Gu Ding's Close-Quarters Battle with the Insect Race
The swarm chosen by Sea Emperor was a small swarm, consisting of only about thirty ordinary Two-Star Soldier Rank.
However, according to what Gatins said before, these ordinary Two-Star Soldier Rank insect beasts are as Combat Strength as Three-Star Low-rank Gods.
The reason this level was chosen is that Dokter and Elsa's strongest Combat Strength is only three and a half stars; they simply cannot break through the defenses of stronger insect beasts. If Liliath hadn't relied on her firearms, she would also have been able to deal with Two-Star Soldier Rank insect beasts at most.
Two-Star Soldier Rank pose no challenge to the trio of Gu Ding, Bigge, Robert, and Tagore and their cat.
The four acted swiftly, easily eliminating more than thirty insect beasts, leaving only three.
Dokter, Elsa, and Liliath each chose one and charged forward. Liliath, in order to improve her combat skills, specially adjusted the power of her gun to the three-star level, which was barely enough to break through the insect beast's defenses.
Dokter fired over ten throwing knives in quick succession. Without the aid of God Skill, their attack power was only around two and a half stars, which shouldn't have been enough to break through the defense. However, by repeatedly attacking the same spot, he quickly shattered the insectoid beast's shell and killed his opponent.
Elsa charged forward wielding her giant axe, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the enormous insect, which was seven or eight times her size. After a fierce battle, she seized an opportunity and cleaved the insect's head in two.
Liliath, meanwhile, was retreating rapidly while firing her gun. Both shots hit the same eye of the insect, and before the insect could react, its brains splattered and it died.
"It's not difficult at all. Just attack their weak points, and they'll be dead in two or three hits at most," Liliath complained. "It's all your fault for clearing out the swarm. You guys shouldn't have followed the three of us. You made us feel no pressure at all. Besides, you could have gone and killed the five-star insect beasts. There was no need to waste time here."
"You can handle a small number, but a large number might not be safe." Gu Ding was still somewhat uneasy.
"I'll stay," Robert suddenly said. "We Mechanical Race are different from humans. This kind of training is useless to us. Besides, I've absorbed a lot of source stones during this time, and my cultivation level is already comparable to Five-Star Low-rank God of your humans. Even if I kill a five-star insect beast, I will only get 1 point per beast. The accumulation speed is too slow. It's better to stay and take care of them."
Gu Ding had no doubt about Robert's strength. Long before Robert became a god, during his battle with the Witch Bodhi, Gu Ding had discovered that Robert's power far exceeded his expectations. With Robert watching over Lily and the others, he felt relatively at ease.
"Alright, don't turn off the communicators. Sea Emperor will keep in touch with you. Just follow the route he gives you." Gu Ding nodded. In addition to Robert, Sea Emperor would also keep an eye on their movements, allowing them to avoid the powerful swarm of insects and humans.
"I'm going straight to the five-star area, what about you?" Gu Ding turned to look at Bigge and Tagore.
"I'm going to the five-star area too. We'll split up once we get there." Bigge nodded. At their level, there was no longer any need to team up; acting alone would be more comfortable.
Tagore then jumped onto Gu Ding's shoulder to make his stance clear.
The Sea Emperor directly provided a map showing a straight route. After saying goodbye to Lily and the others, the two of them and the cat quickly left.
The map provided by the Sea Emperor shows that four-star and five-star insectoid beasts are no longer within the city. This ruined city only contains three-star and lower-level insectoid beasts. As long as you don't leave the city, you're unlikely to encounter insectoid beasts of four stars or higher.
Gu Ding and Bigge quickly left the city's perimeter, but they could still see the city's former prosperity from the scattered high-rise buildings.
The straight-line distance given by the Sea Emperor naturally didn't avoid the areas where the Zerg were gathered. Whenever they encountered resistance, Gu Ding's Devouring Flame would instantly sweep out, ending the battle in an instant.
After devouring five waves of insect swarms, Gu Ding's Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body amplified slightly, and they finally arrived at a desert on the outskirts of the city. This desert was the area within the ruins where a large number of Five-Star Soldier Rank insectoids had gathered.
"I'm sending you the marked map now!" Sea Emperor had already clearly seen the distribution of the Zerg in this area. After sending the map to Bigge and Tagore, he projected it into the void and explained to the three of them, "The areas with white dots are ordinary Five-Star Soldier Rank gathering areas, the yellow dots are special types, and the red dots are Elite Bug. The black skull is a Zerg hive. Do not venture into this area under any circumstances; there are at least 300,000 Zerg beasts inside."
"There are eleven insect nests in this desert?!" Gu Ding was also somewhat terrified.
