Book 6 Chapter 7.1 - Seventy Thousand Trees to Ashes
Kebile had his hands behind his back as he stood in front of the town entrance's sentry towers, staring into the end of the road with his gloomy and unfeeling eyes. The sentry tower's wooden roof obstructed the occasional scorching rays of sunlight, casting a shadow over Kebile's face, making his thick beard-covered face appear even darker. His hands that were crossed behind him clasped a long whip, this whip made of bull tendons and metal threads often appearing in the nightmares of many enslaved natives, as well as the source of fear for many individuals with lower statuses. A single lash from this whip was enough to tear apart sailcloth military uniforms, as well as leave behind a several dozen centimeter long, centimeter deep bloody wound.
Kebile's figure was close to two meters in height, his large body almost filling up this small tower. However, what was even more striking than his build was that shockingly large belly. Not even his specially made army uniform able to fully cover his belly, revealing a stomach covered in black hair.
Two aboriginal soldiers stood at the corner of the sentry tower, in their hands the classic AK series automatic rifle, vigilant towards any activity outside the town. Most of the sentry tower was occupied by Kebile, which was why even though they were short and small, their bodies were perfectly straight, doing their best to stay right next to the pillars to avoid making contact with Kebile's body. Once Kebile was angered, it was quite likely that they would be thrown right out of this sentry tower. Even though they weren't slaves, but soldiers with freedom, it wouldn't make any difference in Kebile's eyes.
It was because Kebile was the ruler of this land, as well as the demon king who ruled over everything.
This Vibimore City below Kebile's feet was the center of his territory, which covered a range of more than thirty thousand kilometers. In this area close to a thousand square kilometers, he was the supreme ruler, possessing life-and-death power over all non-privileged classes. Vibimore City looked extremely primitive, apart from the seven-floored beautiful main manor by the lakeside, there were low and damp shacks everywhere. Groups of small native slaves sluggishly moved about, doing all types of hard labor. However, the area of the city was extremely large, the population not small either. Including the natives, there were at least five thousand people living here, natives with freedom and the privileged class also numbering close to a thousand.
Outside of Vibimore City were large plantations, within them planted all types of tropical crops. The plantations stretched endlessly, reaching all the way into the limits of Kebile's line of sight.
Finally, what Kebile wanted arrived. At the end of the simple road, dust began to surge, the rumbling sounds of engines tore through the smoke and the dust, ringing into the distance. A fleet made up of four old-fashioned trucks appeared, slowly moving along the rugged and uneven road. These four trucks were so shabby one could tell from a single look that they had at least a few decades of history, ready to break down at any time. However, they still miraculously made their way over, the black smoke released from their exhaust pipes almost just as concentrated as dust.
Trucks packed with fully armed native soldiers drove over one behind the other, the vehicles at the very front and back even having an old-fashioned light machine gun installed. The middle truck's carriage was sealed, unknown what kind of important item was stored within, needing this type of protection.
Kebile revealed an anxious expression. After a burst of impatience, he didn't climb down from the ladder, but instead, his legs stepped out, directly jumping off the more than ten meter tall sentry tower! His massive, close to two hundred kilogram body carried a fierce wind, moving out more than ten meters in the air before landing on the ground.
With a muffled boom sound, Kebile entered a deep crouch, the leather boots covering his feet completely exploding, revealing two large feet covered in thick black hair like bear paws. His enormous belly released waves of ripples that moved downwards, heavily slapping the ground before bouncing back up. Under the powerful impact, a shallow but wide crater suddenly appeared beneath Kebile's feet. Meanwhile, that sentry tower continuously swayed back and forth under the tremendous force, the two soldiers in the tower clinging firmly to the pillars next to them in panic, and only then did they prevent themselves from being thrown out. Fortunately, even though the sentry tower's workmanship was crude, its construction was thorough. The enormous logs the tower was made of released a groaning sound as it rocked back and forth, but still didn't break apart in the end.
Kebile took a deep breath, and then slowly stood up, walking towards the truck fleet. The four trucks had long stopped. When they saw Kebile walk over, the soldiers on the vehicles all jumped off, lining up into two rows at the trucks' sides. The back cover of the truck protected at the center opened up, several valiant looking caucasian soldiers and a tall, formidable officer making their way out. The officer carried two shiny metal code-locked chests, walking up to Kebile, straightening his body, and then released a low shout of greeting before handing over the code-locked chests.
A liquid crystal screen was installed on the surface of the passcode locked chests, below it a small keyboard. One could tell that if the wrong code was input, this thing might produce something similar to an explosion. Kebile seemed to have known this code for quite some time, his large hand flying over the keyboard, already entering the passcode that was as long as seventeen digits. As the liquid crystal screen changed from red to green, a ka sound could be heard, and then the chest's cover slowly opened.