Chapter 184 - 179 The Strength of a Veteran Insect Master_i
Chapter 184: Chapter 179 The Strength of a Veteran Insect Master_i
Translator: 549690339
This also made him realize a new way of combat.
In the future, he could further develop this approach, using insects to form a true Insect Armor, and transform into a Multi-Headed Beast. He could even use the insects as hidden weapons.
Why do Insect Masters instill such fear in people?
It’s because the insects they raise attack in a way that is almost impossible to guard against.
While Qin Niu was slaughtering a large number of Army Ants, he heard a faint flapping sound in his ears. Immediately after, he felt the hair on his body stand on end, and an extreme sense of danger enveloped him.
Before he had time to react, he heard a sharp smack.
Something had struck his body at an extremely high speed.
Almost without thinking, Qin Niu immediately used his power to bolster his leather armor’s defenses, to avoid being poisoned.
An shadow that was repelled quickly rose into the air and disappeared.
It was a Corpse Bee General.
Its attack speed was too fast.
If Qin Niu hadn’t been wearing his King Pig Leather Armor, he probably would have already fallen to its poison.
The Corpse Bee General’s stinger could easily pierce through a Bronze Canister.
The clothes on his body were as good as non-existent.
Only the robust defense of the King Pig Leather Armor could block its attack.
“Damn it, that Old Master Huang is too cunning. First, he distracts me with the large number of Army Ants on the ground, then confuses me with ordinary Corpse Bees in the sky, but the real killer move is the hidden Corpse Bee General.”
Qin Niu couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat.
When facing a formidable enemy, the more prepared one is, the higher the chance of survival.
If he hadn’t crafted the King Pig Leather Armor yet, he would have been a dead man.
This made him think involuntarily of that dead Mu Kuai.
If he really had been stung by the Corpse Bee General, would he become something like that Mu Kuai?
He wasn’t clear on the toxicity of the Corpse Bees.
But there is a small wild bee, which digs holes in the ground to live, slender in shape and delicately small. They are known as Digging Bees.
They are not good at flying, but their crawling speed on the ground is extremely fast, and they move agilely.
Many insects larger than themselves fear them.
Caterpillars, locusts, spiders, etc., none of the prey targeted by these bees, even ten or twenty times larger in size, manage to successfully escape.
They possess a special ability. Whenever they are ready to lay eggs, they will search for a large insect as prey. Then they sting the prey harshly with their poison stinger, injecting a toxin that paralyzes the victim.
At this time, the prey does not die.
It remains paralyzed and unable to move until the Digging Bee larvae are born, which then proceed to slowly consume the prey bit by bit.
By the time they devour the whole prey, they have reached adulthood.
This is even crueler than eating monkey brains or carving meat from a live donkey.
The prey can only watch as its body is eaten away bit by bit.
There is also an insect called Ghost Tiger Armor, which possesses a special ability to capture prey. A cockroach, much larger than itself, becomes agitated and rolls around on the ground after being bitten by it and injected with venom.
After a moment, the venom takes full effect, and the cockroach will obediently follow the Tiger Armor back to its home.
Making a docile breeding ground for the Tiger Armor’s offspring.
It should be known that the Tiger Armor is said to be the fastest moving insect.
With it locking on, nearly no prey can escape.
The venom of the Corpse Bees may also have a similar effect, turning people into walking corpses.
Qin Niu thought to himself that Old Master Huang only had three Corpse Bee Generals in total.
If he could take down this one that had launched a sneak attack, it would be painful enough for that old geezer.
“Fourth, how do you feel now?”
“It’s just that my body is a bit unresponsive!”
It clung tightly to Qin Niu’s armor.
But its movements had clearly become stiff and sluggish. Even it had been poisoned, so the other Termites hardly need be mentioned.
Some of the weaker Grade Two Soldier Ants and Worker Ants had already collapsed to the ground and were instantly devoured by the Army Ants.
Luckily, the discovery was timely, allowing both parties to disengage.
Even so, in a short amount of time, he had already lost over forty Grade Two Termites.
It distressed Qin Niu greatly.
He gripped the Ink Blade tightly and slashed furiously at the approaching Army Ants.
Splendid Blade Qi instantly killed dozens of Army Ants.
But their numbers were vast, at least over a thousand.
If they weren’t carrying terrifying toxins, Qin Niu’s Termite Army of more than two thousand could crush them effortlessly and eradicate them completely.
Now, they were like a suicidal squad.
Fourth was one of the Termites Qin Niu valued the most, and its poisoning worried him immensely.
For now, he did not know how terrible the poison was.
Fortunately, his Termite Army was no pushover. After a brief period of chaos during the initial retreat, several Grade Three Termites quickly organized other Grade Two Termites to launch Mental Attacks against the enemy.
Some Army Ants were Spirit Controlled, becoming puppets.
They turned to attack their fellow Army Ants.
Some Army Ants, under the Mental Attacks of Ghost Ants, rolled around chaotically on the ground or bit wildly everywhere. Some even seized their companions by the neck and bit it off.
“Once the numbers of my Termite Army increase, the advantage will become even greater.”
Watching the Termites swiftly stabilizing the situation and employing long- range attacks for an effective contact-free counterattack, Qin Niu heaved a sigh of relief.
