After a little over an hour, the four arrived at White Creek Village.
They got off at the bus stop near the village committee office and were soon received by the committee staff.
Although none of them were professional Beast Tamers, White Creek Village warmly welcomed anyone who could help clear out the Earth-Burrowing Rats.
Pressed for time, the four skipped the pleasantries and headed straight for the worst-infested areas: the farmland and the woods.
Faced with the endless farmland and woods, Shi Yu and the others fell silent for a moment.
Where were they supposed to start catching them?
In fact, the less intelligent and weaker Earth-Burrowing Rats had already been wiped out by the farmers' pesticides and the dogs and cats they kept.
So the ones they had to clear out were relatively cunning Earth-Burrowing Rats with higher growth levels.
These Earth-Burrowing Rats moved in strange and unpredictable ways, were good at hiding, and were strong in combat. They were very difficult to eliminate.
"Let's summon our pet beasts first," Shi Yu suggested.
In such a complicated environment, Eleven's Super Vision was just the thing for locating the Earth-Burrowing Rats.
"Okay."
As soon as Shi Yu spoke, the four connected to their Beast Taming Spaces and summoned their pet beasts.
Iron-Eating Beasts appeared in front of Shi Yu and Zhuang Yue, Chen Kai's Ice Armor Beast appeared in front of him, and a snakelike thorny vine appeared in front of the other girl, Yu Jingjing.
As soon as they finished summoning their pet beasts, Eleven caught Zhuang Yue's eye.
She had only seen him from a distance yesterday and hadn't noticed anything, but now that she had a close look, she realized that Shi Yu's Iron-Eating Beast had developed practically perfectly. His fur color and physique both looked exceptionally healthy.
"Expert, did you get your Iron-Eating Beast from the Iron Bamboo Breeding Base too?"
"Mm." Shi Yu nodded.
The Iron-Eating Beasts in all of Icefield City were probably bred at the Iron Bamboo Breeding Base... including Zhuang Yue's.
However, Zhuang Yue's Iron-Eating Beast was noticeably a size bigger than Shi Yu's and a little older. The two Iron-Eating Beasts probably weren't from the same batch of cubs.
Since they weren't from the same batch, the two Iron-Eating Beasts didn't seem to know each other. Eleven glanced at the other beast, then quickly looked away.
Chen Kai's Ice Armor Beast, on the other hand, watched Eleven warily the entire time, its body on the verge of melting.
"W-wait."
"Expert, are you an apprentice at the Bamboo Stone Dojo?" Zhuang Yue suddenly thought of something.
Shi Yu was so formidable that this seemed to be the only explanation.
"No..."
Shi Yu shook his head.
The Bamboo Stone Dojo and the Iron Bamboo Breeding Base belonged to the same family.
The owner of the dojo and the owner of the breeding base were one and the same.
The Iron Bamboo Breeding Base bred Iron-Eating Beasts, while the Bamboo Stone Dojo was a place specifically for training Beast Tamers who had contracted Iron-Eating Beasts.
The current master of the Bamboo Stone Dojo was a Master Level Beast Tamer who specialized in raising Iron-Eating Beasts.
His Iron-Eating Beast had mastered not only Hardening, but also the power of lightning and fire. He had a very special method of raising it.
In Icefield City, if anyone asked who knew the most about raising Iron-Eating Beasts, Beast Tamers would certainly point to the Beast Tamers of the Bamboo Stone Dojo.
It was only natural for Zhuang Yue to suspect that Shi Yu was an apprentice at the Bamboo Stone Dojo. Even if Shi Yu claimed to be a direct disciple of the dojo, she would probably believe him.
Although Shi Yu had no connection to the Bamboo Stone Dojo now, sooner or later he would go and seek their guidance... well, learn from each other.
"He's not? I thought you had to be a direct disciple of the Bamboo Stone Dojo..." Zhuang Yue laughed.
"Among the Beast Tamers in Ping City right now, Dojo Master Lin is the strongest, isn't he?" Chen Kai said.
There were apprentice, professional, and master ranks, while the professional rank was further divided into junior, intermediate, and senior levels. The Bamboo Stone Dojo's Master Lin that Chen Kai spoke of was a Master Level Beast Tamer.
His strength was renowned even throughout Icefield City.
"I don't know if Dojo Master Lin is the strongest, but his daughter seems to be the youngest professional Beast Tamer in Ping City, doesn't she?" Yu Jingjing said.
"I think she passed the professional assessment when she was eighteen. Later, I heard she went to study at one of the nine great academies. She should have graduated by now... I wonder what level she's reached."
"Your information's out of date. Lin Xiuzhu chose to major in breeding, and she's already back in Ping City. She even helped me pick out this Iron-Eating Beast," Zhuang Yue said. "Sister Xiuzhu said she chose that major because she wanted to research whether Iron-Eating Beasts could evolve again. I wonder if she succeeded..."
