Chapter 149 – Queen An (2/2)

“No need, no need. Too dangerous,” responded Fatty. “Let Wheat do the job.”

Curled up nearby, Wheat rolled its eyes. You say it’s ‘too dangerous’, yet you make this Lord Wheat do it?

After scanning their surroundings, Fatty pointed at a passage. “See that tunnel? Let’s go over there and guard it. Let Wheat pull the boss over.” The passage was only two meters high and one meter wide, just enough for one person to stand straight in it. The structure was great for defense since only one guard could prevent an entire army from entering. Hearing Fatty’s plan, Liu Lan shot a sympathetic glance at Wheat. With tears in its eyes, the rodent burrowed underground.

Fatty and Liu Lan quietly snuck over to the chosen tunnel, clearing out a few mobs on the way. “I’ll guard this side; you guard the side leading out,” Fatty instructed. Liu Lan nodded and wheeled the Fire Cloud Panther so that her back faced Fatty’s.

Heeding Fatty’s command to draw the boss, Wheat slowly crept inside the nest. Since the Ant Nest was so big, without Wheat’s earthwalk, it would’ve been hard enough to meet the boss, let alone kill it. Of course, that was unless Fatty was determined to use up all of his scrolls.

Fatty and Liu Lan stood ready at the tunnel’s entrance. They waited for about ten minutes before hearing a rumble throughout the entire nest. Countless ants rushed out in all directions and began to attack wildly.

“Squeak squeak!” Wheat shrieked from somewhere. Fatty looked over and saw the rodent’s head pop up in a vacant area before it immediately dove back down again.

Boom! The Ant Nest suddenly trembled. As more and more ants flooded out, an extremely piercing screech echoed from the nest. Then, a three-meter long, massive ant slowly crawled forth.

The ant possessed a solid exoskeleton that looked like a set of golden armor. Six pairs of wings were attached to the creature’s back, and six thick, powerful claws grew from the legs. After the ant crawled from the nest, its wings flashed and slowly lifted its body to the sky. Behind this colossal creature were another six guard ants half its size.

Bang!

A Howling Bullet nailed the massive ant. Wheat popped out of hiding and ran for its life toward Fatty. The hovering ant noticed tiny little Wheat scampering across the ground. With a flash of wings, the boss instantly appeared over Wheat’s head as if it had teleported. One of its legs extended to grab the rat.

“Squeeeaak!” Terrified, Wheat squealed hysterically. Abruptly, the rodent’s form disappeared into the earth.

Snagging only a clawful of mud, the ant growled low inits throat. The aerial assault had created a hole about half a meter deep in the ground. “Such speed! Such a ruthless attack!” Seeing the ant in action, Fatty repeatedly questioned in his heart whether he could take on the behemoth’s attacks. During the brief moment the ant descended, Fatty took the chance to shakily toss out Appraisal.

Queen Ant

Gold boss

Level:???

……

Notes: One of the bosses in Thousand Cave Ridge. It fancies blood and flesh, frequently leaving the nest to snatch up unsuspecting individuals.

“You still able to hold on up there, Fatty?” Liu Lan, witnessing the boss’s majestic might, called out worriedly.

“Let me respectfully inform you: Never ask a man if he can hold on,” Fatty replied solemnly as he turned to Liu Lan. He then fired off an arrow toward the Queen Ant.

Ting! The arrow bounced off the moment it collided with the Queen Ant’s body, not leaving even a tiny crack.

Fatty continued trying to aggro the Queen Ant until it slightly flapped its wings and glided before him. Swiftly extending two claws, the boss was about to grab Fatty!

“Shit!” The rogue hastily stepped back to dodge the attack. Simultaneously, he took advantage of the shortened space between them, dropped to his knees near a leg joint, and slashed out. Clang! A number rose as his dagger struck the Queen Ant’s front leg: -160.

Only 160 HP? Fatty’s lips twitched bitterly. A gold tier boss’s health could reach several thousand or even over ten thousand. Ignoring health regen, it would still take forever to kill the boss at this rate. The thought ran through his mind very briefly.

Immediately, Fatty retreated until he was four or five meters away from the tunnel. Since the Queen Ant suffered a slash from Fatty, it naturally wouldn’t let him go. The instant Fatty fled into the tunnel, he heard a series of sharp noises coming from behind.

The Queen Ant’s six pairs of wings had fiercely sliced into the side walls of the tunnel until at least a third of their span was stuck in the walls. Since the Queen Ant was three meters long, its wings were at least two meters in length accordingly. When fully spread, the wingspan reached four meters. Therefore, they would naturally crash into the walls since the tunnel Fatty chose was only a meter in width. But, this also demonstrated the solidity and sharpness of the wings, such that they could rival at least a blade.

While Fatty might have planned for one of the wings to be damaged from the crash, he never expected the Queen Ant to lodge itself in the cave mouth. “Screech screech!” the Queen Ant wailed furiously. The boss wanted to free its wings, but they were buried too deeply due to the force earlier applied.

“Heck yeah, accidents actually bring unexpected success!” Fatty exclaimed smugly. However, he found that Liu Lan’s face had turned red, and she was glaring at him. “Waaa, why’re you glaring at me? Little Fatty didn’t offend you or anything, waaa!” He felt wronged.

“I do it because I want to. What ya gonna do about it?” Liu Lan fumed. She raised her spear and stabbed at the Queen Ant’s head. “Screw you! Go to hell!”

“Angry women are horrifying,” Fatty whispered, patting Wheat who’d emerged from the ground. Wheat nodded, but it was unclear whether it understood or not.

“Screech…” the Queen Ant released an extremely ear-piercing shriek upon being poked. Its mouth suddenly opened wide and spat out a wad of lime green liquid.

“Careful!” Fatty quickly embraced Liu Lan and rolled on the spot.

Szzzzz… The ground where the liquid landed sizzled and emitted white smoke. The entire area was dissolved at least three meters deep.