Chapter 21 Intervention

With a plan in place, Li Mingxing began to carefully calculate various details, such as the dragon's immunity to toxins, which forced him to consider what kind of poison he needed to use to bring down this Sea Thunder Dragon.

Afterward, Li Mingxing had to figure out how soon the Sea Thunder Dragon would become hungry again after this meal, how long it would take before it desperately rushed into the sky to swallow every bird in sight, and what to do if the poisoned birds caused unexpected reactions once ingested in the depths of the ocean. By the time he had sorted through all these questions, the sun had already set, bringing the second day of Li Mingxing's youth trial to a close.

Although a lot of time had passed, Li Mingxing could not afford to relax. There were many things he could not do during daylight hours, meaning that the coming night would be exceptionally busy for him.

Spending the entire night running across all the nearby small islands, Li Mingxing utilized his second flight capability and, teaming up with Zheng, managed to poison every single flock of birds inhabiting the surrounding islets.

Of course, since he did not know whether the Sea Thunder Dragon preferred live prey or carcasses, Li Mingxing had no choice but to use a potent neurotoxin. He did not dare let the birds ingest the specialized poison meant to deal the final blow to the dragon. While that untested toxin would be instantly fatal to the ordinary birds, Li Mingxing could not afford to waste a single living subject before the crucial moment arrived.

Once all the poisoned birds were gathered in one place, Li Mingxing had Zheng attach his specially prepared venom packets to them. These packets contained the true weapon against the Sea Thunder Dragon; the moment the dragon swallowed the birds, the poison inside would react with the dragon's stomach acid, triggering a series of small, internal explosions.

This was the only method Li Mingxing could conceive of. After all, he had no way to summon the Sea Thunder Dragon beforehand to test its resistance to toxins, nor would he get a second chance at launching a surprise attack of this scale. Right now, all he could do was pray that his streak of good fortune would hold.

Meanwhile, Zheng flew repeatedly along the predetermined coordinates designated by Li Mingxing. She was familiarizing herself with her mission; tomorrow, she would serve as the vanguard of the attack and the most critical component of the entire operation. If anything went wrong with her, half of Li Mingxing's mission would instantly fail, which meant every maneuver had to be executed to perfection.

Time slipped away amidst Li Mingxing's anticipation and Zheng's rigorous training. Early the next morning, Li Mingxing sensed a faint, oppressive dragon aura emanating from beneath the ocean's surface. He understood that the Sea Thunder Dragon was lurking underwater, waiting for the birds to take flight so it could devour a hearty meal.

However, despite waiting for a considerable time, not a single bird flew across the sky, nor was there even a wisp of cloud. This unusual absence left the Sea Thunder Dragon somewhat perplexed.

Yet, this confusion merely flickered through the dragon's mind before vanishing completely. Buoyed by absolute confidence in its own strength and domain, combined with years of peaceful existence, the dragon's perception of danger had been dulled to its absolute lowest threshold. In the Sea Thunder Dragon's eyes, such a bizarre situation simply meant the birds had not yet woken up.

Unbothered by the anomaly, the dragon descended deeper into the abyss to carry out its mandatory daily training in electrical control. Given its formidable power, it could easily go without food for several days.

As the Sea Thunder Dragon retreated back into the deep sea, Li Mingxing finally let out a tightly wound breath of relief. Just moments before, Zheng and her black dragon were still hovering in mid-air, and Li Mingxing had been constantly terrified that the dragon would spot them, utterly ruining the entire plan.

Now that the Sea Thunder Dragon had retreated, Li Mingxing felt half of his burden lift. Although he remained unsure of how much time he had left, he trusted that the remaining window would be sufficient to set up all the necessary traps.

Busy work filled the hours until around midday, when Li Mingxing once again perceived the faint pressure of the Sea Thunder Dragon's majesty. The dragon was still suppressing its aura slightly, waiting for the birds to soar overhead.

Yet, after waiting for over an hour without sighting a single bird, the Sea Thunder Dragon grew impatient, and Li Mingxing could even sense turbulent, irritable ripples of energy radiating from the beast.

At that moment, Li Mingxing activated the ice mirrors of his Macro-Tactics and Equilibrium skills, calculating the impact that releasing the birds immediately versus waiting until late afternoon would have on the overall strategy.

