Last Totem Novel - Chapter 319

Chapter 319 War Ant

After Mu Qianhe left, Tie Zha first went to the mobile assembly room in the parking lot of the stronghold to unload the power armor, then returned to the office to take a shower, and then fell asleep on the big bed in the resting area.

Eleven hours later, by Dr3713-04-29, 19 o’clock (24 hours as the bottomless abyss has no distinction between day and night), Tie Zha woke up. After arriving at the resting area, Bai Xiaoyun had already made the tea and handed over a list of people to him.

Team Name: Wolf Legion

Guild Leader: Sa Chacha, equipped with [Wilderness Knights] Mechanical Power Armor

Assistant Guild Leader: Bai Xiaoyun

Power Armor Commando: Captain Jerome, Tuoba San, Marcus, equipped with standard mechanical power armor, scout matches, equipped with reconnaissance mechanical power armor

Marine Corps: Captain Mu Qianhe, 20 former members, 8 less, 12 remaining.

Logistics Brigade: Captain Ju Ahmu, 35 former logistic personnel, reduced by 18, remaining 17 personnel.

Medical team: Captain Hillman Ciros, two field nurses.

Wounded at Dawn Stronghold: 4 Marines, 1 logistical staff.

Tie Zha stared blankly at the list and couldn’t help but sigh. His team came from the remnants of the academy’s detectives, the Beast Corps, the Black Knights of the North, and Commander Nick Wagner, who had asked him to take care of them before they died. Along the way, they had experienced three great battles, and half of them had been killed or injured, leaving little left. However, these survivors had all gone through the test of blood and fire, and could now be considered as the future junior officers of the guild. He planned to recruit a new batch of players after returning from the Abyss to expand the size of the Wolf army.

Then, he remembered about the porcupine. After pondering for a moment, he raised his head and said to Bai Xiaoyun, “Tell Qin Ke’er to send three thousand gold coins to Elder Ebony. Tell her to give the porcupine’s family a pension.”

“This” Bai Xiaoyun hesitated for a moment before earnestly saying, “Boss, according to the agreement, the Ancient Era’s Bloodline will take care of his family. We don’t need to pay another pension.”

“Pretend” Tie Zha took a deep breath and said, “It’s a token of my gratitude.” He heard from wang Hu that the porcupine was born in a remote village in the far southeast. Its family was very poor, and it had been chosen to enter the War Bear Temple since childhood. The porcupine has not returned home for many years. It is said that there are two younger brothers and two younger sisters at home. Although the money can’t heal the pain of losing loved ones, it can at least make them feel better.

“Alright.” Bai Xiaoyun nodded solemnly.

After arranging things, Tie Zha ate something casually, then went to the parking lot’s mobile assembly room, put on his power armor, drove the red comet, and left the stronghold alone.

When they left the stronghold gate, the soldiers guarding the gate asked Tie Zha to show them their passes. Iron slag was a little stunned, then he remembered that he had just arrived yesterday, and the soldiers of the stronghold did not recognize him.

Helplessly, he was about to turn around and leave when he met Hildebrand, who had just returned from patrolling outside. When the latter saw him, he immediately walked forward and smiled. “Good evening, Commander.”

“Hello.” Tie Zha replied.

Hearing the conversation between the two, the faces of the soldiers guarding the door immediately changed. Then, they came to their senses. One of them hurriedly stepped forward and asked, “Excuse me … are you … are you Lord Tie Zha?”

“Yes.” Tie Zha nodded.

“Sorry … we … we …” The soldier explained nervously, but Tie Zha waved his hand, saying that he didn’t have a pass, so it was reasonable not to let him pass. Seeing that the new commander did not intend to pursue the matter, the soldiers heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly put down the suspension bridge to let him pass.

After bidding farewell to Hildebrand and leaving the stronghold, Tie Zha rode on the red comet for half an hour along the path carved into the cliff and returned to the platform where the termites had been found.

“Alice, take care of yourself.” Tie Zha rolled off the car and said without turning back as he walked towards the cliff.

[Yes, my captain] The headlights of the red comet flashed and a mechanically synthesized girl’s voice came out.

“Aggressive …”

With a long jet sound, Tie Zha jumped out from the edge of the platform and flew over the cliff. About a few minutes later, a life detector on Tie Zha’s helmet scanned a sedan-sized shovel worm through a crack in a stone filled with ferns.

He immediately flew over, raised his arm, pulled the trigger, and smashed an emergency shotgun onto the flat shell of the insect. Green mucus immediately sprayed out. Tie Zha turned around and avoided the mucus before spitting out a mouthful of saliva.

Moments later, large ants with red carapaces and long knuckle tips continuously flew out from the cracks in the stone. In an instant, they gathered into a red cloud in midair, flapping their membrane wings and producing a dense “buzzing” sound. Seeing that it was almost time, Tie Zha turned around, dived down, and flew back to the platform with the ant colony. Immediately after, his mind moved. Hundreds of scouting soldiers immediately took off their membrane wings, squeezed together, and quickly climbed into the abyss termites’ excavation passageway.

