Volume 5: Protracted War Chapter 38: Bomber? Fighter?
Besides the pair of fiery red bone wings, Taotao also had a conical bone spur on his forehead that was more than one foot long and about four or five centimeters in diameter. It was neither black nor red, but crystal white. There seemed to be two rubies inlaid in his eye sockets, shining and emitting a faint red light. Taotao, who had evolved into a fire-winged ghost horse, looked even more powerful, but the combination of dark red, fiery red, and crystal white looked a bit weird, at least it looked a bit awkward to me.
The name and shape have changed a lot, which seems to indicate that the strength should also reach a new level. Don't be a show-off, after all, pets are for fighting, not for decoration. Fortunately, it is convenient to be able to fly, and it is not limited by the terrain. It is easy to fly over obstacles. The "Hell Volcano" that originally took a day to run, now it has flown out of the ground in less than an hour, and I don't need to wait too long. As the distance gradually approaches, it finally enters the effective range and can view Taotao's specific attribute information.
Type: Fire Wing Ghost Horse (amphibious on land and air), that is, it can fly in the sky and run on the ground. It is a dual-purpose land and air horse, and is the best means of transportation. Inherent attributes: Evolvable (three evolutions have been completed), rideable (unlimited on land, semi-restricted in flying), I have never heard of the terms "restricted" and "semi-restricted", and I don't understand the specific meaning for the time being. I can only wait until Taotao flies back and ride it to experience it myself before I can understand it. Skill "Flowing Fire Armor" - Produces a layer of flames on the surface of the body, with strong protective capabilities, and can also cause a certain degree of fire damage to the enemy it touches, with dual offensive and defensive functions, special effect: automatic recovery, once used, it requires continuous consumption of mental power, and can spontaneously recover from damage, and will not be destroyed by super-strong attacks. Skill "Piercing Horn" - Gather all the strength of the body and use the horn on the forehead to butt. Special effect: Ignore 30% of defense, add 30% additional physical damage and 30% fire damage. It sounds quite powerful, but it should be a close combat skill. It is not suitable for me, an undead wizard, to use it when riding. Skill "Fire Feather Flying" - A layer of feather-shaped flames is transformed on the surface of a pair of bone wings, and the fire feathers are sent out to attack the enemy. Special effect: automatic tracking attack, the fire feathers can automatically chase the target within a certain range. Skill "Fire Roar" - Open the mouth and spray a beam of fire to attack, special effect: ignore 30% fire damage immunity, and enhance 30% additional fire damage.
With both physical and magical attacks, and strengthened defense capabilities, it seems that Taotao's strength should have been greatly improved. I can't help but feel impatient. The Dragon Rider Wizard can't do it for the time being, so I'll first become a Pegasus Wizard, soaring in the sky, and using magic with Taotao to attack enemies on the ground, like a high-altitude bomber. Facing those melee professional players who don't have flying pets or long-range attack pets, I'm still firmly invincible. They can only sigh at the sky and passively take the beating. Such a result is simply too ideal and wonderful. It's worth my effort and risking my life to break into the "Hell Volcano" to win such an opportunity for Taotao to accelerate his growth and evolution.
Taotao finally appeared in my sight, flying towards me swiftly. Its dancing figure was so graceful that I looked forward to the happy time after becoming a Pegasus wizard. Watching it fly closer and land, I hurried forward, hugged its neck and gave it a warm hug to show my appreciation, and took the opportunity to cheer it up, striving to make persistent efforts and stride forward towards the ultimate evolution goal of the Hell Dragon.
I was not in a hurry to ride up and experience the thrill of flying. The time for resurrection was coming soon, and there was not much time left for today's online time limit. I didn't want to be forced to leave just after flying up. Instead of interrupting my interest and hanging there in a suspense, it would be better to save the most exciting content and wait for the next time to savor it carefully. Besides, I am not a professional knight and I don't have the skill of "riding". I suffered a lot in order to learn to ride a horse. I am afraid that it will take more effort to master the more difficult flying skills, which cannot be achieved in such a short time.
