Infected Ice Emperor Scorpion

I was right.

Just as I expected, the main enemies of this location were the frostingale birds and they came with a 'crowned' elite version who was twice the size of the other predatory birds and had a thick plume of tall crystalline ice feathers growing out from its head as well as the edges of its wings. This so-called Crowned Frostingale was an Elite version of the other level fifty-five's at level sixty-five and probably had some nice drops.

However, it was supported by ten half-size level fifty-five adult ice birds who all wore thick scales of ice over their feathers while large feather blades of ice whirled slowly around them. These guys were on guard even while resting which made things almost worse than the ambush setting of the ice rat warren. These guys were pretty well protected from most physical ranged attacks even with the bonus of stealth.

Even then, if we had enough people to take out all ten of the ice birds, there were still a dozen large 'Frozen Sting Emperors' who were half a time bigger than the sting kings. Just their pincers were the equal length of my arm. Their tails could even reach a few yards ahead of their own bodies.

From where I safely perched about fifty feet above the ground while relaying this information to the others hiding just beyond the inner trees, I could probably take out the crowned elite bird with an ambush. I could even Spore Shoal and take out no less than all ten ice birds. Or I could take out the emperors to prove my imperial dominance.

Despite this, the others forcefully coordinated with me to only make a few decisive moves in the beginning and then hold out. They had their own plans for this even location and I had my price. After coming to terms with Go and Lil, I leaped out from my tree and into the clearing while producing multiple streams of cordycep silk from each of my fingers.

Using some air cannon magic and my silk to slow my fall about ten feet from the ground after passing through the upper birds, I land in a perfect sitting position straddling the body of the biggest emperor ice scorpion as my silk streams out over all of the other ground troops. Of course the incredibly long segmented tail would rush forward and stab through my armor between the rib bands, but this was planned for as the others quickly entered the field while making battle cries and casting spells or skills.

[Assimilating: Frostbite Venom]

My passive poison immunity was my ability to assimilate poison, venom, disease, anything inside of me. With the stringer ensnared in my body, as well, and my silk anchoring the neighbors to the ground, this lead ice scorpion had nowhere to go and nothing to do. However, what I did not expect was to receive a new option besides Taming.

[Frozen Sting Emperor is exposed to your inner fluids, do you wish to Infect? YES/NO]

"Infect," I reply cheerfully, having planned on filling one of my own familiar slots with one of these high-defense mounts like Hermes' armored tree dragon.

Starting from the stinger puncturing my right ribs and lung from behind, the icy body of the sting scorpion begins darkening with rust-like veins of discoloration running through its chitin segments like fractures. As the veins grew to cover the entire scorpion, its chitin body really did begin fracturing and fragmenting as its soft inner body began to grow.

Gaining another foot in standing height and three feet in breadth, its tail grew out for six more feet worth of segments while its pronged pincers became double-jointed to be worked like actual hands with a smaller fourth opposable prong. While my new familiar continued changing and growing, the others had already dispatched the few scorpions outside the reach of my silk and several ice blade had already shattered about my and the scorpion's body.

Thankfully, its natural ice resistances and newly raised parameters meant each attack did less than the one percent of health dropped form my own bar.

[Created and Bound: Infected Ice Emperor Scorpion]

[+500XP]

[Do you wish to rename: Infected Ice Emperor Scorpion?]

[Captured: Frozen Sting Emperor x6]

[+600XP]

[Tame or Infect: Frozen Sting Emperor x6?]

Disconnecting myself from the threads, I simply ignore the prompts for the other scorpions.

Turning both the infect scorpion's and my attention up to the birds assaulting us as the scorpion pulls its stinger out for another five percent of my health, I cast an Air Cannon from either hand up into the air between the birds and I to explode.

Once the buffer of high-density and naturally frigid winds cleared the air of attacks, I shot out three streams of silk from each of my fingers all aimed at the crowned elite. The elite targeted my silk with its circling ice blades, but there were only five blades and thirty strands of silk spreading out all around its body. The strands found purchase on its body as more continued shooting out.

Quickly anchoring the connected strands to my mount, I continue piling up connections as the elite tries to switch its focus to the lines that had already been connected. When it focused three blades on a single strand apiece, eight more got through the other two blades. By the time it tried to compensate with all of the flying blades once it lost the option of evasion, ten more had stuck on and I started dragging it down from the air.

Where were its ten aerial guardians? Dropping like flies three at a time as my team paired up the attacks and familiars to focus on one bird each. In the first few moments of my infecting the scorpion, the first birds started to fall. Now, there was only one other bird being grounded by magic for capture.

Once the bird preemptively dropped to the ground, it threw out its wings and with them all of the ice scales from their body. Everything in the area not behind the protective buffer of magic cast by my team and familiars took damage. My own ninety-plus percent of health that steadily regenerated dropped below eighty thanks to a few lucky scales and feathers.

By the time the AOE skill was over, the armor was already reforming over the elite's body. As well, I had already leaped off from my newest mount. Tackling the giant bird to the ground even as it thrusts its sharp and narrow beak into my shoulder to drop me down to sixty percent of health, I simply hug on and throw myself sideways to bring us both to the ground.

Letting the crowned ice bird thrash about to further ensnare itself in my silks, I wait a few moments until its wings are both stretched out and strapped to the ground or its own body before yelling, "Capture!"

[Captured: Crowned Frostingale]

[+500XP]

[Tame or Infect: Crowned Frostingale?]

Now that the bird was captured and trapped, I once again ignored the prompts and got up to walk away while combat ended and notifications poured in. Even though I really wanted to claim the elite ice bird, it was big enough to ride and I had promised Lil to let her try to claim and earlier flying mount or similar title before me. As well, there was even greater potential for this bird than as my familiar.

