Hope in a Dead End

Knowing their weakness gave the hunters confidence, and they were able to deal with the situation much more calmly.

Deng Yuanlong took the lead and charged forward, his axe flashing up and down, instantly cleaving two Soldier Ant in two. Then he placed his shield on the ground, which transformed and unfolded into a transparent shield that almost covered the entire corridor, blocking the flames spray from the numerous Soldier Ant.

This Great Shield is actually a Defense Treasure Item!

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xu Hao drew his bow and shot an arrow, specifically aiming at the Subpharyngeal Nerve Ganglion the thorax. He had specially replaced the Armor-Piercing Arrow with an armor-piercing one, and with the help of his internal energy, each arrow pierced the carapace and struck the vital point. In an instant, several Soldier Ant collapsed to the ground, convulsing and losing their Combat Power.

After the Soldier Ant finished spewing flames, they rushed over, using their physical strength as a shield. Even though Deng Yuanlong was tall and strong, he couldn't withstand the onslaught of so many monsters and was forced to retreat repeatedly.

Just then, several beams of light shone from Bai Renxin's fingertips and struck Deng Yuanlong, instantly invigorating the two-meter-tall giant and greatly increasing his strength. With a roar, he managed to withstand the shield!

Bai Renxin's abilities belong to the Blessing Type within the Spell Faction. She excels at healing, but can also apply other Buff Status.

Seeing that the situation had reached a stalemate, Dong Huicheng and Han Xiaoying rushed forward. The transparent barrier was a one-way blockade, and the two of them stood behind the shield, slashing and hacking at the ants, taking down several more!

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the twenty-odd Soldier Ant were dead or wounded, and the remaining few seemed to be afraid and turned to run away.

"Chase them! Wipe them all out!" Dong Huicheng was already bloodthirsty. With a single command, several men chased after the fleeing Soldier Ant.

Only Bai Renxin, who was at the back, hesitated for a moment. She frowned, then looked back... The masked boy who had always been following them didn't seem to have come this time...

"Benevolent Heart, keep up!" His companion called from ahead. Bai Renxin was startled, but then felt that he couldn't let such a good opportunity slip by, and his blood boiled as he chased after them.

The group followed the Soldier Ant around two corners and arrived at a wide open space. This open space was a Dead Alley, about thirty or forty meters square, with something that looked like a plant growing in the middle. It was more than two meters tall, with segmented branches resembling insect antennae, Red Tumor the size of a human head hanging from the top, slowly pulsating.

The Soldier Ant that arrived here seemed to realize that there was nowhere to escape, so they could only fight back desperately, and were eventually wiped out by the hunters.

After killing all the Soldier Ant, the group was panting heavily. Dong Huicheng noticed the fleshy lump in the middle of the open space. Watching it throb, he felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

"Something's wrong... Oh no!"

With his last shred of reason, Dong Huicheng swung his greatsword and shattered the tumor with a sickening thud. Crimson liquid gushed out, and at the same time, the tentacle began to tremble violently. Everyone felt as if their heads were about to explode and let out painful roars.

"Benevolent Heart, quick, release the Soothing!" Dong Huicheng shouted. Bai Renxin clutched his head, trembling all over, but still obeyed the captain's order, trying his best to circulate his energy and release a group of Soothing abilities.

As a hazy ray of light shone down, everyone's headaches eased considerably, and their minds became much clearer.

"What just happened?" Xu Hao rubbed his temples. "My head feels dizzy, and all I can see is prey and slaughter..."

"We've been tricked..." Bai Renxin gritted his teeth and said, "These ants have mental abilities, which weren't mentioned in the data!"

"My body feels so sore..." Han Xiaoying gasped for breath, "That killing just now seems to have depleted my energy particularly quickly..."

"Let's go!" Dong Huicheng grabbed his greatsword. "There's something wrong here!"

Without even bothering to collect the Soldier Ant ' corpses, the group immediately ran back, but just as they reached the exit, a burst of flames shot towards them!