"Yes, this means there are eleven different insectoid races in this desert. I just checked, and the smallest insect hive has more than 320,000 insectoid beasts, the largest has more than 1.2 million, and most of the others have around 500,000." The Sea Emperor continued, "The awakening of any insectoid beast in any hive would be a huge disaster for the trial participants here. Once Insect Tide breaks out, it is estimated that fewer than twenty people will be able to hold out until human rescue arrives."
"Don't the insects in the nest go out on their own?" Gu Ding asked.
"The insects in the hive are usually in a deep sleep because food is scarce in this area, so this state of sleep allows them to live longer. When they feel unbearable hunger, they will wake up and come out to forage for food. The roaming insect beasts and swarms we see now have all been awakened by hunger. Once they find food and are full, they will return to the hive to continue sleeping."
"Insect beasts from the same hive will form teams if they encounter each other while foraging. Most different types of insect beasts will fight each other and devour each other's corpses after encountering each other, but a few can coexist peacefully. For example, the Gewa Race and the Red Scythe Race, these two types of insect beasts have very similar genes and are not much different in appearance, so they will not fight when they meet. It is because the insect race has this kind of competitive state no matter where they go that they are stronger than humans."
The Sea Emperor's words taught Gu Ding and Bigge a lot of new things.
"Shall we split into three groups?" Gu Ding looked at Bigge and Tagore.
Gu Ding chose to go straight ahead. Tagore jumped off Gu Ding's right shoulder and disappeared to the right front in a few leaps. Seeing this, Bigge chose a position to the left front.
For Gu Ding and Bigge, they weren't even demigods. The leap in rank was based on One-Star Low-rank God, and reaching the Five-Star Soldier Rank Zerg involved four ranks, with a base Merit Points of 10,000 points per unit. However, calculated five times, that's 50,000 points per unit. Tagore, being a demigod, was calculated twice, resulting in 20,000 points per unit.
This doubling of merit points is an advantage for Gu Ding, but he doesn't believe he can secure the top spot in Merit Points a month from now, even though he already has over 50,000 Merit Points ahead of others.
Whether it's the top nine, the seven from the Freedom Alliance, or the few Interstellar Pirate and Interstellar Hunter whose attack power was above eight stars in the previous tests, none of them are easy to deal with.
Gu Ding possesses the ability to kill multiple targets with fire, but others may also have similar abilities. Although this area largely suppresses soul perception, it's possible that a few individuals possess other detection abilities.
Guided by the map markers, Gu Ding quickly located a small swarm of insects, consisting of over thirty Five-Star Soldier Rank. He immediately unleashed his full Combat Strength and charged into the swarm.
Even with the amplification of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body by more than four hundred times, Gu Ding's attack power was still less than five stars without using his domain. Under the effect of stacked damage, his fifth strike finally broke through the defense of the first insect beast. Even relying on his exquisite movement technique, the Five-Star Soldier Rank insects were ten times faster than humans of the same level, and their large numbers still caused damage to Gu Ding.
The sharp insect legs easily pierced through Gu Ding's defenses, which were below the five-star level. In just one exchange, Gu Ding had four wounds, three shallow and one deep. The deepest wound even pierced through Gu Ding's left arm. However, his High-Speed Regeneration ability repaired the wound instantly.
The insectoid beast attacked by Gu Ding did not suffer a fatal injury, which made Gu Ding feel challenged. The Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body accelerated, increasing its speed even further, and charged towards the swarm of insects once again.
In his second attack, he finally killed one of the insect beasts, but he also sustained nine more wounds. Unaware that the amplification effect of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body had increased further amidst its frenzied operation, Gu Ding remained oblivious.
The original amplification effect of less than 420 times was increased to 430 times without any new energy injection, and it continues to increase.
The Sea Emperor noticed this, knowing that it was due to the undigested energy within Gu Ding's body. Gu Ding's Devouring Fire had previously consumed tens of thousands of insect beasts, increasing his Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body from three hundred times to four hundred times. However, in reality, this increase consumed less than one-tenth of the energy consumed; the remaining energy was automatically stored by Gu Ding's body.
This high-intensity battle deeply activated Gu Ding's cells, further enhancing their energy capacity and naturally boosting the effects of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body.
Although Gu Ding didn't notice the changes in the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body, he felt incredibly comfortable during the battle. He charged at the swarm of insects again and again, finally annihilating them completely after nearly twenty minutes. His clothes were stained with blood, almost entirely covered in blood, but it only looked alarming; in reality, they were quickly repaired.
After slaying the swarm of insects, the Devouring Flame reappeared, engulfing all the insect corpses. Only then did Gu Ding notice that the amplification effect of his Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body had increased to 450 times.
"What's going on?"
The Sea Emperor explained the reason, which made Gu Ding's fighting spirit rise even higher. "Alright, then let's continue hunting in this way. It increased nearly fortyfold in twenty minutes. If we're lucky, we can complete the Third Level of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body today, increasing our Combat Strength by a thousandfold!" (To be continued...)