Chapter 261 - 156: Manqiluo’s Buffet (2)
The attacks struck the shield but failed to cause the slightest ripple. No matter what kind of attack he used, he couldn’t break through it.
At the same time, the soldiers outside saw their captain get devoured and hurriedly aimed all their attacks at Manqiluo. In an instant, countless attacks rushed toward her.
Manqiluo remained unconcerned, continuing to devour the soldiers of the Northern Expedition Legion one by one at an unhurried pace. Only the large mouth that had swallowed the captain remained temporarily shut, not consuming anyone else.
"Keep it up! Focus your fire! The captain is still in its mouth! We have to get him out!"
Someone in the flanking team shouted, and the attacks striking Manqiluo grew even denser.
Facing these attacks, a Spiritual Shield suddenly appeared on Manqiluo’s body. The combination of "Advanced Spiritual Energy Manipulation" and "Advanced Nature Magic Mastery," coupled with her incredibly high stats from her level, made the shield she cast incomparably sturdy.
The shield Manqiluo cast was no ordinary one. It was a rare skill she had found in the Wisdom Library, a shield that gained a bonus from health. For every 100 health points, it gained 100 shield points. Moreover, as her proficiency with the skill increased (as the skill leveled up), she could gain even higher multipliers.
And as it happened, Manqiluo’s skill proficiency was very high.
Besides, under the bonus from "Giant Plant," what was the highest stat for the plant-people of the territory?
Health and attack power!!!
A shield boosted by health was terrifyingly strong.
All the attacks failed to cause even the slightest flicker in the shield.
A few seconds later, the large mouth that had swallowed the captain resumed devouring the members of the flanking team on the ground.
When everyone saw their Excellence-grade hero captain eliminated so quickly, and that their attacks on Manqiluo didn’t even create a ripple, fear surged in their hearts once more.
More hero-grade plant-people appeared in the surroundings. Under their leadership, the plant-people launched a fierce assault on the members of the flanking team.
(Although many unmotivated plant-people simply enjoyed the feeling of freedom after gaining the ability to move freely, quite a few had still passed their Celestial Tribulation in the territory’s abundant Spiritual Energy environment. They became Plant Demons and were promoted to heroes. After all, the base population of plant-people was quite large, and the territory’s boons were also significant.)
The members of the flanking team fought back valiantly under the leadership of their own Excellence-grade heroes. However, whenever a hero dared to step up, Manqiluo would swallow them in a single gulp, and they would be swiftly digested.
Soon, no heroes dared to step up anymore. All who had dared were devoured by Manqiluo.
Without heroes to help fend off the attacks of the Plant Demon heroes, the casualties among the ordinary members of the flanking team continued to mount.
The fear in their hearts grew ever thicker. If not for the fact that most of them were hosts parasitized by Eye Demons, they would have broken down long ago.
Just then, the Withered Messengers arrived nearby.
The moment Amuti saw the state of the battle, he grew anxious. "Quick! Prepare ’Panic Descends’! In ten seconds, we’ll descend en masse into the enemy’s ranks."
They finally had enemies, but they hadn’t gotten much experience yet. While these enemies were milling about, the Withered Messengers hadn’t acted often due to their lack of good methods for hiding corpses. Most of the enemies who had gone missing were taken by the plant-people, especially the Big-Mouthed Flowers among them.
The plan had been to inflict fear upon these enemies and then let the Withered Messengers handle the final harvest, but the plant-people had actually made the first move.
Ten seconds later, several thousand Withered Messengers leaped into the ranks of the flanking team. Each Withered Messenger was wreathed in a "Wind of Decay," and the flanking team members around them immediately suffered a ton of damage.
Their hearts were already filled with terror, and now, triggered by the "Fear" effect from the Withered Messengers, they instantly fell into chaos.
Someone in the team tried to organize a counterattack but was immediately hit with the active "Fear" effect by a nearby Withered Messenger and just started running around blindly.
In the midst of the crowd, the Withered Messengers also unleashed streams of "Life Link," directly draining the life from the flanking team members who weren’t inside the "Wind of Decay."
A few minutes later, all remaining members of the flanking team had lost their lives in a state of terror.
