Origin Paradise!

The Insect Sword quickly canceled its ability. Without the support of the iron worm, the brown bear and cheetah's broken bodies fell down, and the three elite knights returned to their original state, all looking like idiots, their eyes having long lost their luster.

Chapter 91 Killing the Insect Sword

Dark clouds gathered high in the sky, with occasional rumbles of thunder.

In the dilapidated and desolate library, countless horsehair worms gathered toward the old man with the insect sword, climbing up his hands and feet, covering his body, and enveloping his chest and back, while his arms continued to extend.

Jiang He threw out five black gems to test the waters. The explosion killed tens of thousands of horsehair worms, but it was of no use against the population bred by tens of thousands of puppets.

In the blink of an eye, a giant as tall as the bookshelf appeared before them.

Ant Knight and Grey Knight Rayman paused their battle and turned to look at this side. The giant insect was at least ten meters tall, its insect body resembling muscle fibers that together formed a huge and intricate physique. The two tacitly distanced themselves from the battlefield.

With regret, Insect Sword picked up the "weapon" hidden next to the wheelchair. This was a trap he had specially prepared to deal with enemies at close range. The Octopus Knight had already fallen into a near-death coma, with more than a dozen tentacles intertwined and folded into a long, tough whip, covered with sea anemone spines containing deadly poison. He gripped the Octopus Knight's torso, which was the handle of the weapon.

At the same time, the swarm delivered the dismembered remains of the snail rider, and the headless corpses of the crocodile rider and the chimpanzee rider. The horsehair worms strung the three together side by side, filling the gaps and forming a nearly square shield.

"Octopus Whip, Three Corpse Shield, you're being a bit abstract."

Jiang He showed a hint of surprise; this old guy was indeed inhuman when it came to not treating people like human beings.

"As long as it works."

The insect sword was raised high and swung down with the octopus whip. Upon closer inspection, there was a layer of strange, slightly mottled liquid on it.

Jiang He dodged by flipping over, then charged forward with his gun raised.

After landing, the octopus whip stretched backward, leaving dense scratches on its anemone spines. The sparks from the friction ignited the colorful fluid from the fire-breathing ants' glands, and flames instantly burst into fire.

The octopus knight, which served as a weapon, convulsed wildly in the insect sword's hand.

The flaming octopus whip swept down again, like a giant sword, slicing out an orange-red crescent moon.

Even from a distance, Jiang He felt a scorching heat.

He had experienced the fire-breathing ant rider's spray power before; its glandular fluid was enough to burn through the platform's concrete.

Garuda Mode - Heartbeat Engine activated immediately.

Jiang He's speed instantly increased by about 30%. After multiple self-hypnosis sessions, he can now skillfully activate this special state even without objects like mirrors as a hypnotic medium.

With an agility stat of 12, Jiang He moved with lightning speed, effortlessly dodging the fiery whip. The sound of wind filled his ears, and the instant he touched the ground after dodging, he unleashed a powerful kick, increasing his speed once again.

The crimson and blue light extended along the Long-Hate Spear, making it look like a giant battle sword over three meters long from a distance.

Jiang He slashed through the giant insect's right calf, severing it at the root. The rare-grade corrosive power gained an additional 55% bonus, and the wound rapidly corroded, like ice and snow exposed to the scorching sun. With a loud hissing sound, the wound quickly expanded.

The giant insect swayed, but the insect sword hidden deep inside remained unperturbed. From the corpses of the puppets scattered on the ground, another wave of iron wire worms surged out, entering the body through countless pre-dug tunnels from the feet. The "threads" tightly interlocked at the severed leg, and the wound healed as before.

At the same time, a long tail suddenly emerged from the back of the insect giant, its tip gleaming faintly with a poisonous hook—it was the body tissue of the Black Scorpion Knight.

With its venomous tail plunging down on the enemy, Jiang He caught a whiff of the sweet, metallic scent of the potent poison. Spreading its wings, it struck the enemy in front of it, the wind and force pushing him backward.

