Scattered swarms of insects flew overhead, only to be quickly and quietly dealt with by the Silver Lotus Woods.

All eleven of them, under the close protection of the Silver Lotus Woods and using the tall, dark-purple forest for cover, advanced nearly two hundred meters...

They were now only about fifty meters away from the four Insect-men hovering above.

Han Ning leaned against a large tree and said:

"Listen to me. At this close range, don’t stare directly at those Insect-men with any hostility, and don’t let your gaze linger. Their senses are extremely sharp; they’ll discover our position."

"In a moment, I’m going to light a bundle of dynamite and have Zhiran’s Silver Lotus Wood toss it into the air to bomb the swarm."

"The explosion will definitely draw the attention of the Insect-men and the swarm. They’ll split off a portion of the insects to attack us."

"At that point, we’ll need everyone’s Silver Lotus Woods to block the swarm’s attack for a short period."

"We humans are fragile, so we need to stay further back. At the same time, use your Compound Bows and firearms to shoot at the Insect-men and disrupt their senses."

"And... Zhiran, you and your Silver Lotus Wood will stick with me. My Spiritual Power is strong enough to predict their movements. Just follow my commands during the battle."

"As for the dynamite, I’ll take one bundle. The rest of you, take two bundles to deal with the swarm."

"Alright, you’ve got it," Liu Zhiran and the other nine people said, nodding in unison.

Han Ning surveyed the surrounding trees and issued his orders. "The nine of you, fall back twenty to thirty meters and be mindful of your spacing. Zhiran, we’ll fall back ten meters. Egg Pancake and all the Silver Lotus Woods will take cover behind these large trees right here."

Being surrounded by a swarm had its pros and cons.

The pros were self-evident, but the con was that the swarm obstructed their vision, making it difficult to spot what was happening below.

The blind spot was right beneath them.

Once everyone had moved into their designated positions, 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Han Ning closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling his Spiritual Power slowly recover. Then, he opened his eyes, pulled out a lighter, and lit the fuse on the bundle of dynamite in his hand.

FZZZZT—

Sparks flew as the fuse burned down with visible speed.

He timed it carefully, handed the dynamite to Liu Zhiran’s Silver Lotus Wood, and whispered, "Throw!"

At Liu Zhiran’s command, the Silver Lotus Wood swung its vines, instantly hurling the bundle of dynamite toward the four Insect-men, who were enveloped by their swarm in mid-air.

When the bundle of dynamite came within ten meters of the Insect-men, they finally noticed it. The light of Spiritual Energy flared from several nearby insects.

And then...

A thunderous explosion echoed.

An orange-red light flared.

"Attack! Fire a volley!" Han Ning shouted to the nine people behind him.

The moment he spoke, gun barrels roared to life and jade-green Silver Thorns sliced through the air.

RAT-A-TAT-TAT! WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

"HSSSSS..."

Thanks to the explosion and the volley of attacks, a small gap opened up in the swarm above.

The four Insect-men, who had been directing their swarm against Yin Yi, immediately whipped their heads around. Beating their cicada-thin wings, they dodged the scattered Silver Thorns and bullets while dispatching a small portion of their swarm toward the nine Silver Lotus Woods.

With the Insect-men’s senses disrupted, Han Ning raised his fully automatic rifle and silently tracked one of the erratically moving targets.

His pupils contracted sharply.

In that instant, everything before him began to slow down.

Even the Insect-man’s flight path became clear and predictable.

He spoke to Egg Pancake through his Spiritual Power, ’Follow my bullet’s trajectory and attack. Use the Gravity from your mud to bring the Insect-man down.’

"Chee!"

Egg Pancake dug its limbs firmly into the ground, poised for battle.

’One meter to the right...’

A glint flashed in Han Ning’s eyes as he aimed at an empty patch of sky and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The muzzle flared.

A gleaming yellow bullet shot through the air.

An Insect-man, about 1.6 meters tall and wearing simple, grayish-white clothes, suddenly sensed something. Mid-maneuver, it turned its head toward Han Ning’s position.

But in the next instant, its ugly face twisted violently.

WHOOSH—

A bullet had passed "perfectly" through its cheek.

"Sssst!"

The Insect-man let out a pained shriek as agony shot through its body, its mind going blank for a moment.

Its body began to plummet uncontrollably.

"Egg Pancake, go!" Seeing his opening, Han Ning’s Spiritual Power flared. Two burning, ochre-colored flames flashed deep within his pupils.

SWOOSH—

Enveloped in a yellow glow, Egg Pancake burst from the undergrowth like a predator emerging from the shadows, its target locked.

The other Insect-men and their swarm started to rush to the rescue, but they were blasted back by another expertly thrown bundle of dynamite.

The Insect-man clutched its cheek, and just as its senses began to clear, a flash of yellow light blazed before its eyes.

"?!"

Egg Pancake’s limbs moved in a blur as it scrambled nimbly over the cratered forest floor. It instantly closed to within thirty meters of the Insect-man, leaped high into the air, and opened its mouth.

WHOOSH!

A glob of mud, shimmering with an earthy-yellow light, rapidly expanded in the Insect-man’s enormous pupils.

It only had time to instinctively raise an arm to defend itself.

SPLAT—

The earthy-yellow mud bomb exploded, becoming a dense spray of droplets that splattered all over the Insect-man.

Instantly, the Insect-man felt its body become immensely heavy, and its downward plummet accelerated.

Glob after glob of mud followed, encasing the Insect-man in a large, dark-brown ball.

"Zhiran, have your Silver Lotus Wood drag that Insect-man over here."

"The rest of you, shift your aim! Fire everything you have—arrows, bullets—at that Insect-man!"

His expression unchanging, Han Ning shouted the two commands and then ignored the falling Insect-man. His gaze was fixed calmly on the three slightly panicked ones still in the air.

While their attention was on their falling comrade, he switched his rifle to burst fire, aimed at the now erratically moving targets, and squeezed the trigger again and again.

RAT-TAT-TAT— RAT-TAT-TAT—

In an instant, more than a dozen bullets tore through the air, forming two crude nets of fire that completely boxed in two of the Insect-men.

THWIP! THWIP!

"Hssss!" "Sssst~" The two Insect-men’s expressions flickered as they tried to evade.

But a few bullets still found their mark, striking them with deadly precision.

Looks of horror appeared on their faces.

They never could have imagined being unable to evade that volley of bullets!

Light green fluid sprayed from their wounds. The two Insect-men faltered and began to fall uncontrollably.

With three of their number now hit, the surrounding swarm lost the guidance of the Insect Flutes and instantly fell into chaos. Their once-uniform attack formation broke into a messy, disorganized cloud.

A portion of the swarm even turned and flew away toward the open swamp.

’So they can’t control that large of a swarm. It all depends on those magical Insect Flutes!’ A realization dawned on Han Ning. He spoke aloud, "Zhiran, have your Silver Lotus Wood and Egg Pancake go drag those two living Insect-men over here. Try to keep them alive."

With that said, he used his Spiritual Power to contact Yin Yi, who was over a hundred meters away. ’The swarm is in disarray. As soon as you get an opening, use your Flower Thorns and kill the last Insect-man!’