" Shen Heng, are there still Stone Fire Ant upstairs?" Wang Hai asked.
Shen Heng listened for a moment and replied:
"There are still more than a dozen scattered inside the building!"
After speaking, Shen Heng waited in place for a short while before Wang Hai's voice came through the earpiece again.
" Wei Leyang, you and Han Ling go upstairs and kill the Stone Fire Ant upstairs. They're only First Tier, they shouldn't pose a threat to you. I'll guard the basement!"
"Understood!" Han Ling and Wei Leyang replied in unison.
Shen Heng glanced at Han Ling, who was about to rush in, hesitated for a moment, and said:
"Captain, may I request to join this mission?"
There was a moment of silence in the earpiece before Wang Hai's voice came through.
Are you confident?
"Well, at least I won't die. Besides, I was looking for an opportunity to practice my sword skills against the Calamity Beast anyway!"
"Alright, go ahead then. Just be careful to avoid groups of Stone Fire Ant together!"
"Clear!"
"By the way, listen carefully to what's happening down below during this process!" Wang Hai reminded him.
"Yes, I understand!" Shen Heng replied softly.
He raised his hand to turn off the instant messaging on his headset, then turned to look at Han Ling.
"They're gone!"
"Hey..." Han Ling laughed as she jogged forward, "Aren't you afraid ants will crawl on your face later!"
"Don't worry, if I really can't beat it, I'll just shoot it in the head!"
"Then you'd better be careful. When you only have two or three bullets left, you'd better run ahead, otherwise you'll be finished if they all bounce off!" Han Ling reminded her.
"Yes, I understand!" Shen Heng nodded.
The two had already entered the building during their conversation.
Upon entering, one is greeted by a spacious hall, with a path on each side leading deeper into the building.
"Do you want to come with me?" Han Ling turned her head and looked at Shen Heng again before asking.
"No need!" Shen Heng shook his head and drew the long sword from his waist.
"Okay, I'll head this way then!" Han Ling said, lifting her leg and jogging towards the passage on the right.
Shen Heng glanced at Han Ling as she left, then jogged to the left as well.
To the left is a long corridor with a door every ten meters or so. Some doors are open, and some are closed. At the end of the corridor is a staircase leading upstairs.
Shen Heng paused to listen to the noise, then ran clearly in one direction.
When they were still a few meters away from the seventh room, Shen Heng slowed his pace.
Despite being able to hear the Stone Fire Ant inside the house, Shen Heng's steps involuntarily slowed down.
The Stone Fire Ant are not like the Spore Person we encountered at school. The Spore Person we encountered at school were forcibly infected by Decaying Spore and elevated to the First Tier. Moreover, they had little intelligence and acted only by instinct and simple commands. Their actual combat strength was far lower than that of a normal First Tier.
When Shen Heng encountered the Decaying Spore Guard later, he maintained distance and killed them with his gun. While it can't be said that this had nothing to do with Shen Heng's strength, it certainly relied more on the power of the gun.
Therefore, this could almost be considered Shen Heng's first direct confrontation with Calamity Beast.
Shen Heng controlled the sound of his footsteps as he slowly walked towards the room door.
The scene inside the house came into view as Shen Heng stepped over the door frame.
Two corpses, one near and one far, lay quietly inside the room. A half-meter-long gray-red ant was quietly nibbling on the corpse further away.
Shen Heng took a light breath and shifted his gaze from the nearby corpse to the Stone Fire Ant in the distance.
The Stone Fire Ant also sensed the arrival of a guest, and slowly raised its jewel-like head, separating its upper and lower jaws.
"Tch... the people... are... only... me"
"Help, don't eat me..." Shen Heng lowered his eyes slightly, as if he could see the dying cries of the two people who were about to be eaten.
Calamity Beast generally possess considerable intelligence, but they don't speak human language directly. Usually, the longer they interact with humans, the more fluently they become in speech.
The Stone Fire Ant in front of us, having just been overtaken tonight, clearly can't speak human language yet. What they're doing now is just parroting, and they probably don't even know what the words mean.
Of course, even if it knew the meaning of those words, it probably wouldn't change its behavior.
Shen Heng took a light breath, his grip on the long sword tightening unconsciously.
Seemingly realizing that the visitor was hostile, the Stone Fire Ant turned its body around to face Shen Heng directly, then stomped its six legs on the ground and charged straight at Shen Heng.
Shen Heng frowned slightly, a strange feeling swirling in his mind.
Previously, whether in battle or training, he had always fought against humanoid opponents. Suddenly encountering this completely beast-like being, he felt somewhat at a loss for how to proceed.
But... that's precisely why he wanted to practice!
Shen Heng took a deep breath, raised the long sword in his hand, quickly placed his left hand on the hilt, and slashed at the Stone Fire Ant.
Whoosh--!
The longsword missed its mark.
Shen Heng frowned slightly, his gaze fixed on the Stone Fire Ant that he had slashed and then leaped backward.
In his field of vision, the Stone Fire Ant suddenly pushed off the ground with its six legs, then its figure left the ground and pounced straight towards Shen Heng.
"So you really like rushing into people's faces, huh?..." This thought flashed through Shen Heng's mind. He quickly flipped his long sword and slashed diagonally towards the Stone Fire Ant.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing rang out.
The longsword struck the Stone Fire Ant directly, but it didn't cut through it. It only sliced through a few centimeters of the fire ant's body before being stopped by the exoskeleton that covered the Stone Fire Ant's entire body.
Shen Heng frowned slightly. I knew it. Without any combat power boost, even fighting a relatively weaker Calamity Beast of the same level wouldn't be so easy!
As it pondered, the Stone Fire Ant let out a painful roar.
Its body was still hanging on Shen Heng's knife, and as it lowered its head, its two hard upper jaws clamped down on Shen Heng.
Shen Heng's eyes narrowed slightly as he felt his hands, which were still weak from the clash with the Stone Fire Ant, and then quickly changed his battle plan.
As he leaned back, he raised his left foot and kicked hard at the Stone Fire Ant.
With a 'bang', the mandibles of the Stone Fire Ant swept past Shen Heng's face before quickly disappearing into the distance.
Shen Heng paused for a moment in his backward-leaning posture, then used his waist to straighten up again.
His gaze quickly locked onto the Stone Fire Ant Stone Fire Ant, which had just landed and hadn't yet stood up.
Without time to think further, Shen Heng rushed forward, simultaneously channeling his Origin Power into the longsword in his hand.
He quickly reached the Stone Fire Ant's side, raising his long knife high in the air.
In the dimly lit room, illuminated only by moonlight, the gleaming white longsword emitted a faint glow.
Whoosh--!
This time, the longsword was not blocked by the exoskeleton as before.
With a spray of blood, the Stone Fire Ant's head flew straight off.