"Ah!"

The burly man who had been hit by the poison let out a terrible scream and collapsed to the ground.

Trembling all over from the intense pain.

His teammates were shocked and rushed over to check on him. As soon as the man removed his hand from his face, they were horrified to see his white, exposed bones!

Half of his face had been completely corroded, leaving nothing but bone!

"Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!"

In front of him, a vast number of Red Poison Ants, densely packed, lined up, ready to spray more venom!

For a moment, the other teammates were paralyzed with fear.

"My God! These ants, which seemed so insignificant, are this terrifying?!"

"This poison—it seems like it could even melt steel!"

"One ant's poison is this deadly. If all these ants spray venom, won't we be reduced to nothing but white bones on the spot?!"

The group was filled with dread, and they began to retreat, step by step.

Ivar's face twisted with anger as he retreated, shouting at them,

"You idiots! What were you thinking? You didn't even understand what kind of monster you were dealing with, and you dared to rush in?!"

The others were scolded harshly but didn't dare to argue. They too had underestimated the Red Poison Ants, which was why they had charged in so recklessly.

After scolding them, Ivar's face became much more serious. He carefully observed the Red Poison Ant swarm.

This was a rare monster, one he had never encountered before.

But Ivar didn't want to give up all those valuable points. After all, according to the rules, since Red Poison Ants were rare, the points they yielded would be correspondingly high!

He quickly thought of a plan:

"Alright, listen up. Follow my lead. These ants can spray venom, but their bodies are small!"

"As long as we charge together, we can kill a lot of them in a short amount of time!"

With Ivar's command, his teammates, gathering their courage, shouted and charged forward.

Ivar, always cautious, waited for his teammates to lead the way before following behind. In his mind, he thought that this move would surely kill many ants!

But the next moment!

The Red Poison Ants were no fools. On the contrary, their collective intelligence was quite high, and they were adept at handling various situations.

When they noticed the group of Hunters attempting to charge at them,

A large cluster of ants immediately gathered, forming a perfect line. Then, they all sprayed venom at once!

Splash! Splash! Splash!

The sound of venom splashing through the air was relentless, perfectly coordinated!

The venom formed a wall in the air, solidifying as it spread!

The group of Hunters had nowhere to hide and slammed into it head-on, with the final result being nothing short of catastrophic!

"Ah! My hand! My face—it feels like it's being burned to ash!"

"Ah! It hurts! My body is being corroded!"

"Quick! Fall back! We'll die if we keep moving forward!"

This wave of assault left everyone paying a painful price.

Every Hunter, without exception, was covered in large amounts of the Red Poison Ants' venom. Even the least affected had nearly been disfigured and were writhing in agony.

The most severely affected person had even had an entire arm completely corroded!

In contrast, Ivar's situation was much better because he had stayed behind his teammates, but at this moment, he was deeply shocked.

He looked at his teammates, who were crying out in pain, his eyes wide with disbelief:

"What kind of monster is this?!"

"Why is it so terrifying?!"

One of his teammates groaned in agony, "Captain, their poison really can corrode steel! Our armor is almost burned through!"

Ivar furrowed his brow, knowing that this was true, because when he looked down, he saw that parts of his own armor had been hit by the venom.

The armor on his chest was dissolving into liquid, dripping steadily...

"My armor is very valuable, unlike the trash armor these guys are wearing, but even mine has been instantly corroded!"

Ivar could only feel relieved that he hadn't rushed to the front.

He looked ahead at the Red Poison Ant nest, where more and more ants continued to emerge, and he was truly terrified.

"Damn it, it looks like we'll have to let these Red Poison Ants go... We have no other choice."

Ivar sighed in pain, and the others were even more devastated.

Not only had they gained nothing, but they had also suffered such serious injuries! Some of them might even be affected for the rest of their lives!

But from this day forward, they would forever remember the terrifying power of the Red Poison Ants!

Meanwhile, in the spectator area, the audience was equally stunned.

"My God, these ants are horrifying! If I ever run into them, I'll have to run for my life!"

"Yeah, I never thought even Ivar would be unable to deal with them."

"They're called Red Poison Ants, huh? I've learned something today. I'll definitely remember that terrifying name!"

On the commentary stage, Jason also expressed regret:

"It looks like Ivar is preparing to give up."

