Chapter 84: The Battle for the Medicinal Fields
As expected, a new function had been unlocked! This monster region map was essentially a chart that indicated where certain monsters could be found, but it absolutely lacked any ability to detect monster numbers. Ye Da had never imagined that after merging the two maps...
This new monster region map now had the added ability to pinpoint the number of monsters and track their movements!
With this feature, the dangers Ye Da faced when venturing into unknown areas would be greatly reduced. And with the footprint navigation, he could save vast amounts of time otherwise spent wandering in search of paths.
It seemed...
He now had a chance to clear out the medicinal fields ahead of all the other players!
Determined to take the lead, Ye Da dared not pause for even a moment along the way.
Roughly two hours later...
He arrived in the vicinity of the medicinal fields.
It was a valley, and within it roamed several enormous, fiery red ants. To call them ants was almost laughable—their bodies were as large as water buffalo, an absurd and exaggerated size!
Ye Da confirmed on the map: there were exactly ten soldier ants in the medicinal fields. Four were out among the herbs, and six lurked within a cave!
These soldier ants were first-rank Black Iron monsters; Ye Da could handle at most one on his own, and even facing two would already stretch him to his limits.
Let alone the predicament of facing four at once in the herb fields—if they surrounded him, he’d be in real trouble!
“Woof!” Little Ash barked softly, as if to say, “I want to help too.”
Ye Da reached out and patted the two wolf cubs, his eyes lighting up as a clever plan occurred to him—a strategy of dividing and conquering that would require the cubs’ help!
After whispering to them for a moment and receiving their eager responses, Ye Da drew his energy bow.
A twang split the air.
A psionic arrow struck one of the soldier ants directly in the eye!
Though Ye Da was still the same archer as yesterday, after a night of practice, he could sense his mental focus had become much more concentrated! Now, his arrows seemed to fly exactly where he willed them, so that even at a hundred paces, he could strike the ant’s tiny eye with ease, blasting the massive creature into handfuls of glowing orbs!
The other soldier ants among the herbs, sensing their comrade’s demise, immediately began to swarm toward Ye Da’s position!
“Little Ash, go!” Ye Da commanded, and before the ants could gather, Little Ash darted out, luring away the fastest among them.
The remaining two ants started to chase after Little Ash, but Ye Da quickly stepped into view and whistled. As he hoped, the two ants’ attention immediately shifted to him.
“Little White, it’s your turn!” Ye Da waved his hand, and Little White sprang into action.
When Little White had drawn one of the ants away, the last remaining soldier ant sped straight toward Ye Da.
He quickly summoned his stone skin armor to cover his arms, waiting for the instant the ant came close!
With a thud, Ye Da’s fist crashed down on the ant's head.
The blow left the ant dazed, but only just—that carapace was astoundingly tough!
“Not even a crack?” Ye Da was shocked, but he seized the moment of the ant’s dizziness to punch again, aiming for its eye!
As his fist struck, Ye Da unleashed his skill—
“Stone Spike!”
A wet crunch.
No matter the creature, the eyes are always the weakest point. The stone spike erupted from Ye Da’s fist, piercing deep into the ant’s eye and, being long enough, driving straight through to its brain.
The soldier ant staggered twice, unable even to scream, and collapsed with a crash!
It, too, became three glowing orbs.
Ye Da had no time to examine the loot; he snatched up the gray beast core, feeling a surge of warmth flow into his left arm.
The part of his upper arm not yet covered by stone skin was now encased in a thick, rocky layer!
At the same time, Ye Da felt another gate within his body swing open—this time, in his right leg!
Second rank, perfected!
He sensed that if he obtained one more beast core, his right leg would be the first to fully manifest stone skin—meaning he’d officially ascend to the third rank!
Moreover, now that both his arms were encased in stone, Ye Da could feel the power of earth element swelling within him, and his spiritual force growing even stronger!
To test this, he drew his psionic bow to its limit—
Sure enough, as he charged it, a psionic arrow formed in the bow’s heart!
Within half an hour, he managed to conjure two arrows in succession—something the old Ye Da could never have achieved!
Another arrow flew.
He shot the nearest soldier ant, turning it instantly into another glowing orb!
Now, only the ant being led on a wild chase by Little Ash remained in the herb fields.
Ye Da whistled.
Little Ash understood instantly, and dashed back toward Ye Da, the last soldier ant in pursuit!
Ye Da readied himself, put away his bow, and assumed a stance, waiting for the ant to pass by.
As it did, he struck out with a powerful punch to its neck!
Originally, Ye Da had intended to strike the ant’s eye and repeat the stone spike trick to destroy its brain, but the ant was moving so swiftly that his fist landed on its neck instead.
Slightly taken aback, Ye Da nonetheless gathered his strength and formed a stone spike at his knuckles.
A sickening squelch.
The spike pierced deep into the ant’s slender neck, running it clean through!
Ye Da was stunned by the sight.
“Did that… pierce all the way through?”
He hadn’t expected the stone spike to be so powerful—before, it couldn’t even scratch an ant’s shell, but now...
He’d truly grown stronger!
The sudden change startled Ye Da into patting his own head, just to make sure he hadn’t lost any hair. Thankfully, he was not bald—just more powerful!
“Woof!” The two wolf cubs barked merrily, as if celebrating his victory over all his prey.
After dispatching the four soldier ants in the herb field, Ye Da quickly consulted his map. The other six ants were still in the nest, for reasons unknown.
Perhaps Ye Da’s speed had been so great that the ants hadn’t had time to release pheromones and alert their companions—the threat had been eliminated before the alarm could be raised.
The remaining soldier ants had no idea their home was being raided!
“Hm?”
Just as Ye Da was about to put away the map, he noticed several green dots in the upper right corner, moving toward his location.
Red dots meant monsters.
But green ones...
Could they be players?
A jolt of alarm ran through Ye Da—he hadn’t expected the other players to arrive so swiftly!
Judging by their position near the Blackstone Mountains, and the distance shown on the map, the players would reach the herb fields in about an hour.
There were five green dots in total.
Ye Da had no desire to clash with five other ability users at once, so he surveyed the sparsely grown medicinal field and called out, “Quick, gather the herbs!”