Clouds of smoke enveloped the colony as Bruno continuously directed people to throw more branches and venom to maintain the smoke. Fifteen minutes later, the sounds gradually became quieter.
"Incredible!" exclaimed a nearby cultivator, delighted with the effectiveness of the method.
"Should we go now?" Innoa asked Bruno, pretending not to be excited.
Alm shook his head. "Not yet. We have to wait at least half an hour before those ants completely lose consciousness due to the smoke. If we want to be entirely safe, it's better to keep releasing smoke for an hour."
"Understood, then we'll be cautious and wait." Now, Innoa completely trusted Amlas.
After a full hour, the group stealthily approached the colony. The ground was covered with ants writhing constantly, strangely piled on top of each other. However, they showed no intention of attacking.
"Let's take a look inside." Innoa led the group, full of enthusiasm.
Several men advanced quickly, eager to appear impressive in front of Innoa and earn more merits. As soon as one stepped forward, immediately a dozen smarter people followed suit.
Alm was uncontrollably laughing inside. Without saying a word, he just stayed behind Innoa, walking slowly close to him.
BOOM!!!
An explosion echoed from within the colony. Everyone was startled and looked ahead, seeing those who had entered now running desperately for their lives. Another wave of Qi burst came out as someone drew a saber and slashed, but that person was brutally thrown away.
A massive creature emerged from the depths of the colony, its jaws dripping black liquid that flowed down to the ground. From what they could see, its body was over three meters long.
"It's the queen ant!"
Innoa was surprised and thrilled. With that form and aura, it meant that the queen ant had already advanced to become a legitimate Divine Beast. This also indicated that there was a large quantity of cultivated plants and natural herbs. He could fulfill the mission and still take something valuable with him.
"Everyone, attack to bring it down. Spare nothing!" Innoa shouted.
The queen ant was extremely powerful, with a body as hard as iron. While everyone attacked, their blades only sparked when they collided with its body, unable to cause real harm.
But this didn't last long. These were not wandering cultivators or from small clans like Alm and Bruno. They were trained rigorously, both in Qi manipulation and combat capability.
Quickly, their Qi exploded. Multicolored beams of light shot in various directions around the queen. Its body was tough, but its Qi manipulation and knowledge were as limited as they could be. After minutes of the attacks exploiting these weaknesses, it was crushed. Soon, the soldier ants couldn't move anymore when the queen was killed.
Innoa laughed uncontrollably and advanced to the innermost area of the dark cavern; now was the time to check their spoils of battle. Alm and Bruno were grinning intensely, too. The wait had come to an end.
ROAAAAAAR!
A thunderous roar shook the ground so much that everyone almost collapsed, dazed. A terrifying aura surfaced, making the air heavy and suffocating.
'Hehe, it finally arrived.' Alm cheered.
Everyone was caught off guard as the ground began to tremble intensely. A loud bang came suddenly, and a figure fled miserably from within.
"What?!" No one could believe their eyes. That's because they saw that the miserable figure was Innoa!
BOOM!
A massive monster followed him swiftly. At the same time, an aura that seemed to pierce through their bodies enveloped them, making their hearts tremble.
"That... Foundation Establishment Realm!" People's faces turned pale. Looking at that enormous figure, they trembled in horror.
Innoa snorted coldly as the deadly attack approached. Raising his hand, a black spear appeared, and with a raw and terrifying Qi, he created a barrier in front of everyone.
However, in the next second, the barrier exploded into thousands of pieces, unable to block the terrifying attack of the other Foundation Establishment Realm queen. It was only stopped for a moment before breaking through and attacking again.
"Are you all stupid? Hurry up and attack!" Bruno shouted to all the frozen men.
Suddenly, they snapped out of their stupor. Every last drop of power was used to the limit by them, making the inner cave shake as if it were collapsing. Alm and Bruno also wielded large axes, acting as if they were attacking the Divine Beast.
As soon as they saw the marks around the cave, they knew that more than one queen lived there. Usually, when a Divine Beast reaches the limit of its cultivation, it reproduces, creating an offspring with greater potential.
Those marks possessed two types of Qi at different intensities but similar. One was from the elder queen, and the other was from the newly arrived queen. Someone with knowledge would easily discern the signs, but the foolish leader was only concerned with completing the mission.
"AHHH!"
Miserable screams echoed. The queen ant sacrificed an arm, and after an explosion, a dense toxic fog covered a vast area inside the cave. When the poison invaded the men's noses, an unbearable pain attacked their minds, a pain that made them wish for death.
Innoa roared with all the power he had, putting himself in serious danger in that environment. Then he thrust his spear into the ground, and a Qi aura enveloped him.
Boom!
The cave floor rose, creating a black mist that mixed with the poison, pushing part of it away.
At that exact moment, a giant figure, covered in armor, crawled along the cave floor. More than half of the men were constantly writhing and groaning on the ground. Further away, Innoa was locked in a fierce battle with the Queen Ant, and all his attention was focused on that battle, not paying attention to this location.
Alm and Bruno slowly advanced to the deepest part of the cave. Upon arrival, they didn't forget to use their Qi without reservations to disguise their presence.
Upon entering the central chamber, the sight unfolding before Alm and Bruno was truly dazzling. Rare plants, with petals emitting a soft glow, surrounded the space, creating a lush and mystical landscape.
"Good stuff," Bruno exclaimed.
It wasn't large, but it had a terrifying purity of natural Qi. Alm and Bruno collected everything as quickly as they could and turned to leave... Until Alm had a strange idea.
Shortly after, they used all the earth power they possessed and dug an exit on the other side of the cave, not forgetting to close the entrance and erase their tracks.
Half an hour later, an explosion that made a large area of the forest tremble reverberated. Alm and Bruno were already far away but felt the impact.
'He finally decided to detonate all the amulets along with the cultivators to emerge victorious. Hahahahah!' Alm commented. 'Too bad he won't gain anything.' Sure enough, Innoa used the same method as the Brother of the previous owner of the armor.
When Innoa's completely red and dying figure took the first steps toward the plants, he felt the natural air hit his nostrils and open the pores of his body.
Innoa, with a dreadful smile, took shaky and painful steps forward. There was no part of his body intact.
His mission was only to collect the plants. Taking the lives of so many cultivators would be considered an act justifying death by the sect's rules. But he was confident that the alchemist advisor would cover for him. After all, who expected to encounter two queens? With this fact, the plants cultivated by the two ants together should far exceed expectations.
When he finally approached the garden, he was surprised not to see many plants initially. He walked a bit, and in the center of everything, a smile blossomed on his face, along with relief.
'There it is,' he thought as he saw two small plants a few inches tall. They shone in multicolored hues while a destructive Qi radiated from them.
He approached slowly, and when he got very close, he noticed something strange. 'The plants should have multiple elements and laws within... but this seems raw... and perhaps explosive?'
In that brief moment of reflection, beneath the ground where the plant was rooted. A hidden silver armor pulsed with power invisible to anyone's eyes.
Suddenly, the runes carved into the earth around it began to break, releasing the explosive power that should have been triggered a short while ago.