The Lamia put up a struggle, but it was futile as Alros immediately used subdue. The skill improved tremendously due to his current strength, which should be at the top B-ranks, or pseudo A-ranks.
The Lamia was soon subdued, becoming nothing more than an obedient monster that will follow his every order.
"Tell me, how many of you are there?" this is one of the more important question, as it would allow him to determine if fighting against them would be possible or not.
The Lamia hissed. All humanoid monsters, despite looking the most human out of all monsters, usually unable to form human words despite their looks. Which make communicating with them more difficult.
However, they tend to be one of the more intelligent monsters. If one party is able to use telepathy, and use it communicate with the monsters, they will get full thought, like they can spoke to the monsters, while the more bestial monsters would only convey their base instinct, unable to form complicated thinking.
'There are 70 of us, Master,' the Lamia said. Alros' eyes narrowed at the large numbers. Though after taking a closer look at the Lamia, he realize her strength should be at most C-ranks.
"Who is the strongest out of all of you, and then the second strongest, and so on?" he continue to interrogate the monsters.
'The Matriarch, she is the strongest, followed by the Greater Lamia, and then by us, Lesser Lamia. Underneath us there are Snake-kin, serpentine monsters that is under our rule,' she answered.
"How many Snake-kin are there, and how strong are there?"
'There are about 300, Master, and their strength varied, but the strongest is slightly weaker than the Matriarch,' Alros took in all the new information.
'Unlike the Arachne, who possess B-rank strength, the Lamia is more diverse. The Arachne also formed broods of spiders while the relationship between Lamia and snake-type monsters are more like an upper-class lower-class relationship.
He mostly take a peek inside, counting the number of Lamia in each cave and collecting anything relevant. As for the cave that had eggs inside, followed by a number of snakes, he assumed they are either treated like lifestock or like mules, except they can guard places instead of transporting items.
Those two rooms are the most common one, though the Lamia Cave has the highest number. As he take a look at another cave, he recoiled, almost losing grip of his magic and would have outed himself in enemies' territory.
He take another peak and realize he did not see wrong. Number of male prisoners are lying on the ground, looking like corpses though they are still breathing. As for some, they are currently 'entertaining' some of the Lamia. Immediately, Alros could tell the difference between the 5 Lamia.
Four of the Lamia is the same size as the Lamia he subdued, though slightly larger with relatively simple patterns on their scales.
As for the last one, while her girth is the same as the other Lamia, she is a lot longer, at least double the length of the other Lamia in the cave. The pattern that decorate her scales is also more intricate, likely to show she was different from the other Lamia.
If he had to hazard a guess, the large Lamia is the Greater Lamia the Lamia spoke off. Not wanting to learn by experience if Greater Lamia have better sense than Lesser Lamia, Alros retreated, distancing himself from the cave.
-x-
After the experience, Alros played it safe, using his Mana Sense to detect the presence of any monsters and if there are any, what they could be.
And so, he was left with only one cave left he did not explore just yet, the one cave he decide to play it safe and visit the last. As he could feel a powerful presence from the cave.
No doubt, it is the cave of the Lamia Matriarch. The incubus contemplate whether he should test his luck and enter the cave, but reason appear, telling him that it would be a horrible idea.
And so, the incubus left the cavern, as the new intel help him form a plan to win against the Lamia Clan.