Chapter 239: Capturing the Lion Duck
Richard had just rested for a few days when the demon hunting team reported to him that a group of lion ducks had migrated from the central Eagle Mountains.
Adult male lion ducks are level 5 magic beasts, and female lion ducks are generally level 4.
Lion ducks are relatively rare flying magic beasts, and their IQ is higher than that of iron-horned horses. Because they can fly in the air, lion ducks are often more difficult to deal with than ground magic beasts.
Although lion ducks are ferocious, they are a kind of magic beast that can be communicated and tamed.
Because they restrain eagle-like people, the price of an adult lion duck without a magic contract is very high, often reaching more than 5,000 gold coins.
Near the Grant Kingdom, only the Ryan Kingdom controls a group of lion ducks. In order to maintain its advantage, the Ryan Kingdom will not sell to neighboring countries at all.
The Holy Glorious Empire occasionally sells lion ducks, but it will strictly control the number, basically only selling male lion ducks, not female lion ducks. If you want to form a Lion Duck Knights, you have to spend at least 2 million gold coins.
Moreover, such a Lion Duck Knights is a one-time army. After the loss, you can only continue to spend money to buy Lion Ducks.
The external environment of the Grant Kingdom is very tense. It has trained 300,000 central corps, and the annual fiscal revenue can only barely fill this hole. It is simply unable to take out a huge sum of money at one time to form a Lion Duck Knights.
Hearing that a group of Lion Ducks migrated nearby, Richard's eyes suddenly lit up and decided to put aside other things and immediately mobilize people to capture Lion Ducks.
As a soldier in the northern border, he suffered a lot from the harpy people every time he fought.
If a few Lion Ducks can be successfully captured and the contract is successful, the Harland Territory can also train a small team of Lion Duck cavalry to suppress the harpy people's reconnaissance.
Suppressing the harpy people's intelligence reconnaissance is the key to winning the battle.
Every general who fights against the orcs hopes to have an intelligence advantage and hide his strategic goals. But the orcs have harpy scouts, and the battlefield intelligence of humans is almost unilaterally leaked to the orcs.
Because of this, it is difficult for the human army to figure out the direction of the orcs' attack. They can only use the dumbest method to divide their troops and defend, and use castles to consume the orcs. The war is also very difficult.
In order to capture the lion, Richard drew almost all the elite soldiers from the territory, formed a demon hunting team of more than 100 people, and once again entered the depths of the Eagle Mountains.
This year, Bonova and Alice successfully advanced to magicians, Connie failed to advance, and a high-level apprentice who switched to curse magic advanced to magician. The Harland Mage Association already has ten formal members.
Ten magicians are enough to form a small magic group on the battlefield.
The army with a magic group can use various magical powers on the battlefield, and often has the initiative on the battlefield. When more than a dozen powerful grease spells, fog spells, and spider web spells are released, the battlefield environment will change, which has a great impact on the outcome.
The lethality of the mage is weaker on a battlefield with thousands of people.
This time, in order to capture the lion duck, all ten magicians in the territory participated in the demon hunting team. With the participation of magicians, various spells can be used to confuse the lion duck.
For example, when investigating intelligence, the magician can use optical invisibility.
When hiding oneself and preventing being discovered by the lion duck, the intermediate magician can also use group invisibility. Low-level magicians can also use illusion and fog.
The lion duck can fly. Even if the lion duck's nest is found, forcing it is the lowest level method. The lion duck can fly and has certain spell abilities. It is difficult to catch the lion duck by ordinary means.
When fighting with humans, flying monsters undoubtedly have the initiative on the battlefield. If the lion duck is determined to escape, sometimes the legendary knight will have to stare blankly.
The best way to hunt monsters is always to set traps and use bait to capture them.
Compared with most monsters, the advantage of humans is always wisdom. Relying on the power of wisdom and using various tools, even without extraordinary powers, humans can still hunt many monsters.
Before the wizard era, ignorant humans also occupied the upper and middle levels of the food chain. By hunting some monsters, they began to study the natural magic patterns on monsters, and finally created meditation methods and developed wizard civilization, which can build powerful floating cities, interstellar fleets, and conquer different planes.
Relying on the power of wisdom, humans have become the overlords of the Dawn Plane.
When hunting monsters, wisdom is the power that determines everything.
Through vague traces and clues, the demon hunting team gradually approached the lion duck's nest.
