Chapter 144: A Different Fishing Net

The Vampire Bats were swift and terrifying. To buy some time for the Twin-headed Ogre and Dogmen in front, Yang Ling rode his Unicorn and led the bats the long way around the mountains. When he was sure his group was no longer in immediate danger, he sped toward the forest where they had laid their traps.

As he passed a battle trench, he ordered the Evil Eyes that he had laid in ambush to attack, releasing a wave of concentrated blinding light. But to his surprise, the Vampire Bats were unaffected, and they continued their pursuit unharmed.

Echolocation?

Turning back to look at the Vampire Bats, Yang Ling realized that the unique ability of bats to use echolocation was probably much more essential to their health than their eyes, which were mere supporting actors in comparison.

Yang Ling recalled the Evil Eyes from the battle trench, and continued running. He was lucky that the Unicorn was fast, and that he was still able to shake off the pursuing Vampire Bats, even though he had stopped for a moment.

Perhaps the Dolphin Sonar Wizard Amulet could greatly disrupt their sense of hearing?

Yang Ling reached into his Space Ring and pulled out a few Dolphin Sonar Wizard Amulets. He was glad he had taken the time a few days earlier to create some, as he suspected they would come in handy against the Vampire Bats. Even though he had used Blood Essence from Giant Crab Spiders and Twin-headed Horse Spiders, and not the fresh blood of a Bugu Bird, he hoped the Amulets would still have some effect on the Vampire Bats’ hearing.

Yang Ling charged out of the embattlement, flinging a few Dolphin Sonar Wizard Amulets toward the advancing Vampire Bats. Then he recalled his Unicorn. Grabbing Yuna, he weaved between the tightly knit spider webs. He instructed the spider army to set up layers of spider webs all around themselves as an added precaution, and to leave a tunnel free so they could come and go. The deeper one made it into the forest, the denser the spider webs became.

Screech…

The Dolphin Sonar Wizard Amulets served well enough as a distraction, and so the Vampire Bats failed to notice the spider webs ahead of them. They followed Yang Ling’s scent closely, screeching.

As they entered the forest, there were still not many spider webs around, and only a few bats got trapped. As the spider webs became greater and denser, more bats became entangled.

At the same time, the Tarantula King ordered the spider army to weave up the forest’s entrance, effectively trapping the Vampire Bats in the trees. Two thousand spiders worked in unison, quickly sealing the narrow entrance, layer by layer.

Screech…

After successfully evading much of the strong spider web, the giant red bat sensed that something was off. It led the rest of the bats away screeching, attempting to break out of the trap.

The giant red bat had more trouble, though. The Dolphin Sonar Wizard Amulets had an effect on it too, causing it to bump into thick, sticky spider webs. The more flustered it became, the more effective was the trap.

In its frustration, the giant bat could only lead the group of bats backward based on its memory. But it soon realized that they were surrounded, with no path of retreat left. Out of options, it led the bats straight at the spider webs, tearing away layers of web as they went.

The tarantulas were able to weave strong, dense webs, because they had evolved so far. The giant bat had to exert itself mightily to make any progress through the web, and it lost smaller bats with each layer.

After eight layers had been removed, the giant bat was finally exhausted, unable to free itself from the web’s last layer. It felt the spider web tightening every time it struggled.

In just an hour, the thousands of bats had all been entangled by the trap. After confirming that none of the bats had escaped, the group emerged from hiding.

“Sir, let me find some dry firewood and burn them all in a fire!” Orlando exclaimed. He was in awe of Yang Ling’s powers and planning. He finally believed that it was possible to build a city here after all!

Yang Ling laughed. “Why should we burn such a good thing?”

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“Master, if we are not going to burn them, are you going to pickle them and turn them into dried rations?” the Twin-headed Ogre Braska asked, observing the Vampire Bats and their skinny bodies.

“Of course! Bats have tender and sweet flesh, and are much more delicious than the Black Water Fish you have told me about. Their barbequed meat is a delicacy across the continent!”

The Twin-headed Ogre had eaten termites from the ground and caterpillars from the treetops when he was starving. He knew he had eaten some strange things, but he had never heard of anyone eating barbequed bats.

Where the Twin-headed Ogre was confused, the Dogmen and Heavenly Fox Yuna took a few steps back in unison. This was especially so for Yuna. She felt a wave of nausea when she looked at the bats and their sharp teeth. She would not touch a monster like this even if she was starving.

