The Volcanic Ant Queen, who had originally been shielding Long Ge and the others, also moved, tight on the Elder's heels as she charged toward Bai Jie, who was firing silk midair.
The snow-white razor spider silks had just entangled the Undying Spider, and before there was even time to tighten them, the enemy had already arrived.
In his peripheral vision, Bai Jie saw an old man. The latter's face at this moment was no longer kindly and harmless, but utterly sinister.
The Wu Gu Elder's neck elongated, and the muscles all over his body writhed violently. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant python over ten meters long. Its massive body, like a heaven-and-earth-spanning net, instantly sealed off Bai Jie's movement options.
Bai Jie swore that in this lifetime he had never seen a python this thick and long! It was thicker than the tree trunks on the back mountain.
In the same instant, a scorching heat sensation transmitted from below. It was the Volcanic Ant Queen, a long whip of flame swinging from her mouth, swiftly closing in.
By all appearances, Bai Jie already had nowhere left to hide and could only withstand the python's constriction and the ant queen's immolation.
The Wu Gu Elder, transformed into the giant python, flashed elation in his vertical pupils, as if already envisioning the sight of the demon spider miserably defeated and gravely wounded.
"It's over! The Elder has never lost when taking this form." Long De relaxed his expression, victory as good as in hand.
"So this is the sorcery of taking Gu into one's body?" Long Ge gazed at that power-brimming snake body, murmuring with longing.
But in the very next second, a sudden change occurred!
Bzzzt... crack!
First, a faint sound of electric current abruptly arose. Then, the two saw that on the demon spider's body erupted an extremely dazzling blue-violet radiance.
At the edges of the radiance, countless electric arcs flailed wildly, instantly blasting the Calamity Python's snake body until its skin tore and flesh split.
Zzzzzt...
As if struck by lightning, the Calamity Python billowed black smoke and tiny arcing sparks from its entire body, crashing heavily downward with a booming thud, sending dust flying.
And when the long whip of flame met this electric light, it too dissolved swiftly, like hard ice meeting scorching sun.
"Impossible!"
Long Ge and Long De simultaneously lost their voices, their pupils contracting violently as though struck by intense light.
Bai Jie paid no attention to the Calamity Python or the Volcanic Ant Queen.
He used his will to control the electric arcs around him, retracting them, and headed straight to the Undying Spider, which was bound in razor spider silk and covered in cracks. A lightning spear condensed from electric light was violently thrust into its back!
His objective was clear - first deal with the HP-recovery mob.
"Hissss..."
The Undying Spider let out an unwilling and unpleasant hiss.
With a sizzling sound, a thoroughly drafty large hole was pierced through the Undying Spider's back. The electric arcs surrounding the lightning spear continued to gnaw at the Undying Spider's flesh, straining to expand the wound.
"Stop!"
Long De reached out a hand, roaring hoarsely, but dared not advance. He could only watch helplessly as his Gu insect was on the verge of being killed.
"Hurry! Have your Gu insect save the Undying Spider!"
Long De shifted his target to Long Ge beside him, grabbing the latter's shoulder and bellowing.
"I... my Killer Bees died at the demon spider's hands."
Long Ge said helplessly, his eyes filled with panic.
He actually still had Gu insects he had not deployed, but the opponent was an existence that could severely wound the Calamity Python - so there was absolutely no way he would offer them up as cannon fodder.
The Undying Spider's body had already been largely destroyed by the electric arcs, a thick charred-burnt smell saturating the mountain forest, now not far from death.
The Volcanic Ant Queen made her move.
She controlled the tidal wave of Fire-Eating Ants to surge toward Bai Jie, and a tongue of flame was also shot out explosively.
Countless Fire-Eating Ants swarmed up Bai Jie's legs and began biting. At the same time, because Bai Jie had not evaded in time, he forcibly withstood this tongue of flame's scorching.
"Are you done yet?!" Bai Jie roared in his heart.
His Vitality began to slowly drop. He genuinely felt what it was like for raging flames to scorch his body.
Hardening his resolve, Bai Jie finally stopped holding back.
Enduring the intense pain, while on one hand controlling the electric arcs to continue eroding the Undying Spider, on the other hand he split off a portion of his attention, condensing a soccer-ball-sized blue-violet sphere of light above himself.
