Calamity Messenger-Chapter 67 - 54: Fourth-Turn Demon Fiend

"Tomorrow, let’s hold out for half an hour before withdrawing, how about that?"

Qunyu Book’s first words after coming out of Mansu Forest Land were a bitter smile: "I’m just a lowly second-tier, I really can’t endure as long as you guys."

"You’re obviously the most energetic one, even having the spare strength to go out and kill a few more demons." Jie Zilong laughed, "Your soul’s resilience is almost at the third tier, isn’t it?"

"Far from it, far from it." Qunyu Book surveyed the surroundings, then glanced at the individual score ranking: "They haven’t come out yet, as expected."

"Yuanshao and her team managed to hold out for an hour yesterday, today they’ll definitely last longer." Jie Zilong said calmly, "The results they accumulated yesterday will be the foundation for today."

Qunyu Book and Chen Linchuan exchanged a glance; they still had no idea what mechanism lay within Mansu Forest Land. The Jie Family and Shang Family kept tight-lipped, leaving only the few words spoken by Jie Zilong to make some conjectures.

"They should be encountering the third wave of demon frenzy now." Jie Zilong didn’t seem concerned about secrecy, casually revealing the crucial information about Mansu Forest Land: "It seems you can vaguely hear the demons’ roars."

"You indeed can." Qunyu Book leaned in close to the entrance of Mansu Forest Land, raising an ear: "And very clearly too, probably because only they are left in the forest, with no other demons to interfere."

"We held on for half an hour, with pauses in between, but we were always besieged by the same group of demons." Chen Linchuan suddenly said, "How on earth are they dealing with these Undying Demon Fiends?"

Jie Zilong smiled without saying a word; after a while, he suddenly said, "Listen, the sounds have subsided, they’ve gotten through the third wave of demon frenzy."

"They should be coming out soon, right?" Qunyu Book speculated, "Let’s wait for them."

And so they waited, another half hour passed. After another half hour, they heard the roars of monsters again, but this time all their expressions changed.

"I think I heard the sounds of five Demon Kings." Qunyu Book was no longer nonchalant, closing his eyes to listen attentively.

"Wild Bull Demon, Stone Beast, Peach Blossom Demon Ape, Mud Crab, and the incredibly fast Dragonfly!" Chen Linchuan’s hearing was better, he gasped: "Are they really going to face five Third-Turn Demon Kings simultaneously?"

Jie Zilong stood quietly watching Mansu Forest Land, without uttering a word.

About a quarter of an hour later, as the demon roars faded until disappearing entirely, Jie Zilong let out a long breath, "It seems they’re still confident."

"Quickly, prepare the luncheon." Qunyu Book summoned the servants, "The warriors are coming back, they must be welcomed with a grand feast!"

Everyone watched the entrance to Mansu Forest Land, waiting for the four of them to return. Yet a quarter of an hour passed, another quarter passed, and even though the banquet was prepared, the entrance remained quiet.

"They... still haven’t come back?" Chen Linchuan found it hard to believe, "The fourth wave of demon frenzy even included five Demon Kings, and they’re still daring to face another wave?"

"Yes, even five Demon Kings appeared." Qunyu Book exchanged a glance with them, "What kind of demons would appear in the next wave to be stronger than five Demon Kings? Seven Demon Kings? If so, that might be better; if fewer Demon Kings appear, they might be in real danger."

This statement was peculiar—why would fewer Demon Kings be more dangerous? But everyone present understood, and Jie Zilong could no longer maintain his calm composure, his expression extremely serious as he tightly fixed his gaze on Mansu Forest Land.

Not knowing how much time had passed, suddenly, everyone felt a slight shiver, hairs standing on end. The clear-sky Mansu Forest Land became shrouded in dark clouds, a storm of lightning and thunder suddenly struck.

"Roar——"

A thunderous roar as if the heavens and earth were colliding erupted from deep within Mansu Forest Land, like a storm sweeping over the camp, causing nearly everyone to fall to the ground in fear, their legs trembling. Only Jie Zilong and two others barely managed to stand, but their faces were pale, almost using all their strength to refrain from fleeing.

"Fourth-Turn Demon Fiend, Thunder Frenzy Lion!" Chen Linchuan didn’t know if it was excitement or fear, his voice slightly trembled, "The tumult accompanying the thunder and its roar like a storm, this is definitely the Thunder Frenzy Lion!"

"Mansu Forest Land actually has Fourth-Turn Demon Fiends!"

"They actually dared to face a Fourth-Turn Demon Fiend!"

...

...

"Fourth-Turn Demon Fiend, Thunder Frenzy Lion."

Jie Yuan Shao gazed at the fanged beast roaring within the dense fog. Even from a hundred meters away, she tightly gripped the sword handle, her arm covered in goosebumps.

"Its records originate from the Secret Realm logs of the Ancient Tree Forest. It’s not the Demon King, but an ordinary demon fiend commonly seen in the Secret Realm, often a male lion hunting alongside multiple female lions. The Ancient Tree Forest is considered one of the easiest realms in the Fourth-Turn Secret Realm, and Thunder Frenzy Lion is one of the weaker types of Fourth-Turn Demon Fiends, hence there are quite a few records about it." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"It has no accompanying tokens; it relies solely on its sharp claws and fangs for attacks. Its only unique trait is its innate thunder encasement, causing every attack to paralyze its enemies."

