Qin Feng cleared one hundred meters in a matter of seconds and yet the armored ants remained hot on his tail.
“One more time!”
The power of his consciousness surged, and h.e.l.lfire was released once again, drowning the entire surface in fire.
Running from one road to another, Qin Feng had already covered over three hundred meters within a short span of time. The very first release of his h.e.l.lfire attack was a result of him losing precise control over his consciousness, which in turn, caused the dispersion of the runes.
Fortunately, the number of remaining ants that was coming after him relentlessly had been consistently whittled away by his attacks!
Even so, it should be kept in mind that these ants were the elites of their colony.
Individually speaking, they were all separate beast generals, out-numbering Qin Feng seven-to-one.
Each of them was around a meter tall, easily reaching the height level of Qin Feng's thighs. That was however, not the scariest part about these ants. That part would be reserved for the pair of wings sticking out of their backs, allowing them a short flight time which was more than enough to reach Qin Feng if they wished to.
The first armored ant took flight and started closing in on Qin Feng. And yet, as it honed in on its prey, instead of sinking its jaws into Qin Feng's flesh, it pa.s.sed right through his body as if he was just a projection.
Of course, it was not his actual body though, it was something close to a projection. What it pa.s.sed through was Qin Feng's afterimage.
The speed at which he was moving was so fast that there were afterimages!
“Phantom's Maze!”
Qin Feng dodged a fatal blow from the beast general.
Boom!
A deafening sound echoed down the streets. The beast general lifted a full-sized sedan that was parked by the road and smashed it into a nearby skysc.r.a.per. The sheer force from the impact turned the car into a steel disc, rendering it completely unrecognizable.
Evidently, the beast generals of the armored ants possessed terrifying strength for their size!
Three more beast generals flew toward Qin Feng.
It was time for QIn Feng to unleash his own tricks. With lightning speed, he dashed through the gaps between the three armored ants while unsheathing his saber.
“Blooming Flame!”
White-hot flames spat out from the saber and sparks flew in every direction, resembling a blooming flower during spring.
In a split second, the three beast generals were minced up into stinking chunks.
“Buzz!”
An armored ant flew toward Qin Feng's position. Due to the inertia it had built up, it was flying at an incredible speed.
Dodging was no longer a viable option; the only thing he could do was to slash his way out of the armored ant's attack.
Thonk!
As the Verdant Emperor Saber clashed with the armored ant's hardened exterior, a crisp, hollow sound rang out, followed by a ma.s.sive jolt of energy that spread up Qin Feng's arm as a result of the abrupt collision. Still, a fraction of a second later, the beast general's armor gave way and the saber was able to slice down like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter, splitting it into two equal parts!
Three beast generals out of the original seven had already been taken down by Qin Feng!
Once more, Qin Feng's ability was released.
“Fire Beam!”
Three jets of flames shot out from Qin Feng's position, covering the a.s.saulting ants in a layer of smoldering heat. Despite this, virtually none of them were halted in their rush toward their prey!
Qin Feng activated the Phantom Maze, allowing him to escape from their grasp. Then, an almost blinding ray of light flashed from the Verdant Emperor Saber.
“Sky Burning Sword Style!”
A flame spit forth like the devil's tongue, splitting in half the remaining beast generals at their thoraxes.
Pit pat pit!
The regular blacksteel ants that trailed behind their generals retreated; none of them dared to step up and face Qin Feng in combat.
After suffering a loss of seven beast generals, regardless of how many generals they had left at the colony, they were not willing to lose even one more. These insectoids were masters at preserving their own lives and were biologically programmed to be fearful of places where the smell of death pierced their sensory organs, hence their retreat.
On the other side, Qin Feng felt a huge wave of raw energy from the beast general's body flow into his own.
As his fleshly strength had already reached F7-tier, it would take a lot more time and effort than before to grow his powers further but at the current rate of his progress, that day should come pretty soon!
Buzz Buzz Buzz!
Qin Feng's ears picked up a vibration in the air, high up in the sky that could only be caused by the flapping of insect wings. Using his consciousness, he scanned the area above like a radar, only to discover that it was the infamous bloodthirsty beetle.
This species typically lived in solitude but from time to time, one could b.u.mp into a group of three to five beetles, travelling together. This would only occur after a particularly intense fight where enough blood was split that it could attract and sustain a group of these beetles.
Somehow, Qin Feng's fight was detected by these darned beetles. An interesting thing to note was that these beetles did not feast on the blood of their fellow insectoids; they would only consume blood of humans and ultra beasts
“p.i.s.s off!”
Several beams of fire erupted from the ground, knocking out a handful of these bloodthirsty beetles from the air.
