Chapter 270: A Mental-type System? Integrating the Blue Maggot and Pandes Tribes
The appearance of the Blue Maggot King prompted Beibeibei and the other Blue Maggots to immediately surround him, warily eyeing Tang Zheng above.
They were afraid he would launch an attack at any moment.
"King, why have you come to the front lines? Quickly, escort the King away! We will hold them off with our lives…" Beibeibei's anxious voice rang out.
"Enough," a majestic voice emanated from the purple, chrysalis-like worm.
The appearances of male and female members of the Blue Maggot Tribe were distinctly different; judging by appearance alone, they could be mistaken for two separate races.
"The invader has already breached our Hinterland. As your King, how could I abandon my people and flee like a coward!"
The Blue Maggot King spoke loudly. Though it was impossible to discern any change in his expression, the solemnity and resolve in his tone were palpable.
"Human who controls the undead, why have you led the Ogre Race to invade my Territory!" The Blue Maggot King's worm-like head lifted, his thunderous question vibrating through the air.
The powerful, resounding voice spread out.
It managed to soothe and diminish the chaos and fear gripping the Blue Maggot Tribe.
"Heh heh—"
A hoarse, cold laugh, accompanied by the sharp sound of the bone dragon beating its wings, drifted down from above.
Tang Zheng gazed down at the Blue Maggots below, his eyes fixed on the purple, worm-like figure in the center. "I know you're trying to stall for time."
"Besides you, the King, your Blue Maggot Tribe should have one other member of the Royal Family, correct? Are they trying to escape right now?"
The moment these words were spoken.
The Blue Maggot King's shimmering, purple, wrinkled body quivered. The panic that had just been suppressed among the other Blue Maggots once again began to spread.
"I dislike wasting words. Use your strongest attack. If you can injure me, I will immediately retreat, Blue Maggot King."
Tang Zheng tapped the bone dragon with his foot.
"Roar!" The bone dragon twisted its long, bony neck and let out a roar that was part dragon, part beast.
"Fine!"
The Blue Maggot King realized that this human controlling the undead had no intention of wiping them out. At the same time, a surge of anger welled up inside him.
No matter what, he was the King of the Blue Maggot Tribe and the strongest individual of his entire race. For this opponent to treat him with such utter disregard was an insult to the Royal Family!
The Blue Maggot King's body writhed. To a normal person's senses, a terrifying amount of magic power began to radiate from his body.
It was common knowledge that the holy and fire attributes were the most effective means of combating the undead.
"Magic Reinforcement: Fire Element—Grand Fireball!"
The sonorous chant caused the magic power to oscillate.
*Whoosh!*
A fireball, one meter in diameter and blazing with intense flames, materialized above the Blue Maggot King's head, releasing scorching heat and light.
The soldiers protecting the Blue Maggot King couldn't help but lean back, their faces a mixture of fear and awe.
"Go!" the Blue Maggot King roared.
*Boom!*
The massive fireball shot forward, streaking directly toward Tang Zheng in mid-air. Faced with an attack that would be considered terrifying in the eyes of an ordinary person, Tang Zheng remained standing on the bone dragon's skull, his arms crossed over his chest.
His red hood and mask concealed his face, making it impossible to read the human's thoughts, but his posture radiated contempt.
"Fourth-tier mental magic? I thought you could use the power of fifth-tier magic. It's all the same, though."
Tang Zheng's expression was indifferent.
Anything less than the seventh tier was insufficient to harm the bone dragon. What slightly surprised him was that the magic reinforcement the Blue Maggot King used was specifically designed to enhance magic of the five elements.
*Bang!*
As everyone watched, the massive fireball slammed into the bone dragon's body, producing a muffled explosion as fire lit up the sky.
The crimson flames dissipated.
Tang Zheng and the bone dragon hovered in mid-air, completely unharmed.
"Roar!" A faint, colorful light flickered across the bone dragon's body as it once again let out a mighty roar.
"Th-This… How is this possible!"
The Blue Maggot King trembled all over, his writhing body falling backward. His voice was filled with a shock and panic he had never known before.
With quick reflexes, Beibeibei reached out to support the falling Blue Maggot King, his catfish-like eyes also reflecting deep shock.
During the battle not long ago, the magic cast by the Blue Maggot spellcasters had indeed failed to injure the undead creature controlled by the human.
Beibeibei had originally assumed it was because their spellcasters were too weak.
But the King was a powerful magic caster who had mastered fourth-tier magic, and he had even used fire-attribute magic, which should have inflicted immense damage on the undead.
