Chapter 430: Sprit Plant Army
Looking at his new army, Rezen couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. The resources he had obtained from the Nine Sun Bloodwood alone had already improved his farm by a huge margin. With an army at his disposal, even more resources would definitely fall into his hands.
The realm he currently resided in was of a far higher rank than the Savage Beast Realm, and this naturally meant that it had more abundant resources.
"[Shadow Crow Puppets]"
Before Rezen ordered his plant army to wreak havoc and plunder the resources of the nearby forest, he first cast a spell.
From the shadows on the ground, several black crows flew out, and he felt his mind connect to these crows.
These crows had no combat power and could only be used as a means of surveillance.
With thousands of plants at his disposal, Rezen couldn’t simply let them proceed in one direction. They had to spread out for faster progress.
Only when they encountered tougher enemies would they need to fight together.
As such, Rezen needed a way to monitor his army’s progress. Fortunately, aside from sun-type magic, he was also quite proficient in crow magic.
He had learned this spell back in the Savage Beast Realm but had rarely had the chance to use it. But now, this spell would be fully utilized.
The crows stared at the army of spirit plants of different varieties, most of which were rooted on tree-type spirit plant magic beasts.
These trees were treants, and among plant-type magic beasts, they were some of the most common in the area. They were also the primary "transporters" of Rezen’s army.
On the bodies of these treants, various spirit plants could be seen. There were Crystal Spike Cacti, Sunfire Blossoms, Hundred Flames Lotus Flowers, Bloodsucking Vines, Ghost Orchids, Burning Thornbushes, and more.
Each of these spirit plants had its own use. The Crystal Spike Cacti were responsible for "crowd control," the Sunfire Blossoms were for single-target attacks, the Hundred Flames Lotus Flowers were for area-of-effect attacks, the Bloodsucking Vines were for continuous DPS effective against enemies with "high health bars," and the Burning Thornbushes were used for both defense and offense, as getting close to the treants meant having to defend against them as well.
Despite being categorized as magic beasts, most spirit plants still couldn’t move despite obtaining the ability to attack. As such, they were forced to latch onto the bodies of the treants so that they could become a mobile army.
With such a plant army, as well as the crows, Rezen’s plan could finally begin, and he sent his army out to plunder.
With his command, thousands of spirit plants marched out, each of them reaching the seventh cycle of the Senior Rank.
While they couldn’t become the overlords of the mountain, considering that there were many Great Rank magic beasts, they could still occupy quite a large area.
Not to mention, their numbers would continue to be replenished! Even Great Rank lifeforms would have to die if they faced tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Senior Rank beings!
Above these spirit plants were the puppet crows that Rezen had created, surveying the area.
While controlling a crow, Rezen used it to point out the direction in which a part of the army should head.
Rezen didn’t know where the treasures in these mountains were, but there was a crude method he could use to roughly determine where they might be.
In places where there were strong magic beasts, there should be treasures as well. The stronger the magic beast, the better the treasure would usually be.
Of course, this was not an absolute rule, but it was better than blindly attacking everything around them.
With this in mind, the first batch of spirit plants finally arrived at their target, which was a peak Senior Rank Blazetail Fox.
This fox had brown fur, but its entire tail was made purely of fire.
The Blazetail Fox was originally sleeping under the shade of a tree when it sensed the violent movement of the ground.
With its sleep disturbed, the fox’s mood instantly turned sour, and it angrily opened its eyes.
While this Blazetail Fox was far from being the overlord of the mountain, the area where it stayed was inhabited by weaker magic beasts.
This meant that, for a peak Senior Rank, there were few beings in the area that could threaten its life.
Unless it was unlucky enough for a Great Rank magic beast to decide to target it, it should have no problem being a small-time boss.
As such, it instantly flew into a rage, wanting to kill and eat whoever dared to disturb its sleep.
However, as soon as it opened its eyes, the scene before it made its fur stand on end.
In front of it, hundreds of treants could be seen.
While treants were generally common and had low attack power, several other auras could be felt from the spirit plants growing on the bodies of these treants.
Individually, these auras were a notch weaker than that of the Blazetail Fox. It could kill them with a slap.
However, the horrifying thing was their numbers. Hundreds of treants, along with the thousands of other spirit plants they brought with them...
Just what did the Blazetail Fox do to deserve such a lineup?!
Even though the Blazetail Fox was panicking, it had lived in the mountain its whole life. It had enough experience and wouldn’t simply resign itself to death.
As such, even though it was terrified, the Blazetail Fox still opened its mouth and breathed out a stream of fire.
The first few treants, along with the "weapons" they carried, were immediately burned to death. However, in the face of hundreds of treants, the few that died were simply a drop in the ocean.
The other spirit plants were unfazed by the deaths of their companions. The treants continued to move until the other spirit plants all over their bodies could finally release their attacks.
The first ones to move, as per Rezen’s order, were the Crystal Spike Cacti. They were a type of crystalline blue cactus, and they fired sharp crystal spikes.
In return, the Blazetail Fox used its tail to sweep through the spikes. One spike was no problem, but when there were hundreds of Crystal Spike Cacti, it was a completely different matter.
The Blazetail Fox failed to hold out for long. Just a single round of attacks from the Crystal Spike Cacti turned it into a frozen statue.
After all, it was only a peak Senior Rank. While it could kill several seventh-cycle Senior Rank magic beasts without breaking a sweat, it was a completely different matter when there were hundreds of them.
If it were at the Great Rank, things would definitely be different. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
With the fox dead, one treant stepped forward to carry its corpse, which would be sacrificed to the farm.
As for the tree it had been sleeping under earlier, it naturally became no man’s property. As such, the treants picked the fruits from the tree to be used by their Master.
"Hmm, these are new spirit plants that I haven’t encountered in the Savage Beast Realm. Their effects are unknown, but considering that a peak Senior Rank magic beast was guarding them, they should be quite valuable," Rezen commented while watching the scene using his crow puppets. He then turned his attention to another part of the "battlefield."
If the first group’s primary target was the fruits to be used by Rezen, with the corpse being a small bonus for the farm, the second group’s situation was the reverse.
Their main focus was the nest of a bee-type magic beast. These bees were weak individually and didn’t have much use, but for the farm, they were the best targets due to their numbers.
"Hmm, just like the Blazetail Fox, the strongest bee in this colony is also at the peak of the Senior Rank, and there are quite a lot of them. Once they are sacrificed to the farm, the farm would definitely be one step closer to reaching the eighth cycle," Rezen muttered to himself while letting his army attack.
These bees had golden wings, as if their wings were condensed from sunlight.
Due to the greater abundance of sunlight in this realm, most of the creatures living here indeed had sun or fire attributes.
These bees presumably possessed solar attributes as well, but regardless of what attributes they had, they were simply nutrients for Rezen’s farm.
Just like the first group, the first spirit plants to attack were the Crystal Spike Cacti. They released their ice spikes, causing the surrounding temperature to decrease.
Once an ice spike hit a target, it would immediately explode into icy particles that would freeze the target. Even when the ice spike missed, it would still explode, making the surrounding temperature even colder and making it harder for the bees to move.
Of course, the number of bees was also quite high, and a single round of attacks was not enough to deal with all of them.