Chapter 678: The awakening of the queen
Another five minutes pa.s.sed when the group of four humans and one mutant beast led by Bai Zemin suddenly found a wide-open s.p.a.ce before them. However, none of them had time to stop to appreciate what kind of place this was and the only thing they really had time to appreciate was that before they were enemies in large numbers and that it was also a damp place.
A particular weaver ant caught Bai Zemin"s attention, this ant was clearly different from the First Order soldier weaver ants and Uncla.s.sified workers. Its body, covered in a kind of dark red skin, was about five feet tall, the glint in its black eyes clearly showed the creature"s intelligence, and the two sickles protruding from the sides of its mouth were especially gloomy, moving in a continuous opening and closing motion.
When the red ant saw Bai Zemin and his group, instead of behaving like all the other weaver ants and trying to alert the entire colony using the group link they all shared with the queen, what it did was to rush forward.
"Second Order? Hmph!" Bai Zemin snorted as he saw the red shadow charging toward him with a movement speed of at least 300 points of Agility.
In the eyes of Bai Zemin, who all together with the treasures he had in his body possessed over 1000 points of Agility, the Second Order weaver ant was moving as slow as a snail. He even had time to activate Blood Manipulation and prevent the other weaver ants from alerting the colony at the same time as he shouted a simple but concise order.
"Kill all these G.o.dd.a.m.n ants!"
But Bai Zemin"s order was not necessary. He was not the only one who was furious with the weaver ants after finding the tiny bones belonging to infant lives.
The first to move was Feng Tian Wu, who after Bai Zemin had the highest level being currently a level 49 soul evolver on the verge of level 50 and getting her breakthrough quest.
She stomped hard on the ground she stood on and with her amber eyes focused on a group of over 10 First Order weaver ants she called out in a confident and powerful voice:
"Chains of Agni!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!....
In response to Feng Tian Wu"s call, a hundred chains broke from the ground like subway monsters. The chains were bright red in color and their temperature was so high that all the dampness in the place began to be swept away as soon as they made their appearance.
It was not difficult to notice that at the sudden appearance of the burning flames all the weaver ants became anxious as even the red ant charging toward Bai Zemin stopped for a moment before continuing its advance after identifying him as the most dangerous person among the human group.
Bai Zemin did not immediately strike with his greatsword and instead clenched his left fist. At the same time as he took a small step forward and punched using 70% of his total Strength, he imagined gloves similar to a dragon"s claws, and just as a golden flash gleamed on his hands his attack met head-on with the red colored weaver ant"s attack.
Boooooom!!!
Bai Zemin"s fist covered by a majestic-looking golden glove that he had transformed Annihilation of the Falling Sky into easily blocked the onslaught of the Second Order weaver ant, and after a powerful explosion, the creature"s body was sent flying backward.
Boom!!
The red-colored weaver ant destroyed several ball-like objects half a meter high and at least a meter in diameter after being sent flying by Bai Zemin"s punch before slamming hard into the stone wall hidden behind what appeared to be a huge white spider web.
"d.a.m.n, are all these stuff eggs?" Bai Zemin cursed as he looked at the not yet fully developed larvae that after losing the warmth of the eggs died on the spot.
The room was at least 500 meters long and about 1000 meters high but it was almost completely filled with those b.a.l.l.s and spider webs. It was then that Bai Zemin remembered the reason why the weaver ant was called the weaver ant.
"Hahahaha! Alright!" Bai Zemin laughed heartily and while pointing to the ceiling said with anger in his voice, "Since you slaughter the children of my human race, then I guess no one can complain if I do the same, right?!"
Surprisingly, the red-colored weaver ant had not died after taking Bai Zemin"s attack, and except for a crack in the sickle on the right side of its mouth, it seemed to be fine. When the red ant managed to crawl out of the wall where its body had been buried and saw the blue flame dancing on top of Bai Zemin"s golden dragon claw-like glove, its black eyes trembled and as if realizing something it tried to open its mouth and move its antennae to communicate with the rest of the colony, but to its horror, it found that it was not possible.
The red ant had lost certain abilities after Bai Zemin cunningly snuck his mana inside its body and with the use of Blood Manipulation prevented it from being able to move its antennae to send messages or open its mouth to screech!
"Burn!!!"
The words of Bai Zemin had just rang out when the Endless Lotus Blue Flame flew from his palm and after hovering 500 meters above the ground it began to glow brightly.
