Chapter 345 – The City of Demon Hunters

Chapter 345 – City of Demon Hunting
With the defeat of the Jonathan family in the East Road Army, the situation on Richard’s side was suddenly in danger.

Despite occupying the Dogman’s Cave and having fortifications under the renovation, it was still a matter of no chance of winning against the Legendary Gargoyles.

After all, due to the limitation of supply, now Richard’s command only has 500 soldiers, although all of them are elite soldiers, in reality, their strength is still not comparable to Duke Jonathan’s 6,000 people.

Duke Jonathan had deployed 6,000 regular troops, but as a result, he could not defeat the Legendary Black Dragon. Relying on Richard’s 500 men, it was equally impossible to defeat the Legendary Black Dragon’s army.

Because of the bad transportation conditions, it was difficult to effectively communicate between the east and west, even though both sides had messengers to contact each other, it was already twenty days later when they received the defeat of Duke Jonathan.

During these days, Legendary Black Dragon Ramoose did not organize an army to attack the Dogman Cave.

Having fought two consecutive battles, the Legendary Black Dragon’s losses were just as heavy.

The Dragon Vein Dogheads were completely annihilated, only half of the bipedal flying dragons were left, and the western part of the Doghead Cave fell under the control of Harland’s Domain. The half-dragons, lizardmen, and ogres all suffered varying battle losses.

In today’s situation, Legendary Black Dragon Ramoose had to shrink his forces and give up part of his territory, that’s why he didn’t organize a large army to attack the Dogman Cave which was farther away from the Dragon Nest.

After more than twenty days of recuperation, most of the wounded soldiers had gradually recovered and could move freely.

Within this period of time, Sophia produced four slavery contracts and prepared to give them to the four bipedal flying dragons.

Because the ones left behind were bipedal flying dragons with relatively tame personalities, living with humans during this period of time, they had already been initially tamed in order to survive, and the probability of the contract being signed successfully was very high.

The first bipedal flying dragon slavery contract had already been signed successfully, and the contractee was the seventh-ranked warrior Delphine.

After the battle of annihilating Pilosa, although Driffin was seriously injured, he got his revenge and got rid of a piece of his mind, and after he recovered from his injury, he soon made a breakthrough and was promoted to a seventh-ranked warrior, who was responsible for commanding the second wave of reinforcements.

Despite their strength and ability, Wilde and Driffin have not been recognized for their achievements in Harland’s territory, so Richard could not directly appoint them to the top of the army.

He could only adjust them to the right position and let them make their war achievements first.

After Driffin successfully contracted the Bipedal Flying Dragon, he was appointed by Richard as the squad leader of the Bipedal Flying Dragon Knight Squad, responsible for commanding the four Bipedal Flying Dragons.

Although Driffin was only a squad leader, the importance of his position exceeded even the infantry brigade by a few points.

Seeing that the Legendary Black Dragon had no intention of retrieving the Dogman’s Cave, Richard was also prepared to slowly withdraw to Harland’s Domain. However, he did not intend to completely abandon this area, but was prepared to establish a forward camp with a small-scale garrison.

The Wraith Cavalry consumed too much food to be stationed in the outer lines, and were transferred back to Twin Star Castle by Richard. Only one hundred and sixty members of the Demon Hunting Team were left in the Dog Head Cave, and the commander, Richard, appointed Wilde as the commander.

In addition, half of the magical hot air balloon squadron was stationed in the Dogman’s Cave, carrying high-powered binoculars to monitor the enemy.

In this way, the garrison was reduced to about two hundred people, and there were still three hundred and sixty tons of food left, without the magical beast cavalry which was a big food consumer, the two hundred garrison would only consume six or seven hundred pounds of food a day, and only ten tons a month.

More than three hundred tons of grain is enough for the Demon Hunting Team to eat for three years, there is no need to worry about the grain problem in a short period of time.

