Soon, the Soldier Ants had gathered the bodies of the mushroom-heads, piling them into a small hill.

The Soldier Ants seemed to have no intention of sharing the spoils with Han Ning and his group.

Under their leader’s command, about twenty Soldier Ants split off, carrying some of the smaller mushroom-head corpses as they flew back in the direction they had come.

Another five Soldier Ants split off to stand guard by the pile of bodies.

The remaining twenty-five—the most noticeably large Soldier Ants—readjusted their formation, arranging themselves into two rows.

"CHITTER!"

Xiaohong leaped down from behind one of the Soldier Ants, scampered over to Han Ning, chittered at the group, and then ran back.

Luo Chen asked, confused, "What is it saying?"

Lin Tianhe explained with an air of expertise, "Emm... Xiaohong and I are close. It’s probably telling us to get on the Soldier Ants’ backs."

As he spoke, he took his Xiaoyu and expertly climbed onto the back of one of the Soldier Ants.

To everyone’s surprise, the Soldier Ant didn’t resist at all.

He grinned. "See? Told you I was right."

"Impressive."

The other three were at a loss for words. They glanced at the mushroom bodies covering the ground and, instead of rushing to divide the spoils, curiously found their own Soldier Ants and climbed aboard.

Seeing that they were ready, the Ant Soldier Leader let out a sharp chitter, vibrated its wings, and took to the sky in perfect unison with the other Soldier Ants, continuing onward.

When they reached an altitude of ten meters above the Mushroom Forest, the Soldier Ants opened their mouths in unison and sprayed scorching streams of fire downward, beginning a large-scale incineration of the forest below.

"Oh! I get it! They see us as helpers and want us to help them burn down the Mushroom Forest!" Lin Tianhe, the self-proclaimed ant behaviorist, continued to explain.

"Whether that’s true or not, Yin Yi, you should lend a hand too..." Although Han Ning looked skeptical, he inwardly agreed to some extent. ’The Soldier Ants’ minds probably aren’t that complex,’ he thought. ’Lin Tianhe’s explanation might actually be right.’

The other two men had the same idea, each commanding their Silver Lotus Wood to fire Silver Thorns and destroy the Mushroom Forest below.

Yin Yi and the Silver Lotus Wood both had Wood Attributes, so their attacks weren’t particularly effective against the mushrooms. The scorching flames were what really did the job.

Before long, plumes of black smoke rose from the Mushroom Forest behind them. The thick smoke mingled with green and purple spores and a white mist, forming an eerie smog that shrouded the canopy.

The Soldier Ants continued onward, indiscriminately incinerating the Mushroom Forest below...

Han Ning took the opportunity to observe the terrain of the Mushroom Forest.

Overall, the Soldier Ants’ flight path followed the mountain ridge, steadily gaining altitude as they ventured deeper into the territory.

The mix of green and purple grew more chaotic as the mushrooms below became ever taller and denser.

This continued until they were nearing the mountain’s summit.

The Ant Soldier Leader at the head of the formation came to a sudden halt.

"What is that?!"

Beneath the dim sky.

A colossal, blurry black shadow that blotted out the sky stood between the mountains, appearing before Han Ning and his group.

It was a behemoth in the shape of a mushroom. From a distance, it looked to be nearly 500 meters tall.

Massive clouds of spores spewed from beneath its cap, forming a spectacular spore cloud that billowed out in all directions.

"My god, what kind of monster is that!" Lin Tianhe’s eyes glazed over as he stared blankly at the shadow in the distance.

"We’re at least a hundred kilometers away from it, and we can still see its shadow from this far. The actual mushroom might be even more massive than we can imagine," Lü Xiuning said, his expression grim.

"CHITTER!!" The Ant Soldier Leader let out a sharp cry in the direction of the sky-blotting mushroom, as if issuing a challenge.

But its body remained stock-still, not daring to venture a single step closer.

