Shocking News of the First Kill

[Ant Nest Male Ant] (Quasi-Bronze Boss)

Level: 15

Physical Attack: 80—90

Defense: 160

HP: 45000

Skills: [Mandible Slash], [Ant Acid Poison Mist]

[Ant Nest Queen Ant] (Bronze Boss)

Level: 15

Physical Attack: 90—100

Defense: 180

HP: 80000

Skills: [Mandible Slash], [Ant Acid Poison Mist], [Queen Ant's Roar]

[Mandible Slash]: Attacks the enemy with powerful mandibles, dealing 140% damage. Skill cooldown: 30 seconds.

[Ant Acid Poison Mist]: Male ants or the queen ant can spray ant acid, creating a large poisonous mist area. Those caught within will be afflicted by poison, losing HP per second for 15 seconds. The effect lasts for 30 minutes. Skill cooldown: 30 minutes.

[Queen Ant's Roar]: The queen ant lets out an angry roar, emitting extremely sharp sonic waves that deal 160% damage to targets within 15 meters and stun them for 1 second. Skill cooldown: 3 minutes.

Four monsters, and the stats of just three male ants were already formidable, even stronger than the Demonized Wolf King at level 12. The queen ant's stats were even more terrifying; with Ye Luo's current defense, he could only tank about five or six of its attacks.

"The male ants' stats are very strong. With our current strength, dealing with one at a time won't be difficult, but dealing with two would be very dangerous. For safety, let's just deal with one. Fortunately, these male ants are spaced far apart, so luring them one by one shouldn't draw aggro from the others," Yan Hua Yi Leng said, quickly formulating a battle plan.

While saying this, Yan Hua Yi Leng had already moved to the flank of one of the male ants, advancing cautiously. Her movement path was quite precise, keeping as far away as possible from the other two male ants and the queen ant.

Luring the monster out wasn't too difficult for Yan Hua Yi Leng. Seeing the male ant charging aggressively, she began to retreat. After putting some distance of over ten meters between herself and the other demon ants, she started to attack. An energy arrow imbued with Ice Spirit Power whistled through the air.

With [Ice Spirit Power] upgraded to Master level, it added an extra 40 points of ice damage. Combined with the ice damage from the Flying Snow Robe and the Wolf King Cloak, Yan Hua Yi Leng's damage was very high, dealing around 400 damage with almost every hit.

Of course, this wasn't the most important part. The most crucial aspect was the 20% slow effect from [Ice Spirit Power], which significantly reduced the male ant's speed, making it only slightly faster than Yan Hua Yi Leng. However, it still couldn't catch up to her because Ye Luo had also joined the fight, positioning himself in front of it.

Yan Hua Yi Leng's damage was high, but Ye Luo's combo attacks were even higher. As a result, aggro was easily transferred. The male ant then abandoned Yan Hua Yi Leng, suddenly accelerated, and its mandibles, like long blades, struck Ye Luo's body, dealing 125 points of yellow damage.

This amount of damage was nothing to Ye Luo. A single Major Blood Recovery Pill was enough to restore most of it. He then tanked the male ant, unleashing his maximum attack output.

Yan Hua Yi Leng also turned back, firing energy arrows and casting [Frozen Arrow] every 30 seconds.

After being upgraded to Advanced, [Frozen Arrow] dealt 130% damage and could also freeze the target for 3 seconds, which bought Ye Luo some time.

However, the male ant's normal attack damage was too high, and the cooldown for the pills was 30 seconds. After tanking a few hits, Ye Luo's HP dropped below 200. If the male ant landed a critical hit at this moment, he would be almost dead.

Seeing Ye Luo's situation, Yan Hua Yi Leng quickly stepped up, allowing him to slightly reduce his attack output.

With this transfer of aggro, Ye Luo was able to quickly recover his HP. Once his HP recovered to above 360, he increased his attack intensity, unleashing his combo attacks once more.

In this way, the two took turns tanking, keeping their HP consistently above 200, and there was no significant pressure.

After fighting for a minute or two, the male ant let out a roar and sprayed a cloud of acid mist from its mouth, instantly covering an area of nearly 30 meters. It had clearly activated the [Ant Acid Poison Mist] skill.

The toxicity of the Ant Acid Poison Mist was between beginner and intermediate levels, meaning a Minor Detoxification Pill could no longer completely neutralize it. However, Ye Luo had collected plenty of Ox Gallstones and had managed to refine a few Detoxification Pills. These were Tier 2 pills and were capable of resisting the poison mist's effects.

After taking the pills, the two were unharmed within the mist and continued their efficient attacks.

"Tsk, thankfully we went to hunt wild bulls. Otherwise, we'd be in a lot of trouble in this poison mist," Ye Luo said, a rare smile gracing his lips. "Others aren't as lucky as us to have Detoxification Pills. You could say we have a significant advantage."

"The pharmacy sells Minor Detoxification Pills," Yan Hua Yi Leng suddenly said calmly. Seeing Ye Luo's surprise, she continued, "When I saw the demon ants, I anticipated ant poison, so I reminded Sister Feng to purchase some."

"Uh, you mean others might have thought of this too?" Ye Luo asked, continuing to attack.