A result materialized before Li Mingxing shortly after. Judging by the Sea Thunder Dragon's current reactions, releasing the birds right away would increase his win rate by roughly three to five percent. Conversely, waiting until late afternoon, closer to nightfall, would boost the success rate to around fifteen percent, though it also carried a higher risk of alerting the dragon and prompting an immediate counter-attack.

Faced with these two outcomes, Li Mingxing hesitated for a moment before making his choice. With a turn of his head, he stirred the captive birds into a chaotic flurry, prompting Zheng to immediately take flight mounted on her black dragon.

By the time the majority of the birds flew across the airspace above the Sea Thunder Dragon's hiding spot, the creature realized something was amiss. The flight paths of these birds were far too erratic; even a fool could tell something was wrong. Li Mingxing had anticipated this and arranged for Zheng to trail closely behind the flock, making it appear as though the birds' previous disappearance and current chaos were entirely caused by her intrusion.

In order to protect its food source, the Sea Thunder Dragon would now be forced to chase off or kill Zheng. Consequently, even if the dragon chose not to consume those specific birds, it would have to leave its deep-sea territory and enter the shallows, allowing Li Mingxing and his team to engage the beast from a relatively safer vantage point.

Naturally, according to Li Mingxing's calculations, the Sea Thunder Dragon would not easily relinquish the geographical advantage of its home turf. Cautious by nature, it would not abandon its domain even when facing inferior foes. Therefore, Li Mingxing deduced that the dragon would merely swallow a few birds in passing, display its dominance over the hunting grounds before Zheng, flex its might, and consider the matter settled.

Ultimately, this deduction was based entirely on the psychological profile Li Mingxing had constructed for the Sea Thunder Dragon. Whether it would succeed depended entirely on how the creature behaved.

Subsequent events validated the accuracy of Li Mingxing's predictions. When the lurking Sea Thunder Dragon first saw the chaotic swarm of birds crossing above, it initially suspected a trap. However, upon spotting the female rider on her black dragon hunting down the birds in the sky, everything clicked into place. The rider on the black dragon was the very culprit responsible for making it miss a meal.

The Sea Thunder Dragon assessed Zheng's combat power at a glance. In its eyes, this Tier-2 female had merely come hunting in the wrong place, trespassing right into the dragon's backyard. The creature began weighing whether to simply drive her away or eliminate her entirely.

Yet, the rider in the sky seemed intent on wiping out the entire flock of birds. Instead of approaching the dragon's direct vicinity, she drove the flock back and forth, herding them toward a specific location.

After waiting underwater for a while longer, the Sea Thunder Dragon lost its patience. The young maiden refused to enter its attack range, and the number of birds in the sky was dwindling rapidly. If it did nothing, the girl would snatch away all its prey.

Driven by this thought, the Sea Thunder Dragon let out a deafening roar from the deep sea. A powerful wave of dragon pressure surged outward, instantly enveloping the entire marine territory.

Like a predator striking from the abyss, the dragon burst forth from the deep water, swallowed a large portion of the flock in a single gulp, and roared furiously toward Zheng in an apparent attempt to frighten her away.

Faced with this display of dominance, Zheng appeared genuinely startled. Yanking the reins of her mount, her black dragon soared high into the upper atmosphere, seemingly desperate to evade the devastating attack.

Seeing her flee, the flightless Sea Thunder Dragon had no intention of pursuing further. It simply bellowed a few more times at the sky before plunging back beneath the waves.

This time, however, it did not immediately submerge to the sea floor. Instead, it kept its head above the surface, scanning the skies as if guarding against any return attempt to poach its food.

After waiting briefly and seeing no sign of Zheng, just as the dragon began to assume she had flown far away, it caught sight of her silhouette reappearing more than seven hundred meters high in the air, seemingly looking for another opening to seize the birds.

Enraged by the sight, the Sea Thunder Dragon roared once more and began swimming toward the shallows. Although the shallow zone was less than a hundred meters deep, the dragon's compact size allowed it to unleash its full combat prowess even in shallower waters.

Just as Li Mingxing anticipated the dragon reaching the shallows, the beast abruptly spun around and headed back toward the deep-water zone. Whether this was a deliberate feint or a manifestation of its innate caution to test the rider's movements remained unclear.

Just as a hint of disappointment crept into Li Mingxing's mind, a rapid succession of muffled explosions erupted from deep within the Sea Thunder Dragon's abdomen. The dragon instinctively threw open its jaws, and a torrent of fresh blood instantly dyed the surrounding waters crimson.