After killing the Blade-tail Tiger, Zhang Ye’s physique improved once again, rising from the Tier Five early stage to the Tier Five mid stage, nearly breaking through to the late stage.
Using the hand that could still move, he dug out the Blade-tail Tiger’s magic core. Zhang Ye then limped back to the center of the magic circle and sat down cross-legged to recover his strength.
With his current condition, he likely wouldn't be able to handle the remaining two Tier Six magical beasts.
“Gujiu, gujiu~” Gujiu wanted to use its secretions to heal Zhang Ye’s arm, but Zhang Ye stopped it.
Just repairing a small wound on his finger had nearly drained Gujiu back to its original form. To repair an entire arm, even though Gujiu had grown quite a bit, it would probably be too much for the little slime.
Thus, Zhang Ye had no intention of letting Gujiu consume its own energy to heal him.
After all, for a slime, energy was equivalent to its life force. Gujiu would be using its very life force to heal him, and Zhang Ye couldn't bear that.
Besides, Leona was so powerful that she could heal him even if his hands were charred to a crisp; she could certainly fix a broken arm.
A small pile of magic cores had already accumulated in front of Zhang Ye.
The eighteen Tier Three magical beasts had yielded eight Tier Three magic cores.
The twelve Tier Four magical beasts had yielded nine Tier Four magic cores.
The six Tier Five magical beasts had yielded five Tier Five magic cores.
And then there was the Tier Six magic core from the Blade-tail Tiger.
Oh, and Leona still had the Tier Five magic core from the Berserk Bear.
“These magic cores should be enough for you to reach the Tier Five early stage,” Ella said.
Zhang Ye nodded. Just as he was about to begin absorbing the magic cores, a figure descended from the sky, kicking up clouds of dust.
“Cough, cough...” Zhang Ye fanned away the dust and looked at the figure.
As expected, it was Leona.
Glancing at the magic cores in front of Zhang Ye, Leona grinned. “Not bad, kid. I thought you’d only be able to handle the Tier Five beasts at most.”
Zhang Ye blinked, then held out his arm with a pitiful expression. “Aren't you going to worry about my injury first?”
Leona strode over to him, chuckled, and gave his injured arm a light punch. “What’s a little scratch like this? Be a man and suck it up!”
Zhang Ye trembled from the pain and just stared at Leona without saying a word.
He just stared... and stared... and stared...
Unsettled by that look, which reminded her of a wounded puppy, Leona sighed. “Fine, fine! I’ll heal you!”
As she spoke, she reached out. Soft flames immediately ignited over Zhang Ye’s body. They weren't hot at all; instead, they felt incredibly warm.
Zhang Ye’s arm bones automatically snapped back into place, and the injuries began to repair themselves rapidly.
Without hesitation, Zhang Ye performed an Analyze!
It was a Tier Seven fire-type healing spell—【Phoenix Breath】!
He had to analyze it as quickly as possible.
Whenever someone cast a spell, Zhang Ye could analyze it directly without needing to copy it first.
In less than thirty seconds, Zhang Ye’s arm was restored to its original state, and even the other minor injuries on his body were completely healed.
Zhang Ye moved his body around, looking pleasantly surprised.
Was the effect of a Tier Seven healing spell really this good?
Ella provided a real-time explanation: “Tier Seven healing spells are most effective on targets below Tier Seven. The lower the tier, the stronger the effect, and vice versa. Of course, it also depends on the strength of the caster.”
Zhang Ye nodded. It likely had to do with one's physique; the stronger the physique, the higher the quality and activity of the cells, and the more mana required for magical healing.
“You’ll be facing many more battles in the future. You can’t fall apart over a little pain like this,” Leona said seriously after the healing was complete.
Zhang Ye immediately replied, “Mm-hmm! Actually, I’m not afraid of pain at all, really!”
Leona: “...”
Like I’d believe that.
Leona rolled her eyes, and seeing this, Zhang Ye just laughed and said nothing.
“Hey, what’s that?” Suddenly, Zhang Ye noticed something floating behind Leona.
It looked like a magical beast bound by flaming lion claws.
Wait, this scene looked a bit familiar.
The deceased Berserk Bear: “...”
With a wave of Leona’s hand, the magical beast was brought before her by the lion claws.
It looked like a beetle, but it was massive—over two meters long and over a meter tall. It was pitch black all over, with antennae on its head and two pairs of large, crimson eyes.
To be honest, it was actually kind of cute.
“You were right. Something truly troublesome did sneak into the forest,” Leona said.
Zhang Ye grinned upon hearing this. “That’s what you call foresight.”
Leona nodded in approval and took the initiative to explain, “This is called a Dark Demon Bug. It’s one of the lowest-level creatures in the Demon Realm.”
Zhang Ye blinked and asked curiously, “Then why did you say it’s troublesome?”
