“Whew, that was almost too late.”
Samimi wiped the sweat from her brow. It was a good thing she’d returned quickly, or her little companion would have been done for.
She even spotted an old acquaintance—Qiqi Zhu. Why was she here? But upon second thought, why wouldn’t she be here? What reason did she have not to be here?
This touched upon a previously laid plot point. In the original plot, the [Insect King] was precisely the one killed by the Dark Hero, Qiqi Zhu.
Her Cannon Fodder Squad was responsible for circling around deep behind enemy lines to carry out assassination and sabotage missions, with the Insect King being their primary target. As the brain controlling all the insects, killing it would cause the entire swarm to collapse on the spot.
In the original plot, the Insect Tribe’s debut was on a “nation-level scale,” whereas now it was only about a hundred thousand strong.
The difficulty of assassinating the Insect King back then was unimaginable; it nearly exhausted all the elites of the Magic Bureau and cost countless Cannon Fodder Knights’ lives to barely accomplish the kill.
And Qiqi Zhu’s potent poison was practically heaven-sent for exterminating the Insect Tribe, akin to insecticide.
This kind of restraint relationship was almost fated, just as the Magic Sword Reid was destined to die at the hands of The Hero of the Gale, the Insect King was destined to fall under Qiqi Zhu’s Poison Arrow.
So her appearance in the Southern Tree Sea wasn’t abrupt; it was “plot correction.”
But now wasn’t the time to haggle over kill counts. Focusing too much on such data would only warp, or even shatter, team relationships. What truly mattered was always the final victory.
Therefore, seeing Qiqi Zhu now filled Samimi with immense joy; she almost wanted to run over and give her a kiss.
“Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!” The Insect King plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily to the ground, protected by layers of its swarm. Its carapace was already corroded by venom, its centipede-like legs burned off, and it writhed in agony.
Though massive in size, its combat prowess was far inferior to the Magic Sword Reid’s, and now it was crippled.
There was no time for catching up now. Deal with the enemy first.
The next moment, thunderous footsteps echoed from all directions.
In the blink of an eye, countless elite Adventurers appeared, surrounding the insect swarm in turn. Twenty thousand versus a hundred thousand—the advantage was ours!
Each person only needed to kill five bugs. Was that so hard? Especially with Heroes capable of taking on a hundred enemies single-handedly present, this battle was assured victory.
“All forces, charge!” Divine Blade Huck roared from the front line.
Twenty thousand Adventurers charged in unison, not a single one holding back.
The first to strike were hundreds of High-Explosive Dragon Rounds, arcing through the air to smash into the insect swarm, delivering a baptism of fire.
And charging at the very front were actually Niubao and the Shield-Axe Warrior Selena. The two moved with incredible speed, quickly leaving the main force behind and spearheading the assault into the swarm.
Selena, in particular, was brimming with fury. Wielding the Blade of Deep Blue, already transformed into its shield-axe form, she spun both weapons at high speed, reaping bugs like a crazed chainsaw.
She opened with the Whirlwind Slash Eighteen Combo, killing with her eyes closed, insect corpses flying everywhere.
This level of ferocity even made Niubao feel inadequate. She could only fight steadily with her twin swords, her efficiency completely unmatched by the shield-axe’s area-of-effect killing power.
Samimi’s earlier advice to Selena to “save some strength for the bugs” was purely comforting words. Selena hadn’t been qualified to participate in the battle against the Magic Sword Reid, so now she could only vent all her rage on the insect swarm.
Selena’s goal was clear—head straight for the Insect King, chop off its head, and prove she wasn’t just here to make up the numbers.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
“Brothers! Charge!”
The next moment, the Adventurer Army clashed head-on with the insect swarm, the sounds of battle shaking the heavens.
The Hero of the Gale darted through the battlefield at high speed, specifically hunting Abyssal Overlord-level targets.
“Everyone, cover Selena! Clear a path for her!”
Samimi held the core position, activating group Amplification and healing, commanding and supporting simultaneously. Her Amplification coverage was extremely wide, allowing the Radiant Squad members to operate independently.
Bemore continued bombarding the Insect King from the rear, firing Explosive Dragon Rounds one after another, transforming into a relentless damage-dealing machine.
The battle was fierce, but the outcome was decided. The only question was the cleanup time.
Soon, the core squad broke through the insect swarm, successfully rescuing the besieged Radiant Knight and Qiqi Zhu.
“My good comrade, my dear friend, Qiqi Zhu, long time no see.” Samimi enthusiastically spread her arms for a hug.
The very next second—
Thump!
Qiqi Zhu launched herself in a flying body slam, knocking Samimi flat on her back.
“Oof!” Samimi was nearly knocked breathless.
“Elder, what are you doing?” Aoi, who had just climbed out of the cockpit, was dizzy and stumbled after just two steps.
“Aoi? You can walk?” Miss Meihua was shocked.
“You irresponsible jerk!” Qiqi Zhu grabbed Samimi by the collar and began berating her furiously. “Running off without a word is one thing, but sending a letter to dump everything on me? Do you have any idea how miserable I’ve been this whole time? I had to cover all your work! No days off, all year round!”
“Cough, cough… I ran precisely because I didn’t want to work. You could have run too, you know,” Samimi said with a bitter smile.
“Do you think I’m like you? How many people depend on me for their livelihood? How many people joined because of you? And you expect me to just abandon them?”
“Sorry, you’ve worked hard.” Samimi apologized first, then her tone turned firm. “But I’m not going back to the Church.”
“… I’ll settle this with you after the fight.” Qiqi Zhu was furious but helpless.
The surrounding Adventurers exchanged glances. This was clearly an internal conflict, and it wasn’t their place to intervene.
“My butt hurts so much… That fat Zhu really hits hard.” Samimi rubbed her stomach as she got up and walked towards Aoi and the Radiant Knight.