Picking Up Attributes From Today - Chapter 86
Chapter 86: The Fearsome Ant Tide, Returning To The Village
It was hard to tell what Fatty Hart was currently doing. His arms were bare, and his chest was revealed. Two huge 36D-sized lumps of fat swayed left and right, almost blinding Meng Lei.
“The news has already spread throughout the capital!
“His Majesty has just convened all the royalty, nobles, and officials for an emergency meeting and has also issued a special-class beast tide warning!
“At the same time, His Majesty has deployed the kingdom’s top elite Flying Dragon Troops to the borders. They’re probably on the way there now!”
Something seemed to occur to Fatty Hart, and he added, “By the way, the academy is also gathering seniors fourth-year and above in preparation against the beast tide.
“The Mercenary Guild, Magician Guild, and the church have also begun to mobilize their manpower in preparation for the ant tide that’s very likely going to break out!”
“Is it that bad?”
Meng Lei looked astonished. It hasn’t even been that long since the commotion had broken out in the Magical Beast Forest, yet the kingdom already knew all about it?
A special-class beast tide warning—that was the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s highest-class beast tide warning!
One must understand that as a result of Fire Dragon Kingdom being situated close to the Magical Beast Forest, it suffered badly from beast tide attacks. In order to defend against beast tides more efficiently, the capital was set in a location nearby Magical Beast Ridge, and they didn’t think much of normal beast tides at all.
Yet they had actually issued a special-class beast tide warning now. It seemed like things were really serious this time!
“An ant tide?”
Ol’ Amos’ brows drew together slightly. “There aren’t many powerful Magical Beast ant species in the Magical Beast Forest, though. Why would it set off such a huge commotion?”
Then, something seemed to come to Ol’ Amos’ mind, and his expression changed. “Hurry, ask him which Magical Beast ant species is the main unit for the ant tide this time?”
Meng Lei didn’t dare to be tardy, and he quickly asked Hart.
“I heard that it’s the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!” Hart answered at once.
“In addition, it’s a very large-scale Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant tide. The eagle scouts have detected that extraordinarily large-scale Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant invasions have simultaneously appeared in several regions of the Magical Beast Forest.
“These savage Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts have formed overwhelmingly large tidal waves that swept through every part of Magical Beast Forest. All the Magical Beasts there are desperately fleeing, and I heard that even the Saint Domain Magical Beasts were alarmed by this, causing them to flee in a panic!”
“Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants!!” Ol’ Amos’ expression changed drastically, and he sucked in a breath of air. “To think it’s actually the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants! This is terrible!”
Meng Lei’s heart gave an uneasy thump upon the sight of Ol’ Amos’ expression. “Ol’ President, is a Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant tide very scary?”
“How can the word ‘scary’ even cut it?”
Ol’ Amos heaved a sigh. “Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants are a type of dark-elemental Magical Beast that live underground. They rarely leave their habitat to move about elsewhere.
“Even if they did occasionally emerge aboveground, they were but just individual Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants that had lost their way. They are just Sixth-Grade Magical Beasts and don’t pose any threat at all.
“But…”
Ol’ Amos’ words took a turn in another direction. “When Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants emerge from underground at the same time on a grand scale, they will come together to form an exceptionally fearsome catastrophe. You can never imagine the sight of several million red ants congregating into a red torrent.
“Not even skeletal remains are left behind, and nothing is left alive in the barren lands!
“Every single living thing gets wiped out!”
“Is it that scary?!” Meng Lei gasped.
“Scary?” Ol’ Amos chuckled and asked, “Do you know why the six Saint Domain Magical Beasts, like the Moon-Howling Heavenly Wolf King, for example, suddenly ran out of their lairs roaring as they rushed toward the forest’s central region?”
“No, I don’t!” Meng Lei shook his head.
“It’s because they’ve gone to seek protection!”
Ol’ Amos gazed into the distance. “The king of the Magical Beast Forest lives in the forest’s central region. Only the king is capable of protecting those Saint Domain Magical Beasts. Otherwise, when the ant tide comes sweeping toward them, even Saint Domain Magical Beasts… would die a terrible death!”
“Even Saint Domain Magical Beasts would die?” Meng Lei gasped.
“Magical Beast insects such as ants and so on are different from other Magical Beasts. They don’t fear death, and they launch wave upon wave of attacks. Their numbers are inexhaustible, too. Even deities would find them a pain to deal with should they encounter them, much less Saint Domain Magical Beasts?”
Ol’ Amos shook his head.
“What should we do, then? If the ant tide attacks the kingdom’s borders, how are they going to fight them?” asked Meng Lei.
