Chapter 224 - Go Straight for the Heart!!

"

Wuu, wuu, wuu,

my King, I can’t fight it, not even a little."

Moments later, Dark Crow admitted defeat. Its mental attacks, energy attacks, and even curse-based attacks had no effect on Sudden Death King. It accepted its fate, realizing that even with the traits of the Undead Clone, overpowering Sudden Death King would be difficult.

Sudden Death King’s Dragon Soul was too powerful. Could a single Undead Clone possibly affect it? Dark Crow was deeply skeptical.

In the end, it decided to stick to being a scout or strategist—being the ace general wasn’t for it. Lu Ran comforted Dark Crow with a smile, telling it not to feel discouraged.

"Woof..."

At the same time, Lu Ran turned to the despondent Captain Doofus, whose teeth had been shattered entirely. Now in its Gale Sword Dog—Elderly Form, it still failed to inflict any damage on Sudden Death King.

Damage? It probably hadn’t even made Sudden Death King lose a sliver of stamina. After all, Sudden Death King regenerated health and energy when attacked.

Not only that, but it converted damage into increased strength. In other words, Captain Doofus and Dark Crow’s efforts had only made it stronger.

Even Lu Ran’s Divine Deer Pendant was useless this time. Previously, when Sudden Death King needed to recover from injuries after enhancing itself, the pendant was indispensable. But now? It didn’t even have injuries.

Perhaps the Divine Deer Pendant would be better used on Captain Doofus instead. Lu Ran held the Broken Horn, using its healing ability to restore Captain Doofus’s teeth.

"How do you feel?" Lu Ran asked.

"Woof."

Captain Doofus bared its newly restored teeth, looking indignant.

"Woof, woof."

Captain Doofus turned away, preparing to study the Sword Domain. A doofus never forgets a grudge. Even if it takes ten years, vengeance will come.

After evolving, I’ll challenge you again!

"Hey, wait a minute!" Lu Ran grabbed its tail.

"Captain Doofus, your species’ base potential is far inferior to the dragon species. Even if you evolve, you’ll likely only reach Superior King at best. With a weapon, you might barely reach Low Overlord, but defeating Sudden Death King is unlikely.

"Even if you master the Sword Domain, unless you can achieve an instant kill, you’re just handing Sudden Death King more buffs.

"You know how high its defenses are. Are you so confident that evolving and mastering the Sword Domain will let you defeat it? Plenty of familiars can learn domains, but as of now, Sudden Death King is the only one at Intermediate Overlord... And you..."

"Woof, woof, woof, woof!"

Captain Doofus turned back, frustration written all over its face.

You just want my teeth? Fine, take them! All of them!

Rather than endure the humiliation of being unable to defeat Sudden Death King in future team battles, Captain Doofus decided it was better to suffer short-term pain for long-term gain.

As expected, after witnessing Sudden Death King’s overwhelming strength, the battle maniac in Captain Doofus started to panic.

Rather than being beaten to a pulp in future matches, he might as well sacrifice his teeth now and gain even greater power than Sudden Death King!

It all makes sense now. Everything makes sense.

Lu Ran smiled.

"I like talking to smart dogs. Your best chance to defeat Sudden Death King isn’t the Sword Domain. What if Sudden Death King learns a domain of its own?

"You have one great advantage—you can wield weapons. With an Epic weapon in hand, even a Superior Overlord wouldn’t stand a chance.

"We don’t have an Epic weapon, but getting two Treasure-grade weapons is doable. Prepare the fangs for me. I’ll forge a Treasure-grade Lifebound Sword for you before you evolve. With the addition of Longleaf Swordgrass, dual-wielding will make you incredibly powerful!"

Lu Ran chuckled softly. This was the only way he could think of to help Captain Doofus catch up to Sudden Death King.

Dragons were already recognized as the strongest species. Even the Supreme Divine Dragons, the four creation deities, took dragon form. No one questioned the strength or status of dragon-related beings.

If Captain Doofus wanted to defeat Sudden Death King, who carried the Dragon King Bloodline, relying on the Sword Sovereign Talent seemed to be the only way.

Lu Ran sincerely hoped Captain Doofus would rise to the occasion. After all, he was the strongest sword wielder in the team. At the very least, after one phase of evolution, his strength should match Sudden Death King’s.

As for Dark Crow, Lu Ran said nothing. Its combat style wasn’t suited for direct confrontation. If Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow were of equal strength, the easiest victory would undoubtedly belong to Dark Crow.

Sudden Death King would first have to endure attacks. Captain Doofus would have to jump straight into the fray with a sword.

Meanwhile, Dark Crow could execute a precise assassination on the target beastmaster from an entire nation away. If its concealment was flawless, the opponent might not even have the chance to summon their familiar.

The three of them had different roles.

"Rawr!"

Meanwhile, Sudden Death King sat, enjoying the breeze. Neither Captain Doofus nor Dark Crow had pushed it to its limits. It hadn’t even sustained a minor injury, let alone a near-death state.

Under these conditions, how could it possibly activate its Heart of the Overlord Talent to its fullest? It wasn’t that it didn’t want to cooperate—its teammates simply weren’t up to par...

"Rawr!"

Sudden Death King let out an invincible yet lonely roar.

Lu Ran finally realized that expecting Captain Doofus and Dark Crow to critically injure Sudden Death King was unrealistic.

In that case...

“Sudden Death King, hurt yourself.”

Pointing at the starry sky, he said, “Fly to the high heavens, then retract your wings and free-fall. Figure out a height that would cause serious injury. I refuse to believe you can fall from over ten thousand meters without sustaining damage.”

“

Rawr?

