Published: August 28, 2025
Chapter 461: A Chance Encounter
Han Li’s expression grew serious as he waved his hands. Several spiritual beast pouches rose into the air, floating above him.
Then, with a deft formation of spell formations using both hands, the openings of the pouches suddenly burst wide open.
Countless golddevourer worms surged out, transforming into a swirling cloud of golden and silver hues in the sky, dazzlingly brilliant.
“Go.”
Han Li glanced at the golden and silver swarm above him and felt a surge of confidence. He pointed to a spot not far ahead and softly uttered a command.
In sheer numbers alone, these golddevourer worms were no match for the earlier iron fire ant swarm.
With a buzzing sound, the radiant cloud quickly drifted forward, descending like a vast canopy toward the ground.
But before they could land, a black cloud of insects suddenly soared upward to meet the golddevourer army.
For a few moments after the two bug clouds collided, a flash of black light suddenly burst between them. Large waves of dim flames shot from the ant swarm, ruthlessly engulfing the golddevourer worms.
Clearly, the ants understood the threat the golddevourers posed and preemptively unleashed their fire-driving innate talent.
If these strange flames had scorched any other type of bug, even if not completely annihilated, severe losses would have been inevitable.
Yet, the golddevourer worms appeared unfazed within the black flames. Instead, they instantly devoured the dark fire, then buzzed fiercely as they charged into the ant swarm.
The two swarms of differing colors collided fiercely, intertwining and biting into each other, producing piercing shrieks.
Massive numbers of dead insects rained down from the sky one after another. The majority were black, while the golden and silver ones were scarce.
At the moment of contact, the golddevourer worms gained the upper hand.
After a short while, it seemed they were on the verge of utterly wiping out their enemy.
Sensing the unfavorable tide, the remaining iron fire ants let out faint cries before converging into a single black arrow. Swiftly, it shot out of the golddevourer swarm’s encirclement, attempting to escape.
But at that moment, a dazzling azure sword light flashed down from the sky like a shooting rainbow, striking the arrow shaft in an instant.
The arrow trembled violently, its speed drastically reduced.
This brief delay allowed the golddevourer swarm to rush up and trap the arrow tightly within.
In the blink of an eye, the black was swallowed by a sea of golden and silver hues. When the swarm gradually dispersed, the arrow had vanished without a trace.
Only then did Han Li slowly approach.
He calmly observed the insect corpses on the ground, rubbed his chin, and fell silent in contemplation for a moment.
The golddevourer worm casualties were not many—only a few hundred. Such losses were negligible to him.
It seemed the golddevourer worms were indeed slightly stronger than the iron fire ants, and their numerical advantage had been decisive in the battle.
After all, with ten times the number of iron fire ants, they naturally held the upper hand.
After analyzing for a moment, Han Li relaxed. It looked like crossing the Black Desert with the golddevourer worms would be no problem.
He glanced once more at the scattered carcasses, and a flash of strange light crossed his eyes. Then, he let out a low whistle.
The golden and silver insect cloud descended swiftly like autumn leaves being swept by the wind, swallowing up the corpses on the ground cleanly before obediently flying back into the spiritual beast pouches Han Li summoned once more.
Han Li gathered the pouches and gazed into the depths of the Black Desert. Without hesitation, he strode forward.
…
One day later, deep in the desert, Han Li stood expressionless, staring fixedly at the sky, unmoving.
Above, the largest swarm battle since Han Li entered the desert was unfolding.
Over a hundred thousand golddevourer worms and iron fire ants fiercely tore at each other in the low sky not far ahead.