Chapter 87: The Annihilation of the Mercenary Group

With an increasing number of mercenary groups and trade caravans re-entering the area, a semblance of vitality began to return to Esola City. The surrounding regions and several main routes had been mostly cleared.

However, as Wu Qingsong and his group ventured further north into the spurs of the Tecks Mountains, the scene shifted grimly. The route they followed led not to any city but connected to a dozen mines once overseen by mercenary groups. Before the insectoid catastrophe, this area had thrived far more than the territories where the Silver Moon Wolf Clan roamed, as evident from the warehouses, eateries, and villages along the way.

Now, these buildings stood eerily empty, with not even a bone to be found. Searches only revealed gnawed remains, a testament to the area’s devastation.

These lands had likely been scavenged by mercenary groups, leaving nothing of value behind.

However, as Wu Qingsong’s group pressed on, moving beyond the territories where smaller groups dared to venture, remnants of the antpeople began to emerge amid the ruins.

Battles often erupted unexpectedly, but fortunately, the ant people appeared to have lost all semblance of organization. The largest group that Wu Qingsong’s mercenaries encountered was merely about ten. After several snowfalls, the antpeople’s movements become sluggish, highlighting the mammals’ advantage in the cold season. As the coordination among the houndmen improved, the battles became easier, often without the need for firebombs.

“Take their heads and bring them with us,” Wu Qingsong instructed.

The goal of this expedition wasn’t the extermination of the antpeople. Their bodies had to be left behind, but the heads, light enough to carry, could at least be traded with other mercenary groups eager for more achievements in exchange for some food.

Many of the houndmen also started uncovering scattered valuables amidst the ruins. 

Wu Qingsong had already made an agreement with them. All spoils were to be collected for communal distribution. Once the mission ended and they returned to base, half of the loot would be shared among everyone based on their performance during the mission. Thirty percent would be set aside as a relief fund, while the remaining twenty percent would be Wu Qingsong’s income as the leader of the mercenary group. This arrangement satisfied the houndmen immensely. Compared to the policies of other brigades, it was remarkably fair.

With no pressing time constraints, Wu Qingsong cautiously controlled the group’s pace, sending out several scouting parties to ensure the safety of their flanks and rear. The nearly one hundred-and-twenty-strong force provided ample manpower, and scouting was a forte of the houndmen.

Thus, they slowly moved northward. By the afternoon of the third day, they turned onto the branch road leading to the Elmons Mines, passing by a medium-sized mine.

“Let’s check it out, but be cautious,” Wu Qingsong said.

The buildings on the ground were almost entirely reduced to ruins, leaving only the stone foundations and pillars, visibly gnawed by the colossal jaws of soldier ants. The ground’s traces were completely obscured by heavy snow, but as they brushed it aside, the stark red of dried blood and fragments of broken weapons emerged. Abandoned shields and war hammers lay scattered on the ground. A carriage, torn apart, lay by the road near the mine. A soldier prodded it with a long-handled war hammer, causing bags filled with gold and silver coins to spill and scatter.

“We’re rich now, Wu,” Liuli exclaimed excitedly.

It was evident that the area’s former occupants had tried to escape with their accumulated wealth but failed.

Without real power, this was the inevitable outcome.

Wu Qingsong shook his head and patted Liuli’s head gently. He then left a squad to collect the coins and intact weapons with Liuli and Ling and cautiously explored the ruins with Angus and the rest of the group.

“Sir, it seems they’ve retreated into the mine,” Angus said with concern.

There were hardly any traces of the ant people on the ground, but distinct claw marks were visible in the snow-free area near the mine’s entrance.

“Can you tell how many there are?”

Angus shook his head.

The marks were numerous, indicating a significant number, but the exact count was impossible to determine.

“Let’s leave it to the people who come after us to worry about it,” Wu Qingsong decided.

Beneath the ruins of the smelting factory and warehouses lay a vast amount of unprocessed ores and coal, along with numerous iron anvils and tools. Some of the iron furnaces remained intact, though most were destroyed.

