After some more debate, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue finally came to the agreement that wasting this kind of god-sent opportunity was not a good idea. Therefore, with the two of them as leaders, they decided that they would take this passage as the focus for training these troops.
"So, how long can you maintain this ice dome?"
"Mmm... Mana consumption isn't great if it's just to maintain the dome.... The real problem is the powerful legs of the weaver ants. The strength of those ants is really huge, and I'm afraid that if I don't constantly strengthen the ice dome, the weaver ants would probably be able to open a hole in a couple of hours. If a red colored weaver ant appears then I will need to spend a lot of Mana to prevent the dome from breaking.... There are several factors that could make the time variable."
Hearing Shangguan Bing Xue's words, Bai Zemin took a moment to think of a possible solution. However, it was hard to find a safe path in the midst of so many enemies, therefore, in the end, he proposed the first thing that came to his mind.
"In that case, how about if I take care of eliminating the excess weaver ants every few hours in order for you to recover the Mana you invested?"
After thinking about it for a moment, Shangguan Bing Xue nodded in agreement, "That's okay too. That way we should be able to last for several days without any problems."
Then, she seemed to think of something and said suddenly, "But, what about food and water? Do you have enough in your storage ring? Even though there are many weaver ants in this place, their flesh is definitely poisonous."
Bai Zemin didn't reply right away and instead checked the stuff inside his storage ring.
Weapons, armors, Soul Stones, pills, medicinal herbs.... Although before coming on this expedition Bai Zemin had left most of his things at his parents' house, as time passed his storage ring had begun to fill up again.
"There are approximately 120 of us here.... I have half a carcass of a mutant deer I hunted before and a few gallons of water." Bai Zemin muttered with a frown.
Shangguan Bing Xue also frowned slightly but she immediately regained her composure, and while looking at him, she pointed out: "Although normally that amount might not be enough due to the high consumption of nutrients we need as high-level soul evolvers, being high-level soul evolvers also has its advantages. For example, even if we eat little we will definitely not starve to death for several months..... I think we should be fine for at least four or maybe five days. What do you say?"
After giving it a few moments of consideration, Bai Zemin thought that Shangguan Bing Xue was right. Even if over the days the team lost some effectiveness due to the lack of food and constant battles, that small decline would be easily replenished as they would all be constantly absorbing huge amounts of Soul Power and leveling up like crazy.
"Decided then."
* * * Four days later.
Magic explosions lit up the now several meters wider dark passage compared to the past as much of the cave walls had been shattered due to shockwaves resulting from powerful attacks launched by First Order, Second Order existences, or as a result of some body being sent flying and smashing into the wall mercilessly.
The flash of the edge of the swords and spears wielded by the warriors mingled with the flash of the sharp arrows launched by the archers. A single sword swing was enough to decapitate hundreds of enemies, a single stab from each spear was powerful enough to pierce through several mutated creatures regardless of their defenses, each arrow definitely received a kill as a reward.
In this battle between humans and weaver ants, it wasn't necessary to watch too closely to notice who had the upper hand in the situation.
"Ardent Eruption!"
A brave yet melodious voice broke out amidst the chaos and immediately afterward several glowing magic circles appeared on the ground.
Standing amidst the sea of enemies, just like an invincible goddess, Feng Tian Wu waved her right hand and in return the more than twenty magic circles finally released the energy within by activating the mana.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!....
With the activation of the magic circles, the skill Ardent Eruption showed its power. More than twenty pillars of blazing fire rose towards the ceiling of the cave, reaching nearly a thousand meters high and at the same time illuminating the entire passageway. The high temperatures caused the bodies of all the Unclassified weaver ants within a 500 meter radius around Feng Tian Wu to turn into balls of burning fire before falling lifelessly to the ground and turning into black charcoal.
As the flames died down, Feng Tian Wu's flame-red hair danced in the absence of wind while her beautiful face lit up at the traces of fire still burning on the corpses.
"Tian Wu, you need to stop using such destructive skills." Feng Hong approached his daughter and sighed as he looked at the mess in front of him. "Are you planning to wipe out all the ants by yourself?"
Feng Tian Wu secretly rolled her eyes. She had currently managed to reach level 59 thanks to the fact that over the past four days she had managed to eliminate at least 500,000 enemies among which there was no shortage of First Order weaver ants and there were even 10 Second Order weaver ants.
"Father, are you someone who can tell me that? Did you forget what you did two hours ago?" Feng Tian Wu pointed with a raised eyebrow.
"That's..." Feng Hong blushed in embarrassment.
The current Feng Hong had broken through at level 63, his level being the highest after Shangguan Bing Xue. His magic power was so destructive right now that a couple of hours ago he accidentally hit the passageway with one of his active skills causing the cave to almost collapse above them and being saved by Shangguan Bing Xue who had no choice but to freeze some pillars with her skill Ice Maker.
