Lord of the Magical Beasts

After spending a good portion of the day, Yang Ling had finally arrived at the lake located high in the mountains.

Surrounded by a cluster of mountains, the lake water was almost unbelievably clear, reflecting the snow-capped peaks as groups of fish swam by from time to time. Even though it was not frozen solid, there were still a good amount of solid ice at the shore.

Even a sage level fighter had to take a detour to avoid the powerful Magical Beasts that were over a hundred Twin-legged Flying Dragons. In order to erase his tracks, Yang Ling carefully crept forward after recalling the Tarantula King, then hid by a tree beside the lake to observe his surroundings.

According to the memories of the Twin-legged Flying Dragon, their nest was close by. But after observing the surroundings for some time, Yang Ling did not see any trace of wild Flying Dragons. All he saw were the fish in the lake, and a handful of snow goats drinking on the far shore.

From far away, the snow goats living at this altitude were rather similar to the antelopes in his memory. They had slender limbs, and their hooves were small and sharp. Their rears were covered in white fur, and the two horns on their heads were curved, thin and long. Some were lowering their heads to drink, while others swept the snow away as they chewed the grass underneath. Others were chasing and playing, running and bucking.

They do look fair and tender, I wonder how they taste?

Having eaten only dried rations in the forest all this while, Yang Ling could not help but remember the taste of a whole roasted lamb when he looked at the delicate snow goats. If not for his worry of alerting the Twin-legged Flying Dragons, he might have tried catching one for food.

Yang Ling realized that there was much more wild game than he had imagined. Creatures swimming in the water, crawling on the land, flying in the sky… There was an abundance here! He did not have to worry about any conservationist creating trouble for him no matter how many of the wild beasts he ate.

After patiently waiting for about two hours, watching as groups of snow goats by the lakeside came and went, Yang Ling still could not find traces of the Twin-legged Flying Dragons.

Could it be that the other Flying Dragons were hibernating, or have gone out in search of food?

Yang Ling shook his head in doubt, prepared to make his way around the lake to take a look and understand the general situation of this area. But just as he was about to get moving, waves of strange sounds came from far away.

The weird sounds got increasingly closer, as if a group of wild beasts were approaching him at high speeds. Yang Ling felt that the cries sounded familiar.

He had just summoned the Horned Bee Beasts to protect him when a huge flock of Vampire Bats appeared from behind a nearby hill. They boiled over the horizon in a horde, at least three thousand of them. They called their strange cries as they swarmed toward the snow goats by the lake shore.

Caught off guard, the goats began to panic. Some ran one way with all their might, hoping to make it into the cover of the lush forest. Some sprinted along the shore, attempting to shake off the Vampire Bats behind them. There were even some who stepped into the ice around the lake in their anxiety, unable to free themselves in no time.

The snow goats were fast, but the Vampire Bats were faster.

Letting out the strange cries, the hordes of Vampire Bats split into teams, pursuing the escaping snow goats, their sharp tail stingers piercing deep into the goats as they began to suck out their prey’s blood.

In terrible pain and terrified, the snow goats struggled for their lives, thrashing and kicking, some even rolling on the ground in a frenzy. But the Vampire Bats latched on tightly, and they were unable to free themselves no matter what they did. Slowly, their struggling slowed, and their bodies shriveled from loss of blood and fluids.

Could there also be a large group of Vampire Bats living near the lake?

Yang Ling observed the Vampire Bats nearby, looking to see if the bats were any different from those that he had tamed at the shores of the Black Water Lake. He had not had the time to observe them closely when another group of Vampire Bats flew in from the horizon, joining the hunt.

Just like this, over a hundred snow goats turned into dry chunks of firewood in no time.

After eating their fill, the Vampire Bats gathered together. It was as though they were depending on each other for warmth, or that they were digesting the blood of the lambs they had consumed. Only a few of the bats were flying around aimlessly.

Yang Ling needed more Vampire Bats if he was going to build an army of self destructing bats. Yang Ling’s plan was to find a day to return to the Black Water Lake and search for the nest of the Vampire Bats, but here he had stumbled upon a perfect opportunity. He would not miss the opportunity presented to him.

Just as he was about to take action, a faint sound started nearby. At the same time, a piercing killing intent spread throughout the area.

In his shock, Yang Ling looked back with caution, his scalp turning numb in that instant.

What he saw was a dozen ferocious Twin-legged Flying Dragons about a hundred steps from him. It seemed that they appeared out of nowhere. They inched forward carefully, their two legs stomping heavily on the snowy ground, quickly and silently closing the distance.

Could it be that his tracks had already been exposed?

Yang Ling quickly brandished his sharp Blood Elf Dagger. He had wanted to leave quickly, but felt that something was off.

If he was the target of these Flying Dragons, they would have long since attacked him. There was no way that they would silently make their way past the tree that he was hiding in. Judging from their actions, Yang Ling deduced that their true target was the Vampire Bats lazing at the water’s edge.

