Chapter 710 - 673: Holy Vine Ambush Plan
After more than ten minutes of marching, Da Fei’s troops arrived at the smoky volcanic area without any mishaps.
— System Prompt: Your troops have entered the Volcanic Flame Zone, visibility -80%, every 5 seconds Stamina -1, every second Life -1.
The inevitable has finally arrived. Fortunately, Da Fei is equipped with the Eye of the Demon, so the impact of the volcanic smoke is far less significant than that on the Blood Eagle. Being there in person, he could clearly see the fine, soft red sandstone ground that wasn’t much different from the sandy soil of deserts.
Now Da Fei finally understood why even the Demon Caravan found it so difficult to navigate through these mountains. It turns out that this volcano is a combination of three annoying terrains: lava, desert, and mountain! Such bizarre topography is probably only encountered in hell. Considering the frequent seismic eruptions of this volcanic cluster, it would be tough for demons to build any decent roads here.
At this moment, Lady Tachiusu reported: "Lord City Lord, while testing the life energy here, I detected unusual vibrations in the sand, possibly an enemy ambushing beneath it. Please be very cautious."
Da Fei was startled. To set up ambushes on such extremely challenging terrain really befits hell—it’s the epitome of treachery! But does Lady Tachiusu actually possess a Divine Skill for scouting underground?
Da Fei asked, "What does testing life energy mean?"
Lady Tachiusu sighed, "It means testing whether the soil here is suitable for the Holy Vine to combat. Unfortunately, the land of Lava is greatly restrictive to the Holy Vine and Natural Magic. I am very ashamed."
Da Fei frowned, "No worries, Lady Tachiusu. Identifying underground enemies is the greatest contribution."
Lady Tachiusu nodded, and with a wave of her hand, a vine from her arm penetrated the sandy soil. Then she seriously said, "Please be cautious, my Lord. There is an enemy lurking right in front of you."
— System Prompt: Your team hero, Lady Tachiusu, has detected a lurking danger.
Then a red light blinked on Da Fei’s radar. A faint red dot did appear on the hillside ahead, and it was still outside of Da Fei’s visibility.
Da Fei was thoroughly impressed. This once again proved the severe limitations of reconnaissance skills that rely purely on sight.
Vice Hero Alina chuckled, "Leave it to me. The death of an enemy hidden in the soil will be much more painful once discovered, and it won’t be able to escape."
Da Fei was thrilled, "Good, let’s pretend we haven’t noticed it and go ahead to take it down."
Da Fei’s team began climbing the mountain "totally unprepared". Even though Da Fei possessed a Master-level Logistics Skill and the Pathfinding Master, the speed of the Hell Horse was still significantly reduced—the terrain was indeed formidable!
At this moment, the red dot on the radar moved towards Da Fei, its underground speed already far surpassing the Hell Horse. Needless to say, this must be something like a sandworm. Da Fei couldn’t help but tense up.
It’s getting closer and closer! Now within the battlefield range, within shooting range of the troops, but of course, they couldn’t hit it while it was underground.
Finally, Alina made her move. The sandy patch where the red dot was located began swirling like a vortex, and rows of damage numbers "-150!" "-160!" burst forth.
— System Prompt: Your Vice Hero Alina has cast "Quicksand Technique," imposing a binding effect and additional continuous compression damage on the target!
Da Fei was shocked. Although Quicksand Technique is not a Destruction spell and doesn’t benefit from Destruction Skill level enhancements, such astounding Magic Power only amounted to such little damage—what incredible Magic Resistance!
Meanwhile, a muffled roar came from the quicksand vortex, the red dot on the radar abruptly became clearer and enlarged, and a shiny black massive body surged out of the dusty sand!
There was no time to see what it was; Anlicia’s bowstring sounded, and 200 ready Forest Goddesses launched their Flying Spears with a whoosh, countless damage numbers "-7!" "-8!" erupted.
Seeing these damage figures, Da Fei knew that the enemy’s Defense had completely negated his Attack, just like the sandworm he encountered during the competition! But no matter, under the rotational restraint of the Quicksand Technique, the exposed monster now served as a live target, and he wanted to see just how much blood this casual hellish creature had! He wanted to measure the strength of a random monster encountered deep in hell!
Da Fei didn’t have to wait long. After the Forest Goddesses’ second volley, the exposed monster let out a painful scream and collapsed thunderously.
— System Prompt: Battle is over! You have killed a Volcano Demon Scorpion, gained Experience +15,000, obtained 1 Volcanic Essence of the Demon Scorpion, and your Reconnaissance Skill has collected incomplete information of the Volcano Demon Scorpion.
Da Fei hurriedly checked the information on the Demon Scorpion: Defense 190, Life 4320, special skill Ambush, other information unknown.
Da Fei was astonished, damn! No wonder it withstood two volleys from 200 Forest Goddesses plus the Magic damage from the Quicksand Technique. A regular monster with over four thousand health is far superior to those 300 to 400 health so-called level 7 Flesh Demons from Despair Plain! Even an 8th level soldier with a thousand health is nothing compared to it. Really worthy of being a creature from hell.
