Chapter 393: Chapter 378: The Depths

Due to the angle, only the edge of an altar could be seen, and the full view of the hall was obscured.

Zhou Leng quietly led the people back, exiting the passage and retreating into the cavern behind.

The group discussed.

“Forcing our way in won’t work, there’s probably a lot of demons in there.”

“We can lure some of them out gradually; they can’t all come out at once.”

“Time is short, and there are still many demons outside. We might as well block here and specifically take on the returning demons.”

The group quickly made a decision through collective discussion and suggestions.

Five teams were formed, each with ten people, heading towards different nearby passages for both reconnaissance and luring purposes.

Zhou Leng remained in this hall.

This hall had a total of six passages, one leading to the demon altar hall, and the other five leading in different directions.

Zhou Leng and the elves quietly waited.

Suddenly, an elf said, “The elves from Passage 5 have sent a magic communication.”

Zhou Leng took a deep breath as the nearby elves cast enhancement spells.

Zhou Leng stepped into the Flying Crane Technique, disappearing instantly from the hall, rushing into Passage 5.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

seconds later, Zhou Leng had sprinted three kilometers away.

Fifteen demons were chasing the bait elves, some of them carrying elf or demon corpses on their backs.

Upon seeing Zhou Leng, the elves immediately turned to cast spells and slowed the demons’ speed.

Whoosh…

Zhou Leng skimmed past the elves, striking down one demon after another, and in fourteen seconds, after glancing at the demons, he turned and left.

There wasn’t a single Magic Spirit Bag.

Zhou Leng sped back.

The time spent on traveling back and forth took longer than killing the demons.

“The Magic Guard informed that a large group of demons are walking out from the altar hall, numbering over forty, probably on a hunting trip, and have already entered Passage 6.”

The elves immediately readied themselves, and when the forty-plus demons and giant insects charged out, they were met by Zhou Leng, surrounded by spells.

In just a moment, Zhou Leng single-handedly slaughtered more than half of the demons.

The remaining demons tried to run away, but they were either shot down by elf spells and arrows or caught up and killed with a palm strike by Zhou Leng.

The numerical blood mark on his arm kept rising.

1700, 1800, 1900, 2000…

After the number exceeded 2000, Zhou Leng waited for half an hour but did not encounter any foreign demons.

Instead, several teams of elves arrived.

The total number of wild elves who joined the team exceeded 200.

“We can lure the demons from the altar hall now,” Zhou Leng said.

So, Yinhu Yue found some elves skilled in acting, tore their clothes to intentionally expose their skin, dressed up to appear more attractive than usual, and then used charm spells, entering Passage 6, heading towards the altar hall.

To be safe, Zhou Leng led a team a few hundred meters behind them.

The bait elves walked out of the passage, heading towards the altar hall.

“Who are they?” The demons on guard all turned their heads.

“Ah…”

The beautiful elves screamed shrilly and turned to flee in panic.

The demons were already chaotically undisciplined, and upon seeing the fair-skinned wild elves, they looked at each other and laughed, with more than twenty of them charging forward together.

Once they were lured to a far distance, Zhou Leng arrived like a gust of wind.

With overwhelming power, he swept through all the demons.

Thirty seconds later, Zhou Leng looked at the bodies strewn across the ground.

Some demons were indeed strong, taking two palm strikes to kill.

The bait wild elves entered again, this time with Zhou Leng entering the hall passage with them.

There were no guards at the entrance anymore, and Zhou Leng successfully arrived at the entrance of the underground hall, looking inside.

In the center of the hall stood a small fountain-like altar made of various stones and spells.

It was covered in black patterns with blood flowing across it.

All around the altar were over two hundred wild elf corpses.

The number of arms and legs was noticeably greater, making Zhou Leng feel a sense of familiarity.

Inside the hall, many demons and giant insects were resting, numbering over three hundred.

With so many demons, Zhou Leng didn’t care at all.

But the appearance of two gigantic creatures was shocking.

Two Innate Ant Queens, each as long as a large truck, stood at the end of the altar hall.

Zhou Leng instantly understood that this was the demons’ trump card.

To ensure the killing of enough elves, the dispatch of Innate Ant Queens was necessary.

Even if there were strong elites among the elves, the demons could rely on the giant ants continuously born from the Innate Ant Queens and remain invincible.

Piles of demon corpses surrounded the two Ant Queens.

“Run!” Zhou Leng whispered.

Everyone hurriedly fled, this time, the bait elves were truly scared.

The demons in the altar hall were in chaos, and after a brief discussion, they sent out a team of fifty to pursue.

The two Innate Ant Queens sped up their consumption, continuously producing Ant Eggs.

Luring them to a distant place, Zhou Leng annihilated the pursuers and then discussed with the multitude of elves.

The elves’ faces changed slightly upon hearing about the two lower-rank Innate Ant Queens inside.

“We… should probably stay away.”

“But those are Ant Queens, still brewing. If we anger the Ant Queens, thousands of giant ants could be born.”

“Besides, there are still three to four hundred demons inside, beheading the Ant Queens is not realistic…”

The wild elves’ weakness and tendency to compromise were fully exposed at this moment.

Zhou Leng surveyed the wild elves, from beginning to end, these wild elves all displayed a tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong, appearing outwardly fierce but inwardly timid.

Contrarily, he, who was the friendly Dragon Country person, continued to advocate for battle at this time.

Seeing the timid appearance of the wild elves, Zhou Leng contemplated, these wild elves were probably intimidated by the giant insects, losing their spirit and morale.

