"At-ease. I just want to say a few quick words that's all.

"On-behalf of all our brothers-in-arms.... I thank you all.

"On-behalf of all the civilians in our camp.... I thank you all.

"Rest well my bold, valiant, and competent-men, this Baron could never be prouder of himself.

"Today.... Y'all earned merit for both yourselves, your families, and above all.... your Shi-Kingdom.

"I sure as hell know that each and everyone of you is so going to be-swollen with ego once we return home.

"I'll allow you to boast all about your achievements.... Y'all earned that after sacrificing blood, sweat, and tears." The Young-Baron said these words to his men after stopping them from standing-up.

"Hell Yeah!"

"I'm so going to nag about it for years to come."

"My wife and kids are in for an ear-full of tales about this battle."

"I can already see all the ladies throwing themselves at me after hearing all about how I heroically destroyed dozens of Yan-Captains."

"I'm not like you my friend, I don't have your patience. See that beautiful woman over there? She's already got me under her skirt."

"You mean her "spell"?"

"Exactly my point"

Zhu Feng smiled once he saw how his men began to cheer and be merry, clearly they're all too happy and excited right now after achieving that win.

Especially when it's their first battle as an army!

However, their Young-Lord didn't stay after congratulating his men.... there's another urgent matter that he needs to attend-to.

There's been no news of Cang Yanmei ever since she entered the Dark-Swamps on her own, same goes for Battalion-Commander Niu and his Scout-Team.

"If you don't hear from in a day? You're to lead the supply-train around the Dark-Swamps.

"Fuck their deadline and fuck their orders, I'm not risking both my life and the lives of my men.

"We're already doing the best that we can, fifty of my men are heavily-injured and in a critical condition.... even the staff of the medical-team keep avoiding eye-contact with me whenever I ask any of them if they're going to make it until tomorrow.

"More than two-hundred suffered various types of injuries—which requires them to immediately rest for at least one month!

"Thankfully the men in our first-line of defense were brave and responsible enough.... they stepped forward ever-so courageously in the hour of need and took the hardest hit while gritting their teeth.

"Especially you Commander Qiqiang, both you and my boy Night have been like.... a bloody hurricane.

"Commander Li is in-charge while I'm gone and Captain Li is second-in-line, if they're both absent of dead? then.... you're all fucked in the ass! Because this bald muscle-head is the nastiest option as a leader, he's the worst jinx you could ever find really.

The Young-Baron gave these orders to his men once he entered the tent where the emergency-meeting is being held, then left after throwing a joke about the former-bandit.

His men smirked while watching the young-man jump on-top of Shadow and ride west with his brown-wolf.

This time their Young-Lord is wearing his famous Green-Robe on-top of his Black-colored Armor.

*****

"Whine...."

"What is it boy?"

"Whimper...."

"I don't speak "Horse" but, you already know that."

"Woof...."

"You're being serious huh.... over there?" Zhu Feng smirked under his soft-helmet after making fun of his mount then looked towards the direction where his sweet wolf is pointing with its snout, "Why are you being so wussy all of a sudden? didn't my awesome robe solve all the trouble of poison? didn't it do a fantastic job of terrorizing all sorts of poisonous-creatures so far?" Afterwards he began to brag without shame.

"Snort!"

This time.... Shadow couldn't help but smack his lips loudly while rolling his eyes at his master.

"AWOOO...." Harmony raised his head towards the sky and howled after picking-up a clear and recent scent of his big-brother.

"Neigh...." The Young-Lord was waiting for a reply from Thunder however, Shadow suddenly ran forward which startled both the man on his back and the brown-wolf right next to him.

Zhu Feng : "Whoa! What has gotten into your butt all of a sudden?"

*Whoosh....*

Harmony : "Growl...."

Shadow : "Harrumph...."

The Baron barely managed to grab-hold of the reins and stabilize himself before being thrown-off his horse. Right after he asked this question, Zhu Feng heard the sharp sound of a pointy-object piercing the air just a few meters behind his him! followed-by the signal of an existing-threat given by the brown-wolf—Who jumped forward a few meters to avoid that "projectile" just a split-second later.

Of course.... the dark-horse's ridiculing-voice and the look of sneer in his eyes were the answer he got, and the only answer this Young-Lord will ever need in this situation.

The message from his companions was clear enough as it is, it said : "We're under attack. Silly!"

Turning to look, the Baron gawked after seeing his so-called "enemies" and almost cursed both the wolf and the horse—who gave him such a fright.

A Few hundred-meters towards his left, there's some sort of a "unique" gathering.... a certain species of "Chihuahua-sized" and extremely ugly brownish-green frogs are looking him right in the eye!