If even these wild monsters are so strong, could this mere squad of two hundred people take down the protected caravans? Although he has Vice Hero Alina, Alina is like a Human Cannon, not a Hell Cannon! The high Magic Defense of this Demon Scorpion was just a glimpse of that.
At this moment, Billbo excitedly said, "Lord City Lord, the skin of this Demon Scorpion is stronger than any creature in the swamp, we shouldn’t let it go to waste, may I collect it?"
Da Fei was surprised, "You can collect?"
Billbo nodded, "Of course, we’re always short on resources in the swamp, and collection is a skill any warrior must learn. Plus, I’m at Master Level, so it should be quick and won’t take much time."
The so-called collection skill, like mining and forging, is a lifestyle skill needing practice to upgrade, which is different from hero skills as it doesn’t require Skill Points, making it painfully slow to learn. Even the music, medical, and art skills taught in Da Fei’s school are lifestyle skills.
At this point, Da Fei couldn’t help feeling irritated. It was a critical moment for marching, how could he care about this? But since Billbo wasn’t his own Vice Hero and to maintain a good relationship, he allowed him to try.
Da Fei responded, "Alright, but make it quick."
Billbo immediately pulled out a Skinning Knife from his backpack, excited, "Watch me, warriors in our swamp are always competing with giant lizards for spoils of war; if not quick, the giant lizards would snatch the corpses!" While speaking, Billbo had already rushed to the Demon Scorpion’s corpse and started working.
Snatching the corpse? It was at this moment that Da Fei remembered that he could transport corpses too, yes, the Corpse Carrying Technique imparted cross-professionally by the Nasir Ancient Tree!
Corpse Carrying Technique? Da Fei’s heart skipped a beat, he hurriedly asked Lady Tachiusu, "Miss Tachiusu, I recall that your ultimate move, Vine Jungle, can be triggered by corpses, right?"
Lady Tachiusu nodded, "Yes, I can parasite ordinary vine seeds on corpses on the battlefield, and after brewing for some time, activate—"
Realizing suddenly, Lady Tachiusu exclaimed, "Lord City Lord means, using these corpses to cultivate the Holy Vine to ambush the Demon Caravan?"
Oh yeah! Now that you mention it, my plan is even clearer! Da Fei excitedly said, "Exactly, we can transport the corpses to the unavoidable route of the Demon Caravan and activate Holy Vine when they pass by!"
Miss Tamilia frowned, "That may require a lot of corpses; just one corpse may not be enough to unleash the power of Holy Vine under these conditions."
Anlicia, who had just enjoyed a great shoot, suggested, "That’s easy, we just keep hunting these Demon Scorpions, clearing the path and collecting corpses!"
Da Fei was overjoyed, "Exactly! We search for more Demon Scorpions; Miss Tachiusu, is that okay?"
Miss Tachiusu smiled, "No problem, I am very honored to be able to help Lord City Lord!"
As they were speaking, the team channel pinged:
—System Prompt: Your team hero Billbo has successfully collected A-level material Demon Scorpion Skin +1.
Billbo excitedly shouted, "Let’s also collect rare materials!"
At this moment, Da Fei couldn’t keep his cool anymore! He actually managed to collect A-level material! This meant that if forging skills were high, equipment made from Demon Scorpion skin could reach A-level standards!
Nice! I like this! Da Fei waved his big hand excitedly, "Then let’s proceed with the plan!"
For a normal profession, searching for lurking creatures in the slowly crawling gravel terrain is a very irritating task. But for Lady Tachiusu, a flying hero with the ability to detect underground, this task is much simpler. Hence, Lady Tachiusu left the team to explore the surroundings automatically, with Tamilia following for communication back and forth.
Da Fei’s task was to identify, using the Blood Eagle, the best site to amass the bodies for an ambush on the Demon Caravan. Since the recent volcanic eruption blocked the caravan’s passage, the caravan was busy clearing the road, giving Da Fei plenty of time for planning and deployment. Moreover, this mission wasn’t about destroying all of the Demon’s Siege Cars without exception; letting one or two escape wouldn’t matter. The key was to ensure absolute success with a single decisive blow.
Just as Da Fei was checking and planning, Tamilia flew back to report, "Lord City Lord, the deeper into the mountainous area we go, the more lurkers there are underground, and Miss Tachiusu has already detected a particularly strong vibration from a creature, which we suspect is a Leader-level powerhouse! Miss Tachiusu asks for your decision, Lord City Lord."
A Boss-level Demon Scorpion! Da Fei exclaimed, "Does Miss Tachiusu think we can hunt this Leader-level powerhouse?"
Miss Tamilia solemnly said, "If we can ensure the power of the Holy Vine, we have a chance at winning!"
So that’s how it is! Alright, Boss monsters are nutritious; then let’s use regular monsters’ corpses to nourish the Holy Vine to hunt the Boss monster, then transplant the Holy Vine on the Boss monster to ambush the Demon Caravan. This is like the small fish catching middle fish, and the middle fish catching big fish strategy I used when I rose to fame at sea!
Da Fei decided, "Please lead the way, Miss Tamilia!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote, recommend, and support on qidian.com. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)