Ashen God
Chapter 306 - 305: Slaying the Lord Monster Crimson Iron Ant Queen

Chapter 306: Chapter 305: Slaying the Lord Monster Crimson Iron Ant Queen

Zhang Yanhang stared at the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s sixth skill, "Crimson Flame Burning Body," a bit stunned, "I was just saying it off the cuff, and didn’t expect that, without looking I wouldn’t know, but a look is truly startling, there’s actually a potential for upset from the gutter. Clearly, the other Crimson Iron Ants don’t have this ability, yet the Crimson Iron Ant Queen alone has developed a self-destruction ability.

Who could withstand that? Just looking at the size of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, the self-destruction could at least blow away a large portion of my shield value, right? There’s even the possibility that my shield value would be completely depleted, especially since just one Acid Liquid Fireball can knock off more than a hundred points of my shield value."

"Moreover, this Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s strength and constitution attributes are so high, both reaching the Second Tier Limit of fifty points. Worthy of a Second Tier Four-star Lord Monster, even its intelligence attribute has forty-four points."

But although Zhang Yanhang was talking about strength and constitution, what truly surprised him was the Charm attribute of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, shockingly reaching twenty-five points, already at the First Tier Limit level. It was quite baffling.

"Fortunately, I have been paying attention to improving my Charm attribute lately, otherwise if my Charm attribute were to fall short of even a Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s, that would be too embarrassing."

Zhang Yanhang felt it really might be a matter of aesthetic differences. When he looked at the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, his only feeling was disgust, but even looking so disgusting, it had a Charm value of twenty-five points. It could only be said that, perhaps, looking like this, the Crimson Iron Ant is the most popular within the Crimson Iron Ant Nest.

"So, the question is, do the Crimson Iron Ants find the Crimson Iron Ant Queen beautiful because of its appearance, or is it that, despite looking like that, they find it beautiful because it’s the Crimson Iron Ant Queen?"

Because of the status of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen within the Crimson Iron Ant Nest, Zhang Yanhang felt both scenarios were quite possible, of course, the greater likelihood was due to the peculiar hormone birthed within the body of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen through consuming crimson iron ore.

Speaking of this hormone, Zhang Yanhang finally understood why the jewelry made of crimson iron came with a Charm attribute bonus—it was entirely because crimson iron itself contained this power.

The jewelry crafted from crimson iron added three effects: flame resistance, acid resistance, and Charm attribute, the first two, acid power and flame power, Zhang Yanhang had already seen on other Crimson Iron Ants.

Only this Charm, Zhang Yanhang had seen only in the two mating entities, the Crimson Iron Ant King and the Crimson Iron Ant Queen.

Therefore, Zhang Yanhang thought the ability to absorb charm-related powers might be an important criterion for the Crimson Iron Ant Nest to select the Crimson Iron Ant King and Crimson Iron Ant Queen from the Crimson Iron Breeding Ants.

"The Crimson Iron Ant Queen is strong in strength, constitution, intelligence, and Charm attributes, where only the Agility attribute is somewhat lacking due to its overly cumbersome size."

After a brief analysis of the attributes of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, Zhang Yanhang felt the Crimson Iron Ant Queen was essentially a sitting duck, but even if it was a sitting duck, it could self-destruct, which was quite annoying.

"To prevent the Crimson Iron Ant Queen from self-destructing, I feel I should take it out before it can react, that’s the only way to prevent a potential self-destruction."

"However, the Crimson Iron Ant Queen also has the skill of fast breeding; it can reproduce Crimson Iron Ants quickly even without the Ant King. I really want to use this fast breeding to farm a wave of soul points."

Zhang Yanhang was somewhat conflicted about whether to quickly kill the Crimson Iron Ant Queen or wait for it to breed more ants to gain extra soul points before attacking it.

"With the size of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, it feels like one batch could produce at least dozens of Crimson Iron Ants, right? If I could farm several waves, it seems I could get rich just by working hard with my own two hands."

