1362 The Yoked (2/2)

The mountain of flesh was reluctant to move, and was in great pain whenever the chains pulled it. It was forced to step forward, or more appropriately, skid forward!

A few thousand muscular creatures dragging an enormous monster frog-thing forward with chains. How striking was the sight?

The soldiers defending the Northguard Fortress were stunned. They had never seen anything like this, nor had they faced an enemy with such a formation. What were the creatures that were dragging the chains, and what exactly was the eerie-looking monster frog?

The muscular creatures moved forward like enslaved haulers on a riverbank. Some of the creatures eventually fell to the ground, overwhelmed by fatigue. As the giant demon frog eventually caught up to the creatures that had fallen to the ground, it stuck its tongue out and ate them straight away!

It explained why the muscular creatures were brimming with fear, and why they were trying so hard to keep moving forward despite being overwhelmed by fatigue.

”Eternal labor, eternal pain; it's the Underworld Monarch Frog!” Lingling's eyes flickered with astonishment upon seeing it.

Lingling had read about it before. It was an ancient recording about the early era of slaves in the west. Slave masters had set up a terrifying Curse to force their slaves to keep working.

Anyone that signed the Contract sold themselves into slavery; they would turn into one of the Yoked when they died if they slacked even the slightest as a slave. These slaves had to drag the heavy frog around while searching for a residence for it. Their souls were bound by the chains, and they were bowed down by fatigue for eternity. If they stopped, they would be eaten by the frog. The Underworld Frog would slowly digest them, from their skin to their flesh, then to their bones. In addition, they would remain conscious during the digestive process...

The tortured souls would not vanish. The Underworld Frog would spit the slaves out again after the torture, forcing them to keep hauling!

Lingling always thought the Curse was amusing. She assumed it was just a lie to trick the slaves and force them to work as hard as they could. To her surprise, the Curse was real in Egypt's underworld. The Underworld Monarch and the Yoked were real, too...

Compared to the abstract drawings in the ancient records, the sight of the enslaved haulers in ragged clothes being forced to march forward in great pain by the greedy slothful Underworld Monarch before her was suffocating!

”What the hell is that thing!?” The people of the Northguard Fortress were about to lose their minds. The pain that the Yoked were displaying was so real. It felt like they were being tortured themselves!

”Do you know what they are?” Commander Bin Wei asked Lingling.

She was shocked, too. She had been living here for many years, yet she had never seen such spooky monsters. These were no living creatures of their world; they were a bunch of demons from Hell!

”These slave haulers seem very tired. Does that mean we just need to kill that giant frog?” the aide-de-camp speculated.

To his surprise, Lingling shook her head and said, ”The Yoked are under endless torture. The only relief for them is when they find a city full of living humans. Every human that the Underworld Monarch Frog kills makes their chains lighter. Can you imagine how mad and passionate these endlessly tortured demons are about finding some relief from their pain?”

The aide-de-camp gaped in disbelief.

What kind of war was this going to be? Why was it different from the beasts they normally faced?

Did they really stand a chance against these terrifying existences of the underworld?