“Buzz,” a Spiritual Bee rapidly dove downwards, nearing the Devouring Gold Ants, then suddenly turned, its stinger projecting from its tail, piercing through one Devouring Gold Ant and then embedding itself into the body of the Devouring Gold Ant behind it.
One stinger, two ants!
The Spiritual Bee, having launched its stinger, was already at the end of its life. It flew up again without hesitation, then, like a cannonball, heavily slammed into the Devouring Gold Ant swarm. After hitting the Devouring Gold Ants, it bit down, until it was torn to shreds by the Devouring Gold Ants.
The Spiritual Bees, having the aerial advantage, rained down stingers like a storm on the Devouring Gold Ants.
The Devouring Gold Ants advanced relentlessly, step by step, towards the Spiritual Bee’s nest.
“Look over there,” Yu Yixiang pointed above the Ant Mound, speaking to Qian Duoduo and Azure Phoenix with her Spiritual Awareness.
There, several teams of strong Spiritual Bees quietly burrowed in. Their target, it could be inferred, was to kill the Ant Queen.
The golden honey scent was the best guide.
“What a brilliant battle strategy!” Yu Yixiang exclaimed.
The Spiritual Bee’s seemingly fierce ground attack was actually a feint.
The few teams heading directly for the Ant Queen were the true main force.
The Devouring Gold Ants also fought directly, aiming straight for the Spiritual Bee’s nest. If they captured the nest, they could not only seize the Bee King but also bite to death the larvae and pupae, which would naturally throw the Spiritual Bees into chaos.
And the Spiritual Bees placing their nest at the entrance of the Devouring Gold Ants’ dwelling was to force them to attack.
If the Devouring Gold Ants completely sealed off their caves and hung up a ‘no war’ sign, the Spiritual Bees would be helpless. Or if they retreated into their caves and fought a tunnel war, leveraging the terrain, the Spiritual Bees wouldn’t be guaranteed victory either.
After listening to Yu Yixiang’s explanation, Qian Duoduo also understood why the Spiritual Bees and Devouring Gold Ants fought this way. These two species could stand as the dual overlords on the ground of the Jinlun Mountains, not only because of their strong combat power and unity but also their skill in employing tactics.
When the Devouring Gold Ants and Spiritual Bees began fighting, Qian Duoduo and the other two only watched with their eyes and listened with their ears; none of them extended their Spiritual Awareness outside the tent. If the Ant Queen and the Bee King knew there was a third force present, they would immediately choose to cease hostilities.
Suddenly, a lump of mud rolled down from the mountainside of the Ant Mound. The mud lump rolled along the terrain towards the beehive, encountering a stone in the middle, changing direction, and rolling into a pit.
Was this a defensive weapon of the Devouring Gold Ants?
While Qian Duoduo was guessing, dozens of similar mud lumps rolled down from the mountain, all targeting the beehive.
At this moment, Qian Duoduo noticed that in front of the beehive, there were three lines of defensive walls. The outermost one was a deep trench. The middle one was a circle of dense Spiritual Plants. The innermost one was a patch of gravel.
The location selection of the beehive was, it turned out, very deliberate.
As the mud lumps rolled down from the mountain, part of them veered off course halfway, and part lost momentum and stopped. Only a few, by chance, rolled past the deep trench and rushed into the dense Spiritual Plants.
Once inside the Spiritual Plants, Qian Duoduo thought the attack of the mud lumps would end there, but unexpectedly, the mud lumps suddenly scattered, and hundreds of Devouring Gold Ants leaped out from within, holding dirt with their front legs as shields, continuing to charge towards the beehive.
“How exciting!” Qian Duoduo exclaimed.
The mud lumps pushed down from the Ant Mound were a mix of real and fake. Some were true mud lumps, and others were fake mud lumps disguised by Devouring Gold Ants.
These few fake mud lumps, using the momentum of rolling, deceived the Spiritual Bee army, broke through the first line of defense, crossed the second, and charged straight for the third.
Upon discovering that these fake mud lumps had turned into real Devouring Gold Ants, the Spiritual Bee swarm did not panic. As these hundreds of Devouring Gold Ants charged to the front of the beehive, discarding their dirt shields and preparing to rush into the beehive, dense, sharp stingers suddenly extended from within the beehive. These stingers flew out simultaneously, covering all hundreds of Devouring Gold Ants.
The battle at the beehive was in full swing. In the caves above the Ant Mound, Qian Duoduo estimated that over ten thousand Spiritual Bees had already burrowed in, but why was there no major commotion?