As Zhang Yanhang agonized over which method to choose, an Acid Liquid Fireball the size of a water barrel hit him squarely, causing large ripples and waves to stir on the surface of the Energy Shield amid the blazing flames.

This Acid Liquid Fireball annoyed Zhang Yanhang, "Forget it, why bother farming the Crimson Iron Ants? The profit isn’t much anyway, might as well just take down the Ant Queen directly."

Because the core area of the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu was not too large, only 0.2 square kilometers, and with the Queen positioned right in the middle of the core area, it took Zhang Yanhang only two seconds to run from the entrance of the passage to the front of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen.

The Crimson Iron Ant Queen, seeing the intruder who had been at the entrance of the passage suddenly appear before her, immediately stopped the preparation for the next round of Acid Liquid Fireballs and instead began to rapidly activate the Flame Power storage organ in her abdomen.

As the ruler of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest, the Crimson Iron Ant Queen had already realized in previous rounds of attacks that she was no match for the intruder, but she was very confident about self-destruction; she believed that a successful self-destruction would definitely deal a heavy blow to the intruder.

Seeing the Queen’s abdomen start to flicker with red light, Zhang Yanhang sensed that something was amiss and immediately manifested the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist, throwing a punch toward the head of the Ant Queen.

All Four Elements are Void!

A gray-black Twisted Force Field appeared in front of Zhang Yanhang’s fist, exerting a strong attractive force that actively drew the Queen’s massive body—which normally required the joint efforts of three Ant Kings to move slowly—towards Zhang Yanhang’s fist.

The terrifying punch, carrying at least dozens of tons of force, landed solidly on the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s compound eyes, which were flashing a strange red light. With a loud bang, the Queen’s hard red exoskeleton and the brain tissue it protected shattered into a weird mixture of blood and flesh in an instant.

Under the effect of the Twisted Force Field, the tremendous impact force was transmitted backwards layer by layer. The shattered exoskeleton and brain tissue of the Queen’s head did not splatter in all directions but rather collapsed inward as if sucked into the chest cavity.

The Queen’s chest exoskeleton, which stored Flame Power and had defensive power several times stronger than that of the Ant King, failed to block even a fraction of the impact force and was instantly engulfed along with the shattered head of the King, collapsing inward.

The unrecognizable head and abdominal flesh of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, now mixed together, were rapidly propelled by the immense force into the bloated abdomen located behind.

The Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s abdomen contained abnormally developed digestive organs, reproductive organs, intestinal tissues, hormone glands, and developing Crimson Iron Ants, all of which were now engulfed in the collapse, as the crushing force brought by Zhang Yanhang’s All Four Elements are Void directly shattered them into a fluffy mixture of bloody tissue.

The destructive power of the collapse continued until it finally dissipated near the midpoint of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s abdomen, where a large, round-structured mass of bloody tissues, twisted due to the collapse, finally exploded with a tremendous noise after emitting a series of loud sounds.

Bang!

A spiritually polluting Blood and Flesh Fireworks display instantly blossomed in the narrow cave, as a voluminous amount of bloody tissue measured in cubic units splattered against the cave’s inner walls like real fireworks.

The immense bloody tissue mass, comprising the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s brain tissue, exoskeleton fragments, digestive organs, reproductive organs, intestinal tissues, hormone glands, and sticky red body fluids, smeared the walls and ceiling of the core area in the blink of an eye.

The scene inside the entire cave turned exceptionally bloody, filled with fragments of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body tissues everywhere, even splattered on Zhang Yanhang himself. Those tissues stuck on him sizzled as they roasted in the raging flames formed by the Acid Liquid Fireball.

But at that moment, Zhang Yanhang didn’t bother with these minor details. His eyes remained fixed on the remaining half of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body, where the Flame Power storage organ hidden within showed no signs of ceasing activation after the Ant Queen’s death; on the contrary, it felt as if it was still being rapidly activated.

