Chapter 237 - Chapter 237: Chapter 230: The First Large-Scale Bug Battlei

Chapter 237: Chapter 230: The First Large-Scale Bug Battlei

Qin Niu, facing such a massive attack from wild bees, desperately sought a place to hide.

He was painfully aware that he would not last long.

He had thought that with over twenty thousand termites, he would be able to handle any situation. Only when he actually faced the wild bees did he realize how terrifying they were.

If the capability of his Ant Queen to reproduce could reach a higher level, producing over ten thousand eggs per day, and he brought millions of termites with him, perhaps he could contend with the swarm of wild bees.

For now, whether in terms of individual soldier strength or numbers, he was completely overwhelmed by the wild bees.

Ordinary steel-winged wild bees were equivalent to Grade Four insects, while those at the Bee General level were equal to Grade Five insects.

It was still unknown if there were even more powerful wild bees out there.

Qin Niu’s King Pig Leather Armor which he regarded as a safety net, at most could only withstand the attacks of Grade Five wild bees. If there were one or two Grade Six wild bees, his situation would become even more perilous.

This experience greatly broadened his horizons and deepened his understanding of insect warfare.

In the past, when dealing with formidable insects, he always used strength in numbers.

Several hundred, several thousand termites against the enemy’s one or a few insects.

With the addition of the Mental Attack ability, he was nearly invincible.

Now his insects, inferior in both number and individual strength to the wild bees, resulted in him tasting the powerlessness and fear when facing swarm attacks.

They were like an army, forming a raging torrent that simply crushed everything in its path.

At this critical juncture, his Misty Rain Traceless Step was performed to the utmost, becoming more agile, and his speed increasing.

In life-and-death situations, human potential is constantly squeezed, virtually endless.

But no matter how fast his steps were, they couldn’t be faster than the flying steel-winged wild bees.

Those who walked on the ground were absolutely suppressed in terms of speed by those that could fly.

Just look at the golden eagles to understand.

They may be smaller than wild wolves and lack sharp teeth and powerful bite force, but they completely dominate wild wolves, making escape a luxury.

It was then that he discovered a path leading down the cliff.

Without hesitation, he quickly fled down the cliff. If he could find a water source, perhaps he could survive this ordeal.

The path down the mountain was not only steep but also winding and complex.

Behind him, the terrifying swarm of wild bees was still desperately pursuing him, extremely vicious.

One after another, they dived and attacked swiftly toward him.

Continuously, termites were struck by the wild bees, then either grabbed and carried away or viciously stabbed by their Poison Stingers, injecting terrible venom.

Watching his ant forces suffer losses, Qin Niu’s heart bled.

This was his hard-earned nest egg.

The path to the cliff became somewhat slippery, with moss starting to appear everywhere.

This suggested that there might be water at the bottom of the cliff.

He couldn’t help but accelerate his pace.

Using hands and feet together, he fled swiftly to the bottom of the cliff.

At that moment, he unexpectedly found a cave on the steep wall of the cliff.

Like a drowning man grasping at a straw, he quickly flashed into the cave.

The entrance was rather constricted, and he couldn’t be concerned about whether there were any dangerous insects or snakes inside.

After squeezing into the cave, he found that this cave on the cliff wall wasn’t deep, barely two meters in length.

The cave entrance was small, but the interior space was adequate.

It was more than enough for one person to curl up inside.

After escaping into the cave, Qin Niu blocked the entrance with his basket. The ferocious steel-winged wild bees thumped against the basket. Venom sprayed, and the vine-woven basket likely would not withstand for long.

A few scattered steel-winged wild bees broke into the cave and were instantly killed by the termites.

For the moment, he was somewhat safe.

He took the shield made of King Pig Leather Armor off his back and placed it against the basket’s inner wall that was already starting to rupture.

No insects were discovered inside the cave, and there were no snakes either, which gave Qin Niu some peace of mind.

He could finally catch his breath for a moment.

The situation just then had been incredibly dangerous.

He turned his gaze to examine the cave walls, noticing obvious signs of man-made chiseling.

It suggested that this cave was excavated by humans.

Judging by the marks, the cave had quite a history. Who exactly dug it was no longer verifiable.

It might have been dug by Green Demons, or by treasure hunters that followed.

It could also be the work of Herb Pickers or woodsmen.

Some Herb Pickers, not finding it easy to venture into the mountain, would choose to guard near the appropriate medicinal herbs after finding them.

Because medicinal herbs nearing maturity are easily eyed by wild animals, birds, insects, and snakes in the mountains.

Without someone to guard them, the herbs are likely to be consumed.

Harvesting some special herbs is extraordinarily difficult.

Usually, one must guard the site for half a month before the fruit of the herbs matures.

Some Herb Pickers might even need to guard for over a month to pick a Spirit Fruit, living in the mountains throughout.

Nighttime is the most difficult and dangerous time for Herb Pickers.

Digging a cave to hide in is a standard procedure.

Savvy Herb Pickers often choose cliffs; they use vines to make ropes, then climb down a bit and carve out a cave.

Being on a sheer cliff face naturally offers protection against many predators.

Moreover, it’s warm in winter and cool in summer, far more comfortable than living in the trees.

Right now, this cave had saved Qin Niu’s life.

But even without this cave, facing the attack of the wild bees, he should have no problem preserving his life.

