CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 55: ENSLAVING THE DELTHA

The battlefield was quickly cleared. Aside from discovering some bone weapons in the Half-Fishmen’s warehouse, about three to four thousand kilograms of dried fish were found.

Piled up to the brim.

What surprised Lear, however, was that the Skeleton Altar used for sacrifices had no additional attributes.

This left him somewhat disappointed.

This thing isn’t a Divine Artifact?

Aren’t you a Divine Spirit? How come you don’t have a hundred-and-eighty Divine Artifacts at your disposal?

It’s pitiful, truly pitiful!

Look down on such a god as you.

Although the Half-Fishman God’s remnant soul was obliterated, the Divinity was left behind.

Yet Lear couldn’t shake the feeling that the god might not be entirely dead... if these beings were so easy to kill, they wouldn’t be called gods.

But having just awoken, they must have been severely wounded.

In his heart, he remained calm. As time passed, the date when Authority would manifest drew nearer.

As long as he could grasp Authority, a long-fallen Half-Fishman God in the swamp would be of no consequence.

At this moment, the Lizardman Warriors also gathered their fallen comrades’ bodies. After tallying up, the casualty numbers for this battle were summarized.

Putting aside the wounded, a full six squads of warriors were lost.

Out of the fifteen squads brought along, only nine remained.

For Lear, this was undeniably a devastating blow.

With already limited forces, they were now stretched even thinner.

Yet exchanging six squads of Wetland Lizardmen for a Divine Life was damn well worth it.

Death had long been seen by the Wetland Lizardmen as the ultimate destination, and to die in battle was an honor!

No one felt down about this, calmly awaiting Lear’s orders.

As Lear pondered, he instructed the Wetland Lizardmen to bring the fallen warriors’ corpses along.

He did not leave them in the wilderness to decay and extract Essence of Life.

The cohesion of hearts is built step by step, and the most direct expression of this is respect for one’s warriors.

The fallen warriors were no longer just warriors; they were heroes!

Along the way, the atmosphere wasn’t great.

Watching their comrades’ bodies, the Wetland Lizardman Warriors remained calm but inevitably felt a pang of emotion.

Lear said nothing more, only instructing the two leading Delsha people to quicken their pace.

Without further incident along the way, they walked for more than an hour, crossing a muddy field before receiving word—the Delsha people’s gathering place was ahead!

Lear led the troops forward, a vast area covered by towering grasses came into view.

The Delsha people had woven the bent grass leaves into structures resembling bird nests.

The giant bird nests were built on their sides, impervious to rain seeping inside even during downpours.

They were quite eye-catching.

At this moment, hundreds of Delsha people were busying themselves.

Upon seeing the arrival of the Wetland Lizardmen, the Delsha people who first noticed them let out a terrified scream.

The crowd immediately turned toward them, and upon seeing them, fled in panic.

Like rabbits chased by wolves, they rapidly darted into the grass, not daring to take another look...

In the blink of an eye, the land turned desolate.

Lear, though mentally prepared, still found it somewhat exasperatingly amusing.

They fled so decisively.

He gestured, instructing the two captured Delsha people to enter the grass and call out their Chieftain.

Receiving Lear’s command, the two immediately straightened up, lifting their heads like dukes given a royal decree.

"Chieftain, the Lord has a message for you..."

They confidently strode into the grass.

Moments later, an entirely white-haired Delsha man followed them out, cautiously smiling as he stepped forward.

"Honorable Sir, Bart greets you. I am the Chieftain of the Delsha and wish to serve you."

Lear looked at this elderly Delsha Chieftain, speaking slowly.

"Weilu City still requires manpower, Bart. I will now requisition all your tribe’s members."

"From this moment onward, you are all part of Weilu City."

The white-haired Delsha Chieftain froze, then gave Lear a deep glance before bowing his head without hesitation.

"Yes, Sir! The Delsha will follow your orders!"

The weak have no power to decide their fate; this truth he had understood since he was young...

The Delsha’s existence was never achieved by themselves but by attaching to the strong.

Before submitting to the Half-Fishman, they had relied on the Beastmen, Lizard-men, Crocodile-men, and a dozen other forces.

As new powers came and went around them, their principle was to submit to whoever was strongest.

Dragons have their way of surviving; the Delsha have their own rules for survival.

Spineless? Cowards? What are they, something you can eat?

Integrity is worthless compared to living...

Lear gave him a deep look. Given his power, this character indeed helps him survive better in the treacherous wilderness.

