"How many of these Black-Armored Beetles are there? No matter how many we kill, they just keep coming!"
Watching the endless stream of Black-Armored Beetles surging toward them, Rose Changsun couldn't help but complain.
"Yeah, I've already burned through a third of my true qi. If we run out, we'll probably get swallowed up by these bugs." Howard Changsun agreed wholeheartedly.
"There aren't that many Black-Armored Beetles left, probably five or six hundred million!" Leon Huang said.
"That's a relief."
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"But..." Leon Huang continued, "behind these Black-Armored Beetles, there's another wave—bigger ones. I can't tell how many yet."
"What?"
Everyone cried out in alarm, their faces full of dread.
"Senior Brother Huang, what should we do?"
Yvette Xue, pale-faced, asked. After killing hundreds of millions of Black-Armored Beetles, the foul green blood splattered all over the beach, filling the air with a strange stench that made the girls feel sick to their stomachs.
The Black-Armored Beetle horde still seemed endless. No one knew how many were left, so Leon Huang thought for a moment and said, "Everyone, get ready to retreat to the sea!"
"Ugh! Isn't this just pathetic? We're actually being forced back by a bunch of bugs!"
Kurt Kou grumbled in annoyance.
"Losing face is nothing compared to losing your life. Besides, why get worked up over a bunch of bugs? Is it really worth it?" Gavin Guan, also from Flaming Sun Sect, retorted.
Leon Huang blasted out a fiery punch, killing thousands of Black-Armored Beetles, while issuing orders: "Harriet, Rose, Yvette—you three move the boat out onto the sea. The rest of us seven will hold them off for a while!"
"Alright."
The three girls didn’t hesitate at all—mainly because the splattering bug blood was putting them under serious psychological pressure.
Soon, the three of them worked together to move the small boat onto the water.
Leon Huang and the other seven began fighting as they retreated.
At that moment, Leon Huang, who had been using Clairvoyant Vision to monitor the jungle, suddenly spotted a massive swarm of Flying Beetles.
These Flying Beetles were a size smaller than the Black-Armored Beetles, but they moved much faster. And their numbers weren’t small either—at least a hundred million. If they got surrounded by these Flying Beetles, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Even fleeing to the sea wouldn’t let them escape the Flying Beetles’ pursuit. Worse, fighting on the water would actually limit everyone’s abilities.
No hesitation—instant decision!
Leon Huang shouted to Harriet, Rose, and Yvette: "Quick, get back to the beach!"
If they didn’t wipe out this swarm, there would be no way to escape.
The three girls didn’t understand why Leon Huang wanted them back on the beach, but none of them questioned his command. They all leapt from the boat and landed on the sand.
"Sam, take the boat and go! Come back to pick us up in an hour!"
Leon Huang shouted again.
Sam Gu was only at the eighth layer of Body-Refining. Staying here would be no help at all and would only drag everyone down. So having him leave was the smartest choice.
"Everyone, take your true-qi-restoring pills now! We're about to face a brutal battle!"
Leon Huang spoke to the others, his expression turning serious.
"Senior Brother Huang, did something else go wrong?" Yoon Zhengyang asked.
"There's a swarm of Flying Beetles coming out of the jungle. If we don't wipe them out, we won't be able to escape!" Leon Huang explained gravely.
Suddenly, Leon Huang's expression changed. A loud buzzing sound echoed from the jungle.
"Careful, everyone—the Flying Beetles are here!" Leon Huang warned.
Sure enough, in less than three breaths, a black cloud of Flying Beetles erupted from the jungle, surging madly toward the group.
The ground swarm of Black-Armored Beetles wasn’t finished off yet, and now the ones in the sky were coming too!
Everyone felt extremely frustrated—and more than a little panicked.
"Kill them!"
Leon Huang shouted, and the Meteorite Sword appeared in his hand. He immediately began slashing at the swarm.
Instantly, more than a dozen fire dragons, each ten meters long, erupted from the Falling Star Sword, roaring as they crashed into the Flying Beetles.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
All the fire dragons exploded at once, and the massive firestorm swept across a two-hundred-meter radius. Beetles kept falling from the sky with a constant crackling sound.
With that round of attacks, Leon Huang wiped out at least a hundred thousand Flying Beetles.
But compared to the total number, a hundred thousand Flying Beetles was just a drop in the bucket. The empty space was instantly filled by more beetles from behind.
"Boom! Boom!"
The others joined in, launching attacks and instantly killing hundreds of thousands of Flying Beetles.
But thanks to that brief delay, the Black-Armored Beetles on the ground pushed forward several more meters, forcing the group to retreat.
Seeing this, Leon Huang realized things were going badly. He shouted, "Yoon, Harriet, Rose, Yvette—fall back three steps with me and attack the Flying Beetles in the air. The other five, deal with the Black-Armored Beetles on the ground!"
"Got it!"
In the crisis, nobody had time to think—those called out all retreated three steps with Leon Huang.
Leon Huang continued, "We'll split into three layers and attack in rotation—I'm the first layer, Harriet and Rose are the second, Yoon and Yvette are the third!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a longsword appeared in Leon Huang's left hand.
The moment the sword appeared, the air temperature shot up several degrees.
This sword was a seventh-grade spirit weapon, a meeting gift from Supreme Elder Cole Chong Duan.
Against these Flying Beetles, fancy moves were pointless—they just needed wide-area attacks.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Leon Huang slashed at the Flying Beetles in the sky with both swords.
Immediately, over thirty fire dragons blasted out, crashing into the Flying Beetles and exploding in a fiery storm.
In an instant, at least half a million Flying Beetles were consumed by the explosive flames.
But these Flying Beetles seemed utterly fearless. As soon as half a million were wiped out, more surged from the jungle to take their place.
Next came the second-layer attacks from Harriet and Rose.
Harriet cultivated an ice-based art, while Rose specialized in water-based techniques.
Their coordinated attacks were nearly as strong as Leon Huang's twin swords—within moments, tens of thousands of Flying Beetles were frozen solid and crashed to the ground like hailstones.
Then Yoon and Yvette launched their joint attack, instantly wiping out tens of thousands more Flying Beetles.
For a while, the alternating attacks from the three layers nearly wiped out every Flying Beetle as soon as it emerged from the jungle.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yi, Tianyi, and the others found it much easier to handle the Black-Armored Beetles on the ground. Unlike the Flying Beetles, these moved much slower, so the five formed a line and swept their attacks across the battlefield, killing millions in one round.
Suddenly, Leon Huang's expression changed. He realized that, unable to break through this area, the Flying Beetles were splitting into two groups—circling hundreds of meters to the right to find a new breakthrough point. Clearly, the swarm was now using flanking tactics.
If they stayed on the beach, they'd soon be attacked from both front and rear by the Flying Beetles.