Thump, thump, thump—
Leorio could clearly feel his heart pounding, his body growing hotter, and sweat pouring down his face until his clothes clung damply to his skin.
Only five minutes had passed since the Ant King appeared, yet in that time, he had nearly driven their team into a desperate situation.
The Ant King BOSS, modeled after Meruem, had opened with Tail Whip, wiping out Pokkle's entire HP bar with three consecutive strikes before he could even react.
Pokkle had been forced to teleport from Elena's palace to the Teleportation Point nearest the battlefield, then use the spell card Magnetism to rush back.
That whole process had taken almost five minutes.
Before Pokkle returned, the Ant King had taken out Gon, who had been holding the front line, reducing their team by another member.
However, the team's dwindling numbers weren't actually outside the battle plan Mihai had designed in advance.
Under normal circumstances, none of them could beat the Ant King in a head-on fight. But Greed Island Z's game mechanics gave them a chance.
They would use their collected cards to attack the Ant King directly or inflict status ailments, steadily chipping away at his long, thick HP bar.
The team members would then take turns fighting the Ant King until they ran out of cards that could bring them straight to the battlefield, such as Magnetism.
When the Ant King's HP bar was depleted, their team would win as long as at least one member was still "alive" on the battlefield.
But if every team member was killed before the Ant King died, their challenge would be a failure.
All of the Ant King's stats would reset, and they would have to face him at full strength the next time they challenged him.
That meant the more