Under the cover of magic, the scouts carefully lurked and observed the activity patterns of the lion duck. After a day or two, they found that there were actually 19 lion ducks in this nest. Among them, there were 13 adult lion ducks and 6 minors.
Nineteen lion ducks are already a relatively large lion duck population. If it weren't for the rich resources of the Eagle Mountains and the nearby animals that are enough for lion ducks to hunt, it would be difficult to form such a large lion duck population.
Through observation, everyone found that the female lion duck had laid seven or eight eggs. Recently, most female lion ducks were incubating lion duck eggs, while male lion ducks went out hunting.
Seeing that the female lion duck began to lay eggs, Richard was secretly happy and immediately ordered to take out some fresh red blood grass and transplant it on the cliff about ten kilometers away from the lion duck's nest.
Red blood grass can promote blood evolution and is very attractive to any magic beast.
Especially for lion ducks in the egg-laying period, swallowing red blood grass can enhance the blood power of their offspring.
Although the lion ducks have a high IQ, they still can't resist the temptation. Without finding an obvious trap, the male lion ducks dug up the red blood grass and let the female lion ducks that lay eggs eat it.
This time, Richard didn't do anything with the red blood grass, but after the female lion ducks swallowed the red blood grass, they needed to refine the power of the red blood grass immediately and couldn't move for a few hours.
In order to protect the female lion ducks, the male lion ducks didn't dare to leave the nest.
These few hours gave Richard the opportunity and time to capture the lion ducks.
The lion duck's nest was built in a natural cave on the cliff, about 300 meters above the ground.
The cliff was very steep, and the rock wall was bare.
Even for soldiers who are good at climbing, it takes a long time to climb the cliff.
However, the demon hunting team are all professionals, with magic means and outstanding physical fitness.
Before capturing the lion ducks, a lot of preparations were also made.
Richard, Sophia, and Wendy are all mid-level magicians who can perform short-distance flying spells such as flying and flying in the air.
Although human flying is slow, as long as the magic power is strong, it can also fly to high places.
Richard and the other two first cast the invisibility spell on themselves, and then used the flying spell to fly to the top of the mountain, and fixed the rope on the top of the mountain. Before they were fully prepared, they were discovered by the lion duck.
Seeing that the action had been exposed, Richard nodded to Sophia and Wendy, and immediately launched a surprise attack on the lion duck's nest.
Richard was the first to make a move and released the five-ring group magic Death Cloud.
Death Cloud is a group attack magic that Richard has just learned. It can release a large yellow-green cloud. There is a strong poison in the cloud, which can poison creatures with a physical fitness of less than two points.
If the physical fitness exceeds two points, although it will not be directly poisoned, it will still be attacked by the poison, and symptoms such as headache, cough, vomiting, and coma will occur.
Ordinary human soldiers basically do not have a physical fitness of more than two points. This spell is very efficient in clearing out the miscellaneous soldiers.
The poison of the Death Cloud Spell can not only enter the body through breathing, but also cause poisoning if it comes into contact with the poisonous cloud. Although holding your breath can reduce the toxicity, you will still be poisoned. The most suitable magic to defend against this magic is the barrier spell.
The lion duck has inherited more than a dozen spells in its bloodline, but it does not know how to use barrier spells.
The female lion duck had just swallowed the red blood grass and was in the process of bloodline evolution. It could not move for a short time.
All the female lion ducks were poisoned when attacked by the Death Cloud Spell.
The lion duck has a high IQ and has formed a unique social structure. It can also communicate in some short Warcraft languages. After discovering that the female lion duck was in danger, the male lion duck did not choose to escape, but stayed by the female lion duck.
This choice resulted in almost all lion ducks failing to escape.
Although the lion duck's physique exceeded two points, it would also be uncomfortable to be attacked by the Death Cloud Spell.
When the professionals below the cliff climbed to the lion duck's nest, the magicians released the spider web technique one after another, and the warriors also threw out the rope hooks. Taking advantage of the number advantage, more than a dozen people formed a group, and everyone rushed forward to catch all the lion ducks in a bad state of poisoning.
Richard took out the magic slavery contract that had been prepared long ago, took the blood of the lion duck, and Sophia arranged the magic circle. The two of them joined forces to successfully enslave the lion duck tribe and let all the lion ducks sign a soul contract.
Although the lion duck was contracted, it may take a long time to train the lion duck cavalry.
Ordinary soldiers cannot tame such a powerful magical beast as the lion duck.
