Chapter 482 - Delayed Punishment

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

After organizing the entire army of Groundhogs and setting up a massive Groundhog base within the Wizard Pagoda’s Space, Yang Ling led the army of Groundhogs back out of the Ural Mountain Range, seizing the time to topple Saint Peter Castle, so as to completely destroy the Church’s forces in the south. The army led by the Great Elder of the Dark Association was locked in a stalemate with the main forces of the Church and had to exhaust an alarming amount of supplies every day. They had to end the battle as soon as possible to prevent any complications.

Along the way, more and more Groundhogs joined their ranks. They quickly joined up with Yang Ling and his group under the leadership of the many high-level Groundhogs, their spirits high. Wherever they passed, they destroyed every Magical Beast blocking their way like a nest of termites, tearing them into pieces.

There was nothing in the Ural Mountain Range, but the ore was abundant in the mountains. Even though most of them were ores of poor quality, there was a startling number of them. To humans, the cost of excavating and refining these ores was high, and the ores themselves had little value. However, to the Groundhogs, they were an important source of food.

To store up enough food, to ensure that sufficient preparations are made for the proliferation of the Groundhogs in the Wizard Pagoda’s Space, Yang Ling spared no cost and used a large amount of Wizard Power and Mental Energy to move the large scale ore mountains they saw along the way into the Wizard Pagoda’s Space. In the end, in just the span of a day, there were a dozen more large-scale ore mountains within the Wizard Pagoda’s Space. Even if they did not head into the forest to hunt, the army of Groundhogs would have enough food to last them a few years.

After making their way past a few tall mountains, standing atop the peak of a tall mountain, and looking at the magnificent Saint Peter Castle that was a long distance away, Yang Ling was in high spirits. He had been alone when he entered the mountain range but had gained a massive army when he was exiting the area, an army of Groundhogs with enough numbers to drown the entire Saint Peter Castle.

“Sir, should we order Ashnamov and the rest to get back immediately to attack the castle?” Looking at Saint Peter Castle that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, thinking about the terrifying Magical Towers, the Dark Dragon King could still feel his scalp crawl. The number of soldiers in the army of Groundhogs was alarming. However, he still felt that it was much safer if they gathered all of their forces and attacked together.

“Hehe, there’s no rush, we can inform them to rush over through the Magical Spell Formation when we are about to topple the castle!” Yang Ling smiled. The army of Groundhogs was the main force for this battle. With Ashnamov and Elder Klive’s retreat attracting the attention of the guards in the castle, he was more confident that the surprise attacks of the army of Groundhogs would succeed.

“According to my knowledge, the defenses of Saint Peter Castle is far from ordinary!” The demoness was not a stranger to the castle situated at the chokepoint of the Great Ural Valley. She deliberated for a moment before saying, “Sir, in order to further attack the castle and reduce the number of casualties, I think that we should instruct the Groundhogs to dig a few tunnels leading straight to the interior of the castle, then launch a surprise attack after we mobilized a great deal of manpower into the area, initiating a pincer attack!”

“Great, very good, Sala, you shall be responsible for the mission this time!” Yang Ling nodded in appreciation as he looked at the experienced demoness.

Over the tens of thousands of years, it had not been chance that the demoness was able to control all of the Groundhogs in the Ural Mountain Range. Other than her exceptional individual powers, her vast experience was also an important factor. After all, she was a creature who advanced to the level of a Level Surpassing Magical Beast from a small Groundhog one step at a time, her sphere of influence expanding to cover the entire Ural Mountain Range a little at a time. Without sufficient capabilities, there was no way that she could achieve what she had today!

“Yes!” The demoness left after receiving her order, and soon showed the other side of her abilities to the rest of the group.

