Force Astral Plane: Starting with the Chimera Ants

Chapter 8: Extraordinary Power

"Click, click, click..."

The giant toothed ant seemed to realize that the "divine seed" had been snatched away by the tiny insect in front of it. It angrily shook its head, banged its mandibles, and looked at Ye Zhi as if it wanted to devour him alive.

Then, seemingly in a fit of rage, it bit down hard on the pitcher plant that had once sheltered Ye Zhi, and violently shook its mandibles. The plant, which was more than two meters tall, was thus uprooted and swayed as the giant toothed ant shook its head.

The large leaves made a loud rustling sound as they were shaken. The giant ant turned its body, using inertia to turn half a circle, and then opened its mandibles. The originally tall plant was flung away like a rag.

It was just a pity for the nest of Paeonia scutellariae that had built its nest in the empty pitcher plant vines. Before Ye Zhi could even begin his great work of retrieving corpses, the nest was destroyed and the insects died due to an accident.

But Ye Zhi had no time to care about the life or death of other things. He vigorously flapped his membranous wings and landed on a high point of a nearby small tree. The claws at the ends of his six limbs immediately gripped the rough bark.

The Dark-bellied, Large-toothed Fierce Ant swayed back and forth twice, raised its rectangular head high, and then made two more clicking sounds before charging straight at the small tree where Ye Zhi was now.

It had already spotted Ye Zhi, and all it wanted was to tear this intruder to shreds. Its six limbs, as slender as its body, rose, attempting to climb the trees.

The tree wasn't thick, only about the size of a bowl. And the ants, which are not good climbers to begin with, couldn't find any footholds to hold onto after their size increased dramatically, and could only clumsily slip on the trunk.

Ye Zhi felt a little relieved and climbed down on the back of a leaf to conserve his strength, preparing to make further plans later.

But at that moment, another click sounded. Ye Zhi sensed something was wrong and looked up. He saw another huge, toothed ant suddenly appear under the tree. Its body was a meter long, twice the size of the previous one!

According to memories from my previous life, species of the genus *Gyrodon* do not exhibit the body size differentiation found in worker ants. It is unclear whether this is due to the evolution of primal life forms or the difference in the degree of evolution between the two species.

But for Ye Zhi, one large-toothed ant was already enough of a headache, and now an even bigger one had appeared. He began to worry whether the small tree he was in could withstand the damage.

Upon seeing its companion arrive, the smaller, large-toothed ant seemed to tap its mandibles twice with excitement, then moved aside to make room for its new kin.

The newcomer, a larger giant toothed ant, looked up at Ye Zhi, casting a cold glance with its dark compound eyes. Then, it opened its mandibles 180 degrees, aimed at the roots of the sapling, and slammed them shut!

Ye Zhi's previous life's common giant toothed ants were famous for their powerful "trap jaws" bite, which could even unleash energy a thousand times their size. Now that their size has increased, the proportions may not be as exaggerated, but the total power has definitely increased exponentially!

With a loud "thud," the leaves rustled instantly, and Ye Zhi felt a huge tremor coming from below. In the tremor, he clearly saw that the protruding teeth at the front of the other's jaws had embedded themselves in the tree trunk!

With its mandibles relaxed, the massive ant took two steps back, then opened its mandibles to their maximum extent again and launched a second attack.

The force of this impact was even greater than the last one, causing many leaves to fall directly. With the treetops shaking violently, Ye Zhi was secretly alarmed by the powerful destructive force unleashed by the opponent. At the same time, he looked around, trying to find another place to hide.

The pitcher plant grows in a place where the soil is relatively barren and cannot support large trees. The nearby trees are either smaller than the one Ye Zhi is currently standing on, or they are crooked and look like they could not withstand the violent destruction of the giant toothed ants.

Looking around, Ye Zhi finally found a small tree that seemed reliable enough. He moved it little by little, adjusting its direction, preparing for the next takeoff.

But at this moment, it seemed that the two attacks had failed and the giant toothed ant was finally getting impatient. Under Ye Zhi's watchful gaze, it opened its powerful trap mandibles again and began to gather its strength.

But this time, things seem a little complicated - it's not just a simple accumulation of power. Ye Zhi's compound eyes, which have become clearer after his first evolution, have captured a faint arc of electricity that has somehow appeared on the jaws!

"Holy crap, is this... Force power? Does the art style have to be this fantastical?"

As the giant toothed ant opened its mandibles wide to gather power, the electric arc gradually spread across the entire trap jaws. Then, the giant toothed ant slightly raised its head, and the mandibles wrapped with electric arcs suddenly closed, striking heavily against the small tree where Ye Zhi was hiding!

"Crack!" A flash of lightning, and Ye Zhi's compound eyes clearly saw that the electric arc exploded the instant the jaws closed, spreading in all directions, and then expanding to its limit in a short second before dissipating into the air.

But in that instant, countless fallen leaves on the ground were charred and shattered, forming a scorched ring around the mandibles of the giant toothed ant. The ring around the roots of the small tree also turned charred, slowly cracked, and collapsed.

Ye Zhi took off swiftly just before the ant's mandibles closed, and was not affected by the attack. However, he was still terrified by the "supernatural" attack of this giant toothed ant, and his heart remained unsettled for a long time.

He landed on the nearest crooked tree, took a few quick breaths, and then quickly took flight again, heading towards the smaller tree that he had previously locked onto.

Behind him, the giant toothed ant charged forward menacingly, its mandibles wide open again, arcs of electricity flashing, and it delivered another powerful blow to the crooked tree where Ye Zhi was temporarily taking refuge. With a flash of lightning, the roots of the crooked tree were charred black.

As if misfortune never comes singly, at this moment, a series of clicking sounds rang out again, and several more large-toothed ants of varying sizes appeared in sight. The largest of them was about the same size as the one with its mandibles wrapped in electric arcs at their feet, while the smaller ones were only slightly larger than the first one.

But regardless of size, none of them were something Ye Zhi could afford to offend in his current state. The clicking sound of those trap jaws opening and closing was like a death knell, each beat striking Ye Zhi's heartstrings.

He seemed to have incurred the wrath of a swarm of large-toothed ants, making the situation even more dangerous than when he encountered the spider ants before—at least with the spider ants, he had a way to fight back, but this time, he had nowhere to run.

Ye Zhi couldn't help but feel a little desperate again - was his life of eating and waiting to die since his rebirth, like a salted fish, or rather, his ant life, which had just started to improve, going to end like this in the claws of a few dark-bellied, big-toothed ants?