Zhang Yanhang looked at the flickering crimson light within the remaining half of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body and felt an urge to rush up and deliver another punch.

But before Zhang Yanhang could swing his fist, a semi-transparent All Four Elements are Void Fist composed of energy silently appeared at the lower abdominal cross-section of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, which was previously damaged by the All Four Elements are Void, right at the boundary where the previous hit had reached its limit.

A more powerful All Four Elements are Void suddenly struck the remaining half of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body, and under the action of a strong Twisted force field, an even more terrifying collapse than before happened at the abdomen of the Ant Queen.

During this collapse, the hard exoskeleton armor of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s abdomen not only failed to protect but rather accelerated the process by quickly being drawn into it.

Carried by the tremendous force of impact, the fragments of the exoskeleton were like the sharp blades of a meat grinder, rapidly slicing through the still intact bloody tissues behind during the collapse.

In the blink of an eye, the collapse that originally took place at the middle section of the abdomen had reached the Flame Power storage organ at the very end of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body, the surface of which appeared as a grotesque tumor, where the flickering crimson light became increasingly intense.

Just as this malformed tumor, filled with an enormous amount of Flame Power, was about to erupt, the round mass of bloody tissues, driven by gravity and the enormous impact, rushed next to the tumor and swallowed it with no resistance.

The round amalgamation, which had already fused with the majority of the bloody tissue from the remaining half of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body, and carried by the tremendous force, easily burst the tumor like a spike piercing a balloon—the Ant Queen’s final resort.

Pop!

The abnormal meat tumor burst with a sound similar to that of a soap bubble popping. The flame power stored inside was tightly bound by the gravity distortion field, unable to escape the interior of the spherical flesh composite.

After devouring the abnormal growth packed with flame power, the collapse continued, driven by the force of the gravity distortion field and the immense impact, drawing in the last bits of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s flesh until it gradually came to a stop.

Boom!

With the disappearance of the gravity distortion field, the internal impact and flame power within the spherical flesh composite could no longer be suppressed. The next second, the massive flesh enriched with flame power exploded into an even more vivid and startling display of blood and flesh fireworks than before.

The flames and tissue covered everything in sight. Thankfully, Zhang Yanhang wasn’t in a world governed by the Cthulhu mythos; otherwise, witnessing such a scene heavy with mental pollution might have caused a precipitous drop in SAN points, driving him into insanity on the spot.

The burst of the massive flesh once again redecorated the already fragment-covered cave walls with bits of the body of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen, making the scene uncomfortable even for ordinary Awakeners.

Zhang Yanhang stood emotionless on the spot, watching it all unfold. The process seemed lengthy but actually occurred within a matter of seconds. So, almost immediately after throwing his punch, Zhang Yanhang consecutively witnessed two explosions of blood and flesh fireworks.

If Zhang Yanhang were to offer a quick assessment, he would definitely find the version triggered by the extra attack far more satisfying than the standard All Four Elements are Void.

After all, this version of the blood and flesh fireworks was mixed with flame power. To some extent, it bore a closer resemblance to real fireworks, and visually, it was far more splendid and stunning.

[Successfully killed a Second Tier Four-star Monster ’Crimson Iron Ant Queen (Lord Monster)’ ×1, Soul points +2400.]

"While I always knew extra attacks could enhance skills, I didn’t expect to trigger an extra attack the very first time I unleashed the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist. Although the extra attack version is indeed more impressive, even the regular version of the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist is terrifying in terms of power.

I thought that using the Pure World Fist would at most obliterate the upper half of the Crimson Iron Ant Queen’s body, but I didn’t expect it to reach the abdomen, and under the effects of the extra attack, the entire body of the Ant Queen was blasted apart..."

Zhang Yanhang had never envisioned this outcome before releasing the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist. After all, punching a creature as massive as a whale, measured in tens of meters, into meaty chunks was something he truly couldn’t have imagined.