Under her command, the massive numbers within the army of Groundhogs quickly formed five hundred large groups, each group comprised of about twenty thousand strong Groundhogs and led by the level nine Groundhogs Yang Ling had subjugated. Each large group was further split into ten smaller teams, each led by the rest of the high-level Groundhogs. The rest of the injured or old Groundhogs were all relegated to the reserve forces. Even though their battle capabilities were not as strong, they had massive numbers and could charge forward as cannon fodder at the critical moment, or act as the last straw on the camel’s back when it came to crushing the enemies.

After the organization was completed, the group took action quickly. This time, the army of Groundhogs no longer swarmed forward in unison like termites, nor did they chitter loudly in excitement. Under the command of the demoness, they all shut their mouths tight, trying their best to hide their tracks and avoid startling a large number of Magical Beasts in the forest so that the guards of Saint Peter Castle would not notice the movement of the army.

“Ah, granny, save me, save me…”

After making a turn around a hill, Yang Ling suddenly heard a familiar sound. Charging over quickly to have a look, he saw the little lass Lucy and the rest of her tribespeople heavily surrounded by a large horde of Wind Wolves. The sinister old lady was tossing out handfuls of poisonous powder, forcing the hungry Wind Wolves to stay back. However, faced with the large group of over several hundred Wind Wolves, she alone could not fend off all of them. When she blocked off the Wind Wolves from one direction, the opposite side would be left open and defenseless. The pitiful young lady had been tossed to the side by a giant Wind Wolf.

“Lucy, my Lucy!” Seeing her only granddaughter get whisked away, the old lady was startled, pouncing forward to her rescue without consideration. Unexpectedly, she fell for the devious schemes of the giant Wind Wolf and got surrounded by a dozen Wind Wolves, each about the size of a calf. A piece of her meat from her shoulder was torn off in the blink of an eye, blood flowing out incessantly. Her body trembled as she fell directly onto the ground, unable to get up despite struggling for the longest time!

“Madam, madam…”

“Ah… Save us, save us!”

Seeing that even the old lady, the only person in the tribe able to fend off the Wind Wolves, had become severely injured and surrounded by the merciless Wind Wolves, the rest of the ladies cried loudly for help in their despair. Looking at the bloodthirsty Wind Wolves with red eyes closing in on them one step at a time, looking at the red stains of blood on their mouths, all of them lost their spirit in fear.

“Lucy, my Lucy!”

Looking at her pale granddaughter who had been whisked away by the Wind Wolf King, the old lady clenched her teeth and crawled forward without consideration. After having prepared it carefully for several dozen years, the lethal poison that she had created had finally proven useful, and they had successfully escaped the embattlement of the Groundhogs. However, she did not expect to be surrounded by a group of hungry Wind Wolves when Saint Peter Castle was just before her eyes. A dozen of her tribespeople had met with misfortune in the blink of an eye. Her efforts had been all for naught!

Roar…

After letting out a violent roar, the Wolf King whose scheme had succeeded howled, ordering the many Wind Wolves to attack. However, just as the Wind Wolves were prepared to bite open the necks of the ladies and eat their fill, just as the old lady had closed both her eyes in despair, a large horde of Groundhogs suddenly appeared from within the forest. There was a blanket of them, pouncing toward the Wind Wolves like the wind before tearing and biting at the bodies of the Wind Wolves. The Wind Wolves had thick hides and strong muscles, but that was only relative; Faced with the Groundhogs sharp fangs that could crush even crystal, faced with their lethal claws, they became covered in blood in an instant.

Roar…

Seeing the tidal wave of Groundhogs swarming toward them, the Wolf King was alarmed, tossing away the young lady Lucy it held in its mouth before leading the wolf pack to retreat, attempting to charge out of the Groundhogs’ embattlement. Even though it had reacted quickly, it was still one step too late. A silver glow flashed past its eyes, and it was torn to shreds by thousands of Wind Daggers before it could even react! Following that, after a chilling crunching sound was heard, all that was left of the several hundred ferocious Wind Wolves were pools of blood!

