Chapter 155: The Lion and the Rabbit

The Cream Ridge was actually more accurately called the Cream Mountain Range. After leaving the Candy Forest, they entered the territory of the Cream Ridge.

Once they arrived, Liu Zong and his companions finally understood why the Tin Man had said it was impossible to walk in from the front. The Cream Ridge looked tall and imposing, but it was actually made entirely of cream. Walking at the foot of the mountain was fine—at worst, each step would sink in a little—but trying to climb to the top would be ten to one like walking into a swamp, causing one to sink straight down.

Liu Zong even wondered how this place had formed in the first place. It would make more sense if this were a cream swamp; for a mountain this tall to be made entirely of cream was simply outrageous.

After detouring around the Cream Ridge for the better part of the day, they finally arrived at the back of the mountain range. Here, the Cream Ridge finally looked like a proper ridge, and the ground was no longer the kind of cream path where a single step would sink half a leg deep.

Liu Zong noticed a large quantity of broken eggshells scattered on the ground, along with some spilled egg yolks.

Seeing this, Liu Zong's expression turned serious. He had no idea what was going on with these eggshell fragments—were they untransported eggs, or creatures that lived within the Cream Ridge?

Just as Liu Zong was feeling puzzled, a roar came from behind them. The sound was loud, but lacked any real momentum, sounding instead somewhat trembling and timid.

Liu Zong turned in the direction of the sound and discovered a giant egg standing on the cream not far away. Painted on the egg was what looked like a fierce lion's head.

"So this is an Eggshell Lion? Why does it look so unreliable?" Looking at the giant egg standing one and a half meters tall, Liu Zong could not help but remark.

Just as Liu Zong was speaking, the giant egg slid straight across the cream right up in front of them.

Looking at the Eggshell Lion, which had no hands, no feet, and not even any teeth, Liu Zong could not help asking, "Pardon me, do you have any combat capability?"

"How could I not? I am the most intelligent of all the guardians, and I am a mage. Do you even know what a mage is?" The Eggshell Lion was quite dissatisfied with Liu Zong's doubt.

With that, the Eggshell Lion purposely turned around so that Liu Zong and the others could see the various magical patterns painted on its back. However, even with Liu Zong's less-than-professional knowledge, he could tell that these magical patterns were poorly drawn, their power was likely quite limited, and sometimes they might even cause magical chaos.

Still, since the Eggshell Lion claimed this, Liu Zong did not press the matter further. He explained the purpose of his visit and then asked, "Who is the enemy on this side?"

"It's a rabbit," the Eggshell Lion said speechlessly. "It's giving me such a headache. For over ten days straight, the beast eggs we produce haven't been able to be shipped out. This incident is quite severe. Let me tell you, it was defeated by me before, and now... again..."

Regarding this rabbit, the Eggshell Lion rambled on and on for ages, yet other than knowing their opponent was a rabbit, Liu Zong learned absolutely nothing else.

Eventually, Liu Zong had to interrupt the Eggshell Lion and asked directly, "Where should we go to find this rabbit?"

"Oh, you mean that rabbit? Let me tell you, it usually stays outside the valley where we store our eggs. Whenever we want to send the eggs out, it will... again... like this..."

Another long stretch of time passed. All Liu Zong gathered was that the rabbit frequented the vicinity of the valley where the Eggshell Lion and the others hid their eggs. As for where the hidden egg valley actually was, Liu Zong had no clue at all.

After that, Liu Zong had nothing left to ask. He realized that no matter how much more he questioned it, he wouldn't get any useful answers out of it.

Fortunately, at that moment, the Cream Ridge's once-a-day egg-laying time had arrived. Liu Zong and the others watched as a large number of eggs, just like the Eggshell Lion, were spewed out from beneath the cream, sliding directly across its surface.

Most of the eggs were no different from ordinary eggs, except that a few had the likenesses of beasts painted on them.

Led by these beast-painted eggs, all the eggs quickly fell into a single file and slid toward a certain location.

Only then did Liu Zong understand why this entire mountain range was made of cream. If this place weren't cream, these eggs would have been smashed to pieces the moment they were spewed out.

Liu Zong thought for a moment, bid farewell to the Eggshell Lion, and followed the procession of eggs toward one side of the Cream Ridge. However, his movement speed could not keep up with the eggs at all. As he watched the eggs get further and further away, the Eggshell Lion was still standing behind him, babbling away with various explanations.

At that moment, Liu Zong suddenly felt a tremor through the ground. He looked up in that direction and saw a dark shadow descending from the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground.

The Eggshell Lion reacted much faster than Liu Zong, roaring loudly, "That rabbit has appeared again! Everyone get ready, protect the little eggs so they can safely enter the valley!"

With that, the Eggshell Lion forcefully erected a blue defensive barrier and slid straight into the middle of the egg procession.

Liu Zong exchanged a glance with Bai Qi, then gripped his spear and ran toward the spot where the dark shadow had landed.

However, the layer of cream all over the ground prevented Liu Zong from picking up speed, and by the time he reached the landing site, the dark shadow had already leaped far away.

Indeed, the action of that dark shadow descending from the sky and crashing heavily was none other than a leaping landing.

When Liu Zong and his group arrived, all they saw were several huge craters and a large number of shattered eggs. The Eggshell Lion was looking at the scene with a depressed expression, muttering bitterly, "Half the eggs are lost again, that damn rabbit."

Yet, having the Eggshell Lion around turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Liu Zong—at the very least, it talked a little less now. Through its endless nagging, Liu Zong finally managed to glean some information about that rabbit.

That rabbit was supposedly transformed from a piece of chocolate candy near the Cream Ridge. For reasons unknown—whether due to mutation or something else—it hadn't transformed into the common Gummy Bear, but instead turned into a Chocolate Rabbit.

Of course, that was what the Eggshell Lion called it. The rabbit itself called itself the Grimace Rabbit. It was a natural nemesis to these eggs, and since it had nothing better to do, it loved to jump around, possessing the ability to descend from the sky and crush every single egg beneath it.

Over these past few days, countless eggs had been lost at the hands of the Grimace Rabbit. If Liu Zong and his group hadn't arrived, the Eggshell Lion might not have been able to gather enough eggs to send to the Candy House.

[Grimace Rabbit]
[Race: Candy Folk]
[Level: Lv1 (1-Star) BOSS Template]
[Attributes: Strength 5, Agility 11, Constitution 6, Spirit 6]
[Description: The Grimace Rabbit is a being that failed to transform into a Gummy Bear. This rabbit, transformed from chocolate, has found the meaning of its existence. Strength and leaping are its instincts, as well as its combat style, and its targets are those eggs.]