Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-179

Chapter 179 Full Strength

“Where did you get this Inferno Dragon?”

Old Mo and Chen stared at Su Ping in utter astonishment. How much wealth and how many connections did Su Ping have to enjoy being able to buy a pet that was the best of the best?

Nie Chengkong was also startled. He thought Su Ping would have summoned that special skeleton. He didn’t know that Su Ping had this rare Inferno Dragon!

Gou Yuelin, Zhou Jing, and Ye Chenshan were all stunned stiff.

Su Ping didn’t stop there. He also called out the Little Skeleton.

The Little Skeleton’s entry was quiet. If the Inferno Dragon coming out was like throwing a meteorite into a lake, stirring up waves and tides, then the Little Skeleton was like a pebble thrown into the water, stirring up some ripples.

Looking at the Little Skeleton which was a bit over a meter tall, everyone was speechless.

Nie Chengkong was surprised. “Is this the skeleton?”

“Yes.” Luo Guxue nodded. This Little Skeleton had managed to kill a Magical Corpse Beast in the past and could at the moment defeat a ninth-rank beast easily. This Little Skeleton was a freak!

Su Ping then went on to summon the Purple Python.

The Purple Python was over one hundred meters long, just as big as that Bloodthirst Snake and the Blood Flood Dragon. Su Ping didn’t summon the Purple Python to battle, but to be his guard to protect himself.

Su Ping was not confident that the Earthen Dragon could provide enough protection.

The size of the Purple Python came as a surprise. This one seemed to be bigger than regular Purple Pythons.

However, Purple Pythons were beasts with middle-rank bloodlines; they were cheap and unwelcomed. The others didn’t understand why Su Ping would keep an ordinary pet like the Purple Python when he had the Inferno Dragon. It was unnecessary and the Purple Python would only waste the space available in his spirit.

“Since Mister Su has summoned the Purple Python, I cannot be stingy myself.” Nie Chengkong glanced over the pets Su Ping had summoned and his eyes paused for a moment when he saw the Inferno Dragon. Nie Chengkong raised his hand and summoned two more battle pets at the intermediate position and the upper position of the eighth rank respectively.

Theoretically speaking, in a battle against ninth rank beasts, those two battle pets would not be of much help. However, since Su Ping had even summoned the sixth-ranked Purple Python, Nie Chengkong felt he couldn’t keep his two pets stashed away. They were sparing no effort! Old Mo and Chen curled their lips.

They hesitated for a moment and then each summoned a secondary pet, both at the intermediate position of the eighth rank.

“Secondary pets assist and ninth-rank battle pets, charge.”

Nie Chengkong looked at the team. His confidence was boosted after seeing the added pets. The only thing bothering him was that Su Ping’s Inferno Dragon seemed to have just reached adulthood, so its abilities would probably be not that great. If the Inferno Dragon were at the ninth rank, it could have defeated that sub-dragon in the cave by itself; it would have been unnecessary for the other pets to join. Old Mo and Chen were relieved to hear Nie Chengkong’s strategy. If the secondary pets were sent to battle against a sub-dragon at the upper position of the ninth rank, it would practically be suicidal.

“Do you think we should set up some traps outside to lure that sub-dragon out?” Zhou Jing asked. He had nimble wits and a gift for unconventional ways.

Nie Chengkong had the same idea. “Yes.”

Su Ping, on the other hand, was trying to say no because he deemed this as a waste of time. However, since they wanted to play it safe, Su Ping had to swallow his disagreement. Staying on the safe side was not a bad thing in case something went amiss.

Soon, they cooked up a plan.

They chose a nearby valley as the location for the ambush. Above, at the edges of the valley were some massive boulders the Earthen Dragon had prepared. Those huge boulders had been made from the iron element extracted from the earth. They were more like enormous iron balls instead of boulders.

Ye Chenshan and the others’ pets lurked at the sides of the valley. Traps that contained flames, lava, and ice had been set up.

