Just as he sank into despair, something unexpected happened!
Wen Ruxue pointed at the mountaintop in horror. "Look! What's that?"
At the far end of the valley, a pitch-black "giant ball" rolled down from the mountaintop with the force of wind and thunder. All around it, countless unknown creatures formed a dense torrent.
The "giant ball" chased the Elf Deer, which had long since broken free, down into the valley. Only when it drew closer did they realize it was a mass of Army Ants. The larger ones were as thick as a segment of a thumb, and even the smaller ones were the size of a fingernail.
The Army Ants swept through the valley like a flood, leaving not a blade of grass alive in their wake. The six Tree Demons braced themselves against a formidable enemy, their trunks shaking violently as though they wanted to climb out of the soil, but their movements were too slow. In the blink of an eye, the "giant ball" was upon them.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Branches instantly bound the Elf Deer they had been protecting in place.
Crash!
The "giant ball" suddenly burst apart behind the Elf Deer, and the densely packed Army Ants surrounded it in an instant.
What followed was a horrifying sight. Army Ants instantly covered the Elf Deer's body. Their jaws were incredibly powerful; never mind flesh and blood, they thought nothing of stones as hard as iron. The flesh on the Elf Deer's body vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye, and its agonized screams tore through the entire valley.
The screams lasted less than a minute before abruptly stopping. Soon, the Army Ants scattered and began attacking the Tree Demons.
The branches that had seemed so invincible moments ago were quickly covered in Army Ants. Everywhere they looked, ants blanketed everything.
To fight the Army Ants, the six Tree Demons had no choice but to release Jiang Hao and the others and throw everything into the battle.
Branches danced through the air, lashing the swarms again and again. Splat, splat, splat!
The sight of them bursting into goo was unbelievably satisfying-a veritable feast for the eyes!
The Army Ants refused to back down, using their sheer numbers to attack relentlessly. The two Tree Demons at the front, in particular, were overrun by ants. Working their way upward from the ground, they showed exactly what it meant to pluck every feather from a passing goose: the bark covering their trunks vanished in moments.
Meanwhile, Jiang Hao and the others faced a crisis of their own. The Army Ants were not merely attacking the Tree Demons. Anything edible that stood in their way became a target for devouring.
This was no simulation game where they could start over after dying.
As the Army Ants tightened their encirclement, Jiang Hao, the others, and their Beast Pets could only huddle together. Surrounded by so many Army Ants, Chubby grew especially agitated and uneasy, howling as he stamped with all four limbs, crushing the approaching ants into pulp.
Hen and Eggs in Ruin! Fireball!
Big Hen settled straight onto Jiang Hao's shoulder. Rather than striking the Army Ants directly, the Fireballs blasted the ground at their feet, creating two fires whose roaring flames kept the ants from coming any closer.
"Ants are afraid of fire! Nice one, Hao! Have your Beast Pet throw Fireballs behind us. Let's get out of here!"
"All right!"
Once ten seconds had passed, Fireballs cleared their path, and Jiang Hao and the others fought as they retreated. But there was still one place they had overlooked: overhead.
The Tree Demons shook their trunks violently, and Army Ants fell like dumplings dropping into a pot.
"Ah!"
Chubby suddenly began leaping about like a madman. A moment later, he reached for his neck and tore off an ant along with blood and flesh, cursing furiously. "Bite me, will you? I'll crush you, you little bastard! Die!"
Then he ripped the Army Ant in his hand in two.
Wen Ruxue was next. She frantically slapped at her left arm, where an Army Ant had bitten straight through her clothes. Frightened beyond worrying about her fear of the creature, she brought her palm down hard and crushed it, but more Army Ants rained from above.
The two could only scream and flail their arms.
Only Jiang Hao remained unharmed, because Big Hen ate every Army Ant that fell toward him.
It took more than ten minutes before the team finally managed to escape the encirclement.
"Ruxue, heal those Tree Demons a little so they can buy us more time. Hehe!"
Soon, the Seven-Colored Spirit Butterfly circled above the six Tree Demons. Whether its Healing Art worked on them or not, it certainly rubbed salt into their wounds.
If the Tree Demons could speak, they would surely have cursed them out: You bastards! Thanks a damn lot for making me take even longer to die!
The three of them, along with Chubby, escaped the valley in a bedraggled state. Although Jiang Hao had not been bitten by the Army Ants, his injuries were the worst. A piece of branch was still lodged at the top of his thigh, covered in rootlike barbs that had sunk deep into his flesh.
Wen Ruxue busied herself treating everyone's injuries, but when Jiang Hao's turn came, she simply could not bring herself to do it. In the end, Chubby stepped in to help.
"Wait. Find me a branch first."
After putting the branch in his mouth, Jiang Hao realized Chubby was even more nervous than he was. Sweat covered his forehead, and his hands would not stop trembling.
"Hao, c-can I pull it out now?"
Jiang Hao nodded and closed his eyes.
Then he felt a piercing pain in his thigh, as though someone were slicing it open layer by layer with a knife.
"Ngh!" He let out a muffled groan.
"D-done, Hao!"
Jiang Hao opened his eyes and saw strands of his own flesh still hanging from the branch in Chubby's hand. Wen Ruxue hurriedly healed him. The branch was exceedingly strange-it was still twitching, like a lizard's severed tail.
"Hao, what do we do now? Head back?"
"Yes, but back to the valley. I want to see whether the Elf Deer's beast crystal is still there."
He simply could not stomach returning to Wuji City empty-handed. After suffering so much, coming away with nothing would leave him with no face if word got out.
"No, it's too dangerous! Hao, listen to me. Let's just leave!"
Wen Ruxue also tried to persuade him. "That's right. As long as the green hills remain, we'll never lack firewood. If we have to, we can come back tomorrow."
Who knew whether they would encounter another rare demonic beast tomorrow? Surely those Army Ants would not stay in the valley forever?
"Wait here for me. I'll just go down and take a look. Once I've made sure it's safe, there'll still be time to search."
With that, he returned to the valley alone. The battle between the Tree Demons and the Army Ants had long since ended. At the far end of the valley, only a pile of Elf Deer bones remained. The six Tree Demons and the Army Ants were nowhere to be seen.
Overjoyed, Jiang Hao hurried over to the Elf Deer's remains, crouched down, and began searching. Before long, he actually found a beast crystal bearing a trace of blood among the bones. It was only two fingers in size, shaped like a six-sided crystal, and so clear that not a single impurity could be seen. Beast crystals came in different colors; the greater their purity and hardness, the better their quality.
Jiang Hao picked up the beast crystal and examined it in puzzlement. Strange. Given how Army Ants behaved, they shouldn't have left any trace of blood behind. But his joy soon swept that puzzlement aside.
"Found it?" Chubby's voice came from behind him.
"Didn't I tell you to wait up on the mountain?"
"What are you talking about? How could we let you come down here and risk your life alone without worrying? Oh! Is that the Elf Deer's beast crystal? That's fantastic!"
The two gathered around Jiang Hao and finally saw the beast crystal in his hand.
Jiang Hao wiped the trace of blood off the beast crystal and said, "We've got it. Let's hurry back to Wuji City. Any later, and we might miss the entry cutoff."
Their trip to Wu Ji Mountain had been fraught with one danger after another, but fortunately, they had gotten what they wanted.
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