Chapter 80: Surprise Attack

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After testing the process on a dozen spiders, Yang Ling got a rough idea of how they absorbed energy. Basically, he had to inject two parts of the green life force for every part of blood red Wizard Power he injected. Around four hours later, Yang Ling had managed to forcefully evolve the ten subordinates under the Tarantula King from level two to level three.

After the evolution, the ten spider captains grew from the size of basins to the size of small calves. Not only did their back armor get harder, their intelligence also received a significant boost. They were no longer as mechanical as they had been before. Their overall battle capabilities were still not comparable to the level four Tarantula King’s, but their leadership skills and the range and lethality of their poison were all greater than before.

Ordinary spiders could evolve quickly, but the Tarantula King did not show any visible change even after Yang Ling spent an hour on it. It might be because it needed more energy to evolve, or there might be some other reason. Yang Ling had no choice but to give up on the tempting idea of helping the Tarantula King evolve quickly.

Were there really no other shortcuts besides the Wizard Power and life force?

Looking at the Tarantula King obediently sprawled before him, Yang Ling suddenly had a thought. Originally, the Tarantula King was merely an ordinary spider leader, but it evolved quickly from level two to level four after successively consuming the Essence Crystals of the other spider kings. Its battle abilities and intellect both experienced a notable improvement.

Perhaps a champion like the Tarantula King might emerge from the Horned Bee Beasts and Evil Eyes after they consumed a few high level Essence Crystals from the same species?

The spider army already had a leader in the Tarantula King and could adapt flexibly when they encountered an enemy. Only the Evil Eyes and Horned Bee Beasts required Yang Ling’s personal commands. Information was ever changing on the battlefield, so he might miss a grand opportunity if he acted too slowly. If the Magical Beast army was equipped with a certain level of adaptivity, the ability of the entire army would improve drastically.

Amongst his various Magical Beasts, it was the slow-moving Evil Eyes that worried Yang Ling the most. Even though their movement speeds were faster than they were before the creatures had evolved, they were still incomparable to the Horned Bee Beasts. With their poor defensive capabilities and movement speed, the outcome would be disastrous if they were to suffer an enemy ambush on the battlefield.

Since he was unable to help the Tarantula King evolve for the time being, Yang Ling thought about nurturing a champion from the Evil Eyes. After all, even though the weaknesses of the Evil Eyes were obvious, their strong points were even more prominent!

Even the tank-like Withered Tree Warriors might be powerless against an enemy’s strong armor or large scales, much less the fist-sized Horned Bee Beasts. But the Evil Eyes were different. Even though a lone Evil Eye’s attack might not be too powerful, the power of tens of thousands of Evil Eyes blasting a spot with their light bullets was unparalleled. They had proved their power in the battle with the barbarians and Ymir.

A simple three-row formation had already improved the power of the Evil Eyes to such a great extent, Yang Ling did not dare imagine what kind of battle abilities the Evil Eyes would have if they had a champion like the Tarantula King and a highly effective command structure.

After a moment’s deliberation, Yang Ling decided to return to the Valenia Valley that was rumored to be cursed. That was the place with the highest concentration of Evil Eyes. If he was lucky, he might be able to hunt a few hordes of Evil Eyes and successfully nurture a champion for the Evil Eye army within one or two days.

With the speedy Unicorn to travel on, Yang Ling arrived at the desolate Valenia Valley in just over two hours. Snowflakes were floating in the air outside the valley, but plumes of thick smoke spouted frequently within the valley, making it hot and stuffy. The snowflakes were reduced to vapor when they got near the valley. From afar, the valley was covered in a thick fog, making it look incredibly creepy.

In order to not alert the Evil Eyes, Yang Ling recalled the Unicorn the moment he entered the valley. He only released a team of Horned Bee Beasts to protect himself. He used his strengthened body to quickly dart through the rubble. Since his aim was the Essence Crystals of high level Evil Eyes, there was naturally no need for him to waste his time on a few low level Evil Eyes.

The temperature of the ground rose the deeper into the valley he ventured. Luckily, since his body had been strengthened so many times, his constitution was already far from that of a normal human’s. Otherwise, he might have found it difficult to advance, with nowhere to plant his feet.

Going deep into the Valenia Volcano Valley, he could sometimes spot an exposed Dark Fire Crystal. Unfortunately, they had too many impurities and did not meet the requirements for setting up a spell formation. But since there were this many Dark Fire Crystals on the surface, Yang Ling believed that there might be a massive crystal mine underground. He would have to find a chance to conduct a large scale excavation here in the future.

Along the way, other than the Evil Eyes that moved in pairs, Yang Ling also came across some giant lizards that could spew fireballs from their mouths. Unfortunately, they were also slow moving, and their defensive abilities were on par with the Evil Eyes. Their attacks were also incomparable to those of the Evil Eyes, and thus Yang Ling felt that it was not worth spending his blood essence and Wizard Power to tame these creatures.

According to the memories of the Evil Eyes he had tamed, there was a massive land basin that was covered with caves deep in the valley. It was also dotted with short shrubs, and it was a gathering place for wild Evil Eyes. Thus, Yang Ling moved quickly. Sometimes, in his hurry, he jumped from one piece of rock to another, gliding through the air like an Eber Eagle before the giant lizards blocking the way could react.

Arriving at the land basin deep within the valley, there were indeed more and more Evil Eyes around him. He could frequently see large groups of Evil Eyes slowly moving around in search of Dark Fire Crystals or fruits that resembled pears to consume.

Unlike other creatures, Evil Eyes did not have hands or feet. Before they evolved, they only had two tentacles, one on each side of their body. They moved using levitation techniques they were equipped with from birth, but they were different from flying creatures in that they could only float a few centimeters from the ground. If they were met with obstacles like rocks or tree roots, they had to detour around them. The speed at which they moved was very slow.

After evolving to the second level, the Evil Eyes would develop an additional green tentacle on each side of their bodies. Its primary function was to speed up the recovery of their Magical Energy, and it didn’t have much of an effect on their movement speed. Only when they evolved to the third level and grew out another set of tentacles would their speed increase.

After sparing a few groups of slow-moving Evil Eyes, Yang Ling set his sights on a group of Evil Eyes that were moving visibly faster. Looking over, even though he could not find a champion that stood out, he could at least spot a few Evil Eyes that had evolved to the second level. Looking at the speed of the rest of the Evil Eyes, Yang Ling estimated that they were at the later stages of the first level, much more powerful than their snail-like brethren.

Tailing his target to the entrance of a small valley, seeing them swarm into the valley in search of food, completely oblivious to the danger behind them, Yang Ling let out a cold smile. He hid at the side and silently summoned his entire Magical Beast army.

Even though he was confident that he would be able to quickly finish off the defenseless wild Evil Eyes if he commanded his Magical Beast army to swarm forward, Yang Ling chose to act with caution. According to the memories of the Evil Eyes he tamed, this land basin was lined with caves, some of them incredibly deep. In fact, some of the caves led to a mysterious underground city. He was not willing to unintentionally attract a large group of troublesome high level Magical Beasts when he was attacking.

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