in his eyes, these were merely enemies, with no recognition of his own kind. The other two seventh-tier Boarmen followed suit.

Their realization came too late. With the addition of the other sixth-tier monsters, the area quickly became a slaughterhouse. Faced with nearly a hundred sixth-tier monsters led by three seventh-tier powerhouses, the Boarmen were pathetically weak. Any minor resistance was easily crushed. If a sixth-tier Boarman resisted, a seventh-tier would simply step in to finish them off; as long as they weren't swarmed by dozens at once, these sixth-tier warriors posed no threat.

Half an hour later, the ground was a river of blood, littered with corpses. Lu Sheng casually collected the dropped items. Anything below the sixth tier was of little value to him now; only Law Stones or items above the sixth tier caught his interest. This battle had yielded three seventh-tier Law Stones and twenty sixth-tier ones—all Strength Law Stones. This meant his mastery of the Law of Strength was about to skyrocket. He wondered if these would be enough to break through to the second level. He stored them away, sent his true body to cultivate, and summoned the Boarman leader.

"Do you still retain your memories from before you became a card?" Lu Sheng asked.

"I do," the leader replied, brief and clear. It was the same for all the monster cards; they answered questions with simple, direct responses.

"Then why are you able to attack your own kin?" Lu Sheng asked, voicing his curiosity. If the creature remembered its past life, why would it turn on its own?

"After I died, the master's command became absolute," the leader replied, resolving Lu Sheng's doubt.

"Do you know why my command is absolute?" Lu Sheng continued.

"I do not," the leader shook his head.

To Lu Sheng, this was surely the work of his talent. He assumed it must have set some mechanism deep within the monsters' minds—a theory he had formed from reading too many novels in his past life. Whether it was true or not, he didn't know, but he decided not to dwell on it for now.

"Take me to your tribe's location," Lu Sheng commanded. He hadn't forgotten that there was an entire Boarman tribe in this forest, and the ones he had just slaughtered were merely a scouting party.

"As you wish, Master," the leader replied dully.

"By the way, is there any remaining resistance in the tribe?" Lu Sheng added.

"None. I brought all the warriors out with me. Those remaining in the tribe are only those with low combat power," the leader explained.

Lu Sheng nodded, dismissed his monster cards, and followed the Boarman leader toward the tribe. He now had over a hundred sixth-tier monsters under his command—a force not to be underestimated.