"Woof...."

"On the right-flank as well?" Zhu Feng looked after hearing Harmony's call, "These must be the so-called "Draconians" who rule this territory of Dark-Swamps but, why're they gathered here? Don't tell me that they're at war with these frogs! Then we must've happened to come in-between their two armies right before their clash of hegemony." The more he talked, the more he began to believe himself.

"Sigh...." This time.... the horse underneath him shook its head then gave a very human-like reaction of actually sighing while thinking : 'There's really no saving this idiotic master of mine.'

*Graah....*

The lizard-like humanoids opened their elongated and pointy-jaws, then revealed their yellowish fangs and long tongues before making these gruff and savage sounds.

While brandishing their claws at the air in a sign of intimidation, they ran at Zhu Feng and their tails swung everywhere at their rear.

*Croak....*

From the other side he heard the voice of one of these frogs so loud and clear as if there's some "loud-speaker" installed within its throat!

*Buzz....*

From behind him the Young-Lord heard the deafening-noise of bugs flying-over, like.... millions of them all at once!

"Neigh...."

"Whine...."

"The hell would I know? maybe this robe needs to be charged every now and then or something!" The Baron was feeling a mixture of embarrassment, confusion, fear, and worry all at once. "Anyway, just focus on hauling-ass for now. Run, run, run...."

*****

"Did'ja hear that?"

"I did. It sounded like the howling of some wolf, it seems quite far from us though."

"Maybe that's because were all the way up in here!"

*Buzz....*

"What's going on down there?"

Whilst the three watch-guards were talking, the buzzing-noise disturbed their Battalion-Commander Niu.

The former-mercenary who's been already in a bad mood ever since they rescued Commander Yanmei of the Special-Detachment and the grey-wolf, especially when the Poison-Expert said that there's nothing she could do to cure Thunder.

The young-man asked while walking towards the cave entrance.

Niu : "This damned mist is still blocking our sight. I swear that I'm going to lose my mind if it keeps looming-over us come morning!" The watch-guards didn't dare say a word to answer the complaints of their Commander, yet they struggled in keeping themselves from laughing when they saw him kick a barrel-sized rock.

Somehow watching that rock tumble down until it disappeared from his sight, caused him to feel slightly better.

"Heh, little-Tai is certainly going to feel that kick."

"Why's that?"

"Commander Niu just sent his "masterpiece" towards the toads."

"I wonder if they'll admire his art though."

*****

*Crash...*

"Whoa! That big-ass boulder almost got me, why do I suddenly feel like heaven itself is after my life."

"Neigh...."

"Don't stop you moron! you're going to get yourself and Harmony surrounded by these bugs, quickl-" Zhu Feng patted his heart while feeling relief once Shadow avoided the path of that rock, then looked upwards toward the cliff-wall with dread and apprehension filling his chest.

Dying at the hands of his enemies or at the hands of his bullies seems—kind-of—like a not so bad way to go, being squashed to death by a stray boulder however is.... extremely unfair!

Still, the Baron felt like his heart has almost stopped from fright when he looked down and noticed that his black-bellied mount choose to stop at such a dangerous time of all times, he thought : 'Maybe he's still holding a grudge because I made fun on him earlier.'

But, the words got stuck in his mouth once he saw the drawing-style on a slightly large fragment of the boulder.

Shadow : "Snort...."

Harmony : "Woof...."

Zhu Feng : "I'll be damned!" The Young-Lord was awakened from his absentminded-state after hearing that "cynical" and "ridiculing" voice from his horse—who gave him a haughty side-glance as if saying : 'Do you believe me now when I say that "You're really a hopeless-case"?'

The sweet brown-wolf seemed to be defending his best-friend but even he was avoiding eye-contact with Feng!

"Alright then. You two need to climb fast, Harmony.... make some noise while you're at it." The Baron said after dismounting and unsheathing both of his swords.

"Whine...."

"Neigh...."

The brown-wolf  seemed to be saying : 'What about you?'

Meanwhile the dark-horse seemed to be saying : 'Excellent idea! I'm out of here.... I hate bugs anyway.'

"Just go get some help, I'll buy you some time.... be brave." The Young-Lord ordered while preparing himself for the first of his pursuers, a sky-covering cloud-like mass of bugs.

Harmony : "AWOO'OO...."

*****

"Did y-"

"Of course I did! We all have."

"Is it one of Thunder's siblings?"

"Should be.... unless there's poisonous-wolves in these Swamps ouch!"

"I'm warning you, if you jinx us? then.... you're the next object to be thrown down from this cave after little-Tai's masterpiece."

"Who did it?"

"Ah! well, well, well.... if it isn't our dearest and most talented artist."