"Get behind me!" Deng Yuanlong shouted, raising his Great Shield to cover the retreat of the group. Soldier Ant emerged from the cave entrance, even more numerous than before, and they worked in an orderly fashion, taking turns spraying flames, giving the hunters no chance to retaliate!

Seeing this, the hunters' hearts sank. This was clearly a trap set by the Firemane Ant, leading them into Dead Alley and trapping them like turtles in a jar!

Who would have thought that these seemingly lowly insects possessed such high intelligence?

"There are quite a few, about fifty or sixty of them..." Dong Huicheng observed from behind Deng Yuanlong: "But it's alright, once they've finished spraying, we can counterattack. We don't need to annihilate them all, just fight our way out and escape from here!"

"Damn it, this isn't even a blue-level quest!" Deng Yuanlong cursed. "Just the sheer number of level three monsters is troublesome enough, but they can also set traps and use Mental Shock... This has to be at least a purple-level difficulty!"

"Complaining won't do any good now!" Han Xiaoying said reproachfully. "Listen to the captain, escaping alive is the only thing that matters!"

"Almost there!" Dong Huicheng had been carefully observing the ants, noting which batch had already spewed flames and which hadn't, and he remembered it all.

"This is the last batch that's breathing fire." Dong Huicheng gripped his sword tightly. "Once they've finished, we'll attack!"

As the flames gradually died down, and Yuanlong's shield flickered a few times, its energy was just exhausted.

"Last chance! Charge!" Dong Huicheng brandished his greatsword, ready to charge, when suddenly a violent tremor came from beneath his feet!

"What's going on?" The group lost their balance and looked down to see the concrete floor bulging and cracking!

"Scatter quickly!" Xu Hao, whose senses were the sharpest, warned, "Something terrible is about to come out!"

Almost simultaneously, a large hole was blasted open in the ground, and a giant claw burst out of the soil!

The group quickly scattered, but Deng Yuanlong couldn't dodge in time and was struck in the back by the giant claw. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground. Xu Hao, who was closest, rushed over and helped him up. "Are you alright...?"

"Thank goodness... well, I must have broken a few ribs..." Deng Yuanlong said through gritted teeth.

At that moment, the ground completely cracked open, and a giant worm crawled out.

This insect's body structure is similar to that of Soldier Ant, but it is several times larger, with thicker limbs, a more robust carapace, and more and longer spines. If Soldier Ant are bulls, then this giant insect that has broken through the ground is a colossal elephant!

Unlike the black and red shells of ordinary Soldier Ant, this giant insect is dark purple all over, adorned with golden stripes, giving it an eerie beauty!

"A new species of insect... something not mentioned in the data!" Dong Huicheng's eyes widened in fury. Seeing Deng Yuanlong injured and his teammates' formation disrupted by the giant insect, while on the other side, more than fifty Soldier Ant also took the opportunity to rush up, forcing everyone into a corner and putting them in imminent danger.

Are we going to be wiped out? The team I painstakingly built, the teammates I finally recruited, are all going to perish here?!

Dong Huicheng gritted his teeth and roared, "Everyone run! I'll hold it off!" He then charged forward, brandishing his greatsword!

The giant insect noticed him and swung its large claws to meet him. With a clang, the sword blade, wreathed in qi, struck the giant insect's claws, leaving a mark on its hard carapace!

Dong Huicheng hadn't given up yet. He roared and unleashed another sword strike, his aura even stronger than before. The Sword-Ray swept across, slicing several Soldier Ant in two!

"Captain... you're amazing!" Dong Huicheng's frantic attacks held back the giant worm, giving the other team members a chance to catch their breath. Despite their injuries, they broke through the encirclement of the Soldier Ant and regrouped, their eyes filled with shock as they looked at their captain!

