Chapter 567: The Clash of Water and Fire

This chapter is an extra update sponsored by the alliance leader "Glory's Battle Song", with one update for now and the remaining five to follow... By the way, just from everyone's tips, Lao Bai owes 33 updates, which is quite daunting.

"Complete the task, and you will be rewarded with migrating flamingo flocks."

There's not much to say about the task rewards, but what caught Liszt's attention was the new smoke task.

"Task: The migration of flamingo flocks has attracted the predation of an Advanced Magic Beast. Although it is temporarily distracted by the Purplesand Crocodile, it may invade your territory at any time to continue preying on the flamingos. Please hunt this beast to ensure the safety of your territory. Reward: Various Abandoned Insect Mushrooms."

Those Abandoned Insect Mushrooms were originally something Liszt was about to obtain, yet they were still used as a reward by the smoke task, which seems a bit underhanded.

However, the task content intrigued him.

"Can flamingo flocks really attract Advanced Magic Beasts to prey on them?" He was startled. Although the combat power of Advanced Magic Beasts is still unclear, it is certainly not to be underestimated. "It seems this Advanced Magic Beast is distracted by the Purplesand Crocodile, which means I can prepare at my leisure... Perhaps I should go check out the Purplesand Crocodile first."

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat.

Now that the smoke task has even specified the location where the Advanced Magic Beast appears, there's no reason not to investigate. Now that he is a dragon knight, dealing with an Advanced Magic Beast shouldn't be too challenging. As long as he understands the combat methods of the Advanced Magic Beast, he can assess the approximate strength comparison.

"The Purplesand Crocodile, that intermediate magic beast, the Earl probably can't control it anymore."

In order to allow magic beasts to reproduce on the island and continuously produce new magic beasts, the Earl has neglected the Purplesand Crocodile. Unfortunately, after so many years, the Purplesand Crocodile seems to have no mate to reproduce and produce new Purplesand Crocodiles.

After returning to the territory.

He soon received a report from Gort: "Sir, a flock of strange red-feathered birds has flown to the Red River estuary mangroves on our island. These strange birds can cast fire magic - fireball spells, and are competing with the green-headed ducks for the Red River estuary mangroves, having already killed several green-headed ducks."

"These are flamingos; how did you handle them?"

"Captain Parris and Captain Marcus each led the knights to round up those strange... flamingos, but there are too many flamingos, and several knights have been burned. For now, we've barely managed to let the green-headed ducks and flamingos each occupy half of the mangroves, but they haven't stopped fighting."

"I'll go take a look. By the way, have you figured out how to handle this?"

"Captain Parris believes that flamingos, like green-headed ducks, are attracted by green caterpillars. Perhaps we can catch all the flamingos and relocate them to Seagull Island for breeding. We've also released a large number of green caterpillars on Seagull Island, which have reproduced very successfully, and we haven't released any green-headed ducks there yet."

"That's a good way to handle it; let's do that." Liszt nodded in approval.

Flamingos are new magic beasts, and we don't know how to breed them yet, so it's better to send them to Seagull Island to develop and slowly figure out the breeding techniques.

Moreover.

That Advanced Magic Beast is coming for the flamingos. If it turns out to be powerful, it's better to reduce its disturbance to Black Horse Island by letting it prey on Seagull Island.

By the time he arrived at Red River Town, it was almost dark.

The patrol team led by Parris and the knight team led by Marcus were still trying to catch flamingos. As the serfs kept feeding, the green-headed ducks were no longer afraid of humans, so there was no need to catch the green-headed ducks.

"Sir!"

"Sir!"

The knights saluted Liszt one after another.

Waving his hand to indicate that there was no need for formalities, Liszt directly asked, "Captain Marcus, Captain Parris, how is the situation here?"

The mithril armor of both captains was stained with a lot of duck and bird feathers, looking somewhat disheveled.

Marcus reported: "Preliminary estimates suggest that more than five hundred flamingos have invaded the mangroves, mostly adult flamingos; the mangroves are home to more than three hundred adult green-headed ducks and more than four hundred juvenile ducks; so far, more than thirty green-headed ducks and more than twenty flamingos have been confirmed dead, but the ducklings have all run away."

