Lord of the Magical Beasts

All of the Evil Eyes had evolved to the third level. Regrettably, Yang Ling was unable to evolve the strongest Evil Eye he selected to level four even after feeding it ten Essence Crystals. He couldn’t get it to evolve into a champion like the Tarantula King.

It looked like the difference between level three and level four was huge! Perhaps only the Essence Crystal of a high level Evil Eye could speed up the evolution process. The Tarantula King was like this too. It now no longer showed any obvious changes when it consumed the Essence Crystals of average tarantulas. It was only affected when it consumed the Essence Crystal of a tarantula that was at the same or a higher level than itself.

Since he was already deep within Valenia Valley where the Evil Eyes gathered, Yang Ling could not bear to miss the opportunity. He continued searching for suitable targets within the land basin. But regrettably, even Evil Eyes who had naturally evolved to level two were incredibly rare, much less level three. As for level four Evil Eyes, he did not even get a glimpse of one in all his days of searching.

Caves laced the land basin. Some of them branched out like rat nests, while some were deep beyond imagination, without an end in sight even after hours of walking. They were sinister, like bottomless pits that led straight to hell. Yang Ling did not dare go to deep within them, even with his many Magical Beasts protecting him.

Other than the Evil Eyes and the giant, fire-breathing lizards, Yang Ling would sometimes encounter colorful, centipede-like bugs. Even though their offensive capabilities were average at best, their poison was even more potent than that of the Tarantula King. Yang Ling was lucky that he did not face any danger under the protection of the Horned Bee Beasts. Over several days, he hadn’t found any traces of high level Evil Eyes, but instead, he had managed to hunt the Essence Crystals of a dozen the centipedes.

According to the memories of the Evil Eyes, these centipedes were also low level Magical Beasts, and they subsisted by consuming poisonous green algae that grew in dark corners. The older a centipede was, the more potent the poison within its body was. Those who were stung with its poison would see pustules grow all over their bodies, with the most serious cases resulting in rotting flesh and death.

Not wanting to miss out, Yang Ling would slice open the head of the centipede-like insect every time he killed one and retrieve its dark green Essence Crystal. He might not have a use for them now, but they might prove useful in the future.

At the start, he had wanted to tame a few of these creatures. But after seeing their slow speed, he gave up that thought after some consideration. The abilities of the troops were more important than their quantity. Good mobility was of utmost importance. Taming too many slow, low level Magical Beasts would severely inhibit the mobility of the entire army. The gains did not outweigh the losses!

This day, while tailing a group of Evil Eyes foraging for food, Yang Ling silently arrived at a massive cave.

This cave was different from the other caves of the Evil Eyes. A line of Evil Eyes were guarding this cave. In fact, there seemed to be a few hidden scouts. Also, a continuous stream of Evil Eyes were entering and leaving the cave.

Could this be a supersized Evil Eye cave?

Looking at the crowd of Evil Eyes going in and out of the cave, Yang Ling had a thought. He summoned a level three Horned Bee Beast.

There were several dark green vines growing all around the cave of the Evil Eyes, their leaves lush. Using the leaves as cover, the fist-sized Horned Bee Beast silently infiltrated the cave. Indeed, there was something hidden within the cave. There were countless Evil Eyes within the cave, not only were there a large horde of level two Evil Eyes, there were even some who had evolved to level three.

Yang Ling was very excited about the rare encounter with such a large scale Evil Eye nest, but he couldn’t help but frown when he looked at the Evil Eyes heavily guarding the cave. The hidden scouts were not a problem, as he could silently dispose of them by mobilizing a group of Horned Bee Beasts. But there was a continuous stream of Evil Eyes entering and exiting the cave. How could he get rid of those Evil Eyes at the door without causing any alarm?

Should he instruct the Horned Bee Beasts to launch a surprise attack using their poisonous stingers? Or command the Tarantula King to lead the spider army in an all out attack?

After a moment’s deliberation, Yang Ling shook his head. It would be easy to deal with the Evil Eyes guarding the entrance. The problem lay in the fact that there were too many Evil Eyes making their way in and out of the cave. If he could not deal with them all in an instant, a hard battle might ensue after the large group of Evil Eyes in the cave were prepared for battle.

Evil Eyes that had not evolved were slow moving, their intellect and offensive capabilities severely lacking. But Evil Eyes that have evolved to level two and three were different. They possessed a certain amount of intelligence and movement speed. Even though their defensive capabilities had no obvious change, their offensive capabilities were enhanced by several multiples.

In addition, if there was an Evil Eye King like the Tarantula King within this cave, then the attacks of the large group of high level Evil Eyes would become even more terrifying. Yang Ling was unwilling to engage in an all out battle with the Evil Eyes unless he had absolutely no choice. He did not wish to lose eight hundred of his troops to kill a thousand of the enemy’s. No matter the occasion, obtaining the largest amount of benefits with the lowest cost was the smartest thing to do.

An armed infiltration behind enemy lines?

Yang Ling came up with a brilliant idea as he looked at the countless wild Evil Eyes and thought about his own Evil Eye army. Clenching his teeth, he decided to take the gamble. He would instruct his army to attack if he failed.

After instructing a team of Horned Bee Beasts to quickly get rid of the other party’s hidden scouts, Yang Ling quietly summoned his Magical Beast army.

The two thousand Evil Eyes were split into ten waves, their primary responsibilities to mix into the cave. They were to quickly deal with the other party’s elites when they received the order to attack, then block the critical tunnels or places with high vantage points.

