A Sudden Turn

Suddenly, in just a few minutes, the two giant beasts, which had been gathering their strength, were locked in a fierce battle. Mud churned and acid splashed everywhere. Both sides used all their trump cards, and in the end, they could not determine a winner, both ending up with wounds all over their bodies.

Lu Heng lay prone on a thick horizontal branch, his feet wedged into the uneven grooves of the bark to steady himself.

His gaze was fixed on the muddy line where the woodland met the swamp, and he dared not relax for even a moment.

At the edge of the woodland, half of the Ant Queen's body was sunk into the blackened humus.

Four or five deep cracks appeared on its carapace, and clear acid dripped down the cracks, drop by drop hitting the surface of the soil. Each drop corroded a tiny pit, which covered the insect's body. Its long tentacles hung limply on the ground, only twitching slightly after a long while. It was clear that most of its strength had been exhausted.

Surrounding the Ant Queen side without a single one daring to advance.

Separated by a patch of semi-frozen mud in a swampy depression, the Slippery Fish King's body was mostly submerged in the cold mud mixed with melted snow.

The sticky substance that protected its body from corrosion and Insect Swarm bites had long been worn away by the worker ants. Its grayish-brown exoskeleton was covered with large patches of reddish-brown burns, the flesh at the edges of the burns dry and slightly curled. Previously, when the swarm of ants attacked, it would violently shake its body every ten seconds or so to shake off the dead insects crawling all over it. Now, its movements were slow and clumsy, and even moving its body slightly required a great deal of energy.

The two Bronze Tier beasts had been locked in combat for a long time, and now both were exhausted and weakened.

Lu Heng's heart stirred, and he used his mind to access the Storage Space of his Wristband. The Bronze Hunting Blade he was holding in his palm disappeared into thin air.

The next second, the heavy Giant-Feather Crossbow landed in his palm out of thin air, its weight pressing down from his forearm to his shoulder. He reached up and pulled a polished arrow from the quiver on the side of the crossbow, clicking it into the firing slot. His fingertips brushed against the cold, sharp metal arrowhead, the icy touch particularly distinct.

He quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

If these two beasts were at their peak, with their defenses intact, this Giant-Feather Crossbow might not have been able to strike a fatal blow. But the situation is completely different now. The Ant Queen's carapace is cracked, creating a real gap in its defenses, Slippery Fish King has lost its protective layer of mucus, exposing its soft flesh directly to the outside, making it full of vulnerable points.

If you find the right shooting angle, one arrow can severely damage one of them.

The moment this thought popped into his head, Lu Heng's heart skipped a beat.

These two strange beasts are the highest level of existence in this swamp. With their shells, flesh, and the cores hidden within them, the enormous profits are right in front of them, making it hard to suppress the restlessness in their hearts.

Lu Heng rested the crossbow on a forked branch in front of him, exerted a little force in his arm, and vaguely aimed the crosshair at the area with the most dense burns on the side of the Slippery Fish King. His finger rested lightly on the trigger, but he hesitated to pull it.

The hidden risks are also clearly visible.

If an arrow fails to deliver a fatal blow, the Ant Queen and the Slippery Fish King, who were fighting to the death, will instantly set aside their grudges and both see themselves on the tree as a common threat. The swarm of ants can climb up the rough tree trunk, and the Slippery Fish King's massive, heavy body will slam into the trunk with all its might. If either of these two dangers occurs, he will have no chance of escape.

Should we take a gamble and make a move, or quietly lie low and observe?

Lu Heng subconsciously held his breath, deliberately suppressing the rise and fall of his chest, trying not to make the slightest sound.

Having survived in the wilderness for so long, he always believed in the importance of stability and never took risks without being absolutely certain. But the current situation of mutual destruction was too rare. He didn't know when he would encounter two Bronze Tier beasts fighting each other and exhausting their strength again.

With a slight exertion of the fingertips, the bowstring was pulled back a little further, causing the crossbow to sink slightly.

If we wait a little longer, until both of them are a bit more exhausted and their reaction time is a beat slower, we'll have a better chance of making a move.

Just as he was intently watching the battlefield below, secretly waiting for his opportunity, the light above him suddenly dimmed in one section.

It wasn't the dimness caused by clouds blocking the sunlight, but a long, narrow black shadow that glided quickly past close to the air currents at high altitudes. There was no sound of wings flapping throughout the entire process. The shadow swept across the tree trunk where it was hiding, and the entire swampy mud was briefly covered in shadow.

Lu Heng instinctively tensed up, immediately using his mind to lower the half-drawn Giant-Feather Crossbow to avoid revealing his position by the metallic reflection. Only after performing this survival instinctive action did he raise his wrist and aim at the dark figure high in the sky.

A faint white light flashed across the surface of the Wristband, and simple text appeared directly in view.

[Bronze Tier - Black-Winged Kite]

Inhabiting high altitudes in mountains and forests, they are adept at gliding for extended periods using air currents, offering a wide field of vision. Their main diet consists of rodents, large insects, and small swamp creatures. They are cautious by nature and will not provoke large, healthy beasts, preferring to wait for their prey to weaken before launching a surprise attack.

It turned out to be a bird of prey that inhabited this mountain, just like himself, eyeing the two exhausted beasts below, hoping to snatch them up.

Lu Heng quickly looked away and down at the battlefield where the mud met the swamp. The scene before him made him freeze on the tree branch.

