Chapter 16: No Way to Heaven
Linley, hiding in the grass, watched the scene with bated breath. "That pile... at least fifty or sixty plants." His heart was filled with suppressed excitement. But what left him most stunned was—
Bebe seemed to think it wasn't enough yet. He continued quickly pulling up one Blueheart Grass after another.
"With those two little paws of his, how can he carry such a big pile of Blueheart Grass?" Linley wondered in confusion. He immediately sent a soul transmission: "Bebe, that's enough. Come back now."
Bebe looked up at Linley, then wrinkled his cute little nose. "No rush, there's still not enough."
Just then, a Velociraptor drinking by the river glanced over, its gaze landing on Bebe. The Velociraptor clearly saw him. Its front legs, which had been lowered for drinking, straightened up. The Velociraptor stared at Bebe with cold eyes.
"Not good." Linley's heart leaped into his throat.
If Bebe got into a fight with this Velociraptor, it might attract other magical beasts. The situation would become disastrous—there were far too many magical beasts in this valley!
Bebe also noticed the Velociraptor. He looked at it, then seemed to tremble in fear, hiding next to the small pile of Blueheart Grass.
"Roar~" The Velociraptor let out a triumphant cry, then lowered its front legs again and continued drinking by the river.
"What a big dummy. Tricking it is way too easy." Bebe said smugly to Linley via soul transmission.
Linley didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He hadn't expected Bebe to play weak. Linley knew well that a year and a half ago, Bebe could already drive off a Velociraptor's attacks. After another year and a half of growth, Bebe was now even stronger.
Against a Velociraptor, Bebe was absolutely fearless.
But Bebe was indeed clever. He knew that making a big commotion here would easily expose Linley.
Humans!
Magical beasts were extremely hostile toward humans.
In that Velociraptor's eyes, Bebe was just a very weak little magical beast. Seeing Bebe so afraid of it, it naturally couldn't be bothered to kill him. After all, it knew that black magical rats were only the lowest-grade Black Shadow Rats.
But this Velociraptor didn't know that one of its kin had once been thoroughly tormented by Bebe.
"Impressive." Linley gave Bebe a thumbs up.
Bebe grinned smugly. "Of course. I, Bebe, am the smartest magical rat." Then he looked at the pile of Blueheart Grass, which was taller than his own body. Bebe's body suddenly expanded, from twenty centimeters long to nearly half a meter.
Once larger, Bebe's front paws easily scooped up the pile of Blueheart Grass. Then he pushed off with his hind legs—
Whoosh!
Bebe landed in the grass, right beside Linley.
"Boss, a total of one hundred sixty Blueheart Grass plants. When I, Bebe, go on a mission, it's always a success." Bebe puffed out his little chest proudly.
Linley affectionately patted Bebe's little head, then put all the Blueheart Grass into his pack.
"Let's keep moving. I'm getting more and more curious about this valley." Linley's eyes gleamed as he looked east. "This valley has so many magical beasts, and the density of elemental energy is incredibly high. I feel it's even denser here than where we first came down. It's about ten times the density of the outside world."
Linley had a feeling—
The reason for this strange density of elemental energy must lie in the eastern part of this valley.
Moving along the densest patches of grass, Linley, aided by the auxiliary spell 'Supersonic Speed,' moved at an astonishing pace. The 'Supersonic Speed' cast by a rank 7 wind-style magician could triple one's speed!
Triple speed, and Linley was already a rank 4 warrior.
"Whoosh, whoosh!"
Linley moved swiftly, dodging one magical beast after another. Fortunately, except for the area where the Pegasus herd was, the grass elsewhere was very lush. Linley, at his height, could easily slip through.
"From the moment I entered the valley, I've traveled nearly a hundred miles east."
Linley was amazed.
The entire Magical Beast Mountain Range was only about a thousand miles wide. A valley this long was truly astonishing. Based on distance, the area Linley had now entered was close to the central region of the mountain range.
"Hey, boss. There aren't many magical beasts here." Bebe stood on Linley's shoulder, standing on his hind legs to look around carefully.
Linley nodded slightly.
Within a few miles, there were only two magical beasts. Such a sparse number was indeed strange. Both were massive Velociraptors. Most importantly... both were lying on the ground resting, seemingly asleep.
"Only two Velociraptors, and both are sleeping." Linley chuckled self-deprecatingly. "This stretch might be the easiest part of the valley I've encountered. But these two Velociraptors seem different from the usual ones."
Linley noticed that these two Velociraptors were larger than normal. Since they were lying down, he couldn't determine their height, but just lying down, they were as tall as a normal Velociraptor standing. Their body length was nearly twice that of an ordinary Velociraptor.
These two massive Velociraptors lay on the ground like hills.
To be safe, Linley carefully crept through the grass, staying more than twenty meters away from them. But he didn't notice that when he moved through the grass, the rustling sounds made both Velociraptors' ears twitch. Yet they kept their eyes closed, lying on the ground.
Moving through the grass naturally made some noise.
But Linley didn't think much of it. In his view, even wind blowing through the grass made rustling sounds, just quieter than a person passing through. Besides, he had been moving through the grass for a while without any problems.
"Swish!"
A blur shot through the air, heading straight for Linley. Even with 'Supersonic Speed,' he could only barely stop in his tracks.
"Smack!"