The Dogman Cave is rich in magical beast resources, when the infrastructure is slowly completed, Richard is ready to rely on the magical beast resources to establish a magic hunting town near the cave.

Now Harland Territory was ready to set up a Demon Hunting Association to attract the Demon Beast Hunters in the northern region of Grant Kingdom.

Duke Harland’s Territory now had three major associations, the strongest being the Mage Association, which had developed to a certain scale with a total of over three hundred people. The magic civilization had also developed to a high level, with new things coming out all the time.

The second is the mercenary union, the union president is Soros as the president of the union, Soros was also a mercenary in his early years, with the success of his life, he enjoys a very high prestige among the mercenaries of the Northern Border.

Due to the southward movement of the Iron Lion and Grizzly Bear legions, the economy of the Iron Lion and Grizzly Bear castles suffered a devastating blow, and now there is almost no much commercial activity, and the mercenaries who were active in the two castles were instantly unemployed on a large scale, and eventually flocked to the most economically developed Harland Territory.

These mercenaries are divided into twenty-three mercenary regiments, the total number of people has been 1,600 people, many of these people are retired from the military, the backbone of the mercenary regiment is also a professional to fill the role of the fighting force than the Harland territory security forces are also a few points stronger.

When the time comes, the Harland Territory can enlist the mercenary corps to fight, and they can play an important role.

The third is the Demon Hunters Union, which now has less than two hundred members, most of whom are members of the army’s Demon Hunting Team, which serves the official government. The private nature of the magic beast hunters, added up to only a dozen people.

In the past, hunting magical beasts was a business monopolized by the government, and the territory had also enacted a law to prohibit private hunting of magical beasts.

However, there are a lot of magical beast resources near the Dogman’s Cave, and it is sparsely populated, so in order to speed up the development of this place, Richard decided to make some policy adjustments to recruit scattered magical beast hunters in the northern border.

In the three provinces and four dukes’ territories in the northern frontier region, in addition to the official hunting team, there were also a large number of active magical beast hunters, the number of these people added up to several thousand, a large portion of which were part-time magical beast hunters.

When Richard had just debuted, he and Hayden participated in the Demon Hunting Team organized by Soros and Roland, and were considered part-time magical beast hunters back then.

Wraith hunters generally have a very high income, most of them are professionals, put in the northern border area are considered excellent talents, will attract these people to the Dogman Cave nearby, relying on the business of hunting magical beasts to set up a stronghold, not only can earn a lot of profit, but also with the power of the Wraith hunters to guard the Dogman Cave.

Richard took his soldiers and built a simple wooden castle near the Dogman Cave, naming it the City of Demon Hunting. Then he returned to Harland’s Domain with the Wraith Cavalry.

Although the City of Demon Hunting was simple, it was the next key area for the development of Harland’s Collar, and all kinds of supplies were prioritized.

Soon in the territory directly under the protection of the soldiers Chamber of Commerce came to the City of Demon Hunting, magic beast material purchase store, potions and alchemy items for sale store, enchanted weapons, enchanted armor store, taverns, inns, all opened, just a month’s time, the number of people to provide logistical services more than two hundred people.

Richard even set up a special transportation squad, appointing Jennings as the captain of the transportation squad, specializing in bringing twelve middle-ranked warriors to use the ninth-ranked lockers to replenish the logistics for the City of Demon Hunters.

After returning to the territory, Richard vigorously publicized the City of Demon Hunting to the surrounding areas.

Compared to the lords of other regions, the Harland Territory was fairer in doing business, and the level of the entire bureaucracy exceeded the average level of the Grant Kingdom, quickly attracting a group of Demon Hunters. After entering the fall, there were already eight to nine hundred people living near the City of Demon Hunting, and the size of the castle had expanded very greatly.

Of course this area is still very barren, the houses are all simple wooden houses, the number of craftsmen is scarce, although the demon hunters can earn a lot of money, but can only provide a lower standard of living.

