Chapter 490: Chapter 490: Nest

The closer the three of them got to the Demonic Ant Nest, the more monsters they encountered. At first, only two or three would appear, but later on, groups of a dozen or more began to emerge.

Oftentimes, before they could finish off one swarm of demonic ants, another swarm would discover them.

“Do you see it? The Demonic Ant Nest is right ahead…” Lv Pei pointed and exclaimed loudly.

Suddenly, a sharp scream echoed through mid-air, and demonic ants surged towards them. With Song Jian and the enslaved Ant King as the spearhead, they stood their ground like a solid rock, unfazed by the waves crashing against them;

Under the influence of the Ant Soul Orb, the attributes of the demonic ants attacking them were significantly weakened. The trio fought their way through, feeling invincible.

The closer they got to the nest, the fewer worker ants appeared, and the number of soldier ants began to increase steadily. Finally, they were surrounded by winged demonic soldier ants.

These demonic soldier ants were agile attackers, coming at them from front, back, left, and right, as well as from the air above. At a distance, it looked as if the three of them were buried by demonic soldier ants.

At this point, all three of them were fighting back-to-back against the attacking demonic soldier ants, their roles no longer distinct as close-range or long-range fighters.

“We can’t go on like this. I won’t last much longer…” Lu Mingyuan furrowed his brow and shouted loudly.

Lv Pei was even more beleaguered. Two cuts on his face were bleeding profusely. Song Jian had not added him to the team lineup, so Lv Pei had not enjoyed the attribute buffs, and the demonic soldier ants killed by Song Jian and Lu Mingyuan were not credited to him. Only the monsters he killed himself counted towards his quest target;

By now, they had been trapped for more than ten minutes, with demonic soldier ants continuously pouring out of the nest in front of them, surrounding them. Song Jian’s heart sunk as the numbers of demonic soldier ants grew increasingly dense around them, with the air above them turning dark as well. If they didn’t change their strategy soon, they could very well die here.

“The nest is less than 500 meters ahead. Shall we charge into it or retreat? Make a decision quickly!” Lu Mingyuan yelled anxiously.

The current situation left them with two choices: either retreat and abandon their mission or charge into the Demonic Ant Nest and hope to use the terrain to their advantage against the soldier ants.

After hesitating for a mere two seconds, Song Jian shouted decisively, “Charge forward! We’ll enter the nest!”

By now, Song Jian had killed over a hundred demonic soldier ants as part of his quest objective. Based on their current attacking power, they would be able to complete the soldier ant quest in at most another hour.

Moreover, the Ant Soul Orb was already close to having 500 souls. The more they killed, the more powerful the Ant Soul Orb became. Even with demonic worker ants blocking their way, it would be more challenging to retreat than to charge into the nest, especially with the Demonic Ant Nest so close at hand and their entire retreat path swarming with demonic ants;

“I’ll clear the way!” Lu Mingyuan shouted, swapping positions with Song Jian. Holding the Magic Staff firmly in both hands, he waved it horizontally and chanted an incantation loudly.

“Scorching Disintegration Ray!”

Boom!

A dazzling crimson pillar of light burst forth from Lu Mingyuan’s Magic Staff, like a laser beam, piercing through the bodies of dozens of demonic soldier ants in front of them.

One after another, damage values appeared above the heads of the affected demonic soldier ants, their Vitality Points visibly draining away rapidly, their bodies starting to disintegrate under the impact of the light beam.

Having killed the demonic soldier ants blocking the way, Lu Mingyuan began to slowly rotate his body, sweeping the Scorching Disintegration Ray around him, taking out the surrounding demonic soldier ants.

This move was the perfect counter to the tightly packed formation. The area around the trio was completely filled with monsters, and this single attack displayed its full power instantly.

“This skill is quite similar to the Eye-kill technique, but it is several times stronger!” Song Jian exclaimed in surprise.

The red disintegration ray stretched for more than ten meters, quickly eliminating the Demonic Soldier Ants within its range. In one strike, at least twenty to thirty Demonic Soldier Ants were killed, clearing a path more than two meters wide.

“Go quickly!” Lu Mingyuan shouted with a fatigued expression.

The greater the power of the skill, the more it consumed. The Scorching Disintegration Ray could continuously attack as long as Lu Mingyuan provided it with enough mana.

However, Lu Mingyuan didn’t dare to use up all of his mana now. After clearing a path, he stopped using the skill, saving at least half of his mana.

The trio rushed up a mound of dirt, and before them was a huge hole more than ten meters wide. The Demonic Soldier Ants continuously flew out from the hole.

“This is the entrance to the Demonic Ant Nest, let’s jump down from here!” Lv Pei shouted excitedly. The mission interface clearly marked the location of the Demonic Ant Nest. Lv Pei was almost scared to death when he first teleported out.

Lu Mingyuan took the lead and jumped into the hole. Mid-air, his body seemed as light as a feather, falling slowly.

Lv Pei smiled at Song Jian and took out a pale-green potion from his bag. After drinking it, he closed his eyes and jumped into the hole as well.

Song Jian recognized the potion; it was called the “Light Body Potion,” which could reduce body weight by 60% and decrease fall damage by 80%.

After drinking the potion, even a fall from a hundred meters would only result in a numb feeling in the legs, without causing any harm.

With a thought, Song Jian sprouted a pair of metallic wings from his back. He leaped into the air, folded his steel wings, and dashed towards the bottom of the nest like an arrow.

Above, the Demonic Soldier Ants swarmed like a tornado towards the nest. The slower they descended, the more attacks they would suffer mid-air.

During the fall, Song Jian didn’t receive any attacks from the Demonic Soldier Ants. His speed was too fast, and many Demonic Soldier Ants didn’t even have the chance to react before he passed them by.

As he approached the bottom of the cave, Song Jian’s wings suddenly spread open. Flapping them powerfully, he executed a sideways roll in the air, completing five or six rolls before landing firmly on the cavern floor.

Upon landing, Song Jian smelled a foul odor, similar to the stench of something rotting. His vertical eye in the middle of his brow opened, and he saw that the bottom of the cave was filled with countless bones of various creatures. It resembled a bloodbath slaughterhouse, sending shivers down people’s spines.

Right then, Lu Mingyuan suddenly fell with a loud thud, looking somewhat disheveled. His hair was messy, and his dark gray cloak seemed to have been slashed apart, reduced to pieces of rag hanging off his back.

“I haven’t seen him wear this cloak before. It seems to be one of his trump cards,” Song Jian thought after a glance, “But it’s obvious that, whether it’s completely damaged or not, it’s no longer usable.”

Just as Song Jian was about to speak, a terrible scream came from above, and a few drops of liquid fell onto his shoulder. When he touched it, his fingers felt slippery.

“Blood?” Song Jian looked up, his brows furrowed.

…