Close Combat Mage

Chapter 350 – Difficult Transaction Pt. 1

In response to Suo Jia’s words, Xiang Yun nodded, “That’s right, those killer bees indeed have the ability to kill that black shadow. However, despite this being the case, the black shadow still couldn’t resist the temptation of the honey, and resolutely acted anyways. In addition, I personally witnessed it doing this more than once! It continued until it was stung to death!”

“Heavens!” Suo Jia stared at Xiang Yun in shock and disbelief. “Don’t tell me that creature was a bear?! How could such a big thing love eating honey to that extent?”

“Haha…” Xiang Yun smiled at Suo Jia and confirmed, “I know it’s hard to believe, but please trust me. This is definitely the truth. Bears love honey more than their own lives. As long as honey is present, they won’t pay any mind to injuries or even their own lives!”

Without saying anything more, Suo Jia immediately turned around and said to the Diamond Dragon, “Quick, immediately change into your combat state. We have something to do!”

Seeing Suo Jia’s fired up state, Xiang Yun, Roger, and Nicole couldn’t help but furrow their brows. Just then, Suo Jia quickly turned around and shouted, “And you guys, what are you still all standing there blankly for? Hurry up and get on the road, we need to ship honey over!”

Although they didn’t know what Suo Jia wanted to do, the other three knew that Suo Jia wasn’t the type that would abuse his privileges as captain for his own benefit without caring about others. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have let everyone move around freely. With three more companions, any journey became safer, and the ability to ship items around would be boosted many fold!

After a journey of frenzied fighting, finally…Suo Jia’s party returned to Icebound City. They then headed west, rushing over to Telei City. The reason this was their destination was because it was the city of flowers, the source of honey production.

The busy journey passed without incident. Half a month later, Suo Jia’s party rushed back to the entrance of Icebound Valley while carrying 1000 large barrels of honey. The reason they’d chosen large barrels was because the Giant Icebear King was just too large; it wouldn’t be able to taste anything from small barrels.

With Suo Jia’s help, the Diamond Dragon struggled to drag a bag behind it as it flew over towards Icebound Valley. It wasn’t that Suo Jia didn’t want to give it a large barrel to bring over, but that the Diamond Dragon’s flying ability was still too weak. There was no way it could move around such a heavy barrel of honey.

In its combat state, the Diamond Dragon could only glide across a distance of 100-200 meters, so it could only fly in its normal state. In such a condition, the Diamond Dragon could only carry around 15kg. If it tried anything heavier, it wouldn’t be able to fly as proficiently, nor as far.

With its talons tightly gripping the bag full of honey, the Diamond Dragon diligently flew in front of the Giant Icebear King. At nearly the same time, the Giant Icebear King opened its eyes curiously to survey the little pet, confused as to why it had once again come to disturb it.

“Plop…” The instant it reached the Giant Icebear King, the Diamond Dragon’s energy had finally been exhausted, its claws unable to hold the bag up any longer. With a dull thud, the bag immediately fell to the ground and split open. The thick honey rapidly flowed outwards, immediately releasing a strong scent of nectar.

When it detected this fatal scent, the Giant Icebear King’s eyes suddenly opened very wide. It lightly sniffed its nose, and, upon smelling this aroma that could even shake one’s soul, the Giant Icebear King’s eyes instantly turned crimson!

Once it saw the thick honey flowing in all directions, the Giant Icebear King couldn’t resist any longer. It swiftly stuck its large tongue out and licked hard at the ground. Immediately…the faint, but fragrant, sweetness made it moan as it enjoyed the saccharine taste that quickly traveled from its tongue to its head…

The sensation the bear experienced from eating the honey was something that others couldn’t possibly guess. Any bear that had tasted honey before would be unable to resist the temptation ever again. Even if they had to sacrifice their life as payment, they couldn’t ignore any honey before them. The Giant Icebear King wasn’t even afraid of it being poisonous, because honey was just more important than poison!

The Giant Icebear King closed its eyes, its entire body trembling. Although the scent was faint, the memory and desire coming from deep in its soul made the taste impossible to forget. Having experienced such a wonderful taste before, the Giant Icebear King’s longing for honey couldn’t recede; rather, it increased by tenfold, and even a hundredfold!

With a fierce roar, the Giant Icebear King was finally unable to stay sprawled across the ground. It impatiently stood up, and gestured excitedly at the little pet. Unfortunately, it still didn’t understand the little dragon’s movements, nor could the little dragon understand the Giant Icebear King’s movements.

After contemplating this issue for a long time, the Diamond Dragon decided to interpret it as this large creature definitely still wanting to eat honey, and was currently asking it to go back and grab more. With this, the Diamond Dragon nodded, and rose into the air again to fly out of the valley.

