Chapter 494: Chapter 494: Silver Suit

The recently emerged demonized Ant King, for some unknown reason, harbored great hatred towards the slave Ant King, and its attention was completely focused on the slave. No matter how much Song Jian attacked, its target was always the spiky slave Ant King.

Thanks to the existence of the Ant Soul Orb, the difficulty for Song Jian and the slave Ant King to besiege this Ant King Guard was much simpler than hunting the previous demonized Ant King. Half an hour later, the Ant King Guard was finally killed when the slave Ant King had less than a fifth of its Vitality Points left and had lost one of its front claws.

After killing the Ant King Guard, the slave Ant King immediately rushed up, tore open the thick armor, and devoured the purple-red flesh within. After devouring this Ant King Guard, the broken front claw actually grew back slowly. Although the shell of this front claw still looked somewhat tender, it would be exactly the same as before as time passed.

“Regeneration of severed limbs? Interesting…” Song Jian watched the fierce slave Ant King thoughtfully while stroking his chin.

If this slave Ant King could really devour the flesh of other creatures to replenish energy and regenerate severed limbs, then the idea of using it as a disposable consumable would have to change.

Because slaves who have undergone Abyss Temptation cannot be revived once they die, they were considered cannon fodder in Song Jian’s mind. Even if they were severely injured, Song Jian would consider abandoning them.

However, if this slave Ant King could regenerate even severed limbs by devouring flesh, there would be no problem with ordinary injuries. At that point, there would be no risk of being fatally injured. As long as it didn’t die instantly, even if it had only a breath left, the slave Ant King could recover its combat power by devouring flesh.

“Well done!” Song Jian patted the slave Ant King’s head with a smile on his face.

The Ant King Guard dropped a blueprint, “Demonic Ant Queen’s Skull (Helmet) Forging Blueprint,” and a large pile of ant shell materials, among which three pieces were of silver-quality.

Song Jian’s inventory was now almost full of blue-quality demonized ant shells, but this was the first time he encountered silver-quality ant shell materials.

Seeing the silver-quality demonized ant shell and the forging blueprint, Song Jian had a bad feeling in his heart. Picking up the blueprint, sure enough, the Demonic Ant Queen’s Skull blueprint was indeed part of the Demonic Ant Queen Set; and crafting this helmet required silver-quality demonized ant shells.

“Lucky me, I thought I could only get a set of demonized worker ant or soldier ant armor. I didn’t expect it to drop the Ant Queen set directly…” Song Jian glanced at the blueprint and thought, “It’s just that the materials are hard to come by; I guess they can only be obtained from the demonized Ant King.”

To craft the Demonic Ant Queen’s Skull (Helmet), twelve silver-quality demonized ant shells were needed, meaning Song Jian still needed to find nine more.

Moreover, the attributes of a single Demonic Ant Queen’s Skull (Helmet) were already of silver quality. If an entire Ant Queen set could be assembled, the overall equipment could be comparable to that of gold quality.

Unfortunately, the forging blueprint required Forge Art Level 8 to be used. Song Jian had recruited several intermediate Forging Masters at the City of Hymns’ Starfire Shop. He just needed to find a suitable Forging Master, sign a contract, and give them the blueprint for them to forge it for him.

“It would be great if I could collect a complete set of Demonic Ant Queen blueprints.” Song Jian couldn’t help but think.

Blueprints like these were known only to be dropped by the demonized Ant Kings; other soldier ants and worker ants could not drop them.

Moreover, not every demonized Ant King would drop them. The first one Song Jian hunted did not drop the corresponding blueprint. To gather a full set, it was estimated that he had to hunt dozens or even hundreds of Ant Kings.

With Song Jian’s current strength, having the aid of the slave Ant King and the Ant Soul Orb, he could deal with a single demonized Ant King, but if the number exceeded two, he would most likely run away. Also, with the overwhelming tide of demonized worker ants and soldier ants, hunting enough Ant Kings was virtually impossible.

“I don’t even know if there are twenty Ant Kings in this ant nest…” Song Jian said with a bitter smile, shaking his head.

After the Ant King Guard was killed, the slave Ant King seemed to sink into exhaustion, its body swaying and trembling slightly before slowly lying down and remaining motionless.

Song Jian frowned slightly, with only one more demonized Ant King left before the task could be completed. Once it was found and killed, he could return to Doomsday City and obtain an epic-quality item.

If he lost the help of the slave Ant King at this point, the difficulty of the task would increase drastically.

“Could it be because the battle just now was too intense, and its consumption was too great?” Song Jian guessed in his heart and couldn’t help but reach out to shake it a few times.

But just as he touched the slave Ant King, he suddenly received a system prompt;

System: Your slave “Golden Ant King” is currently in the process of evolution. Disturbing it will cause irreversible effects. Do you wish to continue?

Song Jian was startled and instinctively pulled his hand back.

“Evolution?” At this point, Song Jian suddenly remembered the slave Ant King devouring many ant eggs earlier, “Maybe it’s because it devoured so many ant eggs?”

If he were to disturb its evolution at this moment, there was a high chance that it would anger the slave Ant King. Song Jian hesitated for a long time before shaking his head and walking towards the tunnel entrance.

Because of the slave contract, once the slave Ant King’s evolution was complete, it would instinctively seek and return to its master, Song Jian. Thus, he was not worried about the slave Ant King getting lost. However, there were too many demonized soldier ants in the Demonic Ant Nest at this point, and without the help of the slave Ant King, things would become troublesome.

“The system did not provide a duration for the evolution. It seems that I won’t be able to rely on it for now!” Song Jian thought to himself.

Song Jian’s figure vanished into the egg-chamber. The entire floor of the egg-chamber was covered in a thick layer of milky-white liquid. The slave Ant King suddenly opened its eyes, and a dazzling golden light bloomed in its blood-red eyes. It stared fixedly in the direction Song Jian had left, motionless for a long time before slowly closing its eyes again.

At this moment, a strong suction force emerged from within the slave Ant King’s body. The surrounding milky-white liquid began to ripple slightly, and then all rushed towards the Ant King, forming a giant white ant cocoon over three meters tall in a short time.

…