“Actually, it would be even tastier if we eat the bats raw!” Yang Ling laughed, peeling a struggling bat from the web. He presented it to the group. Yuna screamed and ran away, afraid that Yang Ling would make her take a bite of the bat.

Women will always be women!

Yang Ling looked from the Twin-headed Ogre to the Heavenly Fox Yuna, who was pale and frowning. He shook his head, disappointed to see that they did not realize he was joking. Then he looked closely at the Vampire Bat he held.

On the surface, the so-called Vampire Bats were not that different from the bats he used to see in his home town when he was a child. They had the same claws and similar wings… The biggest difference was that they were about double the size. But as he observed closely, he noticed something different on their tails.

Their tails were long, and each tail hid a thin, sharp stinger under the fur. It looked like a needle. Their stingers were full of blood. Yang Ling realized they must use these stingers to suck blood from their prey.

Curious, Yang Ling pinched the bat’s stinger. He realized that he could release the blood kept there with a single squeeze. This gave him an idea.

He needed a lot of Magical Beast Blood Essence to create Wizard Amulets. He needed a lot of resources and manpower to purchase these Blood Essences from troops and adventurers, or if he were to send his army out to hunt for them. It would become expensive over time.

If he could tame the Vampire Bats, helplessly struggling in his trap, he would obtain a unique Magical Beast army, and he could also secure free labor! The Vampire Bats could help him collect the Blood Essence from Magical Beasts. In fact, he might even fight poison with poison, and get these Vampire Bats to deal with the remaining Vampire Bats around the Black Water Lake, while he sat back and reaped the rewards.

Yang Ling set about taming the Vampire Bats with his blood, one by one. He even tamed the giant red bat, who was grateful to be released from its tangled trap.

After advancing to the level of Earth Wizard, Yang Ling had experienced a massive boost in both his mental energy and Wizard Power. Taming a thousand level one Vampire Bats was no problem for him. He was prepared to return to Wissen Town after all of the preparations for building a city here were complete. He wanted to train in the Terras Forest and find an opportunity to tame some higher level Magical Beasts.

Horned Bee Beasts, Evil Eyes, spiders, coupled with the Gargoyles and Withered Tree Warriors. Yang Ling did not command many varieties of low level Magical Beasts, but he had plenty in terms of numbers. Next he needed to tame more complex Magical Beasts to improve the overall combat abilities of the Magical Beast army. The Vampire Bats’ special gift made them worth his trouble to train. If not for that, he wouldn’t have wasted the time.

Yang Ling also gained a further understanding of the situation around the Black Water Lake after absorbing the Vampire Bats’ memories.

According to the giant bat’s memory, there were over two hundred thousand Vampire Bats in the area, split into a hundred hordes of varying sizes. The larger hordes had tens of thousands of bats, while the smaller ones held a thousand or so, some even only having a few hundred. They each had their own territory. Each horde had their own leaders, and would rarely come together against an enemy or to capture prey.

Yang Ling shook his head at the Vampire Bats’ sheer numbers. He finally understood why the Beastmen would not dare fish in these waters. With those numbers, the Vampire Bats could reduce huge crowds to dried corpses even if each bat took only one drop from each person!

Yang Ling rested overnight, and in the morning, he decided to split his group up into teams, so they could quickly clear the area of Vampire Bats. The giant Red-haired Bat would lead the thousand Vampire Bats and act independently, responsible for ambushing the nearby bat hordes; Yang Ling would use the same strategy once again, using bait to attract the blood-loving bats into an ambush and then exterminating them.

Three days later, the group had managed to clear out a safe piece of land by the lake, exterminating nearly fifty thousand bats. Most of the credit could be given to the giant Red-haired Bat. It attacked by surprise, and left no time for the wild bats to react or retaliate.

To increase the giant Red-haired Bat’s efficiency in both exterminating wild bats and in recruiting more bats to collect Magical Beast Blood Essence, Yang Ling tamed a thousand bats once again. This brought his bat army to a number of around two thousand.

The bats could also evolve after consuming Essence Crystals of their own kind, just like the low level Magical Beasts like the spiders and Evil Eyes. After three days, the normal bats evolved from level one to level two, their claws becoming as hard as steel and their speed almost doubling. Their tail stingers also doubled in size, and could contain even more blood.

The normal bats managed to evolve to level two, but the Red-haired Bat evolved to level three after consuming many Essence Crystals. Its wingspan grew to two meters long, its inch long claws became capable of piercing through the Dogmen’s light armor effortlessly. Even though its speed was not as fast as the level three Horned Bee Beasts, it was close.