"But still..." Feng Tian Wu looked back and sighed as she said in a low voice, "We've all become really strong.... It's hard to believe that it's only been about two weeks since we left the base. The power of everyone has undergone transcendental changes."
"It's all thanks to Team Leader Bai and Miss Shangguan." Feng Hong said in a respectful voice, and as he looked at the two figures several hundred meters distance away who stood like gods on top of the still standing ice dome, he couldn't help but praised, "The two of them are truly like gods among humans. At this point I have no doubt that people like us just have to listen to them and obey their orders, then everything will be fine."
Feng Tian Wu looked at the male and female couple who were observing the battlefield with indifference just like gods observing mortals. Her eyes flashed with a complicated light as she remembered everything over the past few days.
Under the guidance of Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, even the weakest soul evolver had broken through to level 40 but the Soul Power of all of them was pure enough to be able to jump a few levels. The strongest ones such as Feng Tian Wu herself, Feng Hong, Teng Hua, Liang Jing, Sun Ling. and some others, could jump up to ten or even fifteen levels without any problem.
In addition to the huge level increase and Soul Power improvement, each and every soul evolver who had managed to survive these four hellish days improved their combat experience and tactical understanding so much that if they were to see their self from four days ago they would probably feel ashamed of themselves.
"We can't forget Miss Xia Ya either." Feng Hong said suddenly and with admiration as he looked at the woman who was easily and smoothly facing off against five red-colored weaver ants, "Her skill Wolf Pack allows all of us to receive monstrous benefits thanks to seeing Team Leader Bai as our leader at heart. If it weren't for her, the death count would definitely be a lot higher."
Xia Ya was currently a level 69 soul evolver but her true combat power could not be measured at all. She was currently capable of fighting several Second Order weaver ants without a problem and it was rumored among the soul evolvers present that if she were to link up with Bai Zemin even Third Order existences would be crushed by her.
"What a pity." Feng Hong suddenly sighed, startling Feng Tian Wu.
"Father, what do you mean? "Feng Tian Wu looked at him blankly.
During the past four days, even though it had been difficult and seven soul evolvers lost their lives due to different circumstances, there was no doubt that the gains were much higher. Colossal overall power increase, obtaining huge amounts of Soul Stones, character temperament, etc; everything was almost perfect but Feng Hong seemed sad about something.
Feng Hong looked at Bai Zemin, who was chatting about something with Shangguan Bing Xue, and said with some regret in his voice, "A few days ago, I had the intention to ask you what your thoughts were regarding Team Leader Bai... I know it's hard for a man to get into your eyes considering your talent and courage, but Team Leader Bai has definitely not gone unnoticed, I've noted how you look at him occasionally."
The face of Feng Tian Wu changed slightly when she heard her father's words, but Feng Hong continued:
"Unluckily, it seems that the Leader has a lot of outstanding women around him... Not to mention Miss Shangguan Bing Xue and Miss Xia Ya, Mayor Wu's daughter, Wu Yijun, seems to be incredibly in love with him and even though she hasn't broken the Second Order yet it's because her class is a little different from the rest. There is also Nangong Lingxin, who has recently broken into the Second Order, as well as Cai Jingyi, who is extremely loyal to him... While an outstanding man like the Leader can have many women, I don't think my proud daughter would be willing to share her man, would she?"
Feng Hong turned to look at Feng Tian Wu but was alarmed when he saw how she was looking at him with eyes filled with anger. For a second he even thought his daughter would attack him but all the anger in her eyes quickly disappeared, turning into nothing but bitterness.
Feng Tian Wu looked at her father for a few seconds before she shook her head and without a word walked toward the ice dome.
There were no more weaver ants for her to burn alive.
"This..." Feng Hong did not know what he did wrong but also did not dare to ask, so, in the end, he could only shake his head.
Standing on the ice dome, Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the surroundings and said in a light voice, "Looks like we finally finished off the weaver ants."
"At least with the Unclassified and First Order weaver ants." Bai Zemin remarked calmly.
Over the past four days, the number of weaver ants that had been slaughtered by the human troops, as well as Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, definitely numbered at least around twenty million. Among those twenty million, the number of First Order weaver ants amounted to over 500,000, and the number of Second Order weaver ants had been high enough that Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue felt chills at the thought of what might have happened if these creatures had continued to grow in secret and surfaced later.
"I even managed to complete one of my requirements to break into the Second Order in these four days." Bai Zemin shook his head as he said quietly, "I thought it would take me a lot more time to find 2000 Second Order existences but in these four days we saw over 2500. China would be wiped off the map if these ants had decided to get out of this place."
