In the dry underground ant colony, swarms of ants rush in the same direction along what is a spacious cavern to them.
A silent ripple spread rapidly through the ant colony. The entire ant army swayed its antennae, constantly changing its direction of travel, while some ants dug new tunnels from the center of the burrow.
They must work together to kill the intruders who have invaded their home and protect the queen ant's safety.
Inside the cave above them, and in several other caves leading to the surface, the ground was littered with the corpses of an army of ants. A group of wizards, staffs in hand and protected by various slaves, were selecting the most valuable parts from the carcasses.
This group of people was none other than Mahad, his bodyguards, and an army of 100,000 slaves. After the battle of the mothership's arrival ended, Mahad immediately took on the task of clearing out the ant colony, leading his men and slaves into the ground.
Inside the intricate cave, without a precise route, it's almost impossible to find the queen ant.
These ants are incredibly good at digging; they've practically dug an eight-dimensional topographic map underground. Any creature that comes in here would probably get lost.
But these ants never imagined that one day their enemy would be a group of wizards, and even more so, the best of the best.
Faced with such a complex anthill, these wizards didn't even need to intervene. A considerable portion of the 100,000 slaves that Mahad brought were also underground creatures, and their abilities were no less than those of the ant army.
The burrows dug by the ant colony were useless to them, allowing Mahad the location with almost perfect accuracy. Once inside the burrow, he went straight to the queen ant, and no matter how many ants blocked his way, they could not stop these terrifying creatures.
Leo was in the middle of the group, sitting on the back of a male ant puppet, his eyes slightly closed, completely absorbed in his own mental world, regardless of what was happening in front of him.
Yaoyao stood on Leo's shoulder, her big eyes darting around. If someone were to observe Yaoyao's gaze closely, they would surely notice that her eyes were fixed on some valuable items on the ground.
Once Yaoyao has her eye on it, that item will soon disappear.
In this dark underground depths, the three thousand Yaoyao figures responsible for transporting the materials held a near-natural advantage.
They blended perfectly into the environment, unseen by anyone, and secretly transported corpses and limbs that no one noticed, all without making a sound.
Mahad and his men pushed forward relentlessly, while Yaoyao's three thousand shadows followed behind, constantly picking up the loot. Even if the loot was of low value, once the quantity reached a certain level, it would bring terrifying profits.
Although Leo did not expect to gain much merit from this expedition, the spoils he stole would certainly not be a small amount.
The burrows dug by these ants were only seven or eight meters wide, and even in some places they were only a dozen meters wide. They could not possibly accommodate so many wizards and slaves, so they could only move slowly underground in a long snake formation.
Mahad wanted to divide his forces into several groups to kill the ant army as efficiently as possible, but no wizard agreed.
They were all doing this to protect Mahad. As long as Mahad safe, the energy crystals they obtained from the trade would be comparable to the profits from an expedition.
To Mahad for a little military merit would not only result in the loss of energy crystals, but also leave them unable to explain to the Falling Stars Stigmata Great Wizard if something unexpected happens.
The end result was that everyone followed Mahad, crammed into the same cave, and slowly moved forward, which was an extreme waste of manpower.
Even the five hundred male ant puppets controlled by Leo could only line up at the very back of the queue, slowly following behind.
Along the way, they not only faced various battles with the ant army, but also their ambushes and traps.
These ant armies are very wicked. They will suddenly dig open the burrows under the wizards' feet, trying to make them fall in, and they will also dig a tunnel from above, trying to ambush them.
These techniques are unlikely to work against ordinary creatures, let alone these wizards.
Before they could even make a move, they were discovered by the wizards.
And that was it.
"The queen ant's scent has been detected! Oh no, the queen ant is running away!"
After obtaining the queen ant's coordinates, the scout wizards kept a close watch on her movements. Once they got close enough, they could almost pinpoint her exact actions, and if she tried to escape, they would immediately report it.
"Chase!"
Upon Mahad immediately gave chase, completely disregarding whether his level one strength was sufficient to deal with a level three queen ant.
The information platform has issued a warning that the queen ant in the Ant God World possesses formidable power, reminding all wizards not to confuse the queen ant here with the queen ant from other worlds.
All the queen ants discovered so far are at level three strength. If there is any difference in their strength, it is the difference in the male ants that protect them closely.
Some queen ants have double-digit numbers of tertiary male ants around them, while some queen ants have none at all.
Currently, the strength of a queen ant can only be judged by the number of third-level male ants around her; the more male ants there are, the stronger the queen ant is.
When Leo saw this information, he also remembered Lokas's words: if a level Level Three Wizard is not careful, it is very easy for a level three ant queen to succeed.
