13: Scarlet Queen Ant

"Not bad, you wet-behind-the-ears brat. You only know how to use sneak attacks. If it were a head-on battle, I would have blasted you to dust with a single skill."

"A mere child who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth, yet dares to claim he can harm the three great Divine Beasts!"

"Ignorant! Arrogant!"

"Little brat, you know nothing of the Venerable God's Divine Power. The destruction of Blue Star is destined by the heavens."

"..."

The rest of the God Descent Cult members chimed in one after another. Though they were all bound by magic-suppressing handcuffs, they held their heads high, looking quite spirited and aggressive.

Not only was there no trace of the panic expected of captives, but they even displayed a bit of the heroic spirit seen in martyrs before death.

Xu Le did not argue. His gaze was full of pity: they were just a bunch of brainwashed, pathetic, hateful, and pitiable scum.

The hearts of the Great Wall Guard Army members sank. One look at Xu Le's youthful face told them he wasn't very old.

Although he had stopped Xie Donghan earlier, he had relied on the power of his pets. It could only be said that he came from a good family background that provided him with two powerful pets.

Judging by his two pets, they could also tell he was under Rank 20. How could someone who wasn't even Rank 20 kill the Shadow Mantis, known as a killing machine?

The more they thought about it, the more discouraged they became, to the point where even their scolding of the captives became listless.

Seeing this, Xie Donghan burst into laughter, becoming even more arrogant: "With the Bloody Ant Queen here, in just one year, the entire Contaminated Zone will have ten thousand more Crimson Magic Ants;"

"If they split into more colonies, in less than three years, hundreds of thousands of Magic Ants will gnaw through all the Formations, and the entire Ninth District will completely fall. Hahaha..."

He laughed wildly, as if the fall of the Ninth District was right before his eyes.

He wasn't laughing to kindly warn the Great Wall Guard Army; rather, the existence of the Bloody Ant Queen had already been exposed. Whether he spoke or not, the military would find out, so he might as well say it to boost his own side's morale.

Sure enough, the members of the God Descent Cult were all invigorated, cheering and shouting. If one didn't listen to the content, they might have thought humanity had reclaimed lost territory and driven away the monsters.

Xu Le could no longer bear it and asked in confusion, "After doing something so heartless and shameless, how do you have the face to say it out loud?"

Xie Donghan wasn't angry; instead, he had a face full of pity: "Ignorant child! The world is destined for destruction. The glory of the Venerable God will surely illuminate the world. I am helping you find liberation in advance!"

The other Cultists frantically shouted slogans: "The human world is like hell, all living beings suffer. God loves the world, the true spirit returns home."

"What 'true spirit returns home'? You're all dead, what kind of home are you returning to!"

Xu Le was so angry he went up and gave each of them a kick. However, those people were like madmen, laughing loudly and not caring about physical pain at all; in fact, they laughed even harder.

Three minutes later.

Xu Le returned to the place where he had seen the Bloody Ant Queen before. The Bloody Ant Queen had already burrowed underground, but under the Divine Eye, it had nowhere to hide.

"It's right here!"

Xie Donghan looked at the empty woods and even specifically used his Mental Energy to sense the area. Finding nothing, he felt completely relieved.

"Hahaha, it really is here. What a huge Bloody Ant Queen."

The members of the God Descent Cult looked at each other. They couldn't even see a single ant, so where was this Bloody Ant Queen?

They immediately realized he was mocking Xu Le and the others, and more importantly, celebrating the success of the Holy Cult. Even if they died, they would have no regrets, so they joined in the taunting.

"That's right. Such a huge Bloody Ant Queen."

"Oh my, the Holy Cult's plan has failed. I'm so heartbroken!"

"We have failed the Venerable God. I truly deserve to die!"

"..."

Listening to those affected laughs, the members of the Great Wall Guard Army lowered their heads one by one. It was as if their identities had been swapped, and they were the captives who had committed all sorts of evil.

Quite a few of them had reddened eyes, their knuckles turning white from clenching their fists.

Seeing this, Zhuang Qiang suppressed the disappointment in his heart and laughed loudly: "Brothers, we've captured the God Descent Cult's most disgusting Spirit Array Master. The mission is already more than half complete."

