Ant Nest Male Ant (Quasi-Bronze Boss) Level: 15 Physical Attack: 80–90 Defense: 160 HP: 45,000 Skills: Mandible Slash, Ant Acid Poison Mist Ant Nest Queen Ant (Bronze Grade Boss) Level: 15 Physical Attack: 90–100 Defense: 180 HP: 80,000 Skills: Mandible Slash, Ant Acid Poison Mist, Queen Ant's Roar Mandible Slash: Slashes an enemy with powerful mandibles, dealing 140% damage. Cooldown: 30 seconds. Ant Acid Poison Mist: Male ants or the queen ant can spray ant acid, forming a massive poisonous mist zone. Those caught within suffer Poisonous Invasion, losing 15 HP per second for 30 minutes. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Queen Ant's Roar: The queen ant lets out an enraged roar, unleashing an extremely piercing sonic attack that deals 160% damage to targets within 15 meters and stuns them for 1 second. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
Of the four monsters, the three male ants alone had formidable stats, even slightly stronger than the level 12 Demonized Wolf King. The queen ant's stats were even more terrifying; with Ye Luo's current defense, he could only withstand five or six attacks head-on.
"The male ants have strong stats. With our current strength, dealing with one at a time won't be difficult, but fighting two would be dangerous. To be safe, we'll only handle one at a time. Fortunately, these male ants are spaced far apart. Pulling one alone shouldn't draw the other male ants' aggro," Yan Hua Yi Leng said, swiftly forming a battle plan.
As she spoke, Yan Hua Yi Leng had already moved to the side of a male ant and carefully advanced. Her route was remarkably precise, keeping as far away as possible from the other two male ants and the queen ant.
Luring the monster out was not difficult for Yan Hua Yi Leng. When the male ant charged at her menacingly, she began retreating. Once she was over ten meters away from the other demon ants, she started attacking, firing an Energy Arrow infused with Ice Spirit Power.
After reaching Master level, Ice Spirit Power added 40 points of ice damage. Together with the ice damage granted by the Flying Snow Robe and Wolf King Cloak, Yan Hua Yi Leng dealt tremendous damage to it, nearly 400 damage with every shot.
Of course, that was not the most important part. More importantly, Ice Spirit Power had a 20% slowing effect, greatly reducing the male ant's speed until it was only slightly faster than Yan Hua Yi Leng. But it still could not catch her, because Ye Luo had also joined the battle and blocked its path.
Yan Hua Yi Leng's damage was high, but Ye Luo's combo attacks were even stronger. The aggro quickly shifted to him, and the male ant abandoned Yan Hua Yi Leng. It suddenly sped up, its mandibles slashing Ye Luo like long blades, and a yellow "125" damage number appeared.
That bit of damage was nothing to Ye Luo. A single Major Blood Recovery Pill nearly restored it all. Then he withstood the soldier ant's attacks head-on and unleashed his maximum damage output.
Yan Hua Yi Leng also turned back, firing Energy Arrows one after another and using Frozen Arrow once every 30 seconds.
After reaching Advanced level, Frozen Arrow could deal 130% damage and freeze its target for 3 seconds, buying Ye Luo some time.
However, the male ant's regular attacks dealt too much damage, while the pills had a 30-second cooldown. After taking several hits, Ye Luo's HP fell below 200. If the male ant landed a critical hit then, he would be nearly dead.
Seeing Ye Luo's situation, Yan Hua Yi Leng quickly stepped in and had him ease up on his attacks.
With the aggro transferred, Ye Luo was able to quickly recover his HP. Once it rose above 360, he increased his attacks again and unleashed another combo attack.
Like that, the two took turns tanking, keeping their HP above 200 at all times. There was not much pressure.
After fighting for a minute or two, the male ant roared and sprayed clusters of acidic mist from its mouth, instantly covering an area nearly 30 meters wide. Clearly, it had activated Ant Acid Poison Mist.
The poison of Ant Acid Poison Mist lay somewhere between minor and moderate. Minor Detoxification Pills alone could not completely neutralize it. However, Ye Luo had gathered quite a few ox gallstones and refined several Detoxification Pills. These were second-tier pills, enough to resist the poisonous mist.
After swallowing the pills, neither of them was affected by the poisonous mist, and they continued attacking efficiently.
"Heh, good thing we went looking for wild bulls. Otherwise, this poisonous mist would have caused us a lot of trouble." Ye Luo's lips rarely curved into a smile. "Others aren't as lucky as us to have Detoxification Pills. You could say we have a major advantage."
"The apothecary sells Minor Detoxification Pills," Yan Hua Yi Leng suddenly said flatly. Seeing Ye Luo's surprise, she continued, "When I saw the demon ants, I figured there might be ant venom, so I reminded Sister Feng and the others to buy some."
"Uh, you mean others could have thought of that too?" Ye Luo asked as he attacked.
"Yes." Yan Hua Yi Leng answered calmly, then changed her tone. "But Minor Detoxification Pills cannot completely negate Ant Acid Poison Mist. They will probably still lose 10 HP per second, so outsiders will still need to be careful when fighting male ants. We still have an advantage there."