Just moments before, the Ant Queen and the Slippery Fish King had been locked in a fierce standoff, refusing to yield an inch, but the moment the Black-Winged Kite swooped into their attack range, they simultaneously made their response.

There was no distinction between first and last, no hesitation, no reaction time difference, as if the rhythm of action had been agreed upon in advance.

The Ant Queen's six legs slammed into the decaying soil beneath her, her heavy body arching forward. High-concentration acid rapidly gathered in her body towards her mouthparts, and her entire head turned completely towards the air. Her six legs spread apart to the sides, firmly blocking all the raptor's footholds.

The Slippery Fish King slammed its thick tail against the mud in the swamp, its massive body rising halfway up with the force of the impact, splashing mud and water all around it. It faced the swooping black shadow head-on, without any intention of dodging or retreating.

Throughout their battle, both sides deliberately held back their strength. The Ant Queen relied solely on a massive number of worker ants to continuously wear down her opponent, rarely launching a full-scale attack herself; the Slippery Fish King guarded its own swamp territory and never ventured into the woodland.

Faced with the Black-Winged Kite descending from the sky, the two beasts attacked without holding back, each move displaying a ruthless attitude of exchanging injury for injury and desperately intercepting the enemy.

The Ant Queen's abdomen suddenly contracted inward, and a thick stream of acid sprayed straight towards the Black-Winged Kite's inevitable descent route. The elite soldier ants waiting nearby quickly spread out and formed a blockade line on the ground, completely cutting off any possibility for the raptor to land and maneuver.

Using the force of the mud bounce, the Slippery Fish King briefly surged upwards, its hard, heavy head crashing straight into the dark shadow in the air. Completely disregarding the possibility of being scratched by the raptor's talons, it was determined to force back and severely injure this predator that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

One insect was responsible for blocking the way and cutting off the retreat route from a distance, while the other fish was responsible for frontal assault and blocking dive attacks. The two cooperated seamlessly, and every positioning and every counterattack was connected without any gaps.

The Black-Winged Kite clearly hadn't expected to be surrounded by two strange beasts. Its swooping momentum abruptly halted, its wings flapping rapidly as it desperately veered several meters to the side, barely dodging the corrosive acid that was splashing towards it. Its wingtips were still wet from the splattering mud, and its entire body briefly lost its balance, completely disrupting its descent rhythm.

Just as it was about to flap its wings and rise to escape the encirclement, the Ant Queen's long, spiky tentacles swept across, the tips of which were coated with highly corrosive acid. They grazed the edge of the raptor's claws, almost binding its limbs.

A chill ran down Lu Heng's spine as he felt a wave of fear wash over him. If he had been a few seconds slower in putting away his crossbow and concealing his weapon, and had pulled the trigger a few seconds earlier, he would be the one hiding in the tree now, surrounded and attacked by the two Bronze Tier beasts.

According to the instinct for survival, when two creatures fight, if a third party rashly steps forward to seize the benefits, the two originally hostile parties will inevitably put aside their personal grudges and join forces to resist the outsider. He has always understood this principle, and the current situation is not unusual.

Lu Heng's brows furrowed as he watched the battlefield unfold for a moment longer.

Something about the whole thing felt off.

They were mortal enemies who had fought for half a day, waging a fierce battle for territory and clan resources. Their temporary alliance to defend against the enemy should have been chaotic, with each of them on guard, their pace of attack varying, and they might even have subconsciously been wary of the opponents beside them.

However, the Ant Queen and the Slippery Fish King were completely different. Their roles were clearly defined: who would remotely blockade the airspace, who would intercept the attack head-on, and who would command the Insect Swarm to block the ground. All their actions were seamlessly coordinated, as if they were working together to defend against an invading predator for the first time.

A vague guess, unsupported by evidence, surfaced in my mind.

Are there birds of prey constantly lurking above this swamp, waiting to swoop down and snatch loot? Every time the Ant Queen and the Slippery Fish King are exhausted from their battle, they are ambushed by their own kind. Over time, even though they are mortal enemies, they have developed an instinctive ability to cooperate and block the high-altitude predators.

A cold wind, carrying the pungent smell of acid and the stench of rotten mud, blew against his face, making his throat tighten slightly. Lu Heng pressed his body even closer to the thick tree trunk, completely concealing his entire outline, and even suppressed his breathing to the lowest possible level, so as not to reveal any movement that might attract the attention of the strange beast.

The opportunity that was just before now appears to be a deadly trap hidden everywhere.

The rules of survival deep within the swamp are far more complex than the visible territorial battles.

In mid-air, the Black-Winged Kite circled and dodged incessantly, its wings beating rapidly, creating a piercing whistling sound. Several black feathers fell, drifting lightly to the muddy ground below. It tried several times, but could not break through the tight blockade formed by the two strange beasts on the ground. The Ant Queen constantly adjusted its position, continuously spewing acid to seal off the entire airspace; the Slippery Fish King moved its massive body back and forth, firmly guarding the core area of the swamp, not giving the raptors even the slightest opportunity to land and launch a sneak attack.

Lu Heng lay on the branch, completely suppressing the thought of using the Giant-Feather Crossbow. Looking at the two overlords below, whose movements were perfectly synchronized, a chill ran down his spine. The open battle was nothing to fear; the subtle balance of power beneath the struggle was the true killing move hidden in this swamp.