Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes

"Huh, why's the sky so gloomy?"

That morning, while Medivh stood atop the watchtower overlooking the construction of the Armory Camp, he suddenly noticed the distant sky turning gloomy.

The unusual change in the weather caught his attention.

There wasn't a strong wind today. Couldn't be a sandstorm.

"Lord Medivh, the Mosquito Plague has begun!"

Medivh knew little about the situation in the Odyssey Region, so he called Suixiang over to ask her.

Suixiang peered into the distance, her expression turning grave. The gloomy sky wasn't caused by a change in the weather—it was a sign that Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes were gathering.

Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes were giant mosquitoes with the bloodline of magic beasts. They had sharp proboscises and razor-sharp claws.

When a swarm of Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes flew past, they could suck a person dry and leave behind a shriveled corpse in an instant.

Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes usually bred in a swamp north of Odyssey.

Once their population reached a certain level, they gathered into swarms, flew out of the swamp, and swept across Odyssey.

Faced with a swarm of Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes, thugs, aliens, and ordinary creatures were all treated equally. Once targeted, they had little chance of survival.

The Mosquito Plague was a disaster passed down by word of mouth throughout the Odyssey Region.

After every Mosquito Plague, the number of living creatures in the Odyssey Region plummeted.

The loss of members from each group and the scarcity of prey made the situation in the Odyssey Region even more tense.

The situation in the Odyssey Region was unstable, and there was no reliable source of food.

The Mosquito Plague was followed by famine. Thug gangs and alien groups grew even more desperate over every scrap of food.

Suixiang had lived through a Mosquito Plague when she was young. She remembered the cat-people hiding in underground tunnels to escape it.

When the plague was over and she emerged from the tunnels, she saw one terrifying, emaciated corpse after another.

Among those remains were cat-people who hadn't managed to escape in time, as well as livestock raised by the cat-people tribe.

The sight of those horrifying remains had left a deep impression on her. For a long time, it had been the source of nightmares for the children of her generation.

She remembered that after the plague, food had been scarce in the tribe, and the hunters who ventured out rarely returned with any prey.

And it wasn't just food that was scarce. The tribe was often attacked by starving human thugs and aliens.

When you were starving, anything could be food.

Tribespeople who went hunting often disappeared, becoming meals for other starving creatures.

Suixiang's parents had died protecting the tribe during the great famine.

"Interesting."

After learning about the Mosquito Plague, Medivh wasn't the least bit worried.

The Armory Camp was mostly populated by skeletons, so it had nothing to fear from mosquitoes that fed on blood. They had nowhere to bite.

When the swarm attacked, Medivh and the others only needed to take shelter in the Underground Warehouse under construction in the Castle District.

"Lord Medivh, it's time to stock up on food!"

Not long after the gray haze appeared, the distant sky turned yellow.

This time, it really was sand. The fleeing herds of beasts had stirred up a sandstorm.

Suixiang reminded Medivh that they could hunt the fleeing beasts to their hearts' content and stock up on food before the Mosquito Plague arrived.

After the plague, prey would be scarce. Without food stored up now, they would have a hard time during the famine.

"Of course."

Medivh nodded and ordered his Transcendental Skeletons to lead the hunt for the fleeing beasts.

From high above, carnivores and herbivores alike could be seen fleeing in an unlikely show of harmony.

Those that ran too slowly were swallowed by the gray haze and became food for the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm.

There were even quite a few magic beasts among the fleeing herds. Most low-tier magic beasts couldn't withstand the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm.

All things had their natural predators, and when the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm swept across the land, there were creatures that hunted them too.

In the sky, flocks of Colorful-Feathered Birds repeatedly dived at the swarm to prey on the mosquitoes.

On the ground, armored beasts swept their long tongues through the air, snatching up Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes as they flew past.

The Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes could do nothing against beasts covered in layers of armor.

On the water, fish leaped out now and then or spat water cannons to hunt the mosquitoes.

These creatures all played a part in maintaining the balance, helping to limit the spread of the Mosquito Plague.

Once the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm dwindled to a certain size, the mosquitoes would return to their birthplace to breed, and the plague would end.

The outbreak of the Mosquito Plague didn't affect the Armory Camp.

Medivh continued making skeletons as usual. The Common Skeletons either built walls in the Wall District or constructed multistory underground warehouses in the Castle District.

The Transcendental Skeletons led the combat-ready Green Bone Skeletons on patrol around the camp or hunted the fleeing beasts in the wilderness.

Not every beast was killed. When the skeletons encountered herbivores they could tame, they captured them alive and brought them back to the camp to raise.

Medivh had plans for agriculture and animal husbandry. It was time to start making preparations.

Magic beasts were intelligent enough to seek safety and avoid danger. They had probably sensed the Transcendental Skeletons hunting in the wilderness, because not a single magic beast passed near the Armory Camp.

The great hunt lasted five days. The yellow clouds moved off, and the gray haze arrived right behind them. The Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm was here.

Medivh, Audrey, and the Alien Maids had retreated to the Underground Fortress well in advance. They weren't going to gamble with their lives.

The ground of the Armory Camp was covered with skeletons. Just as Medivh had expected, the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes had nowhere to bite.

Under Medivh's orders, the skeletons at the Armory Camp hunted the mosquitoes in all sorts of ways.

Large numbers of Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes were killed, and the swarm had gained a new natural enemy.

Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes had the bloodline of magic beasts. Their blood, and the refined essence extracted from it, were just as beneficial to the growth of Time Skeletons as Cold-Horned Deer blood.

Once the skeletons discovered this, they hunted the mosquitoes even more frantically.

To lure the mosquitoes into stopping, the skeletons often brought out huge barrels of blood to trap them.

"Moo..."

Magic beasts knew how to seek safety and avoid danger. When they realized the Armory Camp was home to a natural enemy of the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes, a herd of bovine magic beasts being hunted by the swarm approached.

They wanted to rely on the Armory Camp's strength to survive.

It was a group of magic beasts. Like the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm, most were merely beasts with magic-beast bloodlines. Only a few were first-tier magic beasts.

With magic-beast-level Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes leading the hunt, the group was on the verge of collapse.

"If you don't want to die, do as you're told!"

Medivh understood sustainable development. He intended to raise the group of magic beasts and obtain a steady supply of magic beast blood.

He had Suixin use the Voice of the Soul to contact the herd's leader and offer it protection in exchange for certain conditions.

At first, the magic beast leader refused. So Medivh left them to be hunted by the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes.

"Moo..."

Faced with the threat of death, the magic beast leader eventually lowered its head and submitted, accepting Medivh's enslavement.

The contract was sealed. The Transcendental Skeletons and the other skeletons went to the group's aid.

The magic-beast-level Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes were no match for the Transcendental Skeletons. After several were killed, the rest scattered in a panic.

After seeing the Armory Camp's strength, the magic beast leader didn't dare to rebel. It obediently stayed in the designated area to recover.

Medivh was very hospitable. He had the skeletons bring fresh, delicious pasture grass to feed the exhausted herd.

After enslaving the group of magic beasts, the skeletons continued luring and trapping Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes around the Armory Camp, absorbing their blood to grow stronger.

Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes lived by sucking blood. Now they were having their blood sucked by skeletons—a curious cycle indeed.