Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 474 - 28: Mutation

Outside the Neutral City,

"Gah!"

A mutated monster, standing three to four meters tall and covered in bone spikes, let out a final wail. Bloodied all over, it collapsed to the ground, a long spear piercing through its head, silencing it forever.

Around the monster, the ground was awash with blood.

Corpses of humanoid, red-skinned ogres, standing two to three meters high, lay scattered all over, forming a field of death.

The soldiers, well-equipped and showing signs of fatigue after the battle, began to scatter with their weapons to clean up the aftermath. One by one, they thrust their long spears into the heads of the fallen ogres on the ground, confirming they were all dead.

"It’s finally over."

The burly and robust Beastman Captain sighed with relief.

This was an ogre tribe.

Hidden among the dense forests, they fed on tree bark and roots, frequently raiding farmlands and attacking nearby merchants as well as isolated Beastmen.

If one were to fall into their hands, they would inevitably become their dinner by the following day.

To humans and Beastmen alike, they were truly disastrous creatures.

And who knows how many such monster tribes exist on the outskirts of the Kawa Great Forest?

Slimes, goblins, wild wolves, and all kinds of low-tier magic beasts and wild creatures lived in the wild, posing a great threat to the intelligent beings inhabiting this region.

Ogres, like these monsters, reproduced rapidly.

They were almost impossible to kill outright and eliminate completely.

Kill a group, and before long, another will take its place.

This is why the Dragon Nest Tribe continuously dispatches troops to sweep the monsters; it’s only by cleaning up these monster assembly points nearby that they can incorporate the surrounding lands of the Neutral City for development.

Otherwise, even when expanding by building village by village and fortress by fortress, encountering hordes of monsters would lead to severe losses.

"It’s a bit strange, how did this guy become like this? Is this still an ogre?"

The ogre corpses lay on the ground, and soldiers cleaned the battlefield around them.

Behind the Beastman Captain, the vice-captain walked up and stirred the fierce ogre leader’s corpse with his spear, frowning slightly.

Unlike the other ogres, this ogre leader was significantly larger than average ones.

Moreover, its skin was not the dark red of other ogres but a bluish color.

With a ghastly blue face and sharp fangs,

white bone spikes protruded from its skeletal joints, looking incredibly menacing.

It gave a very uncomfortable feeling,

those sinister fangs dripping with saliva looked like they were from a demon straight out of Hell.

"It does seem rather different. I’ve killed quite a few of these, even in larger ogre tribes, but I’ve never seen one like this before."

The Beastman Captain found it peculiar upon hearing this as well.

"However, this mutation seems somewhat familiar..."

The Beastman Captain nudged the ogre leader’s corpse, muttering softly.

"Indeed, I’ve encountered monsters with similar color mutations and bone protrusions before. They become even more aggressive, like that mutated deer we met on our last expedition, which dared to attack us."

The two conversed back and forth.

As a member of the Dragon Nest Tribe’s ongoing monster raids, they naturally had the best understanding of the wilderness creatures.

Lately, they had gradually observed.

Some animals seemed to undergo sudden mutations due to unknown reasons; their colors darkened, and bone spikes appeared, making them more aggressive and prone to attack.

The odds of such mutations were not high; among ogres, perhaps only one in ten thousand would mutate.

But when other types of monsters were included, those numbers would accumulate.

Clearly, as leaders of captain-level status, the two were already aware of this.

However, they still had not figured out any conclusive results.

They had no idea of the causes or the roots of this phenomenon, but such changes were evidently detrimental to both Beastmen and humans, and could only be reported upwards for further evaluation.

Vaguely, there was a sense that these changes were not simple.

One could only hope it wasn’t anything major.

"Forget it, we won’t find any answers by overthinking this; professionals should handle it."

"Indeed, I’ve heard that these widespread mutations have also been encountered in the territory, and someone from above will surely handle it."

"Let’s finish up fast and head back; it seems a war might be on the horizon."

"Yes, those foolish, greedy human nobles, the tribe currently lacks the capacity to control such vast lands, so we haven’t attacked their territories yet. I doubt they even know what they might be up against..."

The two chatted, gradually touching upon the current situation in the Neutral City.

As one of the external scavenger armies, they had also previously encountered bandits played by elite soldiers from other hostile cities and clashed with them.

And that was the end of it.

The Dragon Nest Legion’s training model has brought cold weaponry to its peak.

Moreover, with batches and systems cultivating Beastman Transcendents, who are extremely powerful, coupled with continuous combative sweeps, the army’s strength is regarded as top-tier globally, making it impossible for some feeble noble private soldiers to contend with them.

During battles, the Dragon Nest Army did capture some of those "bandits and rebels."

From their mouths, they learned their true identities and their various sabotage plans; how would they not know of the hidden enemy’s hostility?

They were already very clear about the hostility from the lords and nobles of enemy cities.

However, combat plans are decided by the upper echelons.

And for those ignorant city lords and nobles, the soldiers who had followed the Dragon Nest Legion through countless battles clearly looked down on them.

Those foolish individuals had no idea what kind of entity they were up against.

With just a few cities and a thousand private noble soldiers, they thought they could handle the Neutral City?

Sheer delusion.

Without even mentioning the great His Highness Austin behind it, just the power of the Neutral City itself, with its mighty army strength and amazing military equipment, was enough to take on all of them.

Moments later,

the soldiers finished cleaning the area, gathered gradually, set the ruins ablaze, and left the place.

All that remained was a patch of black ash.