Rather than relying on the system’s analysis, Zhang Ye preferred hearing Leona explain it herself.
“Because this is a Broodmother,” Leona said. “Dark Demon Bugs are very weak on their own and rely on numbers to win. Their individual combat power isn't high.”
“However, a Broodmother can continuously produce Dark Demon Bugs. A single Broodmother can lay over a hundred Dark Demon Bug eggs a day, and those eggs hatch within five days.”
“Furthermore, as the Broodmother’s tier increases, its efficiency and the tier of the Dark Demon Bugs it produces will also significantly increase. It can even produce low-tier broodmothers to further boost production.”
“So, given a few months, this single Broodmother could create a swarm of tens of thousands!”
“Dark Demon Bugs eat anything and have tenacious vitality. If they eat enough, they rank up very quickly. Once a swarm is formed, it becomes unstoppable!”
“If this Broodmother were left alone for a while, the Myriad Beasts Forest would probably be gone.”
“When I found this Broodmother, it had already reached Tier Three and had produced many bugs, but I wiped them all out.”
Zhang Ye was slightly surprised to hear this.
This was basically the Swarm!
In games, the Swarm won through sheer numbers, with swarms numbering in the billions. Once a swarm formed, it would cover the sky and earth—it was truly terrifying.
“The Demon Realm is too scary. It even has things like this,” Zhang Ye couldn't help but remark.
First demon slimes, now Dark Demon Broodmothers—all of them were things that could endanger the world once they grew. The Demon Realm was practically a Hell-mode dungeon.
Leona nodded. “That’s how the Demon Realm is. That’s why if the Demon Realm ever invades the God-created World, the consequences will be unimaginable!”
This world was known as the God-created World, a vast land home to ten thousand races.
“Then why didn't you just kill it? Why bring it back?” Zhang Ye asked.
Leona smiled and looked at Gujiu on Zhang Ye’s shoulder.
“Since you were able to tame even a demon slime, I wanted to see if you could tame this Dark Demon Broodmother.”
“If you can successfully sign a contract, it and the swarm it produces will fight for you, providing a powerful boost!”
“Can’t you contract it?” Zhang Ye asked. Logically, someone as strong as Leona should be able to, right?
But Leona shook her head. “I can’t. Or rather, Demon Realm creatures are difficult for anyone to contract. It might be because I’m a native human of the God-created World; Demon Realm creatures are extremely repulsed by us and would rather die than submit to a contract.”
“Attempting to forcibly enslave them also triggers a soul backlash from the Demon Realm creature, and they simply won't survive it.”
“If I hadn't sealed its essence, it would have self-destructed by now.”
“But you’re different. You’re an Otherworlder. Perhaps you won't cause that repulsion or trigger a soul backlash. Since you’ve already successfully signed a contract with a demon slime, I wanted you to try.”
“If it doesn't work, it won't be too late to kill it then.”
Zhang Ye’s expression shifted to one of understanding, and he nodded. “Alright, I’ll give it a try!”
He threw an Analyze at the Dark Demon Broodmother, but the description he saw was slightly different from Leona’s explanation.
【Dark Demon Broodqueen: A Demon Realm creature at the Tier Three early stage. It can produce 100,000 Dark Demon Bugs every month and can give birth to Dark Demon Broodmothers and special Dark Demon Bugs. It possesses reproductive and evolutionary capabilities far superior to a Dark Demon Broodmother!】
A Dark Demon Broodqueen?
It was even more powerful than a Dark Demon Broodmother?!
Good heavens, this thing was hiding its true nature quite well; even Leona hadn't realized!
Producing 100,000 Dark Demon Bugs a month—this production speed was terrifying. It was practically giving birth around the clock; even a farm pig wouldn't dare breed like this.
And this was just one Dark Demon Broodqueen. If it were allowed to produce more Dark Demon Broodmothers, the production speed would explode exponentially!
If Zhang Ye hadn't said those extra words to make Leona catch it, the Myriad Beasts Forest would have been in grave danger!
But could this thing really be contracted?
“By the way, how do I sign a contract?” Zhang Ye asked.
“Huh?” Leona was stunned. “You don't know any contract spells?”
Zhang Ye shook his head. “No. Gujiu was the one who initiated the contract with me. I haven't mastered any contract spells.”
Leona nodded and then cast a contract spell for Zhang Ye to see. Zhang Ye immediately began to analyze it.
【Slave Contract: An Unranked contract-type spell used to forcibly enslave creatures of a lower tier than the caster. The contracted target will become the caster’s slave, with their life and death entirely under the caster’s control.】
Since it was an Unranked spell, the time required to copy and analyze was only one second. Zhang Ye analyzed it instantly.
Then, he looked at the Dark Demon Broodqueen, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips.
Rate on N.U.
