Minotaur Dark Lord watched as his troops were gradually wiped out by the Divine Dragon Warriors, and a wave of despair washed over him.
He pointed his blade at his own chest, thrust it in forcefully, and with that, Minotaur Dark Lord was no more...
Ethan, of course, had seen everything.
He was about to share the good news with Allie when he noticed her figure was swaying.
The long-term maintenance of the "Enslavement" succubus pattern had clearly taken a mental toll on her, and forcibly expanding the range of the effect had exhausted her physically.
Now, she collapsed in the middle of the battlefield.
The controlled Minotaur Warriors began to wake up, looking at the bodies of their kin strewn about, some at a loss of what to do.
Ethan immediately flew in front of Allie, and shouted, "Your Lord is dead. You have two choices now: surrender or die!"
The Minotaur Warriors glanced at each other and threw their bloodstained weapons on the ground, choosing to surrender.
Ethan nodded and pointed towards Allie's camp, "If you choose to surrender, this will be your new home!"
He wasn't worried about the Minotaurs betraying him.
These followers, once they chose to surrender, their loyalty would not be less than 80.
There was no risk of betrayal in the short term.
The Minotaur Warriors, as if waking from a dream, headed towards the camp.
Ethan watched their figures disappear, then turned and picked up Allie.
Her body was soft, and Ethan caught a whiff of a unique scent from her, very sweet, but not sickly so. It was just right.
A look of surprise crossed Ethan's face.
Could it be that the Succubus Dark Lord in front of him was still a virgin?
Wasn't this the scent of maidenhood?
He looked at the unconscious Allie, his face a mix of confusion.
He instructed his pet to pick up the mask on the ground and cover Allie's face with it.
He could resist the illusion, but others might not.
For the sake of others, this was all Ethan could do.
Aho and his group almost treated the Minotaur Warriors who had surrendered as enemies.
Fortunately, Ethan arrived in time and explained the situation, avoiding a serious misunderstanding.
Ethan then proceeded to the center of the camp, placed Allie on the throne, and instructed Aho, who was following him, to take care of her.
He then stationed two Divine Dragon Warriors as defenders and observers, and took the remaining warriors back to the abandoned temple.
Upon returning, he saw Mia sitting in front of the wooden cabin, deep in thought.
Ethan walked up to her, ruffled her hair, and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
Mia bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Ethan, it seems we've become the biggest threat in Northwood. When I went back to town today, I found bounty notices on almost all the bulletin boards. The target is always the mysterious Dark Lord of the Abandoned Temple. Do you know, the bounty on us is a whopping 10,000 gold coins! That's almost a year's harvest in Northwood!"
Ethan's eyebrows raised in surprise.
10,000 gold coins was no small sum.
The fact that it was now being used as a bounty showed just how much of a threat he was seen as in Northwood.
And if no one took up the bounty for a long time, Northwood might send troops to take down the Dark Lord.
His current power wasn't enough to defend against an attack from a whole city, even if it was a not-so-developed border town.
He thought for a moment and said, "I'll handle this later. You stay here and don't go anywhere, or there could be trouble. As for the camp, I can manage the work assignments remotely in the system, and you can take care of any minor issues."
Mia swung her little white legs and asked with a puzzled face, "What, are you going on a long journey?"
Ethan nodded and said, "I need to deal with this Northwood issue, otherwise, if the city lord sends people to fight us, we won't stand a chance."
Mia's face tightened with worry, "Here, take my pass. Don't forget to change the information on it. If you run into guards checking passes, don't confront them. Just give them a few gold coins and they won't give you a hard time."
Ethan pinched Mia's soft cheek. "What happened? How did you become so silly after being with me?"
Mia immediately retorted, "You're the silly one! Just spit it out, are you hiding something from me?"
As she finished, she approached Ethan, her hand already on his waist, pinching a fold of his soft flesh, waiting for him to say the wrong thing.
"Not at all, I definitely wouldn't hide anything from you. The reward last time included the right to enter and exit Northwood. With that right, I can go anywhere conveniently."
Mia looked at Ethan, her eyes full of doubt. "Really?"
Ethan nodded solemnly.
Only then did Mia let go of his waist, and as she walked away, she whispered, "Actually, I've wanted to tell you this for a long time. You're too... intense. It's a bit much for me alone. I have a proposal, what do you think?"
Mia turned her red face away, but suddenly felt a cool breeze.
She looked up and found Ethan was already gone.
Mia huffed and pouted, "Typical, he's never around when you need him. How many more times do I have to embarrass myself!"
She stomped back into the cabin to do who knows what.
Ethan had no intention of ignoring Mia.
He simply hadn't heard what she had said and assumed she just wanted to go back to the cabin.
It was a bit confusing that she hadn't told him, but considering she had journeyed from Northwood earlier that day, he figured she was probably just tired.
As a result, by some strange twist of fate, he ended up missing out on what would have been a good thing for him...
What Ethan was so eager to attend to was the discovery of something valuable in an uncharted area near the Horizon Mountains!
He immediately activated his Divine Dragon Form and took flight.
In an iron mine, Earth Dragon Laborers had formed a circle, all eyes fixed on a shimmering object in the dirt.
Ethan swooped down into the mine, reaching the bottom in no time.
The Earth Dragon Laborers guarding the area immediately bowed their heads and muttered, "We welcome the arrival of our master!"
He paid it no mind, just waved them off and proceeded forward.
Soon the light dimmed significantly.
Ethan dared not light a torch, fearing it might trigger an explosion due to the dust.
After a short while, he arrived at the circle of Earth Dragon Laborers.
The Laborers promptly made way for him.
Ethan squatted down and used his finger to pick up some of the shining, transparent powder on the ground.
The system immediately provided a detailed description.
[Energy powder: an accompanying crystal to amethyst, it's quite fragile and can easily become powdery under external stimuli. It can be used for a short-term strength boost, but overuse could lead to vascular obstruction and an increased risk of various diseases.]
Ethan frowned. Wasn't this essentially a stimulant?
However, amethyst was a good thing!
Whether for weapons or armor, it was several times stronger than iron.
If they had this energy powder, it meant there were likely amethysts nearby.
He then instructed the Earth Dragon Laborers to continue digging down.
Even though they were running out of iron resources, if they could find amethyst, it would be a worthwhile trade.
Ethan stashed some energy powder in his backpack and headed straight for Northwood.
His aim was simple: he just wanted to explore Northwood.
He quickly arrived at the gates of Northwood and, like everyone else, queued up.
He held his entry permit in his hand, having already scoped out the surroundings.
If there was an issue with his permit, he could shift into his Divine Dragon Form.
He calculated it would only take about 30 seconds to escape the attack from the city walls.
In another minute, he could be on the outskirts of the abandoned temple, and once there, everything would be manageable.
After sorting everything out, Ethan slowly moved forward with the line.
There were some squabbles happening here and there, mostly over issues with entry permits.
Northwood had even started to ban outsiders from entering at night.
However, Ethan was not at all worried about that.
Soon, it was Ethan's turn.
"Show your permit," demanded a stone-faced city guard.
Ethan handed over his permit.
After inspecting it several times, the guard found no issues and told Ethan, "You may enter. Keep in mind the third regulation announced today: Northwood enforces a curfew after nine o'clock. Make sure you keep track of the time."