Chapter 174: The Ant Army

After confirming that no unexpected changes had occurred while he had been away, he decisively threw the Chicken Chimera toward the direction of the ant nest and simultaneously removed the spider silk restraining it.

"Cluck! Cluck! cluck!"

The Chicken Chimera suddenly regained its vision.

Before it even had time to observe its surroundings, after having its beak sealed shut the entire journey, it immediately let out an angry cry and instinctively began flapping its wings in midair.

Its excellent daytime eyesight allowed it to spot the ants on the ground at a single glance and its eyes immediately lit up.

Who could possibly understand this feeling?

The moment it opened its eyes, an entire feast had been laid out right in front of it.

The person who captured it was actually a pretty nice guy.

The Chicken Chimera instantly forgot all of its anger.

It no longer cared about anything else and immediately flapped its wings as it landed on the ground, eagerly beginning to peck at the ants.

The sudden arrival of the Chicken Chimera threw the worker ants into complete chaos.

As creatures responsible for gathering food and caring for larvae, worker ants possessed no combat ability at all.

However, this situation did not continue for long.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Joo Joowon saw an enormous number of soldier ants pour out from the ant nest.

They were densely packed together, like a massive black flood, surging outward in overwhelming numbers.

The rustling sound that accompanied their advance resembled the marching footsteps of soldiers and even caused the Chicken Chimera to hesitate for a brief moment.

"It’s so terrifying..."

Joo Joowon pushed Byeol and Hwi slightly deeper into his backpack and could not help shrinking back a little himself.

He had already guessed that the number of soldier ants inside the colony would be enormous, but he had never expected there to be this many.

There were certainly more than tens of thousands of them.

If someone claimed there were hundreds of thousands or even millions, he would believe it without hesitation.

They poured outward like floodwaters released from a broken dam.

Perhaps because chickens carried an instinctive impression of ants deep within their bones, after only a brief moment of hesitation, the Chicken Chimera did not choose to flee.

Instead, it immediately resumed pecking and eating as though these ants were a self service buffet that had willingly delivered itself to its doorstep.

The attacks of the weak worker ants and ordinary soldier ants were completely harmless to it.

They simply could not do anything to stop it.

Unfortunately for the Chicken Chimera, the good times did not last long.

The entire colony had mobilized hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of soldier ants surged toward the Chicken Chimera all at once.

In little more than the blink of an eye, the Chimera vanished completely from Joo Joowon’s field of vision.

Looking over the battlefield now, there was no longer any sign of the Chicken Chimera at all.

In its place stood only a black statue towering on the spot as though it had been draped in a black cloak.

The darkness was so dense and overwhelming that it sent chills down the spine.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

The Chicken Chimera had clearly not expected the number of ants to be so great that they could completely swallow it whole.

It immediately unleashed its sonic rooster cry.

Taking advantage of the momentary stiffness that seized the ant army, it frantically shook the ants off its body and opened its beak to release a burst of flames that engulfed countless soldier ants.

Unfortunately, the area a single blast of fire could cover was extremely limited.

Without wind or fuel to spread the flames further, there was no possibility of wiping out the entire ant army in one strike.

As soon as the ants recovered from their stiffened state, the remaining soldier ants immediately resumed their assault without the slightest hesitation.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Only then did the Chicken Chimera truly begin to panic.

It flapped its wings desperately, trying to escape.

Unfortunately, the wings of a chicken had long since degenerated.

At most, they could only support a few clumsy flaps and were incapable of carrying such a large body into the sky and away from danger.

On top of that, during its attempted takeoff, a large number of soldier ants had already climbed onto its body.

They squeezed through the gaps in its feathers and viciously bit into the flesh hidden beneath the plumage.

Low level zombies had no perception of pain or bodily sensation.

However, as their levels increased, they gradually regained these senses little by little.

The bite of a single ant was insignificant.

Most of the time, a creature might not even realize it had been bitten at all.

But being bitten by an entire swarm of ants was an entirely different matter.

The Chicken Chimera desperately tried to shake the ants from its body. Yet each time its large body crashed back down from the air, even more soldier ants crawled onto it.

Again and again, it could only use its sonic ability to throw them off before spraying flames to destroy them, hoping that eventually they would become afraid and retreat.

However, it was useless.

The ants showed absolutely no fear of death.

They charged forward endlessly, wave after wave.

What kind of terrifying transformation could occur when hundreds of thousands or even millions of ants gathered together in a single place?

The answer seemed painfully obvious.

No matter how the Chicken Chimera struggled, it could not escape.

Whether it rolled across the ground or tried to take flight, it could not shake off the endless ant army.

Eventually, exhausted beyond its limits, it collapsed beneath the overwhelming assault of the ants.

Even the screams it released were drowned out beneath the endless rustling sounds of countless insects.

[ Ding! ]

[ You assisted in killing Level 6 Hero Chicken Chimera! ]

[ EXP +19]

Joo Joowon ignored the system notification entirely. His eyes remained fixed on the ant army without blinking.