“Ack! Egg barrage!” Yang Zhang quickly shielded his face with his arms. But it was to no avail because the hens barraged him from all directions.

“Vii!”

“Squeak, squeak!” Little Ivy curled inside Yang Zhang’s sleeve while Chestnut jumped inside the jacket to protect itself. 

“Ack! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” 

Of course, the egg barrage wasn’t painful, just stung a bit to his skin, but it didn’t give any particular damage to him.

But that didn't mean he was all safe. Because it seemed the rooster commander only used the egg barrage attack for one thing. 

After the egg barrage stopped, Yang Zhang’s body was all sticky wet, covered with egg yolk and smelled so bad. 

But that wasn’t the worst thing…

Yang Zhang clenched his fist again, trying to activate his newly-obtained ability, Dynamic Fire. 

But no matter how many times and how strong he clenched his fist, the fire only sparked before it died down, then he realized something, “Oh shit! My body is too wet to generate fire!” Yang Zhang tried to wipe his sticky wet fist with his undershirt. He was panicked as he could sense the gaze of the jungle fowls, ready to attack after another command.

But since it was egg yolk, it stuck with Yang Zhang no matter how many times he tried to wipe it. 

“W—Wait, wait, wait! This isn’t fair! I’m not prepared against this!” Yang Zhang panicked as he kept trying to clean himself first to generate fire again. 

The rooster commander showed a smug expression towards Yang Zhang and was ready to command. This time, it would absolutely decimate Yang Zhang. 

“Arghhh, damn it!” Yang Zhang panicked as he looked around. The jungle fowls were all ready to lunge at him again. 

Yang Zhang quickly thought of an idea to save his damn life. Since there was no way out except facing the rooster commander, it might be his end. 

Until…

Yang Zhang observed how the rooster commander puffed up his chest again, ready to give another order. He observed how the jungle fowls wouldn’t move unless that rooster commander ordered. 

“Ah! I got it!” Yang Zhang suddenly found a great idea that he should’ve done in the first place. “Little Ivy, give me your vine!”

“Vii!”

Little Ivy stretched one vine for Yang Zhang to hold on tightly. He carefully watched how the rooster commander opened his beak.

“COCK-A-DOODLE—“

“Now, Ivy! Aim for the neck!” Yang Zhang threw the vine towards the rooster commander. Little Ivy quickly coiled around the rooster commander’s neck, choking him.

“COCK-A-DOODLE—OCK“

Yang Zhang quickly tightened his grip on the vine and made a circular movement upward, imitating a cowboy lasso.

“I GOT YOUR LEADER. STAY BACK!” Yang Zhang warned, and the jungle fowls distanced themselves obediently, afraid that something might happen to their commander. 

“LEAVE NOW, OR I WILL KILL YOUR LEADER!” Yang Zhang yelled out loud, hoping that it was enough to intimidate the jungle fowls. 

But they didn't leave their spot. The jungle fowls kept their safe distance but were still ready to attack if given any chance. 

Yang Zhang then realized that he couldn’t kill the rooster commander because he was afraid the commander’s death would make them go absolutely crazy and kill Yang Zhang as an act of revenge. 

‘Alright, since I can’t intimidate them. It’s best to get rid of the source first, far, far away from me,’ Yang Zhang thought. 

Yang Zhang swung the rooster commander round and round and yelled, “CATCH THIS THEN! HYAAAT!”

Yang Zhang extorted all of his strength to give one last swing, and he yelled, “Ivy, release!”

“Vii!”

Little Ivy released the vine coiling on the rooster commander’s neck right when Yang Zhang flung the rooster away from him. The flung was so powerful that the rooster commander was nowhere to be seen after he got flung away. 

Yang Zhang looked around at the confused rooster and hens, “What? You guys are going to stand here? Go search for your leader!”

The jungle fowls looked at each other and then abandoned their mission instantly, walking away, searching for their boss again. “Cluck, cluck, cluck….”

Yang Zhang stood on his ground for a good while until all the jungle fowls left him alone. Then he just collapsed on the ground, exhausted after using too much of his strength. 

“Huff… huff… huff….” Yang Zhang looked up to the branches and leaves that covered the sky. He patted Little Ivy and Chestnut inside his jacket, “Okay, guys, you can get out now, it’ll be alright—urk!”

Yang Zhang suddenly felt so nauseous. He felt the Mana bead inside his gut rise up to his chest and then his throat. He checked his neck and felt the Mana bead stuck there.

“Urck—Ack—ACK!” Yang Zhang got up and tried to puke his gut out because he was choking on the Mana bead. 

“Squeak! Squeak!”

“Vii!”

Little Ivy gave out a hand by slapping Yang Zhang’s back until Yang Zhang vomited the Mana bead. Yang Zhang slumped on the ground after vomiting the Mana bead because it drained all of his strength instantly. 

“Urgh, it tastes horrible….”

He stared at the Mana bead on the ground. It still had the same shape with no defect, but it was covered with his gross saliva, another disgusting thing from his vomit. 

“I got to wash this and find an animal to use it,” Yang Zhang said to himself.

But before he could pick the Mana bead up, a small chick from the horde of jungle fowl from before suddenly approached him.

“Chirp, chirp!” 

“Eh?! Why are you here?!” Yang Zhang looked around to check whether the jungle fowls had returned to attack him again. But it seemed this little chick was all alone. 

The chick walked towards the Mana bead, stared at Yang Zhang for a second before it started pecking the Mana bead!