“It’ll have to depend on the situation!” With a shake of his head, Ol’ Amos went on. “The ant tide moves at a ferocious momentum with only one motive in mind—to seize food. All the Magical Beasts, trees, and weeds are their targets of plunder! Once they seize enough food in the Magical Beast Forest, they’ll automatically withdraw.”
“What if they can’t get enough food in the Magical Beast Forest?” Meng Lei balled his hands into fists. “Are they going to charge out of the forest and surge toward the borders?”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Ol’ Amos nodded. “Similar incidents had taken place several times before, among which, quite a few of them were false alarms. The ant tide had stayed only in the Magical Beast Forest to seize food and hadn’t attacked the borders.
“However, there were also a few times where they had invaded and caused great disaster upon the kingdom. People’s lives were plunged into great misery and suffering, and countless lives were lost!”
“So, nobody can guarantee whether or not they’ll attack the borders, right?” Meng Lei asked with a grave expression on his face.
“That’s right!”
“I understand now!”
Meng Lei let out a breath. He sped up and flew toward Magical Beast Village right away. While it was true that he didn’t harbor many sentimental feelings toward the village, he couldn’t just watch as the villagers perished in the ant tide, either.
He wasn’t capable of something like that.
Thanks to the magic carpet flying full speed ahead, Meng Lei managed to return to the village by noon. The adults busied themselves with their chores while the children frolicked and played. Smoke from cooking rose into the air, and the aroma of meat assailed the senses.
Magical Beast Village was still immersed in peace and quiet. None of them knew that a disaster was imminent!
Bong!
Meng Lei landed on the village walls at the village entrance and rang the old brass bell there. The deep, dull bong of the bell resounded in the sky above the Magical Beast Village, startling all the villagers. The adults’ countenances froze, and the children stopped where they were, and all of them looked in the village entrance’s direction.
“The old brass bell is ringing!”
“The beast tide is here again?”
Captain Hudders was having his lunch in his wooden hut when the bell rang. His countenance changed, and he tossed aside the bone he was holding. Then, he picked up his huge sword and exited the hut in a flash. He was in such a hurry that he couldn’t even be bothered to clean off the grease on his hands.
Swoosh!
All the adult men stopped their chores and walked out of their homes. They picked up their shovels and hoes, swords and rakes, and various other weapons and ran straight to the village entrance.
The women called out loudly for their children as they got ready to enter the underground shelter any moment.
For a moment there, a disturbance went through close to a hundred villagers of the entire Magical Beast Village!
“Meng Lei!”
Hudders, who was the first to reach the village walls, was overjoyed to see Meng Lei upon arrival. He said, “Meng Lei, when did you come back? Haha, with you around, I can rest assured!”
Contrary to his expectations, however, Meng Lei shook his head and replied, “Captain Hudders, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. The scale of the beast tide this time is too big. I… can’t stop them!”
Hudders’ expression changed at once. “But you’re a Sixth-Grade Warrior and even a Fifth-Grade Magician, too. What kind of beast tide is it that even someone like you cannot fight against it?”
“We’ll talk when everyone’s here!”
Meng Lei waved him off.
“Meng Lei!”
“Captain!”
Before long, all the guards and adult men arrived one by one. Old Peter, the village chief, also hurried over to the village entrance while using his walking stick for support, stumbling as he did so.
When everyone had more or less arrived, Meng Lei recounted the details of the ant tide to them. Upon hearing his words, everyone was scared witless, and they felt chills coming all over them.
Blood drained from Captain Hudders’ face. He asked, “Meng Lei, is what you said really true? The ant tide is really coming?”
“It’s hard to say for sure whether or not they’ll come, but a large-scale Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ant tide has indeed occurred in the Magical Beast Forest. My friend in the capital has also told me that the king has specially issued a special-class beast tide warning because of this.”
Meng Lei looked grave as he continued speaking in a deep and low voice. “I heard that even the Flying Dragon Troops have been mobilized. The reason for me hurrying back here is precisely to inform all of you to make preparations in advance.
“You can only be safe if you take precautions. If the Bloodthirsty Iron-Crystal Ants really surge out of the Magical Beast Forest, it’ll be the end for villages like ours. The kingdom’s troops will never leave the frontier defense stronghold to save commoners like us!”
A special-class beast tide warning and mobilization of the Flying Dragon Troops!
Blood drained from everyone’s faces.
“Meng Lei is right! It’s better to be safe than sorry!”
Old Peter was the first to make a decision. He instructed, “Tell every household to prepare rations and drinking water at once. The moment we discover traces of the ant tide, everyone is to enter the underground shelter immediately!”
