Read Novel Full Chapter 608: Ant King
Chapter 608: Ant King
“Cover me,” Gabriel said.
Sophie didn’t ask what he intended to do, nor did she ask if he was certain. She merely nodded and poured all of her mana into the vines without reservation. Those vines sprouted, spread, and intertwined madly, forming a corridor paved with thorns before Gabriel.
“Go!”
With a sharp cry from Sophie, the vines surged forward like a tidal wave. Wherever the thorns passed, dozens of worker ants were pierced, shredded, and flung aside, purple bodily fluids raining down to form a sticky, viscous carpet upon the ground.
At the same moment, Gabriel’s figure vanished.
He stepped onto the vine corridor Sophie had opened and pushed his speed to the limit. His entire form became a blurred afterimage, weaving through the ant swarm. Worker ants swung their sickles at him, but before they could even touch his body, their attack trajectories were intercepted midair by the seven black iron nails. Six nails revolved around Gabriel, forming a moving death barrier. Any ant that drew near was instantly pierced through. The last nail flew ahead of him, clearing his path.
One hundred and fifty meters.
One hundred meters.
Fifty meters.
The eight Royal Guard Ants moved as one. They didn’t charge in recklessly. Instead, they dispersed into a formation clearly born of trained coordination, four in front and four behind, shielding the Ant King with their bodies. The four Royal Guards at the front raised their sickle forelimbs high and brought them chopping down in unison. Four arcing blade winds crossed together, sealing off every path Gabriel could use to advance.
The instant the four sickles came chopping down, he brought Crimson Judgement horizontally before him, the blade colliding with the sickles. Four metallic clashes rang out almost simultaneously, sparks scattering in all directions. The tremendous recoil force made the ground beneath Gabriel’s feet crack and split, but he did not retreat a single step. With a flick of his wrist, the tip of his sword angled upward at an impossible trajectory, simultaneously deflecting all four sickles. Then he swung back with a reverse horizontal slash.
This strike, carrying a sharp, wind splitting howl, directly cleaved into the neck of the leftmost Royal Guard Ant. The Royal Guard’s carapace was harder than steel, yet before Gabriel’s greatsword, it might as well have been rotten wood. The blade bit in, cut through, and pierced out in a single fluid motion. The Royal Guard’s head slid from its shoulders, its massive body swaying twice before crashing thunderously to the ground.
But the instant he killed the first Royal Guard, the four from the back row had already launched their assault. Two charged from the front, while the other two circled around to his flanks and rear, completely cutting off his retreat.
The corner of Gabriel’s mouth lifted slightly.
He did not retreat because he had never intended to retreat in the first place.
He thrust Crimson Judgement into the ground and raised both hands. Three compressed Dark Flame Orbs shot forth from his left hand, and at the same time, he activated Hex Lock of the Ancestors and Gravity Domain.
The air above the enemies suddenly turned impossibly heavy.
The five remaining Royal Guards seemed to be simultaneously crushed by an invisible hammer. Their carapaces folded. Their joints failed. Dense cracks spread across their shells as purple bodily fluids sprayed from every fissure. Their bodies slammed into the scorched earth under a force they were never built to withstand, and then burst apart. Shredded purple flesh, shattered carapace fragments, and gore rained down like a torrential storm, drenching the surrounding mass of ants.
Gabriel pulled his sword free and plunged back into the swarm. The nails continued to spin, and Crimson Judgement rose and fell. The worker ants continued to die in clusters, split open or pinned through the thorax, their blood hissing where it touched the heated soil.
He worked quickly because the corridor would not stay open forever, and Sophie was running low on mana. Unlike him, who possessed a monstrous mana reserve, hers was limited.
By the time the slaughter slowed, the thorn path and the ground around it were littered with corpses. Farther out, the main horde still covered the horizon, but none of them advanced. They held their positions as if waiting for something.
Sophie had fallen to one knee behind him, her vines gray and limp. She could not stand, but she watched the golden striped figure at the center of the swarm with unblinking attention.
The Ant King watched his soldiers die without moving to save them. His pale armored chest rose and fell once. Fury finally showed in his crimson eyes.
He growled. The sound was low, more felt than heard, yet every ant on the battlefield obeyed it at once. Those still fighting broke off and withdrew in tight formation until a wide lane opened between the survivors and the Ant King.
Then he walked forward. His pace was unhurried. Each footfall was light, almost soundless, but the air around him seemed to tighten with every stride, less like a monster approaching than a ruler coming to claim what was owed.
Gabriel waited where he stood, Crimson Judgement hanging at his side, its tip dragging a thin line through the ground.
They met at close range, close enough for Gabriel to sense the barely concealed aura leaking out of the ant king.
The Ant King studied him for a long moment, the anger and hatred in his eyes completely undisguised. The depth of that hatred was something Gabriel had never seen in his life. It was as though he had slaughtered the ant’s entire family.
“At last,” he said, his voice deep and distorted. “We meet again.”
Gabriel’s pupils shrank as he narrowed his eyes. He was taken aback by the fact that a monster could speak. However, what was even more shocking was…
“Do you know me?”
…
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