Chapter 308 - Charred Crispy
The Ant King was puzzled how [Greater Earth Armament] could be so sturdy when it was able to pummel the [Colossal Rock Golem] into ruins. The 'human' it once looked down on had suddenly become so formidable and hard to kill like a tenacious cockroach.
Nevertheless, [Greater Earth Armament] was not perfected and indestructible. Under the Ant King's constant barrage of attacks, the ancient-style battle armor started to wear out and cracked.
After receiving Elder Evergreen's reminder, Marquis Haldir roared, "Watch my spear!"
A powerful-looking green spear overflowing with lifeforce was seen in the Supreme Elder's hand. This green spear was made of several squirming plants intertwined and appear alive. There were numerous small thorny spikes on the spear, and even its spearhead was one menacingly large thorn.
The spear was thrown at the Ant King with high speed after Elder Evergreen retreated.
The Ant King narrowed its crimson eyes with disdain at the incoming spear. Such speed was slow in its eyes and could easily be dodged or swatted away.
Before the Ant King could slap the spear away, the spear suddenly separated into numerous plants and dodged the Ant King's palm. They squirmed around Ant King and restrained it like the previous thorny vines.
Scree!
(This trick again? You do not learn, do you? It does not work on this king!)
The Ant King screeched with coldness.
To use the same move twice despite its ineffectiveness, it was clear that it was not being taken seriously! This person was not a worthy opponent. There was no need to waste time on this insect!
However, Marquis Haldir was not finished.
"Devour him, my babies!"
The tips of each thorny vines proliferated into heads of plant-eaters and proceeded to bite at the Ant King with their drooling mouths, full of razor-sharp thorns. Their drool was not real drool, but a type of fluid, filled with paralyzing toxins that help the plant-eaters devour their prey.
"Watch your spear? How is that a spear?! What kind of plants of those?!" Elder Evergreen widened his eyes at the sight.
The plant-eaters appear menacing. Unfortunately, it was useless! Instead of tearing away at the Ant King, the plant-eaters looked like they were just nibbling or play biting. Their thorns failed to pierce the Ant King's skin!
(A bit interesting, but it is useless!)
The Ant King grabbed a plant-eater and tore it away with its bare hands. When the plant-eater was ripped apart, it quickly withered and died.
"No!"
Marquis Haldir cried with a pained look. These plant-eaters were not just any ordinary plant and were exceptionally rare. Even if he supplied them with wood energy, he would not be able to revive them!
The plant-eaters were torn apart one after another, and the Supreme Elder became deathly pale at a loss. He had relied on these plant-eaters to fend off Rank 1 Transcendent beasts from the Great Forest of Elvengarde.
"How can this be?! How can its skin be this tough?!"
Elder Evergreen dashed forward and blocked a blow from the Ant King while the Supreme Elder was staring blankly into space.
"If you have any bigger moves, now is the time to used it!"
"That was my best move!" Marquis Haldir was ashamed. It was as Elder Evergreen had said, only metal or fire Transcendents of the same level would be able to kill the Ant King. Their own attacks were too weak.
"Take everyone and get as far away from here as possible, while I hold it back! It cannot be killed!"
Boom!
Not long after Elder Evergreen made the call, a black spear dropped in front of Elder Evergreen while a sword dropped in front of Marquis Haldir, followed by Leon's calm words, "Don't give up just yet. It might not be impossible. Use these weapons and buy me some time, Seniors!"
Elder Evergreen looked up and asked, "What are you planning, boy?"
"You will see!"
Elder Evergreen shook his head before he was alerted by a sense of danger and quickly grabbed the black spear to block the Ant King's sudden attack.
Leon's lips twitched when he saw the state of his black spear after one blow. A black spear forged with top-grade materials and enchanted with Tier 3 runes were bent out of shape just like that…
"Why are you using my spear to block instead of your armor?!"
"My bad, boy! It was a reflective action, haha!" Elder Evergreen laughed awkwardly as he skidded back from the Ant King's attack. "But this spear not half bad! Quite durable and the weight feels just right! The sharpness should not be too shabby, right! You can probably kill Rank 1 Transcendent beasts with a weapon like this!"
"Good weapon!"
Marquis Haldir praised after a few practice swings with the sword enchanted by Tier 3 runes, before jumping into the fray. His arm blurred in a quick succession of slashes on the Ant King, before receiving a blow from the Ant King.
Pang!