Yet it still had no effect on the bone dragon. This was beyond their comprehension.
The air grew quiet.
A heavy pressure descended, seeming to suffocate the Blue Maggot Tribe.
"Let me go, Beibeibei."
After a brief silence, the Blue Maggot King snapped out of his stunned state and spoke softly to Beibeibei.
"King." Beibeibei was filled with reluctance, and an even deeper sense of powerlessness welled up within him.
They were utterly defeated.
On the ground, though the Ogre Race's forces were far outnumbered by their own, ogres had always been a race of low intelligence, irascible and reliant on brute force.
The real trouble lay with the three powerful ogres.
Those three alone were enough to easily shatter their defensive lines. If that were all, they could have relied on their superior numbers, eventually controlling the situation by piling up the bodies of their own people.
But the most terrifying thing was this powerful human who controlled the undead.
No magic could harm him; they couldn't even hinder him. And with his flight ability, he held complete air superiority…
*Clatter—*
The Blue Maggot soldiers at the front parted to make a path.
The Blue Maggot King moved his body forward, raised his worm-like torso, and slowly prostrated himself on the ground. "I… I… am willing to submit."
*Ting— Ting— Clang—*
The weaponry in the hands of the Blue Maggot soldiers fell to the ground, creating a dense clatter of metal.
With the Blue Maggot King's surrender, the other members of the Blue Maggot Tribe completely gave up resistance. This was their racial trait: the king's command and will were absolute.
Tang Zheng had chosen the Ogre Race and the Blue Maggot Tribe precisely because these two races possessed similar characteristics.
The war started quickly and ended just as fast. To save time, Tang Zheng had launched a full-scale magical assault, pushing through with brute force. The entire process took less than a day.
Because Tang Zheng had been at the forefront, the hundred-man ogre unit only lost half its members, while the Blue Maggot Tribe's casualties were far more tragic, reaching around 800.
With the Blue Maggot King's cooperation, the population of the Blue Maggot Tribe was quickly tallied. There were still over 4,200 of them. The Blue Maggot prince, who had nearly escaped the tribe's border, was also brought back by the White Mist Witch.
With two members of the Royal Family in hand, the entire Blue Maggot Tribe fell completely under Tang Zheng's control.
However, Tang Zheng did not stop there. Instead, he summoned a force of 1,000 Blue Maggots and launched an attack on the neighboring Pandes Race.
This race was a close relative of the Blue Maggots; they were also maggots. The only slight difference was their royal family, which was ruled by a female queen, the so-called "Matriarch."
The Pandes Tribe was even weaker than the Blue Maggot Tribe.
Tang Zheng hardly had to lift a finger. Using only the Blue Maggot forces, he easily broke into their Hinterland. The only slight nuisance was the Pandes Matriarch.
She, too, was a fourth-tier mental magic caster.
Interestingly, not only were the Blue Maggots and Pandes closely related races, but the power they wielded also belonged to mental-type spellcaster jobs. If one were to say the Blue Maggots possessed the power to manipulate the Yin Five Elements, then the Pandes possessed the ability to manipulate the Yang Five Elements.
Yin and Yang were polar opposites; the two forces could cancel and interfere with each other.
This greatly intrigued Tang Zheng. These two opposing yet complementary powers clearly belonged to a unique class system.
With the bone dragon ignoring the power of the Pandes Matriarch's magic, Tang Zheng easily captured her alive, thereby gaining complete control over the Pandas Tribe.
It took three days to organize and control the two groups. The combined population of the Blue Maggots and Pandes reached 7,000.
After completing this step, Tang Zheng refrained from any further drastic actions, focusing instead on stabilization and appeasement.
Among the hills covered in weeds and shrubs, Blue Maggots and Pandes, carrying stone and wood materials, moved their writhing bodies toward a clearing between the hills. The figures of a few ogres were also mixed in among them.
The foundation of a castle was already taking shape there.
They were building a castle for their new ruler. Both races preferred to live in damp underground caverns, but as a human, Tang Zheng did not enjoy such a living environment.
Based on the idea of not putting himself through any hardship, Tang Zheng mobilized the two races to build a castle for him.
Gagaran sat on a high rock, his spiked club resting before him, as he watched the enslaved Blue Maggots and Pandes below.
His gaze swept over a tall figure in the distance.
The water element ogre was standing in the open area of the castle foundation, excitedly directing the two maggot races.
Ever since the human had displayed his immense power, the water element ogre had completely submitted to him. It wasn't just him, but the earth element ogre as well.
Neither the White Mist Witch nor the earth element ogre were here.
