Chapter 102: Looting the tribute to the demon
There seemed to be an evil power of Datara’s contained within the purple demon eye. The eye patch also seemed to have the ability to seal that power, making Han Shuo feel that it was very strange. His eyes kept looking over at the comical eye patch on the little skeletons’ head, attempting to discover something, anything.
However, Han Shuo quickly realized that his efforts were futile. He could no longer detect anything out of the ordinary from the purple demon eye after it’d been covered by the eye patch. Apart from the jewels and beautiful jade scattered throughout the entire house, there was nothing else worth noticing. When Han Shuo no longer felt endangered, he rose to summon the old forest troll priest.
When the old priest entered, his gaze instantly converged on the statue of Datara, now missing the purple demon eye. He was incredibly astonished and asked, “What, what’s happened? Why is the purple demon eye that the great Datara left behind gone?”
Pointing at the little skeleton, Han Shuo smiled faintly and explained, “The eye has already been reclaimed by the great Datara of this world. Do you not see the eye patch on his left eye?”
The old priest finally reacted when Han Shuo gave this reminder and looked at the little skeleton in astonishment. The old priest immediately fell to his knees and cried out, “Congratulations to the great Datara! My tribe has always protected the purple demon eye according to your final wishes, and now that the purple demon eye has returned into your grasp, my tribe has fulfilled what you have entrusted us with.”
“Apart from the purple demon eye, was there anything else you offered as tribute to the great Datara?” Han Shuo thought and stared at the old priest in question.
The old priest was startled and mused thoughtfully with his brow furrowed. He shook his head and said, “We watched over the purple demon eye in accordance with the great one’s last wishes. Apart from this, all the treasure has also been offered to the great Datara.”
“Very good, very good.” Han Shuo nodded his head and said to the old priest. “Leave for now, the great Datara will emerge to guide you in a moment.”
The old priest reverently backed out of the great house, and Han Shuo started unstintingly looting everything within the house. The gold, jewels, and jade scattered across the ground vanished one by one into Han Shuo’s space ring. Han Shuo slightly estimated the wealth within and felt that it was likely worth tens of thousands of gold coins. They were all items that the forest trolls had offered to the demon Datara after stealing from others.
Han Shuo temporarily ignored the heavier items, and also didn’t immediately attempt to pry the jewels embedded into the wooden walls out. He first put away the jewels, gold, and jade scattered on the floor, and then took inventory of his haul. He felt that it was a good place to stop for now.
Apart from a few larger antiques and the jewels embedded into the house, many of the valuable jewels, gold, and jade had made their way into Han Shuo’s space ring.
However, the capacity within Han Shuo’s space ring was limited and there were some other items stored within as well. He’d only taken one third of the items within the house, but the value of this one third was likely tens of thousands of gold coins as well. It looked like the forest trolls had reaped rich rewards after many years of raiding.
Since the little skeleton had become the forest trolls’ great Datara, Han Shuo once again started thinking furiously. He would be able to compel the forest trolls to do certain things by taking advantage of the little skeleton’s identity. He wasn’t worried that the items within the house would magically disappear — they should be quite safe in here. He’d have to come back sooner or later to refine the wood elite zombie, so Han Shuo wasn’t in a hurry.
The forest trolls were a race that was universally hated and disdained within the Dark Forest. With the presence of the little skeleton now, Han Shuo could swagger about in borrowed influence and compel them to action. The only thing he was hesitant about was — what could he do with these forest trolls?
Han Shuo suddenly felt a huge headache as he thought. These forest trolls were naturally greedy and loved looting from others. This wouldn’t be changed no matter what. This made Han Shuo not know how to control them. If it wasn’t for the fact that they had mistaken the little skeleton for the demon Datara and was worshipping him, Han Shuo didn’t mind killing them all and taking all their belongings.
However, with the little skeleton now, Han Shuo could make use of them. It seemed too much of a waste to kill them then. He wracked his brains painfully for a bit. Han Shuo felt that their innate raiding nature would be unable to be changed, the only thing he could change was who they raided. If the target they raided could shift to the equally infamous goblins or man-eating monsters, or the troops of some enemy empires, then a bad thing would become something good.