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+....
Hundreds and then thousands of bright blue fire arrows shot out from the blue fireball floating in the air and those fire arrows indiscriminately hit the webs covering the larvae eggs, as well as the eggs themselves. The bodies of the baby ants that were still in the process of development exploded and turned into a pile of mortal remains as they were engulfed by the blue flames that kept spreading throughout the room, living up to its name as an endless flame.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!....
"Such a beautiful fire..." Feng Tian Wu whispered with dreamy eyes as her pupils reflected the blue flames.
She was surrounded by chains of bright red fire and seemed to be quite adept at using them as she had currently already finished off the ten First Order weaver ants with the help of Zeng Yun and was currently about to help Meng Qi, Nangong Lingxin, and Little Snow, but she couldn"t help but pause to see what was going on as the room was dyed blue.
The Endless Lotus Blue Flame was one of the most eye-catching and beautiful flames of all due to its color and brightness, so it was only natural for Feng Tian Wu to be dazed at the sight of it considering that her cla.s.s was "Fire Wors.h.i.+pper".
Meng Qi, who under the protection of Nangong Lingxin and with Little Snow"s help was wreaking havoc among the 5000+ Uncla.s.sified weaver ants, paused as well.
She had not wanted to lose to Feng Tian Wu despite knowing that in terms of ability she was currently unable to match her so Meng Qi had made use of some runes she had managed to learn and which had taken her almost two whole days to draw on her combat boots and armor to boost her physical ability and defense to the point of matching a soul evolver almost ten levels above her.
But like Feng Tian Wu, she was amazed as this was the first time she had seen her brother"s flame.
"What"s wrong, insect? Can"t you call your friends?" Bai Zemin sneered at the red ant, who was looking at him with eyes filled with murderous intent.
Bai Zemin began to walk toward the red ant, his eyes blazing with the same anger and murderous intent that the creature had. He knew that as a Second Order existence the red-colored weaver ant could definitely understand his intention even if it was unable to understand his words.
"Come, it"s not like you can"t move your body, or is it?"
Indeed, the red weaver ant could understand the intention behind the words of Bai Zemin and also understood that he was mocking it by seeing the smile that was filled with disdain on his face. Therefore, with flames of anger burning in its eyes, the Second Order ant charged forward with the intention of tearing him into a million pieces!
This time, Bai Zemin did not hold back at all and with a fierce swing of his left arm, his golden dragon claw-covered fist smashed head-on into the red-colored weaver ant"s left sickle.
Booooooooom!!!
Just like the previous time, the red ant"s body was sent flying like a kite whose string had been cut and its figure soon disappeared beyond the blue sea of fire that was quickly devouring the entire room and annihilating the larvae.
"That thing didn"t die???"
However, far from feeling happy, Bai Zemin had an ashen expression on his face. This was because while he had not activated any skills, his seemingly casual punch was loaded with over 900 Strength points and also carried the 1000 physical attack points from Annihilation of the Falling Sky!
Any other Second Order existence would definitely have been turned into a pile of pulp not to mention the red-colored weaver ant since Bai Zemin could feel that it wasn"t even level 80!
"d.a.m.n, these things have too much Strength after all!"
Bai Zemin gritted his teeth and this time he didn"t wait for the weaver ant to charge toward him but instead, he dashed to the fire-blue sea and disappeared beyond the flames.
The weaver ants were among the strongest creatures that existed on the face of the earth technically speaking since the most powerful ones could lift up to 100 times their body, it was just that because in the past they were small that power was insignificant in the eyes of other bigger creatures. But now that they had evolved, the natural Strength of a weaver ant was definitely frightening, let alone a Second Order weaver ant!
Because Bai Zemin was the current master of the Endless Lotus Blue Flame, the blue flames naturally could not harm him and he could see into the sea of fire as if he had special eyes so he actually had no trouble at all finding the red-colored ant that was writhing in pain as it ran in his direction even though its eyes had been incinerated by the fire.
Although the red ant could not use its antennae to communicate, it could at least use them to detect enemies!
Bai Zemin rushed forward with the intention of trying the limits of the Second Order weaver ants to know how to deal with them in the future as there would definitely be more soon and the one in front of him was but one of many.
He hit the weaver ant again and sent it flying backward, but this time he didn"t wait, and making use of his Agility more than three times as high he followed the creature"s flight course. The weaver ant had not even managed to stand up when it instinctively blocked Bai Zemin"s golden fist and its body was buried in the ground after a powerful quake shook the room.