While he was wondering, the Ant Mound suddenly experienced a massive tremor, similar in power to Qian Duoduo simultaneously detonating five Senior Dan Artifacts. With this massive tremor, most of the caves above the Ant Mound were blocked by collapsing mud and rocks.
“The Devouring Gold Ants are about to launch a major counterattack!” Yu Yixiang judged.
“Counterattack? What will they use to counterattack?” Azure Phoenix, however, did not believe it. In her opinion, with over ten thousand Spiritual Bees having entered their old nest, the Ant Queen’s situation was precarious, so how could they counterattack?
Just then, dozens of holes suddenly appeared in the deep trench, the Spiritual Bees’ first line of defense. A tide of Devouring Gold Ants poured out from inside, heading straight for the beehive.
“Openly repair the plank road, secretly cross the Chencang!”
Azure Phoenix was stunned.
Those that burst out from these dozens of holes were definitely the main force of the Devouring Gold Ants. Their numbers reached tens of thousands, including several hundred robust ones, and these hundreds of large Devouring Gold Ants had Qi Condensation level seven or eight cultivation. What was most astonishing was one Devouring Gold Ant as large as a Spiritual Cat, its body purplish-red, and its two large mandibles the size of human palms, its aura reaching the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.
This was the Ant Queen!
Yu Yixiang smiled and shook her head, full of admiration for this Ant Queen. This Devouring Gold Ant Queen used golden honey as bait to lure the main force of the Spiritual Bees into the royal palace. After the main force of the Spiritual Bees entered the caves, she blocked all the large and small caves, trapping the Spiritual Bees’ main force.
Then, it was time for the Devouring Gold Ants to counterattack.
The Ant Queen led dozens of teams, digging tunnels directly from underground, passing through the entire surface battlefield, and suddenly appearing in front of the Spiritual Bees’ second line of defense.
This kind of flexible tactic, using a counter-scheme and launching a surprise attack, could only be accumulated through regular actual combat.
No wonder Azure Phoenix, despite her strength being far superior to the Devouring Gold Ants, was helpless against them.
In a blink of an eye, the Devouring Gold Ants, covering the entire mountain, rushed to the second line of defense.
Qian Duoduo now saw clearly that within the dense Spiritual Plants, the Spiritual Bees had another trick. The plants were full of sharp thorns. He didn’t know where the Spiritual Bees got them from, or if they were shed from their bodies when Spiritual Bees died.
At this moment, the Ant Queen let out a sharp cry, and the Devouring Gold Ants collectively began to riot, their collective aura increasing by one or two levels.
Some of those robust Devouring Gold Ants had already entered the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Almost in a blink of an eye, the Devouring Gold Ants rushed to the third line of defense. At this time, some Spiritual Bees that had rushed into the Ant Mound began to fly towards the ant nest, preparing to return for support.
Meanwhile, the Devouring Gold Ants on the ground built ant ladders, launching individual Devouring Gold Ants into the air to intercept the returning Spiritual Bees.
“The Spiritual Bees are at a disadvantage!” Qian Duoduo glanced at Yu Yixiang. Azure Phoenix also glanced at her, wanting to know when they would make their move.
But Yu Yixiang showed no indication.
Qian Duoduo and Azure Phoenix could only continue to look out the window.
From within the beehive, batch after batch of sharp stingers extended, carrying an eerie whistling sound and dazzling light, shooting like strong crossbows towards the Devouring Gold Ant teams. Swarms of Spiritual Bees, after launching their stingers, committed suicide by slamming into the Devouring Gold Ants from the air.
In front of the beehive, the corpses of Devouring Gold Ants and Spiritual Bees were piled layer upon layer.
Suddenly, dozens of Spiritual Bees emerged from the gravel behind the Devouring Gold Ants. They quickly rushed towards the Ant Queen, preparing to launch an attack. However, before they could get close, they were intercepted by the Devouring Gold Ants. These Spiritual Bees were ambushed here, intending to launch a sudden attack from behind the enemy, or to assassinate the leader. However, this time too many Devouring Gold Ants came, and the strongest Spiritual Bees were currently trapped in the Devouring Gold Ants’ caves.
A robust Devouring Gold Ant was the first to climb onto the beehive, biting off a Spiritual Bee’s neck with one bite.
The Ant Queen, among the Devouring Gold Ant swarm, let out another sharp cry.
The Devouring Gold Ants’ general offensive had begun!