When he thought this point through, Han Shuo left the house with the little skeleton. He made use of the surveillance of the three originals demons to obtain a full grasp of the place that the forest trolls were guarding. When he descended from the house, Han Shuo opened his mouth to give orders, “The great Datara has just descended here and is unfamiliar with the current state of this world. The great Datara needs to familiarize himself with the Dark Forest and then point out the way for your future. Do not continue to raid the dwarves during this process, the great Datara needs them alive and well.”
Although many questions existed within the heart of the old forest troll priest, he didn’t dare question Han Shuo’s words. He only drooped his head and asked respectfully, “Do you need us to send out warriors to help the great Datara get to know these surroundings?”
“No need, The great Datara and I will remain within your tribe over the next couple of days. You can just stay here and wait.” Han Shuo didn’t take the forest trolls’ wooden raft after these words and left with the little skeleton after giving a few more commands.
Han Shuo didn’t immediately return to the cemetery of death after leaving the area, but took the little skeleton with him on a trip to case the area.
Since he wanted to collect the five divine zombies, Han Shuo would naturally not let go of a naturally formed place of extreme wood. Apart from the forest trolls guarding the wooden house and some amazingly exuberant growth of trees and grass nearby, there was nothing else.
Han Shuo finally felt at ease after releasing the three originals demons and having them scout out the area. He planned on returning to the outskirts of the cemetery of death.
Han Shuo had closely observed the surroundings through the original demons on his way here and the way back had long since been imprinted in his heart. He didn’t directly head towards the river to return, but walked unhurriedly along the river current. He felt a bit hungry halfway through his trip and looked at the strange fish joyously swimming around in the clear waters. A thought struck him, and the Demonslayer Edge flew out with a whoosh. It sank into the water according to Han Shuo’s intentions and returned to Han Shuo’s hands after piercing through two large fish.
The little skeleton left with bone dagger in hand under Han Shuo’s orders and came back with a bunch of wooden materials after a while. He agilely constructed a rack, whereas Han Shuo lit the fire and set the two big fish on the rack. He then took out spices from his space ring and sprinkled it over the baking fish. A tempting smell slowly began to spread out.
A black shadow dashed in from the far skies. When a great gust of wind flapped Han Shuo’s clothes, a pungent and disgusting stink attacked his nose, making disgust well up within Han Shuo. When he raised his head and looked up angrily, the black shadow had risen from low to high and returned high up in the sky, forming a black dot.
“Damned ugly bird, so disgusting!” Han Shuo cursed and turned the almost ready fish onto the other side.
Just at this moment, the black shadow swept down from the distance with a whistling sound, rising back up into the air when it was not too far from the top of Han Shuo’s head, but Han Shuo had been prepared and saw the black shadow clearly this time — it had the body of an eagle, but the face of an exceedingly ugly woman, a harpy.
Harpies and Deepwater Venom Pythons were all level three magical creatures. She had the face of a human, but couldn’t make human sounds. A disgusting scent could always be found on her since she liked to scavenge the corpses of humans. When one caught the eye of a harpy, she would continuously test them until she found the right opportunity to suddenly dive at your scalp and use the disgusting scent on her body to disorient you, then use her sharp claws to rip your head apart and start eating.
Within the Dark Forest, it would be very tricky when one caught the eye of a harpy because of her agile flight speed. When Han Shuo discovered that he had caught the attention of this harpy, he used piercingly cold eyes to look at the harpy circling overhead and snorted lightly, “Looking for death?”
Maintaining his position of baking fish, Han Shuo ignored the continuous feints from the harpy overhead. The little skeleton wielding the bone dagger was a bit restless at his side, seemingly to want to bring this annoying harpy down, but temporarily took no action beneath Han Shuo’s soothing.
At this moment, several people slowly emerged in the distance. They looked like they belonged to a young adventurer’s crew. They had mages, archers, and warriors, numbering six in total. They looked at the circling harpy and cursed lowly at the irritating harpy.
Han Shuo had been staring intently at the harpy and planning on taking care of her, when he finally realized that the harpy’s original target seemed to have been them when he heard their curses. She’d suddenly switched targets when she saw him here alone, and attempted to eat him first.
One of the swordsmen had discovered Han Shuo via the delicious smell of the baking fish. He pointed out Han Shuo to his companions and the band of six young adventurers with males and females started heading his way.