CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 39: TRAPPING AND SLAYING THE GRAY ROCK ANTS

After the five reached a consensus, Skinny instructed the Earth Rock Rat to scout the situation.

The five were anxious, every second of waiting felt agonizing, as no one could predict what kind of Star Beasts lay ahead, how strong they were, and how much time would be wasted to find a suitable target again.

Just as they hesitated with unease, a yellow-brown figure was sprinting swiftly towards them.

The five people’s eyes lit up simultaneously at the sight, and their heartbeats involuntarily quickened a bit.

The Earth Rock Rat took two steps in three strides, quickly hopped onto Skinny’s shoulder, waving its arms and emitting rapid "squeak squeak" sounds from its mouth.

A few moments later, Skinny’s expression turned exceedingly grave.

Upon seeing this, the expressions of Chu Chen and the other four changed dramatically, even if they couldn’t understand what the Earth Rock Rat was conveying, they could guess a thing or two from Skinny’s expression.

"Skinny, quickly tell us what the Earth Rock Rat discovered?" Wang Lu asked anxiously.

Skinny didn’t answer immediately; instead, he organized his words and said in a low voice, "Within a kilometer ahead, there’s a variety of ant-like Star Beasts active, and although it’s impossible to detect the exact number, a rough estimate puts it at several hundred."

"What, several hundred, that’s too many, we better leave quickly, if discovered, it’ll be too late." Cold Face exclaimed in surprise.

Chu Chen said in a deep voice, "Don’t rush, let the Earth Rock Rat lead me, I’ll check it out myself." And then he walked forward with Lei Yao.

The other four could only helplessly follow along, as it would be better to have more people to look out for each other.

After a few minutes, Skinny pointed at the bushes not far away and said, "Those ant-like Star Beasts are in the bushes."

Barely had Skinny finished speaking when the five saw the bushes swaying, then a gray ant crawled out from the bushes.

The gray ant was about one and a half meters long, about half a meter tall, with gray insect armor that had an uneven surface, as if composed of many rocks of varying sizes.

This ant-like Star Beast is quite rare, even Chu Chen didn’t know its information, so he had no choice but to call out the Slaughter Atlas to check its information.

Star Beast Name: Gray Rock Ant

Life Level: Mature Stage

Star Beast Quality: Ordinary Level Middle Grade

Star Beast Talent: Resistance

Star Beast Level: Fourth Rank Slave Level

Power Talent: E-level

Defense Talent: E-level

Agility Talent: F-level

Physical Talent: F-level

Soul Power Talent: F-level

Star Power Talent: F-level

Star Beast Attribute: Earth Element

Star Beast Skills: Giant Power Clamp (Ordinary Level, Skilled Realm), Rock Armor (Ordinary Level, Skilled Realm), Giant Rock Ball (Elite Level, Entry Realm)

Looking at the Gray Rock Ant’s information, Chu Chen couldn’t help but show a meaningful smile.

Wang Lu and the four felt confused seeing Chu Chen’s expression.

However, Chu Chen did not explain, but instead rubbed his chin in thought.

Moments later, Gangzi finally couldn’t hold back, he coughed lightly and asked softly, "Scholar, have you discovered something?"

Chu Chen didn’t answer but smiled and asked, "Do you know how the ant colony is divided?"

"That’s simple, the ant colony is divided into four types, the first is the Ant Queen, responsible for breeding offspring, the second is the Worker Ants, responsible for gathering food, building and maintaining the ant nest, etc., the third is the Soldier Ants, responsible for protecting the colony and repelling invaders, and the fourth is the Male Ant, responsible for mating with the Ant Queen to produce offspring." Wang Lu said confidently.

Chu Chen nodded and said, "Yes, your theoretical knowledge is strong, but theory without practice is zero."

Wang Lu wasn’t upset at the words, and instead laughed, "Stop beating around the bush, just tell us what you have in mind."

"It’s simple, Worker Ants are responsible for collecting food, their strength is not very high, we just need to lure them away from the Ant Nest, even if we kill them, the Soldier Ants won’t notice, we can use this method to continually kill those Worker Ants." Chu Chen said with a smile.

"If everything goes smoothly, we can eliminate a lot of Worker Ants, won’t the Soldier Ants come to attack us then?" Cold Face asked a bit uneasily.

Chu Chen shook his head and said, "You’re overthinking, the Gray Rock Ants in the ant nest are extremely numerous, the few hundred Gray Rock Ants we’ve seen are just the Worker Ants out foraging for food, and with our current strength, we can’t kill so many Gray Rock Ants."

Cold Face felt reassured hearing this.

"Then let’s start quickly!" Wang Lu said eagerly.

Gangzi and Skinny also shot eager looks.

Chu Chen saw this and said with a smile, "Before taking action, we’ll need to make some preparations first."

Half an hour later, Chu Chen took out some meat, cleared away grass and dirt, then threw the meat beside a dug pit.

"Next, let’s rely on the Angry Wind Elf." Chu Chen laughed as he spoke.

Wang Lu immediately understood and quickly instructed the Angry Wind Elf to create a Wind Tornado.

The strong wind carried the scent of blood and flesh, moving towards where the Gray Rock Ants were.

The control range of the Wind Tornado was only about twenty meters, but the strong wind generated as it dissipated could still carry the scent far away.

A few moments later, the Gray Rock Ants several hundred meters away foraging for food suddenly stopped, their long antennae on their heads swaying non-stop.

At this moment, their antennae suddenly stopped swaying, and it began to walk decisively in the direction the scent came from, while along the way, it left pheromones to inform its companions.

Seeing this, Chu Chen showed a look of joy and quickly gestured for everyone to hide, "Get over here quickly and hide."

Wang Lu and the other four immediately followed Chu Chen into the nearby bushes.

The Gray Rock Ant moved quickly as if it had a special obsession with the food.

A minute later, the Gray Rock Ant finally found the food, it wiggled its antennae expressing its delight, just as it was about to transport the food, five Guardian Beasts suddenly charged out from the nearby bushes.

Before the Gray Rock Ant could react, it was killed in the ambush, not even managing to make a sound.

Chu Chen pointed to the pit in front and said solemnly, "Push the Gray Rock Ant’s corpse into the pit and cover it with a layer of yellow soil to mask its scent."

The four immediately complied, Chu Chen’s plan had already shown initial success, meaning it was feasible, which translated to a huge amount of points, the thought of which filled the four with energy.

An ant’s antennae have four functions, the first is for smell, the second is for conveying information, the third is for maneuvering, and the fourth is for perceiving external information. Chu Chen utilized its olfactory function, using the wind to carry the scent of food to the Gray Rock Ant, finally digging a pit to bury the ant’s corpse, thus masking its scent.

Soon, Chu Chen and the others welcomed the second wave of Gray Rock Ants.

This time, the number of Gray Rock Ants increased from one to three.

However, they were all at Fourth and Fifth Rank, and aided by the surprise attack of Lei Yao and other beasts, these three Gray Rock Ants didn’t have any chance to fight back and were killed.