Chapter 687: Final Room & Terrifying Enemy (part 1)
Chapter 687: Final Room & Terrifying Enemy (part 1)
What was before the eyes of Bai Zemin and his team was a kind of ice dome. Approximately 70 meters in diameter and about 10 meters high, the sky-blue ice dome was a seemingly indestructible barrier that separated the inside from the outside as if they were two different worlds.
Bai Zemin noticed how the weaver ants that climbed over the ice dome using their special legs were turned into ice statues after the dome was flooded with ants. The process was repeated over and over again with occasional changes such as the sudden appearance of an ice spear or other types of weapons made of ice.
“Looks like Bing Xue found her own way to save the others and spend as little Mana and Stamina as possible.” Wu Yijun sighed in relief as she sensed dozens of auras inside the ice dome.
Chen He looked at the surroundings and couldn’t help but comment, “It also looks like there have been almost no casualties on this side…. I, on the other hand…”
“Are you still regretting about the past?” Feng Hong patted Chen He’s shoulder and said in a firm voice, “Boy, you are so young you could be my son but apart from the Team Leader and a small handful of people you are the most outstanding young man I have ever seen in my life. You have led everyone brilliantly and made the right decisions at the right time. Deaths on the battlefield are natural, everyone here is aware that the next instant the fire that represents our lives could be extinguished with a little wind and we all fight in spite of it.”
Chen He took a deep breath and nodded, his eyes becoming steady once again. Regretting the past was useless, the past could not be changed but the future could be built by working on the present. He decided to work on his present for a better tomorrow; one without regrets.
Bai Zemin did not make a big deal and instead simply cleared a path wide and safe enough for his team to pass through the endless sea of green ants. After all, he planned to use this ant colony to fortify his soldiers even if he had to stay a couple of days in this place; these kinds of opportunities where so many First Order and even Second Order enemies appeared were very rare and could not be wasted.
After making his way to the ice dome and making sure that no weaver ants would jump on his exhausted men, Bai Zemin knocked gently on the frozen surface and said in a joking tone:
“Miss, I have a message for you.”
After a few seconds of silence, the reply from within finally came:
“Wait a moment, I’m not presentable right now.”
“Pffft!” Bai Zemin almost fell to the ground upon hearing Shangguan Bing Xue’s reply and finally couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
The small exchange in the middle of the bloody battlefield naturally left the soul evolvers inside and outside the ice dome speechless. While the weaver ants were frozen to death as they climbed the ice dome or turned to ashes by the blue flames, the ice princess and the flame lord looked more like a flirtatious couple than soldiers fighting for their lives.
The most surprised were naturally those who knew Shangguan Bing Xue’s personality well. However, this time there was no surprise in Wu Yijun’s eyes or in Chen He’s eyes. In fact, when the two heard the brief exchange between the two people, Wu Yijun and Chen He exchanged glances and although neither of them said anything they understood what the other was thinking.
Even a fool would realize after so long that Shangguan Bing Xue definitely treated Bai Zemin differently compared to how he treated other people; even Wu Yijun did not get as many jokes from her good sister, let alone as many smiles. It was not very difficult to understand that at some point, Bai Zemin had managed to sneak into Shangguan Bing Xue’s heart so strongly and firmly that now even Wu Yijun doubted who was the most important person for her childhood friend.
A part of the ice dome facing Bai Zemin’s group melted and soon a space opened up, large enough for 5 people to pass side by side without any problem. On the other side, the beautiful Shangguan Bing Xue was radiant with a faint smile on her face and her eyes shone with a peculiar light when she saw Bai Zemin.
Bai Zemin looked inside the ice dome as his blue flames danced around and incinerated thousands of weaver ants per second.
Inside the dome, he saw several dozen people and except for a few wounded he found no dead bodies. At the very least and from a first glance, Bai Zemin estimated that Shangguan Bing Xue had managed to keep everyone safe.
“Are you guys going to stay outside?” Shangguan Bing Xue raised both eyebrows and placed both hands on her hips, looking especially pretty as she looked at Bai Zemin with questioning eyes.
Bai Zemin looked at the people behind him and ordered in a serious voice, “Everyone, get into the ice dome. I will stop the weaver ants in the meantime.”
No one said anything and they hurriedly began to enter the ice dome that was, surprisingly or not, not cold at all from the inside in contrast to the large amount of frost-like energy it released on the outside.
Bai Zemin was extremely pleased to see the orderly manner in which everyone entered the ice dome. After experiencing so many battles together, these people had come to understand each other so well that they could probably understand each other’s thoughts with a glance in the midst of combat; such a kind of characteristic was simply invaluable and difficult to acquire unless through countless deadly battles.
After everyone entered the dome, Bai Zemin slowly backed off while setting fire to all the mutant ants that tried to sneak in until the opening was finally sealed again by Shangguan Bing Xue.
