Under the Red Dragon

Within the underground cave in the hills, contrary to what outsiders might expect, the cave was excavated to be wide and tall, not appearing cramped at all. Torches soaked in animal fat were placed in the recesses of the cave walls, burning fiercely.

Additionally, bonfires made of dry grass mixed with animal dung from the grasslands provided light for the spacious underground lair.

Even so, some sections of the cave remained dim. A slender gnoll sentry hurriedly moved through the dimly lit cave passage, bypassing gnolls and trolls huddled around the bonfires, passing the cave where dragon beasts were kept, and then passing the rooms specifically set aside for the gnoll spellcasters, finally reaching a large cavern.

This cavern was extremely wide and tall, easily accommodating even dragons. More than a dozen wide and long passages connected to it. The cave's walls and dome were decorated with murals painted with the blood of various beasts and bizarre pigments.

The murals depicted a tall gnoll clad in exquisite scale armor, wielding a masterwork adamantine triple flail, battling various monsters. The most frequent image was of a huge minotaur demon with a golden mane, wielding a long-handled heavy blade.

This was the gnolls' revered guardian deity, the Gnoll King Yeenoghu. According to legends, the Gnoll King Yeenoghu was a lord of the Abyss, possessing immense power, and was the ancestor and guardian of all gnolls in the world.

However, while most gnolls revered the Gnoll King Yeenoghu, they did not regard Yeenoghu as a deity, but merely as a powerful gnoll warrior and ancestor. Some arrogant gnolls even aimed to defeat the Gnoll King Yeenoghu.

The golden-maned demon minotaur wielding a long-handled heavy blade, who opposed the Gnoll King Yeenoghu, was the Gnoll King Yeenoghu's opponent and nemesis, the Minotaur King Baphomet.

This virile, cruel, and ferocious Minotaur King was also a lord from the Abyss in legends, with resounding titles such as "Horned Lord" or "Lord of Horns," and "Lord of Beasts."

He was the object of worship for evil rangers and barbarians, and the deity of faith for minotaurs. He hated the Gnoll King and all gnolls, and would kill every gnoll he encountered.

Beneath these tall dome murals, a wide stone chair was occupied by a dozing gnoll. Among the gnoll race, even the strongest gnoll barbarians were only about two and a half meters tall, while this gnoll was over three meters tall, almost reaching four meters.

Crimson fur draped smoothly behind his head, and the corners of his gray-red muzzle were free of the drool that most gnolls had. His gray-red fur also appeared exceptionally clean, lacking the unique rancid odor carried by other gnolls. This was a clean and powerful gnoll.

This gnoll called himself Yuggu. From birth, he was stronger than other gnoll pups and was the leader of that generation of newborn gnolls, so he was ambitious from a young age.

After he came of age, he single-handedly hunted a dragon lizard said to possess dragon blood, gaining the support of most of the gnolls in the gnoll tribe.

This aroused the vigilance of the previous gnoll leader, but Yuggu openly challenged the leader, who was in his prime, during a gnoll gathering, easily killing the previous gnoll leader with his bare hands, thus becoming the leader of the gnoll tribe.

Under his leadership, the gnolls moved to these hills, which were originally the lair of the dragon lizard he had killed. With a stable lair, the gnolls no longer had to wander like wild dogs on the plains.

With an ample supply of food, the gnoll tribe rapidly grew from a tribe with only two hundred members to a large tribe with over a thousand members.

They not only possessed many gnoll spellcasters but also enslaved many slaves of other races, such as trolls, half-orcs, hobgoblins, and bugbears. They also captured many dragon beasts and ferocious beasts to enslave and tame, as well as many animals and beasts from the grasslands. Under his development, the gnoll tribe had become the ruler of this area.

Therefore, the gnoll scout did not dare to disturb him loudly, stopping at the entrance of the cave passage. Two strong gnoll barbarian guards stood here. Each passage had two gnoll barbarian guards, guarding the king of this tribe.

At the low report of the gnoll barbarian guard, the gnoll Yuggu opened his eyes. Even in the cave illuminated by the blazing light of countless torches, the gnoll's blood-red eyes still radiated their unique brilliance.

"What's the matter?" Yuggu's rough, hoarse voice echoed in the cave.

"Leader, the hunting party that went out earlier sent a distress signal. They must have encountered an irresistible danger. Now we can't hear their voices anymore. Maybe they have all been killed," the gnoll sentry knelt on the ground, extremely humble in the face of Yuggu's powerful aura.

"What? Several hundred powerful gnolls going out could encounter irresistible danger. What kind of enemy did they encounter?" Yuggu's hyena-like face showed dissatisfaction, and he frowned.

In Yuggu's impression, no creature on the grasslands in this area ruled by gnolls could resist the power of his warriors, and he was very restrained.

He had not encroached on the territories of those ferocious species near the dragon's territory. These gnolls did not know that the territories of those ferocious beasts had been occupied by the dragon's subordinates, and the dragons never ventured out of their territory, so Yuggu did not understand the current situation.

"I'm not sure, but some time ago, sentries discovered centaurs appearing in groups nearby. It may be these centaurs who clashed with our hunting party," the gnoll sentry replied, lowering his head.

"Centaurs?" Yuggu muttered to himself. In his impression, although centaurs were all powerful warriors, if they wanted to make his gnoll barbarians feel dangerous, there should be many of them, a powerful centaur tribe.

"Go gather the warriors and spellcasters in the tribe, take up their weapons, and bring those dragon beasts too. I want to see what kind of power these centaurs possess, daring to offend the gnoll territory," Yuggu stood up, his tall body draped in blood-red fur, a triple flail shining brightly to the left of the stone seat.

Restless sounds rose from every corner of the cave. Countless gnolls picked up their weapons and gathered, then rushed out of their lair in groups, waiting for their leader on the grassland.

The spellcasters with purple manes, who had a special status in the gnoll tribe, also waited quietly outside the cave. Obviously, Yuggu's status was supreme among the gnolls, possessing absolute authority.

The gnoll Yuggu finally stepped out of the cave, but his tall figure was riding on a dragon beast. This dragon beast, with coarse fur and toenails growing on its hind feet like huge sickle-like bone blades, was more than six meters long and resembled a dinosaur.

This was an Achilles dragon, said to possess dragon blood, a ferocious predator on the grassland, and a powerful creature at the top of the ordinary food chain.

But this dragon beast with great power was tamed by the gnoll Yuggu to become a war beast and pet, which shows the power possessed by this gnoll.

The gnoll Yuggu waved his heavy triple flail and shouted loudly: "Attack, follow me to kill those intruders who dare to violate the gnoll territory, drink their blood, and decorate our lair with their bones."