Chapter 518: Eating Hot Pot and Singing Songs

“To the east, there’s a pack of vicious Scorpion-tailed Lions. They hunt any creature that passes through.”

The Centaur Leader, Beck, was reporting what he knew to Leech. An intelligent creature capable of communication was far more useful than a stupid Ogre with pig shit for brains, allowing Leech to quickly get the information he wanted.

“To the west is a mountain that cannot be climbed. There are cave-dwelling gnomes. Those little guys are good at hiding. We occasionally trade with them. According to them, there’s a huge dark creature city farther west, past the caves, but our tribe has never gone that far.”

‘Probably a matter of strength,’ Leech thought to himself.

“To the south is a lake where a huge water monster lives, but no one has ever seen it. I’ve also heard there are ghosts.”

Deep Rising? Pirates of the Caribbean?

Leech’s mind began to wander.

It had been a long time since he last saw a ghost.

Ghosts always brought things related to Magic. The first time, it was a Magic Trap; the second time, a Rune.

“To the north… are the Ogres,” the centaur continued. “We only operate in this vicinity.”

‘Of course they can’t go that far.’

Leech thought to himself, ‘They can’t even beat the Ogres. They’re penned in on all four sides. If it weren’t for the small, non-combative animals in this underground world, they’d have starved to death by now.’

However, the benefits of subjugating the Centaur Tribe were also obvious. Though they couldn’t match the Ogres in combat—lacking their thick hides and having no Magic—they were excellent hunters. With their high mobility and accurate archery, they were perfectly suited to be the zookeepers for the Ogres and Giants.

It was from the centaur’s explanation that Leech learned that the pigs covered in dirty scales and reeking of filth were called Gray-Scaled Stinky Warthogs. They were foul creatures that grew in dark environments. Besides monsters like Ogres and Giants, it was impossible for any creature to enjoy eating something so poisonous and foul-smelling. In the centaurs’ own words, eating that stuff was worse than eating grass.

‘Centaurs don’t eat grass?’ Leech was shocked. He had assumed that since they were mostly horse, they would prefer grass and be easy to feed.

It turned out they only ate meat. Centaurs were pickier eaters than both horses and humans.

The Ogre Tribe had huge appetites but were too slow to catch prey. It just so happened that the centaurs could take on the job of hunting the Gray-Scaled Stinky Warthogs.

Moreover, with the help of the Ogres and Giants, the centaurs could also hunt larger beasts and magical beasts. As long as the Ogres tanked at the front, the centaurs could easily ambush and capture large amounts of prey by firing arrows from the rear.

The centaurs were no fools. If they fed the tender, freshly caught prey to the Ogres, given their massive size and appetite, the centaurs themselves wouldn’t get a single bite.

So, the centaurs often split their forces. Half would go out with the Ogres and Giants to hunt edible prey, while the other half hunted Gray-Scaled Stinky Warthogs. The Ogres ate shit, the centaurs ate meat, everyone was happy, and the cooperation was very pleasant.

With an ample food supply, many things began to happen naturally.

Every night, Leech could see… yes, *see*! He saw a group of centaurs shamelessly demonstrating what “mounted combat” truly meant right in front of him.

Intelligent, but without any sense of shame. This gave Leech a deeper understanding of what chaotic creatures were like.

With the epic “centaur-porn” playing out, Leech had to look away. ‘Watching too much of this hardcore stuff can warp your mind.’ He didn’t want his preferences to become like the ‘Golden Stallion’. Although Sub-human girls were the ultimate evolution of aesthetic taste, he still hoped to maintain the pure heart of a horndog. Fair, long legs were great; fair, *long horse legs*… he’d pass for now.

Just like the big white horse leg in front of him now.

“Du Ao, tsk tsk, Du Ao~”

Beibei was here again. She was that little filly—no, that female centaur.

As she was young, and her brother was the Centaur Leader, Beibei didn’t need to take on breeding duties. Whenever the Centaur Tribe started their grunting and panting “battles,” she would sneak over to try and play with the dragon.

Du Ao rolled his eyes, spread his wings, and flew over to perch on the Corpse Ghost’s shoulder.

Although he was a Corpse Ghost, he had his own personality—a very strong one at that. His pride was bone-deep.

The young filly, Beibei, stopped. Based on her observations over the past few days, she knew that the Black Dragon Du Ao usually kept to himself. If he suddenly landed on someone’s shoulder, it meant that the great lord had arrived.

Formless and shadowless, imperceptible, mysterious and powerful—these were all things her brother Beck had told her.

“M-My lord,” Beibei said, quickly lowering her head.

“Mm,” Leech had actually been present for a while, but he had been lost in thought and hadn’t said anything.

Since his peeping—er, his *thinking*—had been interrupted, he gave a nod. To maintain his mysterious aura, he didn’t chat much. The young filly Beibei was clearly very timid in Leech’s presence and quickly withdrew.