"Amuti, you guys were certainly in a hurry."
Manqiluo shrank down, transforming into her plant-person form, and said teasingly to Amuti.
"Heh! If we hadn’t been, you all would have eaten every last one of them."
"Didn’t we agree that we would be the ones to start the official battle? Why did you guys just start without us? Good thing their hearts were already filled with fear; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been easy for us to enter the battlefield."
Amuti said, his tone slightly reproachful.
Manqiluo waved her four Big-Mouthed Flowers and replied helplessly, "You can’t blame me for this. It’s all their fault for trying to set the mountain on fire. We had no choice. We had already surrounded them, so we had to engage directly. Otherwise, a lot of our kin would have been burned to death for nothing."
(Using ice watermelons to extinguish the fire would have been more trouble than simply starting the battle.)
After hearing this, Amuti understood that Manqiluo hadn’t intentionally tried to steal the experience, so he didn’t press the matter.
At this moment, the nearby Death Devourers came over. After they had absorbed all the aura of death, the plant-people ran over to the corpses and took root in them. The nutrients from the corpses were quite good and could provide some experience.
Seeing there was nothing left to do, Amuti led the Withered Messengers back. They then scattered, each finding a random spot to camouflage themselves and await further orders.
The Death Devourers, having finished absorbing the deathly aura, burrowed directly into the ground on the spot, disguising themselves as tree stumps.
The plant-people also found good spots, each burying a corpse beneath them before sending their roots through the body and into the soil, once again turning back into lovely plants.
The mountaintop returned to tranquility once more, as if the previous clamor had all been an illusion.
The Northern Expedition Legion’s flanking team left no trace on the mountaintop. Only the plants grew even more lush.
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Down below, the four Xiong Family brothers led their Cavalry to the base of the cliff. There, they discovered the Core Lords (who were parasitized) preparing to return to camp.
"Yo, fellas, what are you all doing here?"
"Why’d you only bring a few Heroic Guards? Aren’t you afraid the Sniper Corps will spot you?"
Xiong Er asked curiously as he looked at the lords.
"Classified mission. Don’t ask questions!"
Seeing the four Xiong Family brothers, a flash of displeasure crossed the Core Lords’ faces. They replied coldly before leading their men away.
The four Xiong Family brothers were quite infamous in the Core Lord circle, especially after the lords who had lent them heroes joined the circle. Everyone knew about the brothers’ shady antics.
However, because the Northern Expedition Legion was short on people, and because many lords without upgraded heroes joined later, the four brothers weren’t kicked out.
But everyone had taken notice of the four brothers. They’d seen that the brothers only brought Cavalry, didn’t participate in the siege battles, and spent their time along the way busy collecting protection fees.
Thus, the four brothers had made a name for themselves within the Northern Expedition Legion’s Core Lord circle.
"How have those four not been kicked out yet? Didn’t Boss Ah Pu say he was going to make them leave the legion?"
"No idea. Looks like they applied for a patrol mission themselves?"
"Hmph, cunning bastards!"
The faint voices drifting from a distance made the four Xiong Family brothers roar with laughter.
"Looks like we’re pretty famous after all!"
"You know it! We four brothers are the center of attention wherever we go!"
"So they noticed us a long time ago and only planned on kicking us out? How kind of them!"
"BWAHAHAHA—"
After the laughter died down, Xiong Xiaoming asked Xiong Da, "Big Bro, what’s our next move?"
"We’ll make camp. We just need to patrol around here."
"Big Bro! Isn’t that too dangerous? If the Sniper Corps comes down from up there, won’t we brothers be wiped out instantly?"
"What’s there to be afraid of? See that?"
Xiong Da pointed to some marks on the cliff face.
"Those are clearly marks from climbing anchors. Someone from the legion definitely went up."
"Which means our guys are up there now. And judging by the looks of those lords who just left, their operation up top must have gone very smoothly."
"Besides, if there were people from the Sniper Corps up there, they’d definitely be fighting."
"If something falls down, don’t you think we’d know there was trouble?"
"Relax!!"
After hearing Xiong Da’s explanation, the other three brothers also relaxed.
And so, the four Xiong Family brothers began to set up camp, their minds at ease.