Untreated iron ingots lay in heaps, buried under the debris.

“Sir, these iron ingots could fetch a good price in Esola City,” Beck suggested eagerly.

“And without horses, are you planning to haul them over the fifty-mile mountain road?” Wu Qingsong asked with a smile.

Such laborious and thankless tasks were not in Wu Qingsong’s plans. The coins collected along the way far outweighed the value of these burdensome goods. There was no need for such complications, at least not for this journey.

“We probably have many untransported iron ingots in our own mine,” he told his hound warriors. “And likely more than here, so it’s not worth the effort.”

“Sir,” Angus interjected, “I’m concerned that our mine might also be infested with a large number of antpeople. The Elmons Mine was excavated for many years and is undoubtedly more complex.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Wu Qingsong replied with a chuckle. “I’d be disappointed if there weren’t any. We’ll just block the entrance and see what they eat underground. When they can’t stand it anymore and come out, they’ll be perfect for making armor.”

His casual demeanor relaxed the hound warriors. Indeed, those were potential profits.

“Nothing more to see here, let’s move on to our mine,” Wu Qingsong declared, prompting cheers from his troops.

Soon after departing, a scout suddenly discovered something on a nearby hillside and hurried back.

“What is it?”

“Sir, there are strange traces up ahead, and lots of blood.”

***

“Ling?” Wu Qingsong looked at the muddy ground before them, noticing her growing unease.

“Don’t worry. Whoever they were, they left by now,” Wu Qingsong reassured her and Liuli.

The ground was covered in snow, it failed to cover all traces. The battle here had taken place not long before their arrival, perhaps earlier that morning. Then someone had attempted to bury these traces with mud, but the task was too immense to complete, leaving many signs still visible.

The bloodstains stood out starkly against the white snow, and broken weapons poked out of the freshly covered soil. Wu Qingsong picked up a shattered shield from the ground, revealing fragmented pieces of armor beneath it.

Pieces of the Tagraedi-style insectoid shell armor.

“It looks like a mercenary group was attacked and annihilated,” Angus furrowed his brows in concern. “Sir, this doesn’t seem like the work of the antpeople.”

The hound warriors quickly discovered several freshly filled pits nearby. Digging them up, they found them filled with the bodies of mastiff warriors.

“Of course not, the antpeople would take the bodies, not bury the battlefield,” Wu Qingsong nodded in agreement. “There’s no reason for anyone to do this.”

Ling and Liuli gasped in shock.

Upon extracting and examining a few bodies, they found that the mastiff warriors had all died from blunt force trauma, with most sustaining multiple fractures. Some had their rib cages completely shattered, their deaths agonizing.

“It’s as if they were crushed by something heavy,” Wu Qingsong murmured.

“Sir!” a soldier called out from another pit.

They finally found the half-elf leader of the mercenary group.

“Ned Mors,” Wu Qingsong sighed as he uttered the name. The man’s body was almost completely flattened.

This guy was no saint, to say the least. In fact, he was an outright bandit. Bold and perceptive, he had once bought ten sets of armor from Wu Qingsong and later traded ant corpses for seven or eight more sets, making him one of Wu Qingsong’s biggest clients.

But evidently, whatever they had encountered, the armor was no defense against it.

“Sir?” Angus spoke up. “We’ve found strange footprints over there.”

Huge, but unlike any animal, and oddly, the left and right footprints were different. What kind of creature was this?

“Meow~ Wu, can we go back now?” Liuli shivered, looking up pitifully.

They were less than five miles from the Elmons Mine. Without understanding what caused such devastation, it would be impossible to safely develop the mine.

“Send a small team to follow the tracks and scout,” Wu Qingsong instructed. “The rest of us will head back. Let’s regroup at last night’s camp.”

“I’ll go myself,” Angus declared.

“Alright, but be extremely careful. Safety first,” Wu Qingsong cautioned.