Mo Fan’s words threw the captives from the two mountains into a panic, for even they themselves did not know who the commanders were.
In fact, there were no such commanders at all; if one had to name any, it would only be the two mountain demon kings.
For the attack on Black Wind Mountain had been ordered by those two demon kings, and as lesser demons, they could only obey.
So in their eyes, this toad great king of Black Wind Mountain was simply toying with them, intent on driving them to utter despair.
Seeing the group of monsters suddenly fall silent, Mo Fan could not help but furrow his brows slightly.
Of course, he did not care about any commanders, but this time, the two mountains’ monsters had attacked Black Wind Mountain, and some price had to be paid; the deaths of just two demon kings were not nearly enough.
That was only the first point.
The second was that Mo Fan truly despised traitors; since these monsters before him could betray their own mountains at a critical moment, might they not do the same to Black Wind Mountain in the future?
The answer to that seemed all too obvious.
Yet killing all these dozens of monsters felt a touch wasteful to Mo Fan, for every one of them here was at the demon soldier cultivation level.
If he could subdue them, then Black Wind Mountain’s demon forces could gain a certain boost in strength in a short time.
That was why Mo Fan had devised this method: by killing a few scapegoats in the name of “commanders” or “traitors”, he could give the Black Wind Mountain demons an explanation, while also intimidating this group of captives from the two mountains, planting in their minds a deep-seated suggestion never to betray.
As long as in the future these demon soldiers felt any urge to rebel, they would recall today’s ruthless treatment of traitors by Mo Fan.
However, after waiting for a good while with not a single monster stepping forward to accuse anyone, Mo Fan felt a touch of exasperation in his heart, thinking to himself that this lot of demon soldiers were truly foolish enough.
Just as he was about to personally pick a few sacrificial lambs at random, suddenly a monster cried out loudly, “Toad Great King, I know who the commander is.”
Hm?
At last, someone with a bit of brains.
Mo Fan’s eyes brightened, and he immediately looked towards the monster, only to see it was a bat demon, who at this moment was gazing at him with a face full of trepidation.
“Very good, point them out.”
Mo Fan grinned, revealing two rows of sharp fangs, and tried his best to make his smile seem kindly.
He looked fine without smiling, but this grin immediately scared several monsters into wetting themselves on the spot, filling the air with a stench in an instant.
“Reporting to the demon-eater, the commander is… him.”
The bat demon raised a trembling hand and pointed at random at an ugly pig demon in the crowd.
“Ill bugger your mother. You dead bat, framing me? I’ll gore you to death with one snout.”
The pig demon, upon being falsely accused, flew into a rage and charged straight at the bat demon.
Seeing this, Mo Fan pointed a finger, and a streak of firelight instantly formed a beam that pierced right through the pig demon’s head.
As the pig demon crashed to the ground with a thud, all the other monsters turned pale with fright.
“You know this king?”
After slaying the pig demon, Mo Fan turned back to the bat demon and spoke flatly.
For earlier, in his fear, the other had called him “demon-eater”, which suggested he had very likely taken part in the previous three-mountain trial.
“Reporting to Toad Great King, I once saw you from afar during the three-mountain trial, and your divine might is still fresh in my mind even now… I beg the Great King to spare this little demon’s life.” The bat demon wailed miserably, his whole body shaking.
“No problem, and then?” Mo Fan smiled and asked again, “With so many demon soldiers like you taking part in this action, there cannot be just one commander, surely. Where are the rest?”
“Ah?”
The bat demon looked as if he might burst into tears, but he still forced down his fear and turned to scan the kneeling crowd of monsters.
At this moment, the bat demon seemed like the grim reaper in the eyes of the other monsters, and wherever his gaze fell, those monsters trembled.
After the scene of the pig demon’s killing, the crowd could only pray not to be selected.
As for resistance?
That was not even a fleeting thought.
They were not arrogant enough to think they could rebel or flee before this infamous demon-eater.
Next, as the bat demon pointed out one after another, several more demon soldiers collapsed limply to the ground on the spot.
There were those who, unwilling to accept their fate, tried for a final act of madness, but before Mo Fan could even act, Wolf Ferocious had lopped off their heads with a single swing of his blade.
It was not until a full nine scapegoats had been singled out for death that Mo Fan finally stopped pressing, and instead he walked up to the bat demon, smiling as he patted his shoulder.
“You are quite something, but this king did say he hates traitors the most.
And you, to save your own skin, have caused the needless deaths of so many fellow mountain demons; you count as a traitor among traitors.
So… you must die.”
As Mo Fan’s words fell, he crushed the bat demon’s throat with one grip.
“There we are, a perfect set of ten.”
Mo Fan casually tossed the bat demon’s corpse to the ground, then looked at those terrified faces with a smile and said, “Congratulations, from today onwards, you will all be monsters of my Black Wind Mountain.
Of course, if any of you are unwilling, feel free to speak up; this king will provide you with a fine destination.
After all, this king has always been most reasonable.”
Mo Fan’s words plunged the crowd into silence, but soon enough, joy spread across their faces.
“This little demon pays respects to the Great King.”
At that moment, no one knew which monster suddenly cried out first.
The others, hearing this, all chimed in one after another, “Pays respects to the Great King.”
“Rise, all of you. Wait here in the square for now; this king will have the commanders come to enlist you.”
Mo Fan waved a hand, then swept his gaze around and asked, “Where is Old Chai from the kitchen camp?”
“Great King, Old Chai went down the mountain with Red Eyes and the others to meet the enemy, and he has not yet returned.” Wolf Ferocious explained.
“You sent that old hag out to fight as well?”
“He is a demon on the verge of the grave; what could he possibly do?”
“If he dies in battle, you will take over running the kitchen camp.”
Mo Fan rolled his eyes, and his words drew a wry smile from Wolf Ferocious.
At the time, with demons from both mountains arriving together and Black Wind Mountain’s forces scattered, there simply were not enough demon soldiers, so he had sent out Old Chai and the likes of Three-Inch Ding as well, figuring they counted as half a fighting force at least.
“Then I will go and meet them.”
Wolf Ferocious wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and took a step forward.
“Come back.”
Mo Fan called him back at once and said, “When I returned earlier, I already saw that the fighting at the foot of the mountain had ended, so they should be on their way up by now.”
Sure enough, it was not long before Red Eyes and the group of lesser demons came up the mountain, escorting a bunch of captives.
“Great King.”
Upon their return and seeing Mo Fan, all the demons could not help but brighten with joy.
Mo Fan looked towards them and saw that nearly all were sporting injuries, though none seemed too severe; with their demon bodies, they would recover in no time at all.
What surprised him, though, was that quite a few of the lesser demons were gazing at him with rather fervent eyes, each one buzzing with excitement.
Mo Fan felt a twinge of puzzlement at this and was just about to ask about the battle when Red Eyes spoke up gravely first, “Great King, this time Red Eyes has failed you; in the fight at the foot of the mountain, dozens of brothers fell.”
With that, Red Eyes had his subordinate lesser demons carry out the bodies of those who had died, laying them out neatly before Mo Fan, a full thirty-odd corpses.
Only now, all these bodies had reverted to their animal forms, making it impossible to tell one from another.
