What the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard said was precisely the thing the Fire Crow King feared most.
The Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard was indeed in its death throes and could keel over at any moment. But that didn't mean it lacked the means to take the Fire Crow King down with it before it died.
The Fire Crow King gritted its teeth, eyes bulging, watching as over a hundred of its children and grandchildren were cut down in an instant by the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard. Its heart bled with every loss.
The Fire Crow clan had reproduced over countless generations to reach such vast numbers, and the king had always been proud of that.
But the pursuit of the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard had exacted far too steep a price. At least half of its descendants had already fallen.
At this rate, even if they killed the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard, there might not be many offspring left.
Yet the situation had reached a point of no return — like riding a tiger, there was no dismounting.
Either they kept attacking until the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard died, or they waited for it to die of old age on its own.
But if they truly waited, the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard wouldn't die so easily. A Saint Grade Spirit Beast, even when on its last breath, possessed a life force that wasn't easily drained — especially since this particular Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard had swallowed the Cloud Flame and received a tremendous boost in vitality.
If given time to refine and absorb it, the creature might not extend its lifespan much, but it could recover five or six tenths of its strength in short order.
The moment it recovered that much power, the Fire Crow King knew it would be utterly incapable of resisting.
So there was no waiting. They had to keep fighting.
Only by continuing the fight could they harass the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard, denying it the time to refine the Cloud Flame.
Of course, continuing the fight came at a devastating cost. The Fire Crow King didn't dare engage personally, which meant it had to keep feeding its children and grandchildren into the meat grinder.
Though the Fire Crow clan obeyed their king's every command, sending them to their deaths again and again still made the king feel uneasy.
Now, fewer than a third of its original descendants remained. At this rate of attrition, they would be wiped out in no time.
"Children! Don't dive in — use your feather projectiles! Attack from range!" the Fire Crow King ordered through gritted teeth.
Feather projectiles dealt less damage than close-range diving attacks, but they could still serve to harass the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard.
The Fire Crow King no longer sought an immediate kill. It only wanted to wear the creature down.
Ranged attacks could both harass the enemy and keep the crows out of the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard's killing range.
This was the Fire Crow clan's advantage.
The feathers on a Fire Crow's body were unique — a layer of natural armor comparable to plate mail, difficult for ordinary arrows to penetrate.
But using those feathers as detached projectiles meant each shot cost the crow one feather permanently.
For a Fire Crow, this was essentially a form of self-harm.
Still, self-harm was better than suicide. Upon receiving the Fire Crow King's command, every remaining crow retreated well beyond the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard's strike range and began launching feathers at it with sharp hissing sounds.
The feather barrage flew like arrows. One or two might not do much, but at scale, even a dying Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard would find it a severe trial.
*Pop pop pop* — the feather projectiles struck the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard's body like raindrops.
Hitting those crimson scales, they produced a crisp, ringing sound.
Watching from afar,
Even so, the fact that it could casually disregard the projectile attacks of hundreds of Fire Crows spoke to a defense so formidable that Jiang Chen clicked his tongue in amazement.
"Such heaven-defying defense — truly worthy of a dragon bloodline. Even a dying Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard is this tough. If it were in its peak state, a human powerhouse of the same level probably wouldn't stand a chance against it," Jiang Chen thought with admiration.
Witnessing this battle, his feet became even more rooted to the spot.
Some of his earlier unease had now melted away. Neither the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard nor the Fire Crow King was anywhere near peak condition.
The Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard was at death's door, critically weakened. The Fire Crow King, having endured a brutal fight, was covered in wounds and likely couldn't muster even half its combat strength.
Against two Spirit Beasts in this state, Jiang Chen no longer felt particularly apprehensive.
When the snipe fights the clam, the fisherman profits.
Jiang Chen decided to stay and watch, to see if an opportunity to reap the rewards presented itself.
If the Fire Crow King was truly dead-set on finishing the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard, it would inevitably have to engage personally.
Once the Fire Crow King and the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard clashed a few more times and both burned through most of their remaining strength, Jiang Chen could step in and profit with ease.
As for the remaining Fire Crow army — though he still harbored some wariness, he had ways to deal with them.
After all, the crows that remained numbered less than a third of the original force, and after such prolonged fighting, every single one of their combat capabilities had been significantly degraded.
Setting aside Jiang Chen's virtually inexhaustible army of Gold-Munching Mice, even without them, the Ice Fire Demon Lotus and the Yuan Magnetic Iron Mountain — his two great assets — would be more than sufficient to handle these crows.
The only prerequisite was that both the Fire Crow King and the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard ended up severely wounded from fighting each other.
Now, that scenario was beginning to take shape, but it still needed one final push.
Jiang Chen could see that the Fire Crow King was determined to kill the Vermilion-Scaled Fire Lizard at all costs. But with mere harassment tactics, the Fire Lizard simply didn't care.