Chapter 1157: Chapter 42: Prediction and Exposure
According to the original work, the Ant King’s strength is exceptionally powerful, and even the Chairman couldn’t handle it, ultimately having to choose mutual destruction as the way out.
The current situation is different. The Chairman now has four helpers. Mizaki and Old Smoke can stall the Ant King, while Su Xiao and Chen possess powerful attack capabilities. In a five-on-one scenario, as long as the Ant King can’t break through Netero, Mizaki, and Old Smoke’s defenses, the Ant King is the one who will die.
The Ant King, who almost had its skull shattered, shook its head. The bullet from the Duke of Extinction failed to fully penetrate the Ant King’s skull and was instead deflected by the carapace on its head.
The numb feeling in its chest and the blurry vision made the Ant King realize one thing: the three enemies around it were not much of a threat, but those two humans from afar were even more dangerous.
It was only now that the Ant King understood today’s affair wasn’t just some ’farce’, but a meticulously planned encirclement meant to potentially lead it to death.
Realizing this, the Ant King put away its idea of ’learning how to fight from the few people around it’. The current situation was that it could survive by breaking through the defenses of the three people around it; otherwise, it would die.
Before the Ant King sensed this, it hadn’t actually fought with all its might.
Crack, crack...
Cracks appeared on the ground beneath the Ant King’s feet.
From afar, on the watchtower, Su Xiao saw the Ant King charging through the scope. Watching the Ant King’s actions, Su Xiao was visibly taken aback; the Ant King’s combat experience was pathetically lacking.
It made sense though; the Ant King had only been around for a few days. Even if its learning ability was terrifying, the time was just too short.
If the Ant King could gain extensive combat experience and develop a battle system suitable for itself, or master several Nen techniques, its strength could definitely reach the fourth tier.
Unfortunately, the Ant King could only use its body to fight or rather, it was fighting with brute force. Thus, it only had third tier top-level combat strength.
In terms of destructive power, the current Ant King could reach the fourth tier too, but destructive power and combat strength are two different things. A strong lion, when facing a human with firearms, can’t even put up basic resistance.
With a crack, cracks appeared under the Ant King’s feet, and its body vanished from its original position. This was its first active attack.
As soon as the Ant King disappeared, Su Xiao quickly adjusted the scope and pulled the trigger.
Bam!
A wave of air spread out as a bullet was fired.
With a crack, the already disappeared Ant King reappeared, collapsing directly onto the ground, even rolling a few times. A basin-sized hole appeared in its abdomen.
The Ant King stood up, a hint of disbelief in its eyes, because it had run into the bullet itself, or rather, the enemy had predicted its position.
"Beautiful!"
Old Smoke dashed towards the Ant King, shaken by Su Xiao’s predictive shot, questioning whether Su Xiao had indeed switched to being a sniper.
Cycling the bolt, a new Elemental Bullet (Dark) was chambered.
Su Xiao’s finger was on the trigger, waiting for the opportunity from Old Smoke’s words.
"Smoke and mirrors."
Old Smoke, charging forward, stretched his hands, and a net-like smoke appeared between them.
The Ant King, covering its abdomen with one hand, raised its head and locked eyes with Old Smoke.
"Not good!"
At that moment, Old Smoke felt the fear of death.
Boom!
The ground tremored within a radius of two hundred meters, as the Ant King turned into an afterimage and appeared directly in front of Old Smoke, delivering a punch to his face.
"Smoke Substitute."
Old Smoke suddenly appeared in the distance, with a bewildered Mizaki now standing before the Ant King.
Mizaki wanted to curse Old Smoke’s ancestors up to the eighteenth generation, but there wasn’t enough time. Ice crystals rapidly spread over her body, while the distant Frost Giant’s size shrank a few times.
With a boom, Mizaki was sent flying by the Ant King’s punch, ice fragments scattering everywhere. The ice crystals on her body shattered completely, and a significant dent formed on her back from the Ant King’s punch.
"Fake."
From a distance, Old Smoke slapped the ground with one hand, and a wave of smoke appeared on Mizaki’s body, quickly restoring her dented back.
Was Old Smoke trying to kill Mizaki with his previous actions? Not at all. He knew Mizaki could withstand that punch from the Ant King, and he could only switch with Mizaki. If Old Smoke took that punch from the Ant King, he would undoubtedly die.
Once Mizaki landed on the ground, she leaped up, eyes locked onto Old Smoke not far away. After a moment, she sighed helplessly.
"Too soon."
Mizaki showed Old Smoke her middle finger, and Old Smoke shrugged, indicating it was an unavoidable choice, or else he would have been pummeled by the Ant King.
"You two, shall we continue cooperating? If not, the difficulty of encircling the Ant King next time will be several times higher. After killing the Ant King, we want half of the heart."
Old Smoke pressed his index finger against the wireless earpiece.
"Continue."
Chen’s voice came through the earpiece.
"I’m fine with it."
Su Xiao also spoke. From the start of the battle, he had sensed something off about Old Smoke and Mizaki. As the battle continued, that odd feeling grew stronger because the two of them were working together far too well.
In theory, the four were cooperating for the first time. Even if Old Smoke, Mizaki, and Chen had teamed up against Pouf, the synergy between Old Smoke and Mizaki was just too seamless.
Just a moment ago, Old Smoke bluntly revealed his relationship with Mizaki. They had been working together since three Derivative Worlds ago, having signed a temporary team contract.
This contract’s binding power wasn’t strong and was different in nature from an Adventure group, but it ensured that Mizaki and Old Smoke wouldn’t conflict internally.
"Then let’s continue. Based on the information I have, the Ant King will grow stronger the more it fights. The best approach is to take it out before it learns how to fight. Mizaki, send in the Ice Giant; I’ll help it with armor."
Old Smoke began openly cooperating with Mizaki.
Boom, boom...
The rumbling continued, as the Chairman and the Ant King were locked in battle. Although the Chairman wasn’t a match for the Ant King, he could hold it off for a while.
Old Smoke and Mizaki began to retreat. The Ice Giant Mizaki had summoned returned to its original size, and not only that, it was now encased in a layer of gray armor, wielding two heavy hammers.
Mizaki sat cross-legged on the ground, head lowered, having transferred her consciousness to the Frost Giant’s body for more precise control.
Old Smoke stood beside Mizaki, both to protect her physical body and to support the Ice Giant, enhancing its power, speed, and other attributes.
Just as Old Smoke mentioned, the Ant King grew stronger with each battle. Previously, it could only withstand the Chairman’s attacks, but now it had learned to release Nen, using it to perceive enemy attacks rather than capturing them with its eyes—something it learned from the Chairman three minutes ago.
Swish.
The Ant King’s hand blade thrust forward, severing one of the Chairman’s arms.
The Frost Giant charged forward, setting off a wave of cold energy with a stomp of its foot.
Compared to the threats of the Chairman and the Frost Giant, the Ant King’s attention was always on the east side, where Chen was positioned.
Chen extended his index finger, gathering an incredibly dense dark element at the fingertip—this move was called ’Finger of Destruction’, one of Chen’s five ultimate techniques.