To ride on the back of the lion duck, you first need to get the recognition of the lion duck. To get the recognition of the lion duck, you need not only strong strength, but also a long time to get along.
A mature lion duck cavalry, the lion ducks are all trained from childhood, and after hatching, they live with human professionals. Gradually, they have a tacit understanding, and will be willing to let human soldiers ride.
Wild lion ducks are often more difficult to tame. In order to facilitate communication with lion ducks and exert their combat effectiveness, lion duck knights also need to understand the habits of lion ducks and learn lion duck language.
Although the Harland Territory has captured lion ducks, it still faces many difficulties in establishing a lion duck cavalry.
After returning to the territory with the lion ducks, Richard immediately selected more than 30 professionals to form a lion duck flight squadron, began to explore and learn the lion duck language, tried to communicate with the lion ducks, and started the training of lion duck cavalry.
After returning to the territory, Richard immediately looked for natural caves on the mountain to arrange a nest for the lion ducks.
Lion ducks naturally admire nature and like the feeling of flying in the sky. If they do not fly for a long time, the lion ducks will become irritable and have a particularly strong aggressive personality.
This powerful flying monster does not like to stay in a cage. Even if the Harland Territory controlled the soul of the lion duck through the slave magic contract and used magic props, it was difficult to change the lion duck's character.
Therefore, the professionals of the Lion Duck Squadron could only temporarily live near the Lion Duck Cave and get along with the lion duck.
The lion duck began to appear in the sky of the Harland Territory, and the news naturally could not be hidden from the nearby hereditary nobles.
In order to confirm the truth of the news, many nobles appeared next to the Harland Territory to observe whether there were any lion ducks.
The range of activities of the lion duck is very large. Sometimes they will find that the lion duck has crossed the border and appeared in the sky above their territory. Occasionally, they will hunt cattle and sheep. Many people have seen the lion duck with their own eyes.
After it was confirmed that the Harland family had captured the lion duck, the news spread faster and faster, and it reached Nolan in less than a month.
Although the great nobles of the Grant Kingdom had sporadically contracted a few lion ducks, there was no large-scale lion duck knight group.
Among the nearby countries, only the Kingdom of Ryan has a Lion Duck Knights of more than 300 people. Of course, the Kingdom of Grant also has a flying army, the Flying Golem Corps.
However, every time a flying golem is activated, a large amount of magic crystals are consumed, and the cost of refining a flying golem is very high, which is not as cost-effective as the Lion Duck Knights. The Kingdom of Grant has only about 80 flying golems.
80 flying golems are far from enough on the 1,200-kilometer-long northern frontier.
Upon hearing that the Harland family had captured a group of Lion Ducks, King Roger immediately summoned court officials.
"You should know the hottest news in the capital these days. Our Viscount Richard has captured a group of lion ducks in the Eagle Mountains. Do you have any way to make Viscount Richard contribute the lion ducks?"
Before King Roger finished speaking, the court baron Morris immediately replied: "Your Majesty, Viscount Richard holds an important position in the Geda Province and is a heavyweight noble. Forcing him to hand over the lion ducks will cause a strong backlash from the Harland family.
However, nobles always put interests first, and the royal family has the most resources. As long as the king is willing to give some, I think he can exchange with Viscount Richard."
King Roger nodded and said with a smile: "What resources do you think can be exchanged?"
"The first is the breathing method. According to the information we have, the breathing method practiced by the Harland territory army is mainly the Silver Wolf Breathing Method, followed by the Barbarian Bull Breathing Method. These two breathing methods are very important. The breathing method should not be complete. We can provide a complete breathing method to exchange with the Harland family.
The second is the potion resources, especially the Tenghui potion with the largest consumption, which is relatively short in the Harland family.
The third is magic crystal. There is a magic crystal association in the Harland territory, but there is no magic crystal mine in the territory. Magicians' research and experiments cannot be separated from magic crystal.
Using these three conventional resources, we can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of the Harland family. Even if we can't let Viscount Richard exchange all the lion ducks, I think there is a chance to exchange half. "
Listening to Morris's talk, King Roger slammed the table and made a decisive decision: "For the specific situation, you will discuss it with Viscount Richard in detail. I appoint you as a special envoy and give you full power. You can make your own decisions below 300,000 gold coins. Various resources can be recruited from the three main legions in the northern border. My only requirement is that the lion duck population has a suitable proportion and has the potential to be cultivated into a lion duck legion. "