Force Astral Plane: Starting with the Chimera Ants

Chapter 9: Rescue, Slender Ants

The clicking sound was incessant, seemingly a special means of communication between the giant ants, but for Ye Zhi at this moment, each sound made his heart sink.

He had only just begun his evolutionary journey, and now it was already coming to an end? He thought in despair. If he could return to his original world as a human in his next life, he would definitely destroy the two giant ant nests to avenge himself.

The clicking sound of their mandibles striking each other gradually subsided, indicating that the giant ants had confirmed each other's identities and situations and were preparing to attack again. The two largest giant ants even had strands of electricity wrapped around their mandibles, ready to launch their most powerful attack.

But just as Ye Zhi turned his head in despair, waiting for the tragedy to unfold, a sudden change occurred.

A slender, nearly two-meter-long black figure darted into the swarm of giant toothed ants like a ghost, lunging straight at one of the two largest giant toothed ants capable of using electric arc attacks. The rear half of its slender body bent and stabbed fiercely!

A sharp, tearing sound, like a weapon slicing through cloth, rang out. As far as the eye could see, a thick, long, sharp tail thorn, as long as a spear, extended from the equally slender tail of the figure and pierced straight into the second segment of the thorax of the giant toothed ant.

That was the pronotum, and below it lay one of the most deadly positions for arthropods—the second ganglion located in the middle of the body. The giant toothed ant immediately lost all six limbs and was then flung away like a rag doll.

Seeing this, another large, mandible-wielding ant slammed its mandibles together, producing an angry click. Then, it opened its mandibles wide and joined forces with the remaining smaller ants of its kind to attack. Arcs of electricity flickered on its mandibles, clearly indicating its intention to repeat the same tactic.

The dark figure lunged forward with lightning speed, and in the next second, it snatched the massive body of the giant ant in its mouth.

The giant toothed ant struggled violently, shaking its head and six limbs, seemingly unable to break free. A mad and resolute glint flashed in its compound eyes, and its mandibles opened wide once more!

"Click-clack-clack-clack...smack!" The giant toothed ant rapidly pounded its mandibles, unleashing five full-force attacks in a matter of seconds. The electric arcs contained between its mandibles also surged five times in succession, unleashing a true five-hit lightning whip combo in an instant!

But the slender black shadow did not flinch at all. Instead, it bent its abdomen and plunged its tail spikes straight into the soil. The exoskeleton and tail spikes, which seemed to gleam with a metallic luster, acted like lightning rods, channeling the violent current into the ground.

Immediately, a teeth-grinding crunching sound rang out, and the body of the giant-toothed ant that had been caught was bitten in two and thrown out like trash.

The severed forequarters, driven by lingering nerve reflexes, stubbornly dragged its remaining body with its last forelimbs. Its jaws opened slightly in despair, and the cessation of bodily fluid flow caused its compound eyes to gradually lose their luster, yet it remained as if it had died with its eyes wide open.

The next second, a segmented limb stepped onto its still somewhat unwillingly raised head, forcefully stomping it into the soil and fallen leaves. Two gleaming claws carved two clearly visible wounds on the sturdy exoskeleton of its head.

The remaining large-toothed ants, seeing this, tapped their mandibles softly in fear, making clicking sounds that seemed like intimidation but were mostly just to bolster their courage. They slowly retreated, and once the distance between them had increased, they immediately turned around and scattered in all directions.

The scene below, resembling a battle between gods, left Ye Zhi stunned for a moment. Only then did he look at the slender figure that had emerged – it was also an ant, but its size was exaggeratedly enormous. If compared to the inherited memories, it was probably at least a "Mountain Lord" level existence!

The inherited memories divide the realm of insect warriors into six stages: beginner, intermediate, advanced warrior, mountain lord, and insect king. Each stage is further divided into nine stages.

It seems that advancing from the advanced form to the "Mountain Lord" form is similar to an ordinary creature leaping to the initial form, accompanied by a qualitative leap. Ye Zhi felt despair; he hadn't expected that after the Giant Toothed Ant escaped, an even more powerful one had appeared.

The creature's body was exaggeratedly long and thin, resembling a fierce venomous snake, yet it possessed six agile limbs. Combined with its jet-black body that gleamed with a metallic sheen, it resembled a swift black panther. He recognized it as a type of slender ant, which, according to his inherited memories, was specifically called the "Floating Slender Ant."

The slender, two-meter-long ant swayed twice, flinging away the head of the large-toothed ant that was standing under its tarsus. Then it looked up at the treetop where Ye Zhi was.

Unexpectedly, Ye Zhi did not sense any killing intent through those compound eyes; they only gleamed with a flat light, leaving Ye Zhi somewhat puzzled for a moment.

Then, the other party extended its thick antennae, which were like steel whips, and gently tapped the tree trunk. Strangely enough, its instincts as a weaver ant understood that it was a signal that it was safe and posed no threat!

Ye Zhi was stunned. He was already waiting for death to come, but he didn't expect the other party to do such a thing. He was shocked for a moment, took two steps, and climbed down from the back of the leaf.

At this point, he had resigned himself to his fate—compared to the opponent's strength, biting down this tree would only take a moment, so he might as well see what the opponent was up to.

Seeing Ye Zhi climb down, the slender ant shook its antennae. Then, one antenna actually reached up and rested on the tree trunk, forming a bridge. At the same time, the other antenna tapped, as if urging it on.

With a sigh, Ye Zhi numbly climbed onto the other's outstretched tentacles. The other creature remained unperturbed, maintaining its posture until Ye Zhi climbed up its head. Only then did it retract its tentacles and quickly crawl away in one direction.

This direction is opposite to the direction from which the large-toothed ants came. It seems that the territories of the two ant colonies are adjacent, with one side belonging to the slender ants and the other side belonging to the dark-bellied large-toothed ants.

The slender ant has six agile limbs and moves quickly. The scenery on both sides changes rapidly. Ye Zhi can see that the plants on both sides have changed quickly. The originally sparse and messy native plants have been replaced by neat and uniform trees, which look like they have been planted by humans!

The trees growing on both sides seemed to be citrus trees, and the slender ant was walking on a dirt path specially carved out in the forest. On both sides, Ye Zhi seemed to see more slender worker ants moving around, slightly smaller than the one currently carrying it, but each one was still surprisingly large.

In his mind, the information about "life pouch, life seed" from the inherited memories resurfaced—is it about cultivating specific types of plants on a large scale to harvest higher quality seeds? He suddenly felt that this world seemed far more complex than he had imagined.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, the slender worker ants carrying Ye Zhi rounded another bend in the dense citrus grove. Then, Ye Zhi witnessed the most astonishing scene he had ever seen since his rebirth!