Chapter 155: Who Is Knocking on the Door?

Upon the very first contact, one priest of the Ice God Cult died and another was severely injured.

This outcome left Zhuang Youpeng utterly shocked. They had originally planned to cause trouble for the Witch, yet who could have imagined that the birds kept by the Witch would inflict such devastating casualties upon them?

However, this was hardly the time to ponder such matters; the priority was figuring out how to survive the immediate crisis.

"Fu Jiaxin, Shi Hongsheng, hold down the golden-winged roc."

"Tang Jing, you and I will deal with the two peregrine falcons. Everyone else, combine forces to handle the gray rocs."

Zhuang Youpeng rapidly barked orders, assigning roles to everyone and quickly stabilizing the chaotic situation.

Following his commands, the priests of the Ice God Cult ceased fighting individually and each had a designated target.

Even so, this meant that four priests were forced to face eight large gray rocs. If just one person failed to hold their ground, the battle line would collapse once more, leaving them in an extremely precarious position.

"Squawk, squawk, squawk! You bastards, you actually put up a fight!"

The myna circled high in the sky, and a single utterance from it made the blood pressure of the Ice God Cult priests skyrocket.

"Why are you attacking us?" Zhuang Youpeng shouted loudly.

His ability was a very peculiar form of interference. For instance, if a target intended to attack with their left hand, his interference would force them to attack with the right. If a target intended to strike the left side, interference would redirect the attack to the right, or cause the attack to miss its mark entirely. Furthermore, when prepared in advance, he could trick an opponent launching an active attack into stepping straight into a pre-set trap for an instant kill.

The peregrine falcons had nearly fallen victim to this several times, leaving the two raptors deeply irritated.

"The little ones are hungry, and I advise you to willingly let yourselves be eaten," the myna declared.

Zhuang Youpeng called out, "Your Excellency, we are priests of the Ice God Cult. If you let us leave, how about we provide you with gifted humans every month?"

The myna retorted, "Are you trying to trick a bird? We can eat you right now, why wait for later?"

Zhuang Youpeng argued, "Your Excellency, in just a few days, our High Priest will arrive here, and by then—"

The myna interrupted, "What does that have to do with us eating meat?"

Zhuang Youpeng pressed on, "Myna, are you trying to start a war with humanity?"

The myna grew even more audacious. "Squawk, squawk, squawk! You hypocritical dog, you hypocrite! It's fine for you to use human nonsense to deceive people, but you expect to fool a bird? Humans love hunting animals, is it wrong for us to hunt some humans?"

"Little ones, slaughter them hard for Lord Bird! Whether we get to enjoy a nice meat dinner depends entirely on you."

"You two, transport the meat we've already hunted back first."

These priests of the Ice God Cult were all formidable. The myna could not guarantee that some priest might suddenly unleash a burst of power and injure these foolish eagles.

Immediately, two of the weaker gray rocs grabbed the severed halves of the priest killed by the peregrine falcons and flew off into the distance.

This blood-soaked scene caused the blood pressure of Zhuang Youpeng and the others to spike.

These birds genuinely intended to eat them.

Although mutant animals attacking humans was common enough, such a threat should have felt very distant to them as priests of the Ice God Cult. Yet, they never imagined that it would befall them so soon. Their awakened abilities and proud strength had failed to spare them from the dangers ordinary people faced against disasters.

Panicking, Zhuang Youpeng yelled, "Aren't you afraid of the Witch's punishment for hunting humans like this?"

The air suddenly grew quiet.

The myna abruptly executed a sharp turn and dived downward.

"Watch out!" Zhuang Youpeng shouted at the top of his lungs.

According to intelligence reports, this myna was daring enough to approach the King of the Great West, hurling insults and mocking him while the latter was still alive. They could only estimate its immense strength by using the obedient golden-winged roc as a reference point. However, since the golden-winged roc might have only recently been subjugated by the Witch, it could not serve as a reliable baseline for the myna's power.

In short, no one currently knew just how terrifyingly strong this myna truly was.

The Ice God Cult priests quickly raised their guard.

However, attempting to guard against the myna's assault while simultaneously fending off the attacks of the golden-winged roc, two peregrine falcons, and six gray rocs proved to be an overwhelmingly difficult task.

"Ah!"

With a single miserable scream, the previously severely injured Ice God Cult priest had his eyes gouged out by the myna and was hoisted high into the air.

Shortly after, the myna loosened its claws, and the screaming priest plummeted downward, crashing headfirst into a snowdrift and falling silent.

In the distance, Qiao Xixin and Zheng Meng were hiding inside a snow cave, observing the battlefield through the reflective mirrored surfaces of the ice.

"That myna is terrifying!" Qiao Xixin expressed his sentiment entirely through his gaze.

"Quiet," Zheng Meng signaled back with a look.

