Reincarnation Paradise Park

Chapter 1159 - 44: Trapped Beast

Of course, the one walking out of the flames was the Ant King. At this moment, its appearance could no longer be described as miserable.

Most of the Ant King’s tail had disappeared, blown off by the Finger of Destruction. This tail was an important means of attack for the Ant King, and it was connected to its spine. Suddenly losing the tail would cause the Ant King to lose its sense of balance for a short time.

Compared to injuries elsewhere, the tail’s damage was within an acceptable range. The most serious injury the Ant King had now was to its head.

Su Xiao had previously shot the Ant King in the head, shattering a third of its head armor. After being hit by this Fire Attribute Elemental Bullet, the Ant King lost its ’dome hat’; now it was bald.

Sometimes being bald does not make one stronger, as with the current Ant King. The recent bullet was actually deflected by its head armor, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a simple matter of losing the ’dome hat’.

The Ant King placed its hand on its head, extinguishing the flames on top.

"Double-layered shell?"

Su Xiao observed the Ant King through the scope, chambering a Thunder Attribute Elemental Bullet after pulling the bolt.

Though the Ant King was severely injured, now was certainly not the time to charge. Or rather, it could be done anytime, except now.

The Ant King now felt the threat of death and was like a trapped beast. In such a life-and-death crisis, it would use any means to escape, or drag a few down with it.

The most dangerous stage of surrounding and killing the Ant King had arrived—the trapped beast fighting back.

As long as this stage was dragged on, the Ant King would enter a weakened state. That would be a good opportunity for close combat.

Because Mizaki forcibly froze the Ant King with the Frost Giant, the Frost Giant couldn’t recover in a short time.

This was very awkward. Unless Mizaki had water in her brain, she wouldn’t engage the Ant King in close combat now, and Old Smoke was also unlikely to step forward. As for Chairman Netero, he also retreated a few seconds ago.

In the original story, the Chairman perished with the Ant King, but don’t think the Chairman was cannon fodder, always ready to charge to his death.

In the original story, the Chairman chose perishing together out of helplessness. Now, the situation clearly did not require paying such a gruesome price to solve the Ant King, so why sacrifice himself? In his current physical state, the Chairman could live for decades more if nothing happened. If he could break through himself again during this time, it was not impossible for him to return to his former power.

The Ant King was just about to struggle like a trapped beast but suddenly noticed that those besieging humans had retreated and were surrounding it from a distance.

"Opportunity."

The Ant King immediately understood the situation. It endured the burning sensation on its head, crouching and causing deep cracks to appear beneath its feet.

"Still going for that obvious charging maneuver after taking a hit."

Su Xiao chewed his gum while adjusting the scope’s magnification. For a predictive shot, a lower magnification increased the success rate due to the wider field of view.

If it was Su Xiao’s former marksmanship, he would never be able to hit the Ant King through prediction. But now things were different. The Duke of Extinction’s inlay effect ’Balance’ had elevated his Firearms Proficiency to the specialization level, surpassing an entire tier.

Su Xiao stood up from the ground, placing the Duke of Extinction on a pre-positioned stand. Based on the current situation, his next few shots would need to be predictive, as there wouldn’t be another opportunity to shoot at a ’stationary target’ like before.

The Ant King vanished from where it stood, and Su Xiao immediately shifted his aim, pulling the trigger by instinct.

Bam!

The gunshot echoed for a distance before dissipating, followed by a thunderous crash as the Ant King plowed into the ground, sending clumps of earth high into the air.

This shot from Su Xiao hit the Ant King’s thigh. The speed of the Thunder Attribute Elemental Bullet was incredibly fast, and its penetration power was formidable, punching a fist-sized hole through the Ant King’s leg.

After firing this shot, Su Xiao gained an important piece of information: the Elemental Bullet (Thunder) was not fit for use in the current phase. The Duke of Extinction’s bullets defaulted to Armor-piercing Bullets, with penetration power already strong enough. The Thunder Attribute was merely an embellishment, not a savior.

However, the Elemental Bullet (Thunder) was not entirely useless. When the Duke of Extinction’s attack power could no longer meet Su Xiao’s needs, he could choose to exchange only for Elemental Bullet (Thunder), compensating for attack power with penetration power.

Su Xiao piercing the Ant King’s leg with a single shot made Mizaki and Old Smoke’s eyes gleam. They both had almost the exact same thought: what if that gun was aimed at them?

Chen felt just as unnerved. Compared to Mizaki and Old Smoke, his small frame was much frailer. If he took such a shot, he’d depart this world peacefully, not even needing an urn, simply reduced to fragments and returning to the embrace of Mother Earth.

Would Su Xiao assassinate Chen and others? Of course, he wouldn’t. Putting aside the trio’s life-saving measures, even if he did assassinate the three, so what? Take the Ant King’s heart for himself?

Assassinating the three would be almost the dumbest choice. There were over a hundred Contractors surrounding the courtyard. Even if Old Smoke and the others died, these people would still rush forward after the Ant King’s death.

If they could kill the Ant King, Su Xiao and the other three would indeed fight over the Ant King’s heart. As Old Smoke said, "everyone relies on their own skills" to seize the heart, which also carried another implication: whoever amongst the four obtained the heart should split it into three pieces. This was the minimum baseline for future cooperation.

Those who seize the heart enjoy the meat, and those who don’t drink the broth. The reason for doing this was to avoid being besieged by those over a hundred Contractors. If Su Xiao and the other three fought individually, those Contractors would certainly dare to besiege any of them.

If the four continued to cooperate, those Contractors wouldn’t dare attack them, especially since the benefits of the Ant King’s heart were closely tied to those more than a hundred Contractors.

The quantity of the Ant King’s heart obtained was not directly proportional to the benefit. There was an upper limit, beyond which more wasn’t advantageous.

The reason the Ant King’s heart was valuable was because it was highly sought after within the Hunter World. Having it meant immunity from forced execution, and those Contractors who didn’t obtain it would definitely be willing to pay handsomely for it.

Since they were within a Derivative World, the Contractors’ Paradise coins were not abundant, but they had treasure chests, freshly minted gear, rare materials, and even unutilized Soul Crystals.

With the Ant King’s heart, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they could sit and wait for financial gain. But before that, they had to first eliminate the Ant King.

Su Xiao breathed slowly, stopping the chewing motion in his mouth, and loaded the last Elemental Bullet (Dark) into the chamber.

The Ant King, shot in the leg, crouched half-squatting on the ground when another bullet flew towards it.

The Ant King instinctively tilted its body, and the bullet grazed by, finally embedding itself into the soil.

The Ant King was puzzled, wondering why this attack was so weak. In reality, Su Xiao hadn’t fired. It was a shot from another sniper.