After entering the corridor, the ant colony gradually split into three groups. They swayed their segments with high frequency and moved forward rapidly in the corridor. Tie Zha’s field of vision widened as well. The stone wall in front of him seemed to be transparent, and numerous intricate corridors appeared in the void.

Not long after, one of the soldiers encountered the first abyss termite. At this moment, due to the large number of soldiers and the fact that the width of the passageway was no different from that of a calf-sized abyss termite, the plump milky white abdomen blocked the passageway behind him to death. Seeing this, Tie Zha did not hesitate and immediately ordered the soldiers to pounce.

At this moment, Tie Zha discovered that the scouting ant’s strength and speed had increased by a lot. After the first few were bitten by the abyss termites, the rest of the lurking termites pounced on the back of the termites and began to bite crazily. Seconds later, the colony dispersed and continued onwards, leaving behind only a broken shell and scattered limbs. In the meantime, Tie Zha discovered another change in the soldier ant. As they bit their prey, they injected new parasitic cells. These parasitic cells quickly hatched and emerged from the termite’s plump body, joining the colony. Tie Zha quickly came to the conclusion that this was the effect of his new ability, the male ant gland, and that the soldier ant had the ability to reproduce.

Before he could think about it, Tie Zha discovered a third change. After devouring enough termites’ flesh and blood, some of the soldiers’ shells actually emitted a faint blue glow. This was obviously the result of absorbing and utilizing psionic energy. Under the influence of psionic energy, the strength and speed of this group of ants had greatly increased, several times more than when they had just hatched. The speed at which he moved and the speed at which he moved far surpassed that of an ordinary soldier ant. In the blink of an eye, he had abandoned the large army.

In the next few tens of minutes, the ferocious colony of soldiers was like a red storm, engulfing the entire termite nest. They fearlessly rushed towards the enemy like tides, tearing each other apart while injecting large amounts of parasitic cells, incubating batches of new allies one after another.

After going deep into the hinterland of the ant nest, they soon encountered a group of abyss termites that were larger, thicker, and more effective. According to the introduction in the textbook, this was a soldier ant from the abyss termites. He was in charge of guarding the nest, so he was also known as the abyss termites. However, even though ordinary scouting ants were no match for the termites, those high-level scouting ants that had devoured the flesh and blood of the termites and were named “Deepblue Battle Ants” by Tie Zha on the spot tore apart their thick insect shells like bamboo, killing hundreds of them.

In the blink of an eye, the termite colonies that held the advantage in terms of geography continued to retreat, while more and more red termites appeared, becoming an overwhelming force. Every single one of the fallen abyss termites would hatch more red termites. Tie Zha has lost control of most of its colonies because of their sheer numbers, leaving them to follow their instincts.

During the hearty battle of annihilation, Tie Zha’s heart trembled for no reason. He unintentionally thought of a problem and immediately broke out in cold sweat. These scouting ants had the ability to self-reproduce, and their numbers were getting larger and larger, showing a tendency to get out of control. If they continued to develop like this, would they become a new species after they completely lost control …

However, his worries quickly disappeared, because he discovered that the parasitic cells produced by all the soldiers were weaker than the previous generation, and both their survival time and physical strength had decreased to a certain extent. After seven or eight generations, the life cycle of the newborn ant would be shortened to a few minutes, making it difficult for it to reproduce further.

About half an hour later, the termite nest that stretched for more than ten kilometers was cleaned by the scouting soldiers. The corridor was filled with broken insect shells and white mucus. During the cleaning of the remaining termites, Tie Zha made a brief summary.

Firstly, in the abyss environment, his insect transformation ability had obviously been enhanced. Originally, he could only control three hundred or so ants at the same time, but now, it had doubled and could control six or seven hundred at the same time.

Secondly, the stronger the species, the stronger the initial strength of the ants. This batch of soldiers’ movement speed, bite power, and life cycle were all significantly improved. A dozen newly hatched termites could easily kill an abyss termite the size of a calf. If it was in the past, it would definitely not be possible.

Thirdly, after consuming the species carrying psionic starsand, the scouting ants would level up completely, evolving into deep blue combat ants, and their combat strength would skyrocket. Just now, when they were slaughtering the White Guard Ants, it was as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

In his thoughts, a group of soldiers flooded into an open underground space. From the taste perception of the antennae above the head of the soldier ant, Tie Zha “saw” a milky white, half-human-tall oval egg. With a thought, the soldiers surged forward, tearing open the translucent eggs and devouring the nutrients and the newly formed larvae in large mouthfuls.

At this moment, a wave of fluctuations came from the darkness. Although ants don’t have hearing, they have good perception. Judging from the resonance of the air, it was not difficult to tell that it was a sharp, angry hissing sound.

It seemed that the crusading army had found the Empress of this underground kingdom.