Volume I: The Arrival of the Apocalypse Chapter 63: Anteater, Slaying the Queen Ant

After the scouting team stepped into Jianxin Street, although they had not yet seen the specifics of the battle, Xiang Chenguang had basically ruled out the possibility that anyone else was attacking the ant nest.

At this time, his tier had risen to Tier 2 Level 9 (7,675/200,000). With two free attribute points reserved just in case, his three-dimensional attributes had reached 31 points.

Supported by extremely high attribute points, his six senses were exceptionally sharp. He could already hear the rustling footsteps of a large number of marching ants moving, but he heard no sign of human activity.

Aside from the dense footsteps of the marching ants, there was also a peculiar sound mixed in—the smacking sound made by some creature chewing on juicy, succulent berries.

Hearing this sound, Xiang Chenguang's mind automatically conjured up images from a documentary he had previously watched of brown bears foraging for blueberries.

Synthesizing all the information collected so far, Xiang Chenguang already had a guess in mind.

He quickened his pace, leading the scouting team across Jianxin Street, and made a right turn into a fairly wide side road.

His vision suddenly widened, and ahead was a fairly spacious freight yard. In addition to numerous warehouses, many building materials were placed in the open-air yard.

This was the shared warehouse for all the building material merchants on Jianxin Street.

As bulk commodities, the storefronts facing the street could not display many goods, and this was where the merchants of Jianxin Street truly stored their merchandise.

However, no one in the scouting team paid any attention to the building materials at the moment; everyone's gaze was drawn to a huge beastly shadow in the yard.

This was a grayish-black giant beast with a huge, fluffy tail and a slender snout. Judging solely by its size, it felt even larger than the Demon Cloud Tiger.

It was extending its long tongue out of its slender snout, effortlessly scooping four or five giant marching ants into its mouth with a single roll, followed by that smacking chewing sound.

The giant marching ants, which could be described as tyrannical and invincible among low-tier otherworldly creatures, launched a desperate charge against this giant beast, yet could do nothing to it at all.

The giant beast had long, dense fur, and its grayish-black coat was tight and glossy. The mandibles of the marching ants, which could easily dig through concrete walls, could not cause the slightest bit of damage to its fur.

The marching ants rushing toward the giant beast wave after wave did not look like they were killing an enemy, but rather like they were intentionally sacrificing themselves so the giant beast would eat its fill and leave their nest as quickly as possible.

And Xiang Chenguang knew that this was precisely the case.

This giant beast was none other than the natural enemy of the giant marching ants—an anteater, a creature that could force even some Tier 3 fierce beasts to give it a wide berth.

Anteaters were Tier 2 creatures born to prey on giant marching ants. As earth-attribute fierce beasts, they possessed immensely powerful defensive capabilities, their dense fur reinforced by earth-attribute abilities to become harder than steel.

In addition, they had a pair of hard and sharp front claws. Under the enhancement of earth-attribute abilities, digging through soil or rock was no different to them than cutting tofu with a knife.

Therefore, every time the giant marching ants encountered an anteater, a portion of the ants would voluntarily offer themselves up to its mouth, praying only that it would stuff itself and scram as soon as possible to prevent it from digging up and destroying the ant nest, or even further threatening the safety of the queen.

This nest of marching ants was truly unlucky. Having escaped to Earth through a spatial rift, they were actually tracked down all the way by an anteater.

It was precisely because of the anteater's presence that the marching ants had entirely retreated into their underground nest while sacrificing a portion of their kin to feed it.

Soon, the anteater was stuffed full from the marching ants' voluntary feeding. It turned around leisurely, completely ignoring the seven individuals including Xiang Chenguang, and left the freight yard.

The anteater was perhaps the most gentle Tier 2 fierce beast, having no interest in any creatures other than giant marching ants.

After the anteater left, the remaining marching ants did not launch an attack on Xiang Chenguang's group of seven, but instead quickly retreated into a warehouse.

The behavior of the marching ants was still somewhat abnormal; this was clearly a defensive posture. The number of remaining ants might be extremely small, and facing the enemy's advance, they had no choice but to flee back to the ant nest to guard the queen.

Xiang Chenguang had fallen into a misconception previously, assuming that the marching ants that invaded Earth through the spatial rift constituted a complete colony, whereas the reality was likely not the case.

Arriving in front of the warehouse the ants had just entered, the wall of the warehouse had already been dug out into a large hole to facilitate the ants' entry and exit.

Xiang Chenguang certainly would not rashly enter the ant nest.

Under the combined action of metal control abilities and telekinesis, the rolling shutter door of the warehouse began to dissolve, condensing into basketball-sized metal balls that flew toward his open right hand, disappearing the moment they made contact with his palm.

Soon, the rolling shutter door of this warehouse completely vanished, revealing the scene inside.

This was a warehouse storing pipes, filled with various models and specifications of water pipes piled neatly on shelves.

Not a single marching ant was visible in the warehouse. In the center of the warehouse, a pile of earth had been heaped up on the cement floor, nearly reaching the ceiling.

Xiang Chenguang exchanged a glance with Wei Wei, and Wei Wei nodded.

Soon, the mound of earth in the center of the warehouse began to collapse and contract, tearing up a portion of the surrounding cement floor and fusing into an earthen giant.

The exposed internal structure of the ant nest revealed a large number of intricate internal passages, resembling a maze.

With the ant nest destroyed, the retreating and defending marching ants could no longer hold back. A massive number of marching ants began to pour out of the cave, only to be trampled to death in batches by the earthen giant standing guard nearby.

He Jie was not to be outdone as he raised his hand and began condensing fireballs.

However, Xiang Chenguang stopped their actions and said, "Wei Wei, conserve your mental energy. We will need your ability later to blast a passage to the queen's location."

In the previous battles, their mental energy had been depleted to a critical point. Continuing to drain it further would trigger negative effects such as headaches and dizziness.

The natural recovery rate of mental energy was very slow, and the amount of mental energy they could afford to spend right now was limited.

Xiang Chenguang brandished the Golden-Hooped Rod in his hand, using the most primitive physical means to wipe out the marching ants pouring out of the ant nest.

Seeing this, the others followed suit, using the steel spears in their hands to slaughter the marching ants.

Before long, this batch of marching ants was completely wiped out.

Afterward, Wei Wei used his ability once more to dig downward into the ant nest.

The seven of them had advanced only a dozen meters into the underground nest when a harsh, piercing insect screech suddenly echoed from the passage ahead.

Following that, another batch of marching ants swarmed madly toward them, intermingled with many red marching ants the size of domestic dogs.

However, in the confined space, Xiang Chenguang took the lead with Xiang Xiaoxiao and the others assisting from the sides. No matter how many marching ants rushed forth, they were merely delivering spiritual energy values to them.

After a round of slaughter, the marching ant swarm was cleared out once again.

With Wei Wei leading the way and advancing another twenty to thirty meters along the downward-sloping passage, the view ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious hall.

In the center of the hall was a huge, disgusting insect with an ant's head, but its lower body was as fat and pale as a maggot.

This was the queen ant, a Tier 1 creature incapable of moving on its own.

It had just sent out all its guards from its side, including that batch of larger soldier ants, to intercept Xiang Chenguang and the others.

Now it was completely isolated and helpless.

The queen ant spotted the intruding group led by Xiang Chenguang and immediately emitted a piercing insect screech.

Xiang Xiaoxiao and the others felt a wave of dizziness and even some nausea.

Xiang Chenguang, however, felt no discomfort whatsoever. He waved the Golden-Hooped Rod in his hand, and a narrow, dark fissure rapidly extended forward, cutting the queen ant in half.