TL: Etude
"Is it a talent related to earth attributes?" Ye Tian looked at the warrior who had just emerged from the soil, secretly amazed.
He was certain that the warrior hadn't dug his way out because there was no hole or crack in the ground. It was more like some sort of earth-escape technique from novels, where the warrior emerged directly from the soil.
Such a talent could be useful in specific situations but was also very risky. One could easily encounter dangers underground. Moreover, its utility was limited; it couldn't pass through steel, rock, or rivers.
After some thought, Ye Tian decided not to dwell on such a talent. He preferred talents that could increase his strength.
"Everyone, move back!" Elder Qing ordered.
Swish, swish, swish!
The warriors quickly retreated, moving far away from the small hill, as if something was about to happen.
Ye Tian also followed these warriors, retreating to a safe distance.
"Begin!" Elder Qing said.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the ground began to tremble.
Boom!
Like a magnitude-10 earthquake, a terrifying wave of elemental energy emanated from underground.
"What is this..." Ye Tian was shocked.
He could feel that the underground wave was powerful enough to annihilate him. Even a typical great warrior couldn't produce such an enormous wave of energy.
Then, something incredible happened!
The entire small hill exploded in an instant. Countless rocks splattered around like cannonballs. Some rocks even landed near the warriors, but they were all powerful enough to easily block or shatter these rocks.
In the blink of an eye, the small hill disappeared, revealing a huge pit filled with the corpses of Mighty Ants, their bodies still aflame.
At the same time, the temperature in the area rose by more than ten degrees.
"It's like a missile from my previous life," Ye Tian thought.
However, it was clearly not a missile, as he sensed elemental fluctuations. It was likely an elemental weapon with effects similar to a missile.
"What terrifying power. How was this achieved?" an elite warrior asked in awe.
A great warrior from the Lin family spoke, "This is the effect of a Flame Burst Sphere. It's said to be the heart of a apex-tier beast with fire abilities, modified by a mysterious rune mage. The explosion is the result of igniting the fire energy in the heart. Such a Flame Burst Sphere is invaluable; even a billion yuan couldn't buy it."
"Flame Burst Sphere and a rune mage!" Ye Tian listened and became interested.
However, these things were too far beyond his reach at the moment.
"I hope they haven't all been wiped out. Otherwise, I can only hope to find a complete corpse of a Mighty Ant," Ye Tian thought to himself.
However, Elder Qing looked solemn, his eyes fixed on the exploded pit.
"Everyone, be careful. There should still be quite a few Mighty Ants alive!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a series of chirping and crawling sounds could be heard.
One by one, Mighty Ants crawled out of the pit. Some were injured, but a good number were unscathed.
Clearly, a single Flame Burst Sphere couldn't wipe out an entire nest of Mighty Ants, but it had inflicted heavy losses on them.
"Attack!"
Elite warriors from various major families each targeted a Mighty Ant and began to fight.
The great warriors didn't hold back either; they all took action. Unlike the elite warriors, the great warriors' casual strikes were like cannonballs. A single sword stroke could leave a sword mark tens of meters long on the ground. In their hands, the Mighty Ants were like mere ants.
Especially Elder Qing—Ye Tian only took one look and his pupils contracted sharply.
Elder Qing casually pressed his hand in the air, and a giant palm, tens of meters in size, appeared out of nowhere. It instantly crushed dozens of Mighty Ants into dust and even left a large pit in the ground, as if a giant's palm had pressed down on the earth.
"With Elder Qing being so formidable, plus all these great warriors, they should be able to steamroll the entire Mighty Ant nest, right?" Ye Tian thought.
However, he soon changed his mind.
Suddenly, more than a dozen giant Mighty Ants burst out from underground. These giant ants were ten meters long, while the regular Mighty Ants were only three meters long.
"Intermediate-level beast Mighty Ants!" Ye Tian exclaimed.
He had thought that all Mighty Ants were low-level beasts, and even if there were intermediate-level ones, there should only be one. But now, more than a dozen intermediate-level Mighty Ants had appeared.
Given the talents of the Mighty Ants, an intermediate-level one would have the combat power of a great warrior, perhaps even stronger than an average great warrior.
As expected, the appearance of these intermediate-level Mighty Ants immediately put the great warriors in a difficult position. Sometimes, it even took two great warriors to restrain a single intermediate-level Mighty Ant.
Elder Qing, however, seemed at ease. He single-handedly dealt with five intermediate-level Mighty Ants and quickly killed one.
At this moment, Ye Tian was engaged in combat with a Mighty Ant, displaying the strength of a regular elite warrior and fighting evenly with the ant.
Secretly, Ye Tian had already checked the talent of the Mighty Ant.
Species: Mighty Ant
Bloodline Talent: Basic
Strength Talent: High-Level
Seeing the high-level strength talent, Ye Tian couldn't help but smile. This trip had not been in vain.
"Judging from the performance of those intermediate-level ants, their talents haven't mutated. They should also have high-level strength talents, so there's no need for me to copy the talents of an intermediate-level Mighty Ant," Ye Tian thought briefly before immediately copying the high-level strength talent of the low-level Mighty Ant.
The moment he touched the Mighty Ant, the copying was completed.
However, now was not the time to integrate; he had to wait until he was in a safe place to do so.
From the current situation, although the warriors were suffering losses and elite warriors were falling from time to time, they generally had the upper hand.
As time passed, the warriors could wipe out all the Mighty Ants, provided that nothing unexpected happened.
However, Ye Tian and many other warriors felt a sense of foreboding.
"Could there be even stronger Mighty Ants that haven't appeared yet?" Ye Tian wondered.
This possibility was not out of the question. Every group must have a leader, and the leader is often the strongest. Those dozen or so intermediate-level Mighty Ants were similar in strength; they were definitely not the leaders.
"I hope it's not a high-level beast Mighty Ant," Ye Tian could only hope for this, otherwise, he would have to flee. This group of warriors wouldn't be able to withstand a high-level beast Mighty Ant.
Several more minutes passed.
Suddenly, Elder Qing's expression changed dramatically—
"Quickly, leave! This Mighty Ant nest has a high-level beast!"