"Chirp! Chirp!"
These desert ant-people let out piercing cries as they charged directly at everyone from the Cold River City and Heavenly Wave Mansion alliance!
As a specialized species of the desert, while these ant-people weren't particularly terrifying in attack power, they were overwhelming in numbers. Before Jiang Yuan and the others, they spread out like a brown ocean!
A bite from these monsters wasn't fatal, but the bitten area would swell into a fist-sized lump that burned with a fiery pain when touched!
"Ahhh~! It hurts so much!"
As a warrior class, Ding Ye was used to taking the front line. When facing attacks from over a dozen desert ant-people, he got bitten by accident. His health didn't drop much, but the pain made him howl!
"Hiss~! Brothers, watch out, don't let these things bite you, ouch!"
Wen Ding Cang Sheng was also grimacing in pain, but he gritted his teeth and warned his Heavenly Wave Mansion allies. The moment he got distracted, he got bitten again, crying out in agony!
"Mages in the team, set up fire walls around us to keep these monsters away!"
Hearing Ding Ye and Wen Ding Cang Sheng's cries of pain, Jiang Yuan immediately instructed the mage players in the team.
The mages from Heavenly Wave Mansion and Cold River City followed orders, raising fire walls in all four directions—front, back, left, and right—finally holding these annoying desert ant-people at bay for a few meters.
"Whoosh!"
With a thought, Jiang Yuan summoned ten thousand Dragon Whisker Tigers. This desert terrain, flat and unobstructed, was perfect for his abilities.
"Go!"
Jiang Yuan waved his hand, issuing the attack command to the tigers.
"What the hell! Where did all these tigers come from?"
Players from the Heavenly Wave Mansion and Cold River City alliances who hadn't seen Jiang Yuan in action were startled by the sudden appearance of so many fierce tigers, thinking another monster had emerged.
"Everyone, don't panic! Those are my summons—just a bit many, sorry!"
Seeing the panicked expressions on the Heavenly Wave Mansion members, Jiang Yuan quickly shouted an explanation.
With Jiang Yuan's ten thousand Dragon Whisker Tigers holding the front line, Wen Ding Cang Sheng, Ding Ye, Chuang Shi Yong Ge, and the other warriors retreated. Each of them had several large lumps from bites, their faces twisted in pain.
"Ding! Congratulations on defeating the desert ant-man monster. You have gained experience points!"
A series of prompts rang in Jiang Yuan's ears. Each desert ant-man only gave one million experience points, and with the team of 20 sharing, it boiled down to fifty thousand for Jiang Yuan.
But fortunately, the sheer number of desert ant-people was massive. The prompts kept sounding for several minutes. By the time Jiang Yuan had cleared them all, each member of the team had gained about two hundred million experience points. White light flashed around many as they leveled up.
"Ding! Detected that multiple players in the team have been attacked by desert ant-people. Triggering new main quest 'Antidote.' Do you accept?"
Just as Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, the system notification sounded in everyone's ears.
"Oh! The quest updated!"
Cang Shu Bu Ding immediately looked at Jiang Yuan and said.
"Brother Cang Sheng, Old Ding, how are you all?"
Jiang Yuan nodded at Cang Shu Bu Ding, then quickly went to Wen Ding Cang Sheng and Ding Ye to check on them.
"Damn, it hurts so much! Why do we warriors always get bitten? Unfair! Ah, hiss!"
Ding Ye sat on the ground, fist-sized lumps bulging all over his body, his face a picture of misery. He punched the ground but hit a wound, gasping in pain.
"These beasts don't deal much damage, but their bites hurt like hell! Ouch!"
Chuang Shi Yong Ge's forehead was swollen high, making him look like the old longevity star in New Year paintings. He touched it himself and cried out in pain.
"Jiang Yuan, I don't think I can lead the Heavenly Wave Mansion brothers on this quest anymore. I'm handing them over to you—take them along."
Wen Ding Cang Sheng sat weakly on the ground, the bites on his body throbbing with unbearable pain, and spoke to Jiang Yuan.
"No problem, Brother Cang Sheng. You and Old Ding rest here. I'll arrange for a few people to take care of you."
Jiang Yuan nodded at Wen Ding Cang Sheng, selected four healers and four sharpshooters from both alliances to stay and tend to them, and incorporated everyone else into his own team.
After merging with the Heavenly Wave Mansion alliance, Jiang Yuan's team now had a full twelve squads. Once the injured Wen Ding Cang Sheng and the others were settled, Jiang Yuan led the combined group to search for the antidote.
"Jiang Yuan, the quest says we need to find a plant called 'Bitter Thorn,' but this place is barren—where are we supposed to look?"
The combined group from Heavenly Wave Mansion and Cold River City trudged across the endless desert. Deputy leader Cang Shu Bu Ding kept scanning the surroundings but found nothing, looking at Jiang Yuan dejectedly.
"Yeah, it's too vast here. I think we should split up to search!"
Jiang Yuan frowned, thought for a moment, and made a decision.
Excluding the three injured warriors and the eight people Jiang Yuan had left to care for them, the team now had 49 members. With a standard five-person squad setup, Jiang Yuan could deploy ten squads.
So, Jiang Yuan divided these ten squads into five directions—east, south, west, north, and center—with two squads per direction working together. As soon as any squad found the "Bitter Thorn" mentioned in the quest, they would immediately post the coordinates in the team channel.
"Everyone, be careful on the way. If you run into danger, remember to send coordinates for help—we'll get there as fast as we can!"
Jiang Yuan's own Squad 1 and Squad 2 took on the task of continuing forward exploration. He looked at the squad leaders for the other four directions and gave them a reminder.
"Got it, don't worry, Big Shot Jiang Yuan!"
The other squad leaders nodded at Jiang Yuan, then led their members off in four directions.
"Let's go too!"
Watching the other squads depart, Jiang Yuan said to Cang Shu Bu Ding, who had been assigned as the leader of Squad 2, and continued straight ahead.
Admittedly, this new main quest was pretty tricky. The hints it gave were extremely vague—just mentioning a plant called "Bitter Thorn" without any description of what it looked like or where to find it. This made the search much harder for Jiang Yuan and the others.
Leading Squads 1 and 2 straight ahead for about a few hundred meters, they didn't spot a single plant. But they did receive a message from Squads 6 and 7.
"Report to Big Shot Jiang Yuan! Squads 6 and 7 are under attack by desert ant-people! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"