RUMBLE~

Some creature in the mountain forest ahead seemed to have sensed the Soldier Ants’ approach, as a deafening sound of trampling feet echoed out.

It was so powerful that even the mushrooms below began to tremble slightly.

Hearing this thunderous roar, the Ant Soldier Leader immediately changed direction and sped back the way it came.

A dozen seconds later...

BZZZT~

BOOM!

Suddenly, a brilliant green light flared in the far distance.

A terrifying beam of light, one that not even Han Ning’s Spiritual Power could sense, shot forth with a deafening roar. The still-burning Mushroom Forest below vanished in an instant, replaced by a series of deep trenches carved into the earth.

Fortunately, the enemy seemed to be a great distance away, and this was clearly not the first time the ant swarm had provoked it. They had judged the range perfectly, escaping the beam’s maximum sweep just in the nick of time.

"Holy crap, you Soldier Ants really aren’t afraid to die, are you? That’s some serious nerve," Lin Tianhe said, his face pale as he listened to the earth-shaking blast.

"This is just insane... I’m not coming next time," Luo Chen stammered, his voice trembling as he repeatedly glanced back at the scorched, barren land behind them.

"Well... that was certainly unexpected." Lü Xiuning wiped the cold sweat from his brow and could only manage a wry smile.

Han Ning licked his lips but said nothing.

’It’s clear now,’ he thought. ’The ant swarm and the mushroom-heads are truly mortal enemies...’

...

The ant swarm flew back along their original path, passing the site of their battle with the mushroom-heads.

The bodies of the mushroom-heads below were gone.

They continued on, soon returning to the underground ant nest.

A wave of scorching heat washed over them.

Countless worker ants carried mushroom-head bodies of all sizes into the nest’s main chamber.

The enormous Ant Queen slowly crawled out of her cavern, observing everyone’s spoils while listening to the Ant Soldier Leader’s report.

A short time later, the Ant Queen let out a few low chirps toward Han Ning’s group, then raised one of her limbs and swept it forward.

A hot wind stirred.

Nearly a third of the mushroom-head bodies were swept in front of them.

The rest of the bodies were carried into another cavern by the worker ants.

This share included the largest mushroom-head, as well as over a hundred of the other relatively large bodies.

This time, no explanation from Lin Tianhe was needed. Everyone understood that the Ant Queen was sharing the spoils with them.

Han Ning and the other three exchanged a glance and accepted.

After the spoils were divided, the Ant Queen, accompanied by several Soldier Ants, dragged her heavy body back to her cavern.

Only Xiaohong remained, scampering around them.

"How should we divide these?" Han Ning asked, eyeing the tall pile of bodies before them.

Lü Xiuning spoke up. "We didn’t help kill the biggest one, so that should naturally go to you and Yin Yi. We can split the rest evenly. How does that sound?"

"Sounds fair."

"Alright!"

Lin Tianhe and Luo Chen both nodded in agreement.

Han Ning thought for a moment. ’It’s true that Yin Yi helped kill the big one, and she also took down a lot of the smaller mushroom-heads. This is fair.’ He didn’t argue.

The Soldier Ants hadn’t separated the Crystal Cores from the bodies.

It took a great deal of effort, and everyone was drenched in sweat by the time they finally extracted the Crystal Cores from the hundred-plus mushroom-heads.

"Why isn’t there any of that liquid rich with life essence inside the big one’s head?"

Han Ning walked under the mushroom cap, which spanned several dozen square meters. He only saw large amounts of mycelia and mushroom flesh, not the liquid he had expected.

"Is it possible that liquid was just something the Ant Queen stored in the mushroom cap? After all, the cap could serve as a container," Lü Xiuning added, coming over to analyze the situation.

"That’s possible. A pity..." Han Ning shook his head. Gazing at the brilliantly glowing crystals before him, he could barely contain his anticipation.

’Time to raise my Wood Element Affinity!’

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