Chapter 643 - Emperor of the Heavens & Ice Goddess
After two hours of war where they were not even allowed to take a second of real rest, not only had the gun-toting soldiers officially used up every last round of ammunition in its entirety, but the soul evolvers were also beginning to experience the consequences of fighting so many enemies for so long without stopping.
The mages began to notice how their Mana reserves were dropping critically after casting skill after skill and the melee fighters who had been constantly striving to hold off enemies that outnumbered them by incomparable difference, as well as avoid any drop of blood flying in their directions, began to get exhausted not only physically but also mentally.
The first soul evolver that was sent flying by the weaver ants was only the beginning of the chaos. Not long after the first one, a second one was bitten, which cost him part of his thigh and barely saved him from losing his right leg and not much later a third one lost her fighting capacity when in a frontal collision against a weaver ant the bones of one of her arms were broken.
The drop in Stamina not only meant exhaustion and decreased movement or attack speed; the drop in Stamina also meant less focus, slower reaction speed, and of course, weaker muscles.
"Team Leader, we need support on the left flank!" Feng Hong reported with a face covered in sweat after finishing off his tenth First Order enemy among countless Unclassified.
Feng Tian Wu said nothing and gritted her teeth. Her gorgeous face was pale as if she was suffering from a severe illness and her rich lips looked slightly purple after the loss of practically all of her Mana. However, she continued to persist and fight without complaint.
"Team Leader, the right flank is about to fall!" Liang Jing also reported not long after Feng Hong. His voice sounded raspy and dry, he was panting and even from a distance his difficulties were noticeable.
"Hey, Bai Zemin! Huang Tian was injured and it's just me and Teng Hua to hold off all these ants!" Chen He shouted from the back amid explosions and swooshing sounds. "If you don't send Bing Xue or Yijun here soon then don't blame me if one or two ants make it through!"
Even if he was strong and possessed the ability to take on thousands of enemies on his own, Chen He did not have the confidence to hold off hundreds of thousands and even millions for long periods of time. He was already trying hard enough not to allow the ants on the ground and those falling from the treetops to reach the group!
In fact, had it not been for Teng Hua and his mutant snake's ability to paralyze enemies by releasing a toxin-filled mist, Chen He could not have avoided the full charge of the mutant ants.
At the front, Bai Zemin closed his eyes and was trying to figure out who was the leader of the seemingly endless horde of weaver ants. However, there was no way that among so many enemies he could find a specific one not to mention the distance.
"What do we do?" Shangguan Bing Xue appeared beside him in a flash, bringing with her a fresh breeze and a rich scent of jasmine and purity. "You want me to take charge?"
She seemed quite relaxed, which was understandable. If it were in the past, Shangguan Bing Xue might be slightly worried not about her survival as she was confident of escaping from here but about the possible annihilation of the team. However, after evolving to Second Order and obtaining a massive increase in stats, as well as the capacity to learn new skills, Shangguan Bing Xue finally realized partially the reason why Bai Zemin was always calm.
Bai Zemin sighed in his heart. He really hoped that all of these people would rise to level 25 today, which would be great. In fact, considering the seemingly infinite number of weaver ants the possibility was latent.... Unfortunately, it was too much to ask for little more than 650 to defend against an endless army for so long.
'Forget it, at least they all went up two or three levels.' He consoled.
"Bing Xue, you take the right flank and the rear. Leave the left flank and the front to me." Bai Zemin said calmly.
"All right." Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and her sexy body swayed slightly, disappearing in an instant and marching to carry out Bai Zemin's command.
"Big brother, will we really be fine?" asked Meng Qi, who had just broken through to level 25 a few minutes ago but had not yet chosen her advancement quest as she wanted to choose very carefully after her brother made it clear to her the importance of the first path chosen.
Even if she knew that her brother was tremendously powerful, Meng Qi could not help but feel apprehensive. However, how could she not feel that way? After fighting to exhaustion for so long and slaughtering so many enemies, the number of weaver ants did not seem to have decreased at all. It was already a miracle that a young girl like her who hadn't received any real training didn't despair.
Little Snow was standing next to Bai Zemin and Meng Qi as she growled in the direction of the ants. All her hair was spiked up and her usually soft and kind blue eyes had practically turned red after killing so many enemies.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." Bai Zemin gave Meng Qi a pat on the head and gently stroked the big white dog's hair with his other hand, much to the delight of both existences.
Meng Qi nodded without saying anything and Little Snow calmed down a bit as she felt the warmth of the hand stroking her.
On the other hand, when Bai Zemin looked at Sun Ling and Xia Ya he couldn't help but wonder. The two women seemed very calm, and relaxed even in this kind of instance.
Xia Ya was another thing as even up until now she had not revealed emotions on her face. Even when Bai Zemin imposed his might in front of the weaver ants, the expression on her face did not change at all.
As for Sun Ling... Bai Zemin had no idea of the reason behind her confidence or lack of fear. Had she not realized that a single slip was all it took here for everyone to die horrible deaths...? Be that as it may, it was true that while she was panting slightly, her eyes were as bright as ever.
