Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The North had a bone-chilling cold and dry weather, while Tailun Continent’s southern region had warm and rainy weather, and this was especially the case in summer. The weather would become unpredictable, and in an instant, a clear sky might become engulfed by black clouds, and it would be usually followed by heavy rain.
The crowd had only stayed next to Saint Peter Castle for five days without coming with a solution to conquer the city, yet they had already faced three great rainstorms, and the last one still didn’t end. Even the mountain torrent erupted out, and if the crowd didn’t retreat in time and set up a camp on a hillside, they might have been drowned by the flood before they managed to conquer Saint Peter Castle.
“What damned weather! How can we still fight with this great rain? ” The Dark Dragon King shook his head as he observed the ceaseless downpour of rain.
In the past two days, the Dark Dragon King had tried to approach Saint Peter Castle quietly because he wanted to depend upon his powerful body and high speed to rush inside, but he was discovered before he closed on in it, and attacks rained upon him.
The Dark Dragon King’s wings were almost broken by the meteorite rains that filled the sky, and even though he managed to survive through releasing his Draconic Domain, many injuries were left on his body. The might of the great Magical Towers’ volleys was beyond people’s imaginations.
“Hehe, this rain is still quite small. The Death Plane’s rainstorm that occurs every 100 years is quite terrifying, and it’s able to drown the whole Saint Peter Castle. Even if the defensive Magical Towers were more powerful than this, they still can’t survive in the face of a great flood.” The Corpse Wizard King laughed as he recalled the Death Plane’s terrifying rainstorm.
A Flood drowning a mountain?
“Can I invite the spellcasters of the Mermaid Evelyn’s Sea Clan, and ask them to use Water Spells to summon a great flood that will drown the majestic Saint Peter Castle?”
As Yang Ling observed the flood flowing ceaselessly below the hill, he thought about the powerful Sea Clan’s Spellcasters that accompanied the Mermaid Evelyn, and he got an idea. But after Yang Ling mulled it over, he shook his head helplessly and gave up on such an impractical method.
Even though a flood was great and powerful, it would still end and disappear one day. If they were on the coast, it would have been possible for the Sea Clan’s Spellcasters to summon a great flood, but they were now among the boundless Ural Mountain Range, and they couldn’t depend upon a flood to drown Saint Peter Castle.
In addition, the Mermaid Evelyn and her personal guards had gone back to the distant Siattu Sea, and even though she promised him that she would come back after dealing with algal bloom’s crisis. None knew when they would get to meet once again, and even if the Sea Clan’s Spellcasters were able to flood Saint Peter Castle with powerful Water Spells, Yang Ling couldn’t wait for her to rush over once she received a message from him. After all, the Magical Beast Realm was too far away from the Siattu Sea.
“Oh, that is right. Yang Ling, how long can you survive with the rations you have brought with you?” Elder Klive observed the endless downpour of rain before he looked at the heavily guarded Saint Peter Castle. He was deeply worried!
For the past innumerable years, the Dark Association that faced the Church’s pressure declined steadily, and this time, the Great Elder had already taken most of the association’s resources to inflict heavy damage upon the Church’s main camp.
Even though Klive racked his brains for a solution, he still could only bring with him rations enough for less than half a month, and if they couldn’t conquer Saint Peter Castle by then, then they could withdraw.
“Elder, I’m afraid that my situation isn’t any better than yours.” Yang Ling shook his head. He was aware of Elder Klive’s plight.
The Magical Beast Realm had made thorough preparations for this operation, and it didn’t just raise the number of fighting soldiers to eight thousand, it had even taken with it a large number of strategic resources, while it had still retrieved many weapons, rations and other war’s spoils in Iron Edge Castle’s battle.
However, the amount was limited, and their resources couldn’t be supplemented. If they continued consuming them as they fought, their domain would bear greater toil, and this was why they had to come up with a way to end the battle quickly.
It was probably time to ask the Great Elder and others to withdraw their soldiers, wasn’t it?
It was already outstanding for the Magical Beast Realm to have its current achievements with Yang Ling’s lead. After all, their domain was small and had limited resources.
Elder Klive also knew this matter clearly, and he knew that he couldn’t get more resources from the Magical Beast Ream. If the battle stayed in a deadlock, it would turn more disadvantageous to the Dark Association and the Magical Beast Ream. It would be better to ask the Great Elder’s army to retreat rather than struggling on the front lines, and they should focus their whole power in conquering Saint Peter Castle.
In any case, the Dark Association’s operation objective was taking back the southern region’s lost land, and driving out the Church’s factions, while still inflicting heavy damage upon the Church’s main force. As long as they conquered Saint Peter Castle, they would have achieved their objective, and they didn’t have to fight the Church’s great army in vain. They should continue developing their faction for several years to recover to their peak, before waging an all-out war.
On the one hand, it was easy to guard the majestic Saint Peter Castle, while on the other hand, attacking it and conquering it was quite difficult, and braving the rain to attack it would be a stupid choice. The crowd that faced the endless downpour of rain could only wait, and their wait lasted three whole days and nights.
The endless rainstorm became more violent as time passed, and the Ural Mountains’ floor turned scarier. Many wild beasts’ corpses were washed out of the mountain along with rocks and broken branches. Some of the beasts were dying, while some were dismembered. It was a horrible sight!