After the winter, the demon hunters would all return home, and only the Harland Leader Demon Hunter Squadron was stationed here, restoring the tranquility.

……

This battle did not hit the Legendary Black Dragon hard, though, strategically speaking, the east-west pairing into the match was not played well, and was not considered particularly successful.

But for Harland’s collar, the harvest is not small at all, within three months of the purging operation, seven terrain dragons and twenty-two bipedal flying dragons were killed, and the sub-dragon skins that were sorted out were able to refine two hundred pieces of fourth-ranked enchanted armor to equip two squadrons of elite soldiers.

Now the Harland Collar has a total of a dozen pieces of sub-dragon skin enchanted armor, basically in the hands of the early officers, with the addition of these two hundred pieces of sub-dragon skin armor, the fighting strength of the Harland Collar’s army has again seen a large increase.

In addition, the internal organs and brain marrow of magical beasts can be refined into Teng Hui Potion, with this batch of resources, the supply of Teng Hui Potion in this year’s territory will be increased by 6,000 pcs. According to past statistics, at least five to six hundred professionals can be trained. With this batch of new blood replenishment, the Harland Territory’s army would be able to expand rapidly.

Generally speaking, the number of Teng Hui Potion produced by Harland’s Territory was unstable, although the several auxiliary materials for refining Teng Hui Potion, Boiling Flower and Grass of Moonlight, Harland’s Territory was self-sufficient and could supply a large amount of them. However, the main material, the devil beast offal, needs to be provided by the Demon Hunting Team.

Demon hunting income has always been very unstable, almost rely on the sky to eat like, some of the hunting team deep into the forest for half a year, almost nothing. Because of the unsteady supply of beast offal, the production of Harland’s Teng Hui Potion fluctuates a lot and is very unstable.

Throughout the entire Grant Kingdom, the only ones that can provide a large amount of Teng Hui Potion are the royal family and a few dukes’ collars in the north.

Duke Fox’s Collar was as unstable as Duke Harland’s Collar in terms of supply, Duke Edward’s Collar Magical Beast Warhorse Breeding Base was very large in scale, and would occasionally kill the eliminated Magical Beast Warhorse to supply a portion of it. But the Iron Horned Horses were of a lower grade, and there was not enough magic power in their entrails, and a single Iron Horned Horse could only provide a few materials, and the situation, although a little better than Harland’s Collar, was in fact just enough for himself.

Duke Jonathan’s supply is bigger, mainly because he has more resources, near the Legendary Black Dragon’s nest is a natural medium-sized magic well, there is not a lot of magic escaping from the nearby area, and the number of magical beasts is also relatively large, so the income from hunting is far more than that of the other dukes’ collars.

The reason why the Grant royal family had the largest and most stable supply was mainly due to the success of artificially breeding magical beasts.

The royal family has an Arrow Demon Pig breeding base, which can produce two hundred Arrow Demon Pigs every year. The Arrow Demon Pig is a large-sized, fifth-order magical beast, and a head can provide one hundred and twenty copies of potion materials, and with the Arrow Demon Pig breeding base at the bottom of the pile, it can constantly provide magical beast meat, and Teng Hui potion, which is a basic resource.

But the royal family also needs to supply the nobles of the country, in fact, the supply and demand relationship of Teng Hui Potion is not very balanced.

Of course, Harland Territory also wanted to establish a magical beast breeding base, but the Grant royal family was tightly guarding the magical beast breeding technology, and outsiders were not welcome near the Arrow Demon Pig breeding base, so wanting to successfully establish a magical beast breeding base wasn’t an easy thing to do.

Now there are three artificial magic wells inside the Harland Territory, and the magicians in the territory are also doing induction experiments to see if they can catalyze and induce ordinary animals into magical beasts, but the induction experiments have not been very successful.

