"Target has reached the designated position — activate!!!"
An urgent transmission, relayed through secret magic marks, rang out simultaneously in five locations.
Upon hearing it, Leilin's hand emitted a scarlet glow and pressed directly onto the stone pillar before him.
Boom!
A tremendous surge of magical array power erupted violently, and multicolored spell lights blazed to life, encasing the vulture flock within like a cage.
"Screech!" The Vulture King suddenly let out a piercing cry, the fleshy caruncle on its head rapidly turning red, swelling, and then violently exploding!
"Rring!!!"
Piercing soundwaves continuously echoed inside the array, and the caruncles atop the heads of the other Grey Vultures also trembled ceaselessly, seemingly amplifying the soundwaves.
"An attack like this..." Leilin's eyes widened; his head felt as if it had been smashed by a hammer, somewhat dazed and groggy.
Under the bombardment of the soundwaves, the spiritual light on the array flickered erratically, as if it might extinguish at any moment.
"If this beast's attack is this powerful, and with the flock's amplification effect — if those previous vultures were still here, the trap would've been broken in a single strike!"
"Original plan abandoned. Switching directly to Plan Two!"
Lanse's voice came through the secret magic mark, carrying a rather exasperated edge.
"Understood!"
Leilin whispered into the secret magic mark and then shifted a spell formula.
"Array self-destruct sequence initiated. Estimated time: ten seconds!" The Chip's notification sounded at the same moment.
"Move!" Leilin glanced at the vulture flock still struggling inside the array and quickly departed from the original location.
Boom!!!
Ten seconds later, at the stone forest's former location, a violent explosion erupted without warning.
Shockwaves swept outward, black flames surging straight into the sky.
Within the flames, multicolored potion powders and other substances scattered and dissipated from time to time.
To increase the destructive power of the magical array's self-destruction, Leilin had added a great deal of Explosive Potions, Combustion Potions, and similar materials.
"Haha! Beasts are still beasts, no matter what!"
Watching the shadowy silhouettes of the vultures struggling within the flames, the big fellow let out a laugh of vindication.
Two lines of blood trickled down from beside his ears — clearly, the Vulture King's earlier strike had left him far from unscathed.
"That Vulture King has awakened a racial talent. The caruncle on its head can unleash soundwave attacks, and it receives amplification from the flock. Its danger rating needs to go up at least two full levels! Once we're back, those black-hearted merchants had better cough up more coin!"
The old man cursed and grumbled.
"We can argue about the price later — there's still one big one left!" Leilin pointed toward the center of the explosion.
The flames gradually died down, and from where the stone forest had been, a colossal bird figure wreathed in flames emerged.
Most of the blood-red feathers on the Vulture King's body had been burned away. The rest was covered in charred black. The top of its head was bare, smeared with large patches of blood — it looked almost comical, but Leilin and the others dared not take it lightly.
"That explosion had at least thirty degrees of power, and yet it's still standing..." Lanse's mouth fell open in shock.
"It's not some frail wizard — it's a high-energy creature renowned for its powerful physical body!" Leilin said quickly. "Get up there and intercept it. It's trying to flee!"
"Damn it!" The leader, the old man, watched the Vulture King struggle to take flight with its battered wings and let out a vicious curse, rapidly chanting an incantation.
Then, from his back, cyan-colored breezes gathered together, forming two enormous pale-blue wings.
"I've handled both the baiting and the intercepting — you'd better give me an extra share in the end!"
The old man roared, flapping the wings behind him as he lifted into the air.
Whoosh! The old man was remarkably fast, and highly agile in his aerial maneuvers — he had clearly put considerable effort into mastering this technique.
"Screech!" The Vulture King cried out in fury, but with most of its wings severely damaged, it could no longer outmaneuver the old man in the sky.
After several spiraling dives, the leader seized his opportunity and pierced clean through the Vulture King's wing with a beam of green light.
Boom!!!
With one side losing balance, the Vulture King plummeted to the ground, kicking up a massive spray of sand.
"Go!"
Lanse, Leilin, and the five others rushed forward, surrounding the Vulture King on all sides.
Blood seeped from multiple wounds across the Vulture King's body. Its eyes shifted from the wizards encircling it to the figure circling high above, and a look of almost human-like despair surfaced within them.
"Heh heh! You damned beast — I'm going to tear you apart with my bare hands!"
The big fellow let out a cold, vicious laugh. A layer of blue-gray stone skin emerged across his body as he lunged toward the Vulture King.
"Screech!"
The Vulture King's cry suddenly soared in pitch as it thrashed its wings!
Its sole remaining intact right wing slashed forward like a blade, each feather bristling rigid as steel, and collided head-on with the big fellow's fist.