Moreover, facing the newly born Taotao, I should also test its combat effectiveness first to see if it meets my expectations. After all, this is the most important thing. However, this time I have no way to "test it myself" like I did with Wu Ma and experience its strength personally. Summoned creatures are different from pets. Their attacks can cause damage to their owners, but of course they can't kill them. No matter how fierce the attack is, it will at least leave a breath of air. Pets can't hurt their owners at all. If I want to test its strength, I can only let Taotao fight against other undead creatures.
The opponent is a terrifying giant bear knight. The order given to it is to go all out, and Taotao must demonstrate all its combat capabilities one by one and defeat the opponent cleanly and neatly. This is my most basic requirement for Taotao. If the seemingly mighty Fire-Winged Ghost Horse can't even beat a lowest-level terrifying knight, then there is really nothing to expect. What if it encounters a sixth or seventh-level magical pet that belongs to the flying type or can attack from a distance, with its such weak strength, what advantage can it gain?
After receiving the order to fight, Taotao took off and flew several circles around the terrifying giant bear knight at low altitude. It was agile, and its advance, retreat and turn were quite sensitive, which made me quite satisfied. Taotao obviously understood my intention and performed with some performance. On the one hand, it showed that it was confident in its own strength, and on the other hand, it showed that its IQ had improved and its communication and understanding ability had been further strengthened.
The first thing he performed was the "Flowing Fire Armor". The so-called flowing fire looked more like a layer of magma-like substance, flowing slowly on the body surface, about two or three inches thick. In order to demonstrate the ability of the armor, Taotao deliberately took a fierce blow from the Horror Giant Bear Knight. Although he was split open and retreated a few steps, Taotao did not suffer much damage. The cracked armor quickly recovered and reconnected automatically, but the bursting sparks damaged the Horror Giant Bear Knight's saber, blowing a small hole on the bone blade.
Then he demonstrated the "Piercing Horn". After several consecutive turns, the Horror Giant Bear Knight was spinning around. It was obvious that he could not keep up with Taotao's speed. He seized the opportunity and dived quickly. The skill was activated, and the sharp horn on his forehead flashed a faint white light. He slammed into the opponent's body, not only piercing through him, but the accompanying fire damage made the wound even bigger. Although the counterattack of the Horror Giant Bear Knight also hit Taotao, it seemed quite weak and just barely broke the defense of the "Flowing Fire Armor".
Next came the "Flying Fire Feathers", which quickly covered with a layer of feather-like flames. The fiery red bone wings became more and more dazzling. There were about four or five inches long fire feathers, with thirty or forty feathers on each wing. As the bone wings waved, they slowly drifted around, flying as lightly as catkins in a space of two or three meters around the body. Once a target entered this area, it would immediately track and attach to it, and explode and burn immediately upon contact, lasting different periods of time depending on the target's fire immunity attribute, and could burn for up to fifteen seconds, causing additional continuous damage effects.
The last skill, "Fire Roar", feels a bit like the dragon flame spewed out by the evil dragon in Western legends. It opens its mouth and quickly sprays out a beam of fire more than two meters long, which can cover a space of three or four square meters at its widest. Of course, the larger the attack area, the more mental power is consumed.
The combination of diverse attack skills and nimble movements, plus the fact that the Horror Giant Bear Knight can only fight in close combat and lacks the means to threaten Taotao, the fire-winged ghost horse, made this battle easier than I thought. It was one-sided from the start, with the Horror Giant Bear Knight being suppressed the entire time and unable to fight back. If Taotao exerted all his strength and fought the enemy seriously, I believe he could have eliminated his opponent relatively quickly.
Although the time for resurrection has come and there is no way to do further testing, but preliminary estimates show that Taotao alone has at least the strength of Red Star, which basically meets my requirements. But for some reason, I vaguely feel that something is wrong, as if I have overlooked something very important. Unfortunately, I was forcibly "kicked" out of the "Dead Soul Space" right after that. I have no time to think about it and have no clues. Maybe it's too sensitive. Let's talk about it when I go online again.
