Andre Town
“The target has reached the kill zone. Begin!”
The hasty transmission passed through the secret imprint and simultaneously sounded out in five different locations.
Upon hearing the transmission, Leylin’s hand radiated a scarlet red glow, and he proceeded to press his hands against the obelisk in front of him.
*Bang!*
A circular wave of tremendous magical power erupted violently. The colorful spell glowed, and trapped the Kary Vultures within it like a cage.
“Ga Ga!” The Kary Vultures screeched furiously while the tumour-like muscles on their bald heads grew in size and glowed a bright red, finally culminating in a violent explosion.
*Ting!*
The resulting ear-piercing sound wave continued to reverberate within the cage. The remaining Kary Vultures continued to vibrate their tumour like muscles, amplifying the sound wave in the process.
“This kind of attack…”Leylin widened his eyes, the sound waves pounded on his skull like a hammer. He started to fall into a state of dizziness.
Under the agitation of the sound waves, the ring of light on top of the cage started to flicker and fade.
“The attack coming from such a lowly beast is stronger than expected. Furthermore, it can be amplified by the rest of the flock. If the Kary Vultures from before were still present, they would have surely broken free from the cage!”
“Plan A is not working, time for plan B!”
Lancey’s exasperated voice emitted from the secret imprint.
“Copy!”
Leylin whispered to the secret imprint and transfigured a magic spell
[Estimated countdown to entrapment detonation: 10 seconds!] The A.I. Chip stated.
“Let's go!” Leylin took a last look at the Kary Vultures that were still struggling in the cage and fled the scene.
*Bang!*
10 seconds later, at the stone forest, a violent explosion occurred.
The sound of the explosion filled the area, and black smoke shot up into the horizon.
In the blaze, colorful and fine potion powders occasionally dispersed.
To increase the power of the spell, Leylin had added a ton of explosive and conflagratory potions.
“Haha! Beasts are still just beasts!”
Looking at the Kary Vultures that struggled in the fiery blaze, the big bloke, who was also present, laughed out loud, condescendingly.
Two streams of blood flowed down from the big bloke’s ears. Evidently, the Kary Vultures’ attack had done considerable damage to him.
“This Kary Vulture King has realized its racial talents. The tumour like muscle on its head can be used to emit sound wave attacks, and it can be amplified by the flock. The level of danger will have been increased by at least two levels. When I get back, I must demand more money from those despicable merchants.”
The old geezer cursed.
“Talks about the price increase can be discussed later. Where is the big fellow?” Leylin pointed at the heart of the explosion.
Slowly, the blaze started to die down. From the original stone, forest emerged a large, soot covered, bird-like figure.
Half of the scarlet feathers on this Kary Vulture were burned off as a result of the explosion, and the other half of them were covered in black soot. There was also a large blood stain on its bald head. It was a funny sight, but Leylin and the rest of the party did not dare to let their guard down.
“The explosion just now had an estimated power of 30 degrees or higher. How unexpected…” Lancey hung her jaw open in shock.
“After all, it is not a weak bodied Magus but a high-level species with a powerful body!” Leylin said quickly, “Go forward and surround it! It is about to escape!”
“Damn it!” The old geezer reluctantly looked at the Kary Vulture King, which was already in flight, and cursed. He rapidly chanted an incantation.
Following his chant, a faint azure breeze converged, and formed two large azure wings on his back.
“I executed both the baiting and the intercepting, so I must get a larger share of the loot!”
The old geezer blustered. He vibrated the wings on his back and floated into the air.
*Whoosh!* The old geezer traveled at a very quick pace. He was as nimble in the air as he was on the ground. From the looks of it, he had much practice in air combat.
“Ga Ga!” The Kary Vulture King angrily cried out. Sadly, a large portion of its wings were damaged by the explosion, and it was no match for the old geezer in the air.
After hovering and swooping for a while, the old geezer grabbed an opportunity. With a green ray, he pierced one of the Kary Vulture King’s wings.
*Peng!*
With one wing pierced, the Kary Vulture King lost its balance and crashed down into the ground. A large cloud of sand floated around the downed Vulture.
“Advance!”
Leylin and the rest of the party immediately rushed up and surrounded the Kary Vulture King.
Blood flowed out from the multiple wounds on the Kary Vulture King. Looking at the Magi who surrounded it and the human figure floating in the sky above him, its eyes betrayed a sign of hopelessness.
“Haha! Goddamn beast, I shall tear you apart!”
The big bloke laughed out coldly. A green-greyish stone skin appeared on his body as he leapt at the injured Kary Vulture King.
“Ga Ga!”
The Kary Vulture King sounded an abnormally high-pitched shriek and shook its wings.
What remained of its unharmed wing slashed across like a knife, with feathers erect like steel blades. The wing clashed with the big bloke’s fist.
*Bang!* A dull explosion sounded out in midair and shook the ground below.
