Lord of the Magical Beasts

Chapter 271: Shapeshifting

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

More than a thousand Chimeras charging together might be imposing, but Yang Ling’s Magical Beast Army was not bad too!

With a roar, the Flying Dragon King led his Flying Dragons in a ferocious charge, flying half a circle before going straight to attack the Chimeras at the back. At the same time, the army of Horned Bee Beasts and Bats split up to attack the Chimeras on the left and right flanks.

“Heavens, he’s crazy, is His Lordship trying to surround all the Chimeras?”

“He’s crazy, they’re all crazy. Let’s go, quick, run!”

...

Looking at Yang Ling commanding his Magical Beast Army to spread out and try to surround the Chimeras, the Troops who just escaped death exclaimed in disbelief. After the shock had passed, they turned tail and ran, each running away faster than the one before. Yang Ling might be powerful, but no one believed that he could defeat more than a thousand Chimeras.

They had initially thought that if Yang Ling had gathered his forces to go on the defensive, they might be able to hang on for a while, with the help of the Wolf Troop Team. But having spread his Magical Beasts out, how could Yang Ling rely on just 200 soldiers and a group of Evil Eyes to block the charging Chimeras from the front? That was pure wishful thinking!

Looking at the aggressively charging Chimeras of nearly a thousand strong, with their sharp claws and strong wings, the Troops lost all will to fight. The soldiers by Yang Ling’s side too, were numb with fear. Though the weather was cold, they still broke out in continuous cold sweat and were so nervous that their hearts almost jumped out of their chest.

Howl...

Surrounded by the Magical Beast Army, the giant Chimera King let out a roar. With that command, a number of Chimeras split from the main group to deal with the Flying Dragons at the rear and a hundred over Chimeras stayed to deal with the Horned Bee Beasts and Vampire Bats at the flanks. The Chimera King then led the main forces in a ferocious charge towards Yang Ling’s Army, increasing their speed over and over again.

Yang Ling then waved his hand, and the Evil Eye Tyrant let out a roar, commanding the Evils Eyes to fire consolidated beams of light. However, the Chimeras were ready for this, raising their wings to block the beams of light from reaching their bodies.

Their wings were harder than steel?

Seeing how easily the Chimeras blocked the consolidated beams of light, everyone was stunned, Yang Ling included. He did not expect the Chimera’s wings to be this strong and hard!

While Yang Ling and his men were shocked, the Troops watching the battle from behind were even more so. They shook their heads and rapidly retreated even further back, Kerband, the Team Leader, included.

The strength of attack, of more than a thousand level eight Magical Beasts, was simply terrifying!

Although he still wanted to get his hands on the Divine Weapon found in the remains of the Giant Dragon, Kerband, as the Team Leader of the Wolf Troop Team, understood that it was now impossible to complete the mission. Instead of forcibly commanding the Troop to fight their deaths, it would be better to beat an early retreat!

Howl...

After blocking the scary light beams, the Chimeras saw that not too far off, were many panicked looking Evil Eyes beating a hasty retreat. They then let out a simultaneous roar and charged towards the Evil Eyes like the wind. Then, just as they were about to catch up to the retreating Evil Eyes, something unexpected happened!

From beneath the ground, appeared sharp, pointy thorns. They appeared one after another, close together and over a large area. Unable to avoid the thorns, the Chimeras in front were either severely wounded or killed, many falling to the ground in an instant.

The Chimera’s skin was rough and thick, with a thick, dense layer of scaly armor on its back. Their powerful wings were especially hard, even harder than steel. However, their soft underbellies were their fatal weak point, and they were completely unable to block the thorns that appeared from the ground.

At the critical moment, the Spider Army that had been hiding in the ground launched a savage attack. The sharp thorns kept coming in waves without stopping, not giving the Chimeras a chance to recover!

The Chimeras were different from other flying type Magical Beasts. Though they had wings, they were unable to fly for long distances. They could only glide for a short distance or use their wings to increase their sprinting speed. Now, faced with the sudden appearance of the wide expanse of thorns from the ground, they were miserable beyond words.

The Chimeras’ catastrophe was yet to end!

With no place to land, the Chimeras could either choose to land on the ground anyway, use their sharp claws to dig out the Spiders and perish together; or, they could continue to glide in circles, and become live targets for the Evil Eyes Army and the elven archers!

While the attack of the Evil Eyes army might be sharp and precise, the Pear Blossom Crossbows held by the elven archers were not bad, too. In fact, they might be even better!

Change the cartridge and press the trigger, change the cartridge and press the trigger again...

In a blink of an eye, the elven archers had released tens of thousands sharp crossbow arrows. The ear-piercing sounds of arrows whistling – ‘woosh woosh’- were non-stop, pouring down on the Chimeras. No matter how dense their scaly armor was, how big and wide their wings were, the Chimeras could not completely protect all their vital body parts and were unable to block the rain of arrows.

While the crossbow arrows could inflict some damage, the Corpse Rotting Water smeared on the arrows were fatal!

