CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 45 POISON INJURY

Before the cold winter season ended, the Beastman population within the Dragon Nest Territory had already exceeded one hundred.

Such a large population couldn’t be satisfied by the previous rough management system that centered on one person; to facilitate daily management and training, Austin implemented a certain degree of reform in the Dragon Nest Tribe.

Among them, the relatively large and strong Jackal Wolf People and Kobolds were selected from the Beastman Tribe to form three combat teams, each with twelve Beastmen, with a captain appointed to lead them. Their main responsibilities included hunting, clearing beasts, and potentially attacking hostile villages and other military affairs in the future.

Those Beastmen who were filtered out and those small-sized, less combat-capable races such as Goblins and Goblinoids were reorganized to become the civil production corps, mainly engaging in net fishing, house construction, field gathering, and land reclamation for farming and other daily life tasks.

In other words, the first, second, and third teams were considered the regular army, while the rest were the primary production militia corps.

Of course, these three major teams were not fully full-time military forces; they also needed to engage in certain production activities on regular days, focusing primarily on their daily training and hunting battles.

The production corps, however, was not solely involved in daily production activities; they had to undergo some military training every morning and evening to ensure that, in the event of a war, they could be recruited and join the battle immediately, especially since the Dragon Nest Tribe was still weak, and every bit of power needed to be consolidated.

The three patrol and hunting teams led by Lizardman Rodney suffered heavy losses, which was no small matter; they were the elite combat force of the Dragon Nest Tribe, and Austin certainly couldn’t remain indifferent.

Such a major incident naturally couldn’t leave one unmoved; the ongoing reclamation work was stopped as well, and at the sound of a loud whistle, those collecting vines, fishing, and working in various parts of the Dragon Nest Territory began rushing back to the village. They picked up their long spears, staying on high alert and patrolling constantly around the Dragon Nest Village to prevent an enemy attack.

Meanwhile, at the square of the Dragon Nest Village.

Beastmen lay on wooden boards covered with straw, their bodies swelling with patches of purple and green bruises, groaning in agony—a truly miserable sight. The Fox-faced Man Quik was sweating profusely, continually inspecting the wounds, surrounded by a crowd of Beastmen.

"How’s the situation?"

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind whipped up in the sky, and a massive shadow spiraled downwards. The onlooking Beastmen quickly scattered, making space for the enormous figure that landed in the center.

"Your Highness, these poisons are too potent. Unless there’s a Beastman Priest, otherwise...."

Seeing Austin land, Quik hurried over to report, while his gaze occasionally drifted to the wounds on numerous Beastmen, a look of regret filling his eyes.

The Blue Young Dragon didn’t speak, taking a few steps forward, scrutinizing the six Beastmen lying on the straw.

Their bodies looked as if they’d been stung to the brink of death by a large swarm of wasps, swelling all over with fist-sized, bluish bruises rising on their skin. Tiny, black as ink punctures the size of toothpicks were visible, spreading like a black web.

Moreover, these Beastmen were also covered with more or less white and gray spider silks, their fur dusted as if they’d walked out of an ancient, dust-laden house.

"Can someone explain to me in detail what exactly happened here?"

Austin looked over at the lightly injured members of the three teams not far away and asked in a deep voice.

The Beastman who had come to him earlier spoke incoherently about the situation within the village, but Austin only knew that they had been attacked by spiders in a cave without any details.

Seeing the condition of these Beastmen, one could sense the lingering magic power—it must be a true Magic Beast that was able to leave such wounds.

"Your Highness, it’s like this..."

At this point, one of the resting Jackal Wolf People with relatively minor injuries stepped forward, trembling slightly, and began recounting the events in a somewhat fearful tone.

It turns out that yesterday, when they were hunting in the west forest area, they encountered a pack of hyenas. While trying to hunt them, most of them escaped. Captain Rodney led the chase, but in the end, those hyenas fled.

Then, a rainfall came from the sky. They originally planned to find a place to hide and wait until the rain subsided before returning to the village, so they entered a cave for shelter.

But who could have known, inside that cave was a nest of mutant spider creatures. Out of nowhere, those spiders launched a vicious attack on them. Captain Rodney organized defenses, but it was ineffective; those large spiders could even spew toxic fog, blinding the Beastmen’s vision while fist-sized black spiders swarmed out like a tide, nearly drowning them.

If Rodney hadn’t led a charge out just in time and the spiders hadn’t pursued them outside the cave’s entrance, they might have remained there as a pile of bones.

Even though the Beastmen retreated quickly, the initial wave of attacks still caused them grievous losses, and it was with great difficulty that they managed to bring everyone back.

"A cave full of spider dwellings?"

Austin pondered silently, lost in thought.

According to the Jackal Wolf Person, the spiders inhabiting that cave must undoubtedly be Magic Beasts.

And very troublesome ones at that, or else the three teams wouldn’t have nearly faced total annihilation.

The toxic fog they spewed should be the Talent Magic of those Magic Beast spiders.

But why would a cave gather so many spiders and produce such Spider Magical Beasts?

The Blue Young Dragon’s mind swirled with countless thoughts.

But soon, he discarded all these musings.

What mattered most now were these severely injured Beastmen elites in front of them!

"Quik, even you can’t help them?"

In the entire Dragon Nest Tribe, even with the influx of many stray Beastmen, the Fox-faced Man Quik remained the most knowledgeable Beastman. If even he couldn’t help, wouldn’t these severely injured Beastmen have to wait for death?

"Your Highness, I am not a Beastman Priest, I simply have no way!"

The Fox-faced Man Quik showed a troubled expression. For Beastmen like them, the lower class, injuries often meant waiting to die—where would they find any healing methods?

Unless a Beastman Priest, or a human Priest, could be found, there would be no way.

"Looks like we’ll have to take desperate measures."

Austin felt a slight headache but realized it was the only option.

In this world, although there were professions like Pharmacists, there were no doctors. Ordinary people, without the money to hire a Priest at the church or buy potions, could only await death. If it was this way for humans, what more for the less civilized Beastmen?

Even though Austin, in his previous life, wasn’t a doctor, he did have some knowledge of certain folk remedies from rural areas.