After logging into the game, I hurriedly came to the "Dead Space" and began to experience the dreamlike feeling of flying. I lifted my legs and stepped forward, gave the command to take off, and Taotao waved his bone wings, flying at a height of four or five meters above the ground. Maybe he was afraid that I would not be able to adapt and fall from above, so he did not dare to fly high. I couldn't help but secretly praise Taotao for his great progress, and he was so thoughtful without being told.
Fortunately, the actual flight was not as difficult as expected. Although in the air, sitting on the horse's back was quite stable. I tried many common movements, such as flying fast, flying backwards, and turning suddenly. I quickly adapted to them and the effect was quite good. It was just that the altitude was not high enough, so I couldn't experience more difficult flying movements. I patted Taotao's big head and said, "Come on, little guy, fly higher and try something more exciting."
After waiting for a while, I felt nothing happened. Could it be that Taotao was distracted and didn't hear me clearly? This was something I had never experienced before. I couldn't command my pet to do what I wanted. If it didn't obey my orders, it would cost lives in battle. What happened to it? I was a little dissatisfied. "Taotao, don't be distracted. Focus. Try harder and fly higher."
Taotao flapped his bone wings vigorously, speeding up the frequency, and moving forward a little faster, and the altitude also increased slightly. But when it reached a height of six or seven meters, it stopped flying, which made me hold my breath. "What's wrong with you? You're working but not putting in effort. You were flying happily alone just now, but why are you so lazy now that you're with me? Are you going on strike?"
"Master, it's not like that. How dare I disobey your order? It's mainly because I'm not capable enough. I can only fly this high with you on my back. There's really no other way." Taotao hurriedly explained to me.
It's really depressing. It's only this high above the ground. Can this be considered flying? Not to mention flying and long-range attack pets, even larger and stronger pets can threaten me as a Pegasus wizard. However, Taotao has just completed its evolution, so its strength is naturally weak. It's understandable that it can't carry me. Let it grow for a while, I believe it should be able to take me to fly higher.
But the next discovery was like a bolt from the blue, and I almost fainted. When I wanted to use my skills to practice fighting with Tao Tao, the system actually prompted that I was in a flying state and was restricted from using skills. What was going on? I tried them one by one, from the advanced "Ghost Fire" to the first-level "Fire Phosphorus Bomb", including several skills of the thief, they were all in a state of being prohibited from use, and even the artifact "Touch of Death" could not be activated. Oh my God, I was so sad that I wanted to cry but had no tears. Could this be the true meaning of the "half-restricted flight" attached to the "rideable" attribute - in a flying state, restricted from using skills? In this case, how can I, an undead wizard, ride on it to fight? Wouldn't I be a useless person?
I suddenly remembered that it was no wonder that I always felt something was wrong after watching Taotao show off its skills. It seemed that all the skills could not attack from a distance. "Flowing Fire Armor" and "Piercing Horn" were not to be mentioned. Even the two magics "Fire Feather Flying" and "Fire Roar" had to be close to a certain range to be used. The effective attack radius should be two or three meters. If it exceeds the range, it cannot attack. Flying was just a cover. The real fight against the enemy still had to be close combat. It was impossible to carry out long-range bombing as I imagined.
Disappointment, it was so disappointing. I thought it could be used as a high-altitude bomber, but who would have thought that the prototype was actually a close-combat fighter. I still had to take risks to deal with the enemy, and I couldn't gain much advantage. The continuous attacks made me lose interest for a while, and I couldn't help but fall to the ground and sulk.
Actually, to be honest, Taotao's strength is pretty good. Several of his skills are quite powerful and quite practical. Although he can't fly high, he can still fly four or five meters above the ground. His speed is much higher than before, and he is more convenient to use as a means of transportation. I really have no reason to be so upset, as if Taotao's strength is quite poor. It's mainly because the gap between imagination and reality is a bit big. The bomber has become a fighter, which is a bit difficult for me to accept. It seems that it's not easy to be a Pegasus wizard who is high above. I still have to stick to the underground struggle honestly.
