"Human, tell me, why are you here!"

A voice calm like thunder echoed from behind, rolling like thunder, causing a constant roaring in Valen's ears.

The enormous, heart-oppressing shadow was slowly approaching, carrying an incredibly terrifying aura.

"Hmph, evil Blue Dragon, don't expect to get anything from me!"

Mercenary Captain Valen turned around, facing the shadow that obscured most of the sky in front of him. His hands instinctively gripped the axe tightly, speaking loudly between heavy breaths.

This was the instinctive fear of lower-level creatures facing higher-level ones, more so the fear that arises when confronting an enemy of much larger size.

"Hmph, no answer? Fine, someone will."

The huge dragon claw, filled with terrifying power, crashed down. The black bear phantom on the Mercenary Captain had just emerged when it was slapped to the ground like a mouse, causing a deep pit to form in the earth.

Seeing Valen, the mercenary captain, lying motionless in the pit, Austin didn't spare another glance, his body swirling into flight, heading out of the Dragon Nest Tribe, where his Clan was fiercely battling five Giant Beasts. Austin would not let these painstakingly trained elite Clan members die in vain.

With Austin's involvement, the morale on the side of the Dragon Nest Beastmen was instantly boosted to its peak. The Giant Beasts, already at a disadvantage, were completely routed and were soon surrounded and slain by the Beastmen.

As the Giant Beasts fell, the Magic Beast Storm Tigers on the forest's outskirts had already left at some unknown time. The threat to the Dragon Nest Tribe completely disappeared, and the great battle concluded with a victory for the Dragon Nest Tribe.

However, in this unexpected disaster, while the Dragon Nest Tribe emerged victorious, it also suffered significant losses.

After the victory, the Dragon Nest Tribe began accounting for casualties. Nearly three hundred elite Beastmen perished directly in this conflict, and nearly two-thirds were injured, marking the tribe's losses as grievous, even more so than the battle with the Blood Claw Tribe.

Despite this assault, the cohesion of the Dragon Nest Tribe improved, and the orc prisoners from the former Blood Claw Tribe fully integrated into the Dragon Nest Tribe.

At least, after more than half a month of transformation, the Blood Claw orc prisoners not only refrained from causing chaos during the assault but also fought bravely, earning full acceptance and integration into the Dragon Nest Tribe.

Aside from the regular orc army, the Extraordinary Beastmen suffered even more losses.

Since only the Extraordinary Beastmen could frontally withstand the Giant Beast's attacks, serving as a diversion, the casualties among them were considerably higher during the assault on the Giant Beasts.

Initially numbering over sixty, only about thirty Extraordinary Beastmen remained, with more than half perished, and those left were all injured, their combat ability drastically reduced to the limit.

A large number of injured individuals once again filled the Dragon Nest Tribe's hospital. Fortunately, with continuous accumulation and the experience from the last large-scale battle, the Dragon Nest Tribe had a good store of medical knowledge, and their treatment methods were well refined, though the stockpile of herbs was utterly insufficient, necessitating dispatching additional personnel foraging for more outside.

Thankfully, the Beastmen's life force is robust, and those with minor injuries would heal naturally with simple care, while the precious herbs were applied to the severely injured, alleviating the pressure on herbal resources to some extent.

When it comes to the wounded, Austin attaches significant importance, personally inspecting during the post-battle gathering, and commending the warriors for their brave fighting spirit, as these Beastmen were fighting for him and were part of his Clan. Expressing timely care and importance was crucial.

In Austin's view afterward, his behavior, partly sincere and partly performative, seemed effective, with many Beastmen moved to tears, enhancing morale rather than dwelling in the tragedy of their significant losses, bustling energetically in tidying up the post-battle aftermath.

This was no anomaly, given that Austin had established an entirely new Dragon Nest Tribe system, granting them a new way of life, with consistent indoctrination of loyalty and admiration into their minds.

For these simple Beastmen, Austin, who had experienced various informational bombards in a previous life, only employed some simple marketing techniques, which were enough to profoundly move these simple Beastmen.

Besides the losses suffered by the Dragon Nest Beastmen themselves, the entire settlement of the tribe also took notable damage during this battle.

Later, when the Mercenary Corps infiltrated the Dragon Nest Tribe, not only did they blow open a substantial section of the wall, but substantial portions of the housing, about one-fifth in total, were set ablaze by numerous infiltrating mercenaries.

Fortunately, Austin had precautions against fire disasters. The houses, constructed of wooden brick structures with spacing between them, prevented the mercenaries' arson from causing a chain reaction, saving the remaining four-fifths of the homes.

Additionally, to prevent fire disasters and other potential troubles, the Dragon Nest Tribe's provisions were stored in a semi-underground warehouse next to the state hall, avoiding any impact in this attack.

Nonetheless, despite these preparations, the damage to the Dragon Nest Tribe's settlement was considerable, and rebuilding the one-fifth of the homes was a significant challenge.

Luckily, with the coming of cold winter, a large amount of Beastmen labor would become available, and squeezing together while repairing the houses posed no major issue.

After the great battle, the Dragon Nest Tribe swiftly entered the phase of post-war integration.

Originally governed through a military-civilian unity within a military-political system, the post-war integration process of the Dragon Nest Tribe proceeded rather smoothly without any significant disturbances.

The decision to implement military training and reform on the Beastmen proved highly suitable, greatly enhancing their combat prowess, organizational and productive capacity, as well as their post-war recovery abilities.

Through routine training, discipline had almost become ingrained in them, making it more convenient for Austin to strategically command these Beastmen, maximizing the strength of the Beastman Clan.

With various post-battle tasks completed, Austin finally found the time to interrogate these strange individuals who appeared inexplicably in his territory.

Despite the Mercenary Captain Valen remaining taciturn in the dungeon post-capture, not every mercenary shared the same resolve.

Upon learning the reasons from these mercenaries, Austin furrowed his brows tightly.

Their presence here was both a coincidence and an inevitability.

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