The Overseer's skills primarily focused on strengthening the warriors under its command; it disliked entering the fray personally to face danger, even though it was far stronger than ordinary warriors.
This was understandable, of course.
Although it was suspect of being afraid of death, the role it played in the rear was indeed more significant than if it had charged forward directly.
Meanwhile.
Facing a group of lunging Gnoll warriors, the Rotclaw Priest's face showed shock and fury as it slammed its bone staff heavily onto the ground.
"God-betrayers shall suffer the punishment of eternal sores!"
Black blood seeped from its seven orifices, transforming into numerous curse marks that landed on the Gnoll warriors, causing their fur to fall out and pus-filled sores to sprout one after another across their bodies.
But these berserk warriors did not fear pain, and weakness failed to halt their steps.
They surged forward like a tide.
The first Gnoll to reach it grabbed the edge of the Rotclaw Priest's robe and lunged to bite its neck, only to have its own neck seized and snapped with a crack by a Gnoll Guard with even greater speed.
More claws followed in quick succession, but they still could not break through the Gnoll Guard's defense in such a short time.
The two Gnoll Guards had formerly been the most valiant warriors, and after being strengthened by a ritual, they had become even more powerful.
Having entered their combat state, their bodies expanded until they reached a full three meters in height, making them even taller and more ferocious than the Gnoll warriors who had undergone the Overseer's berserk transformation.
The Gnoll Guards were taciturn, repelling each of their attacking kin.
Blades and sharp claws struck their bodies, tearing fur and skin to leave bloody gashes, yet these healed and regenerated in the blink of an eye. They were like two unkillable monsters, withstanding the wave of berserk Gnolls.
Under the protection of the Gnoll Guards, the priest fought while retreating, waving its bone staff and rapidly chanting prayers to prepare a Spell.
Swish! Swish!
Two dragon scales spun through the curtain of rain, landing accurately on the Gnoll Guards. The resulting flames blasted them away, shattering them into pieces and interrupting the priest's brewing Spell.
Taking this opportunity.
The berserk Gnoll warriors swarmed forward, surrounding the priest and tearing it apart with a flurry of blades and claws.
The physically frail priest, having lost its guards and being cornered, had little power to resist. Its final plea to the gods before death received neither response nor protection.
Garros watched this scene quietly.
The perception of gods is cast across countless worlds and cannot cover everything.
Unless it was a very important top-tier sacrifice, they would not care too much, nor would they carefully investigate the cause of death to track down the killer. Normally, they might just conveniently curse the creature that killed the priest, and even that was only a small probability.
"I wonder what a god's curse feels like."
Recently, Garros felt that his 'Blessing of Fire' was gradually losing its potency; its weakening of his fire resistance had become increasingly sluggish, causing his fire resistance to improve more slowly.
As for the reason.
Garros felt it was because his own curse resistance was also increasing, slowly causing it to lose effect.
He thought to himself, if he deliberately provoked a god and hunted their priests to obtain a divine curse...
Would it also evolve into a different kind of 'blessing'?
The effect of such a blessing would surely be thousands of times stronger than the Snake Dragon's blessing.
However, this was just a thought.
The danger was too high; a god's curse might kill him instantly, giving him no chance to adapt at all.
Suddenly.
Garros narrowed his eyes and looked to the right.
With a rustling sound, broken limbs were drawn to each other, huddling together into a mass.
Under Garros's gaze, the two Gnoll Guards that had been blown apart stood up again.
Their bodies were covered in mangled, charred marks and cracks like broken porcelain, but no matter the injury, they were mending and stitching back together at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Such powerful regeneration."
Garros shook the dragon scales across his body.
He was somewhat curious: how many Explosive Scales would it take to completely kill these two Gnoll Guards? Or if he used his Dragon Wing Blades to hack them into mincemeat, could they still regenerate?
To what extent could the life force of these monsters, transformed through sacrifices to the gods, be so tenacious?
The Gnoll Guards were silent, the granulation across their bodies churning like tiny worms.
Turning their heads, their gaze locked onto the Dragonkin that had attacked and wounded them earlier.
They felt no fear; their broken, healing bodies moved, and then they took large strides, running toward Garros as if flying.
"The aggro has been drawn to me."
Staring at the two Gnoll Guards, Garros did not take to the air.
He unhurriedly shifted his dragon wings; the sharp wing bones, like hay cutters, emitted a cold, chilling glint in the drizzle. Raindrops that hit them were first sliced in half and then shattered into mist.
"Stop!"