A tail, like a steel whip, slammed into the ground about half a meter in front of Linley. The ground cracked open, leaving a meter-wide crater. Linley immediately pushed off the ground and leaped.
"I've been discovered." Linley's heart trembled.
"Roar~" "Roar~"
Two low roars followed. The two massive Velociraptors, which had been lying down, suddenly stood up. Each was as tall as a four-story building, their bodies a full forty meters long, with tails also forty meters long—truly terrifying.
"At this size, they must be elites of the Velociraptor clan. Probably rank 8 magical beasts." Linley's heart clenched.
This was the first rank 8 magical beast he had encountered inside the valley. As a rank 7 magician, Linley felt confident he could fight a rank 7 beast. But against a rank 8, he didn't even dare to think about it. The gap between ranks was enormous.
You could tell from the price of magical beast cores.
A rank 6 core was worth a thousand gold coins.
A rank 7 core was worth fifty thousand gold coins! The difference between rank 6 and rank 7 was clear.
A rank 8 core was worth five hundred thousand gold coins!
And a rank 9 core was worth five million gold coins!
This was from the books in the academy library. In reality, cores from powerful beasts were extremely rare and usually had no market price.
Rank 8 magical beasts were far stronger than rank 7.
"Roar, roar~"
The two rank 8 Velociraptors exchanged glances, a glint of mockery in their eyes. Then they took large strides toward Linley.
The intelligence of rank 8 beasts was no less than a human's.
"Whoosh, whoosh!" Linley ran east at full speed, chanting the spell for Flight Technique. But Flight Technique was a rank 7 spell, and its incantation was complex, taking a while to complete.
Bebe didn't dare show off now.
He could handle a rank 7 Velociraptor, but a rank 8 one—just looking at its body, which was a full size larger than a rank 7's—Bebe knew that even if he bit down, he probably wouldn't even reach the flesh.
With a larger body came thicker scales. Each scale on this rank 8 Velociraptor was nearly half a meter thick, with dense muscle underneath.
Hurting them would be very difficult.
With a rank 4 warrior's speed boosted by the 'Supersonic Speed' auxiliary spell, Linley was slightly faster than the slow-moving Velociraptors. These massive beasts were sluggish, but their strides were huge—one step equaled dozens of Linley's.
Most importantly—
The rank 8 Velociraptors' tails, like steel whips, moved as fast as lightning, even faster than a rank 7's. In a flash, they could cross dozens of meters, matching Bebe's speed.
The ground shook as the two giant rank 8 Velociraptors chased Linley, occasionally exchanging strange glances.
"Whoosh!"
Linley suddenly shot into the air. The Flight Technique spell was finally complete.
"Finally safe." Linley flew high, looking down at the two massive Velociraptors and letting out a long sigh. "These two rank 8 Velociraptors are too cunning. They pretended to sleep just to ambush me."
Linley didn't realize it wasn't a deliberate ambush.
Rank 8 Velociraptors were extremely sensitive to their surroundings. They were used to the rustling of wind through the grass. When the sound suddenly changed in frequency, it naturally aroused their suspicion.
"Roar~"
The two rank 8 Velociraptors, seeing Linley fly up, showed no anger. Instead, they raised their heads and roared, their cries carrying a hint of joy.
Linley could tell the difference between anger and joy.
"Roar~" "Roar~" "Roar~" "Roar~"...
Suddenly, a series of roars echoed from above. The roars came one after another, and just from the sound, Linley knew there were many beasts.
"Above." Linley, hovering in midair, looked up in shock. Through the white mist, he saw massive dragon-shaped beasts flying toward him. Each was seventy to eighty meters long, with leathery wings spanning fifty to sixty meters.
One giant flying dragon after another appeared faintly in the mist. Linley's eyes swept over them.
"At least dozens." Linley felt like he couldn't breathe.
One after another, massive flying dragons descended from the sky. Their fiery red scales were dazzling, with flames faintly swirling around their bodies.
"Fire Dragon Clan!" Linley knew things had gone wrong.
The Fire Dragon Clan was a mid-tier dragon clan. Ordinary Fire Dragons were rank 8 beasts, but the stronger ones could surpass their racial limits to become rank 9.
"Two flightless rank 8 beasts already gave me such trouble. Now there are flying rank 8 beasts, and dozens of them." Linley's heart sank.
And then—
"Roar~" "Roar~"...
Another series of roars came from a different direction. Then, a group of dragon-shaped beasts, similar in size to the Fire Dragons, flew over on massive leathery wings. These giant flying dragons had emerald-green scales, as clear as jade.
These green-scaled flying dragons were just as numerous as the Fire Dragon Clan.
The two rank 8 Velociraptors below roared triumphantly, their eyes gleaming with the satisfaction of a successful scheme.
"Now I know why there were only these two rank 8 Velociraptors in this area and no other beasts." Linley's heart was bitter. "This area must be restricted to rank 8 beasts. Even rank 7 beasts wouldn't dare enter. The Fire Dragon Clan and the Green Dragon Clan are both rank 8 beast groups. Those two Velociraptors were just toying with me. When they saw I was about to fly away, they roared to attract the Fire Dragons and Green Dragons."
Over a hundred giant flying dragons circled above. Only then did Linley realize—
At this moment, there was no way to heaven!
"Boss, what do we do now?" Bebe's pitiful voice echoed in Linley's mind.