Chapter 484: Chapter 484: Mysterious Gold Ant-Eating Beast BOSS

Lu Mingyuan quickly got to his feet and retreated cautiously about five or six steps, a distance of at least three meters from Song Jian and the bonfire. As a mage, distance provided a semblance of safety. Three meters already pushed Lu Mingyuan’s response boundary to the limit. Any closer, and he’d barely have any time to react or cast a spell if something unexpected arose.

Song Jian swiftly put out the bonfire, plunging the surroundings into complete darkness. From the middle of his forehead, the vertical eye embedded in Song Jian’s brow radiated faint light, providing clear visuality within the encircling darkness.

From afar, a cacophony of growls approached, sounding like a pack of monsters frantically charging their way. The two men shared a quick look and began to climb up the nearby tree.

Song Jian noticed Lu Mingyuan’s eyes glowing with an unusual bluish light, indicating that he too had the ability to see in the dark.

Climbing up a tree about ten or more meters high was not a problem for the two of them. Given the urgency of the situation, it was the best available option.

Before long, they saw dozens of demonic worker ants and soldier ants running towards their location. Some soldier ants seemed to sense something and glanced up at the tree where Song Jian and Lu Mingyuan were perched. Their eyes glinting menacingly. Yet, they didn’t stop, swiftly scurrying past the men’s tree, as if some terrifyingly fierce creature was chasing them.

After the swarm of demonic ants gradually disappeared, Lu Mingyuan put away his short staff and asked Song Jian with some uncertainty, “They should have noticed us just now, but why didn’t they attack us?”

Whether it was the worker ants or the soldier ants, all were aggressive creatures with wide alert ranges. A slight lapse in attention could attract the attention of two to three demonic ants simultaneously.

“What should we do now?” Lu Mingyuan’s voice was filled with nervousness. He could feel the place was no longer safe. However, it was nighttime, and they were near the Demonic Ant Nest. If they ran, they risked stumbling into a herd of demonic ants.

Song Jian responded with a wry smile, “It seems we’re not safe here anymore. Why don’t we return to where we met this morning? We should encounter fewer demonic ants there.”

“That’s the best we can do…” Lu Mingyuan nodded, seemingly relieved.

Just as they slid down the tree to leave, they heard a sudden hissing noise growing from far to near. Song Jian reacted by quickly rolling to hide behind a large tree.

With a ‘thump,’ blood splattered, and a mutilated corpse of a demonic soldier ant flew past and hit a large tree, slowly sliding down, leaving behind a gruesome, purple-red blood trail.

The men’s eyes naturally followed the direction from which the ant’s body had been flung. Their eyes widened in shock, and they held their breath.

A blurry figure was slowly coming towards them. The figure stood as tall as a building, with a length of least eight or nine meters. To this creature, the demonic ants seemed like babies standing next to a burly adult man.

As the silhouette came into clear view, they realized it was a gigantic ant-eating creature. It stuck out its long tongue and wrapped it around the mangled body of the soldier ant, rolling it into its mouth. Its two sinewy forelimbs, like sickles, easily tore apart the lengthy ant. The insect’s exoskeleton was fragile like a sheet of paper in comparison.

The rounded head of the creature plunged into the ant’s body, gnawing continuously. Its body’s dark green scales shimmered even in the darkness of the night.

After eating a few bites, there was little flesh and blood left on the soldier ant’s body, leaving behind only the broken shell. The ant-eating creature tossed the shell away and turned its head, focusing on Song Jian and Lu Mingyuan. Its triangular eyes, beneath the dark green scales, glowed with a savage madness. Its muscles swelled, and it lunged towards them, revealing its sharp teeth smudged with fresh blood and released a fearsome, shrill roar.

“Mystery Gold Ant-Eating Beast, Level 30 Lord-class BOSS, First Order Combat Power, 9,800 Vitality Points…” As Song Jian reviewed the beast’s attributes, he was stunned. The creature before them was a Lord-class BOSS with First Order Combat Power, something too formidable for him to tackle, even with the aid of Lu Mingyuan.

Song Jian’s heart skipped a beat as he looked at the beast’s slender, sharp teeth stained with blood veins. He knew better than anyone how high the defensive capabilities of the ant’s exoskeleton were. Yet, the ant-eating creature’s teeth could easily slice through it. If they were bitten, their equipment would likely be torn to shreds.

Glancing at the beast’s long, resilient tongue that could firmly grip a demonic ant, incapable of freeing itself, Song Jian doubted if his long sword could even sever it.

Seeing the ant-eating beast looking at him, Song Jian instinctively drew his long sword but dared not make any move as its tongue was remarkably versatile. If he aggravated it, he feared he wouldn’t even have the chance to escape.

Lu Mingyuan also recognized the attributes of the ant-eating beast, his heart racing, and his hands sweaty gripping his magic staff. Seeing the beast’s attention drawn to Song Jian, he felt a sense of relief.

Watching the ant-eating beast lunging at Song Jian, Lu Mingyuan seemed to realize something and yelled out, “It’s targeting your Ant King pet!”

Seeing the ant-eating beast charging towards him, Song Jian initially planned to dodge, but upon hearing Lu Mingyuan’s shout, his heart dropped. His Ant King slave was currently only Level 19. Even if it were upgraded to Level 30 and had First Order Combat Power, Song Jian believed it would be no match for the beast they were currently facing.

If Song Jian dodged, his Ant King slave would undoubtedly be captured, and the Ant King, which he’d worked so hard to obtain, would meet an inevitable death. Because of the “Abyss Temptation,” once the Ant King slave died, it could never be resurrected.

With this in his mind, Song Jian steadied himself, drew a Weakness Potion from his inventory and threw it at the charging beast, simultaneously stabbing his long sword towards it.

“Are you insane?” Lu Mingyuan yelled, looking at Song Jian in astonishment. Reflexively, he began to retreat. They were currently in a team, and if he got too close, it would automatically put Lu Mingyuan in battle mode.

“Kill it! There’s a chance it could drop some item that can restrain the demonic ants!” Song Jian yelled back.

Lu Mingyuan paused, showing a hesitant expression. After a moment’s thought, he gritted his teeth, waving his magic staff. A dense ball of magical energy started to form in his palm.

…