“There are still so many of them. As expected of the Queen Ant, who's renowned on the magical beast fertility charts. There must be at least a hundred here, and those Tier One and Tier Two ones on the outer perimeter of the encirclement must number in the thousands or tens of thousands.
Although a single cast of Black Flames would solve this, it's a pity that I've banned myself from using them today. I'll just use Starfall to enjoy the slaughter to my heart's content.”
No, that's not right! It's training my skills.
How could it possibly be enjoying slaughter? I, Xia De, am the gentlest soul!
Ignoring the furious glares of the surrounding Erosion Ants that looked ready to tear him to pieces, Xia De stood in the center of the encirclement and nodded in self-approval.
Then, looking at the surrounding Erosion Ants and the Queen Ant they protected behind them, he said:
“Furthermore, some of you Erosion Ants have actually evolved to possess space bloodlines, allowing you to run off to other floors. If I hadn't used my spatial abilities to gather you all together, searching for you one by one would have bored me to death.”
The Erosion Ants protected the Queen Ant, their antennae twitching as the sharp mouthparts on their heads gleamed with a cold, white light.
In truth, some of the Erosion Ants were also quite bewildered. They had been happily devouring magical beasts and humans on other floors.
But for some unknown reason, they had suddenly all been teleported back to the Queen Ant's side.
Right now, they had only one command in their minds, which was to take the human before them and—
Kill him!!!
The leading Erosion Ant was entirely red, exuding the aura of Tier Five, Rank Eight. Letting out a dry roar, its body erupted in scorching flames as it lunged toward Xia De.
It thrust its front limb, which was sharper than a steel blade, directly at Xia De's heart.
And then... its limb, which was harder than a steel blade, snapped.
Not only that, but in the next second, its vision suddenly split wide. Left and right, the two halves of its burning body fell to the ground.
Xia De held Starfall before him. With a simple backhand slash, he cleaved the flaming Erosion Ant in two.
He first checked his clothes, which had almost been singed. Seeing they were unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief, then turned a smiling gaze toward a fierce, hideous giant ant nearby.
His lips curled upward, slowly forming a highly sinister grin:
“Next, I'm going to challenge myself to wipe you all out without taking a single hit. So, for the sake of dying with honor, attack me with everything you've got!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the ant colony let out a collective, grating screech. It sounded like fingernails scratching a blackboard, enough to make one's head feel like it was splitting open.
Then, a dense mass of human-sized ants swarmed toward Xia De like a rising tide.
A swarm of Erosion Ants even grew wings and took to the air. They filled the sky and covered the ground, leaving absolutely no room to escape.
Faced with this terrifying tide of ants, Xia De's expression didn't change at all. If anything, he only grew more excited!
He raised Starfall, slid his feet into a wide stance, lowered his center of gravity, and suddenly exploded forward off his lead leg!
With a thunderous boom, the ground beneath him shattered, sending rocks flying as he launched forward like a cannonball.
Swinging his arm, he delivered a horizontal slash!
A large swarm of Erosion Ants was sliced in half at the waist like tofu. No, it was more than that.
The swing generated a powerful blast of air. Like a tempest, the gale swept toward the ants, sending another massive wave of them flying.
The Erosion Ants in the front row couldn't withstand the tempest. Their bodies ruptured, instantly turning into a cloud of dust that scattered throughout the entire nest as the storm swept past.
Xia De's movements right now lacked the eerie, elusive quality they usually had when he used Black Flames or shadows. There was only the purest, most primal...
Violence!
With a cold face and freezing eyes, his hands kept moving. He used no flashy techniques—just a few simple movements.
Horizontal slashes, downward chops, and basic cleaves.
Yet with every strike, a vast swath of Erosion Ants lost their lives, and an even greater number disintegrated into dust from the shockwaves, splattering everywhere.
The rhythm of the ant tide was broken. Seeing this, the Queen Ant in the back let out a screech.
A group of variants, different from the ordinary Erosion Ants and similar to the initial flaming one, prepared to cast magic from all over their bodies to attack Xia De.
Magic circles of red, yellow, blue, green, and various other colors began to manifest.
However, a cold light flashed in Xia De's eyes as he spat out a single, freezing word: “Ban!”
Every single magic circle dispersed instantly, leaving a massive crowd of Erosion Ants frozen mid-pose.
What a joke. Lest they forget, one of Starfall's two abilities was disrupting the flow of mana. Under his active control, it could easily achieve the effect of sealing magic entirely!
Having possessed Starfall for so long, this minor feat was child's play for his peerless talent.
Sorry, but in this battle, magic is forbidden. Everyone relies on raw physical strength!
Suddenly, Xia De saw more Erosion Ants screeching as they flew toward him from the sky, their wings buzzing at high speeds with a roaring hum.
Xia De grinned and tossed Starfall into the air, instantly shredding several flying ants into pieces.
He then leaped high into the air, hovering amidst the flying Erosion Ants.
He first grabbed Starfall and hurled it downward. The sword slammed into the ground, obliterating another massive swarm of ants.
Then, Xia De spread his arms and... slammed them together!
As his palms collided, a violent storm erupted from his hands. The howling of the wind sounded like the roar of a savage beast, carrying an extreme ferocity.
The flying ants at the very front disintegrated into blood mist. Like a row of dominoes, the destruction cascaded backward, inch by inch.
Seeing the flying ants completely wiped out, Xia De nodded in satisfaction in midair before turning his gaze back to the ground.
By now, about seventy percent of the Erosion Ants had been eliminated. The remaining thirty percent quickly reorganized, densely blanketing the ground.
They raised their front limbs, each sharper than a steel blade, waiting to swarm and tear him to shreds the moment he landed!
There was no place left to land on the ground, except for... Starfall.
Xia De looked at the dense tide of ants. As if thinking of something amusing, an excited smile spread across his face.
He planted his feet on the ceiling of the nest and kicked off hard, blasting a massive hole in it as his body shot down like a cannonball toward Starfall.
No, no, I need to hold back a bit more, or I'll punch straight through this floor!
With a loud thud, under the eager gaze of nearly a thousand Erosion Ants, he landed squarely on the hilt of Starfall, driving the embedded blade even deeper into the ground.
And then, boom—!
With Starfall as the center, an incredibly powerful shockwave rippled outward. The Erosion Ants at the epicenter disintegrated instantly, leaving not even a trace of blood.
Those further back were swept high into the air by the shockwave. Unable to withstand the pressure of the gale, they all shattered into pieces.
Flesh and blood rained down from the air. In the enclosed space of the nest, a literal downpour of blood, mixed with chunks of meat and severed limbs, began to fall.
Xia De held Starfall over his head, using it like an umbrella, as he slowly walked toward the Queen Ant.
From time to time, severed limbs of the Erosion Ants fell from above. The already dark-red ground grew even redder, the nearly congealed plasma replenished by a fresh supply that made it slick and wet.
With every step Xia De took, sticky threads of blood stretched between the soles of his shoes and the ground.
Looking at the slowly approaching Xia De, a hint of terror actually emerged in the Queen Ant's mindless eyes.
It kept letting out hoarse, high-pitched screeches!
Rate on N.U.