Sometimes, one could see gray groundhogs atop the branches, and they held the branches as they floated atop the flood’s water. Most of them were washed down by the flood all the way, while some lucky groundhogs managed to climb up the hill and escape such a crisis. They seemed quite pitiful and were shivering with cold. This was why the crowd didn’t pay heed to them, and at this moment, the crowd didn’t imagine that their carelessness would cause a great disaster.
“Your lordship, your lordship. It’s awful! Our rations were eaten by the groundhogs!” Yang Ling had trained in mediation for a whole day in the Wizard Pagoda’s dimension, and when he just teleported out of it, the guard Orlando scowled miserably and rushed to him, while followed by Ashnamov, Elder Klive, and others. Their faces were pale!
“Humph! Where are the soldiers on guard? Were they all sleeping?” Yang Ling snorted coldly, while his expression turned gloomy.
“Your lordship, the number of groundhogs on the hillside is too great, and the soldiers couldn’t deal with them.” Guilt was apparent on Ashnamov’s face. He was the commander, and he was at blame for the loss of the rations. He had instructed the soldiers to guard them strictly before he went to sleep at midnight, and he didn’t expect that he would discover such a large number of groundhogs on the hillside after he awakened.
Yang Ling was angry because the soldiers neglected their job, but after he saw the innumerable groundhogs on the hillside, he didn’t say anything further.
After the rainstorm continued for three whole days and nights, it finally stopped, and the flood started disappearing. But, the number of groundhogs that rushed out of the Ural Mountains rose higher, and the reason behind this was either hunger or the destruction of their nest.
Those groundhogs that had tails taller than their own bodies formed groups and rushed over, while they devoured everything in their way. They were numerous and densely packed, and they were like locusts that swept the Ural Plain next to the mountain range.
According to the scout’s report, a rarely seen groundhogs’ disaster appeared in Saint Peter Castle, and it was only the soldiers that were unmoved and kept a strict guard. Common people had already descended into chaos and started yelling. The groundhogs that fell upon Ural Plain’s hamlets caused a groundhogs’ disaster never seen before.
In most regions, it wasn’t just stored foods that were targeted by the groundhogs, as even humans suffered the assault of the hungry groundhogs. Many sleeping people were swarmed by the groundhogs and eaten alive, while some of them managed to escape out of their homes in alarm, and rushed toward Saint Peter Castle’s gate, and entreated the soldiers to allow them inside. As for others, they escaped in a panic to the south, and they escaped to Banto Empire’s Yanjing City.
“My Lord, the soldiers had started taking actions, but the number of starved groundhogs is too great.” Ashnamov looked at the flood-like groundhogs that rushed toward the hillside and shook his head helplessly. The groundhogs had just eaten most of the rations, and the soldiers didn’t suffer any harm because they assembled together to form formations and resist the assaults of the groundhogs with the help of Spellcasters. If they hadn’t done so, the outcome would have been disastrous.
Could it be that the Ural Mountains that stretched for 10,000 were a giant nest of groundhogs?
As Yang Ling observed the innumerable groundhogs, he shook his head. According to the crowd’s explanation, those astute creatures were Ural Mountains’ most commonly seen creatures, and had an inborn talent in boring holes, while they still had nests as complex as a spider’s web.
There were innumerable groundhogs, and they could depend upon their large number to rule Ural Mountain Range despite their weak individual offensive power. The experienced hunter would rather face a Violent Earth Bear than this group of crazy groundhogs.
“Yang Ling, let’s leave. Let’s wait for the Great Elder’s return before coming back and attacking Saint Peter Castle together.” Elder Klive observed the majestic Saint Peter Castle and numerous groundhogs before he shook his head. He instructed some Spellcasters to build a Teleportation Formation Spell and got ready to use it to make a quick leave. Since they didn’t have rations, their situation would turn for the worse by staying here.
“Hehe. Elder, don’t get anxious. I still have a batch of rations in my Spatial Ring, and it can at least help us survive for several days.” When the crowd saw the innumerable groundhogs, they got a headache, while Yang Ling got a bright idea. Yang Ling saw hope for conquering the castle on those little creatures’ bodies.
A Dragon would give birth to a Dragon, while a Phoenix would give birth to a Phoenix, and a groundhog’s descendants would surely be adept at boring holes.
When it came to boring holes, groundhogs were inborn experts, and they could bore a long tunnel that went from the outside of Saint Peter castle to its inside. A single groundhog would spend several days or even several tens of days to make it, but if there were 1,000, 10,000, or even a few 100,000 of those creatures working together, then they would be able to make tens of tunnels in all directions in several hours.
A cornered dog would jump over walls, while a starved groundhog would bite people.
If Yang Ling could tame the Groundhog King, then he could use it to command all groundhogs in the Ural Mountains and ask them to make tunnels together. They could depend upon the tunnels to launch a sneak-attack from the inside of Saint Peter Castle, and at that time, the number of the Church’s defenders wouldn’t be able to turn the tide, and as long as Yang Ling seized good timing, and ordered the soldiers and Magical Beasts to carry out the battle, they would manage to conquer Saint Peter Castle easily.