The demoness was meticulous. Upon seeing that Yang Ling was looking at the young lady in the mouth of the Wolf King with concern, she had immediately understood that the other party shares a special relationship with her master. Without waiting for Yang Ling’s instruction, she instructed the army of Groundhogs to quickly attack, then personally finished off the Wolf King and carried the still-frightened young lady Lucy up before rapidly stopping the blood from flowing out of her wound.

“Thank you, Miss, thank you, Miss!” After recovering from her shock, the old lady clenched her teeth and stood up, fighting back the pain. She stumbled as she made her way to the demoness’s side, hugging her only relative Lucy tightly in her embrace. Originally, seeing that the Wolf King had given the order, she had thought that her tribespeople would not be able to make it out of this crisis. She did not expect to be saved by a large horde of Groundhogs at the critical moment.

“You’re welcome. If you have to thank someone, you should thank my master!” The demoness put on a wide smile and waved her hand nonchalantly. After a ray of white light flashed past, both the wounds of the old lady and the rest of the women quickly stopped bleeding.

Great Regeneration Technique?

Looking at the beautiful demoness, touching the rapidly recovering wound on her shoulder, the old lady was immensely shocked. Even though she did not know any magic, she still had knowledge of magic spells. She knew that a Spellcaster who could instantly cast the Great Regeneration Technique was not an ordinary fighter!

“Oh… Yuri, you…” Just as the old lady was secretly deducing the identity of the demoness, she was incredibly surprised when she saw Yang Ling suddenly appear before her eyes. However, what surprised her, even more, was that the beautiful and powerful demoness was respectfully standing behind Yang Ling, looking like she was his follower.

“Hehe, to think that we would meet each other this soon!” Looking at the old lady whose eyes were bulging in surprise, her eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets, Yang Ling laughed. He took out a bottle of Water from the Spring of Life from his Space Ring and fed a few drops of it to the shaken young lady Lucy.

“Mister Yuri, they… They are all your guards?” Looking at the large mass of Groundhogs obediently crawling on the ground, then seeing the demoness, Corpse Wizard King and the rest of the group respectfully following behind Yang Ling, the young lady Lucy was very surprised. At the same time, she was overcome with worry, afraid that Yang Ling would exact revenge on her grandmother.

Silence, an air of silence!

The young lady Lucy was very worried, while the old lady and the rest of the women were frightened! To think that not only did Yang Ling not die after they handed him over, he instead brought out a large group of guards and countless Groundhogs. As long as he gave the order, no one in their party other than Lucy would be able to escape this crisis.

“That’s right. They are all my guards. All of the Groundhogs in the Ural Mountain Range are my guards!” Seeing the pale face of the old lady and the rest of her group, all of them trembling, Yang Ling naturally understood the fluster in their hearts. He smiled before continuing, “However, now that I think about it, without the great amount of assistance rendered by your tribe, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this today. Let’s do it this way, as my repayment, I’ll send you to a place. There are ample food and fertile land there. There are no wars, no disasters, and is definitely much better than Saint Peter Castle that is soon to be destroyed!”

Yang Ling spoke as he waved his hand and moved the many ladies into the Wizard Pagoda’s Space, directly sending them to the door of the village built by the several hundred troops and adventurers. Magical Beasts lurked around in every corner of the Ural Mountain Range. It would be extremely difficult for a hundred weak ladies like this to walk out of this forest. More importantly, Saint Peter Castle will soon face unprecedented unrest and calamity, charging over now would undoubtedly be asking for death.

Furthermore, after the unprecedented torrential rain, there was now a terrifying rodent crisis within the few thousand-mile-radius around Saint Peter Castle. They not only lacked suitable rations and potable water, but it was also extremely easy for them to contract a plague after the rodent crisis was over. After weighing the pros and cons, on Lucy’s sake, sending them to the Wizard Pagoda’s Space was naturally the most suitable choice. To some extent, this was both a blessing and a punishment. They now had a guarantee in terms of safety and living space, but they lost their freedom. Without his approval or help, they would no longer be able to leave the vast Wizard Pagoda’s Space!