Marquis Haldir sent flying over 500 yards away with mild injuries that quickly healed, but Leon closed his eyes with a pained expression as the sword was also bent out of shape.
"It seems I need quickly comprehend Tier 4 runes." Leon mused, before shifting his thoughts.
"Lumi!"
Leon summoned the spirit girl after flying outside the range of the World Tree. That's right, Leon had placed the vengeful spirit in his Worldspace. As it was nighttime, it was alright to take her out.
The poor spirit girl had no idea where she was when she woke up in the Worldspace before she was suddenly kicked out.
"Eh? Eh?! W-What happened? Where am I?" Lumi looked around with a lost expression. "Ah? Leon? Did you call me just now? Where was I just now?"
"In my spatial artifact. Alright, never mind that. I need your help right now. Will you help me?"
Faced with Leon's solemn request, Lumi, who had yet to adapt to the situation, stuttered, "Eh? O-Okay, what do you need my help with—Woah, what a big tree!"
As a spirit, she could fly freely. Lumi's eyes wandered back to the towering presence before they shifted upwards with wide eyes as the World Tree grabbed all her attention.
"Yes, that is the World Tree. Anyway, I need you to protect me against that thing down there if it attacks me. Can you do that?"
Lumi peeled her eyes away from the World Tree reluctantly. After flashing a look at the Ant King below, she gave Leon a confident, okay.
"Thanks!"
Leon took a deep breath with a feeling of refreshment and closed his eyes to recall the inheritance. The condition was right, it was time to test the authenticity of the legends!
After locking onto a specific image in his memory, his eyes snapped open and waved his hand at the sky with Divine Will. Abundant spirit energy began to gather and transform, en masse under his will as they form the initial shape of a giant spiritual array.
He once attempted to create a Tier 1 Spiritual Array in the capital, but it failed due to insufficient spirit energy. This time, there was abundant spirit energy in the atmosphere. As such, he was going to go big and form the best attack-type spiritual array he knew!
Spiritual arrays were divided into tiers by the number of layers required in their construction.
For the spiritual array Leon was constructing, it needed three layers! It was the Tier 3 spiritual array, Heaven's Wrath, that he received from the inheritance.
After the first big spiritual array was formed, Leon became more proficient and created the following two, subsequently smaller spiritual arrays in quicker succession.
"Start luring it over here!"
Leon called out the two elders fighting the Ant King with their life. Elder Evergreen and Marquis Haldir were quick to react as they retreated in his direction.
As the Ant King got close, Leon combined the three layers of spiritual arrays to activate the Tier 3 Spiritual Array, Heaven's Wrath.
Dark clouds were formed above the spiritual array, and many more clouds in the skies were drawn over. As the dark cluster grew bigger, the crackling sounds of thunder could be heard within. A threatening sense of annihilation was spread to all who stood beneath.
The Ant King stopped abusing the two humans and glanced up with caution, only to see Leon flashing it a provocative smile.
Leon had no other choice but to resort to this. He needed to provoke the Ant King's pride and stop it from escaping. At the same time, the spiritual array required more time to gather power.
Spirit energy was poured continuously into the spiritual array and transformed into cracking lightning, full of destructive power.
Scree!
(A puny human like you dare to look down on this king?!)
The Ant King was incited by Leon and flew straight towards Leon with an almighty jump. It could tell Leon was the source of the dark clouds gathering. He did not need to escape. He just needs to kill this puny human, and the problem would resolve itself.
"Lumi!"
The spirit girl had been watching and immediately used Banshee's Scream.
"Rahh!"
The Ant King had no means of defending itself against such a bizarre attack. The soul attack struck its soul directly and shook it greatly.
The Ant King was stunned and narrowly missed Leon as it continued its upward momentum, almost reaching the spiritual array in the sky before crash landing with a boom!
Soul attacks had always been the bane of pure body cultivators. After this failure, the Ant King would surely try to escape, and no one would be able to stop!
"Everyone, get out of the way!" Leon warned.
Although the Tier 3 spiritual array was not fully charged, Leon could not afford to wait any longer after the two elders escaped to a safe distance while Lumi went into his Worldspace.
"Heaven's Wrath, Unleash!"
BOOM!!!
A thick beam of light shot down like tribulation lightning and ripped the earth asunder with its thunderous power of annihilation.
The Ant King did not recover from the soul attack in time, and in the end, did not know how it died as it was swallowed by the destructive lightning that shot down from the sky.
After the lightning subsided and the dark clouds dispersed, all that was left of the Ant King was a crispy charred body.