After killing the terrain dragons and bipedal flying dragons, Harland’s territory carefully handled the loot. All of the beast meat was put into space bags, the beast meat contained rich nutrients that could help cultivate the soldiers. Especially the terrain dragon, bipedal flying dragon, this kind of high level magical beast meat, can strengthen the body, strengthen the fighting qi, the effect is only second to the Teng Hui potion.

The most crucial thing was killing a large number of magical beasts and digging out twenty-nine magical cores. Most of this batch of magic cores were high grade magic cores that could supply energy to high grade alchemy props.

From the relics of the ancient wizards, Harland Collar had compiled a set of higher magic statue refining methods that required the use of a large amount of super magic metal and higher magic cores.

Harland’s reserve of Higher Magic Cores was very scarce, and there was no Higher Alchemist to press the battlefield, Richard tried to make it twice without success, and consumed the only two Higher Magic Cores in the territory.

Now with a large number of higher magic cores and Wendy Nee, a seventh-order alchemist, the probability of success in refining the magic statue has increased greatly. Even if it was refined into a squad of twelve magic statues, it would still be able to play a very big role in the battle.

The steel statue was a seventh-order alchemy item, under the manipulation of the magician, it was a few points more powerful than a seventh-order warrior, and with twelve statues striking at the same time, the frontal dueling combat power was close to that of a squadron of magical beast cavalry.

In addition to killing the bipedal flying dragons and terrain dragons, there were twenty-three bottles of dragon marrow liquid collected.

Although the Dragon Marrow Liquid was of little use to the Harland Territory, it was the most urgently needed resource for Duke Jonathan’s Territory and had a very high trade value.

Finally, the claws and fangs of the bipedal flying dragons and terrain dragons were all high level alchemy materials, which were also of great use to the Harland Territory.

Years ago these high level magical beast materials Richard could not be used, can only be traded to the royal family of Grant, in exchange for ordinary resources, now Harland collar mage association has developed to a very high level, every kind of material can be used to enhance the territory’s heritage.

This operation hunted and killed twenty-nine terrain dragons, bipedal flying dragons, almost adding a million gold coins to the Harland collar’s reserves.

In addition to the benefit of hunting magical beasts, the Harland Territory had also seized two precious magical props, the Locker and the Dragon’s Blood Treasure Mirror.

The locker was left in the Dogman’s Cave, which was used to treasure and reserve precious resources, and the Dragon’s Blood Mirror, which was a special Legendary Prop that Harland’s Collar couldn’t use, but could be traded with Jonathan’s family.

Richard and the territory’s senior management discussed, decided to use the dragon’s blood mirror in exchange for a seal of kingship.

Although Harland’s territory has a royal seal, but this year or two is not enough, now every day need to use the royal seal to stamp dozens of contracts, the person who signed the contract need to rush to Fort William.

According to the rules of Grant Kingdom, a legion often needed a royal seal of power, for example, when Richard signed the royal contract in the Wild Lion Legion back then, the signing could be done at the legion headquarters, and there was no need to go to Nolan to sign the contract.

Nowadays, the Harland Territory already had two and a half legionnaires, both of which needed to go to Fort William in order to sign the deed. A large amount of time was wasted on the road, and efficiency was not improved for a long time.

Although Richard had been promoted to Duke and his priority had increased, he was not a follower of the Church of Kingship and still needed to queue up for eight years before he could reserve a Seal of Kingship from the Church of Kingship and Order.

In order to formulate this seal, starting from this year Richard needed to provide 30,000 gold coins of resources to the Church of Kings and Order every year, and make consecutive offerings for twelve years, consuming 360,000 gold coins in order to exchange for a Seal of Kingship.

For a great noble, the Seal of Kingship was the root of their monopoly of power, the most important backbone of a great noble, and it was simply impossible for it to appear in auctions, trade fairs, and the like.

Even though the Jonathan family had formed two new main legions due to the massive expansion of their army, which also lacked the Seal of Kingship, in order to obtain the Dragon Blood Treasure Mirror, Richard estimated that the deal had a high chance of succeeding.

(End of Chapter)