This experience served as a wake-up call for him. In the future, when cultivating Termites, he would need to strengthen their toxin immunity.
Moreover, he needed to find a way to increase the number of Healing Ants and expand their abilities.
“All ants heed my command, if you spot a Corpse Bee approaching, attack it with full force immediately.”
Qin Niu issued the order to his Termite Army and then continued to wield the Ink Blade, relentlessly slashing at the Army Ants.
Buzz buzz!
That faint buzzing of wings was heard again in his ears.
“Prepare to face the enemy, the Corpse Bees are coming!”
Qin Niu immediately warned the Termites.
Two shadows approached him at high speed, one of which aimed its attack alarmingly at his face.
The face armor was the weakest part of his defense.
The other shadow targeted the hand with which he wielded his blade.
“Attack!”
Following Qin Niu’s command, all the Termites abandoned their other targets and directed their antennae at the two approaching shadows.
Even Fourth, who was already showing symptoms of poisoning, aimed his antennae at one of the shadows.
In terms of combat capability, Fourth was definitely the strongest.
The shadow targeting Qin Niu’s face, when about a meter away from him, halted abruptly and then stopped in midair, its wings beating continuously.
A nauseating stench of rot hit his nostrils.
Seeing this, it was clear that the Termites had taken control of it.
The other shadow, aiming for Qin Niu’s right hand, fared worse; it gyrated like a drunken man, slamming into Qin Niu’s chest armor.
The force was very strong.
Two Termites that couldn’t dodge in time were hit, and they both fell to the ground injured in an instant.
The shadow that hit Qin Niu’s chest armor also tumbled to the ground, floundering.
This time he finally saw clearly—it was a large Bee General.
Without any fuss, he covered it with a net, which he had been preparing for some time, and then carefully placed it into a new Insect Jar.
This was an Insect Jar forged from fine iron; once inside, it wouldn’t dream of coming out again.
It appeared extremely agitated, its long, sharp sting attacking the inner walls of the Insect Jar violently, creating a sharp noise akin to needles stabbing into a metal plate.
The Bee General suspended in the air surely couldn’t be controlled by the Termites for too long.
Qin Niu this time didn’t even bother with the net and directly took out an Insect Jar to encase it.
It didn’t resist at all throughout the process.
Having successfully subdued both Bee Generals, he too breathed a long sigh of relief.
Old Master Huang had only three Bee Generals in total; unless he was willing to abandon the results of years of hard work, he would definitely come to rescue them.
If he dared to come, Qin Niu would definitely find a way to eliminate him.
Without the threat of the Bee Generals, these Army Ants had become insignificant.
He could even let them die out on their own.
But instead of doing so, he seized the opportunity to keep annihilating them.
The buzzing sound came once again from the sky.
One after another, the Corpse Bees, seeing the tide had turned, began to flee.
“These Army Ants might have been air-dropped using the Corpse Bees.”
Seeing the number of Corpse Bees was at least over twenty, he had a moment of realization.
Using the Corpse Bees to air-drop the Army Ants was equivalent to deploying airborne troops.
Old Master Huang, indeed an old hand among Insect Masters, used insects in endlessly astonishing ways.
And from this, Qin Niu learned many valuable lessons in practical combat.
He didn’t have Corpse Bees, but he had honeybees.
In future confrontations, he too could imitate this tactic, letting honeybees carry the Termites and then air-drop them at the target location.
An hour and more later, the battle ended.
He had successfully captured two Bee Generals, and there was a ground covered with Army Ant carcasses.
He initially thought their numbers were just over a thousand, but a rough tally showed at least four thousand.
A single Army Ant nest had at least tens of thousands, and up to twenty or thirty million.
If it were one of those super colonies with twenty or thirty million, even lions and tigers when encountered would be reduced to skeletons in a very short time.
The batch of Army Ants sent by Old Master Huang consisted mainly of Grade Three ants.
One couldn’t help but marvel at the old man’s resources.
Qin Niu initially thought ant players were few, but he unexpectedly encountered one so easily.
Although his Termites were not ants, they were considered part of the ant family for Insect Masters.
“The gap between these veteran Insect Masters and me is still quite large!”
Qin Niu, although he had won a great victory by being weaker and fewer, also realized many of his inadequacies.
He had even witnessed the true strength of other Insect Masters.
Old Master Huang was only one of the top Insect Masters in Black Tiger City; if one ventured beyond the territory of the Black Tiger Gang, there would undoubtedly be even more powerful beings.
Although the bodies of these Army Ants were poisonous, Qin Niu still found them valuable.
He carefully collected them in a canister.
It took him a good hour and more.
And many other debris were also collected together.
He had no choice; he didn’t understand the type of poison on these Army Ants and didn’t dare to let the Termites have any contact with them again. Collecting the bodies of the Army Ants could only be done by himself.
If he could let the Termites do the job, it might take only a few short minutes to finish.
“Fourth, how do you feel now?”
“Still a bit numb, but much better.”
Fourth replied.
This somewhat eased Qin Niu’s mind.
“Let’s go, I’ll let the Medical Ant try to heal you.”
About eighty to ninety of the poisoned Termites were left, out of which around forty were killed by the Army Ants, becoming martyrs.
The remaining ones were in a state of poisoning.