Parris added: "The patrol team is responsible for catching flamingos, and more than fifty flamingos have been caught so far, most of which are injured flamingos."

The flamingos, with their mouths and legs tied, were placed in cages nearby.

These flamingos, with their fiery red feathers, large black beaks, and slender legs, somewhat resembled birds such as cranes or storks.

"Keep a few to taste; send the rest to Seagull Island to live there," Liszt said, changing into a suit of armor. "I'll help you catch the remaining four hundred or so flamingos. We must not let them destroy the green-headed duck farm that's just starting to thrive."

"Yes, my lord!"

For a Dragon Knight to personally capture low-level magical beasts was like using a cannon to shoot a mosquito—overkill.

But there was no other choice. If the knights were to slowly capture the flamingos, who knows how long it would take. By the time they finished, the flamingos might have already wiped out the green-headed ducks. The territory had over a dozen elite Earth Knights, but they couldn't fly and could only use arrows against avian magical beasts.

The flamingos looked very suitable for large-scale breeding and domestication, and no one was willing to kill them.

So Liszt took matters into his own hands.

He activated his Dragon Aura.

His figure shot into the sky like an arrow, and before a flying flamingo could react, he grabbed its beak and then its legs. He tucked the flamingo's head under its wing and threw it down to the knights below.

The knights on the ground quickly grabbed the flamingo, tied it up, and stuffed it into a cage.

Before they could finish with that one, Liszt had already caught another flamingo and thrown it down. In just a short moment, Liszt, hovering in the air, seemed like a god descending, wreaking havoc among the flamingo flock.

The flamingos, realizing what was happening, began shooting fireballs at him.

But Liszt drew his Sky-Cleaving Greatsword and with a simple mana strike, he dispersed the small fireballs and calmly landed on the ground.

After catching his breath, he shot back into the sky, and in one round trip, he captured ten to twenty flamingos.

After three hours, it was completely dark. Using his Magic Eye, Liszt could see the flamingos' magic power glowing like light bulbs in his vision. They had no way to stop him. Nearly three hundred flamingos were captured by Liszt, leaving only a hundred or so that had escaped, their whereabouts unknown.

"Commander Marcus, if any flamingos return, continue capturing them. For the captured flamingos, those with severe injuries that cannot heal on their own should be sent to the castle as food reserves. Those with minor injuries or no injuries should all be sent to Seagull Island to live there."

"Yes, my lord!"

Liszt shook off the soot and feathers from his armor. Although he was a Dragon Knight, he had been grazed by the flamingos' fireballs a few times, but only his clothes were damaged.

"My lord, your strength is growing more and more formidable," Parris couldn't help but whisper in admiration as she escorted Liszt to Port Town.

The gap between her strength and Liszt's was growing wider, becoming an insurmountable chasm.

Liszt looked at his black dragon spirit and his light magic followers, feeling a bit sentimental. That powerful thief who had once been his important bodyguard—who would have thought that in just over a year, he would no longer need anyone's protection.

"How is your progress with light magic?"

"I've fully mastered three basic spells: Bright Light Bullet, Dust of Light, and Refraction. Unfortunately, there are no more basic spells to learn. Now, there's only one advanced spell—Shadow Projection—that I can learn, but it's too difficult. Cris has explained the dynamic magic arrays to me many times, but I still have no clue."

"Take your time... Is your body still being eroded by the Light Dragon's magic power?"

"After learning light magic, it has slowed down, but it hasn't been fundamentally resolved. I probably have about ten years left... When I first met you, my lord, I felt I had ten years left. Now, a year and a half has passed, and I still have ten years left. I've already gained a lot."

Parris smiled freely.

Her intelligence wasn't outstanding, but her personality was cheerful.

Liszt glanced at her and comforted her softly, "Don't worry, I'll solve the problem of the Light Dragon's magic erosion for you. I believe it won't be too difficult for me." As the Dragon Knight of the Fire Dragon, he was confident that once he figured out the principles of dragon magic, he could resolve the drawbacks of the black dragon spirit.

Parris laughed heartily, her charm undiminished even at night. "Thank you for your concern, my lord. Actually, this is fine. I still have ten years to live, and in those ten years, I probably won't be troubled by age."