Beneath the dark-green sky, the lithe, pear-shaped figure of a 1.6 meters tall woman appeared. If her shoulder-length, curly black hairs didn't give any insight into her lineage, then her dark-green eyes that mixed tranquility and treachery clearly did.
Another zenith ant. But this time, feeling the horrendous pressure that crashed upon her and pursued that of the mighty Dasra, Verena didn't doubt she was dealing with an existence ranking above all those ant elders.
And indeed, as soon as the woman appeared, the five ant elders tapped into their full reserves to drag their maimed body into the sky and bow toward her.
"Greetings, eleventh queen!"
They hailed in deference while kneeling within the sky.
*Pah* *Pah* *Pah* *Pah* *Pah*
With a casual wave of her hand, the ant queen backhanded them all across the cheek, sending their mantis forms spiraling into the air with gushing blood. Still, her eyes remained locked on Verena, who stood before the protective barrier she'd erected for Yvonne.
"Utter and complete wastes. If only one of them is enough to vanquish you, tell me, as colony elders, what purpose do you serve?"
The eleventh queen rhetorically asked, with her eyes still locked on Verena. No, now, her eyes looked beyond the barrier to assess the blood pool it protected. For indeed, that pool was the reason for her arrival.
"Apologies, eleventh majesty. That woman was craftier than we expected. Were it not for her tricks we…"
One of the ant elders began in indignation. But as laid out justifications, a strange glint flashed within the eleventh queen's eyes.
"Hum?"
That simple sound threw the five elders into disarray, and they immediately bowed in submission.
"We have no excuse!"
"That's better. Later on, I shall administrate your punishments."
The eleventh queen replied before again, waving her hand. Emerald colored light waves emerged to wrap the five elders, mending all their wounds and returning them to peak strength in a heartbeat.
Verena was startled.
"Could that be…life essence?"
In a sense, life essence was present within all living creatures within heaven and earth. From the tiniest of flowers to the mightiest of cultivators, they all possessed it in various quantities. However, none could control it.
Life essence was also the source of Life Fruits' extraordinary physique nourishing abilities. On the Ancient Crystal World, the World Tree aside, none could control life essence. But now, it appeared that siphoning the World Tree's roots allowed the ant queens to obtain a portion of that ability.
Worse, even with her Origin Sight, Verena couldn't see through the ant queen's abilities.
Without delay, she activated her Seer's Vision, using it to peer into the eleventh queen's true abilities and wasn't startled to see her cultivation stand at the summit of the Divine Road. Without warning, the ant queen raised her right hand, causing hundreds of tree roots to emerge from the ground, and shoot toward Verena.
Her sword drew a dazzling arc, releasing a bright golden half-moon that slammed into the incoming roots, and halved dozens of them. However, as soon as they fell, new ones rose to take their place and carry on the assault onto Verena.
Slamming the pommel of her sword against her palm, Verena conjured a golden light shield that contended with the hundreds of incoming tree roots. At first, the shield held its own. However, it didn't take three seconds before cracks formed across its surface, and it threatened to collapse under the ant queen's casual strike.
"Ancestral Glory…"
Verena began, but before she could summon her Ancestral Glory, the ant queen's lips parted.
"Zenith."
And instantaneously, Verena found herself suppressed, unable to muster the strength to summon her Ancestral Glory.
*CRACK*
The golden light shield collapsed, enabling the tree roots to carry on unhindered and slam into Verena, who could now only rely on her armor to protect herself.
*BANG*
The tree roots barreled into Verena from all sides, and though her golden armor withstood their impact, her internal organs spiraled out of control while blood gushed from her lips, eyes, and ears.
*BAM*
She flew backward, slamming against the barrier she'd raised to cover Yvonne before trailing toward the ground.
"Too…strong."
She sighed as she reached the soil. Even with the golden armor, relying on her Divine Seed cultivation, there was absolutely no way she could contend with that peak-Divine Ascension ant queen whose physiques and bloodline all were at the top.
But Yvonne still had six days to spend within the Ancestral Blood Pool. How could she possibly buy her that amount of time?
And to say nothing of her, even the ant elders were startled. Although they knew of their queens' formidable strength, knowing was one thing, but seeing, another. Having not seen an ant queen in action across thousands of years, they no longer knew what to expect.
"Surrender to me, offer your armor and the secrets of the Jade Dynasty, and I will not only spare your life but allow you to live in glory."
The ant queen declared while lowering her hand by her side.
Hearing this, Verena's lifted hopeful eyes toward her.
"For real?"
"Between you and me, there is no need for trickery."
She coolly replied without shifting her eyes from Verena.
"Okay. The battle is hopeless. I'm not so harebrained as to give up my life for that damnable tyrant who robbed my empress seat, and now ogles most of my beloved man's affection. I'm willing…to surrender.
However, I will only do so on one condition."
Verena replied while standing up.
"And what would that be?"
The eleventh queen inquired with a smile.
"That you burn in hell!
Seer's Vision!"
Verena snarled and activated her Seer's Vision past altering ability. But seeing this, the ant queen sneered.
"Moronic. We've recorded the entirety of your battle. Do you think I don't know of your ability?
With your level of soul power and second layer Seer's Vision, even with that armor, you can't shake my fate."
She declared in full confidence.
And indeed, it appeared Verena's single move caused her enormous backlash. Her eyes went bloodshot while blood erupted from all her orifices, and she dropped on her knees.
However, a smile covered her lips!
In silence, the five ant elders unleashed the full might of their cultivation base, physiques, bloodline and lineage weapons to release their most formidable strikes at the eleventh queen.
Although her attention remained locked on Verena, a cultivator of her level was never fully open to sneak attacks.
However, never did she expect it would come from the five elders!
And as she spun to face them, she could see that within their eyes, massive killing intent shone!
*BAM*
The eleventh queen threw a palm strike, sending the five elders spiraling backward and sealing any further motion from them.
"What the hell did you do to them?!"
She snarled. Unable to comprehend the root of the sudden change. It was as if she'd suddenly turned into the five elders archenemy!
"Nothing special…Just altered their perception of some past events to convince them of a plethora of criminal deeds you carried out against their most loved ones. Now, their highest purpose is…to slay you. Hehe…"
Verena chuckled while her blood loss carried on, and her heart raced against her chest.
The eleventh queen had barely processed the words, that with a new bout of determination, the five elders burned their blood and self-destructed! Releasing a humongous divine force explosion that hit the eleventh queen point-blank and swallowed her whole!
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
Searing light engulfed the sky, releasing such startling a force, that even most peak Divine Ascension experts couldn't preserve their lives. And as her last bit of energy left her, Verena truly believed the crisis averted.
Alas…
As the explosion dispersed, the eleventh queen still stood within the sky. Except that this time, she appeared with a naked, maimed, and charred body.
Rage twisted her face!
"Yvonne…I'm sorry. I tried…"
Verena sighed before collapsing on the ground, in a pool of her own blood.