On the spot, the venomous tail carved out a pit nearly half a meter deep, followed by the fiery octopus whip attacking, and a heavy shield composed of three corpses pressing down, with gusts of wind.

Jiang He kept moving, seizing the pauses between attacks, passing between fire whips and heavy shields, his blood wings flapping, carrying him to thrust his spear straight into the enemy's chest.

The powerful impact pierced through the giant insect from both ends, but the insect sword moved quickly inside its body beforehand, successfully avoiding the damage.

Flames raged, and gunfire continued unabated.

Despite exchanging blows dozens of times, the number of horsehair worms remained unchanged, seemingly endless.

The fire ant rider's glandular fluid was scattered all over the ground; he was already dead, but the secret treasure he left behind had the ability to refine and secrete it, and the amount accumulated over the days was quite considerable.

The second-floor reading area on the east side of the library collapsed, and flames raged everywhere. Three elite knights were reduced to charred remains while in a deep coma.

At a certain moment, the insect sword stopped wielding its whip and casually crushed the octopus knight. The insect giant opened its blood-red maw, and countless horsehair worms poured out from it. As they swept forward, they were covered in the fluid of the fire glands and turned into a flowing sea of ​​fire.

"I stand by everything I said before you died."

Insect Sword's words were tinged with genuine regret. The young man opposite him possessed extraordinary combat power and might actually have a chance to reach a level above knight in his lifetime, standing shoulder to shoulder with the chief advisor of the Platinum Court and the Emperor's Shadow, among a handful of others.

Jiang He remained silent. In the previous battle, his opponent waited for the fire-breathing gland fluid to spread all over the ground, and he was waiting the same way.

As the sea of ​​fire descended, just as the Insect Sword was about to revert to its Insect Giant form, the iron wire worms covering its body unexpectedly began to disintegrate.

The sea of ​​fire dispersed into countless streams in front of Jiang He.

The horsehair worms rushed headlong into the "abyss" created by the previous explosion.

Unbeknownst to them, the abyss had become filled with seawater, and thirty black gemstones, ground into powder, had been mixed in. Whenever a horsehair worm drowned in the water, its flesh and blood were immediately ground away, like a giant, insatiable mouth that kept devouring countless tiny prey.

Wuhe returned to someone's shoulder with the camel hump bag in his mouth.

This treasure can store the water of ten pools; it was a trump card brought back by British intelligence personnel at the cost of their lives.

The situation reversed in an instant.

"This thing actually ended up in your hands."

The old man with the Insect Sword frowned, having lost all his horsehair worms. He was already nearing the end of his life and was always prepared to die suddenly, but he had not yet killed Lei Jian.

"What can you offer to buy my life? Just name your price."

Jiang He flapped his blood wings, and three hundred iron feathers shot out, riddling the enemies in front of him with holes.

As the insect sword fell to the ground, Jiang He walked over and crushed the man's head with a single shot, ensuring he died cleanly.

The horsehair worm can control living people; in some ways, this guy's ability is no less than Si Ning's Abyss Logic Disorder.

After killing him, Jiang He quickly searched the body and found two treasures on the leader of the Reverse Tree Sword: a simple silver ring and an ant-shaped jade stone.

[Name: Fly Ring]

[Category: Domesticated]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: Contains 36 cubic meters of space, solely for raising various types of flies. Depending on the energy injected, the flies will exhibit different properties. They reproduce extremely quickly within the space. Under normal circumstances, the flies are dormant and require monthly energy feeding, estimated at around 1000-3000.]

[Note: Its owner was tricked and killed by his superior. The Fly Ring's initial form was the Seahorse Ring. This is a rare double treasure.]

……

[Name: Flame Ant Jade]

[Category: Functional]

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: Flame ants will actively feed on vegetation and secrete highly flammable liquid with strong burning properties. Jade-quality flame ants themselves lack intelligence, and a standard tree can produce 500g of flammable liquid.]

[Note: It is recommended to carry this with you at all times!]

Chapter 92 The Ant Rider's Nemesis

Inside the library

With Insect Sword's defeat and death, another battle was forced to a halt.