Her admiration for Qiao Xixin's formidable observational skills deepened. When the myna had first appeared, she hadn't noticed it at all. Anyone else might have gone unnoticed by the bird, but the Witch's myna recognized her. Had she reacted even a fraction of a second slower earlier, she undoubtedly would have caught the myna's attention. With so many raptors swarming the area, whether she and Qiao Xixin could have survived would have been a serious question.

It was worth noting that for some reason, throughout the process of attacking Zhuang Youpeng and the others, the golden-winged roc had never once unleashed its full strength.

Back when that same golden-winged roc used to hunt near the Vulcan Base, it had traded blows evenly with her father, Zheng Kaitheng.

And then there was this myna, which had actually taken direct action this time.

Its speed was simply too terrifying.

Still, this presented a perfect opportunity to gauge the strength of Zhuang Youpeng and his group.

"Beasts!"

Zhuang Youpeng was furious.

An intensely powerful aura erupted from his body.

The two peregrine falcons flying in the sky, searching for an opening, failed to react in time and nearly collided with each other mid-air.

It must be remembered that during combat, the feathers of these raptors became razor-sharp. A genuine collision would likely have torn one or both of them apart, sending them plunging to the ground.

At the critical moment, the golden-winged roc abandoned its target, instantly bursting with speed to grab the nearest peregrine falcons and lifting them slightly higher into the air, thus averting the disaster.

Simultaneously, the other Ice God Cult priests entered their burst states as well.

They understood that if they didn't risk their lives now, they might very well perish here.

Just then, the myna shouted loudly, "Little ones, retreat!"

The golden-winged roc, the two ultra-giant peregrine falcons, and the six gray rocs instantly broke away from combat, grabbed the remains of the Ice God Cult priests slain moments earlier, and soared into the sky, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"The Ice God Cult, is it?"

"Lord Bird has noted you down. I'll continue eating you next time."

The myna let out a wild laugh in the sky before flying off into the distance.

Having just killed two Ice God Cult priests, there was temporarily enough meat for its underlings to share. Furthermore, Her Highness Su Miao had ordered them to hunt the people of the Ice God Cult, not to fight to the death. If any of them got injured during a desperate battle, they would need Her Highness to heal them, and during the healing process, someone else might just steal the dinner Her Highness had allotted to it.

Staring at the sky where the myna had vanished, Zhuang Youpeng felt a surge of stifled rage trapped in his chest, unable to escape.

That pent-up pressure felt as though it wanted to backflow straight into his heart.

Boom!

He flung his arms wide and slashed empty air toward a vacant patch of ground.

Instantly, the snow ahead exploded, forming a massive crater.

The expressions of the other priests who had unleashed their abilities turned somewhat unsightly, as triggering such power often came with severe aftereffects.

"Return to the Four Seas Base," Zhuang Youpeng commanded.

The Ice God Cult priests packed up briefly, mounted their snowmobiles, and hurried back.

No one could be certain whether the myna taking the giant eagles and peregrine falcons away was a trick; if it launched a sudden counter-attack while they were in a weakened state, everyone would be in grave danger.

In fact, just as Zhuang Youpeng and his group approached the vicinity of the Four Seas Base, the myna and the two peregrine falcons arrogantly buzzed overhead once more.

That utterly despicable myna truly intended to launch a secondary assault against them.

"Did I really misjudge earlier?"

After circling the valley where the ice wind wolves resided three times with the peregrine falcons, the myna turned back.

Inside their frozen hiding spot, Zheng Meng and Qiao Xixin took deep breaths.

They had been mocking Zhuang Youpeng's plight just moments ago, never expecting that the myna would return with the two ultra-giant peregrine falcons, clearly refusing to give up the search.

To be safe, they endured nearly another hour inside the ice cave before finally stepping outside.

"That myna holds a grudge like no other," Qiao Xixin remarked. "Zheng Meng, what on earth did you do to that bird?"

Zheng Meng replied, "If I told you I did nothing at all, would you believe me?"

Qiao Xixin chuckled. "I believe you. It's just exceptionally bad luck for you to have caught that myna's eye."

Zheng Meng said, "It's getting dark. Let's head back."

According to their plan, they had come to hunt the ice wind wolves, but that was obviously out of the question now. As for giving Zhuang Youpeng and his people a hard time, that objective had been directly accomplished—even if the method of achievement deviated wildly from the original plan.

Qiao Xixin straddled the snowmobile and asked, "Zheng Meng, do you think the Witch might have her eyes on this place?"

Zheng Meng replied, "According to the intelligence provided by Yu Yuangui, as long as one doesn't actively trespass into the territory controlled by the Witch, she won't—wait. Could someone from the Ice God Cult have provoked the Witch?"

"Let's head back first and verify this intel with Yu Yuangui. If it's true, something major might be about to happen."

Having experienced similar incidents, Zheng Meng, hailing from the Vulcan Base, possessed a wealth of experience. If the Witch were to actively track them down, things would get extraordinarily entertaining.

...

The pretty mushrooms had grown by another fifty pounds or so.

Su Miao retrieved all of the pretty mushrooms from her magical space.