He wanted to remind Mahad, but seeing Mahad's dazzling magical artifacts and the fact that he always had at least ten level-three slave warriors by his side, he gave up.
These level-three ant queens, whom even level- Level Three Wizard need to be wary of, are truly hard to say who should be more cautious when they encounter level-one Mahad.
The closer they got to the queen, the stronger the ant army's resistance became, and even second-level male ants, which had never appeared before, emerged.
A single level-two male ant can completely block the entire cave, making it impossible for anyone to pass through.
The situation was clear: even though the second-level male ants knew they were no match for these villains, they still used their own corpses to block their path, creating an opportunity for the great queen ant to escape.
"Smash him!"
Mahad furious. How dare a mere level-two male ant block his chance to capture the level-three queen alive? He immediately ordered the level-three slaves around him to attack.
This was an earth dragon that could move underground as freely as a fish swimming in the sea. It didn't launch any attack; instead, it opened its huge mouth full of spiral teeth and swallowed the level-two male ant along with half of the cave.
"Open circuit!"
Seeing how easily the level 3 earth dragon performed, Mahad immediately ordered it to lead the way.
Upon hearing the command, the earth dragon dared not delay for a moment. It darted wildly into the cave, swallowing the army of ants blocking its way and widening the cave by half.
With no obstacles in sight, Mahad smiled proudly and followed closely behind the earth dragon.
This is the advantage of having someone behind you; even slaves who clearly have an advantage over the terrain can be specially found and brought over.
Mahad certainly has reason to be proud, because his actions are truly enviable.
These wizards who accepted the bodyguard deal, let alone level one and two wizards, even Leo and his ten Level Three Wizard would have a hard time finding slaves who were specifically designed to counter them.
Only Level-Six Stigmata Great Wizard has this ability!
Mahad letting down the slaves he had specially chosen if he didn't achieve an impressive number of military exploits.
Finally, they trapped the fleeing queen ant and the remaining ant army in a huge underground cave.
The terrain here is no longer a narrow, cramped cave, but a huge underground cavern, large enough to accommodate an army of hundreds of thousands.
The light magic illuminated the entire cave, revealing that it was originally an underground cavern that had been transformed. Some hidden areas of the cave still retained the characteristics of a cavern, and in one corner there were uneaten foods and some white eggs.
The ant colony occupied the cave and transformed it into their nest.
The interconnected caverns led to the main cavern, and at that moment, a large number of soldier ants quickly crawled out of these caverns, protecting the queen behind them, and roaring incessantly at Mahad and his ants.
At this moment, the queen ant's plump white body was protected by the remaining tens of thousands of ants in the colony, and she was running towards the deeper part of the cave.
Unfortunately, the queen ant's body was too large, and no cave could accommodate her enormous size. She had to have some soldier ants expand the cave passage before she could escape.
But the wizard army arrived too quickly; before the cave could be expanded much, the queen ant was trapped inside the nest.
"Haha, let's see where you run off to this time."
Mahad chuckled as he looked at the remaining tens of thousands of ants, most of them first-level soldier ants, with over three hundred second-level male ants, and as for third-level combat power, there was only one third-level male ant and one third-level queen ant.
With such a weak ant swarm, it was practically a gift of victory for him. He pointed at the slave army behind him and shouted, "Kill!"
"Roar"
In an instant, the entire slave army squeezed out of the cave. Because of their sheer number, they even broke through the cave, widening what was originally a 15-meter-wide cavern to several tens of meters.
When these slaves charged directly at the ant army, it was a one-sided massacre.
Mahad's slaves were of exceptionally high quality. Leo had every reason to believe that if Mahad unable to control so many level-three slaves, the Falling Stars Stigmata Great Wizard would very likely have created a slave army entirely composed of level-three slaves for him.
"Squeak"
Faced with the frenzied attack of the slave army, the queen ant stopped and began to squeak towards the sky. At first, no one paid any attention, but an invisible wave spread out, causing some of the slaves in the attacking army to sway and stagger as if they had been drinking fake alcohol.
Before these slaves could even regain their senses, the ant army seized the opportunity, pounced on them instantly, and bit through their bodies.
The invisible waves emitted by the queen ant also enveloped the wizards. Some First-Level Wizard, like the slaves, kept shaking their heads and their bodies swaying uncontrollably. Even the protective shields in front of them began to flicker and become unstable.
The Level Two Wizard were alright, only slightly frowning and looking at the queen ant who launched the attack with a hint of surprise.
Level Two Wizard were largely unaffected, and Level Three Wizard were even less affected; no one reacted at all.
As for Mahad, the sparks that flashed across his body blocked the mental attack from the level three ant queen, but his body was completely unaffected. This was thanks to the magical artifact he was wearing.