035 Lake of the Mermen

Karen had two primary methods for increasing his strength: the first was to rely on the feedback from his territory and personal cultivation.

This method had reached a terrifying level of efficiency once his territory reached level 4. To say nothing else, the territory provided him with 500 units of personal energy daily, and the [Tower of Bones] contributed another 2,400. Combined with his own cultivation, Karen could reach the 4th-rank Excellent stage in just a few months.

However, Karen still felt this speed was insufficient, which led him to employ his second method.

The second method, as Karen called it, was slaughter.

For Karen, slaughter remained the fastest way to grow, especially when he personally dealt the killing blow, as that allowed him to obtain the most complete form of personal energy. Therefore, whenever he needed a rapid boost in strength, this was the first method he turned to, and he began searching for suitable targets.

It was then that the Lake of Murlocs entered his field of vision.

Karen had gained some understanding of the Lake of Murlocs during this time. Located to the southwest of the Land of the Dead, it was called a lake, yet it was scarcely smaller than a sea. Within this massive body of water lay island after island, each inhabited by a large number of murlocs living in tribal units.

The Murlocs' way of life was somewhat similar to that of goblins; they possessed no brilliant civilization and remained in a primitive state. They survived by fishing, lived self-sufficient lives, and seemed to have little interaction between tribes, existing in a peaceful and tranquil state.

Of course, once Karen set his sights on them, that peace and tranquility vanished. Karen had never been a kind-hearted man; to him, the desire to rapidly increase his strength was justification enough to raise his blade.

On the very first day he met Silver Glow, he had already dispatched the "Death Wing" to conduct a brief reconnaissance of the [Lake of Murlocs], and based on the intelligence returned, he locked onto a specific target.

It must be said that murlocs were significantly stronger than goblins. Although Karen tried his best to choose a weaker tribe, the one he ultimately selected was still quite formidable. The entire tribe consisted of nearly five thousand members, all of whom were at least 1st-rank. Forty percent had reached the 2nd-rank, there were about 100 at the 3rd-rank, and among them, there were even three 4th-rank existences.

It was precisely because he understood the strength of this murloc tribe that Karen realized why their living state remained so primitive despite being close to the Hand of Silver and the Bourbon Kingdom—those two kingdoms simply had no designs on them. In reality, it was not that they lacked the desire, but that they could not chew through such a tough nut. If a single tribe was this terrifying, one could only imagine the strength of the entire Lake of Murlocs. If they truly provoked them, it was hard to say who would be beating whom.

Karen, however, had no such reservations. Once he locked onto his target, he set out immediately, eager to improve his strength.

He did not bring many undead this time; aside from himself, he brought only Little Green, Death Wing, Two-ha, and the Nether Shadow Leopard. It was not that Karen did not want to mobilize more forces, but it was simply unnecessary. More troops meant the experience points would be divided, which was not conducive to his growth. More importantly, if he brought too many troops, it would be difficult to cover his tracks, and Karen did not want to expose the fact that he had attacked the [Lake of Murlocs]. After all, he had just finished negotiations with the two kingdoms, and if he were to raise an army to slaughter others immediately after taking a slight loss, anyone who wasn't a fool would see through the ruse.

Thus, Karen set off for the [Lake of Murlocs] with only those four undead.

Their operation was extremely low-key. Moving with caution, it took them over a day to reach the target island. Upon arrival, Karen and his group did not act immediately. The man and his four undead spent two days thoroughly familiarizing themselves with the terrain of the island, which spanned several dozen square kilometers, before they officially began their operation.

This time, Karen dared not attempt a direct assault or use fire tactics to resolve the battle as he had with the goblin tribe. In fact, he had prepared himself for a protracted conflict. Their strategy was simply to strike at isolated murlocs in the shadows.

On the first day of the operation, relying on the intelligence superiority provided by "Death Wing," Karen led Little Green and the others to assassinate dozens of stray murlocs. To gain experience, Karen dealt the killing blows himself, though he handed the corpses over to Little Green, letting it sacrifice the murloc hearts to boost its own strength. The harvest on the first day could not be considered great, and neither Karen nor Little Green saw much of an increase.

However, this was only the beginning—merely Karen's first round of probing. Once he confirmed that he could dominate the murlocs, he and his undead launched a frenzy of slaughter. They slept during the day and hunted at night, ruthlessly killing the murlocs of the tribe.

At first, they only targeted stragglers, but by the third day, as Karen's slaughter intensified, the murloc tribe began to huddle together, and Karen and his group began to launch raids on the tribe itself. Of course, the five of them alone could not possibly take down the entire tribe. Even though the tribe's numbers had dwindled by two thousand over the past few days due to their relentless killing, it was still impossible for them to conquer the tribe outright. Strictly speaking, their assaults were merely harassment; they would charge in when the opportunity arose, kill a wave, and then retreat.

It was a very underhanded tactic, but it was incredibly effective. Relying on this, Karen wiped out another thousand murlocs, and by then, both he and his undead subordinates had significantly increased their strength.

As for the murloc tribe, after being subjected to such frantic slaughter, their morale finally collapsed completely. The murlocs, who had previously huddled together, began to scatter and flee in a panic. Their collapse left Karen and his group with no further reservations, and the final slaughter unfolded amidst the murlocs' rout.

In the end, it took Karen seven days to completely destroy the tribe of five thousand murlocs with his four undead subordinates.

[Ding! You have killed the Murloc Chieftain (4th-rank Boutique). You have gained 5,000 personal energy and 3,000 territory energy. Your personal experience bar is full!]

As this system notification rang out, Karen's operation at the Lake of Murlocs came to a complete end. After Karen and his undead subordinates briefly cleaned up the battlefield, they departed immediately.