Chapter 51: Blood Ant Swarm

A gigantic explosion rocked the entire valley, and the shrill screech of ants filled the air. The blood ants of the Bloodcrystal Valley were completely enraged, and they swarmed out of each and every cave.

At the same time, Zhang Lie, who was still gliding in the air, seemed to vanish from sight.

"A stealth-type soulshard!" Li Jin's face turned ugly: he realized what Zhang Lie was trying to do. But since he was here with all his elites, how could he just let Zhang Lie retreat? He would make a mockery of himself if he were to do so!

"Block the valley entrance and spread flash powder everywhere. Trap him inside the valley—we'll see how long he can hide!"

Flash powder was quickly tossed into the air upon Li Jin's orders, but it didn't have any effect. Zhang Lie truly seemed to have disappeared.

At the mouth of the valley, the rampaging blood ants, led by a superior-grade blood ant, clashed with hunters of the Li clan.

"Heh, do you think you can kill us just with this swarm of ants? With our numbers, the superior-grade blood ant will be no more than an additional reward for our trouble! You won't leave this valley alive!" Li Jin's shout boomed through the entire valley. Zhang Lie, stealthed by a secluded crag, naturally ignored his words.

However, just because he ignored it didn't mean that other creatures would—for instance, the rampaging superior-grade blood ant, furious that its cave had been partially destroyed.

Upon hearing Li Jin's shout, it shot a blood arrow toward him.

"Shield!" Li Jin yelled out. The elites surrounding him immediately used their shielding techniques, protecting Li Jin and his vicinity in a dense, multicolored barrier formed from overlapping shields.

The barrier and blood arrow both exploded as they came in contact with each other, and Li Jin hadn't moved at all.

His elites were comparable to those subordinates that he had brought with him to the venombane glade. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so confident as to proclaim that he would kill the entire swarm of ants.

The superior-grade blood ant, the size of a small mountain, rushed toward Li Jin when it saw that its long-ranged attack had failed. Its pincers were the size of polearms, its legs sharp and as hard as steel, its translucent wings shot through with blood-red demarcations, and its gigantic, bulbous eyes crimson with anger.

"Defend!" Li Jin shouted again. The blood ant's blood-red genetic energy clashed with Li Jin's team's multicolored energy, leading to a huge explosion.

Dozens of bodies were knocked up into the air in the aftermath. Before the hunters could react, the blood ant cut them apart with its pincers.

"Don't try to face it head-on! Surround it and slowly exhaust its energy! Where's the debuff team? Attack!" Li Jin yelled out.

A small group of hunters wearing unusual pieces of armor began to approach the blood ant carefully. The rest of Li Jin's elites began to attack and harass the blood ant, occupying much of its attention.

However, the blood ant rapidly shot out another blood arrow. At point-blank range, several of the elites were pierced by the arrow without being able to defend against the technique at all. Their bodies immediately began to crystallize, forming four blood statues at the top of the hill.

Li Jin had only ever read about the superior-grade blood ant; he'd never seen it in person, and he hadn't expected it would be so difficult to deal with. It had tough chitin, frightening close-combat abilities, a piercing long-ranged technique, a 360-degree field of vision, and the sharp senses of a bug-type lifeform. With the multiplicative enhancement afforded by its superior-grade nature, it really had no weak points.

However, Li Jin couldn't take back his words now: if he were to retreat, he would have lost half a dozen elite hunters for nothing.

"Now! Use the astral web!" Li Jin commanded, the moment the blood ant tried to launch another blood arrow.

As he did so, the hunters who had spread out around the blood ant tossed a web into the air, covering the blood ant within it. The moment the web landed on the blood ant's chitin, it began to screech, and the tough chitin began to steam where it touched the web.

Each silver strand behaved like a scorching-hot steel wire. The blood ant's movement was severely restricted. It tried to curl up its body, as though it were immensely fearful of this web.

The astral web was woven by the natural predator of these blood ants: the astral weaver. This was a web from a superior-grade astral weaver, which Li Jin had procured at great expense. Allegedly, it would be able to restrain a large variety of bug-type lifeforms. The truth of that was playing out right before his eyes.

Li Jin wasn't about to give up such an opportunity. As he spread his arms, a magnificent bow and shadowy arrow emerged amidst the glow of genetic energy. The bow was as tall as he was, with a radiant glow that made it obvious that it derived from a superior-grade soulshard.

On the other hand, the shadowy arrow was so dark that it seemed to be sucking up the light all around it, evoking a primal fear from the gathered hunters. It was also derived from a superior-grade soulshard—a consumable one, which boasted absolute power for one instant in time.

Li Jin would secure this kill in one shot!

"[Black-Winged Deicide]!"

Li Jin drew the bow to its maximum extent. As he released it, an umbral shadow, so fast it seemed illusory, launched toward the blood ant.

And at that moment, the superior-grade blood ant, curled up and defending itself against the astral web, suddenly stood straight up. Sensing the threat of death, it immediately used the one technique at its disposal: [Bloodbath].

Its exoskeleton erupted in blood-red flames, burning the astral web to cinders.

However, by the time it freed itself, the shadow was already right by its head.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Two blood arrows shot out from its body. It let out a grating screech as the blood-red flames covered its pincers, then swiped at the shadowy arrow directly in front of it.

"Amazing, a clash of superior-grade techniques! Blackie didn't lie to me: hiding really did turn out to be safe and interesting!" As Chu Xun mumbled to herself, the air at the top of the hill seemed to compress and fold into itself, before exploding in so extreme a manner that it sent tremors all the way down the hill.