Indeed, after sneaking to the edge of the forest, the dozen Flying Dragons quickly took to the skies altogether, then diving toward the Vampire Bats, fast as lightning.

Even though the Vampire Bats were slightly faster than the Flying Dragons, it was too late when they noticed that something was wrong!

After opening their mouths and spewing a torrent of acid-like poison to prevent the army of bats from taking to the skies and running for their lives, the Flying Dragons began to feed. With a flick of their tongues, which were covered with a sticky substance, they inhaled the Vampire Bats by the hundreds, swallowing them whole. Their actions were clean and decisive. It looked like they were very experienced.

Caught off guard, there was no time for the army of bats to hide. After being hit with the acid-like poison, they were unable to fly. They were consumed by the ambushing Flying Dragons like an afternoon snack.

Did he almost fall for the trap of coveting present gains without regard for future troubles?

Looking at the Twin-legged Flying Dragons that had exterminated the Vampire Bats in record time and were not even sparing the dried up corpses of the snow goats, Yang Ling felt his skin crawl. He was lucky that he had been cautious, not exposing his tracks. Otherwise he might have fallen for the trap set by the Flying Dragons.

Yang Ling was confident that he could win by summoning his Magical Beast army and tame the Flying Dragons using that opportunity if he only had to deal with the dozen Flying Dragons before him. But the nests of the Flying Dragons were not far away; locking himself in combat with the dragons was undoubtedly a foolish choice. The plan might even backfire on him. Not only would he not be able to tame the Flying Dragons, he might lose his entire Magical Beast army!

After circling in the air a few times, the Twin-legged Flying Dragons left quickly, landing in the forest on the other side of the lake. It looked like their nests were there. Yang Ling carefully followed them.

From far away, it looked as though the other side of the lake was covered by a forest, but Yang Ling realized that he was wrong when he walked over to take a look.

Behind the forest was a valley, deep and mysterious. It was obscured by thick fog, and Yang Ling was unable to clearly see the bottom of the valley even with the greatly enhanced eyesight he had gained when he advanced to the level of Heaven Wizard.

Steep cliffs surrounded the valley, with massive holes dug into every vertical surface. Occasionally, a few Flying Dragons entered or left these holes, vanishing into the bottom of the valley.

Sitting on a tree branch, Yang Ling carefully searched the memories of his Flying Dragon. After some time, he finally obtained the information he required from amongst the Flying Dragon’s tangled memories.

As it turned out, the Flying Dragons needed cool surroundings. What was at the bottom of the valley was a massive pool of water, surrounded year round by thick fog. Every Flying Dragon had its own cave, and they would spend most of their time not hunting for food resting at the pool of water at the bottom of the valley.

Other than the DragonBone Grass in the valley, their favorite food was the Vampire Bats. On an average day, they would sometimes head to the lake to hunt for bats. In the spring of every year, they formed teams and traveled thousands of miles to search for the most delectable Vampire Bats.

Yang Ling thought back to his conversations with the Fox Elder. Back then, the Fox Elder had opposed building a city by the Black Water Lake because he worried that they would face the assault of the Twin-legged Flying Dragons come spring the following year.

Yang Ling had been doubtful regarding where the Flying Dragons would come from, and why the dragons would hunt at the Black Water Lake every spring. Now that he had gained insight to the habits of the Flying Dragons, he finally understood what had worried the Fox Elder so.

The worries of the Fox Elder would be greatly alleviated if he could find a way to tame the Flying Dragons in the valley. There would no longer be a need to allocate heavy manpower to the defense of Black Water City. That way, he could divert manpower to strengthen the defenses at the Aila Mountain Pass, or build a naval force to scout for a safe sea route toward Bavaria as soon as possible.

Should I instruct my Magical Beast army to set up an ambush and wait for an opportunity, or should I find a way to attack the Flying Dragon Valley?

Yang Ling observed the fog surrounding the Flying Dragon Valley and frowned. He recalled the dragons’ powerful close combat skills, and their terrifying poison. It was beginning to look like taming all of the dragons in the Valley at once might not be so easy.

Since the Flying Dragons love eating Vampire Bats, is there a way for me to control the bats I tamed and lure them into a trap?

Yang Ling had a stroke of inspiration. Just like the Twin-legged Flying Dragons, the Vampire Bats enjoyed cool surroundings and would naturally stay close to streams or lakes. The Terras Forest spanned tens of thousands of miles, and there were countless streams of various sizes. He would be able to tame many Vampire Bats as long as he spent some time and energy.

With a large number of Vampire Bats, Yang Ling was confident that he would be able to fool the Twin-legged Flying Dragons as long as he planned his actions well.

As long as he tamed over a hundred Flying Dragons here, the threat that the Black Water City faced would disappear. More importantly, he would be one step closer to building a true Magical Beast army. If he were to add a team of Twin-legged Flying Dragons on top of his massive number of low level Magical Beasts like the Horned Bee Beasts, Evil Eyes and tarantulas, the overall ability of the entire Magical Beast army would be taken a notch higher overnight!