Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Should I tie the miniature bombs onto their bodies or get them to hold it with their claws?
After deciding on the Vampire Bats, Yang Ling soon encountered another problem. The Vampire bats had to carry a miniature bomb on them at all times if they were to act as suicide bombers and attack from high above. How was he going to secure the bombs tightly to their bodies?
The Vampire Bats were not large, and it was impractical for them to attack while holding anything in their claws. They might drop the bombs when they were diving downward at high speeds, or when they came across a strong gust of wind!
After trying it with a few pieces of string, he realized that it was difficult to strap the slippery miniature bombs onto the Vampire Bats’ bodies. Tying the string more than ten times around the bats proved to be time consuming, and it was also not sufficiently secure. It was clearly unsuitable for a rapidly growing army.
“Sir leader, why not get a few of the servants to weave web pockets and secure the bombs on the bodies of the Vampire Bats using those?” asked the Gnome Elder. He had quickly ascertained Yang Ling’s objective.
The Gnome Elder’s suggestion sparked Yang Ling’s interest. Looking at the string wrapped around the Vampire Bas, Yang Ling recalled the Red-haired Tarantulas, so adept at weaving webs. He summoned a few tarantulas, elated. He instructed the spiders to release webbing near the Vampire Bats’ chests, which created a tidy web pocket.
Compared to the string, the spider’s web was lighter and more sturdy. The web pocket was a perfect fit, as Yang Ling discovered when he placed a miniature bomb into each one.
Furthermore, getting the servants to weave the webs would waste a large number of manpower and cause logistical problems. But the spiders were different. Every tarantula could weave at least a dozen web pockets in a day. If they really could not cope, Yang Ling could even head to the Spider Valley to tame more tarantulas, making it such that there would never be a problem with the supply.
After placing a bomb on the bodies of a dozen bats, Yang Ling returned to the wide plaza of the castle, instructing Argus to release the snow rabbit.
After regaining its freedom, the snow rabbit dashed away in a fluster, scampering toward a small forest not far away, as fast as the wind. To its small brain, the forest was its greatest guardian deity. It was completely oblivious to the fact that there were a dozen Vampire Bats circling in the sky above.
Yang Ling gave the order to attack after the speedy snow rabbit had made it to only a dozen steps from the forest. In that moment, the bats dove toward the small rabbit, fast as lightning!
Whoosh…
The snow rabbit’s instincts told it there was danger when it heard the piercing calls behind it, so it began to weave and dodge, changing its direction quickly and often without slowing down. A blast rocked the forest as the first bat hit. Even though the rabbit had narrowly avoided the suicidal attack of the first bat, it still cried out when hit with an intense aftershock, spitting out a small mouthful of fresh blood.
In its fear, the snow rabbit once again displayed alarming speed and its wary instincts. It pushed back hard with its hind legs, avoiding the second bat’s attack before running desperately toward the small forest, now only a stone’s throw away.
It could avoid the first few attacks, but it could not run from all of them!
Just as the snow rabbit was about to disappear into the lush forest, a few of the bats crashed into it. After a string of explosions, the pitiful rabbit was blasted apart, its blood flowing freely. It convulsed for a moment and then remained motionless on the icy cold ground.
“Tsk tsk, powerful. It’s so fast that there’s no way that the enemy could avoid them!”
“That’s right, as long as we have a team of these flying Magical Beasts, even enemies in heavy armor would not be able to withstand the impact!”
…
The group were in awe when they saw the rest of the Vampire Bats circling the air, as well as the motionless snow rabbit on the ground. This was especially so for the experienced Ashnamov. He quickly realized how effective a bat army would be on the battlefield.
After having lived in Wissen Town, he was satisfied with everything in the Magical Beast Territory. Yang Ling’s abilities were still not strong enough, but his potential was vast. With the resources in his territory, he would be able to develop the place at a shocking speed, as long as he managed it well.
High speed development would naturally mean that they would earn crystal coins; a large amount of crystal coins would mean that they could develop the area’s military might. With rich resources, and many able craftsmen, powerful warriors, and coupled with Yang Ling’s massive Magical Beast army… Ashnamov truly saw hope for his revenge.
The earl had great influence, and Ashnamov would not be able to exact his vengeance even if he located his tribesmen that had luckily survived. But the situation was different now that he was serving Yang Ling. As long as he received Yang Ling’s admiration and trust, it would one day be possible to return to the Rossi Empire using Yang Ling’s power and bathe the earl’s castle in blood!
Once he understood Yang Ling’s abilities and potential for development, Ashnamov knew that he had chosen the correct path. The greater Yang Ling’s ability, the more hope he had for revenge. He had also placed the hope of his lover, Sylvia’s revival on Yang Ling. From any angle, it was clear that following Yang Ling was the correct choice to make.
How unfortunate that the power is still a little weak!