The big bloke quickly retreated, his greyish stone skin letting out a crackling sound like the popping noises of popcorn.
The Kary Vulture King let out another screech, and its body turned red. It looked like the Kary Vulture King was pumping all of its blood into its head. The originally shattered tumour on its head begun to rise and swell again.
“Careful, he is about to let loose a sound wave attack!” Leylin rapidly shouted out. He grabbed the tumour with his palms. ”Restrict!”
*Sssii!*
The countless black tentacle-like objects reached out from the Kary Vulture King’s shadow and bound it tightly. Extra effort was placed in tying up the Kary Vulture King’s skull region.
“All together!”
Leylin yelled wildly. Together with the other two silent Magi, he attacked the Kary Vulture King.
Various intensely fluctuating magical spells landed on the Kary Vulture King’s body.
The spells tore apart the Kary Vulture King’s chest, causing large amounts of blood to spurt out of it.
*Kacha!*
The old geezer, who had been floating in midair, let out an emerald air-blade attack, which chopped off the bound tumour.
The Kary Vulture King screeched a couple of times as the light in its eyes started to extinguish, and it thudded onto the floor.
*Pa!*The old geezer landed on the ground, and his magical green wings disappeared.
The six Magi surrounded the Kary Vulture King’s corpse. They all had complex looks on their faces.
“What a chore this has been! If not for the additional remuneration from the pub, this would have been a complete loss!”
The lack of serious injuries on the party was a poor reflection of the difficulty level of killing off the Kary Vulture King. They had to spend a lot of time to prepare the traps and come up with the various materials needed for the potions. On top of that, the fact that they needed 6 Magi to complete the task proved how big of a challenge it was.
The materials that were scavenged from the Kary Vulture King’s corpse were barely enough to cover the expenses of the effort taken by the party.
If anyone was dead or seriously injured from the incident, this would have been counted as a big loss.
Magi were a rational bunch. They could calmly perform cost-benefit analysis under different circumstances. If the cost was greater than the benefits, they would avoid doing the job.
This time, if not for the fact that the Kary Vulture King was obstructing the way towards their destination, the party would have left such a high-level creature alone.
“No matter what, the fact that our party has sustained no serious injuries is good news!”
The old geezer smiled widely and said, ”Now let’s discuss how to distribute the plunder from our efforts…”
Afterwards, true to Leylin’s expectations, the old geezer claimed the majority of the feathers and the pair of large wings with the argument that he had put in the most work. From the looks of his happy face, he must have needed it urgently for an experiment or for crafting.
The rest of the party followed suit and claimed what they felt was fair for the amount of work they had done.
Leylin took only a bit of the blood and flesh from the tumour and nothing else.
As a Warlock, he was extremely interested in the bloodline of high-level creatures. Although the benefits of the Kary Vultures’ bloodline were not documented, Leylin wanted to experiment to see if he could extract anything from it.
At night, in the Golden Oasis, the 6 Magi cleaned up the remains of the Kary Vulture King and refilled up their water supplies in the nearby water source. The Seated Lupin Wolves, which had been hidden for a long time, happily cleaned themselves in the lake.
In a glowing tent nearby, Leylin looked at the surface of the tumour, which he had retrieved with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
“A.I. Chip, record data, assist in the experiment!”
Leylin silently chanted a sentence, and immediately pulled on a pair of white rubber gloves. He held out his thumb and pressed on the tumour.
The blood on the tumour flesh has dried completely by now. There were bloodstains on it and it was shriveled.
“It is very light, there seem to be meridians and air sacs…”
Leylin’s eyes glowed blue. Using his other hand, he used a scalpel to break the surface of the tumour.
Inside the flesh, there was an oddly small amount of muscle and blood vessels, and it was comprised mainly of small air sacs.
Many of the air sacs were layered over each other, forming what looked like a lattice shape that resembled a beehive.
“This kind of composition…”
Leylin muttered to himself, “A.I. Chip, record the image!”
……
After the experiment was finished, Leylin cleaned up his makeshift laboratory, picked up a goose feather quill, and wrote in his goatskin notebook: Sound vessel composition and sound wave attack…
The path after the Golden Oasis was much less dangerous. They did not have any further encounters with powerful, high-level life forms such as the Golden Giant.
……
Andre Town was a small town located on the other side of the Grand Canyon Magret.
The Kary Vultures had caused the town to become empty and desolate. However, upon exiting the Grand Canyon, they saw a few people.
“May I know if you people are master Lancey and company?”
There was already someone standing by the roadside. He was clad in the pub’s working attire. Upon sighting Leylin and his party, he bowed respectfully. ”The incident with the Kary Vultures was already relayed to us by a secret imprint. Please follow me back to the pub to collect your rewards…”
“Ok!” Lancey and the old geezer stepped out among the group and gave their agreement.
After reaching the pub the attendants unhitched their luggage, and with a whistle, the Seated Lupin Wolves hurried into their feeding area at the rear of the pub.