…

“…Exploring the underground world is not easy. The world unfolding before me is growing more and more complex. Whether it’s matters concerning the Human Kingdoms or the Magic World, it’s never wrong to have more forces under my control. Tomorrow, we will attack the Scorpion-tailed Lions. It would be best if those magical beasts can communicate. If not, I’ll have no choice but to slaughter them all. I might keep one or two as collectibles.”

“Prince George is another concern. He controls the communication channels with the Half-Beastmen. It’s essential to establish a defensive line in the desert to repel the next Half-Beastman invasion.”

Leech paused his pen. He was recording his ‘main quests’. At the moment, his main focus was Prince George. He was in the process of writing his *Lord’s Autobiography*, intending to compile his life experiences after transmigrating into a book.

He had originally planned to call it *The Legendary Experience of Me, Who Traveled to a Magic World, Became a Lord, Started Farming and Developing, and Then Conquered Various Races*, but it sounded too much like a light novel and lacked gravitas. As everyone knows, the fewer words in a title, the more impressive it is.

Many lords had a habit of leaving behind autobiographies to boast about themselves. Leech, however, was vehemently against boasting. His own true experiences were exciting and rich enough.

Of course, a little bit of image polishing was still necessary. Just a tiny bit.

[Sticks out fingers and pinches, universe_between_fingertips.jpg]

He was currently in the recording phase. He would choose to finish and organize the book after he had achieved something significant or had grown older.

He put down his pen and closed the book.

Leech pointed a finger at a nearby chair.

It was time to practice Magic.

The chair instantly transformed into a black cat.

“Meow~” it meowed stiffly. The black cat walked with obviously clumsy steps. Every time a paw landed on the ground, it made the sound of a chair hitting the floor.

When the black cat jumped onto Leech’s lap, for a moment, he felt as if a chair had been slammed onto his knees.

HISS—the sharp, stinging pain!

Although as a Transcendent he had a tough body, the feeling of getting hit in the knee didn’t change.

He picked up the black cat and tossed it on the ground. It tumbled over twice and turned back into a chair, which lay toppled on the floor.

‘I really need to learn Magic properly!’

“Fire! Fire!”

Suddenly, shouting erupted outside.

Because he had Isis as a “hub,” Leech was no longer affected by the consciousnesses of his Corpse Ghosts suddenly and randomly invading his mind. The most noticeable effect was that he no longer got confused about where he was or what he was doing, nor did he suddenly lose focus.

‘There’s a fire outside?’

…

In the darkness of Night, torchlight flickered and danced.

A huge, two-horse-drawn noble’s carriage was speeding along, flanked on all sides by more than twenty Cavalrymen. The sound of their horses’ hooves was like thunder.

BOOM!

A tree on the road ahead suddenly fell, blocking the path.

The two horses reared up, forced to a halt.

The Cavalrymen guarding the noble’s carriage quickly drew their weapons.

A ball of fire suddenly flew in from the distance.

A flash of fire.

BOOM!

The lead Cavalryman was instantly burned to a crisp, not even managing to let out a scream.

The smell of scorched flesh filled the air as the flames ignited the surrounding trees. A forest fire was now inevitable.

“Ambush!” a Soldier shouted, yanking his reins and raising his Longsword high. “Protect the ladies! Shields up!”

All the Cavalrymen raised their shields, circling the carriage. They nervously and vigilantly watched their surroundings.

THUD!

A dull, heavy sound came from the distance.

THUD!

It sounded like something enormous was running.

The Cavalrymen simultaneously turned their heads toward the sound. In the glow of the forest fire, a powerful bear was charging toward them, instantly snapping the trees that blocked its path.

As it got closer, they could see that it wasn’t a white bear, but a grotesque magical beast with the powerful body of a bear and the head of an eagle.

The Eagle-headed Bear crashed into the Cavalry, shattering their tightly-held steel defensive line in an instant. Men and horses were sent flying.

It rampaged as if through an empty battlefield. The Soldiers’ sword strikes only left shallow scratches, while a single swipe of its claw could turn even a warhorse into a meat patty.

After a flurry of panting and slaughter, the Eagle-headed Bear stopped. Not a single Soldier was left standing.

Its body rapidly shrank, transforming into a bare-chested man.

His body was covered in sword wounds, but his face wore a smile.

The sound of hooves came from the distance as a group of menacing-looking men surrounded them.

“Let’s see here,” said the man who had transformed from the Eagle-headed Bear, pulling open the carriage door.

A chorus of screams immediately erupted. “Ahh!”

Inside the carriage were seven noble ladies, their meticulously cared-for faces now filled with terror.

One of them was screaming her lungs out nonstop.

But no one noticed one of them, huddled in the far corner, quietly take something from her bag and stuff it under her dress.

“Look, a gaggle of beautiful ladies,” the man roared with laughter, and the men around him joined in.

“Be gentle with the ladies,” he said, turning to his men. “I’m sure they’ll be very eager to pay their ransoms.”

The group whooped and hollered as they made off with the carriage and everyone in it.

But the forest fire only grew more and more intense.