"Mhm," Yan Hua Yi Leng replied calmly, then changed her tone. "However, only Minor Detoxification Pills can't completely immunize against the Ant Acid Poison Mist. It causes about 10 HP loss per second, so outsiders will still need to be careful when dealing with the male ants. We have an advantage in this regard too."

Nodding, Ye Luo didn't say anything further and continued attacking.

Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng were no longer the same as when they were level 10 fighting the Demonized Wolf King. They had acquired several powerful pieces of equipment and were 3 levels higher, greatly increasing their strength. Therefore, facing male ants comparable to the Wolf King didn't pose much pressure.

Three to four minutes later, the male ant fell. After a brief inspection, they found no offensive equipment like rings or necklaces, so they didn't linger. Yan Hua Yi Leng lured another male ant, and the two repeated their previous strategy, quickly engaging in battle.

Seven to eight minutes later, Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng finally defeated all three male ants. They then set their sights on the queen ant.

"The queen ant's attack power is very high. Its simple [Mandible Slash] can deal 140 damage to us. If it crits, it'll be troublesome," Yan Hua Yi Leng said, her tone much more serious as she fired energy arrows. "So, we need to keep our HP above 300. It's best not to die. Although dying in a dungeon doesn't deduct much experience and you respawn within the dungeon, it will lower our mission evaluation, resulting in lower rewards."

Dying in a dungeon is different from dying in the wild. In the wild, dying causes you to lose a level and respawn at the nearest resurrection point. For example, if Ye Luo died while killing wild bulls, he would respawn in the Novice Village.

However, dying in a dungeon is different. Death only deducts 10% of the current experience bar, meaning no matter how many times you die, you won't lose a level. You will also respawn at the point where you first entered the dungeon, allowing you to continue fighting the boss.

But doing so would cause the system to lower their mission completion evaluation, significantly reducing the rewards.

Knowing this, Ye Luo nodded and let Yan Hua Yi Leng take the main offensive. After she had aggro, he followed behind, hacking away fiercely. When he sensed the aggro about to shift, he would slightly slow down his attacks or have Yan Hua Yi Leng cast the [Frozen Arrow] skill.

The two cooperated seamlessly and possessed powerful sustain. They carefully fought the monsters, and although their HP fluctuated significantly, they managed to overcome the challenges without any major mishaps. The queen ant's HP also continued to decrease.

"Yan Hua, the queen ant's last skill is an area-of-effect attack. It deals very high damage and has a large range. We almost can't escape it," Ye Luo said when the queen ant's HP dropped to 20%, his expression grave. "So, freeze it whenever you can..."

Nodding, Yan Hua Yi Leng didn't say anything, focusing entirely on dealing with the queen ant.

"Ding~!"

System Notification (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, Yi Nian Yao Yao for completing the [Demon Ant Calamity] dungeon mission and achieving the first kill. As a reward, each of their team members will receive a level 10 class-specific Bronze weapon, one skill point, and 100 reputation points.

As Ye Luo was fighting monsters, a system prompt suddenly sounded, echoing through every corner of the China server. Even Ye Luo and Yan Hua Yi Leng, who were inside a dungeon, could hear it.

"Ding~!"

System Prompt (China): Congratulations to Yi Nian Cheng Mo's team for completing the [Demon Ant Calamity] dungeon quest. The dungeon quest time rankings have been opened. Players are invited to check the system rankings.

Another system prompt chimed, causing a huge stir on the Heavenly Tribulation Continent.

"This, this..." Listening to the system prompt, Ye Luo was full of surprise.

"Don't worry, the six-person dungeons are separate from the two-person ones. After all, there's no comparison between them," Yan Hua Yi Leng said. Then, as if thinking of something, she muttered to herself, "We've only just reached the Ant Queen here, and the Yi Nian family has already completed the quest. Their speed is a bit too fast."

"Yan Hua, could it be that the number of Demon Ants they had to kill in the six-person dungeon is similar to ours?" Ye Luo asked.

"Yi Nian Cheng Mo and the others are all level 15. Logically, they would kill more monsters than us. If they completed the quest so quickly, perhaps, as you thought, they also had to kill 100 Worker Ants, 20 Soldier Ants, 3 Male Ants, and 1 Ant Queen." Yan Hua Yi Leng nodded. Thinking of something, he added, "I know everyone in the Yi Nian family. Yi Nian Yao Yao is a Priest, and Yi Nian Cheng Yao is a Knight. These two have almost no offensive power. The only way they could have completed the quest so quickly is under these circumstances."

While speaking, Yan Hua Yi Leng was also checking the system. Upon seeing the time rankings for the dungeon quest, her beautiful eyes lit up, and her tone carried a hint of understanding. "A six-person dungeon, normal difficulty. No wonder they completed the dungeon quest so quickly."

Ye Luo also saw the leaderboard and let out a long sigh of relief. "So it was just normal difficulty. These people are quite smart, finishing the quest first to get the rewards."

"However, this Yi Nian family is also very powerful. Being the first among countless players to complete a dungeon quest is enough to show that these people are not simple," Ye Luo added.

"If my guess is correct, the major guilds should have coordinated beforehand, communicating about the quests and difficulty levels of the dungeons they chose to enter." Yan Hua Yi Leng suddenly said. Seeing Ye Luo's shocked yet thoughtful expression, she lightly nodded her head. "That's right. This way, they avoid conflicts, and the rewards will mostly be pocketed by the major guilds."