Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On top of a snowy mountain in the Black Fog World, Gao Peng sat on Fourth Baby’s back while directing a group of young Dragon Ants into battle.
“Elder Baby, go forth and attack. Control that Snow Demon Lion,” ordered Gao Peng through their psychic connection. The psychic connection space was filled with the chatter of the other young Dragon Ants.
“Big brother, quick! Use your enormous teeth to bite it.”
“Big brother, you’re so good at this!”
“Make way, make way.” Third Baby, which was a Power King Kong Ant, though it was as small as a bean, rode on the back of Elder Baby as Elder Baby charged toward the Snow Demon Lion. The Snow Demon Lion roared in anger and bit the head of Elder Baby, causing it to involuntarily take a step back, its foot landing on Third Baby’s head coincidentally.
Both silly and stupefied, the thought of retreating didn’t cross Third Baby’s mind, even if it had been hit in the head. Instead, it charged forward relentlessly. its body length of five feet made it look pocket-size compared to the other Dragon Ants as it shouted, “Charge!”
Third Baby rushed forward to grab the Snow Demon Lion with its claws and tried to hurl it with all its might. Thud! The earth’s surface shook, snow exploding everywhere.
Elder Baby and the Snow Demon Lion were both picked up by Third Baby and thrown aside.
Elder Baby breathed out streams of white smoke through its nostrils, howling excitedly because the more injured it was, the stronger its healing abilities and strength would become. It didn’t fear injuries at all unless there was a possibility that it could be killed in one go.
Its dark red armor became brighter. Elder Baby’s Blood Rage ability was triggered passively, inciting an increase in its strength. Its two front claws dug into the Snow Demon Lion’s fur as blood came gushing out.
“Second Baby, use your Diurnal Pupil, but be careful not to harm Elder Baby and Third Baby,” ordered Gao Peng from the side. “Fifth Baby, wait for the right timing.”
Second Baby’s huge pair of eyes brightened to the point that they finally shot out two streams of white light, piercing through the Snow Demon Lion immediately, boring two holes in its body.
The enraged Snow Demon Lion started closing its large jaws in pain, and a sickening crunching sound came from Elder Baby’s neck where the Snow Demon Lion was biting its tough armor that slowly caved in and broke, so it was almost decapitated.
Fifth Baby, the Hidden Dragon Ant, crept up behind the Snow Demon Lion silently, then its slender legs cut into the Snow Demon Lion’s spinal cord precisely, like a surgical blade.
The Snow Demon Lion’s jaws stopped mid-bite and could no longer continue closing. As the light in its eyes quickly dimmed, a burst of anger shone through at the last moment. If I’m going down, I’m bringing it down with me.
The Frost Breath within its body burst through, making the snow mountain shake ferociously as the freezing cold current swept in every direction. The remaining ice in the air swiftly formed small, irregular polygons.
Rumble— The entire snow mountain reverberated with the echoes of explosions. With a great boom, the snow mountain nearby collapsed, subsequently causing an avalanche.
The Snow Demon Lion’s jaws suddenly clenched close, its teeth sinking into Elder Baby’s neck. Elder Baby’s body trembled.
“Big brother, don’t die!”
“Big brother!”
“NO!”
The group of young Dragon Ants wailed and shouted.
“…I’m not dead yet,” whispered Elder Baby weakly. The psychic connection space quieted immediately.
“Quickly, Third Baby, help Elder Baby open up the jaws of the Snow Demon Lion,” said Gao Peng to Third Baby.
“Okay!” Third Baby was very obedient. Whatever Master said, it would do it. It climbed onto the Snow Demon Lion, grabbed its lower jaw, and opened it.
Elder Baby pulled out its head accordingly, its neck bloody and its head almost bit off, with only a small part of flesh still connecting its head to its body.
Elder Baby laid on the ground quietly while the injury on its neck healed swiftly. It closed its eyes as it lay on the ground, the speed of healing increased as it actively used its Blood Rage ability, temporarily numbing the pain.