Confirming that the coast was clear, Qin Feng proceeded to pry off the armor plates of the beast generals he had freshly slain in order to obtain the crystal cores within. After he was done with that, he ran back in the direction from where he came.
At this point, littered across the ground were the charred remains of the armored ants. Qin Feng's consciousness kicked into frenzy mode as he went around looting precious materials dropped by these unsightly bugs.
Though, shortly after his looting spree had started, the insectoids seemed to have gone into a frenzy of its own.
Qin Feng whipped out his communicator to check the time.
It was already 8pm, night time.
“Guess I'll come back here tomorrow!” With a wave of his hand, the umbra stallion trotted over to Qin Feng's side silently, followed by Bai Li. Both of them then climbed onto the horse with Bai Li sitting in front.
Soon, they left Han Town without facing any obstructions.
The provisional colony set up outside Han Town was brightly lit during the night and was a place where battle achievements were recorded. Every day, people would gather here to claim fresh rewards upon completing a seemingly never-ending stream of quests.
A simple room next to the projector screen where battle rankings were displayed was where the people of Chengbei Colony were gathered. From there, they would be able to observe the acc.u.mulation of merits each time a new quest was completed.
“Senior Gao, your team's reaping a great big reward today!” Lu Meng said with a gleeful smile on his face.
A crowd of people sitting around in a circle was busy grilling meat skewers over a fire. There must have been at least a dozen of them there, including Gao Linghan and Li Yaoyao's teams. On the other side sat Lu Meng, Zhou Hao, Zhang Tianche, Zhao Yu and the rest.
It was an odd group, made up of people from different age groups and from different circles. However, because of the fact that Lu Meng had now become part of Zhou Hao's stationary force, as well her close relationship with Li Yaoyao, everyone sat together to share good food as well as to trade insider's information they had heard of with each other.
“It isn't too bad!” Gao Linghan nodded slightly but a look of delight was clearly reflecting off his eyes.
He led his team on a hunt-and-destroy mission earlier today and together, they had killed quite a lot of bugs, around a thousand of them.
While a thousand kills was by no means a big deal, one should keep in mind that they had only arrived after noon. Within a span of a few hours, killing such an amount would make them one of the most deadly apt.i.tude users from Chengbei.
“Though, why isn't Qin Feng, a member of your team, together with you?” Gao Linghan's eyes showed hints of doubt and curiosity.
Zhou Hao was gnawing on a perfectly grilled chicken wing as he replied casually. “He went off with Bai Li to hunt bugs on their own. That lunatic now seeks only F-tier bugs to kill, so naturally, he isn't going along well with our team!”
Gao Linghan's smile stiffened.
With furrowed brows, Li Yaoyao mocked Zhou Hao. “For Qin Feng to act this way, is it because you guys are holding him back during battle? I'm sure it wouldn't be the case if it were up to Senior Gao!”
Zhou Hao smirked but chose to remain silent.
It was then that Zhang Tianche, who sat nearby, broke the silence. “Qin Feng's back!”
“Ah? Where's he?” Zhou Hao spat out a piece of chicken bone and craned his neck backward, he could immediately spot Qin Feng.
Perhaps this was because Qin Feng stood out from the crowd. No, it was not Qin Feng that stuck out like a sore thumb but Bai Li, who was currently snuggled between his arms.
Riding on the umbra stallion's back, Bai Li was sporting a white shirt that glimmered in silver, as if it was woven from the rays of moonlight. That, coupled with her unrivalled beauty meant that n.o.body was able to take their eyes off of her no matter how hard they tried.
“So you're back huh, Qin Feng? How are your results of today?” Zhou Hao hurriedly followed up with a question.
Everyone on the scene perked up their ears.
“I haven't reported it yet but here, have a look yourself!” Qin Feng pa.s.sed his communicator to one of the staff members that handled battle reports.
The machine produced a series of beeping sounds which ended abruptly, meaning that the calculations had been finalised.
“Beep Beep Beep”
[Review completed. Your battle achievement: 2602 points!]
This did not come as too much of a surprise for Qin Feng. Though, he had only recorded down the number needed for his F-tier apt.i.tude user badge, which was two hundred forty F-tier ultra beasts. The remaining results must have come from unfortunate beasts that he had accidentally slain in the midst of battle!
“Pretty brilliant, you are!” Zhou Hao said as he stared at the number on the screen.
And yet, Gao Linghan did not acknowledge Qin Feng's results for the day.
“For you to return so late, with so many additional hours on the hunting ground. If it were up to me, I'd be able to surpa.s.s that number effortlessly!”
Though, Gao Linghan missed out on one essential point. On the hunting ground, he was fighting with an entire team with him being an F-tier user while the rest of his cla.s.smates were G8, G9-tier users!