Bai Zemin raised his right hand clenched into a fist and without giving the Second Order ant time to recover he struck downward ferociously with a gaze that was filled with murderous intent.
Boooooom!!!
Without the protection of the two sickles blocking his fists, the red colored weaver ant"s head exploded like a watermelon falling from the tenth floor of a building with pieces of brain matter, flesh, and blood flying everywhere. Fortunately, Bai Zemin"s body, as well as the surroundings, were engulfed in flames so he was not affected by the corrosive blood of the dead beast.
[You have obtained the Soul Power of Second Order Powerful Ant Weaver level 74. You can not absorb the obtained Soul Power or receive additional stats before completing your cla.s.s advancement quest.]
Bai Zemin ignored the green message flas.h.i.+ng in his retina and instead looked at the corpse of the Second Order Weaver Ant with surprise.
"Even though my fist hit this thing"s head, the Strength I used should have turned its entire body into a pile of b.l.o.o.d.y mist." Bai Zemin muttered in shock.
Did the Second Order weaver ants have such a high defense? If that was the case then this mission could be way more difficult and dangerous than he initially figured it would be!
Bai Zemin was completely confident that if given some time he would be able to annihilate even a few thousand red ants, but he was not 100% confident in protecting the people behind him if within the ant colony, there were more than 200 ants and they were all attacking at the same time.
More important, Bai Zemin was surprised to find out that if a Third Order weaver ant appeared, purely based on the power of the red-colored weaver ant he had just killed, he might have to bring out several of his trump cards or he could end up in trouble!
At the very least, Bai Zemin was sure that the Endless Blue Lotus Flame would be crucial in this raid!
"I"d better hurry." Bai Zemin frowned and began to worry about the other two teams.
The thought that splitting up was a bad idea began to grow within his heart even though each of the other two teams was being composed of powerful existences like Shangguan Bing Xue who was capable of fighting against an initial Third Order existence or like Chen He and Xia Ya.
Bai Zemin cut off the two red-colored ant sickles as they were clearly good material for forging weapons and also took the Soul Stone that had fallen a short distance away after he exploded the creature"s head.
When he emerged from the sea of blue flames a minute later, the battle was already ended.
With Feng Tian Wu and Zeng Yun leading the attack and with Meng Qi, Nangong Lingxin, and Little Snow acting as support; all the weaver ants were annihilated in no time. Feng Tian Wu looked especially eye-catching with the huge, thick chains of deep red fire dancing around her as if they were wors.h.i.+pping her.
"Big brother." Meng Qi sighed in relief as she saw the silhouette of a person becoming clearer and clearer amidst the sea of blue fire.
Moments later, the figure of Bai Zemin emerged from the fire.
"Team Leader, is that red ant a Second Order existence?" Zeng Yun asked with an excited smile.
This had been by far his most satisfying battle to date! Having powerful teammates really made everything easier and he could make use of his ma.s.s control skills perfectly!
"It was."
Bai Zemin waved his left hand still surrounded by the golden dragon claw and in response the sea of blue fire shook, flying toward the small ball of deep blue fire that silently hovered 500 meters above.
"That red ant was really powerful."
Hearing Bai Zemin"s words, everyone subconsciously looked at the now visible headless corpse and couldn"t help but think that the red ant didn"t seem to be that strong considering it was sent flying at every crash and defeated in less than two minutes.
But in fact, they did not know that Bai Zemin was not joking.
The red-colored weaver ant had really alerted him.
Bai Zemin took a last look around the room and saw that everything had been turned to ashes. He with the help of his team quickly collected all the Soul Stones and was about to walk toward the exit of the room when his footsteps stopped abruptly and he quickly turned to face the side wall as if he wanted to see beyond.
Screech!
It was then that a high-pitched, thunderous screech that did not sound like the sound of a living thing echoed from the depths of the colony, resounding with anger and anguish as if it had just lost something important.
The face of Meng Qi turned white and she subconsciously moved closer to Bai Zemin.
Even Feng Tian Wu and Zeng Yun"s expressions turned ugly.
"Was that the queen?" Nangong Lingxin said with a serious voice and a frown.
Bai Zemin narrowed his eyes before turning around and ordering in a deep voice, "Let"s get moving."
The surprise element was no longer on their side.
This was now going to be a two-way war.