Luo Zhen shot into the sky, but the relief was short-lived.
Below him, some of the black venomous ants suddenly sprouted wings and swarmed up, a dense, buzzing cloud heading straight for him. In an instant, the winged horde completely enveloped him.
"Haha, thought you were the only one with air superiority!?" the Sand Scorpion Demon General yelled, mocking him from the ground. "Ants have castes! Workers, soldiers, and then the winged flyers! You can fly all you want, you're still pinned!"
Hong Yu's voice was strained. "Brother Luo, don't get cocky! These are Flying Fire Venomous Ants, and they all fly!"
Luo Zhen merely acknowledged the warning with a grunt. He then expelled every bit of his Skeleton Ghost Fire. A terrifying, house-sized plume of scorching white flame erupted from his mouth, stretching and molding itself into a thick, shimmering shield around his entire eighty-meter body.
This was the power of quantity. With any less Beast Fire, he couldn't have covered a body this massive.
Protected by the inferno, Luo Zhen ignored the bugs. He beat his fiery wings once, and the resulting firestorm instantly scorched dozens of the surrounding ants.
He looked down at the besieged group. "Hong Yu, I'm heading on. If you guys can break through, I'll wait for you. If you get pinned down and they bleed you dry," he finished flatly, "I'm sorry, but I'll return to Flying Sand City alone."
Without waiting for a response, he shook his flaming wings, busted out of the encirclement, and shot into the distance.
The blazing, eighty-meter snake was a beacon. Across the desert, more ants took flight, forming a massive, black river of insects trailing behind him.
"Host, you're creating a spectacle," the System cut in. "You're pulling every flying ant in your flight path."
Luo Zhen saw the problem instantly. He recalled the Beast Fire and, with a focused thought, activated Stealth.
In the blink of an eye, the massive snake was simply gone. The swarm, suddenly target-less, became a mass of confused, circling black dots before finally scattering.
Luo Zhen was now invisible, back on the desert floor.
"What's the plan now, Host?" the System asked.
"Just wait patiently," Luo Zhen said. "We'll see if Hong Yu and the others can break through. If they do, we keep going. If they don't, I head back."
"Host, I just scanned something else," the System said.
"What is it?"
Seven human cultivators—martial artists—had entered the desert and were currently fighting the ants. They were in the Core Elixir stage, nothing special individually. But collectively?
"They have a Sword Array," the System warned. "Once it's formed, it can cut down a Demon King in the early Demon Infant Stage."
"What? It can kill a Demon King!?" Luo Zhen was shocked.
"Yes," the System confirmed. "However, it's fragile. If one person is killed or loses combat effectiveness due to severe injury, the array collapses."
Luo Zhen relaxed. Since the array failed if one person was down, his Stealth and Beast Fire made things easy. A quick ambush on one of them, and their threat level would drop to zero.
The System cautioned him about the Ant Queen, reminding him they were all likely heading for the same nest.
"I gave Hong Yu my word, I'll help her," Luo Zhen decided. "But you're right, no risks." He immediately spent some System points for another Swift Wind Talisman—a literal escape ticket if things went south. He refined the jade-like talisman with his essence blood and swallowed it.
Meanwhile, in another part of the black desert...
Seven exhausted human martial artists were being relentlessly hammered by the swarming black ants.
"Big Brother! This is impossible! Deploy the Array!" one of them screamed, batting away an ant. "My True Qi is almost gone!"
The lead martial artist, a square-faced man, gritted his teeth. "Fine! Everyone, formation! The Big Dipper Seven-Star Sword Array!"
They snapped into a bizarre, precise formation. An instant later, a terrifying pressure and streaks of razor-sharp sword energy erupted from the cluster. The ants fell in droves.
"Hahaha! See! Our Array never fails!" the humans yelled, suddenly emboldened. "We'll kill every last one of these things!"
The ants didn't retreat, but they understood the threat. Instead, they began sending out desperate distress signals, calling every last companion to the fight.
On Hong Yu's side, with Luo Zhen's flame shield gone, the pressure was unbearable.
They were all Demon Generals with their own Beast Fire, but the sheer volume of ants was crushing. They killed one, only to face five more. As time dragged on, the swarm swelled, becoming impossible to cut down.
"I'm half-depleted!" the Earth Mouse Demon General cried out.
"Me too!" the Lizard Demon General gasped.