In fact, whether it was other countries on Blue Star or Dragon Country, or any nation in history, similar situations frequently occurred, some were defeated by external forces, some by internal demoralization.

Zhou Leng said, “Do you really take the Celestial Calamity Envoy as a fool? When the demons inside the altar hall find no corpses being brought in, they are bound to have the Ant Queen lay a large number of eggs, spawning countless giant ants.”

“Without surprises, they prepared a lot of resources for the Ant Queen before coming in, possibly even including radiant juice, aphid honey, and ancient tree fossils.”

“This hunting ground is closed, it has an end. This means that those endless giant ants will inevitably corner us in some spot, nibbling away the last piece of flesh on us.”

“We have no retreat.”

“In this battle, we must decapitate the Ant Queen as soon as possible. This is not a suggestion but an order!”

Silver Lake Moon looked at Zhou Leng, her heart trembling.

At this moment, she vaguely understood why the ancestral prophecy chose this man, even though he had killed so many elves.

She grew up with Silver Lake Sea, and she knew very well what kind of person Silver Lake Sea was, purely relying on family elders to pave the way for him, with every step arranged.

It looked good, but once faced with tremendous pressure, he was the first to collapse.

But Zhou Leng, whether it was saving her last time or the series of battles in the hunting ground, might hesitate, might ponder, might even fear, but he always chose the path forward.

“So this is a Martial Artist…”

Silver Lake Moon said, “We swear to follow the Prophet to the death!”

Some enthusiastic elves immediately shouted, “Swear to follow the Prophet to the death!”

The rest of the elves saw the general trend and simply followed suit with the slogan.

“Very well. Now we are basically exposed, and the other side has prepared. The next battle will revolve entirely around decapitating the Ant Queen. Do any of you have good methods for killing the Ant Queen? Share all the information on the Ant Queen.”

Zhou Leng said as he took out some books from Silver Lake Sea’s Magic Spirit Bag, distributing them to Silver Lake Moon, hoping to find useful information.

The elves all eagerly offered their strategies.

After planning, everyone gathered at the entrance of Tunnel 6.

Zhou Leng stood ahead of the team, inspecting the elves.

“If it were an ordinary Ant Queen, an ordinary Demon, they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“But, they are not ordinary opponents, they are orchestrated by the Celestial Calamity Envoy, who calculates every possibility.”

“Our opponent is not them, but the Celestial Calamity Envoy.”

“Without surprises, we will encounter unprecedented battles, many will die in battle.”

“I know you’re afraid, and I know you don’t want to die.”

“I can’t give you any promises or rewards.”

“I can’t even motivate you; I don’t know if you truly believe in Divine Spirits or pretend to believe, not even aware if you believe in good or evil gods.”

“We Dragon Country people, some believe in Divine Spirits, some don’t, but there is always a great belief. You can’t understand it, and I can’t make you understand it.”

“I can only say, I am human too, I fear death too, but it’s precisely because I fear death that I choose the path of survival.”

“What I can do is take on the most dangerous, difficult mission, to decapitate the Ant Queen.”

“Often, the hardest path is the only path to survival.”

After Zhou Leng finished speaking, he vaguely understood why the elf ancestor chose him.

“Swear to follow the Prophet to the death!” Silver Lake Moon shouted.

“Swear to follow the Prophet to the death!”

All the elves shouted in unison, those who hadn’t recited the oath of allegiance before now began to chant softly.

Moments later, 209 battle-ready elves, all pledged allegiance.

“Let us, exorcise demons and destroy evil!” Zhou Leng roared lowly.

“Exorcise demons and destroy evil!”

The flames extinguished in the hearts of the elves for generations unknown, ignited by a human Martial Artist.

Silver Lake Moon’s eyes glistened with light.

She firmly believed at this moment that Zhou Leng was the prophecy of the ancestors, the Prophet of the elves.

The team headed for the underground hall.

“Chirp…”

The familiar sound of insects chirping arose.

The elves got into battle stance, Zhou Leng halted his steps, glanced around, and asked, “Xiaoyong?”

The ground trembled slightly, and a piece of the earth cracked open, revealing the massive Xiaoyong.

Xiaoyong squirmed quickly like a huge maggot, chirping non-stop.

The wild elves were astonished.

“Can anyone here understand the giant insect language?” Zhou Leng asked.

An elf responded, “I can understand a bit. He is roughly saying that your friend hasn’t seen you for several days and is very worried, so they sent him to find you.”

Xiaoyong nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Leng said, “How did you get in?”

Xiaoyong chirped away.

The elf translated, “He seems to be able to sense your Qi, following you in here.”

“You should have seen that blue barrier; can you pass through it? Or burrow underground and lead us out.”

Xiaoyong paused for a moment, shook his head vigorously, and chirped.

The elf translated, “He said that this place is filled with mysterious power; the blue barrier is above, and below is all rock enhanced by mysterious power, he can’t get out either.”

Zhou Leng said, “Looks like we’re all trapped here; stay with me now, don’t wander off.”

Xiaoyong nodded repeatedly.

“We will fight the Ant Queen later; will you join the battle or hide?”

Xiaoyong cringed his body, smoothly hiding behind the team.

Zhou Leng casually asked, “What are the rocks enhanced by mysterious power below? Is it a means of the elf ancestors?”

Many elves shook their heads lightly.

“Never heard of it.”

“The ancestors should not have modified such deep places.”

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