"Since all the skills had been upgraded, there shouldn’t be anything else that needs to be resolved now, right?" Zhang Yanhang thought carefully, but couldn’t think of any other pressing matters.
Zhang Yanhang sat on the corpse of the Crimson Iron Breeding Ant, silently scanning the movements of the advancing Crimson Iron Ants. As he had predicted, they had started moving towards his location, albeit slowly.
Zhang Yanhang remembered that the lowest-level Crimson Iron Worker Ants only had an agility attribute of 4 points, not even matching an average adult, so it made sense that their progress was slow. However, the slowness of the other Crimson Iron Ants wasn’t due to low agility, but because they had to wait for the Worker Ants to advance.
Based on Zhang Yanhang’s observations, it seemed that the Crimson Iron Worker Ants were still taking the lead, while the stronger Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants stayed at the rear. The strategy likely involved using the Worker Ants to wear down Zhang Yanhang’s physical strength first, then the rear ranks of Flying and Soldier Ants would take over the assault.
After confirming there was no sign of escape from the Crimson Iron Ants, Zhang Yanhang began to sit on the corpse of the Breeding Ant and closed his eyes to rest. Although he had just woken up not long ago, there really was nothing else for him to do now.
"Ah, if only I had a phone right now, it would be great to chat with other Awakeners during boring times.
But thinking about it, when I stay in the Ashen World, I spend about 95% of my time sleeping and hunting Monsters, and most of the remaining time is spent counting the harvest. So, moments with nothing to do are actually quite rare."
Thinking this, Zhang Yanhang couldn’t help but reflect on why he was so diligent, always either working or sleeping, with hardly any time at leisure. After much thought, he could only conclude that it was all to enhance his strength quickly.
"With my workload, even if Spiritual Qi Recovery hadn’t occurred and I just graduated to work at a big company as a programmer, I’d probably adapt well to the 996 work system."
Even though he talked about being a programmer, Zhang Yanhang knew that being a programmer and an Awakener were completely opposite careers; as a programmer, sudden death was a real possibility, but an Awakener’s body became healthier and stronger.
Now, having promoted to the Second Tier, Zhang Yanhang no longer worried about sudden death, as it was simply impossible.
Given his current physical condition, sudden death was definitely not a possibility, unless he was to fight continuously for ten days and nights without rest. Only such a situation could lead to death from exhaustion, which might somewhat resemble sudden death.
As Zhang Yanhang pondered the relationship between overtime and sudden death, the first batch of Crimson Iron Worker Ants appeared in front of him. He chose to ignore them temporarily, planning to deal with all the Crimson Iron Ants at once when they all gathered.
Minutes later, the sound of exoskeletal limbs colliding and rubbing endlessly echoed around Zhang Yanhang’s ears. If someone with claustrophobia or entomophobia were to see the sight Zhang Yanhang was now witnessing, they would surely faint from fear.
Thousands of Crimson Iron Ants surrounded Zhang Yanhang in a disordered formation, with the Crimson Iron Worker Ants at the forefront already having climbed onto Zhang Yanhang’s energy shield, continually biting at the shield while simultaneously spewing ant acid. Get full chapters from NoveI[F]ire.net
Zhang Yanhang didn’t speak but merely controlled the energy shield to bounce off these worker ants engaging in futile attacks. Due to the multitude of Crimson Iron Worker Ants in his vicinity, those that were flung away immediately collided with other worker ants.
After ejecting the ants perched on his energy shield, Zhang Yanhang silently pulled out the Rebirth in Pure Bliss Realm Prison Suppression Cannon from his waist bag. Ever since he had obtained this light gold weapon, he had yet to have a chance to use it, but now seemed to be the perfect opportunity.
Zhang Yanhang emotionlessly began to load a thermo-baric bomb into the barrel. As a standard pairing with ground penetrating bombs, the most effective scenario for the thermo-baric bomb to manifest its power was within buildings, caves, and other relatively enclosed environments.
The unique environmental characteristics and internal structure of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest were precisely such areas where the thermo-baric bomb could be most effective.
Taking advantage of the fact that other Crimson Iron Worker Ants hadn’t climbed back onto the energy shield yet, Zhang Yanhang quickly activated the Rebirth in Pure Bliss skill to lock onto targets and track them automatically. He aimed at the area behind the ranks of the Crimson Iron Ants and pulled the trigger, where the Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants were located.
Zhang Yanhang’s desire to first eliminate the Crimson Iron Ants at the rear wasn’t related to the strength of the flying ants and soldier ants. He mainly worried that if he started bombing from his position outward, it could easily cause the flying ants and soldier ants at the back to flee or retreat.
The mere few hundred meters of distance, the thermo-baric bomb, in the blink of an eye, had already flown above the Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants. Before even colliding with the ants, the bomb exploded mid-air, as detonating it prematurely was the only way to fully unleash the power of the thermo-baric bomb.
The solid fuel, supplemented with flammable metal powders such as aluminum, boron, silicon, titanium, magnesium, and zirconium, rapidly dispersed in all directions. Accompanied by the scattering of solid fuel, massive flames soared into the air, impacting the shaft with a height of merely five meters and swiftly surged toward Zhang Yanhang’s direction.
The terrifying shockwave, akin to a death wave, took less than a second to reach right before Zhang Yanhang and stirred up large ripples and waves on the surface of the energy shield.
The exoskeleton armor of the worker ants on its path shattered under the envelopment of the shockwave. Numerous segments and antennae broke off from their weak joints as the thick red viscous body fluid was launched from within their bodies under the impact, heading into the sky.
But as this red viscous fluid had just been expelled from their bodies and hadn’t traveled far, a high-temperature, high-pressure fireball formed by the thermo-baric bomb, reaching temperatures of thousands of degrees, instantly encompassed the group of Crimson Iron Worker Ants.
The newly expelled red viscous fluid was instantly vaporized by the massive high-temperature flames, which infiltrated every crevice and hole in the exoskeletons of the Crimson Iron Ants, flooding into their bodies and instantly carbonizing the internal flesh and tissues.