The first thing Shangguan Bing Xue did was to check Bai Zemin for any injuries and only then she approached Chen He and Wu Yijun. Her slight move probably done subconsciously made Sun Ling sigh in her heart and she ended up shaking her head as she realized that maybe her daughter might have a lot of competition to win Bai Zemin’s heart after all.
Shangguan Bing Xue did not know about other people’s thoughts. She frowned slightly as she looked at the clear lack of soul evolvers and her blue eyes widened slightly as she noticed Huang Tian’s absence.
In fact, when the other members of the Black Tortoise guild noticed Huang Tian’s absence, all of them lowered their heads. Gloomy sighs and even low cries filled the dome, expressing the grief they felt at the loss of someone they truly cherished from the bottom of their hearts.
Everyone in Bai Zemin’s team sat on the ground, and after watching the shadows of the ants climbing over the ice dome but unable to penetrate the defensive structure, they finally let out sighs of relief. Now that the adrenaline had subsided and they reached a relatively safe place, they all began to grimace or grunt due to the pain they felt.
“What happened?” Shangguan Bing Xue asked Bai Zemin in a low voice.
He looked at her for a moment and began to narrate everything; from the moment he walked into the central passage to the signal for help “sent” by Chen He, as well as the wild amount of weaver ants that had surrounded the group by the time he got there.
“I see… It must have been tough.” Shangguan Bing Xue nodded after hearing the whole story.
She and Bai Zemin were a bit further away from the rest right now while Wu Yijun, Meng Qi, and others who were in good condition helped apply some mutant herbs with good healing properties on the wounds of the soul evolvers.
“What happened to this side?” Bai Zemin asked after a moment of silence. While looking at the surroundings, he couldn’t help but remarked, “It looks like you made them struggle quite a bit considering that they are all tired…. Still, you lost only two men in the midst of so many enemies. Good job, though I’m not surprised given that you’re the one we’re talking about.”
Shangguan Bing Xue shook her head at Bai Zemin’s small compliment and pointed out, “Actually, those two casualties happened because of a little carelessness on my part. I didn’t expect the Second Order Weaver Ants to be so powerful that they even managed to break through the ice I locked them in.”
As she narrated the events that happened on this side of the cave, Bai Zemin finally came to know that even Shangguan Bing Xue had her own problems at first despite her power.
It turned out that at first, Shangguan Bing Xue had let the others fight against the weaver ants, and just as Bai Zemin had just found out and implemented, she did not intervene even when some of the soul evolvers on the human side were about to die. Under this kind of environment and the stimulus of knowing that they could die at any moment, everyone’s level began to rise rapidly.
However, when the first two red-colored weaver ants appeared, Shangguan Bing Xue made a small mistake in her calculations. She, who was capable of fighting Third Order existences, did not expect that the Strength of a Second Order ant could reach such a frightening level.
Shangguan Bing Xue thought that only by spending a few Mana points she would be able to freeze both creatures, but to her shock, this was not the case. The two Second Order weaver ants broke through the ice that had covered their bodies and taking advantage of the small moment of surprise managed to take the lives of two men before Shangguan Bing Xue finally decapitated them both.
From that moment on, Shangguan Bing Xue took over the largest number of Second Order weaver ants and only left a small number for people like Liang Jing and Teng Hua to polish themselves and obtain large amounts of pristine Soul Power while the rest of the weaver ants were taken care of by the weaker soul evolvers.
“I see…” Bai Zemin scanned over and said with a faint smile, “Not bad at all. The lowest level among those present is 30 while both Liang Jing and Teng Hua managed to break into the Second Order.”
As for Shangguan Bing Xue’s level? It was hard to say. She was not only one stage above Bai Zemin but her Soul Power was also incredibly pure so Bai Zemin could not detect her current level with accuracy.
But Bai Zemin was not the only one pleasantly surprised between the two.
Shangguan Bing Xue raised an eyebrow and while looking at the group that Bai Zemin had led so far remarked with slight joy in her voice: “But…. I must say that I’m really surprised. This team you brought has actually become much more powerful after a few hours. Even your younger sister Meng Qi has managed to break past level 33 and Little Snow finally broke the First Order.”
She looked at Bai Zemin and asked with a faint smile, “You finally realized that overprotection is not good in the long run?”
Bai Zemin nodded without saying anything. He was actually relieved and proud that he could notice one of his shortcomings so early and had started working on it before it turned into a deadly cancerous tumor.
Meng Qi currently had the lowest level but even she was already a level 33 First Order existence while Little Snow had jumped straight to level 35 as soon as she completed her requirements needed to advance to First Order. Although Bai Zemin did not know what class Little Snow had since he had no way of seeing her records, the big white dog had become more beautiful, smarter, and many times faster and deadlier compared to the past.
While Meng Qi using some minor runes and mysterious skills could fight a normal level 40 soul evolver, Little Snow would probably be able to take down several level 40 enemies with ease since while her attacks were not destructive and her defense was nothing great; her movement speed, attack speed, reaction speed, and instincts were simply monstrous.