"This is... When did Boss's Qi become so formidable?" Watching Dong Huicheng slash at the giant insect with sword after sword, his momentum constantly rising, Deng Yuanlong frowned despite the pain and said, "No, I've never seen any Foundation Establishment Realm with such terrifying Sword Qi!"

"This can no longer be considered the Foundation Establishment Realm!" Bai Renxin, the most advanced among them, exclaimed, his eyes wide. "He's breaking through to the Heart Refining Realm!"

"A breakthrough?" Han Xiaoying exclaimed in surprise, "Boss has been cultivating in the Foundation Establishment Realm for so many years, and he's finally about to break through? Isn't that a good thing? Can he even break through right before battle?"

"Of course it's not a good thing!" Bai Renxin gritted his teeth and said, "Breakthroughs in the Heart Refining Realm are prone to accidents, requiring thorough preparation and being in the best possible condition. His current state is clearly wrong; his internal energy is increasing uncontrollably. I'm afraid he won't even be able to overcome his own hurdle..."

Upon closer inspection, everyone realized that although the captain's momentum was high and his attacks were sharp, his moves were completely disorganized, almost bordering on madness. Although he told them to run, the violent Sword Qi did not create a path for them; instead, it forced them to retreat deeper into the cave.

The captain is on the verge of Qi Deviation!

Just as everyone was worried, Dong Huicheng's sword flashed and completely severed one of the giant insect's large pincers. His qi also erupted to an unprecedented level, and the soaring Sword-Ray almost covered half of the field. Wherever it passed, ordinary Soldier Ant fell down as if they were being mowed down!

However, just as he was about to press his advantage and kill the enemy in one fell swoop, he suddenly felt a sweet taste in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood!

The protective aura emanating from his body flickered a few times before dimming.

Taking advantage of this moment, the giant insect opened its mouth and spat out a huge fireball, which hit Dong Huicheng and exploded!

The last bit of his protective energy was completely shattered, and Dong Huicheng flew backward in black smoke. Han Xiaoying rushed forward and hugged her captain, only to find that he had severe burns all over his body, and the sword in his hand had broken in the explosion because it could not withstand the Gao Qiang of the slash.

At this point, there were still more than thirty Soldier Ant and a giant insect with one of its large pincers missing. The five-person team was trapped in a dead end with no chance of escape.

"This is it, we're completely finished..." Xu Hao's hand gripping the bow trembled slightly. "What do we do?"

"What else can we do?" Deng Yuanlong gritted his teeth, picked up the axe with a heavy heart, and said, "We're going to die anyway, might as well fight to the death and take a few stinking ants down with us!"

"I don't want to die..." Han Xiaoying gripped her twin swords, her eyes reddening. "Before entering the Savage Wilderness yesterday, I told my Mom I was going to make a lot of money and buy her a birthday present next month!" The girl, who had just been full of hope, lost her backbone as her captain fell.

"Calm down, everyone!"

Although Bai Renxin was young, she possessed the highest level of skill. When the captain fell, she took the initiative to shoulder the responsibility.

"This cave isn't big, only a few dozen meters across!" She used Healing Spell to stabilize Dong Huicheng's injuries while gazing at the cave entrance behind the swarm of insects. "As long as we can find a way to break through, there's still hope for survival!"

"No... there's no hope..." Xu Hao said dejectedly, "I heard it, something's coming from the doorway again..."

"What?" The group was stunned and looked towards the door. Suddenly, they saw several Soldier Ant scatter and fly away. A black shadow darted out with incredible speed, leaping into the air and flying towards the giant insect like a cannonball!

Bang!

With a crisp sound, the giant insect, weighing several tons, was knocked to the side by this small black shadow. With a loud bang, it crushed several Soldier Ant to death, and cracks appeared on its carapace after being hit!

It wasn't insects that came?

The group was taken aback. Upon closer inspection, they saw that the dark figure had bounced off, somersaulted in mid-air, and landed on the ground. It turned out to be a young man wearing a mask!

(End of this chapter)