The traps were ready. The big question was.

Who should go and lure the Flame Flood Dragon out?

Su Ping acted unconcerned. Naturally, he didn’t want to stand out. He was confident that he could kill this Flame Flood Dragon by himself. That being said, this time, he was in real life. Who could tell if something had changed?

Maybe this Flame Flood Dragon’s strength had been enhanced. What if the Flame Flood Dragon was not at the upper position of the ninth rank like he had seen in the cultivation site? In that case, luring the flood dragon out would put him in harm’s way.

The others were looking at Su Ping because they wanted him to take the lead. After all, it seemed that Su Ping was familiar with the situation inside the cave. However, to actually propose this out loud was hard.

“Never mind. Allow me.” Nie Chengkong looked around and everyone avoided making eye contact. He knew that no one was willing to perform this task. Su Ping was familiar with the cave but he was the one providing the intelligence. During their entire trip, Su Ping had made countless contributions. Nie Chengkong could not bring himself to ask Su Ping to take this risk.

Besides, Su Ping’s Inferno Dragon appeared to have just reached adulthood. Nie Chengkong thought the Inferno Dragon might not be as powerful as the Dark Dragon Hound. Su Ping’s core strength was in the Little Skeleton… by the looks of it, it had just about the same strength as the Dark Dragon Hound. Nie Chengkong didn’t have much hope for the Little Skeleton.

Everyone was relieved since Nie Chengkong had volunteered.

Nie Chengkong asked Su Ping about the specifics in the cave. Su Ping gave a brief introduction about the terrain but did not reveal too many specifics. After all, some details could not be found in regular scouting. Saying too much could invite unwanted suspicion.

Nie Chengkong was a bit relieved after obtaining information from Su Ping. He took some deep breaths and told the others to wait there and provide help when necessary.

He trusted his teammates.

Zhou Jing and the others nodded and told Nie Chengkong to be careful.

Soon, Nie Chengkong made the Fallen Priest and the Bloodthirst Snake lead the way and slowly entered the cave.

A moment later, Nie Chengkong vanished from everyone’s sight as he went further in.

People waited quietly outside. As time moved on, some began to become anxious.

Su Ping was calm. He was counting the time based on the speed of Nie Chengkong’s movement. After about seven minutes, Su Ping kept his eyes on the opening of the cave and said, “He should be out in a minute.”

Su Ping’s words took everyone by surprise. Hurriedly, they focused their minds on the cave.

Boom!

Something collapsed inside the cave.

The noise shocked everyone. They were coming!

In the next moment, Nie Chengkong was the first one to appear in everyone’s sight. He was running like crazy. When he saw his teammates, he said to them in haste, “Go to the valley!”

Roar!!

From the cave behind him came out some angry roars. Something was bumping against the inside walls of the cave. That was an indication of a fierce battle.

Everyone turned around and hurried their way to the valley.

Nie Chengkong caught up with them and everyone returned to the valley together. Not long after they arrived, the Fallen Priest and the Bloodthirst Snake also quickly entered the valley. Along the way, the Bloodthirst Snake had been using its skills, pounding the ground with its tail. Many places on the ground caved in and that slowed down the beast that was after them.

Behind them was a flood dragon that was almost two hundred meters long and twisting like a meandering mountain road. The flood dragon was covered with burning crimson scales. The flood dragon bellowed and its movement was stunningly fast. Although it was being slowed down by the pits on the ground, the flood dragon was fast approaching the two battle pets. Nie Chengkong was worried. He clenched his fists.

Soon, the Flame Flood Dragon arrived at the valley. At the moment, it was merely a hundred meters away from the Fallen Priest. “Do it!” Nie Chengkong shouted with a hurried tone.

