Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Nest of Ghouls

After listening to Lei Yan’s report, Lu Sheng more or less understood what kind of monsters haunted the mountain. The last time, what appeared was a ghoul-infected creature—humanoid in form. The monsters within the cave crawled, yet could stand upright, with power roughly at the second tier; these were likely ghouls. They had clear weaknesses: fear of sunlight and aversion to fire.

Lu Sheng doubted they truly feared fire. The previous infected had shown no sign of terror in the face of flames, which meant these monsters merely disliked fire or other strong light sources. Since darkness had not yet fallen, Lu Sheng decided to organize a team and eliminate the ghouls at once.

Before that, he wanted to use his remaining Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards to strengthen the Scarecrow Doppelganger and some combat cards. Once a female bloodthirsty mosquito is pregnant, males are no longer needed. Thus, he now possessed 103 mid-third-tier Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards and one early fourth-tier card. With one mid-third-tier card, he could raise the Scarecrow Doppelganger from second to third tier. However, to reach the fourth tier, he lacked resources. He only had one early fourth-tier card, and since the Scarecrow Doppelganger was of blue quality, it would require thirty thousand early third-tier white-quality Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards for the upgrade. Even the equivalent in early fourth-tier cards would require three. Since he couldn’t manage it, Lu Sheng didn’t press the matter; after all, evolving the Scarecrow to third tier merely extended the control range to fifty kilometers, with no other major changes.

Next, he decided to upgrade some monster cards so the Scarecrow Doppelganger could lead them into battle. After rummaging through his collection, he used a Bloodthirsty Mosquito card to raise the perfect second-tier Earth Bear to third tier. Its combat ability improved, and its evolution required one earth-attribute spirit fruit of green quality.

Then, with fifty mid-third-tier Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards, he advanced ten Goblins to early third tier. This change made the previously scrawny Goblins robust, their muscles bulging, their height growing from one meter forty to one meter fifty.

[Goblin]
Quality: White
Tier: Early Third
Skill: Powerful Strike
Evolution Requirement: One third-tier, green-quality spirit fruit

The requirements were low; Lu Sheng could satisfy them now, but he refrained from using his spirit fruit on the Goblins. Nine remaining Water Spirit Fruits were close to maturing into fourth-tier fruits. Upgrading ten Goblin cards to form a combat squad was sufficient.

He then used all remaining Bloodthirsty Mosquito cards to enhance functional cards: defense, amplification, healing, attack, and support. These were ordinary functional cards—fireball, healing, iron body, and the like. To Lu Sheng, they were ordinary only because of their low tier and their comparison to higher-quality cards of the same level.

Yet, once upgraded, even a simple fireball spell ceased to be ordinary. Once all was ready, Lu Sheng summoned the Scarecrow Doppelganger. At first, it appeared as a scarecrow; in the next instant, it shifted to Lu Sheng’s own likeness. The two were indistinguishable, except the Doppelganger resembled a lifelike model.

Lu Sheng could clearly sense that he could assign most of his consciousness to the Scarecrow Doppelganger, controlling its body, while leaving a small portion to manage his original self. Testing it, he found he could indeed operate both bodies at once, though it felt like splitting his attention; he was not yet skilled enough for perfect multitasking. To act with natural fluency, he had to focus on one body at a time.

With more practice, perhaps he could master true dual control; for now, it was out of reach. Still, seeing himself from another perspective was a strange and fascinating sensation.

He handed all the combat cards—Earth Bear, Frogman, ten Goblins, Stone-Throwing Goblin, Giant Crocodile, and the Wind-Fire Twin-Headed Snake—to the Scarecrow Doppelganger. The Doppelganger had its own card space for storage. Once prepared, Lu Sheng guided the Doppelganger out, while his true body lay quietly on the bed.

“Gather up!” he called.

This time, Lu Sheng only brought Lei Yan’s squad, for he himself was the main force; Lei Yan and his team would merely assist.

By the time they reached the cave, dusk was already falling.

Lu Sheng commanded from the front, “Are the dead branches ready?”

Lei Yan nodded eagerly at his side. “Ready.”

“Good! Light them and toss two inside to see what's in there.”

Soon, two blazing branches were hurled into the cave. Flames leapt high, illuminating everything within. The cave was a massive hollow in the mountainside, straightforward and open; nothing obscured the view. Within, the space stretched about two hundred meters deep, thirty meters wide, and five meters high.

Inside, roughly sixty monsters crawled about, their bodies pitch black, sharp claws gleaming in the firelight. The two burning branches were enough to light the entire cave—no need for more.

Lu Sheng turned and summoned all his monsters: Goblins, Earth Bear, Frogman, Giant Crocodile, Stone-Throwing Goblin. He did not call forth the Wind-Fire Twin-Headed Snake or another Frogman. To handle the creatures inside, these summons sufficed.

Lei Yan and his companions were stunned by the scene before them.

All third-tier monsters! What kind of power does Lord Lu Sheng possess?

Over a hundred people unconsciously swallowed in awe—so very powerful!

“Attack!” At Lu Sheng’s command, Greenstone launched his assault. Three red beams streaked through the air, crashing into the cave and striking three ghouls dead on.

Boom! The red stones shattered, their immense force obliterating the three ghouls instantly.

[Ghoul]
Quality: Green
Tier: Early Second
Skill: Infection
Infection: Creatures slain by a ghoul become infected, transforming into mindless monsters that attack all living things.

The ghouls’ attributes matched Lu Sheng’s expectations exactly—nothing out of the ordinary. But second-tier ghouls could not withstand the might of Lu Sheng’s third-tier forces.

First, the Stone-Throwing Goblin bombarded them, taking out nine ghouls. Then, the third-tier Earth Bear and Giant Crocodile charged in, followed by ten goblins wielding black clubs.

The Earth Bear and Giant Crocodile swept through the ghouls, who, in the confined space, had no room to evade. Their resistance was futile; the Giant Crocodile’s tough hide offered natural defense, rendering the ghouls’ attacks mere tickles. The Earth Bear was even more formidable, both its innate skills being defensive; the ghouls’ claws could not harm these two living shields.

But the bear’s heavy paw strikes and the croc’s sweeping tail were deadly blows to the ghouls—fatal, if not outright crippling.

Finally, the Goblins moved in to clean up—finishing off any who survived, their clubs sending blood and brains flying.

From outside, Greenstone watched the one-sided carnage and saw no need to join in.