Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 172 Dragon Hound’s Playground

Guo Yuelin got in touch with her Ground Shaker and said, “Well, I sensed nothing.”

Zhou Jing closed his eyes to speak to his eagle as well. Similarly, he got nothing in return. Old Mo glared at Su Ping. “Same here. We’ve had enough of your nonsense! Do you know it’s a crime to raise a false alarm during an important expedition??” Most people seemed displeased as they all believed that Su Ping was causing trouble. But before anyone could further accuse him, Old Mo spoke again, anxiously this time, “Look to the front!!”

Following his hint, people saw the empty space in front of them getting blurry all of a sudden, before a generation of Soaring Vipers entered their view, hissing threateningly.

A Soaring Viper was only a wind-type Astral Pet at the lower eighth-rank that didn’t pose much threat to experienced settlers. But it was a completely different matter when a swarm of them showed up.

“Combat positions!!” Nie Chengkong yelled to the team while throwing Su Ping a surprised look. He discovered something ahead of everyone?? Damn it. If only I had chosen to trust his words

It was too late to regret. They had missed their chance to launch a preemptive strike. They could only defend at the moment.

Everyone recognized these infamous vipers as skillful when covering their movements by using air currents. To make matters worse, these things always lived in large groups. Anyone caught off guard would get torn to pieces within several seconds.

The scouts were staring their eyes out upon realizing that they had miserably failed at their job. And it couldn’t be helped; no one with a sound mind would believe that Soaring Vipers could use such a hot area as a habitat.

Nie Chengkong yelled again to wake his members from their stunned state.

“I’ll take care of the defense!” Chen asked his Earthen Dragon to create a giant shield out of the burning earth that enclosed everyone within like a big water bowl, leaving only their combat pets outside.

Using that chance, people stretched their astral power through the shield to assess the situation.

“Eleven, twelve… sixteen of them!” Nie Chengkong declared with a grim look. Without the helpers, their team would have surely gotten maimed by so many eighth-rank monsters ganging up on them.

“I saw their alpha. I’ll bring it down,” said Old Mo. He felt terrible for what he had just said moments before. He wanted to do something quickly to amend his mistake.

“I see,” Nie Chenkong answered, “Alright, the others shall assist by dealing with the lesser targets! Mister Mo’s Death Scythe should be enough to finish off their leader.”

Hiss!

Outside the “earth shield,” the vipers stretched their membranous wings and charged as one. Upon adopting a battle stance, those things were at least twenty meters in length and ten in width, and they were constantly covered by dangerous wind elements.

Most of the team members could take down a Soaring Viper in a one-on-one fight. But that could definitely not be said when going against so many of them.

Several wind blades reached the shield and left a few giant gaps on it.

Chen sensed the dangerous attacks and uttered to Su Ping, “Sh*te. I forgot to bring your hound inside!” He had realized that Su Ping’s Dark Dragon Hound was rather good at surveillance, which meant they should keep it under protection. Otherwise, it would get torn to shreds out there really soon.

Even a ninth-rank Astral Pet would be unable to survive a face-off against that many Soaring Viper unscathed, let alone a sixth-rank one.

“What are you waiting for?? Open up and let it inside!” Luo Guxue demanded.

Chen and Nie Chengkong both shook their heads.

“We can’t afford to expose people to danger.” Chen gave Su Ping an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry for this, young friend.” Previously, Chen would not care less about what happened to the Dark Dragon Hound. Then, however, he knew he had made a huge blunder.

Ye Chenshan clenched his teeth and offered, “I’ll use my Azura Lizard to cover it! It’s good at defending!”

Ye Chenshan didn’t order his lizard to confront the vipers already because the creature wasn’t enough to fend off that many of them. But after some faltering, he decided to take the risk and assist Su Ping.

“Do it then.” Nie Chengkong looked relieved. “But be careful.”

Ye Chenshan nodded and quickly got in touch with his lizard, only to find that Su Ping’s Dark Dragon Hound was nowhere to be found. “Did-did it die already?? Wait…”

Using the vision sent by his lizard, he quickly found the hound in the midst of the viper swarm instead of staying close to their shield.

“What is it doing??”

Su Ping spoke to him, “You can leave it be. Tell your lizard to help the Death Scythe so we can kill the alpha viper as soon as possible.”

Through their “pet connections,” people watched in awe as they saw the snake swarm turning into utter chaos, as the Dark Dragon Hound somewhat playfully dashed among the vipers while randomly knocking them aside. Because of this, none of the vipers could follow their alpha.

“What is—How is it doing that??”

People couldn’t believe that a sixth-rank pet was moving so freely under the assault of a group of eighth-rank monsters, but they couldn’t be seeing things at the same time either, so they had to trust it.

Luo Guxue suddenly remembered Su Ping’s “exceptional training sessions” and suddenly found the matter to be more understandable. “My word… I need to pay his shop a visit,” she mumbled. “Mister Su?? What is going on?” Nie Chengkong asked with widened eyes. His Fallen Priest had not joined the battle yet because most vipers had been attracted by the Dark Dragon Hound. Besides, he was too astonished right then to give any commands to his pet.

Su Ping maintained his casual look. “As I said, my hound is good at not only detection, but also combat, as long as we’re facing common enemies.”

“Common enemies??”

Those are NOT common enemies! Nie Chenshan protested in his mind. If we didn’t know already, we’d believe that there was a ninth-rank pet helping us!

All those who doubted Su Ping earlier changed their minds right then; if the Dark Dragon Hound was only Su Ping’s “secondary pet,” they would expect even more reliable help at this rate.

Chen and Old Mo also exchanged a knowing look as they agreed to treat Su Ping more fairly. They finally understood why Su Ping was promised the privilege to pick a treasure first. It was clear that Su Ping had enough time and resources to become a titled battle pet warrior in the future. They would not get on his bad side.

“All right, here I come!” Nie Chengkong ordered his Fallen Priest to join the fray as well. With the hound disrupting them, the vipers were no longer a threat.

The alpha viper had been completely isolated. Using this chance, Old Mo focused on controlling his Death Scythe so they could pick out the “enemy commander” in time.

This alpha viper was only an intermediate eighth-rank monster, whereas the Death Scythe was at the lower ninth-rank. Soon enough, the viper was on the losing side.

Luo Guxue and Ye Chenshan exchanged an embarrassed glance when they found nothing to do.

Similarly, Guo Yuelin and Zhou Jing both understood how Su Ping had managed to save Luo Guxue and Ye Chenshan from a life-threatening danger.

Woof! Wuff!

The Dark Dragon Hound was having fun playing “cat and mouse” with a bunch of enemies it was most familiar with. On the other hand, the vipers were getting restless after being played around by a dog. Their wind blades, tornado traps and poisonous bites… Nothing seemed to work against the hound at all.

In addition to the hound’s burning coat that easily deflected most attacks, it also had three different types of defensive enchantments protecting its body, making it more robust than the Earthen Dragon.