"Stop fooling around and prepare the pulleys, I'm going down to take a look." Commander-Niu arrived at the cave-entrance after the angry soldier who's frustrated because "someone" ruined his work.

The men quickly strapped the former-mercenary and within seconds he was already descending the cliff-wall.

"Allow me to satisfy your suspicions little-Tai, truth be told.... the one who did you in is.... right down there." One of the watch-guards took the "artist" under his arm and intentionally stopped between words, just to make sure that Battalion-Commander wouldn't hear him.

Little-Tai : "You're lying!"

The watch-guard : "I swear it. On the Baron's honor!" Afterwards this naughty guard pointed towards the cord between the pulleys that's attached to Niu and continued to say : "All you need to do is...." Then made a cutting motion with his fingers in a scissor-like gesture while smiling like a devil incarnate.

*****

*Slash.... splat...*

"Eww.... disgusting little fucks.... there's no end to them...." While traversing between the claws of the lizard-like humanoids thanks to Lili's miraculous footwork, Zhu Feng relied-on using the third-form of the Howling-Wind Sword-Art to deliver quick and sharp attacks to everything that enters the range of Wolf-Flower or Moon-Wolf.

*Whoosh.... clang....*

From time to time a few projectiles would strike at his black-armor, the Baron noticed that these needle-like projectiles are quite sharp and tough.

Sharp because they're able to pierce the scales and leather of the lizard-like humanoids with quite some ease, the same happened to the exoskeleton of the variety of bugs who're unfortunate enough to block their way.

Tough because most of them were intact after colliding with the Young-Lord's protective-armor that's made from Indestructible-Steel.

Of course, the Green-Robe gave Zhu Feng another surprise when it withstood that onslaught of projectiles without showing a single trace of damage!

Still, this battle proved to be exciting for the Baron who had to hold-back whenever he sparred with his men during the past few months.

*Bang....*

"Awesome.... come again...."

One of the humanoid-lizard glared at the man with its blood-red, elongated reptile-eyes then swung its tail towards this annoying prey who dared to struggle, not to mention killing a few dozen of its kind earlier.

The Young-Lord barely evaded after blocking another wave of the flying needles with one of his gauntlets by covering the side of his face, then swung Wolf-Flower—which is in his other hand—at the throat of another humanoid-lizard which aimed to bite his shoulder.

Afterwards he rolled to the side and sprung-upwards in a thrusting-motion towards the humanoid-lizard—which is a size bigger than the rest—since it dared to try and sneak-attack him earlier.

It used one of its razor-sharp claws to block and Zhu Feng took advantage of the rebounding-effect of their clash, by twisting his torso.... he began to sweep the rest of the annoying creatures away with one of his swords before delivering a back-hand slash with Moon-Wolf.

"Graah..."

Once one of its arms got severed near the shoulder-joint, that humanoid-lizard seemed enraged and it opened its jaw before spitting quite a large globe of yellowish acid at the Baron.

*Sizzle....*

Immediately some of that slimy and disgusting-looking liquid got splashed on the ground beneath his feet and the corpses of the slain creatures, some chemical-reaction happened and it caused the exoskeletons of the dead bugs to decompose.

Even the bodies of its fellow humanoids and the needles stuck within some of them began to decay and rot.

Colorful and nasty-smelling vapor began to rise and the Young-Lord felt obnoxious and dizzy when the scent entered his nostrils!

Zhu Feng : "Bitch.... you're playing dirty.... oh my god.... I feel like throwing-up...."

The humanoid-lizard with a missing arm : "Ji Ji Ji...."

It began to swing its tail from side to side while making these perverted voices, clearly feeling excited since this prey is finally beginning to be affected by the mixture of poison from a wide-array of poisonous-creatures.

"Keep laughing you dumb-coward, let's see how you laugh when I-"

*Blurgh....*

"Cut your damn tail-"

*Ugh.... cough.... cough....*

"You.... fine.... I admit that you're a nasty piece of work." After saying these words, the Baron fell on his side.... paralyzed yet aware of his surroundings.

*Croak....*

The Young-Lord watched as the army of humanoid-lizards willingly provided enough space for the army of ugly-looking brownish-green frogs after that loud drum-like croak, behind the first few lines of frogs.... another frog—which is a size or two bigger—appeared.

Its defining-feature is the Golden-Horn on its head.

*Croak.... Croak....*

That big frog expanded its vocal-sac twice and its followers began to move, like a receding-tide.... the frog-army followed it away from the battlefield.

*Gra.... graa....*

'This sneaky bastard.... no-wonder why he didn't seem troubled after having one of its arms decapitated' The Baron thought to himself once he noticed how the body of this leader of the humanoid-lizard is perfectly intact! Meanwhile the severed-arm is still on the ground where it once fell.

