This time around, the Bug Tribe finally began taking things seriously.
Without any further testing of the waters, the eleven lord-level Bug Queens marshaled their bug formations, assembling eleven ancient mutated bugs of various forms in the air.
The mutated bug formed by the leading middle-rank lord-level Bug Queen was a Divine Magic Winged Bug. This was a mutated bug beast that possessed extremely powerful overall abilities back in archaic times past.
It had one hundred and eight pairs of wings, and each wing was a heavyweight killing weapon. Every single scale on the wing surface could transform at will into weapons and defense equipment of all kinds.
Not only did the bug possess powerful attack capabilities, but its speed was also top-notch among monsters of the same level.
The Divine Magic Winged Bug’s one hundred and eight pairs of wings slowly unfurled. After that, it let out a high-pitched shriek.
The shriek was like a bugle sounding the charge. The remaining ten mutated bugs immediately went into battle mode and besieged Nine Snake and the others.
The Raiders did not dare delay their response.
The white-robed Priest and the remaining six middle-rank Lords attacked almost simultaneously, charging at the ten mutated bugs.
However, the three upper-rank Lords—Nine Snake, Scarlet Fox, and Silver—watched quietly from the sidelines and did not attack.
For one, they thought it was not necessary.
For another, they wanted to reserve their Odyl to fight Lin Huang later.
On the Bug Tribe’s side, the Divine Magic Winged Bug with its upper-rank lord-level combat strength did not attack either.
In reality, the middle-rank lord-level Bug Queen that controlled the bug formations had only sensed Nine Snake and the other two’s real combat strength after consolidating the bug formation.
The three of them had not attacked before this, nor had they intentionally released their auras. With the hive in between, the Bug Queen could not sense how unusual these three were.
Not until the bug formations had been consolidated and the hive was no longer separating them did the Bug Queen finally become aware that the sense of danger Nine Snake and the other two gave off was still extremely threatening.
This also made it somewhat reluctant to attack.
The reason was that it knew once it acted, at least one of the three individuals opposite would definitely take a hand. Not only that, there was the worst-case scenario of all three of them joining in the fight together.
The Bug Queen was very much aware of its own abilities. It was not so arrogant as to think it could battle three upper-rank Lords just because it had assembled a bug formation.
The truth was, the three Raiders did not attack because they saw that the Divine Magic Winged Bug across from them had not made a move.
As a spectator of the battle, Lin Huang was actually the most qualified to voice an opinion.
If Nine Snake and the other two fought, this battle would lose all its suspense. It might even be over completely in just a few seconds.
After all, Nine Snake was a peak upper-rank Lord. Once he attacked, he could easily destroy the entire hive on his own.
As for the Divine Magic Winged Bug assembled from the bug formation, the strength of its aura was upper-rank lord-level. However, if someone who had mastered a level-101 Dao seal was an upper-rank Lord, so was someone who had mastered a level-1000 Dao seal. The disparity in ability between the two could almost be considered an insurmountable gap.
Nine Snake was clearly the latter. As for the Divine Magic Winged Bug, it was not that much more powerful than the former.
In terms of the combat strength of the middle-rank Lords in both parties, Lin Huang did not even need to look to know that the Raider team was more powerful.
Although the Bug Tribe had more bug formations, their numbers were far from sufficient to compensate for the disparity in ability.
However, all along, the Bug Tribe’s strong suit had never been their abilities. Rather, it was their teamwork in battle.
At least judging by the Bug Tribe’s team deployment this time, Lin Huang anticipated that victory would not be so easy for the six Raiders.
Therefore, this round of battle was sure to be interesting.
The battle between both parties swiftly began in the starry heavens outside the Ten Thousand Bug Maze.
As their massive size was not an advantage in this current battle—since this would only result in them become giant targets—the ten mutated bugs consolidated from the bug formations shrank themselves from the size of a planet to the size of a regular bug beast.
The first group of formations spearheading the charge on the frontlines consisted of three heavily armored mutated bugs.
