Chapter 688 - 332: First Battle

A mysterious surge of battle intent flared up. When Liang Xiaonuo and her group’s laser particle swords were about to run out of energy, the swarming Insect Race finally started to decrease. To their surprise, Su Jiameng seemed to only grow more courageous with each fight, leaving corpses strewn everywhere she went, almost always killing with one blow, never needing a second strike, leaving others envious.

Liang Xiaonuo exchanged glances with Cui Hu, who took the hint and temporarily took on all the attacking insect forces, facing the incoming Insect Race alone. Seizing this opportunity, Liang Xiaonuo took out three compressed Energy Blocks and tossed them to her three teammates. Because the Insect Race liked to devour energy, the laser particle swords were consuming energy more aggressively than usual. In just over an hour, they were nearing the energy depletion critical point.

As for her? She had used the laser particle sword previously, but she hadn’t expected that battling the Insect Race would consume Energy Blocks so severely! Usually, the laser particle sword could last over a month, but now it couldn’t even support two hours.

To conserve energy, she simply switched to using a long knife nearby... wasn’t Su Jiameng also fighting solely with that Cross Saber?

The Cross Saber in her hand was much heavier than a typical laser particle sword. Whether in terms of swinging speed or other aspects, it put her in a relatively passive position. Her attack speed slowed, energy consumption increased, yet with careful attention, it was still safe.

The ordinary Insect Race was not tough to deal with because they were weak in power and not particularly fast. Even though they had enormous killing power, if they couldn’t bite anyone, no matter how strong their attack, it was useless! So initially, Liang Xiaonuo and her team didn’t feel much pressure.

The four of them formed two small teams, easily crushing their way through. From the beginning till now, not a single person had been injured.

However, if one underestimates the capabilities of the Insect Race because of this, it would be a terrible mistake. The Insect Race emerging now were just like the Adhesive Devouring Worms, low-level insect types whose combat and destructive abilities were even inferior to the Adhesive Devouring Worms, yet their reproduction ability was several times more abundant!

Liang Xiaonuo and her group could easily handle hundreds to thousands of such Insect Race, but what if there were tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of them? Even if each moved at a snail’s pace, piling them one by one could drown the four of them!

More importantly, these little creatures weren’t snails; they were highly social Insect Race! Never underestimate any Insect Race, for no one knows what dreadful hidden cards they may hold! Just as Liang Xiaonuo’s team was about to relax a bit, Lu Anchen, a natural-born Scout, could feel his metal reflexes kicking in, his intuition was becoming increasingly alarming...

As the team’s Scout, he possessed a naturally strong sense of observation and judgment, along with a terrifyingly accurate intuition.

Back then, with nothing but intuition, he almost spotted the invisible Su Jiameng. Over the years, his ability had grown significantly; undoubtedly stronger than before! He had a hunch, a crisis, a life-and-death crisis was approaching them!

"My God... what is that..." Liang Xiaonuo’s hand was slightly numb from continuously wielding the blade, but when she saw the rapid tide-like swarming mass on the horizon, she was in shock, her legs stiffened, "Are they all Insect Race?"

Indeed, they were all Insect Race, specifically a kind called "Withered Leaf Insect." Viewed from directly above, their bodies had an irregular leaf shape, and from the side, they resembled a turtle sticking its head out. They possessed six legs with distinct joints on their abdomen, looking like poisonous spiders, with thick black fur on the legs containing venom-secreting glands.

Most Withered Leaf Insects were entirely brown. However, as their energy absorption increased and evolution progressed, their body color would deepen as the toxicity of their venom increased, eventually turning black. When a line resembling a brown leaf pattern appears on the body of a black Withered Leaf Insect, it indicates it has evolved to another Level, its size increasing by three to five times!

Su Jiameng hadn’t battled much against Withered Leaf Insects, but she understood their Level classification. Ordinary Withered Leaf Insects were the lowest class of the Insect Race, ranking just above Adhesive Devouring Worms. If normal Withered Leaf Insects and Adhesive Devouring Worms were merely menial roles, then those with a pattern were "Commoners" among the Insect Race, qualified to command the Insect Race below them.