445 ‘Handling’ the elderly, the sickly, women and children (1/2)
Though these legendary beast-riders’ abilities were formidable, amidst the boundless sea of crazed arachnids, what awaited them…....was without an exception, exhausting their strength till they finally succumbed to death.
Regrettably, with the Blackthorn Overmind prevailing, Sheyan and the rest could not hope to earn any benefits. Oh, wrong, one cannot put it that way. At least, those 23 hearts required for the sacrificial ceremony, minus the beating one still inside Chieftain Cherokee’s chest, had all been assembled.
While Sheyan and buddies were plotting how to follow up from their victory, Blackthorn Overmind transmitted an unfortunate news – Mother Nature Eywa had contacted him, and issued an ultimatum. She believed the Blackthorn tribe’s war conduct was understandable in terms of safeguarding their base, but since they’ve already succeeded in doing so, the regulations cannot be violated any longer.
This signified that if the Blackthorn tribe didn’t wish for war to erupt between themselves and Mother Nature Eywa again, they could only pull back those Ultralisks and Defilers to their own base, and decommission them. Thus, it implied that Sheyan’s plausible mobilizing fleet had returned to its earlier state – limited to 800 - 900 headcount, which totalled to 1,600 - 1,800 zerglings; coupled with a minute few rare elites.
For an army of such scale…..truthfully speaking, attempting to defeat the Mosake clan with an outburst of vigor was still beyond their reach. Besides, the zerglings were really too weak, and to confront the large-scale killing capabilities of their enemy back in their home ground, death would not come any faster. Minimally, the army must comprise of normal Ultralisks that could absorb the majority of incoming damages.
In his current situation, though Sheyan had already anticipated this, he still sighed humbly and halted any form of pursuit. Still, this single campaign had already attained his primary objective. The entire fighting force of the Mosake clan had been weakened by 6-7 folds, and their food storage had been utterly wasted.
Apart from that, amongst the core strongholds of the clan, only 4 remained from those 13 legendary beast-riders. Moreover, each sustained injuries. Minusing the slain, captives, or missing Mosake clansmen, their manpower had declined by close to a third! If one were to strictly analyze further, even their various tamed creatures had a mortality rate of half!
Watching the fleeing figures of the Mosake clan, Sheyan turned back and gazed towards the powerful Growth-hunter, Mcdh. He exposed a cheeky expression as he teased.
“Our 3 hours duration is nearly over.”
Mcdh’s expression was relatively dismal. He sighed as he shook his head faintly.
“I get it. To you guys, my strength is indeed dispensable.”
Concurrently, Brother Black made eye contact with Sheyan, as he whistled and laughed heartily before slapping Mcdh’s back.
“So, I wish that our upcoming collaboration will be a slightly more pleasant one.”
Mcdh was stunned.
“What did you say? Collaboration?”
He immediately retracted his gaze and suspiciously doubted.
“You guys still intend to collaborate with me? But……”
Sheyan chuckled and spoke with profound interpretation.
“We wouldn’t mind helping while we are at it, but the premise is the receiver of this help should owe us a favour. As for whether he chooses to repay this favour, that will be another matter.”
Mcdh breathed in deeply as he earnestly replied.
“Alright, then I’ll owe you guys this favour! As long as I remain alive, I’ll definitely repay this debt.”
Brother Black abruptly interrupted.
“I’ve heard before, a requisite resurrecting sequence for a ‘Fairy’s Praise’ seed, is hunting down powerful creatures to acquire their soul as resurrection essence. Could it be, you’ve already accomplished that step?”
Mcdh nodded and answered.
“That’s correct. It sounds rather simple but I’ve already wandered through several worlds. Though I’ve acquired souls from the creatures I’ve hunted, they aren’t compatible with the seed in my hand. Furthermore, back when I was about to hunt down a legendary female Hexapede that they’d tamed, my carelessness allowed Hammerhead-Titanothere rider Authe to lock onto to me. In the end, I failed and got caught.”
Sheyan nodded and replied.
“I understand. Looks like we wouldn’t have to specially craft out a plan for you. Our current goal of debilitating the Mosake clan is unanimous with yours. Oh right, have you tried harvesting any soul from those powerful creatures that had been ravaged by the zerglings?”
Mcdh smiled bleakly in response.
“I haven’t, because the carcasses of those legendary beast had all been dissolved into the ‘Creep’ carpet, either that or devoured directly by those zerglings. I didn’t even have a chance.”
At this moment, a frowning Reef strolled over and reported to Sheyan.
“We currently have 131 Mosake clan captives, but i can predict that this figure will raise to estimatedly 180 after half an hour. The majority of them are women, elderly and kids. What should we do with them?