The traps were ready. All of them were activated at the same time. From above the valley, the heavy iron balls began to fall. There were dozens of them! Each of the iron balls could have smashed and collapsed a ten story building, to later make a huge hole on the ground. In the meantime, the Flare Bird, which had been injured before, had started to spill the lava it had previously prepared from the side of the valley. The lava was moving toward the Flame Flood Dragon.

The spikes, ice blades, storms and other skills the others had ready were released instantly, targeting the Flame Flood Dragon. Usually, not all of those spikes and blades would be able to hit the target. However, since the skills had been ready for a while, all of them landed squarely on the target. “Ocean of Stones!” Chen’s eyes glowed as he shouted. He poured astral powers into his pet. The Earthen Dragon bellowed and its strength was visibly increased. The Earthen Dragon stood in the air over the valley and passed some strength from its feet to the stone walls on the side of the valley which began to shake.

Boom!

The stone walls were closing in rapidly around the Flame Flood Dragon. It was going to be squeezed to death!

“Calling of the Earthen Stars!”

Nie Chengkong had the Bloodthirst Snake unleash a ninth-rank skill of the stone family as well. The earth elements were gathering in the air and then they formed a square boulder that could fit well with the valley. The boulder smashed down, blocking the Flame Flood Dragon’s path.

Bang!

A thunderous noise came from the valley as if it were being bombarded.

The dust was unsettled. But Nie Chengkong had already told his Fallen Priest which was holding its rod to take action.

Profound dark and foul air were emitted from the Fallen Priest. The air was corrosive and could cause hallucinations. When low-rank beasts touched this foul air, even a tiny bit, the beasts would lose their minds instantly. Their blood would flow backwards and the beasts would bleed to death!

Many augmentation skills were used on the Fallen Priest which had grown in size. The Fallen Priest was gaining more momentum.

Whoosh!

Over a hundred shadows of the Fallen Priest’s huge rod were generated. The Fallen Priest smashed its rod down and a hundred shadows became one.

With a bang, the earth shook. More clouds of dust were stirred up.

Roar!!

Amid the dust, something burst out with mad roars of fury and evil spirits.

A strong flame instantly swept out and dispelled the dust and mist. The Flame Flood Dragon stood up in the flames, bellowing and breathing fire.

The Fallen Priest tried to fight back. However, since this was a ninth-rank dragon fire with a strong impact, the rod was burnt red promptly and the Fallen Priest was smashed away.

This was appalling. Nobody expected that the Flame Flood Dragon could exhibit such power after receiving so many blows.

That being said, the previous efforts were effective. The many iron balls hurled down by the Earthen Dragon alone had inflicted great harm. There were many places caved in on the Flame Flood Dragon’s back. Its scales were broken and blood was oozing out. Amidst the flames, the blood had dried up, leaving visible marks on the Flame Flood Dragon’s back.

Su Ping was relieved after looking at the Flame Flood Dragon. This was what he had seen at the cultivation site, a Flame Flood Dragon at the upper position of the ninth rank. It was just that this Flame Flood Dragon was skinnier, colder and gloomier. This might be a different Flame Flood Dragon, a child of the one he had seen at the cultivation site.

“Let’s go!”

Nie Chengkong bit his teeth. The traps worked but they had failed to inflict the level of harm he had anticipated. The only way left for them was to fight the Flame Flood Dragon at close quarters.

Luckily, after their previous battles, all of them had developed a great sense of teamwork. They could help their pets put their abilities into full play.

Old Mo forced a smile. He had no other choice but to tell his Death Scythe to join.

Without hesitation, Chen told his Earthen Dragon to land in the valley to add an earth shield to the Death Scythe, the Fallen Priest, the Bloodthirst Snake and himself. At the same time, the Earthen Dragon used a dragon shield, dragon scale protection and other skills which were stronger than the earth shield. However, the latter skills could not be used on anyone or anything other than the Earthen Dragon itself. Not even Chen could enjoy the benefit.

Having finished building all those shields, the Earthen Dragon bellowed. It took the lead and dashed toward the enraged Flame Flood Dragon.