Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

Following the death of Kurgher, the Mensch tribe lizardmen that were still in the lake and its vicinity were hunted. The hunters were obviously Var Agus' men. This was a normal course of action but unfortunately, until Ed and A got onto the boat, no one took the initiative. Not en masse anyway.

This meant that some enemy lizardmen managed to escape and that was very dangerous for them.

'They could run back to the Mensch territory and try to form a resistance' The chances of this were small but not to an impossible margin. One of the main strengths of the Mensch tribe was their large numbers following their conquest of most tribes on the floor.

With enough cannon fodder, it wasn't impossible to win a pyrrhic victory.

Even then, the chances of the Mensch tribe's impromptu resistance winning against Ed and Var Agus were slim. This strength was also one of their weaknesses since they were probably not very united.

This was a problem that the loose alliance Var Agus formed also faced but thanks to having Ed as a pillar, this issue was resolved. Eon was previously the pillar for the Mensch tribe and possibly Kurgher. With both of them out of the way, the resistance had a high chance of failing.

'Well, just the Mensch lizardmen running away is troublesome enough on its own' In that scenario, Ed would be missing potential subordinates. Now that he could communicate properly with the lizardmen, integrating them into a proper city made sense.

If the lizardmen ran away gathering them up again might require some effort. Especially if they took a liking to independence.

'On the topic… what will I name it? The first one was Sanctuary… what will this one be...' It was something to chew on for a while. Obviously, his idea to create a city in the swamps would not be immediately implemented.

'I still need to introduce some things' There were no real jobs in the lizardmen tribe for example. Ed could tell that moving forward being a shipwright was something the lizardmen might take interest in but other than that, there was nothing else.

'They go spearfishing but maybe they can farm fish as well…' They could also potentially be put to work on growing mushrooms in the caverns.

'Coupled together with fish farming… tasting some good seafood here would not be a pipe dream' It would be a pipe dream as a mushroom, but orc Ed could have a feast.

Eventually, the lizardmen kingdom as he supposed it would be fit to call them would thrive on their own, and Ed's input might become increasingly less necessary.

'By this point in the future, joining it together with Sanctuary seems like the ideal play' Forming a proper road would be the sole requirement.

'Well, it might be a problem if a new boss spawns though' The path to the lizardmen would be blocked in that scenario. Perhaps it wasn't too good an idea to rely on it.

Ed had many thoughts in his mind. This all worked well since by the time he resurfaced from his thoughts, the lizardmen had already steered the surviving vessels towards the Mensch tribe's main settlement.

'How's it looking?' Ed transmitted to Var Agus, not A who was acting as his body and eyes. The reason for this was that A's vision was crappy and he might miss details in this large settlement.

The Mensch settlement seemed to be able to house at least 300 lizardmen. Without a birds-eye view, verifying this would be difficult. Nonetheless, the estimate still spoke volumes of the extent of Kurgher's conquest, and it also spoke volumes of their number.

'To think Kurgher would kill so many warriors…!' Ed instantly realized a problem when his thoughts reached this point. There were so many houses, the lizardmen attacking the hydra couldn't be their entire force! 

'Wait… why!?!' What lunatic would hide an ace up their sleeves when facing a life form many times greater than their own!?! Kurgher died so stupidly!

While Ed's realization shocked him, it was not enough to miss Var's reply to his inquiry. He missed it for other reasons.

"I think they evacuated, no one is here" Var Agus replied. This was said out loud and neither A nor Ed could understand Var's words. As was common in the Ed Var Agus dynamic, Ed could not reveal this, however.

'My image might crumble if I ask him to repeat it mentally' Ed could tolerate that but he also couldn't tolerate that. From a personal standpoint, he didn't care but objectively speaking, a religion of sorts was a perfect way to maintain the unity of the lizardmen. Eon verified this theory since he was able to send the Mensch warriors on a suicide mission.

Ed in the end did not receive his answer, but he went with the flow. The lizardmen exited the ships Ed made and began to explore the abandoned Mensch tribe. The desolate docks and empty houses allowed Ed to come to the same conclusion Var Agus did.

'They must have fled' Unlike Var Agus however, he didn't suspect they evacuated. It made no sense to think so. They wouldn't evacuate when the battle against the hydra was far away. They certainly couldn't hear news of their defeat from that distance either.

Not to mention, the place might seem abandoned but it didn't feel abandoned. If one looked closely there were signs of furniture being shuffled with hurry or food left out to eat. There were also some fires that weren't put out or were put out only recently.

'The most likely is that one of the escaping lizardmen warned them and they all ran away in a hurry' They could try to chase them but Ed wasn't keen on the idea.

'With what I presume to be the other half of the Mensch army missing, I can't tell Var to suggest chasing after the enemy' To begin with, some of these enemies were people from their old tribes. Some might feel unwilling.

With this in mind, Ed transmitted to Var Agus a message.

'Let's claim this as a temporary base' The idea behind this was to prepare thoroughly before chasing the enemies. It was also to give Ed a moment to monopolize some first-come territorial benefits.

The current location was uncharted territory for most mushrooms. The soil was bound to have lots of unused nutrients he could consume to grow rather quickly. The growing would be less methodical but Ed didn't really mind. He just needed various mushrooms to be available in his system space in large quantities at all times.

'I need to set my roots down somewhere' But before Ed could do that, he needed Var Agus' thoughts and Var Agus was not a puppet. He stopped to think about Ed's suggestion carefully. Admittedly, part of the reason why he didn't agree right away was that he was not alone.

"We should chase the enemy!" A skinny yet fierce-looking lizardman declared. This was Rox, the blood bat divine warrior.

Thanks to the blood bat's natural affinity towards sucking and absorbing blood, Rox was progressing in strength by leaps and bounds. The feeling of power was intoxicating and he couldn't wait to mess up the Mensch lizardmen on more even ground.

The hydra was obviously not fair play. It was like a stage hazard and Rox disliked stage hazards.

"I don't think we should" Var Agus said agreeing with Ed in the end. The other lizardmen who were spectating the event also started to pick sides by standing next to their favorite party. In the end result, there were more lizardmen supporting Var Agus than Rox by a sizeable margin.

"Hmph, how weak willed" Rox complained. He also narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Var Agus from head to toe. He suddenly felt he wasn't very capable as a leader. This had nothing to do with Var Agus not agreeing with him, not at all.

With the lizardmen picking sides and gathering, the passing lizardmen all came to take a look. It was part of their natural instinct as meaningless extras.

A crowd gathering was unexpected, Rox realized he could try taking advantage of this. He just needed to rile up a few more supporters.

"Hey! Wouldn't you all agree that-!" Before Rox could finish his words, he was ruthlessly tackled by another divine blood warrior. The warrior of the land salmon, Zaoxl. Land Salmon's had powerful legs, the tackled Rox was practically hit by a truck.

Nevertheless, he didn't at all suffer from the rebound. It was here when Var Agus finally stepped in to properly mediate the matter.

"We will be staying here for the day! That's final!" Var Agus didn't really want to run a dictatorship but if that was what it took for the lizardmen to listen to him then so be it.

A who was carrying around Ed was unaware of the conflict. Currently, A was planting Ed into a patch of land.

The main mushroom body was a bit larger than the basic gray mushrooms but it still didn't look like anything fantastic. Ed looked unassuming on the small patch of muddy land he was placed on.

A single mushroom. It was easy to miss.

This single mushroom was not single for long, it quickly found its match or many of its matches after Ed's spore skill activated.

'Hehehe! This is always the most fun part about the mushroom body!' It was like one of those idle games Ed used to casually install on his phone.. They would offer the ability to reset but you always had some benefits.