The group were in awe, but Yang Ling shook his head, feeling that the power of the miniature bombs was still insufficient. If it took three exploding bats to deal with just one snow rabbit, how many bats would have to attack together for them to deal with an expert like Flowing Venom?
But there was always a solution to every problem!
After discussing the matter with the Gnome Elder, Casey, Ashnamov and the rest, Yang Ling decided to embed many thin steel needles into the miniature bombs, under the premise that it would not increase the weight and power of the bombs. The moment the bombs exploded, the steel needles would shoot out following the blast, puncturing the skin of their enemies.
To further increase the bombs’ power, he had also smeared the needles with snake venom. Unless the other party was covered from head to toe with a sturdy, heavy armor, they would immediately lose the ability to move after being pierced by the rain of poisonous needles.
After capturing a few more snow rabbits as test subjects, the test revealed that the improved self destructing bats were terrifying. Often times, mobilizing just one of the bats would be enough to deal with the situation.
Practical tests were the only way to discover if their ideas worked or not!
After making the necessary preparations, Yang Ling went on a journey with a few hundred self destructing bats, preparing to test them on the various Magical Beasts in Terras Forest to find out just how strong they were. In order to create a few hundred of these miniature bombs, he had spent several hundred bottles of blood from Magical Beasts, as well as thoroughly exhausted the Gnome Elder and the dwarf, Rumi.
After entering the lush forest, Yang Ling was like a fish in water, jumping from one tree to the other, rapidly advancing deeper into the forest.
In the past, due to his limited abilities, he had not dared to set foot into the deeper regions of the forest where high level Magical Beasts roamed. But it was different now. His abilities after advancing to mid level Earth Wizard were much more powerful than they had been. Even if he could not defeat the powerful Magical Beast after encountering one, he could at least escape to safety using his Earth Evasion Technique or by entering the space inside the Wizard’s Pagoda.
According to the records in the Magical Beast Knowledge Guide, the Terras Forest was the largest, most mysterious primordial forest on the continent since ancient times, with no one truly knowing how far it spanned. No one knew exactly how many Magical Beasts there were in the forest.
Other than testing the power of the self destructing bats, Yang Ling had another goal for this journey.
As his enemies got stronger and stronger, and as he came across more and more factions, the low level Magical Beasts such as the Horned Bee Beasts and spiders that had finished evolving were no longer able to meet his requirements. He had to search for and tame more high level Magical beasts as soon as possible. If he had a bunch of powerful Unicorns back then, he would not have had to be so passive when he encountered Flowing Venom!
Furthermore, with merchant teams entering and living in his territory, as his territory underwent rapid development, there was a need to guard the Five Colored Crystal Vein in the Taildon Valley more securely. If someone managed to obtain information about the Five Colored Crystal Vein in his territory, no one could imagine the kinds of accidents that could occur. Then, he might not be able to stop his enemies even if he had a whole team of powerful Unicorns.
If he wanted to further block off information about the Five Colored Crystal Vein, and enhance the secrecy of his excavation, he would need a Magical Teleportation Spell Formation. In order to build a Magical Teleportation Spell Formation between Taildon Valley and his castle, he would need to obtain enough Blood Essences from space element Magical Beasts to provide assistance to the Gnomes.
In order to obtain the Blood Essences of space element Magical Beasts, he had to try his luck deep in the Terras Forest.
Yang Ling had not wanted to stop when he passed by the Spider Valley; But after seeing the hordes of spiders and thinking about the expanding space in the Wizard’s Pagoda and the decently-sized forest of Arrow Bamboos he had there, Yang Ling thought he should stop to absorb a thousand or so little spiders into the space. After making his way around the valley, he transported a few hundred of the blood red trees in too, hoping to rear a large bath of spiders near the forest of Arrow Bamboos.
Since he was going to create a Magical Beast Base in the space within the Wizard’s Pagoda, he had to have the plants there that suited the various Magical Beasts. Other than the spiders, he could also move Horned Bee Beasts, Evil Eyes and Vampire Bats into the space.
This way, he could not only provide the Magical Beast army with a source of food, he would also be able to replenish his supply of low level Magical Beasts anytime he needed. Under special circumstances, he could also quickly expand his army, enhancing the scale and abilities of his Magical Beast army in the shortest time possible.
Having transported a thousand small spiders and a few hundred large blood red trees to the Wizard’s Pagoda, Yang Ling felt a shred of fatigue, despite his massive amount of mental energy. In order to maintain his peak physical and mental forms, he summoned a team of Horned Bee Beasts to protect his body and then sat cross legged, trying to recover. He absorbed the vast energy of the stars and the inexhaustible life force from the forest.
There were high level Magical Beasts roaming deep in the Terras Forest, and Yang Ling was unwilling to act recklessly after exhausting a great amount of his mental energy, in case any accidents happened. After all, both the Earth Evasion Technique and entering the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda required a fixed amount of mental energy. He would regret it if he did not have enough mental energy at a critical moment.
