Fang Zhou continued to beat the Frog Drum, simultaneously directing the Skeleton Army to completely surround the three nest entrances, adopting a strategy of waiting for his prey to walk into the trap.

Suddenly, a dense and persistent rustling echoed from the dark, gaping entrances. It sounded as if something was about to rush out.

The rustling grew louder and louder until a slender leg suddenly extended from one opening. A moment later, a Fierce Ant sprinted out.

Fang Zhou took a quick glance. This Fierce Ant looked like a massively enlarged ordinary ant, not nearly as ferocious as the Iron Jaws Soldier Ants and Acidic Poison Soldier Ants he had encountered previously. The Demon Illustrated Handbook in his mind flipped open, and he immediately recognized it.

It's a Fierce Worker Ant!

In an ant colony, worker ants were tasked with building and expanding the nest, as well as collecting food, raising the young, and serving the Ant Queen. In terms of combat ability, they were no match for soldier ants.

Fang Zhou's gaze sharpened as he quickly processed a crucial piece of information. Faced with such great temptation, the first to rush out were the worker ants, not the soldier ants. This could only mean that all the soldier ants in this nest had already been lured out.

It seems all that's left inside are the old, weak, and disabled with low combat power.

Realizing this, Fang Zhou's expression relaxed slightly, though his hand never stopped beating the Frog Drum. In any case, he had to lure out as many ants as he could. This would prevent any nasty surprises when he ventured deeper into the nest later.

After the first Fierce Worker Ant appeared, a second and a third followed. The ants poured out in a continuous stream, like flowing water.

But the Skeleton Army surrounding the nest entrance had been waiting eagerly for this moment. Even the carapaces of the Iron Jaws Soldier Ants couldn't withstand the skeletons' sharp claws, let alone these Fierce Worker Ants, which were not adept at fighting.

A gust of wind swept by. In a flash of white figures splattered with crimson, a dazzling, cold gleam of claws tore through a carapace. With a wet crunch, a Fierce Worker Ant's head was torn open, and thick blood splattered everywhere. Its body trembled uncontrollably, and its slender, powerful legs gave out. The entire Fierce Worker Ant collapsed, twitching and struggling faintly for a few seconds before falling still.

With the first Fierce Worker Ant dead under skeletal claws, a massacre officially began.

SPLAT!

SPLAT!

Within the mines, the sound of claws piercing carapaces echoed continuously. The Fierce Worker Ants poured out endlessly, but they couldn't outpace the slaughter.

"Hunting Points +0.5."

"Hunting Points +0.4."

...

Kill notifications constantly popped up on the Hunting Recorder, but Fang Zhou remained calm, rhythmically beating the Frog Drum at a steady pace. The Skeleton Army was at the Middle Rank Apprentice level, further enhanced by the {Domination Skeleton} skill. They dealt with the frail, Lower Rank Fierce Worker Ants as easily as a strong man handles a small child, crushing them with a simple gesture.

Most importantly, skeletons were not living beings. They had no concerns about stamina. They wouldn't tire or go hungry, allowing them to fight endlessly like perpetual motion machines.

Sticky blood sprayed in waves, and a strong, acrid stench filled the air. In a short time, dozens of Fierce Worker Ants had been slaughtered. Their limp bodies covered the ground, and their blood, thick as glue, mixed with the earth to form a gruesome swamp.

Fierce Worker Ants continued to surge from the nest entrance, only to be struck down by sharp claws and killed instantly. The triple bait set by Fang Zhou was simply too enticing. It lured the utterly mindless Fierce Worker Ants to charge to their deaths, one wave after another.

At first, Fang Zhou tried to count how many the Skeleton Army had slain, but he soon lost track and gave up. Gazing at the corpses strewn in chaotic piles, he estimated there were nearly two hundred of them.

After a long while, one last Fierce Worker Ant was torn apart by skeletal claws. After that, nothing else emerged from the opening. Fang Zhou continued to beat the Frog Drum and poured more bait into the nest, but there was still no response.

A few minutes later, he stopped and let out a soft breath. With several hundred Fierce Soldier Ants and two hundred Fierce Worker Ants slain, there shouldn't be any combat-capable ants left in the nest.

Gazing at the dark entrance of the ant nest, Fang Zhou felt a touch of wonder. Even before their mutation, when they were tiny ants the size of rice grains, their nests were bigger than basketballs.

But now, these demonized Fierce Ants, close to the size of kobolds, must have nests of a terrifying magnitude!

Just imagining such a complex spiral structure filled with countless holes...

Shaking his head to clear the distracting thoughts, Fang Zhou gripped his Magic Staff in one hand and the Heroic Spirit Battle Banner in the other. He was just about to command the blood-soaked Skeleton Army to slowly enter the nest when a whistling sound cut through the dim sky.

Fang Zhou furrowed his brow, stepped back behind his skeletons, and looked up toward the sound.

It was the familiar Silver Pegasus!

He breathed a sigh of relief, watching as the elegant Silver Pegasus gently descended into the mine, carrying Instructor Wang Tao.

THUD!

Instructor Wang Tao swung himself off the pegasus and strode quickly toward Fang Zhou. Seeing the mine littered with worker ant corpses, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Fang Zhou, did you wipe out this whole nest of Fierce Ants?"

Fang Zhou responded with a humble smile. "There should still be an Ant Queen hiding deep inside. I was just about to go take it out."

Wang Tao nodded, surveying the chaotic scene around them. "Besides General Ning Feihu's battle banner, have you found anything else?" he asked.

Hearing this, Fang Zhou raised the Heroic Spirit Battle Banner and said seriously, "Instructor Wang, I can feel a sort of guidance from this banner. It seems like there's something closely related to General Ning Feihu inside the nest."

Wang Tao had come specifically to search the site where Ning Feihu had fallen, so his expression immediately turned serious. He took the Heroic Spirit Battle Banner and tried to sense what Fang Zhou had, but he found nothing.

Nevertheless, Wang Tao couldn't dismiss the judgment of a genius like Fang Zhou. He returned the battle banner to Fang Zhou and clapped him on the shoulder. "Alright, let's go. I'll accompany you to explore this ant nest. Hopefully, we'll find something."

Wang Tao glanced at Fang Zhou's Hunting Recorder, then added a reminder, "My job is to handle any unexpected situations related to General Ning. If you encounter other Demons in the nest, you'll have to deal with them yourself."

With a Silver Tier expert like Instructor Wang Tao by his side, Fang Zhou's confidence surged.

He nodded and directed the Skeleton Army into the ant nest.

The tables have turned. Come on out and greet your guests, my dear Ant Queen!

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