One was a Sacred Beetle that looked as if it were made entirely from gold, one was a Demonic Jumbo Bug that seemed as if it were carved from obsidian, and the last was a Dragon-scaled Beetle with scales that enveloped its entire body.
The second group of formations consisted of three attack-type mutated bugs.
These were a Six-winged Golden Cicada, a Flying Centipede, and a Demonic Armored Mutant.
They were superb fighters in terms of speed and attack capabilities.
The third group of formations was comprised of three control-type mutated bugs.
These three were an Archaic Demon Spider, a Devilish Sonic Cicada, and a Black Abyssal Demon Bug.
The formation bringing up the rear was a Shadow Bug that specialized in stealth attacks.
On the Raiders’ side, the short, burly bald man enthusiastically faced down the attack from the three heavy-armored mutated bugs.
The first target he chose was the dazzlingly glittering golden Sacred Beetle that was as tall as himself.
Two golden rays of light collided in the starry heavens.
Just that one collision sent the Sacred Beetle flying backward. However, it was evident that its defenses had not been breached.
However, just as the Sacred Beetle was sent flying, the Six-winged Golden Cicada suddenly attacked. Both its wings stirred in the air, and countless colorless sabers were sent flying at the short, burly bald man.
In a mere instant, tens of thousands of saber gleams shot through the air.
The short, burly bald man was immediately swallowed up in the colorless saber gleams.
The five remaining Raiders made no move to act. They knew how powerful the short, burly bald man’s defense capabilities were. The might of the Six-winged Golden Cicada’s attack was not enough to breach his defenses at all.
However, a devastating shriek sounded an instant later from where the short, burly bald man was.
Even Nine Snake and the other two upper-rank Lords looked over in his direction with some confusion.
A moment later, Nine Snake looked across the void with his snake eyes. His gaze fell on a mutated bug at the back.
It was the Devilish Sonic Cicada!
At present, a faint light was radiating from its entire body, and it was muttering softly as if it were chanting.
The short, burly bald man’s physical defenses were indeed still intact. However, the Devilish Sonic Cicada’s mystic tone had infiltrated his mind and was directly attacking his God’s soul.
Lin Huang, watching the battle in secret, was able to observe this even more clearly. The Devilish Sonic Cicada was extremely adept at seizing opportunities to attack. It had taken advantage of when the short, burly bald man was defending himself against the saber gleams. The bald man had thought that his opponent’s attack would not breach his defenses, so he had relaxed his guard for just an instant.
It had to be said that the Bug Tribe’s collaborative efforts were indeed splendid this time.
The remaining five people on the Raider team soon noticed the anomaly.
“Muscle Overlord, you missed this time,” the white-robed Priest teased, pointing all ten of his fingers in the air. Countless golden beams of light shot in the Devilish Sonic Cicada’s direction like bullets being fired continuously.
In less than the time it took for a breath, the golden beams already numbered over ten thousand.themselves
The white-robed Priest was not only attacking the Devilish Sonic Cicada, but also the nearby Archaic Demon Spider and Black Abyssal Demon Bug.
However, the Demonic Jumbo Bug suddenly let out a high-pitched cry. The sound wave rippled and formed a black mirror in the air, shielding the Devilish Sonic Cicada and the several mutated bugs. It devoured all of the golden beams of light; not a single one escaped.
The white-robed Priest raised his brows when he saw what happened. “This is quite interesting.”
At that very moment, a bewitching sound suddenly arose in his head, and his gaze abruptly became vacant.
At the same time, a tall, thin humanoid figure rapidly consolidated within his shadow. An inky-black, sharp arthropod leg stabbed toward the back of the white-robed Priest’s head.
An instant before the Priest’s head was about to be impaled, the arthropod leg suddenly froze in its tracks.
Blood-red threads wound themselves around the Shadow Bug’s body.
The red-robed woman’s voice was charming. “I’ve got you now…”
Before she finished speaking, the body bound by the blood-red threads gradually faded, as if what had been captured earlier was merely a phantom.
The white-robed Priest struggled free from the illusion at the same time. He was panting hard. “Damn it, I nearly failed at something so easy!”