"Are we going to die here?" the Earth Mouse General asked in despair. "We're Demon Generals!"
Just as they braced for death, the swarm's ferocious attack suddenly stalled. As if obeying a command, the ants stopped fighting and began rapidly congregating, heading toward a distant point.
The siege—the tide of death—receded as quickly as it had arrived.
"We're saved! We're saved!" Hong Yu and her companions collapsed, weeping with relief.
Tucked inside a burrow he'd dug beneath a dune, Luo Zhen was resting up when his senses twitched. Hong Yu's group.
He slid out, eyes narrowed, and saw the four Demon Generals approaching. "They actually made it," he murmured. "I figured they'd be dead by now."
"They were close to being overwhelmed, but they got a miracle assist," the System explained. "Remember the seven humans? They deployed that Sword Array, making such a racket that they pulled nearly every single black venomous ant in the desert away from Hong Yu's group. That's how they escaped."
"I see." Luo Zhen gave a slight nod.
"Brother Luo, you waited," Hong Yu gasped, winded, as she and the others caught up.
Luo Zhen noted their status—bloodied and exhausted.
"I need to rest," the Earth Mouse General groaned, collapsing. "My power is drained."
The four Demon Generals hit the sand and rested for the better part of a day, regaining their strength before moving out again.
The journey continued, eerily quiet. They moved carefully, dispatching only the occasional straggling ant.
"This is weird," Hong Yu admitted. "The deeper we go, the more ants we should see."
The others were equally baffled, but Luo Zhen knew the score. "The humans are taking the heat," he confirmed with the System. "Their Array is still running, and the ants are still pouring into that fight. The Ant Nest's defenses are paper-thin right now."
"We should thank those cultivators," Luo Zhen joked internally. "Yes, but you need to move fast," the System warned. "The humans are pushing toward the nest as well, and they're moving quickly."
They reached the desert center with minimal resistance.
"Look!" Hong Yu finally cried out, pointing ahead. In the distance stood the Ant Nest: a massive, sprawling earthen citadel, with huge ants lumbering in and out.
The Sand Scorpion Demon General knelt, pressing his body to the ground—his signature ability. He pulled back seconds later.
"The defense is weak," he reported, relief flooding his voice. "Only five basic Venomous Ant Demon Generals. The rest are worker ants. And the Queen?" he added. "She's Demon King level, but deep in a slumber. She won't wake up."
"This is a gift from the heavens!" Hong Yu shouted. "Let's move! Full speed!"
They charged. Inside the entrance, five house-sized, jade-green Venomous Ant Demon Generals materialized to block them. It wasn't enough. With their superior Beast Fire and combined strength, Hong Yu's four quickly overwhelmed and slaughtered the guards. The rest of the ants were non-combatant workers, who immediately fled.
"That was almost insulting," Hong Yu said, still slightly in disbelief. "We just took over the Ant Nest?"
"No time to dwell," Hong Yu said, her voice snapping back to the mission. "Poison Crystals first!"
Her keen nose led her to the central storeroom, where they found their bounty: tabletop-sized, shimmering jade-green Poison Crystals. Unfortunately, they were wrapped in layers of powerful sealing inscriptions made from ant saliva.
"Everyone, Beast Fire! We melt the seals!" Hong Yu commanded.
The five Beast Fires roared to life, dissolving the sticky inscriptions. Soon, the entire vault of crystals was unsealed.
"Stop! Or the crystals will melt, too!" Hong Yu yelled, barely containing her excitement.
While Hong Yu was scrambling to box up the crystals—which, due to the lack of spatial rings, they had to swallow—Luo Zhen and the others wandered the massive, cluttered storeroom.
"Host, look at those black lumps over there," the System said suddenly.
Luo Zhen slithered toward a pile of black, heavy-looking objects. "These?"
"Yes. That's Iron Essence! You've hit the jackpot!"
Luo Zhen flicked his tongue. "Iron Essence?"
"It's a main component for refining Dharma Treasures—artifacts far beyond any Magic Tool. Only Demon Kings usually possess them," the System explained, its tone excited. "It's insanely valuable. Ten thousand pounds of regular steel only yields a piece the size of a fingernail!"
"The Flying Fire Ant's unique talent is devouring steel and refining it into this Iron Essence. Take one lump of this stuff, and you are rich!"