The Ant Knight was almost unharmed, except for one of his slender antennae that had been severed by a lightning blade. He glanced warily at the two enemies present, who, like himself, were monochrome knights. If they continued fighting, he risked dying here.

After assessing the situation, Ant Rider kept a close eye on Lehman while retreating step by step, preparing to return to the outside of the library through the gate.

But Jiang He blocked his retreat with his gun.

“I admit defeat. You can do whatever you want with Otto. However, dozens of knights from the mainland and Prussia are fighting the Aphids in the tombs below. If you want to seize the secret treasure Silkworm Life, it seems unwise to fight me to the death here.”

Ant Knight's eyes flickered. The fastest way to escape danger was to take the spiral staircase into the tomb, which was much closer than the main gate. However, he didn't know the specific situation below. He only knew that a great battle had broken out half an hour ago. The speed of the Prussian Falcon Sword was unparalleled in the world. If he went down rashly, he might be surrounded and attacked by three people, which would be even more dangerous than the current situation.

Grey Knight Rayman shook his head and said, "We both have thousands of military merits. If we let you leave, the camp will know that we are obstructing this operation. Not only will our military merits be invalidated, but we will also be regarded as traitors. The higher-ups will lose two monochrome knights. The price is too high. You should think about Great Britain and sacrifice yourself here."

Ant Knight was almost laughing in anger. "You two think you can take me down easily? Then come at me together."

Having extinguished any remaining hope, the monochrome knight displayed a resolute attitude.

“I need two minutes,” the Grey Knight said.

“Okay,” Jiang He replied.

Upon hearing this, the Ant Knight strode towards the Gray Knight. His tall and powerful body exuded a fierce aura. The black carapace on his body was smooth and shiny, filled with a cold and hard metallic luster. It had a unique defensive capability against cuts and slashes. Even after being hit by dozens or hundreds of lightning blades, there was no obvious damage, only a few white marks.

Jiang He raised his hand and fired a shot. The scarlet bullet shot out and hit the enemy's back, making the Ant Knight stagger. The bullet, which was extremely corrosive, created a blood hole the size of a fist. However, it was obviously much less powerful than a normal shot that could shatter a body. The opponent's carapace defense and body hardness were extraordinary.

The Ant Knight charged desperately toward the Gray Knight. Hearing what had just been said, a strong sense of unease welled up in his heart. Knights could be broadly divided into three levels: ordinary knights, elite knights, and monochrome knights. The boundaries between them were not clear, and many factors could determine the outcome of the battle.

The most effective method is targeting natural enemies.

The second and third shots followed closely, hitting the same spot; the flesh was mangled and the writhing internal organs were visible.

"Damn it!"

The ant rider was forced to stop and turn around. If the opponent had aimed at his head, his antennae's sensitivity would have been enough to dodge. Now that one of his antennae had been severed, he could no longer maintain his full-fledged physical awareness and was no longer as good as before.

Most importantly, the Red Knight didn't care about his teammates' lives at all; his charge didn't disrupt the enemy's formation.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, the Ant Rider gritted his teeth and charged toward the spiral staircase leading to the tomb.

Jiang He stretched out her blood-red wings and arrived first.

A force a hundred times their own weight surged with the punch as the Ant Rider unleashed their extraordinary abilities, delivering a powerful blow.

Jiang He activated the initial form of his energy armor, and once again unleashed a sweeping spear thrust, sending iron light flying.

Fists and spears clashed, the purest forces collided, white shockwaves rippled across the surface, sand and stones flew everywhere, and the floor cracked like a net.

The loud commotion made the Grey Knight look up.

Jiang He flew backward dozens of meters, his armor nearly cracking, blood gushing from his tiger's mouth. The force of the ant was almost equal to that of the Long Hatred Spear, but his own physique and strength were insufficient to support him in place. Strictly speaking, he was an agile assassin-type hunter. True monochrome knights were all peak humans of the Bronze Age, with all four main attributes exceeding 11.

Ignoring his fist, which felt like it was about to break, the Ant Rider charged towards the spiral staircase like a raging bull.

Just then, a very faint clinking sound rang out.