Ye Luo nodded without saying anything and continued attacking.
Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng were no longer as they had been when they fought the Demonized Wolf King at level 10. They had acquired several powerful pieces of equipment and were three levels higher than before, greatly increasing their strength. Thus, they felt little pressure against male ants roughly comparable to the Wolf King.
Three or four minutes later, the male ant fell. After a quick look, they found no offensive equipment such as rings or necklaces, so they did not inspect the drops further. Yan Hua Yi Leng lured over another male ant, and the two repeated their strategy, quickly engaging it in battle.
Seven or eight minutes later, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng had finally dealt with all three male ants and began setting their sights on the final queen ant.
"The queen ant's attack is very high. A simple Mandible Slash can deal 140 damage to us, and a critical hit would be troublesome." As she fired Energy Arrows, Yan Hua Yi Leng spoke much more gravely. "So we need to keep our HP above 300. It's best not to die. Although dying in an instance does not cost much experience and we revive inside the instance, it will lower our mission rating, and the rewards will be much worse."
Instances differed from the wilderness. Dying in the wilderness cost one level, and the player would revive at the nearest revival point. For example, if Ye Luo died while killing wild bulls, he would revive in the Novice Village.
But death in an instance was different. It only cost 10% of the current experience bar, meaning that no matter how many times one died, they would not lose a level. They would also revive where they had first entered the instance and could continue killing the boss.
However, the system would lower their mission completion rating as a result, and the rewards would be reduced considerably.
Knowing this, Ye Luo nodded and let Yan Hua Yi Leng take the lead. After she secured the aggro, he chased behind the queen ant and hacked away furiously. Whenever he sensed the aggro was about to shift to him, he eased up slightly or had Yan Hua Yi Leng use Frozen Arrow.
The two worked together seamlessly and had powerful supplies. Though their HP rose and fell sharply as they cautiously killed the monster, they made it through without incident, while the queen ant's HP steadily declined.
"Yan Hua, the queen ant's final skill is an area-of-effect skill. It deals high damage and covers a wide range, so we can hardly escape it." When the queen ant's HP had dropped by 20%, Ye Luo remembered this and looked grave. "So freeze it whenever you can..."
Yan Hua Yi Leng nodded without speaking, focusing all her attention on dealing with the queen ant.
"Ding~!"
System Announcement (China): Congratulations to the team of Yi Nian Cheng Mo, Yi Nian Cheng Shen, Yi Nian Cheng Yao, Yi Nian Cheng Fo, Yi Nian Cheng Gui, and Yi Nian Yao Yao for completing the Demon Ant Calamity Instance Mission and achieving the first clear. Each team member is specially rewarded with one level 10 class-specific Bronze Grade weapon, 1 Skill Point, and 100 Reputation.
While they were fighting, a system announcement suddenly rang out, echoing through every corner of the China Server. Even Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng inside the instance heard it.
"Ding~!"
System Announcement (China): Congratulations to Yi Nian Cheng Mo's team for completing the Demon Ant Calamity Instance Mission. The Instance Mission Completion Time Rankings are now open. Players may check the system rankings.
Another system announcement sounded, causing a huge uproar across the Heavenly Tribulation Continent.
"Th-this..." Ye Luo looked utterly stunned as he listened to the system announcements.
"Don't worry. The Six-Player Instance and the two-player instance are ranked separately. After all, they aren't comparable," Yan Hua Yi Leng said. Then, as if thinking of something, she muttered to herself, "We only just reached the queen ant, yet the Yinian Family has already completed the mission. They're rather fast."
"Yan Hua, could it be that the six-player instance requires roughly the same number of demon ants as the two-player instance?" Ye Luo asked.
"Yi Nian Cheng Mo and the others are all level 15. Logically, they should kill monsters faster than us. Since they completed the mission so quickly, perhaps it is just as you said: they also needed to kill 100 worker ants, 20 soldier ants, 3 male ants, and 1 queen ant." Yan Hua Yi Leng nodded. Remembering something, she added, "I know everyone in the Yinian Family. Yi Nian Yao Yao is a priest, while Yi Nian Cheng Yao is a knight. Those two have almost no attack power. The only reason they could complete the mission so quickly must be because of that."
As she spoke, Yan Hua Yi Leng checked the system. When she saw the instance mission completion time rankings, her beautiful eyes lit up, and understanding entered her voice. "A six-player instance on normal difficulty. No wonder they completed the Instance Mission so quickly."
Ye Luo also saw the rankings and let out a long breath. "So it was only normal difficulty. Those people are clever—they completed the mission first to secure the rewards."
"But this Yinian Family is impressive too. Being the first among countless players to complete the Instance Mission is enough to show that they are no ordinary people," Ye Luo added.
"If my guess is correct, the major guilds must have coordinated beforehand, exchanging information about the instances, missions, and difficulties they intended to choose." Yan Hua Yi Leng suddenly said. Seeing Ye Luo's shocked yet thoughtful expression, she nodded. "That's right. This avoids conflicts, and the rewards will mostly be claimed by the major guilds."
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