In a single breath, the blue-violet sphere of light was stably formed.
In the next instant, the blue-violet sphere of light abruptly shot a thunderbolt downward. Where the thunderbolt reached, a one-meter-diameter swath of the ant colony was blasted into black charcoal by the extreme heat, disintegrating into powder.
After one thunderbolt, the number gradually increased - two, three...
Lightning bolts streaked like startled strings, the mountain forest trembling and echoing.
Finally, the blue-violet sphere of light simultaneously released a full five thunderbolts, madly and rapidly reaping the lives of the Fire-Eating Ant colony.
Very quickly, a vacuum zone formed around Bai Jie - not a single ant could step foot within it.
The Fire-Eating Ant colony was almost entirely reduced to black charcoal!
Ding!
[Bloodthirsty Undying Spider's Status Updated to "Deceased"!]
Although he had slain the Undying Spider and routed the Fire-Eating Ant colony, Bai Jie's body also bore a fair number of battered wounds. Among them were not only the bite marks from the Fire-Eating Ants, but also quite a few injuries caused by his own thunderbolts.
Bai Jie named this move "Thunder's Wrath."
"Thunder's Wrath" was unlike the skills in his Status Panel; rather, it was a variation of controlling thunder and lightning that he had derived through gradually deepening his understanding of the Talent · Thunder and Lightning Dominion.
This variation had two risks, which made Bai Jie unwilling to use it lightly.
First, in previous trials, Bai Jie discovered that this move would rapidly deplete a kind of strange energy within his body. The system gave no prompt, so Bai Jie tentatively called it "Spirit Power."
After expending Spirit Power, the body would automatically draw upon the energy from the natural heavens and earth, converting it into Spirit Power.
Bai Jie guessed that this was the greatest point distinguishing Awakened Form lifeforms from ordinary insects and Mutant Form lifeforms. After witnessing the Volcanic Ant Queen breathing flame, he became even more certain of this.
When using skills such as "Razor Spider Silk" and "Poison Arrow Shot," no Spirit Power was consumed. Only "Advanced Intimidation" and "Stealth Camouflage" consumed a tiny bit, and it was precisely because the consumption was so minimal that Bai Jie had not noticed it before.
It was not until the first time he manipulated thunder and lightning, spreading the arcs of electricity around his body, that he detected the existence of this strange energy.
Second, because Bai Jie was not proficient with this move and its power was immense, there was inevitably a possibility of injuring himself by mistake.
Fortunately, Bai Jie's current Vitality was sufficiently high, capable of withstanding the bombardment of thunder and lightning. Otherwise, he would not dare to use it, for fear of "killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own."
"Now then... next, it's your turn."
Bai Jie's eight deep, dark eyes turned toward the Volcanic Ant Queen, who was still laboriously birthing Fire-Eating Ants.
With electric arcs wreathing his body, Bai Jie transformed into a bolt of swift lightning, assaulting to the Volcanic Ant Queen's flank.
Just as the ant queen's flames were still brewing between her mandibles, a pitiless cold gleam had already swept across her neck.
Leg-Blade Slash.
With a crunch, head and body separated.
In the blink of an eye, the ant queen's fatty, bulky torso was sliced open like a watermelon, splitting into pieces.
Ding!
[Volcanic Ant Queen's Status Updated to "Deceased"!]
Bai Jie locked his gaze onto the two figures that were gradually shrinking, dashing into the distance. He smiled coldly.
"I didn't say you could leave."
His body was then once more shrouded in electric arcs. With a flash of lightning, he vanished from the spot.
After about ten seconds had passed, when Long De and Long Ge reappeared at this location, they were already firmly bound head to toe in spider silk, dumped beside the ant queen's corpse.
"Mmph... mmph..."
The two's mouths made muffled sounds, their faces red with desperation, seeming to want to say something, but their mouths had been sealed shut by the spider silk.
Their gazes, passing over Bai Jie's form, were searching for something.
Bai Jie did not rush to take their lives.
"Next... there's only that big python left..."
Just as Bai Jie's gaze swept toward the place where the Calamity Python was lying, he found the spot completely empty!
This time, the fine hairs on Bai Jie's body stood erect for the umpteenth time!
"Whoa..."
The intense tension made even the time within Bai Jie's perception grind to a halt.