Gazing at the somewhat sacred golden egg at the bottom of the lake, Thorne suddenly realized that his Sinking Sand Army excelled in ground combat but sorely lacked beasts capable of aerial warfare.
When the Sinking Sand Army had tried to halt the fire crows' pursuit earlier, it had exposed their deficiencies in anti-air combat and defense.
"Maybe it's time to build my own aerial beast squadron."
The issue was that bird-type beasts were rare in the desert to begin with—even ordinary birds were seldom seen—so acquiring a large number of flying beasts posed a tricky challenge.
But spotting the egg that the demon dragon gecko had stolen gave Thorne an idea.
The southern fire crows were one of the few bird beast flocks in this desert. While capturing them directly wasn't feasible, it was currently their egg-laying season. He could send beasts to steal the eggs and bring them back for incubation.
With a whole lake of spiritual water at his disposal, the results might even surpass what the fire crows could achieve on their own.
With that in mind, Thorne immediately summoned Shelley. Tyron was already stationed with a detachment of the Sinking Sand Army at the position closest to the elven forest, keeping an eye on things there for Thorne, so the only stronger asset he had on hand was Shelley.
"My lord, you called for me?"
Shelley arrived at the lake's edge as soon as she heard Thorne's telepathic summons.
"Yeah, I've got a task for you today. I want to develop an aerial beast unit, and the southern fire crows are the best option. I'm sending you to steal their eggs."
Shelley looked a bit surprised at Thorne's words.
"Steal fire crow eggs? But my lord, if it's just me, I won't be able to grab that many."
"Don't worry—I'll assign you five hundred shadow leopards to go with you, plus a thousand red-flame wind-chaser horses for transport. Just steal as many eggs as you can in the shortest time possible, and beat a quick retreat if you're discovered."
Hearing Thorne's arrangements, Shelley still felt it was a bit off, but she had no grounds to refuse and could only agree for now.
"Plus, the demon dragon gecko will tag along. I figure it can draw plenty of fire crows away from their nests—you just seize the opportunity."
Shelley paused, not expecting Thorne to use the demon dragon gecko as bait. It had just stolen the fire crows' golden egg, prompting nearly the entire flock to chase it down. If it went back now, it might get pursued all over again.
She glanced at the demon dragon gecko, but it showed no resistance at all. After all, it had just triumphed over an encirclement of three or four fire crows and was still riding high, eager to go back for revenge and to show off a bit more.
Once the shadow leopards and red-flame wind-chaser horses were assembled, Shelley set off with the demon dragon gecko in tow, heading toward the fire crows' nest in a grand procession.
Before getting too close to the nest, Shelley led the shadow leopards and horses to quietly occupy a valley, leaving the horses there while she and the leopards sneaked up to the vicinity of the nest. Finally, the demon dragon gecko boldly flew into the open sky.
The fire crows' nest was built on a jagged cliff face, but since there were no high mountains in the desert, this cliff wasn't particularly treacherous.
Fire crows constantly flew in and out of the cliffside. It being egg-laying season, they were all busily foraging for food to feed the females incubating the eggs back at the nest.
With a teleport, the demon dragon gecko dismembered a fire crow that flew past it before it could dodge.
The other nearby fire crows spotted this and started chattering wildly. In an instant, the whole cliff erupted into chaos, filled with the cacophony of crow calls.
More fire crows kept attacking the demon dragon gecko, which nimbly dodged left and right, evading the flames spat at it.
The entire fire crow nest was gradually stirred into a frenzy by the demon dragon gecko. Almost all the crows flew out, densely filling the sky.
Seeing this formation, the demon dragon gecko thought it was even more intense than when it had stolen the egg that day.
It quickly chained several teleports, vanishing from the fire crows' sight, only to reappear on a distant sand dune.
Groups of fire crows spotted it and gave chase.
The demon dragon gecko flew forward for dear life, with some nearby Sinking Sand Army units on the ground providing cover and launching ranged attacks into the sky to slow the crows' advance. This allowed the gecko to narrowly escape encirclement several times.
Seeing the moment was ripe, Shelley immediately led the shadow leopards straight into the fire crow nest.
Before entering, Shelley pulled out a bottle of powdery substance. With a wave of her right hand, a gust of wind carried the powder into the nest. After waiting a few minutes, she and the leopards sprang into action.
Shelley headed straight for the largest nest on the cliff with the shadow leopards. The few remaining guard crows looked dazed and drunk, utterly powerless to stop her. The females incubating the flame eggs perched on the nest edges, glaring fiercely at Shelley but not lunging at her.
Shelley was fairly familiar with fire crow beasts and knew that during their spring egg-laying, the flock would select the highest-quality batch of eggs to incubate together, guarded by the strongest members. The ordinary eggs were left to regular crows.
This largest nest was undoubtedly where the flock kept their premium eggs for incubation.
As Shelley charged in, she was met by a fiercely burning fireball head-on. She snorted coldly, summoning a light shield that blocked the fire orb outside.
But that wasn't the end—several more massive fireballs followed, instantly raising the air temperature by dozens of degrees.
Shelley was prepared, unleashing wind blades that struck the fireballs, sending them flying back. The flames fueled by the wind burned even more intensely.
"You damned humans—what do you want with our fire crow clan?"
"A transcendent-tier beast, huh? Didn't see that coming."
Shelley had assumed the strongest in this flock were mortal-tier, not expecting a transcendent one. Now she was curious how the demon dragon gecko had stolen that golden egg and escaped—logically, if this transcendent beast had intervened, the gecko shouldn't have gotten away.
Shelley layered on a few more shields for herself before stepping inside.
Though her transcendent ninth-level strength meant she had little to fear from what seemed like a transcendent third- or fourth-level fire crow, caution was still wise.
Once inside the nest, she finally understood why this transcendent beast hadn't personally chased the demon dragon gecko earlier.
Beneath its body lay an identical golden egg.
And this fire crow was continuously channeling its spiritual energy into the egg.
"So this egg can't have its spiritual supply interrupted, or something bad would happen, right?"
Shelley said with a malicious grin, eyeing the transcendent fire crow.