"Just three measly monsters. Over the years, have we not killed more than a million monsters?"

"Even if their stealth ability is a bit stronger, can they really evade the eyes and ears of our Great Wall Army?"

"If we can't find it the first time, can it still escape our Dharma Eye if we dig three feet into the ground?"

Zhuang Qiang spoke with such bravado that everyone's blood began to boil with excitement.

That's right! Even the Spirit Array Master of the God Descent Cult had been captured alive by them. What difficulty could they not overcome?

Their thoughts had been stuck in a dead end before, but now they suddenly saw the light. They all felt the heroic urge to draw their weapons and take on a Demon God.

When meeting on a narrow path, the brave shall emerge victorious!

It was just three measly monsters.

Xie Donghan and the others were gnashing their teeth in hatred. Just as they were about to continue agitating the morale and messing with the Great Wall Guard Army's state of mind, they saw Xu Le holding a knife and thrusting it forcefully into the soil.

He pulled the knife out.

A palm-sized Crimson Worker Ant appeared on the tip of the blade.

[EXP +6]

Although the newborn worker ant was not small in size, its Rank was low.

Zhuang Qiang ran over quickly, grabbed the tip of Xu Le's knife to bring it close to his eyes, and his breathing suddenly became rapid.

"A Crimson Worker Ant!"

"It really is a Crimson Worker Ant!"

"The Queen Ant must be nearby."

The others also roared with excitement: "We found it! The Crimson Queen Ant is nearby! Hahaha..."

"Good job, Little Brother Xu!"

"Thank you, Little Brother Xu."

"..."

"Impossible!" Xie Donghan immediately tried to lunge forward to check, but he was held down firmly by two soldiers. Coupled with the restraint of the magic-suppressing handcuffs, a dignified Rank 61 Spirit Array Master had no power to resist at all.

"You must be lying to me!"

"I am a Rank 61 Spirit Array Master. Although I cannot use skills, my spiritual perception far exceeds yours."

"If even I can't sense the Queen Ant, how could you? Heh..."

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped, as if someone had grabbed him by the throat.

The other Cultists also turned pale, staring at the Crimson Worker Ant in disbelief.

Unlike Zhuang Qiang and the others, they had spent a long time with the Crimson Worker Ants and recognized them at a glance.

But because of that, a single glance was enough to make them fall into complete despair.

The soldiers guarding the captives immediately became excited: "Laugh! Why aren't you laughing anymore? Weren't you being very arrogant just now?"

Xie Donghan struggled for a long time before finally spitting out a sentence: "It's just a coincidence. Since the Queen Ant's worker ant is missing, it must have already slipped away. Don't even think about finding it again, even if you search the entire Contaminated Zone."

The next moment, he heard another cheer from Zhuang Qiang and the others.

"What happened?"

He hurriedly craned his neck and saw three more Crimson Worker Ants being pulled out and killed.

The people of the God Descent Cult began to panic.

Of the three monsters sent over this time, the first two were mainly for clearing out professionals and other ordinary monsters. The core that was truly meant to destroy the Ninth District was the Crimson Queen Ant.

Now that the Queen Ant had been found, their mission was pretty much a failure.

"There's still a chance!"

"The Crimson Queen Ant has extremely high Mental Energy; it must have avoided them long ago!"

"Leaving behind a few worker ants is just to distract these fools."

Xie Donghan forced himself to shout loudly, continuing to disturb the army's morale.

But who would listen to him?

Everyone was surging with excitement as they continued to dig into the ground.

A moment later, a Crimson Queen Ant with a bloated abdomen appeared before everyone's eyes.

At the very last moment, it still had its eyes closed and was holding its breath, attempting to deceive everyone.

"Squeak squeak..."

The Queen Ant rubbed its stridulatory organ, letting out a short, sharp cry in an attempt to scare everyone away.

The crowd, who had been holding back their frustration for a long time, were not afraid at all. They drew their weapons and began the attack.

In less than two minutes, the Queen Ant, which had nearly a hundred thousand health points, died a miserable death under the collective assault.