The Ghost Hound clearly hadn't fully adapted yet.
But even so,
Lyle had no intention of letting the Ghost Hound exit its goshawk form; after all, it was his mana being consumed.
Hiding his own information had always been Lyle's principle, especially regarding certain details that required extra attention.
Seeing that Lyle was somewhat satisfied, Clan Chief Dielon breathed a small sigh of relief.
"What's the situation with the Gray Dwarves? How much military strength do they have left?" After eating some food, Lyle asked the key question.
Although the 5,000-man Gray Dwarf army had been crushed, they hadn't all died. A few Gray Dwarf soldiers had escaped, and such a situation naturally needed to be guarded against.
Whether the Gray Dwarf side would send more people again.
Among the gains this time, besides unexpectedly obtaining a 'Unique' Base Class, his experience points had surged tremendously.
[experience bar: 782,262/120,000]
He had slaughtered the 5,000-man dwarf army to near extinction in one go, resulting in both his sword-wielding arms still feeling a bit numb and sore.
But at the same time, his experience points had increased by over 600,000 in one fell swoop!
"The Gray Dwarves occupy the largest Oasis in this Valley of Despair. They have a population of about 20,000, which is more than four times that of our human tribe."
At this point, Clan Chief Dielon's tone and voice still carried a trace of fear.
A population more than four times larger wasn't just a difference in size; the gap in the number of experts, young adults, and so on meant the two sides were simply not in the same league.
Following the death of the strongest warrior in their human tribe,
Clan Chief Dielon had already prepared himself mentally for the tribe to be wiped out by the Gray Dwarves. Not just him, but everyone in the entire tribe had prepared for death.
Just like the name of this 'Valley of Despair' itself.
Every day, everyone lived in despair, waiting for death to arrive.
Fleeing this Oasis?
Without a water source, it was impossible to survive in this vast desert. It would simply be choosing a different way to die.
Even though they had achieved victory just now, nearly a thousand tribesmen had died, and many more were wounded.
"Your Excellency Tang!"
"If it weren't for your appearance, our tribe would likely have perished. I have failed my father, and I have failed all my tribesmen."
Clan Chief Dielon suddenly bent down, kowtowing heavily to Lyle on the ground, and began to wail loudly.
He clearly looked like a very tough and serious middle-aged chief, so his sudden loud wailing actually made Lyle a bit uncomfortable.
Just as he was about to reach out and help Clan Chief Dielon up,
Whoosh!
The other humans who had been paying attention to this side while dancing around the bonfire all knelt on the ground at this moment, bowing their heads toward Lyle.
The sounds of sobbing and crying filled the air simultaneously.
This sudden scene
caused Lyle's eye to twitch slightly. His movement to help Clan Chief Dielon up paused.
An atmosphere of sorrow permeated the air.
The happy atmosphere from just now seemed to vanish instantly!
Seeing this scene,
Lyle's expression gradually became calm, and his gaze swept over everyone indifferently: "How unsightly."
"So, do you usually rely on crying to solve your problems?"
"The humans I saved earlier were a group who would bite a piece of meat off the enemy even if they were dying!"
"The fact that you were able to seize an Oasis in a place like this and survive here wasn't achieved by crying, was it?"
His flat voice echoed in the air.
Clan Chief Dielon immediately looked up, wiped the tears from his face, and gave a respectful nod to Lyle: "My apologies."
Immediately following,
Clan Chief Dielon turned his head toward the tribesmen who were also kneeling on the ground, took a sharp breath, and opened his mouth to curse loudly: "
Have you bastards cried enough!"
"I, your chief, isn't dead yet, and our tribe hasn't been wiped out!"
"What are you sad about! Whose family among everyone here hasn't lost someone? Haven't enough of our people died already!"
"Get up and dance for me!"
The angry roar resounded through the Oasis, even causing the steadily burning bonfire to flicker a few times.
Everyone scrambled up from the ground, their faces flushed. The flames of the bonfire burned even more fiercely, and everyone's dancing became even more fanatical.
"I've made a fool of myself before you, Lord Hero... Your Excellency Tang."
Clan Chief Dielon turned around and looked at Lyle somewhat awkwardly. Just as he finished saying the words "Lord Hero," he felt Lyle's gaze and quickly corrected himself, then whispered:
"The military strength the Gray Dwarves could send out has already been eliminated by your lordship. With your lordship's help, the Gray Dwarf race will not invade our territory for at least ten years."
Looking at Clan Chief Dielon, who had quickly composed himself, Lyle gave him a deep look. Being a Clan Chief indeed required some skill. The Gray Dwarf side had a total of about 20,000 people; sending out 5,000 soldiers in one go could indeed be described as 'emptying the nest.' They clearly had the intention of completely wiping out the human tribe and fully occupying this Oasis. With the remaining 15,000-plus population, converting half of them into soldiers shouldn't be a problem, but after this incident...