He wasted no further words, and with a thought,

endless Divine pressure surged forth.

With absolute dominance, a Soul Mark was etched into the mind of the Delsha before him.

Henceforth, betrayal would be impossible!

"Immediately gather all the Deltha people and relocate back to Weilu City."

"Yes, Master!"

The white-haired Deltha Chieftain Bart took a deep breath and loudly agreed.

However, his gaze towards Lear had become much more respectful and close, no longer worried like before.

After Lear finished speaking, he inquired about the Ancient Ruins and the Fishman God, but Bart didn’t know much about these either.

The other party finally confirmed the news about the Dark Naga—

Deltha people were about fifteen kilometers away from the Dark Naga, and those evil beings always dreaded stepping out of the valley shrouded in darkness all day long.

It seemed they were guarding something, but those Dark Naga were too powerful to approach.

Lear opened the Magic Map and confirmed the location with the Deltha Chieftain.

Then he said no more and asked the Deltha people to pack up and immediately relocate back to Weilu City.

The territory was expanding step by step, and the labor gap was widening.

More than a hundred Mud Swamp People were already overwhelmed.

The addition of these over five hundred Deltha people would undoubtedly greatly alleviate the labor shortage problem.

Bart, the Deltha Chieftain, also didn’t hesitate and turned to enter the grass.

It’s unknown how he told others, but soon, one by one, feather-covered Deltha people cautiously emerged from the grass.

They began to pack up their nests.

Seeing the busy crowd, Lear suddenly thought of another crucial issue—food.

Increasing the population is not that simple; a whole string of problems will follow.

Food is a typical one among them.

The reserves in his hands could only sustain three hundred people for half a year, adding these over five hundred people would significantly reduce it.

And the farmland had not been cultivated, the first season of Swamp Wheat would not be harvested for another three months.

Taking the opportunity, he waved to call the elderly Deltha Chieftain.

"Bart, what do you usually eat?"

The other party was stunned for a moment and then subconsciously looked at the grass behind him.

"Sir, the roots of these wild grasses grow sweet-tasting rhizomes that can make people quite full..."

Rhizomes?

Are these guys surviving by eating grass roots?

Lear became interested and asked Bart to fetch some.

The Deltha Chieftain personally worked, using a dull stone shovel to roughly dig into the dirt in front of him.

From the roots of the long-leaved wild grass, he unearthed a fist-sized black lump.

After picking it off, he gently rubbed it, and the skin fell off.

Revealing the yellowish flesh inside.

Bart opened his mouth, took a big bite, and, like eating sugar cane, tore off a large amount of coarse fiber.

Chewing away, this Deltha didn’t mind, chewed a few times, and swallowed it directly.

Gulp~ After ingesting it, he even looked satisfied.

Lear watched, his eyelids twitching.

Can eating grass roots be so enjoyable?

He picked up an intact one, rubbed off the skin, and tried biting it...

Dry in the mouth, like biting into grass roots... He chewed it and finally confirmed, this thing was indeed a grass root.

Ptooey~

Seeing Lear spit it out, the Deltha Chieftain looked a bit puzzled, seemingly not understanding why he spat out such delicious things...

Lear glared at this guy, annoyed.

Staring at the root in his hand, its attributes appeared in his mind.

Long-leaf Grass Root

[Level]: None

[Traits]: Contains rich energy, can sustain life but is dry and hard to swallow, and is difficult to digest; eating too much may cause bloating.

Rich in energy?

Although it has no level, it seems to have some value.

I’ll keep an eye on it, just in case we run out of food and need it for emergencies.

"Bart, let all the Deltha people store enough food for a month, then return to the territory."

"Yes!"

The Deltha Chieftain immediately agreed, wasting no words, and promptly ordered his tribesmen to dig up the grass roots.

Don’t be fooled by the low level of the Deltha people, timid by nature, but their strength is quite good.

Moreover, they are very familiar with digging grass roots and can quickly unearth the rhizomes.

Each Long-leaf Grass root has a large cluster of rhizomes, the most yielding over thirty to forty pounds.

The yield was extraordinarily high.

A month’s worth of food was gathered in just two hours.

In the end, each Deltha person carried large bundles of Long-leaf Grass Rhizomes on their bodies.

Looking rather comical.

Lear didn’t mind, and after confirming everything was packed, he waved for them to follow, returning to Weilu City.

It was already afternoon, and any further delay would mean traveling in the dark.

These hundreds of Deltha people with their own dry rations can alleviate the increasingly severe manpower pressure.