Having weathered the crushing blow from Heracles, the Queen Ant's frontal carapace immediately bore a clean, volleyball-sized indentation.

Radiating from this depression, a web of ice-like cracks spread outward. Anyone who has seen a car windshield or tempered glass door fracture without shattering can picture the cracks on the Queen Ant’s head—it looked as if one more heavy impact would cause a large section of the shell to splinter into countless pieces, each no bigger than a fingernail, and fall away.

She held her head high, like a frightened steed whose reins have been abruptly pulled, stumbling backward incessantly. One could easily imagine stars circling above her head, spinning wildly, even as a thick stream of ** erupted violently from her mouthparts.

That viscous, dark-green ** shot skyward like a fountain before splashing back down onto the ground, sizzling and corroding the earth, leaving numerous pits. It was clearly a stored reserve of acid, ready for deployment, demonstrating that Heracles’s strike had indeed wounded the Queen Ant severely. The stream of retained acid, clearly intended to bathe Fang Senyan, was now wasted.

The one most heartbroken by this exchange was undoubtedly Paul. His War Metal Golem's chest had taken a devastating blow; the strike was unimaginably swift. If Heracles had been a real human instead of a war construct, that blow would have done more than just eviscerate him—it would have shattered his ribs and sent his internal organs spilling everywhere.

Even so, from the wound on Heracles’s chest, one could vaguely glimpse the glowing core power matrix within, along with visible coils and threads.

Beyond that, Fang Senyan witnessed the metal golem’s greatest secret: a massive crystal, situated deep within its body like a heart. It was intricately wound and connected by fine mithril threads, like blood vessels leading into the depths of the golem’s structure.

Fang Senyan had encountered crystals before, such as those acquired in the Avatar world, but the one in Heracles's chest emitted a silvery light, clearly indicating it was a rare Silver-Tier plot quality item. Furthermore, a faint, indistinct crack had already appeared across the surface of this crystal.

This was the masterpiece created by the highly compressed air flung up by the Queen Ant’s claws. This alone revealed that the silver crystal was not significantly more durable than a human heart.

This crack became the deepest wound in Paul’s heart. With this blemish, even if Heracles were repaired, his combat effectiveness would drop by at least 10% to 15%. However, the crack on the crystal could never be truly restored unless the core crystal itself was replaced—and replacing it would be tantamount to building an entirely new golem.

After absorbing this heavy blow, the Queen Ant lowered its head and emitted a few seconds of pained moaning, seemingly quelled in its fury. Fang Senyan had disabled two more of its wings; while its movement speed didn't appear drastically affected, its burst potential had been severely weakened. To Fang Senyan and his allies, this was excellent news.

Suddenly, Aldaris charged toward the Queen Ant again. His current movement seemed even more spectral, as if he were skimming across the surface of water on a board, rising and falling rapidly amidst violent sea swells, leaving several long afterimages trailing behind him.

Evidently, the Queen Ant was momentarily confused by Aldaris’s illusions. Its powerful mutated forelimbs swept out like scythes, but regrettably, they met only air.

It seemed Aldaris’s attack was about to succeed, but although the Queen Ant lacked the overwhelmingly aggressive spells of a Power Barrier, it still possessed six terrifying, spider-like long legs that could bend and twist in defiance of common sense, allowing them to strike the enemy from unexpected angles.

Two sharp legs whipped through the air. While the Queen Ant’s multifaceted eyes could not discern the real body from the illusions, this method of wildly guessing succeeded. They accurately sliced toward Aldaris’s true form. Fang Senyan, being tough enough to withstand such attacks, might have risked it, but Aldaris had no intention of gambling his life and immediately initiated a Blood Escape to withdraw from the fray.

Yet, in the next second, Aldaris executed a move that looked remarkably familiar to Fang Senyan!

Aldaris once again charged toward the Queen Ant from a distance, but when he reached about thirty meters away, three more Aldarises eerily appeared from three other directions, converging on the monstrous creature with the original.

The Queen Ant let out a piercing roar, violently swinging its sharp leg segments, carving deep fissures into the solid stone floor. Large chunks of rock flew up with a deafening noise, kicking up thick plumes of dust. It had to be admitted that the Queen Ant's attacks were incredibly swift and fierce; once the four Aldarises drew close, all were shattered by the onslaught.