"But I think it's still too difficult... Master Lin spent his whole life raising Iron-Eating Beasts and never found a way for them to evolve again. I guess this is as far as they can go."
"Besides, even if she did discover something, it would have nothing to do with us..."
The Iron-Eating Beast in front of Zhuang Yue dozed off, utterly content and at peace with the world.
"Let's stop chatting... I've found an Earth-Burrowing Rat," Shi Yu said.
While the others were chatting, Eleven had already used Super Vision to locate an Earth-Burrowing Rat.
He didn't care in the slightest whether he could evolve or not. Things were fine as they were.
After Eleven alerted him, Shi Yu followed his gaze.
In a corner of the farmland, a giant rat about thirty centimeters long, hairless and with a body that looked and felt like earth and stone, was stealthily picking red fruit.
"Over there."
Shi Yu pointed, and the other three looked over as well.
"Judging by its size, it's probably around level four. It's alone too, so it's not much of a threat. The hard part is killing it before it realizes what's happening and uses Earth Escape to flee!" Chen Kai said.
"Books say Earth-Burrowing Rats are very alert. They're more sensitive to temperature than sound or light, so if an Iron-Eating Beast or an Ice Armor Beast gets close, it'll probably notice their body heat..." Yu Jingjing said. "I'll have the Thorn Monster disguise itself as a plant and approach it first. Let's see if it can wrap the rat up directly."
"But I don't know if the Thorn Monster's thorns can affect its earthen-shell body. Follow up when the time comes."
The other three agreed to the plan. At Yu Jingjing's command, her Thorn Monster began disguising itself as a plant and slowly crawling across the ground.
The Thorn Monster really did look a great deal like a plant. After all, it was a plant life-form. The Earth-Burrowing Rat didn't notice a thing; in its eyes, this kind of plant was merely food.
The most skilled hunters often appeared in the guise of prey...
At the same time, Eleven and the Ice Armor Beast began preparing for the hunt.
Only Zhuang Yue's Iron-Eating Beast remained there, bewildered... He strained his eyes, ringed with black, and looked over. Where? Where is it? Where's the Earth-Burrowing Rat? Why can't I see it?
This was normal for an Iron-Eating Beast. After all, the Earth-Burrowing Rat's camouflage was too good.
Soon, the Thorn Monster reached the vicinity of the Earth-Burrowing Rat. It extended a thorny vine covered in sharp spikes and locked onto its target!
Whoosh!!!
The Thorn Monster unleashed a deadly entangling attack. However, none of the Earth-Burrowing Rats that had grown to level four in this environment were easy to deal with. At the critical moment, the rat sensed the danger and, startled, dropped the red fruit and ran-
Swoosh!
It turned and fled at great speed, successfully dodging the attack.
When Earth-Burrowing Rats came out to forage, they generally dug an escape hole beforehand rather than using Earth Escape on the spot.
Using Earth Escape on the spot wasn't actually very fast, and they could easily be caught. An emergency route was a better choice.
After its first strike missed, the Thorn Monster stopped sneaking around. More thorny vines grew from all over its body and flew toward the Earth-Burrowing Rat, restricting its movements and speed.
At the same time, Eleven and the Ice Armor Beast had already burst out at full speed.
"Run? Can you get away?"
Chen Kai shouted. The Ice Armor Beast was also an expert digger; given time, it could even bore through an iceberg.
Even if the Earth-Burrowing Rat managed to escape underground, catching it would not be impossible.
Of course, the best outcome would be to finish off the Earth-Burrowing Rat before it reached the hole.
But... the Ice Armor Beast was still a step too slow.
The Earth-Burrowing Rat successfully reached the entrance to its hole.
Just as the Earth-Burrowing Rat was wild with joy and about to dive in, Eleven arrived, his explosive speed far greater than the Ice Armor Beast's.
In their previous battle, Eleven had defeated the Ice Armor Beast in an instant without moving from his spot, but that didn't mean his explosive speed was inferior to the Ice Armor Beast's...
Boom!
Once Eleven started running, he quickly overtook the Ice Armor Beast and caught up with the Earth-Burrowing Rat. He leaped into the air and slammed a hardened palm directly onto the entrance the rat was about to enter.
As though a massive piece of steel had fallen from the sky, a tremendous impact kicked up a cloud of dust, and Eleven smashed a huge crater straight into the ground.
With Super Vision combined with his explosive power, he felt considerably more agile than he had yesterday. Having spotted the hole before both the Thorn Monster and the Ice Armor Beast, Eleven looked proud.
The Earth-Burrowing Rat stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded. Where's my home?
"Aaaaaahhh-----!" It was quickly wrapped up by the Thorn Monster.
But everyone's attention was now on the huge crater beside Eleven.
What kind of strength is that... It's like something falling from high in the sky. The other three felt their scalps tingle as they looked at the chubby little Iron-Eating Beast cub. With him around, could they just go looking for trouble with whole groups of Earth-Burrowing Rats?