The Horned Bee Beasts were split into five groups and put in charge of long-distance ambushes. When the Evil Eyes were in position, the Horned Bee Beasts were to immediately deal with the guards at the entrance, then quickly charge into the cave to reinforce the Evil Eyes that had poor defensive capabilities.

The spider army under the Tarantula King was split into ten teams. Eight of the teams were to closely follow the actions of the Horned Bee Beasts. Their missions were to dispatch the wild Evil Eyes at the front of the cave as fast as possible. The other two teams were responsible for acting together with the Withered Tree Warriors to stop the Evil Eyes that were outside foraging for food from returning as reinforcements.

After the preparations had been made, Yang Ling got onto the Unicorn without hesitation and instructed the Evil Eyes to act immediately.

Perhaps it was because there were too many Evil Eyes coming and going, but neither the traveling Evil Eyes or the Evil Eyes guarding the entrance noticed a few groups of foreign Evil Eyes infiltrating the cave. If they had observed a little closer, they would have realized that these foreign Evil Eyes had three tentacles on either side of their bodies and were rare level threes.

Unfortunately for them, none of the guards noticed this unusual situation. Just like that, Yang Ling’s plan was already half successful. The careless wild Evil Eyes did not know that an unprecedented disaster was about to befall them!

With the improvement in his Wizard Power, Yang Ling could now control the movement of each of his Magical Beasts within a five-mile radius. Even though he would exhaust more Wizard Power if he had to control them for a long time or use them to do precise tasks, he could still control the Magical Beasts enough to deal with the battle before him. Under his command, the Evil Eyes that infiltrated the cave all took up advantageous positions in the terrain.

After confirming that the Evil Eyes were in position, Yang Ling decisively ordered the rest of the Magical Beasts to act. In that instant, the prepared Horned Bee Beasts pounced outward like supersonic fighter jets, charging straight for the wild Evil Eyes at the entrance of the cave.

After releasing a concentrated wave of poisonous stingers, the Horned Bee Beast army flew into the cave without stopping. Under their lightning-fast ambush and the cloud of poisonous stingers, none the Evil Eyes that were caught off guard survived.

Even though it could not keep up with the speedy Horned Bee Beasts, the Tarantula King also commanded its army to move. Under its orders, the spiders that were in formation swarmed toward the Evil Eyes’ cave. The defenseless Evil Eyes had no chance to retaliate.

After instructing the remaining two teams of tarantulas and the Withered Tree Warriors to get into position to kill off any enemy reinforcements, Yang Ling rode his Unicorn and quickly caught up to the ferocious spider army. Surrounded by these spider troops that did not fear death, the Unicorn didn’t even get the chance to attack anything.

Within the cave, the Magical Beast army was unstoppable. A few high level wild Evil Eyes had just gathered a bunch of low level Evil Eyes to retaliate when they were immediately struck down by the Horned Bee Beasts. Without a leader, the unintelligent low level Evil Eyes all staggered around as they tried to escape, unable to play to their numbers advantage.

Facing the Magical Beast army’s attacks from the inside and the outside, facing their fierce combined attacks from the sky and the ground, the defenseless wild Evil Eyes were completely defeated. Furthermore, the Evil Eyes that were returning as reinforcements were also subjected to fierce attacks. They were like moths fluttering into a blazing torch.

The outcome was clear. Yang Ling took control of the situation not long after! The ground inside the cave and around the cave’s mouth was littered with the corpses of wild Evil Eyes. Blood accumulated on the ground in the middle of the cave, forming a pool of blood. There was a thick metallic stench in the air.

According to a preliminary count, nearly five thousand Evil Eyes had been eradicated in this battle. Amongst them, there were more than two hundred that had evolved to the third level and more than eight hundred who were at the second level. Regrettably, there were no level four Evil Eyes, nor was there a champion like the Tarantula King.

It looked like there was only one plan left!

Since there was no true champion even in such a large Evil Eye tribe, Yang Ling no longer harbored much hope in this land basin. It looked like he would have to do this himself if he wanted to quickly obtain an Evil Eye King like the Tarantula King.

Without hesitation, he instructed the Magical Beast army to guard the entrance while he set up a simple Spirit Gathering Spell Formation within the cave. He wanted to use his Wizard Power and life force to forcefully nurture an Evil Eye King.

The situation in Wissen Town was delicate. He did not know exactly how things were going in town, having been in the Terras Forest for so long. He had to return as soon as possible, no matter the outcome of this experiment. After all, he could return here some other time if the experiment was not successful. But it would restrict Yang Ling’s future developments if Steve, the leader who had appeared out of nowhere, successfully gained a foothold.

Choosing the most powerful Evil Eye, Yang Ling sat on the ground cross-legged and placed his right hand on its head. There were piles of Evil Eye Essence Crystals of varying sizes around him. He was going to go all out. He had decided to take a gamble. He ordered the Evil Eye in front of him to consume the Essence Crystals while he continuously injected it with his blood red Wizard Power and green life force, gradually increasing the intensity.

Under the combined effects of the Essence Crystals, Wizard Power, and life force, the Evil Eye sprawled before Yang Ling gently started to shudder, its muscles and tentacles expanding, contracting, then expanding again, forming a continuous cycle…

At the same time, under the effects of the Spirit Gathering Spell Formation, the spiritual energy within the land basin coursed into the cave. Even though it was incomparable to other places within Terras Forest, it was still an extravagant sight. If one observed closely, they would even see bolts of blood red vapor being released from the nearby Evil Eye corpses and drifting into a pool that rapidly entered the head of the Evil Eye that Yang Ling was developing.