To the Giant Icebear King, the Diamond Dragon was the only life form that could provide it honey. Thus, in the Giant Icebear King’s mind, the Diamond Dragon was equivalent to honey itself. How could it bear to watch its honey run away? It immediately stooped down, its four limbs racing across the ground as it chased after the Diamond Dragon. There was absolutely no way it would let its honey escape!

Seeing the Giant Icebear King suddenly race out furiously, the other Giant Icebears automatically moved apart to open up a path. Any that moved late were inevitably sent flying out dozens of meters upon impact with the Giant Icebear King’s charge.

Icebound Valley wasn’t particularly large or small. It was at least several dozens of kilometers deep, but…with the Giant Icebear King’s and the Diamond Dragon’s speeds, this minor distance could be covered in a matter of ten minutes.

Finally…with the Diamond Dragon in front and the Giant Icebear King behind, the two bodies–one large, and one small–came plowing out of the valley one after another. Upon seeing how the Giant Icebear King was clearly over two times an average Giant Icebear’s size, Suo Jia’s heart couldn’t help but begin to race. ****….this creature was undoubtedly the King of the Giant Icebears!

Suo Jia urgently ordered the little pet to stop. He didn’t dare to let the Diamond Dragon bring that huge creature over before clarifying its intentions. Once it was within a perimeter of one hundred meters, it was equivalent to just handing his measly life over to the Giant Icebear King’s hands; the range of trampling attack had a circumference of 100 meters!

Suo Jia swiftly pulled out a large barrel of honey and placed it on the ground, before he and the others quickly retreated to a distance over 200 meters away. Only then did Suo Jia command the Diamond Dragon to lead the Giant Icebear King over.

The dragon lightly landed on top of the giant barrel and gestured at the Giant Icebear King. However…although the barrel was lidded, there was still some honey stuck on the edges of the wooden barrel. After smelling this kind of aroma, the Giant Icebear King couldn’t possibly pay any mind to the Diamond Dragon. It abruptly leapt over and swallowed all the contents in the giant barrel of honey in a single gulp. If the Diamond Dragon hadn’t dodged in a flash, it definitely would’ve been swallowed up as well.

Although the Giant Icebear King had a very large body, the volume of the honey barrel wasn’t small either, nearing the size of a public trash can–the amount was equivalent to a person downing a keg of beer!

“Bang!” With a dull thud, the Giant Icebear King broke the wooden barrel with a single chomp. Immediately…the honey came rushing out like a tide, filling the Giant Icebear King’s mouth. It was incomparably sweet, and that extremely thick and sugary honey stuck onto its tongue and between its teeth. This kind of taste was one that even gods would never trade away.

The most important thing to a magical beast was food; they regarded food as being above everything else. Things like territory and mates came after. For the sake of food, they could easily throw away their own territory and leave their partners. Food was their entire world.

Really, even humans were the same in that respect, especially young children. They would do anything for a mouthful of good food, and favor whoever gave them tastier food. Although this wasn’t universal, it was the case most of the time.

After consuming that huge barrel of honey, the Giant Icebear King was like a human that had drunk a large cup of honey. With so much honey, its craving had been temporarily satisfied. It glanced at Suo Jia’s party, but didn’t seem to dare to get very far from the entrance of the valley. Its large body swayed a few times before it began to walk back towards Icebound Valley.

Suo Jia frowned in concern and asked Xiang Yun, “Is there really no problem with this? Will the Giant Icebear King really come looking for more honey to eat later, as you said?”

“Hehe…” With a smug smile, Xiang Yun replied, “Bears that haven’t eaten honey before would definitely have some sort of resistance against it. But bears that have tried it will definitely love the honey as much as their own lives. Don’t worry, after getting a taste of the honey, that thing’s resistance to honey will definitely get lower and lower. By the very end, it might even be willing to exchange its life for honey!”

“Mhmmmm….” In profound agreement, Roger nodded and praised, “That’s right, children wouldn’t be lustful because they’ve never experienced women before. Only after trying it would they stake even their lives to do a woman…”

“Shut up!” Nicole angrily shouted, her face automatically flushing bright red.

Suo Jia paused for a moment, blankly looking at Roger, and then back at Nicole. The next moment, Suo Jia couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Although Roger’s example had been inappropriate, it was an extremely close analogy. Indeed…only after having a taste would something become more enticing. But, were women really that amazing?

Suo Jia’s party set up tents, and, every day….Suo Jia would place a barrel of honey there, and the Giant Icebear King would come out every day to eat it. After a week, when the Giant Icebear King had appeared while drooling as per usual, it was shocked to discover that there was no more honey!