Demon Realm Rhapsody

The other four warriors were also strong, which is why the dog-people could survive here.

Their descendants all underwent rigorous combat training, because if one wanted to survive here, they had to be highly skilled in martial arts. If their combat ability declined, their village might face destruction.

After two months of training, Ma Lin's archery barely met the standards, roughly ensuring he could hit a chicken within twenty meters.

The dog-people warriors also made some progress in their fights with him.

Having become familiar with the surrounding areas, Ma Lin then grew restless and wanted to travel afar again.

The main reason was that he felt lonely.

"It's said that if you travel about four hundred li to the northwest from here, there's a small town inhabited by over a thousand dog-people. A demon sorcerer lives there with over a dozen magical servants maintaining order. If you're interested, you could go and have a look. However, the sorcerer is very malicious at heart, and if you don't know how to exercise patience, you might get into trouble and end up losing your life in confusion," one of them said.

Ma Lin still wanted to take a look. Na Du, the captain of the dog-people guards, felt very worried and decided to act as Ma Lin's guide.

"Leave Big Orange behind to help guard the village and hunt, and I'll take you to Snakevenom Town. I have acquaintances there who can at least offer you some assistance," Na Du said.

Na Du visited Snakevenom Town once a year and knew the way well. Besides, his abilities were quite strong, so he wasn't too worried about danger.

Big Orange was quite willing to live in Big Bone Village, so Ma Lin decided to leave it behind for now.

Na Du and Ma Lin set off together, and by now they were able to have simple conversations.

Na Du wore a suit of chainmail, a leather shield in his left hand and a stone axe in his right, often fighting fierce beasts. Ma Lin's combat ability was about the same as Na Du's when using ordinary weapons.

Along the way, Na Du diligently taught Ma Lin various outdoor survival skills, and Ma Lin felt he benefited greatly from them. Discovering these principles on his own would have taken who knows how long.

Na Du also introduced him to some information about Snakevenom Town and the demon lords he used to serve.

Some demon lords possess castles and several hundred demon soldiers.

He had heard of a demon lord who owned a city with nearly ten thousand demon soldiers, although he had never seen such a powerful force with his own eyes.

Na Du also traveled quite fast. He and Ma Lin could cover about two hundred li in a day together.

Midway, they passed a range of low volcanoes, inhabited by a group of unknown demon creatures of varying sizes, rarely seen venturing out of the lava.

Ma Lin found it very interesting.

But considering this was the homeland of the giant demon eggs, such sights were not surprising.

On further reflection, Ma Lin thought that the environment around the cave he initially lived in was somewhat abnormal, given the scarcity of demons and the abundance of prey.

After traveling for two full days, they finally reached Snakevenom Town.

With a population of over a thousand, there were streets and shops distributed among some residences. The dog-people population was considerable, creating a somewhat prosperous scene.

Na Du first went to sell two gemstones and exchanged them for some money, then took Ma Lin to stay at a dog-person's house, where it cost only five yuan per night. A pound of pork was twenty yuan, and a pound of grain was one yuan.

The selling price for Na Du's gemstones was four hundred yuan each.

"Do you want to find a job here, or just look around and then go back with me?" Na Du asked.

Ma Lin replied, "I want to look around first. If I think it's nice here, I'll try to find a job."

The next day was spent strolling the streets and seeing many unusual things, which brightened Ma Lin's mood.

However, finding a job was not easy.

Na Du accompanied him as he strolled around the town.

"Although our Big Bone village is located in a remote place, life here is very peaceful, and our fighting skills can continuously improve if we stay. If I can become a middle-ranking warrior, I'd be able to buy a house in this town and move all the villagers over here to live because I'd be able to protect them."

After listening to Na Du's idea, Ma Lin expressed his admiration.

Indeed, living in the town would be much more convenient, with all sorts of supplies and professions available, ranging from those skilled in singing, dancing, and playing music to those proficient in medicine. Whether one wants to have fun or needs to find a doctor when sick, it's very convenient.

However, he still felt a lack of connection to this town, and even if he lived there, he would still feel unhappy.

The ruler of the town was a rat demon that resembled a rat, but had no blood relation to them—it was a spellcaster. Rat demons were a type of demon adept at casting spells, though this one in Snake Town had only mediocre abilities. It was stronger than ordinary demon minions, but it only possessed low-level spellcasting abilities.

Nevertheless, it wasn't far from reaching intermediate spellcasting abilities, which allowed it to become the boss of the town.

On the evening of their second day in the town, Ma Lin saw that a dozen dog-people had been locked up in cages in front of the rat demon's house, with a notice stating that they would be executed the next morning.

The reason was that these dog-people had produced a recklessly strong beverage and got dizzyingly drunk from it.

It took a good half of the day for Ma Lin to understand that these dog-people used the rat demon's supplies to brew several barrels of beer and secretly drank it at night until they were intoxicated.

The demons here were unaware of booze, but they clearly loathed it, just as humans feel repulsed by the sight of demons drinking blood.

Right then, "The Book of Minions" vibrated timely. Ma Lin knew a new mission had arrived.

He hid away and flipped through "The Book of Minions". Indeed, the last page provided a new mission, which was to rescue the twelve dog-people, take them back to Big Bone village, and also haul away six barrels of beer, a sack of barley seeds, and a sack of hops.

Ma Lin felt a bit of joy in his heart—could it be that they'd have beer to drink in the future? The feeling was good.

He immediately told Na Du that he intended to rescue the twelve dog-people.

Na Du said, "You really are bold, don't you know how formidable the rat demon is? He has nineteen demon servants, all of whom are not afraid of death. If one dies, he can create another. He has seventy to eighty soldiers willing to follow his orders. If you offend him, you won't be able to live peacefully for hundreds of miles around."

Ma Lin said, "Isn't this rat demon very bad? We'll just kill him too."

Na Du said, "He's so strong, how can you kill him?"

Ma Lin said, "Doesn't he use demon servants to guard his house? I have these pills that, after eating, his demon servants won't hear our movements. Then we can sneak into his room and kill him."

The rat demon's servants were made from mud combined with souls through spellcraft. Ma Lin's pills were provided by "The Book of Minions" to help him complete the mission.

Na Du was skeptical, but Ma Lin said, "These pills were given to me by my grandfather. I can share one with you. We can go in together. Don't you deeply hate that rat demon?"

Na Du said, "I do hate him intensely. If I can get rid of him, of course, I would be very willing."

Ma Lin asked, "If we remove this rat demon, who will become the town's manager?"

Na Du said, "Possibly a unicorn demon from four hundred miles away will come to be the boss here."

They patiently waited until nighttime. Then, led by Na Du, they circled to the back of the rat demon's house wall. Each took one of those pills, then climbed over the wall, crouched down, and approached one of the rat demon's servants, but it didn't notice them at all.

They then stealthily advanced through the yard, with the demon servants seeming to be both blind and deaf.

They sneaked into the rat demon's house. It was eating something while flipping through a book, the Magic Wand resting against the wall.

Ma Lin whispered, "Minion's escape spell."

The rat demon heard the sound and was about to move, but Na Du had already rushed straight toward it.

As the rat demon reached for the Magic Wand to cast a spell, Ma Lin charged from another direction. Just as the rat demon released a ball of Magic Power to attack Na Du, Ma Lin plunged a dagger into its back, pulled out the dagger, then slashed horizontally, and the rat demon's head fell off.