First, I had to check something. Opening the clan section of my menus while walking to the back line of familiars, I pick up one of the previously captured frostingales and open the clan shop. As I had hoped, the option to list the captured and untamed monster for clan sale was available.

I immediately listed the current stock of ice birds and the elite Crowned Frostingale. Each bird gave me a thousand contribution apiece and was listed for a thousand apiece, just like the chain claymore. However, the elite netted me ten thousand contribution and I did not even plan to sell it. It was listed for one hundred thousand points.

After successfully cheating the system by using the clan shop as a storage system because Go and I had full rights to remove items from the shop to our inventories for free, we quickly set to work gathering up all of the plants and fruits and flowers from the area as well as several dozen young frostberry trees we dug up with magic. These trees also went into the clan shop and netted the others one hundred contribution apiece. It was not much, but they were not exactly for sale anyway.

Since this was a temporary event location to begin with, we did not worry about damaging the environment like we would at the golem's grove. The compass point had already faded away once we entered the grove. This meant that, if we died, not only would the area disappear but anything we dropped on death would be gone.

Leaving the area with a great many fewer burdens than we arrived with, all five of my friends were riding on enlarged infected scorpions while the sixth was sent to the clan shop at a mount value of ten thousand contribution. With everybody riding on a mounted creature, we once again set out for the final leg of our 'scouting' foray.

This time we traveled much faster to cover the next mile and only came across a single confrontation. We were once again beset by the original combination of ice rats and ice birds but this time our three shared mounts ended up surrounded by a dozen of either enemy. This made for quiet a scary moment.

The familiars switched immediately to defending themselves, using our control over the infected scorpion to use their lower defensive ice that came with healing properties to armor the familiars. Lil's new ice bird that had yet to receive any actual combat training simply focused on evading the other birds while remaining between the three mounts. For it's sake, Lil commanded it to land and focus on shooting ice at the bears while relying on her female imp's learned summoning skill to produce 'shades' from all of our shadows.

I had never actually seen the summoning skills of our familiars in use, so seeing our shadows leave out body to swim over the ground like a small school of baby sharks was interesting. However, these shadow guardians ignored the ice rats and trailed along with the ice birds from below. The first bird to make a dive from their encirclement fifteen feet overhead was attacked by three different shadows just ten feet from the ground that whipped out like long and narrow spikes.

Once they struck into the bird, the others joined in and tore it apart in the air.

None of the other birds bothered getting physical after that, focusing on their ranged attacks that the shades in turn focused on deflecting overhead. While this quick adaptive strategy was taking place, Hermes' armored tree dragon, Lil's imp warrior, and her bird were working together to fend off three ice rats with the flanking support of our scorpions. Thanks to the infection, their tails could attack in every direction like whips rather than just forward like a normal scorpion.

Lil was using her staff to direct St. Elmo's Fire up into the air in over a dozen strands, buffering the birds away while every now and then shaving off between five and ten percent of their health.

Our scorpions, trusting our combined efforts, simply gripped two rats apiece by the head in their giant pronged pincers while I cast Mana Slash across the remaining front line of enemies. The five remaining ground units facing us players were one-shot bisected across the middle, raising my Mana Slash to level two and almost doubling my experience gain per kill.

Once the remaining ground threats were gone, the scorpions who had been sustaining and trading roughly five percent damages per second while crushing the heads of their rats simple hooked their fingers and clenched. Critical deaths on all four counts. Next, as I added ten new streams of electrical discharge in the air for about ten mana per second and an estimated fifty damage per second, the scorpions turned around to help finish off the wounded rats in back.

Mistaking the moment as an opportunity, six of the birds who were already struggling to remain aloft from the electrical impairments dove down through the night of magic electricity and at the scorpions rears. Their tails not only struck forth at the first bodies in range, but the also stood themselves up on the claws while icing us riders to our seats. With the undersides almost proudly displayed, the infected scorpions speared and corrupted the ice birds that committed to the attack.

Flopping back over and hunkering down to consume the bodies into their fragmenting 'veins', the scorpions simply relaxed for a meal in the middle of the fight while gripping onto a rat apiece. With only one quill bear to contend with, the familiars were able to end its entire career in less than three seconds of focused attacks while Lil's bird returned to the air.

Presenting itself as a fresh target to the half-health birds in the air, Lil's bird swiftly spun about while slinging the scaled of its wings in all directions to shatter on impact with other armor pierces. Three of the remaining six other birds were dropped into critical health. The other three dropped to evade while gliding out away from us.

Seeing the potential loss of experience in fleeing opponents, I reflexively unleash stream of silk out out the nearest birds. One got away for a moment while the other two were ensnared by at least two strands of silk apiece, but Lil's bird who was evading the attacks of the other birds still fighting quickly changed direction.

Having more energy and strength than the other bird after having preserved itself on the ground in relative safety, Lil's bird quickly perched on the others back while shattering its already weakened armor.

Lil herself easily used focused bolts of actual lightning to finish the remaining birds that tried to pursue and exposed their backs. I, on the other hand, was trapped in my seat while the scorpion I rode was feasting and transferring its food.

[Assimilated: Frostingale]

[+250XP]

[+10% Thermal Conductivity]

[+10% Ice Magic Efficiency]

[Can Replicate: Frostingale Feather]

[Can Replicate: Ice Mana Scale]

[Assimilated: Frosted Quill Bear]

[+250XP]

[+10% Ice Resistance]

[+20% Natural Thermal Conductivity]

[Can Replicate: Quill Bear Ivory]

[Can Replicate: Ice Mana Quill]

Satisfied with the results from the scorpion eating the last rat it killed before the end of combat, I check the time and distance from camp before calling the scouting party all together again. After a few minutes spent resting while the others joined Lil and I, we started the long trek back.

*