'This regenerative-speed is something that I'd kill to have, but he's still one disgusting-pervert that one'

'Still, this situation is bad.'

'Are these fuckers taking me as some sot of a hostage? Or.... am I being taken as some late mid-night snack for that Pitbull-sized frog?'

'Maybe I shouldn't have played the hero and ran with Shadow and Harmony. No, this is a foreign territory and the terrain is rough as it is.... so far I'm still safe and properly protected by my armor while both of them aren't well-equipped with a defensive-measure.'

'Sigh. If only I had more time, maybe the guys in the institute would've completed the special armor before this mission.'

'It's good that these bugs and lizards were targeting only me.... but, it really is odd.'

'Why me? And where are they taking me?'

*Croak....*

'The sound of that Golden-Horned bastard is really getting-on my nerves.'

*****

"What do you mean he was taken?"

"Calm-down Commander Yanmei. I personally went down there after rescuing Shadow and Harmony, the traces left behind clearly shows that the had Baron fought one against many of these "Lizardmen" and a wide-variety of poisonous-bugs."

Cang Yanmei : "And?" The Poison-Expert glared at Battalion-Commander Niu while carefully using the tips of her nails to pierce Thunder's Acupoints, thick and coagulated drops of dark-blood would be extracted from the grey-wolf and its hurried and chaotic-breathing began to calm.

"Whine...."

The brown-wolf sounded sad and began to lick its big-brother after crouching next to it.

Shadow watched from the side without making a sound, the dark-horse seemed to be amused after seeing the troubled-look on the former-mercenary.

Niu : "M'lord wasn't hurt during the struggle but he was...." The young-man seemed to hesitate in the end while squeezing his brain in a search for the right word to describe it.

"What? Spit it out already!" The seductress felt her chest tighten and questioned this muscular man while feeling annoyance, she can't leave this wolf before treating the poison completely because it isn't out of danger yet.

Yet, she can't stand this feeling of being completely helpless.... the young-man who pulled the strings of her heart might be in danger right now.

The Poison-Expert regrets not having asked for his Green-Robe even more right now.

'That's right! the Green-Robe.' Yanmei suddenly had that thought and turned to look towards Shadow and Harmony before asking : "Was Zhu Feng wearing his Green-Robe?"

Battalion-Commander Niu—who was about to answer—sighed inwardly while feeling relief since this woman has suddenly decided to switch the target of her interrogation towards the dark-horse and the brown-wolf, the former-mercenary thought to himself : 'Why's all the women of my lord's are so fierce when they handle us while being all coy and gentle whenever they're dealing with him? That "bastard's" luck is so heaven-defying.... sometimes it makes me wish if I were the bastard instead!'

"Woof!...." Harmony answered while nodding repeatedly—which is a skill that his best-friend has taught him long ago.

"Excellent. Make preparations, I'm leaving immediately once Thunder's condition is stable." The Poison-Expert focused after saying these words and completely ignored the young-man behind her.

If she finishes treating the grey-wolf and discovers that her orders weren't followed? Then, "someone" is going to be in.... "deep-trouble" indeed!

"Neigh...." Shadow tried to explain to this strong and confident female that some "idiot" forgot to "charge" his robe.

Cang Yanmei : "Go eat some fruits or something, stop bothering me.... I need to focus right now." The Poison-Expert said when she discovered that some male horse is "hovering" around her while she's at work.

"Snort...."

"Whine...."

The dark-horse thought to itself : 'Bullies! These humans.... I swear that all of them are natural-born talents when it comes to bullying others or making the most stupid and wrong choices.'

The brown-wolf tried to comfort his friend while saying : 'Now, now my dear friend.... you and me know how this one has got the "hots" for our master. She must be anxious to mate is all.'

*****

'Whoa! Who would've thought that there's such a place deep within these caves.... that frog is so sly, I bet that nobody would dare venture so deep within this muddy and difficult to traverse Swamps.'

'The number of frogs that we encountered in our journey so far are—at least—a few hundred-thousands!'

'Of them there's—at least—a dozen or so with Golden-Horns.'

'This is troublesome, much more than I imagined it would be.'

'Oh! The tip of my pinky-finger....'

'Maybe there's hope after all, unfortunately that smug-lizard took my swords.'

'I better be patient and make my move only when I'm certain of escaping, I don't want to get myself captured ever again.' Zhu Feng carefully watched while trying his best in keeping his mind wide-open, hoping to remember the path these humanoid-lizards are traversing while carrying him deeper within these caves.

Thankfully there were some rocks within these walls which faintly-glowed.