Except for Strength, the weaver ants were not particularly frightening as they did not even seem to have overly extraordinary abilities or skills. However, their numbers, rapid growth, as well as high birth rate, made them truly frightening existences to the point where no one would want to provoke them no matter what.
"At least, it seems that the queen of this place has decided to stop sending soldiers after suffering such losses." Shangguan Bing Xue sneered as she watched Xia Ya finish off the last red-colored weaver ant. "During these four days we have slaughtered practically the entire colony. I refuse to believe that there are still several million weaver ants left in this place no matter what."
Bai Zemin nodded silently. He watched as everyone slowly gathered and after a few minutes said in a deep voice, "Everyone, rest for four hours. Four hours later, we will be charging straight to the queen's hall. Today we will definitely get this over with and claim our prizes no matter what."
Although Bai Zemin's voice was not loud, everyone heard him clearly. Each of them was excited to hear his words, knowing that they would finally be able to return home and eager to see their loved ones once again. After all, there were more than a few times that each of them thought they would die inside this gloomy-looking, damp-filled cave.
Four hours later, as Bai Zemin had ordered, everyone set out.
Among all those present, everyone had raised their active and passive skills to the maximum possible. Bai Zemin had even invested several Second Order Soul Stones into people like Teng Hua, Xia Ya, Liang Jing, Feng Hong, Feng Tian Wu, Zeng Yun, Sun Ling, Chen He, Wu Yijun, Nangong Lingxin, and several others.
This team was undoubtedly powerful; so powerful that Bai Zemin was 100% sure that even if a group of more than 50 red-colored weaver ants appeared simultaneously this time they would not be defenseless even without his or Shangguan Bing Xue presence.
In fact, even Bai Zemin himself had invested in himself to upgrade a passive skill that would definitely increase his probabilities of coming out victorious against whatever was waiting for him further down in the bottom of the colony. This was a skill that if Bai Zemin had evolved it before fighting Kang Guiying his condition would not have been so miserable.
As they walked toward the end of the cave, several magic circles began to appear everywhere and the dirt floor was now wide tiles of shiny gray. The shadowy atmosphere gradually disappeared until at some point they all found themselves walking down a wide lighted corridor.
It was as if they had entered a whole new world even though a single glance back was enough for everyone to know that they were still in the same cave from before.
As they advanced, for some reason they all began to feel nervous. Although they were confident a moment ago, their instincts were warning them that what lay ahead was something their current selves might not be enough to face.
"Little brother Zemin, you'd better not underestimate your enemies at all this time. Furthermore, finish them off as soon as possible and don't give them time for anything."
Lilith's voice rang in Bai Zemin's head, and for some reason, she sounded especially serious today; as if something bad might happen soon.
Bai Zemin nodded and without a word took out his greatsword from his storage ring at the same time as he turned Annihilation of the Falling Sky into a golden dragon claw-shaped gauntlet that covered his left hand up to his elbow.
To begin with, he wasn't the type to underestimate others so Lilith's warning wasn't necessary in the first place.
Soon, the group found themselves face to face before what appeared to be a huge door except that the door was already wide open. The doorframe was over 100 meters wide and at least 200 meters high, it looked really huge and imposing. Moreover, whatever was on the other side of the huge door did not seem to be visible from the outside since no matter how hard Bai Zemin tried all he could see was darkness.
After a moment's consideration, Bai Zemin quietly ordered, "Everyone, wait here for a moment. I will go first and make sure it is safe for you to enter."
Everyone nodded, and even Shangguan Bing Xue said nothing this time.
Bai Zemin clutched his right hand to his greatsword and clenched his left hand into a fist before taking the first step, approaching the huge door bit by bit. He and all the others looked really small seen from above when compared to the wide hall and the huge door before them.
When Bai Zemin walked beyond the giant door, the feeling was different from a teleportation but he definitely felt as if he went through some kind of barrier.
The place on the other side of the door seemed to be a continuation of the huge hall, however, Bai Zemin had barely taken a few steps when he suddenly stopped when he saw what was in front of him.
His eyes widened and he subconsciously dropped his weapon as he mumbled in shock, "W-What...? What is that thing...?"
What was in front of Bai Zemin was, by far, the biggest thing he had ever seen in his entire life. However, he had no time to think as he immediately sensed danger of death and subconsciously his body reacted before his still shocked brain.
Bai Zemin raised his left hand and struck out to the side without holding back at all.
Booooooooooooooom!! A thunderous explosion echoed inside the huge hall but the place was not damaged at all. However, the most shocking thing was what happened a few seconds later.
As if his Strength was nothing more than a joke, Bai Zemin's body was sent flying like a kite whose string had been cut; flying hundreds of meters and rolling on the ground like a battered dog.

Comments

Loading...