Bai Zemin shook his head and turned his attention to the front. He noticed that the temperature had plummeted so even without looking back or up he figured that Shangguan Bing Xue was probably moments away from making her move.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
...
Indeed, a few seconds after the temperature of the area fell and the ground beneath Bai Zemin's feet acquired a light layer of frost, the resulting explosions of objects falling at high speed from the sky began to thunder and muffle the terrifying and chilling shrieks of the mutant ants at the rear and right of the group.
"Wow... A- Amazing.... So this is the real power of this woman..." Meng Qi whispered with wide eyes as she looked back in shock.
Meng Qi had heard sincere and open praise for a woman from the person she least expected to hear it from; her brother. Therefore, she had always been curious to know what kind of person the woman named Shangguan Bing Xue was. After meeting her, Meng Qi admitted that Shangguan Bing Xue's beauty was transcendental to the point where she felt that she had no match if they stood side by side in a charm competition and even her character matched perfectly with her outward appearance.
However, this was the first time she had seen Shangguan Bing Xue making a large-scale move. Meng Qi's heart not only trembled due to shock but also felt bitter as he realized the huge disparity between the two of them.
"Amazing!" Sun Ling exclaimed in shock as her big black eyes reflected shining objects falling from the sky. "To think that girl Bing Xue actually was so strong!"
Even the lifeless expression on Xia Ya's face broke for a second before returning to normal.
Not even more than about thirty seconds had passed since the explosions had started when the shouts of joy and excited cheers coming from the right flank and rear of the group began to thunder in the middle of the forest so loudly that the trees and ground shook.
Frost floated in the air and the ground had practically frozen over; even the area where Bai Zemin was standing became slightly affected by Shangguan Bing Xue's skill.
Bai Zemin chuckled as he heard the bestial roars coming from the human throats, hailing the ice princess' name with fervor.
No... Bai Zemin heard several calling her ''Ice Goddess''.
But how could they not be overjoyed after being released from the clutches of death and having been pointed out their path to survival?
"I guess I'll finish my part too." He muttered under his breath before taking a step forward.
Under the shining eyes of Meng Qi, who for fear of completely losing her self-confidence decided to stop looking at the fairy-like woman rising on an ice tree and instead decided to focus on seeing for the first time what her brother could do, Bai Zemin stepped with moderate strength onto the ground beneath his feet and soared over 300 meters in an instant.
Activating Gravity Manipulation in reverse to slow his falling speed by a huge margin, Bai Zemin immediately spotted two things.
First, in a matter of a minute, Shangguan Bing Xue had slaughtered what was definitely over a hundred thousand weaver ants using ice bullets or ice pikes, and judging from her expression she seemed to be playing around; which was normal considering how high her Mana stat was at the moment. After all, killing Unclassified existences with low defense couldn't be easier.
The second thing Bai Zemin spotted caused every hair on his body to stand on end.
"Fuck their mother." Bai Zemin couldn't help but curse under his breath at the sea of ants.
No matter where Bai Zemin looked, all he could see were ants. Even in the middle of the darkness where his vision was somewhat limited, he could see beyond 500 meters past the area illuminated by the flares and skills of the mages.... However, all that was there were ants waiting to replace future fallen ones.
There were definitely more weaver ants than zombies on the bridge.
"Lucky for me, here I don't have to be careful to destroy anything, or otherwise I might die in this place if these ants spit all together." Bai Zemin sighed as he seemed to hover in midair at his slow descending speed.
Determined to put an end to this ant attack once and for all, Bai Zemin immediately went to work.
Two tremendously strong and effective skills to wipe out armies but not affect allies? Definitely not Gravity Manipulation and Crimson Blood Judgment; even Bai Zemin would end up getting damaged if he wasn't careful with those things not to mention the others.
On the other hand....
"I wonder what will happen if I use Overlap Regeneration and replace 90% of my Strength for Magic before casting Blood Manipulation." Bai Zemin felt anxious to try it so like an eager child he immediately set to work on revealing what the gift wrap hid.
Coming out of the initial shock, the eyes of Sun Ling, Feng Hong, Feng Tian Wu, Xia Ya, and many other soul evolvers and soldiers located on the left flank and in the front were directed to the sky. There, they all noticed how Bai Zemin's body was suddenly surrounded by a bright golden light.
Practically standing in the void and surrounded by a kind of golden halo.... It had to be said that there were not a few who at that moment felt that Bai Zeminin was the representation in flesh and blood of how the gods were portrayed in illustrated books.
Under the attentive, serious, admiring, appreciative eyes of those he was leading, Bai Zemin raised his right hand and while looking out over the endless sea of weaver ants snapped his fingers one time as his voice spread far and wide across the bloody battlefield.
His voice was neither high nor low, yet for some strange reason, it was clearly heard by everyone even amidst the high-pitched shrieks of the weaver ants and the explosions resulting from the massacre Shangguan Bing Xue was carrying out.
It was like the voice of God reaching out to the mortal world.
Yes, it was like the decree of the Emperor of the Heavens.
"Die."