With the combined attacks of the Twin-legged Flying Dragons, Evil Eyes, Spiders, Horned Bee Beasts, Self Destructing Bats and other Magical Beasts from the sky and on the ground, and with the elven archers’ comprehensive attacks, the Chimeras suffered serious losses and had become heavily surrounded by the Magical Beast Army!

Howl...

Being surrounded in a circle that was increasingly getting smaller, and faced with the precise attacks of Yang Ling’s Magical Beast Army, the remaining Chimeras desperately tried to break through the siege multiple times, but to no avail. Slowly, the number of fallen Chimeras twitching on the ground increased.

From a distance, the Troops looked on in amazement and widened eyes as they saw the numerous Chimeras falling one by one. Even though they knew that His Lordship was powerful and strong, they did not know that he was powerful to such a great extent!

“Oh heavens, more than a thousand Chimeras, more than a thousand Chimeras taken down just like that!”

“Tsk tsk, he’s formidable!”

...

Looking at the Chimeras which suffered heavy losses and Ling Yang’s Warriors and Magical Beast Army who were fighting more bravely than ever, the troopers began talking among themselves in shock. In this moment, the finally understood how powerful the Lord of the Magical Beasts was!

In contrast to the wildly attacking Magical Beast Army, Yang Ling sat cross-legged on the ground, unmoving. An enormous amount of energy poured forth, fighting to cover the whole battlefield, to seek out where the Thousand-faced Mink was hiding and not sparing any points of suspicion.

Under any other circumstances, he would be busy taming as many Chimeras as he could. Now, however, capturing and taming the Thousand-faced Mink was his biggest goal. Compared to the Thousand-Faced Mink, level eight Magical Beasts, or even level nine Magical Beasts, were not worth any mention.

This time, if he did not manage to tame any Chimeras, he could find them elsewhere in the continent. But if he missed out on this Thousand-faced Mink gifted with extraordinary abilities, he might never get the opportunity again!

According to the Magical Beast Knowledge Guide, the Thousand-faced Mink can shapeshift into other Magical Beasts, or even shapeshift into a commonplace plant. Thus, no one could track its movements in a short period of time. Its only weakness was that it could not sustain its new form for long. With patience, it was not impossible to track its movements.

It was only halfway through their charge that the mirror copies of the Chimeras appeared. So obviously, the Thousand-faced Mink was hiding among the Chimeras. It might have shapeshifted into an ordinary looking Chimera. It might have even shapeshifted into a tiny thing, hiding on one of the Chimera’s body!

While Yang Ling did not know the whereabouts of the Thousand-faced Mink at the moment, he believed that if they could fully surround the remaining Chimeras and keep a close eye on the battlefield, it would not be able to escape his elaborate trap.

Coo...

As the Chimeras on the battlefield became fewer, and the area surrounding them became smaller, an almost inaudible weird cry came from the battlefield. The unique sound seemed to have been made by the Thousand-faced Mink hiding in the dark.

After the weird cry, the remaining dozen or so Chimeras separated and gave their all to breakthrough the siege by the Magical Beast Army, even at the risk of their own lives, as if given a command to do so.

Hmph, trying to escape? Not so easily!

Seeing the Chimeras trying so desperately to break through the siege, Yang Ling knew that the Thousand-faced Mink must be almost out of strength. With a cold sneer, he began to observe the battlefield for any suspicious signs. According to the Magical Beast Knowledge Guide, apart from Mirror Magic and the shapeshifting ability, the Thousand-faced Mink did not have much attacking power by itself. However, it could move very fast, so he had to prevent it from escaping!

Ten Chimeras, nine Chimeras, eight Chimeras...

After getting stung by the Horned Bee Beasts’ poison stingers, the surrounded Chimeras fell over one by one, paralyzed. However, the long-awaited Thousand-faced Mink did not appear. It seemed like it had vanished into thin air.

Eh, could it be that the Thousand-faced Mink had successfully slipped past everyone?

Looking at the last fallen Chimera, Yang Ling frowned in bewilderment as there was still no trace of the legendary Thousand-faced Mink. He was about to order the Magical Beasts to spread out and search for clues when he discovered a strange Horned Bee Beast.

To capture the remaining Chimeras alive, every Horned Bee Beast was in formation, flying to and fro in the sky, around the last fallen Chimera. However, an ordinary looking Horned Bee Beast was behaving differently from the rest, using the stones and the Chimera corpses to quietly slip outside. It moved very quickly!

Hehe, where could you possibly go?

Looking at the strange Horned Bee Beast, Yang Ling smiled coldly and used the Earth Evasion Spell to block its path in an instant, followed by an Imprisonment Restriction to restrict its movements. After biting his index finger to draw blood, he gently placed it on its head.

Yang Ling had to admit that it was very clever for the Thousand-faced Mink to shapeshift into an ordinary Horned Bee Beast and make use of the complex terrain to escape. However, while it was enough to trick most of the bystanders, it could not hide from Yang Ling, the owner of Horned Bee Beasts!

After absorbing Yang Ling’s Wizard Power and Blood Essence, the Thousand-faced Mink, which had shapeshifted into a Horned Bee Beast, started to show its true form. However, before Yang Ling could take a closer look, lines of mysterious runes appeared on its body, as it disappeared into the Wizard Pagoda’s Space.