However, Aldaris’s true body had somehow materialized high above the Queen Ant’s head, diving down like a hunting eagle-vulture. The wind roared, whipping his hair and trench coat backward to their limits, which only served to highlight the dagger he gripped in his hand.

When fighting against Zi previously, Fang Senyan had seen Aldaris wield a weapon of an unnerving dark-red hue, a dagger steeped in pure evil: the Mage’s Bane. But the weapon Aldaris was using now was equally peculiar in shape—slender, razor-sharp, yet resembling a broken rapier, wreathed in a dark aura that made it appear profoundly sinister.

From a distance, the weapon looked like a broken needle, but upon closer inspection, its aggressive edge seemed contained, and the sharp blade bore mottled marks as if corroded. As it moved through the air, it seemed to rust even the wind itself; only when drenched in blood would it reveal its true, eerie brilliance.

Aldaris landed lightly on the Queen Ant's back but dared not linger. With a gentle push, he drove the rapier into the wound Fang Senyan had previously created, then immediately sprang away.

As the Queen Ant tried to pursue, Fang Senyan swiftly threw a Curse Potion. This not only momentarily stunned its movements with a shockwave but also enveloped it in thick mist, allowing Aldaris to escape unharmed.

Having succeeded with his strike, Aldaris retreated thirty meters before immediately beginning to chant an incantation. A thick white vapor started to rise from the hilt of the thin sword embedded in the Queen Ant’s back.

This white vapor quickly coalesced, forming a gigantic monster resembling an Arabian Genie, shrouded in massive halos of white light. Though the radiance possessed a certain sacred quality, the core creature visible within had the savage visage of a demon.

This half-bodied monster began to furiously attack the Queen Ant. Its blows seemed infused with light-based energy; when they struck the ant's carapace, vast amounts of electrical current, like small snow-white snakes, spilled out, and a high-voltage sizzling sound could be heard even in the air.

"Is that... is that an Arbiter from the StarCraft universe?" Fang Senyan wondered aloud in shock, before hearing Paul next to him gasp in amazement.

Fang Senyan’s injuries currently looked alarming: his primary wound was on his back, where a claw had struck him head-on, tearing the flesh wide open into a laceration over a foot long, which was already festering and turning black. However, this had minimal impact on him; he was deliberately feigning weakness and pain because he was unwilling to reveal his true capabilities to Paul.

Paul, having personally witnessed the Queen Ant's destructive power through his War Metal Golem Heracles, did not suspect Fang Senyan’s pretense in the slightest. Instead, he viewed Fang Senyan as a man with keen judgment and precise action, someone who never hesitated when necessary and fought fearlessly—truly a powerful ally.

Under the relentless assault of the StarCraft Arbiter summoned by Aldaris, the Queen Ant thrashed in agony, furiously raking its claws against its own back. This action was futile because Aldaris’s embedded sword was sunk in so deep that only a few centimeters of the hilt were visible. No matter how dexterous the Queen Ant’s leg segments were, they could not pull the sword out like human fingers.

As for the creature resembling the StarCraft Arbiter, it appeared to be a summoned phantom existing in another dimension; the Queen Ant's iron-cutting leg segments passed right through it, causing only ripples in the air.

Fang Senyan immediately turned his attention to Aldaris and noticed his forehead was slick with sweat, his lips constantly moving, and significant elemental fluctuations surrounding him—clearly indicating a sustained chant.

Therefore, Fang Senyan immediately understood that what Aldaris was currently enacting was, strictly speaking, just a continuous offensive spell, and that he needed to buy as much time as possible for him.

Without hesitation, Fang Senyan ordered Ramtas to shield Aldaris and simultaneously begin chanting a nature spell: Grasp of the Wild.

This was, in fact, the highest-level nature spell Ramtas had mastered. Although the berserker genes flowing through him granted immense vitality and frightening strength, they also limited his further mastery over natural power.

Ramtas’s body began to harden, resembling tough tree bark, even sprouting moss. Around his body materialized a six-sided, fist-sized tree seed. As long as the seed existed, the bearer’s defense received a 20% boost. If an enemy struck the seed during an attack, the seed would immediately rupture, forming powerful roots and vines to forcefully entangle and restrain the enemy.