”

Sudden Death King staggered, its large eyes filled with confusion. It looked at Lu Ran with the gaze one would reserve for a demon.

Do... Do you really have to go this far?

“There’s another way. Compress thirtyfold lightning energy into your body, and I’ll light a fire. The resulting thunderflame explosion should injure you. Pick one.”

Lu Ran was confident. If Sudden Death King wanted to sustain injuries, there were countless methods.

***

Sometime later, Lu Ran finally stepped onto Ubirath Island after some preparations and a short rest.

[Transfer complete.]

[Current Location: Ubirath Island (Level 2 Secret Realm)]

[Difficulty: Legendary]

[Mission: Eliminate the Ubirath Queen Ant.]

Upon their arrival, Lu Ran, Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow weren’t transferred directly in front of the Queen Ant. This made Lu Ran breathe a sigh of relief.

As the core of an ant kingdom, the Queen Ant would undoubtedly be heavily protected, surrounded by countless soldier ants.

Most level 2 Legendary Secret Realms only featured a single Low-Overlord boss. However, this realm also had tens of thousands of ant soldiers. How on earth was anyone supposed to clear this?

Even with an Intermediate-Overlord familiar, facing a well-trained ant army and successfully defeating the Queen Ant seemed exceedingly difficult.

As Lu Ran was transferred to the island’s edge, a sandy beach, he came to understand something. Charging through the island to the ant kingdom’s center to challenge the Queen Ant head-on was the dumbest approach.

Even Sudden Death King might lose against the Ant Demon Creature formed by countless soldier ants. The optimal strategy to conquer this secret realm would be to divide and conquer, eliminating large portions of the weaker ant swarms before they could fuse together.

This way, when the Queen Ant reacted, its forces would be significantly depleted.

Alternatively, locating the Queen Ant’s position and stealthily infiltrating its chamber to take it down in one blow before the ants could react would also work.

In any case, they absolutely couldn’t give the Queen Ant an opportunity to command its swarm. Otherwise, the realm’s difficulty would become absurd.

Upon entering, Lu Ran commanded, “Dark Crow, use your Eye of the Evil God to scout Ubirath Island. Identify the locations of the Queen Ant and the main forces of the ant swarm.”

“

Caw!

” Dark Crow nodded.

It activated its Eye of the Evil God, spreading its gaze across the island. Soon, as its vision extended, Dark Crow gulped. It realized the island did not have other life forms. Enormous black ants crawled all over, scouring the remaining plant life for food.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before these ants turned to the sea to hunt fish. Dark Crow focused its gaze deeper into the island, discovering a subterranean kingdom. This was the heart of the Ubirath Ants.

As it probed further, Dark Crow’s nerves frayed. Beneath the ground, countless ants moved in uniform precision, expanding their hive. Though the ants were only Transcendent Species and relatively low-ranked, their overwhelming numbers, easily tens of thousands, were intimidating.

And this was just one section. Adding up the entire island’s ant population was almost unimaginable.

“

Caw...

”

On the beach, Dark Crow cautiously expanded its gaze. Its vision reached the heart of the hive. From a vantage point, it spotted a massive Queen Ant, exuding a terrifying aura comparable to a dragon elephant, asleep amidst piles of food.

Though its power didn’t match Sudden Death King, it far exceeded both Captain Doofus and Dark Crow.

After confirming the Queen Ant’s location, Dark Crow began inspecting the surroundings. As expected, the Queen Ant was heavily guarded by high-quality soldier ants.

“My King.”

A trace of blood dripped from Dark Crow’s eye sockets. As Lu Ran healed it, it reported its findings.

“That many?” Lu Ran was surprised.

He thought that there would only be a few thousand ants. But for the entire island to be overrun with ants? Their reproductive rate was terrifying.

Moreover, the underground ant swarm was very dense. Clearing them one by one would take forever. The only silver lining was that the Queen Ant was currently asleep, and its sensory awareness should be diminished.

Lu Ran turned to Dark Crow. Luckily, he had formed a contract with it. Otherwise, pinpointing the Queen Ant’s location would have been nearly impossible. Without knowing the Queen Ant’s exact position, conquering the realm would have been an arduous endeavor.

“My King, what’s the plan?” Dark Crow asked.

“The enemy’s numbers are beyond imagination. Eliminating them one by one would be too laborious, and we risk exposure. Let’s see if we can directly assassinate the Queen Ant.” Lu Ran sighed.

“But...”

Dark Crow started to mention the complexity of the hive’s layout and the Queen Ant’s guards, making infiltration nearly impossible without a Space-attribute familiar.

However, it soon turned its sharp gaze to Sudden Death King. It suspected the assassination Lu Ran mentioned wasn’t a conventional one.

Sudden Death King was confused.

“Exactly. Our biggest advantage is that we’ve located the Queen Ant without alerting the swarm. Before our first attack, neither the soldier ants nor the Queen Ant will detect us.

“Sudden Death King, remember the preparation exercises we did in the training secret realm earlier?”

Lu Ran looked skyward. “We’ll fly directly above the Queen Ant’s location and launch an aerial assault! Sudden Death King, you’ll free-fall from the extreme height as a lightning bomb.

“We’ll strike at the heart, piercing through the ground to crush the Queen Ant directly! Physical strength equals destructive power. We’ll try this strategy first. If it doesn’t work, we’ll switch to another plan.”

“

Woof!

”

“

Caw!

”

Captain Doofus and Dark Crow lit up at the idea.

Brilliant!

The combination of Dark Crow’s tracking and the Lightning Dragon Missile tactic could surely deal massive damage to the Queen Ant.

Both Captain Doofus’ paw and Dark Crow’s wing patted the General Lightning Dragon on the back. They had no choice. After all, it was the strongest among them.