"Yet, it is still a Fourth-Turn Demon Fiend, a Foundation Establishment entity far surpassing the Third-Turn."

Swish—

Thunder Frenzy Lion walked out of the fog, its mane sparkling with lightning, not as massive as other Demon Kings but maintaining a normal lion size, potentially standing two meters high. Its mouth seemed to drool yet also swallow lightning.

Bang!

With a thunderous burst, it suddenly shot out like lightning, crossing over a dozen meters in mere blinks, approaching the outer wall in less than three breaths. Its hind legs powered up gracefully leaping, its four feet lightly tapping on the outer wall like a dragonfly skimming the water. The motion reminded Yan Qing of cats bouncing on walls he had seen earlier.

However, this outer wall, capable of resisting waves of demon fiends for quite a while, shattered like tofu struck by a fist upon the Thunder Frenzy Lion’s touch, collapsing with a roar!

Such speed, such power, such ease!

"Moving like thunder."

Shang Xinlei’s voice trembled slightly, as if afraid yet excited: "This is the power of the Fourth-Turn... and it’s only the weakest of the Fourth-Turn!"

At this moment, six statues were unsealed: Blade Warrior, Chaos Warrior, Dragon-Breaking Warrior, Daffodil Mermaid, Funeral Mermaid, Eagle Shooter. Despite the overwhelming might of Thunder Frenzy Lion, these formidable Demon Kings from various Secret Realms now seemed so weak.

The castle’s two arrow towers had already launched attacks, but Thunder Frenzy Lion didn’t care about these basic arrow towers without any upgrades. Like a cat swatting away flies, it casually swept its tail to block the fine steel arrows shot by the hunting beast bows. It snorted two electric currents at the six incoming Demon Kings, its disdain evident.

In truth, Yan Qing built eight statues, but two were severely damaged in the fourth wave of assault. Setting them against the enemy now would certainly result in their destruction, so he kept them as a reserve team. If the six statues couldn’t hold out... he would send these two statues to cover for everyone’s retreat from Mansu Forest Land.

Meanwhile, twelve Silver Warriors also ascended the walls with bows and arrows, equipped with longswords at their waists. Should monsters invade the walls, they could instantly draw their swords for combat. In the first and second wave of assault, just they alone would be enough to clear the beast horde preceding the Demon King. But Yan Qing’s expectation for them now was merely to slightly irritate the Thunder Frenzy Lion’s actions.

Yan Qing actually knew how to bypass the fifth wave with absolute certainty, which was by upgrading the statues. Every statue had upgrade options, and these statues are currently at Third-Turn strength. Upgrading each would make them at least Fourth-Turn, fighting the Thunder Frenzy Lion would be akin to disciplining a child.

Unfortunately, the resources required for statue upgrades are exorbitant.

The Daffodil Mermaid demands 60 gemstones and 50 crystals, Blade Warrior requires 60 crystals and 60 sulfur, and other statues follow similarly. The slightly lenient Eagle Shooter needs 300 wood and 50 mercury—Yan Qing estimates he’d need an hour of wood chopping to accumulate 300 wood.

Given such vast demands for resources, Yan Qing couldn’t afford to upgrade even a single statue. But he wasn’t unprepared.

After discovering the ’Pearl Tears Alliance’ bond between Daffodil Mermaid and Funeral Mermaid, Yan Qing finally realized the synergy of survival construction combined with the auto-battler mechanics in this instance. The core mechanism of auto-battler was undoubtedly the synergy system, greatly boosting combat strength upon gathering characters from the same faction.

Gathering synergies was no doubt the fastest way to boost statue strength. Yet Yan Qing lacked knowledge of these statues’ faction allegiances; the construction list didn’t provide such information. Obviously, the officials wanted players to delve into these bosses’ background stories and speculate which bosses might form a synergy.

Nonetheless, it didn’t matter; if knowledge was lacking, quantity could make up for it.

"Reincarnation Heroic Spirit Hall: Each round increases the number of random building statues to three, and resources can be expended for reincarnation, refreshing three new random statues. The more reincarnations, the higher the resource consumption. Once a statue is built, reincarnation cannot proceed."

Building the Reincarnation Heroic Spirit Hall also consumed considerable resources, with only one added feature: re-choosing which statues can be constructed this round. Re-choices also require resources, opting for inexpensive resources like wood or stone. However, recurring retries exhaust resources at an alarming rate.

This was akin to gambling; if Yan Qing didn’t find the necessary statue, he’d waste resources to no avail. Besides, he didn’t know which statues could form synergies, choosing only by name. If names couldn’t determine basic affiliations, Yan Qing was certain countless players would annually question whether the planners’ moms were wholesaled.

Luckily, he gambled and won.

"Comrades Association: When Comrades Association members count ≥2, every nearby Comrade Association member increases Qi Blood +100 and agility +100, with mutual support between members. (Blade Warrior, Chaos Warrior, Dragon-Breaking Warrior)"