A black gemstone landed, triggering an explosion that sent the Ant Rider flying with a powerful shockwave.

Jiang He pulled out the Whale Song revolver and fired six shots in quick succession. The knockback effect hit the enemy, sending him flying even further.

The ant rider's figure was embedded in the wall between the first and second floors of the library.

The Grey Knight finished his preparations and now held a strangely shaped pistol with an oval-shaped airbag in the barrel.

As the trigger was pulled, a long, thin tongue shot out from the muzzle of the airbag pistol, accurately hitting the Ant Rider.

The force was almost negligible, yet the black shell melted away at an astonishing speed, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun.

The colorless crystals clinging to the surface of the tongue resembled an unprecedentedly potent poison, causing billowing white smoke to rise from the enemy's wounds.

The pistol was firing so fast that the tongue kept shooting back and forth, creating afterimages.

Seeing this, Wuhe whispered, "The Anteater's secret treasure and the alchemically refined borax, the latter has the style of that alchemist from Amiens. He was already prepared to fight the Ant Riders, including when he attacked the training camp. There might have been a scheme to get you to help him with military merits. This guy is very cunning. If he is a rule-breaker, he will definitely have made special preparations to target you."

Jiang He glanced at his passive skill and said, "Since the Anteater Treasure has a special attack against Ant Riders, I'm also prepared to wait for Rayman."

A scream rang out in the library. The Ant Knight, who was under control, desperately tried to break free from the wall indentation, but the long tongue covered with alchemical borax pierced through his body. The blood hole caused by the bullet earlier became a fatal flaw. The Ant Knight's internal organs were mercilessly ravaged by the long tongue, and his head tilted to the side as if he had lost his breath.

The airbag pistol in the Gray Knight's hand, due to overload, caused the alchemical borax to spontaneously combust without wind. As if he had expected this, he simply let go and allowed the anteater treasure to fall to the ground and collapse.

Suddenly, the ant rider's head snapped back to its original position, its massive body trembling violently, its eyes dark yet displaying a terrifyingly ferocious aura.

The Grey Knight frowned. "He's dead."

Wuhe's eyes suddenly turned black as he stared at the enemy and said, "Name: Variant · Hemiplegic Cordyceps Fungus. It originates from a fungus in nature that can parasitize ants. It uses enzymes to dissolve the exoskeleton, and then rapidly reproduces to eventually control the behavior of ants. This is a method left by the Ant Rider to take revenge on the murderer after his death."

As soon as he finished speaking, gray mutant bacteria surged out from inside the Ant Rider's cavity, displaying terrifying corrosiveness as it dripped onto the ground, and it was rapidly multiplying.

Just as Gray Knight and Jiang He were about to make their move, Porcupine, who had been sitting in the corner and had been completely invisible, walked up to them without even glancing at them.

From the beginning, Porcupine showed great respect for the Grey Knights, a respect built on the honor and sacrifice of the Monochrome Knights in guarding the Empire. As the two revealed their "ugly" nature, Porcupine fell into complete disappointment and silence. After his ideals collapsed, he even ignored the previous battles. After all, he also respected the Ant Knights of Great Britain, but he was also a teammate who had shared life and death with the two.

"I really regret taking on this mission. This damn war, I wish it would end sooner rather than later."

The porcupine punched the ant rider back into the dent of the wall. He was invaded by the alien bacteria, but all of the porcupine quills were also embedded in the ant rider's body. The liquid secreted on the surface of the quills caused the alien bacteria, which were originally multiplying rapidly, to become infected with this special fatty liquid and gradually lose their vitality.

To prevent self-injury and infection, some porcupines in nature have evolved a special adaptation: the surface of their quills is covered with a layer of oily substance, in which free fatty acids can kill some bacteria, thus acting as a "disinfectant".

The ant rider, already a corpse, smelled the scent of its prey, its pincers emerging from its cheeks, snapping the porcupine's neck. The porcupine did not dodge, but only turned its head to look at the two of them with disgust before dying.

Chapter 93 Hunting Engine and Original Formula

[Hint: You have already met the prerequisite of becoming an Alchemist]