Those two had already been sent out by the human to gather the ogres and goblins scattered throughout the hills.
At this thought, Gagaran's heart filled with unease. Even now, he felt as if he were in a daze.
In just a few days, that human had easily conquered and controlled two large tribes. If Gagaran had heard such a rumor before, he would have scoffed at it.
Even the "Heroic Sagas" sung and compiled in the human world were not as exaggerated as what was happening before his eyes.
If he hadn't witnessed it himself, Gagaran would think he was still asleep. But after gradually learning more about the Blue Maggot and Pandes tribes, Gagaran began to understand.
Being able to so easily control the two races wasn't just due to the human's immense power, but also because of the racial trait of both races to completely obey their "King" and "Matriarch."
If it had been any other race, that human would never have been able to take control of a tribe so easily.
"That man must be extremely knowledgeable about the races of the Abelion Hills to have been able to execute this series of actions so swiftly."
Gagaran fell into deep thought, then patted his head with his hand.
A headache!
Gagaran felt that compared to thinking, relying on strength was simpler, more direct, and the method best suited for him.
However, in terms of strength, he was currently no match for that man. And he had no trustworthy companions to whom he could confide his worries, so he was forced to make himself think.
"If Osuke knew about my current situation, he would definitely laugh at me," Gagaran said with a bitter smile.
He was not a wise man and couldn't ponder deeper issues, but he understood that the current situation had reached a very dangerous level.
The mere fact that the human understood the traits of the two maggot races and used that knowledge to control them by seizing their royal family members proved that he was not as arrogant and haughty as he appeared, but a meticulous individual.
The Abelion Hills had always been a forbidden zone for humans, and the outside world knew very little about what was inside. Yet this human knew so much, which might suggest he had an organization or faction backing him.
Now, the combined forces of the Blue Maggot and Pandes tribes had reached 7,000 people. Furthermore, the White Mist Witch and the earth element ogre were heading to other regions of the hills to subdue the scattered ogre and goblin tribes.
Gagaran believed that it wouldn't be long before the forces under that human's command would exceed ten thousand.
By that time…
Gagaran shook his head, his white gaze growing grave and fierce. He had to find a way out of this.
...
Upper Water Moon.
The fifteenth of the first month.
After stabilizing the situation with the two tribes, Tang Zheng quietly left the Abelion Hills and went to the Touv Great Forest. It was time to reap the rewards of the "Goblin Farming Plan."
Forest Rift.
An open grassland.
The Demon Snake Naga was bent at the waist, humbly following behind Tang Zheng and reporting on the number of goblins raised.
"The number has reached 100,000? You've done very well, Your Excellency, King of the Forest."
The last time Tang Zheng had instructed the Demon Snake Naga to increase their numbers, he had actually managed to do it.
This number was also essentially the limit that the inner region of the Touv Great Forest could sustain. Any more would start to affect the outer forest.
"As long as you are satisfied." The Demon Snake Naga squeezed out a smile on his wrinkled cheeks, his brow heavy with fatigue.
Although goblins were weak creatures that could be crushed with a single hand, once their numbers grew so large, that sea of green gave even the Demon Snake Naga a strange sense of trepidation.
Only the Demon Snake Naga knew how exhausting it had been to farm these goblins. He had long since regretted it, but this was a matter that could not be avoided simply by regretting it.
With the Demon Snake Naga's wisdom, he naturally understood that he had no choice from the very beginning.
"This is for you."
Tang Zheng's hand emerged from his sleeve, and he tossed out a potion bottle.
The Demon Snake Naga extended a scrawny, green-scaled hand and caught the red potion bottle, his serpentine eyes showing confusion.
A potion?
Why was it red, and why was he being given a potion?
Hmm?
The Demon Snake Naga's eyes narrowed. He suddenly felt the potion bottle in his hand was slightly warm. Through the glass, the crimson liquid, illuminated by the sun, gave off a red halo.
The liquid looked extremely viscous; rather than a liquid, it seemed more like the blood of some creature. Even now, contained within the potion bottle, it was still emitting a palpable heat.
The Demon Snake Naga subconsciously brought the potion bottle to his nose to smell it. His pupils dilated in shock.
"This is…" The Demon Snake Naga immediately looked up at Tang Zheng.
"Consider it a reward for your hard work during this time," Tang Zheng said nonchalantly. The blood in the potion bottle he gave the Demon Snake Naga was precisely the blood of the Sun Anglerfish.
He understood the principle of the carrot and the stick. As for the blood of the ancient fire dragon, Tang Zheng wasn't about to give that away.
(end of chapter)