It had been a long time since she last brewed potions, and she intended to use these pretty mushrooms to concoct a batch of highly toxic hallucinogenic potion and a batch of highly toxic growth potion.

Su Miao had grown extremely proficient in brewing the toxic hallucinogenic potion. Within just half an hour, she completed a batch.

Next was the toxic growth potion. The method for brewing the toxic growth potion was even simpler; by skipping the addition of carbon powder and omitting the step of using a magic array to isolate toxic elements, it could be rapidly produced.

Forty-five minutes later, Su Miao stored the newly brewed toxic growth potion into a crystal vial, affixed a toxic label, and set it aside.

These toxic potions were prepared specifically for the Ice God Cult.

With potion brewing concluded, Su Miao pulled out growth potions labeled with 【Toxic】 and 【Trace Toxicity】 from her magical space.

She was contemplating whether she should build an ice-house laboratory near the Vulcan Base, store these potions inside it, and find an opportunity for the Ice God Cult people to discover them.

Right, she would also need to whip up a plausible-looking experimental log so that the Ice God Cult priests who found the growth potions would understand their properties and how to use them.

That way, the priests of the Ice God Cult could learn how to accelerate the ripening of vegetables and fruits for their own consumption. Even if they used the ripened vegetables for testing, they wouldn't discover anything amiss—unless they happened to keep ordinary laboratory mice on hand for experimentation.

Should this method work?

Bang, bang, bang!

Suddenly, rhythmic knocking echoed from downstairs.

Had the myna returned?

Su Miao walked downstairs, instinctively pausing her steps.

This didn't sound like the myna knocking; if it were the myna, it would have flown straight in through the third-floor window.

Hm?

Such intense malice.

Su Miao couldn't help but shiver slightly.

Bang, bang, bang!

Seeming to hear her footsteps, the entity outside knocked a few more times, evidently waiting for her to open the door.

Su Miao stood before the door, drew her parasol tree wood staff, deployed her magical space array, and erected multiple layers of magical barriers.

The malice outside grew increasingly intense, and the knocks began to grow heavier.

Bang, bang, bang!

Su Miao watched as the door itself vibrated violently, as if the visitor would smash it to pieces if she refused to open it.

If the door were smashed in, the indoor heating would suffer severe complications.

Unacceptable.

At that thought, Su Miao waved her left hand, condensing six ice spikes.

She stepped up to the door, gripped the doorknob, and yanked it open.

The instant the door opened, the six ice spikes blasted outward.

"Roar!"

Almost simultaneously, a massive black bear standing over three meters tall outside the doorway let out an explosive roar and lunged forward, only to be intercepted by the six incoming ice spikes.

With its thick hide and dense fat, the black bear suffered nothing more than a few scrapes against the barrage of ice spikes.

Conversely, the shockwave of the black bear's roar made Su Miao feel as though her eardrums were about to burst. Had it not been for her magical space array and protective barriers, her head likely would have been shattered outright by the roar alone.

The black bear scrambled back up, furiously swatting away the shattered ice clinging to its chest. It roared fiercely and charged forward again, thick with an overwhelming stench of blood.

Just how strong was this black bear? Even ice spikes couldn't truly breach its defense.

Moreover, judging by its bloodthirsty demeanor, it had undoubtedly devoured countless humans before arriving here.

Had it learned to mimic human knocking to lure people into opening the door? And having encountered resistance from humans opening doors in the past, had this black bear drastically enhanced the defense of its fur? Otherwise, how could it possibly have withstood her ice spikes?

Su Miao was startled.

She rapidly hurled several pale purple small fireballs.

Instantly, successive explosions erupted across the charging black bear's body, enveloping it in roaring flames that caused the beast to howl in agony.

The black bear still attempted to lunge at Su Miao, but upon seeing more pale purple fireballs hurtling its way, it whirled around and fled, leaping down the mountainside in an attempt to roll in the snow and extinguish the flames.

Su Miao found it somewhat incomprehensible. Just how thick was this bear's hide that it could survive the explosions and burning of the purple fireballs and still manage to escape?

This black bear absolutely could not be allowed to live.

She quickly chased after it, watching the bear rolling down the slope, and waved her parasol tree wood staff.

A pale purple fireball roughly the size of a soccer ball shot out from her magical space, hurtling down toward the black bear.

Boom!

A miniature mushroom cloud erupted at the foot of the mountain.

Violent explosive energy ravaged the surroundings, evaporating countless piles of snow and sending billowing clouds of superheated steam spreading outward.

As the explosion subsided, Su Miao spotted a meat-ball-like entity at the epicenter—still vaguely recognizable as a bear—stubbornly twitching a few times.

It still wasn't dead after that?

Had this black bear mutated into a monster?

Standing on the mountain slope, Su Miao clutched her parasol tree wood staff and shivered.

After calming herself for a few seconds, Su Miao stood straight, raised her staff, and simply withdrew all the remaining pale purple fireballs from her magical space.

This time, they were pale purple fireballs one meter in diameter!