Staring intently at the Gnoll Guards who wanted to attack Garros, the Bloodtooth Overseer let out a thunderous shout.
"The priest is dead! As the leader of the Red-Eye Clan, I command you! Submit to the Dragon Lord!"
The two Gnoll Guards, mid-run, collapsed and knelt before Garros. They remained silent and expressionless, like two statues.
"Dragon Lord, once the priest dies, the Gnoll Guards will be loyal to the clan leader."
"They are now your vassals as well, your servants. Please spare their lives."
The Bloodtooth Overseer looked at Garros, his fierce expression instantly turning into a fawning one.
The speed of his face-changing was breathtaking.
"Are you teaching me how to do things?"
Garros said.
"Please forgive my unintentional overstepping."
The Bloodtooth Overseer said hurriedly.
Garros looked at the Gnoll Guards kneeling on the ground.
Gnoll Guards—they were more loyal to the clan leader, the Bloodtooth Overseer. Since the Bloodtooth Overseer told them to submit to Garros, they knelt in silence; if he ordered them to attack Garros, they would do so immediately.
This was a classic case of:
The subordinate of my subordinate is not my subordinate.
Among Dragonkin vassals, what dragons cared about and controlled were primarily the vassal leaders, not every single creature in the vassalage. Even an adult dragon with enough essence blood and mastery of the Dragon Vein Transformation skill would only transform the leaders into dragon-vein creatures to obtain absolute loyalty.
As for the vassals beneath the leaders...
It was better for them to be managed by the leaders, while the dragon was responsible for managing and driving the leaders.
Of course.
The Gnoll Guards were an exception.
They were monsters created by the priest, devoid of their own consciousness, like marionettes. They were even less intelligent than the Vicious Beasts and magical creatures in the wilderness, only knowing how to obey the creator's orders. When their creator, the priest, died, they would unconditionally obey the orders of the clan leader.
Ordinary vassals knew that the Dragon Lord was a higher-ranking, more powerful existence than their own leaders.
Even if a leader ordered them to rebel, they usually wouldn't have the guts.
Take the Gnolls here, for example.
They were closer to the Bloodtooth Overseer, but if the Bloodtooth Overseer ordered them to besiege Garros right now, no Gnoll would respond. They were intelligent creatures after all; even if they rarely thought for themselves, they understood the basic concept of seeking benefit and avoiding harm—they wouldn't do something suicidal.
The two Gnoll Guards remained kneeling and still.
Spare them?
Better not.
They were unstable factors in the end, and there was no need to keep them.
Garros stepped forward with a steady pace, suddenly raised a dragon claw, and swiped at the Gnoll Guards.
Splat! Splat!
Under his terrifying and powerful strength, the two Gnoll Guards, who made no move to dodge or defend, were instantly turned into radial splatters of mincemeat by that single claw.
To Garros's slight surprise.
This mincemeat was still wriggling, attempting to gather back into a humanoid form.
"Such strong life force."
"And these are just two low-level Gnoll Guards."
"If it were the legendary Evil Dragon Guardss, and they reached the level of an Ancient Dragon, who could defeat them?"
Garros felt a hint of wariness, then exhaled a Flame Dragon Breath, engulfing the Gnoll Guards that had just begun to form a rough outline and turning them into lifeless ash, finally killing them completely.
The Bloodtooth Overseer watched this; though he felt pained by the death of the two Gnoll Guards, he did not stop it.
Garros had not listened to his suggestion and had brutally killed the Gnoll Guards.
This did not displease the Bloodtooth Overseer; instead, it made him even more enamored.
Look, how overbearing, how powerful, how incredible the Dragon Lord is! Only such a dragon is worthy of Hodge's loyalty and following!
The Bloodtooth Overseer's tail was wagging so hard it almost snapped.
Gnolls were creatures that always feared power but never respected virtue.
They simply loved the 'overbearing CEO' style of dragons.
If Garros had listened to him and spared the Gnoll Guards, it would have instead made the Bloodtooth Overseer feel that Garros was easy to talk to, leading to more 'unintentional overstepping' in the future to test his bottom line.
This was their nature; even with absolute loyalty gained through Dragon Vein Transformation, it couldn't be avoided.
Loyalty didn't mean they didn't want a higher status or better benefits.
In his past life, Garros had kept a dog—a gold-and-white Border Collie. It always liked to play mind games and test its owner's bottom line, unaware that all its little schemes were seen through.
Gnolls were exactly the same.
Garros knew very well how to intimidate these monster clans rooted in the wilderness.