The bees outside continued to relentlessly ram his basket and shield.

But it was already very difficult to pose a threat to him.

Qin Niu checked the numbers and in a short period of time, he lost over three hundred termite soldiers, nearly four hundred.

Such heavy losses pained him greatly.

Fortunately, the ones lost were Grade Three Soldier Ants without the ability to launch mental attacks.

The over four thousand termites with mental attack and spirit control abilities, including the Elephant Nose Soldier Ants, Demon Ants, Medical Ants, and other special kinds of ants, were all his key protection targets.

Each one was extremely precious.

If there could be one hundred thousand, or even a million termites with mental attack abilities today, no matter how many wild bees came, they would be like sending themselves to slaughter.

“Fourth, you lead the Puppet Ants to control those formidable War Bees. Take them out one by one.”

Qin Niu was already impatient and took out a large Insect Jar, ready to capture those Grade Five Bee Generals.

He didn’t care for the ordinary Steel-winged Wild Bees.

After killing them, he would leave their bodies to feed the Termite Ant Queen and War Bee Queen Bee.

As for those Grade Five Bee Generals, selling them or keeping a few for further cultivation and breeding were both excellent choices.

They possessed Night Vision and were naturally equipped with steel wings, their flying abilities not weaker than ordinary birds.

Also, their toxicity was fierce.

All these special abilities had high value for cultivation.

The first priority was to deal with the Bee Generals, as the strategy of “capturing the leader first in catching thieves” goes.

As long as he took care of all the Bee Generals, the combat power of the bee swarm would immediately be sharply reduced.

What Qin Niu feared the most were those green-headed wild bees.

They had an overwhelming summoning capability.

Just one could summon ten thousand, even a hundred thousand wild bees to join the battle, which was really terrifying.

Fourth had been brimming with anger all along.

Just waiting for the moment to counterattack to arrive.

He sent forth nearly two thousand seven hundred Puppet Ants and put them to work all at once.

They could take care of four to five Bee Generals at a time.

In just a short while, Qin Niu’s Insect Jar already had seventy-one Bee Generals inside.

One jar simply couldn’t hold them all; he filled two jars to the brim, and they still seemed a bit squeezed.

Holding them in hand, they were quite heavy.

The Bee Generals of these Steel-winged Wild Bees were not only large in size but also exceptionally robust.

Their weight was beyond imagination.

With little effort, Qin Niu captured them all.

This somewhat made up for the loss of nearly four hundred termites.

“Fourth, lead the Puppet Ants to make the wild bees slaughter each other. The over fourteen hundred Ghost Ants will launch mental attacks, taking any out they can. The rest of the common ants, deal with those bees that have fallen to the ground, ‘finish them off.’

Qin Niu issued the combat order.

Just now, during the battle with the wild bees, he discovered that of the original three thousand plus termites that had fought with locusts before, which Qin Niu had also taken to eradicate pests in the fields, each one of them was battle-hardened, exhibiting a combat force even stronger than ordinary Grade Three termites.

New recruits and old soldiers who had seen battle were not even on the same level in terms of combat power.

This was a good opportunity for training.

It was just right for the over fifteen thousand regular Worker Ants and Soldier Ants to engage in close combat.

The wild bees might have been struck down, but they had only suffered mental attacks or been wounded by their own kind under control and had fallen to the ground.

They still possessed a strong combat power.

If they were not killed promptly, with their tenacious vitality, they could recover quickly.

Those wild bees that had fallen to the ground were the perfect opponents for the termites’ combat training.

Qin Niu just looked on indifferently.

The scales of victory in the battle were already tipping in his favor.

The wild bees outside were being eliminated continuously.

He had already successfully taken control of the situation.

Thinking back to the significant improvement when he executed the Misty Rain Traceless Step in the critical moment, he subconsciously checked his attributes.

Martial Skill: Slash slightly proficient 412/1000 (10% chance of Critical Chop, 30% chance of Critical Chop when using the Ink Blade), Sweeping Strike beginner 7.12/10, Misty Rain Traceless Step proficient 11.3/100 (speed increased by 30%, agility enhanced by 10%)

This Step-Method Martial Skill was quite good.

It could significantly increase his escape speed, and his agility followed suit.

Agility was an extremely important metric.

Why can felines be invincible among beasts of the same weight? It’s precisely because of their extremely high agility.

If the enemy’s attacks can’t land, while their sharp claws can easily hit the enemy.

If it’s a tiger, the force of one swipe can reach a ton.

Easily knocking out an opponent.

Even directly crushing the opponent’s skull.

The Misty Rain Traceless Step was only proficient level, but already added 10% agility, and if cultivated to a higher realm, it would definitely be more powerful.

Moreover, this Step-Method Martial Skill had the words ‘traceless’ in it.

Indicating that, when perfected, it would have an effect of being traceless. By then, there would certainly be new special effects.

Also, he noticed that using the Ink Blade to execute the Slash Martial Skill, the chance of an Explosive Slash had increased to 30%.

Though it was just a 10% increase, it could geometrically multiply his combat power in actual combat.

Imagine, every two or three strikes producing an Explosive Slash Effect, which opponent could withstand it?

Just as one explosive chop passes, before the enemy could recover, the second strike comes slashing over.

And again, it’s an Explosive Slash.

The enemy probably only has tears to offer..