Versatile Mage

The Giant Lizards were amphibious. They could live in caves, sleep in the mud, were able to live off vegetables, and feast on meat at other times. Such an all-around beast species was troublesome to deal with. It was difficult to find their weakness due to their strong adaptability. It also meant that their reproductive ability was fairly outstanding.

There were only a few Giant Lizards here forty to fifty years ago, and now… they were enough to queue up for a sunbath.

One thing for sure, the creature hiding at the middle of the swamp was also a kind of the Giant Lizard species.

The Razortail Drake which Mo Fan had seen before was a Giant Lizard mixed with the lineage of dragons. In comparison, the one he was targeting now had no wings, and its size was significantly bigger than the Razortail Drake…

—-

Over the past few days, the trio was trying to figure out a plan to kill the enormous beast at the center of the swamp.

Li Man had returned from her regular exploration with bad news. Two groups of hunters were planning to enter the valley soon. Li Man had blocked the entrance they were planning to use, so she had barely delayed their plans by a day or two.

“Looks like we’ll have to make our move tomorrow,” said Mo Fan.

They would not be able to stop the hunters from feeding themselves to the beast. Besides, that would ruin their ambitious plan of killing the beast.

Furthermore, Mo Fan felt that if they were to wait, the beast’s shell would regrow fairly soon.

In the weak illumination from the bonfire, Mo Fan started drawing on the ground with a stick as he laid out the plan.

“Firstly, the Xuanwu Lizard is our biggest problem. Even though it was severely injured, its strength is still too much for us to handle. We can’t attack it without making sure that everything is in place. It is our main target, and it is an expert at disguising itself. Don’t judge it by looking at its enormous size, I can assure you that it has a higher intelligence than the Magicians that it has eaten alive.” Mo Fan drew the beast’s position on the soil.

Zhang Xiaohou nodded heavily.

The Xuanwu Lizard was indeed very cunning. It never attacked just when the Magicians showed themselves. It waited patiently until they stood on its back. The groups of hunters were quite experienced, and were fully prepared, too. If it were a normal encounter, one or two of them would be able to escape. However, they were completely wiped out in an instant.

“We have no hope of defeating it on our own. However, there’s something that could turn the impossible into the possible.” Mo Fan drew another area of the swamp with the stick.

The zone was where Li Man was on her own before, the exact place where she was poisoned without her knowing it.

Mo Fan glanced at Li Man and saw that she was in deep thought. He chuckled and said, “That’s right, the Xuanwu Lizard is not the only thing living in the Xizhao Valley. There’s also a very strong poisonous bug.”

“Brother Fan, are you implying that we should have the poisonous bug attack the Xuanwu Lizard?” Zhang Xiaohou’s eyes flickered.

They had zero chance of winning if they fought the Xuanwu Lizard head-on. It was clearly a Commander-level demon beast, and even an injured Commander-level demon beast could kill them instantly.

But it would be a different case if they had some external help.

Li Man cast a surprised glance at Mo Fan. She hadn’t thought this caveman would be so daring.

It was something that hunters used a lot, to have some beast do their dirty work. As such, they would be the ultimate winner of the situation. Not many people would dare to use it on a Commander-level demon beast, as they would end up being eaten if they made a careless mistake.

“Have you gathered enough information about that poisonous bug?” asked Li Man.

“Almost,” answered Mo Fan.

“Almost?” Li Man pull a long face.

“Either way, it’s useful in this situation.” Mo Fan was not willing to explain further. “The plan is simple; we’ll lure the poisonous bug to the Xuanwu Lizard. Its poison is strong enough to weaken a Commander-level demon beast. All we have to do is let the Xuanwu Lizard kill the poisonous bug, and we’ll utilize its poison to kill the Xuanwu Lizard.”

Zhang Xiaohou nodded quickly. He was utterly convinced that the plan would work. He asked after a slight pause, “So, who’s going to lure it to the gigantic beast?”

Mo Fan and Li Man did not respond. The cave suddenly fell silent, apart from the crackling noise from the bonfire.

Zhang Xiaohou pointed at his nose and said in a rather stiff tone, “You’re asking ME to do it?”

Mo Fan and Li Man nodded simultaneously. Neither of them had any convenient movement abilities, while on the other hand, Zhang Xiaohou had both the Wind Element and the Earth Element, and he had learned useful techniques in tracking enemies and concealing his presence in the military. He was definitely the perfect candidate for the difficult mission.

Zhang Xiaohou knew he had nowhere to escape to. He murmured under his breath, “Why do I feel like you both reached that conclusion before this?”

“We will bring the poisonous bug and the Xuanwu Lizard to this specific location. Therefore, we need someone luring the poisonous bug, and another person baiting the Xuanwu Lizard.” Mo Fan poked at a spot close to the center of the swamp with the stick.

Zhang Xiaohou nodded.

On second thought, Zhang Xiaohou was puzzled. He blurted out, “So what’s next after we bring the poisonous bug and the Xuanwu Lizard there? Aren’t we going to be flanked from both sides? We’re going to be killed first in between them!”

The plan was perfect, but its execution was bizarre.

The biggest problem of baiting the demon beasts to fight one another was to ensure a safe escape from the situation. Did they really think the beasts would just run into one another and battle fiercely while the bait simply turned a corner and ran away?

Enough with the jokes, this wasn’t filming a movie. It did work for the female protagonist in Jurassic Park IV, but Zhang Xiaohou would not dare to use the same trick himself.

“That’s the question,” Mo Fan coughed and pointed at the spot he poked before.

“Have you thought why we’re luring them to that specific location?” Mo Fan sternly said, “Li Man and I have investigated the surroundings. There’s a cave at the end of this path. Below it is a dried underground passage, which runs under the entire valley, including the bottom of the swamp, to the center of the valley.” Mo Fan drew another path, which connected to the swamp at the center.

Zhang Xiaohou immediately came to a realization and blurted out, “Brother Fan, so you’re saying that someone will be receiving us there?”

“That’s right. Once we lure the Xuanwu Lizard and the poisonous bug to the spot, the ground there is rather fragile. A few destructive Intermediate Spells would blast a hole open. It will then drain the mud like a vortex, and we’ll be able to ride it and make our way to the underground passage…” explained Mo Fan.

“HAHA, a crafty escape! The demon beasts will fight one another, and we’ll even have the time to change into clean clothing before retrieving our loot! Muahahaha!” Zhang Xiaohou burst into great laughter.

Brother Fan is as intelligent as usual. It turned out that everything was under his control all along!

As the two were filled with excitement, Li Man was silent throughout the entire discussion.

Overall, the plan did seem viable.

But here came the problem. If Zhang Xiaohou was assigned to lure the poisonous bug, who was going to bait the Xuanwu Lizard?