“Not bad. You have all killed a Level-75 Perfect-grade Snow Demon Lion, but you still have to work on your cooperative skills, because theoretically, the tacit understanding that you all should have from being born from the same mother, plus the existence of Seventh Baby’s psychic connection, should be higher. Seems like all of you have to work on your tacit understanding,” said Gao Peng.
On Gao Peng’s shoulder sat another Dragon Ant. Among the seven brothers, the smallest ant wasn’t Third Baby, the Power King Kong Ant, but Baldie.
Baldie was only as big as a human palm, so small that it could be carried around in one’s pocket.
[Monster Name]: Heart Ant (Baldie/Seventh Baby)
[Monster Level]: Level 72 (Overlord-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Epic
[Monster Attributes]: Psychic
[Monster Abilities]: Psychic Barrier Level 6, Psychic Shield Level 6, Psychic Snooping Level 6, Reinforced Psychic Abilities Level 6
[Monster Weaknesses]: Poor in close combat, weak life-preservation ability
[Special Characteristics]: Psychic Space (Every Heart Ant has an independent psychic space deep within their soul. They’re able to invite the consciousness of other beings into this space and are able to maintain communication between each other within a certain perimeter.
Passive Effect 1: The ability to communicate with beings that cannot have a conversation, for example, stones, provided that they are conscious.
Passive Effect 2: The ability to invite different units of beings into the psychic space to communicate. At the same time, the speed of time in the psychic space is ten times slower than in the outside world.
Tip: The connection to the psychic space will automatically be cut off if the distance is too far away from the Heart Ant)
[Monster Description]: A mutated Dragon Ant that swallowed part of a Psychic Dragon, hence it has a mutated part of a Psychic Dragon’s abilities.
Baldie was a Heart Ant. It had initially resolved to learn how to fly, which it eventually did, but it was still far off from its vision of being big and mighty. Thus, a little Dragon Ant with big dreams was said to have lost itself on the road to fulfilling an ant’s life.
Once upon a time, Baldie had wanted to be a hero, but it realized later on that it could only be a sidekick and as such, it lost itself when it realized the difference between its dreams and reality.
It hadn’t been able to accept reality for the longest period of time until Gao Peng had shown it a movie and told it that there was no such thing as weaknesses; there was only the weak. From then on, Baldie had let go of its internal conflict and trained its abilities with exceptional fervor.
When it was in the Black Fog World, Baldie constantly snuck out at night to train its abilities. It used its psychic abilities to brainwash wild monsters, persuading them that it reigned superior or used it to brainwash them into committing suicide. It might have seemed rather cool, but after an incident where it was almost eaten by a King-tier monster, it never dared to sneak out alone again.
After that, Baldie never believed in the nonsense Gao Peng spouted again. Everything he said, that there was no such thing as weakness and only the weak, it was all rubbish!
Second Baby, who was actually smart although it seemed silly, had once discussed this with it in the dark. “I can’t believe you actually believed what he said. Have you ever seen our Master tame familiars with poor grades?”
“Hmm…that’s true,” said Baldie.
To a certain extent, its abilities were very similar to the Growing Brain in that both of them were Psychic-types. Their differences were found only in their specialties.
The Growing Brain’s Seizing Ability allowed it to have an extremely strong vitality and combat prowess, whereas Baldie’s ability leaned toward support and defense, which was natural to it.
In fact, the ability of the Psychic Dragon wasn’t quite useless. Its powers specialized in something called the Psychic Cage. Such an ability could lock a monster’s consciousness within an enclosed space while causing trauma to its consciousness and soul through intense psychic attacks. Additionally, considering that time in the Psychic Cage would be slowed down, only monsters with an extremely strong consciousness would be able to escape.
This ability had mutated when it transferred to Baldie… However, despite this ability being a disadvantage to Baldie personally, it was a major help to the entire team in the sense that it largely elevated the tacit understanding between team members.
That day, Gao Peng had only been trying out Baldie’s abilities to meld his familiars’ cooperation and train their understanding of each other, but it seemed to him that it was still a work in progress.