Chapter 1068 1068. Exploding Ants
Jack approached the weird tall hills accompanied by Alfredo's asura while the others stay back and watched. He changed into his supreme dragon form and activated gold scale armor as Peniel told him to.
He saw dense clusters of red dots around those tall hills. Peniel informed him that these kamikaze monsters were insect-type monsters. This type usually attacked en masse.
Once Jack came into a certain range, one of the nearest tall hills burst like it was made of sand. Perhaps it was. Out of that crumbling hill, hordes of red insects surged out.
Jack used his Inspect. These red insects were Volatile Firefly Ants. They were mostly level 60 elite monsters, weaker than the sabretooth walruses. But their number made it clear that they could swallow those walruses in seconds. There were also a few amongst the horde that was special elite grades and had higher levels up to level 63.
Duke Alfredo's Asura took point while Jack fired ranged attacks and spells.
"Hey, they didn't explode from my attacks," Jack said.
"Of course, they don't! I said they will trigger the explosion when they get near you," Peniel replied. "Why would they blow up and kill themselves without taking out their target?"
As if to prove Peniel's words, the Volatile Firefly Ants showed what they were capable of. The Asura was a melee combatant. Its four arms swung at high-speed slashing and knocking the mass of ants with its multiple weapons. Each swing caused destructive waves that damaged the ants in a large area.
The asura failed to show its dazzle when it was going against the archdemon because the archdemon was simply too powerful. But from its current display, it was clear that this asura was most suitable for dealing with a large number of enemies.
Yet, its moment to shine didn't last long. The ants were simply too many. Even with four arms, some ants managed to get past the Asura's swings. One of the ants latched onto the Asura's left leg. The abdomen of the ant then glowed a bright red, like in the case of a firefly.
It then exploded. The Asura received almost 50,000 in damage.
"Holy…!" Jack exclaimed.
Although it delivered high damage, the explosion area was very small. The explosion only hit the Asura alone and not the other Volatile Firefly Ants nearby. With such a short range, it was no wonder the ant only exploded after touching the Asura.
That one explosion also staggered the Asura, causing its reaction against the other ants to slow down. One by one the Volatile Firefly Ants slipped through and jumped onto the Asura's body. Each one detonated almost instantly once their insect legs grabbed onto their target. Damage number over damage number appeared continuously above the Asura's body following successive explosions.
The Asura was the same level as its summoner, Duke Alfredo who was level 71. It was of rare elite grade. Despite having a large number of HP at 800,000. It took only seventeen explosions before the Asura succumbed and was reduced to dust.
The hundreds of Volatile Firefly Ants then went to their next nearest target, Jack, who had stopped advancing after the Asura suffered the first explosion.
"Crap!" He uttered. No wonder Peniel asked him to use his supreme dragon form and activated his Gold Scale Armor. If one of those kamikaze attacks caused almost 50,000 damage, he would be finished at a faster rate than that Asura.
His current total HP in the supreme dragon form was 56,339 HP. Beast form added his HP by 120%. 100% addition was the basic effect of the skill. Each star upgrade increased another 10% HP. His Beast form was currently at 2 stars.
He believed his unique-grade set armor gave him a better defense than the Asura's, so the damage he received should be less. But if he didn't use any defensive skill, he estimated that it might only take three Volatile Firefly Ants to kill him. With the Gold Scale Armor, he might endure another one or two explosions. Still not a good prospect. There were hundreds of these ants.
Thinking that way, he reflexively dodged those ants who tried to latch onto him. He moved around and also used his Asura mode. With six arms, he smacked away any ants that got near. His expertise and speed were better than Duke Alfredo's Asura, so he fared better and none of the ants managed to touch him.
"Hey! If they don't explode, then this is no different from normal grinding. You will just get exp points at a normal speed," Peniel said.
"What the hell, then how do you suppose I survive their explosions?" Jack uttered as he continued to repel any ant that came near.
"I will heal you when it is dangerous," Peniel said. He cast Healing Field where Jack was.
"Fine! Let's give it a try!" Jack said and activated Lightning God Suit, further reducing the damage he received by a huge deal.
He then stopped fighting off the Volatile Firefly Ants. One of them jumped onto his body and exploded. Jack felt the sting. Around 4,000 damage popped up above him. His two godly defensive skills had managed to reduce the damage by a large portion.
He wasn't staggered by the explosion because his two defensive skills protected him. But it didn't make any difference, because he just stood still and intentionally let the ants latch onto him.
Explosions after explosions pummeled his body. In just a short time, he started to worry. The number of ants that exploded on him increased as time went on. Peniel's healing field was unable to keep up.
At a critical time, Peniel used her Fast Heal. Not long after, Group Fast Heal. Then, Invulnerability. Yet, after the end of the 5 seconds of invincibility, the swarm of Volatile Firefly Ants still crowd him.
"I run out of skills!" Peniel said as another round of explosions battered Jack's body.
"I still have a trick up my sleeve!" Jack said. When his HP was down to critical, he used Gold Dragon Vitality. Not only his HP was healed to full, but it was doubled. His HP was now over 100,000.
The mass of explosions continued.
Although Jack had more HP now, his HP still decreased at a fast rate from the non-stop explosions. His HP recovery was unable to keep up. To try to make this stunt last as long as his skills last, he used his arms and started swatting the ants, limiting the number that exploded on his body.
At one time, he unintentionally hit one of the ants that was already latched onto him. The ant was knocked away and exploded mid-air.
"Oh…?"
Seeing that incident, a thought came into his mind.