Deep Within the Nest

Chapter 45 Deep Within the Nest

"Follow me, into the passage!" Mia shouted urgently.

Clearly, she had also thought of using a confined space to deal with a large number of enemies.

"No need!" Alphonse replied casually, immediately releasing all the necromantic energy he had absorbed.

Upon hearing this, Mia paused, her forward momentum halting.

In an instant, dozens of giant ants made of shadows appeared around the three of them, and some even plunged into the surging tide of gold-devouring ants.

As soon as they appeared, these necromantic creations launched an attack.

Gold-eating ants are afraid of fire, but these ants are not.

Just like in Boruto, it is a non-flammable material.

It can only be scattered by enemy attacks, but it can always be reassembled.

It will only disappear when all the necromantic energy it contains is consumed.

The pressure from the surroundings immediately eased a lot.

All you need to do is push back with the Shadow Giant Ants, which saves a lot of effort.

After a brief observation, Alphonse observed that the giant ants formed from shadows were much weaker than the original gold-devouring ants, but they had no vital points. Even with their heads smashed apart and their limbs mutilated, they could still attack their enemies.

Furthermore, with each gold-devouring ant killed, Alphonse could immediately absorb necromantic energy to replenish his combat power. With this disparity in strength, the ant colony's defeat was inevitable.

After a long while, the spacious cave finally fell silent.

All that remained were the crackling sounds of burning and the pervasive stench of burning.

Despite suffering heavy losses in the fierce battle, the three were still surrounded by hundreds of giant shadow ants, forming a dense, overwhelming swarm.

With a casual wave of his hand, Alphonse sent all the Shadow Giant Ants into his palm, whereupon they transformed into malevolent necromantic energy and returned to his Niwan Palace.

In both my past and present lives, I have never understood this question: why the Niwan Palace can store such a massive amount of deathly energy.

It would probably take the resurrection of Yan Kuangtu, the creator of this technique, to explain it clearly.

Now, however, is not the time to delve into this issue.

Alphonse was already panting heavily and struggling to breathe.

His whole body was drenched in sweat, completely soaked, and he was still wearing a leather armor, with his inner clothes clinging to his body, making it difficult to take them off.

It wasn't because of the fatigue from the fierce battle, but because of the intense heat all around.

Already underground, a raging fire broke out in the cave, and the thick smoke alone was extremely uncomfortable.

This was even after clearing a safe area around the site, and the thick smoke was still able to escape through the passages on both sides.

Staying any longer could lead to suffocation.

It would be ridiculous if you set a fire and got yourself overcome by the smoke.

Taixi was in a similar situation, panting heavily with her mouth wide open.

Alphonse found it rather strange. In this situation, if the smoke were to spread, the sparks carried by the thick smoke would likely burn his respiratory tract. However, the surrounding smoke seemed to be blocked, and it was impossible for it to penetrate the space where he was standing.

Alphonse glanced at Mia, who remained calm and composed, not breaking a sweat.

This is weird!

She's not afraid of the heat at all!

Just as I was about to ask a question, I saw Mia suddenly slash her sword forward.

A sudden gust of wind swept across the plain, like Moses parting the seas. The powerful wind pressure separated the raging flames, creating a path.

"Let's go."

After saying that, she walked over first.

Alphonse and Tessie quickly followed.

"Lady Mia is a wind-attribute being, right?"

Once inside the passageway, Taisi finally caught his breath and asked a question.

"Um."

"I'm so envious, Lady Mia, you've reached the fourth level of battle qi at such a young age." Taisi exclaimed. "Thank you for protecting us earlier, Lady Mia. If it weren't for you, we would have been miserable from the smoke."

"It's nothing," Mia replied casually.

Tessie's words cleared up Alphonse's doubts. It turned out that Mia had secretly protected him, which explained why the smoke hadn't spread over.

My assessment of Mia's combat strength has risen another level.

To unleash one's power externally, one must first cultivate the Innate Formless Divine Skill to the second level.

I couldn't help but ask, "Is it true that battle aura only has attributes after reaching the fourth rank?"

Taisi nodded. "Yes, once you reach the fourth rank, you can choose the attribute that best suits you."

You need to reach the fourth level of battle qi to have attributes.

Why did my Xuan Tian Wu Jin Palm, which I had just begun to learn, acquire the fire attribute? And why did I absorb the magical element of water when I cultivated the second level of the Innate Formless Divine Art?

Is it simply because internal energy cultivation methods are superior to battle qi cultivation methods?

Alphonse couldn't understand it.

Also, what kind of magical elements will be absorbed when one reaches the third level of Yin and Yang in parallel?

The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, so I simply stopped thinking about it.

When the time comes, you will naturally understand.

Taixi lit another torch for illumination.

After passing through a long, winding tunnel, we went even deeper underground.

This time, however, there wasn't a single gold-eating ant in the cave that appeared before them.

Well, that's not quite right either.

It should be said that these were not yet mature gold-eating ants.

But the cave floor was covered with piles of translucent ant eggs.

Some eggs still faintly show the tiny life inside, with claws already formed.

Mia raised her sword, intending to destroy the large swarm of ant eggs.

But Taisi stopped him, saying, "Don't destroy them. These gold-eating ant eggs can be made into delicious food, which is very nutritious. Moreover, the eggs of monsters also have some effect on increasing battle qi."

Hearing what Tethys said, Mia gave up the idea of ​​destroying the ant eggs.

Alphonse had heard before that ant eggs were made into a delicacy in Mexico, tasting like corn kernels, but they had never seen ant eggs as big as half a person.

But thinking about it, humans can eat almost anything, like balut and bee pupae. So it seems that ant eggs aren't so disgusting after all; they're all protein.

"Looks like they're pretty smart; they actually gave up on this place," Alphonse muttered.

"Yes, the queen ant is quite intelligent; she can even command her minions to outflank and surround us," Tessie chimed in. "If I'm not mistaken, she's probably waiting for us in the deepest part of the nest to fight to the death."

Alphonse also agreed with this statement.

"Let's go." Mia took the lead and stepped out.

The burrow where the ant eggs are placed has two passageways, one going up and one going down. It's obvious that the passageway going down is the correct route to the queen ant's nest.

After walking for a long time, we finally reached the end.

By the dim firelight, it was already possible to see that there was a huge cave outside.

In the distance, there was a large patch of dark shadows, with pairs of fiery red lights flickering like small lanterns.

Mia took the lead and rushed in.

Instantly, a sharp whistling sound rang out.

Several dark green objects shot down from above the cave, like powerful arrows released from a bow, heading straight for Mia.

Mia's longsword shimmered with a sky-blue light as she swiftly swung it to parry.

In a flash of light, the object was struck down precisely.

(End of this chapter)