"Such a shame. With the number of Red Poison Ants here, if he had managed to handle them, Ivar would have definitely locked in first place, or even secured a spot to compete with the major associations!"

In the VIP section, Reve remained silent, his face displaying a proud smile.

"Red Poison Ants, huh? I happen to know a little about these rare monsters."

"I'm sure that any inexperienced Hunter wouldn't be able to handle them. Even my Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association would need to put in a lot of effort to take them down."

Of course, Reve was pleased to see anyone outside of his Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association struggle.

But aside from that, Reve had another matter on his mind.

"By the way, all these ignorant fools keep talking about that person showing up. So, is that guy actually in this competition or not?"

Reve muttered to himself. The person he was referring to was, of course, Ed.

No one else had any idea who Ed was, but Reve was well aware.

He actually hoped Ed would appear in this competition.

That way, he could watch his own association claim victory while also seeing for himself just how capable this so-called mysterious man really was.

At that moment, just as Ivar and his team were about to leave.

Another group of people appeared on the screen.

In an instant, Reve's eyes widened slightly:

"Is that him?"

On the commentary stage, Jason also remarked, "Audience, look! It seems there are other Hunters arriving at the Red Poison Ant nest besides Ivar's team!"

"Hey, this group looks like the one that defeated the Bear Demon earlier!"

Although Jason was providing commentary, most of the audience lost interest in the secondary screen once Ivar's group retreated.

After all, Ed and his team weren't exactly well-known.

Except for Uncle Du and the others. Iris widened her eyes, "It's him again!"

Uncle Du and Viktor also focused their attention. Viktor spoke with some concern:

"I didn't expect Lord Ed to be brought to such a dangerous place by his team."

Uncle Du replied, "I hope he leaves soon. Those ants are extremely dangerous."

...

At this moment, after Ivar's group retreated, Ed casually stepped forward.

Alex and the others followed behind him.

"I can't believe Ivar couldn't handle these Red Poison Ants," Alex thought, feeling somewhat conflicted.

Lucas couldn't help but speak up, "Hey, if Ivar can't deal with them, what are we doing here? Shouldn't we leave?"

Ed ignored him completely, too busy to pay attention to the idiot.

Inside, he was a bit disappointed with Ivar and the others' performance earlier.

"I thought they could help me deal with more of them," he thought.

"Well, it doesn't matter. At least half of the Red Poison Ants have already sprayed their venom, so they're no longer as dangerous."

At this point, Thomas approached, "Ed, do you really think you can handle so many Red Poison Ants?"

Some of the others had some malice towards Ed.

But Thomas genuinely seemed concerned that Ed might get injured.

Ed answered confidently, "Of course, no problem. Red Poison Ants are just low-level monsters."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Hey, Ed, you're not planning to have us charge ahead for you, are you?"

Lucas' expression instantly changed. He remembered how Ivar had sent his people to charge in earlier.

Thinking about how badly those guys had suffered from the venom, Lucas felt a chill run down his spine.

If Ed wanted him to be the shield again, Lucas would definitely refuse to follow those orders.

Ed, hearing the comment, was puzzled. "Charge? Why would we charge? Who said we need to charge?"

Alex asked, "Not charge? Then what's your plan to deal with these Red Poison Ants?"

Ed, with his hands behind his back, chuckled, "Hunter combat isn't just about brute force and dual swords. It's also about using your brain!"

At this, Alex's expression stiffened. His mood darkened immediately.

Wasn't that a subtle jab at him for not having a brain?

But he didn't respond right away. Instead, he glared darkly and thought, Let's see how Ed handles this. If he messes up, I'll be watching.

As Ed and his team drew closer.

Ivar's group, about to leave, also noticed them.

"Hey, boss, look! There are others here!" one of the middle-aged Hunters said.

Ivar turned his head and saw Ed's group. He raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued.

"I didn't expect anyone else to find this place. This ant nest should have been well hidden. They probably didn't sense us, but were drawn here by the noise we made earlier."

Ivar thought to himself.

He was rather dismissive of other Hunters, considering them competition in this event.

If anyone posed a threat, Ivar wouldn't hesitate to go as far as eliminating them.

But right now, he just smiled faintly, standing his ground and deciding not to leave just yet.

"I'm curious to see how these guys are going to fare with these ants."

"If they're strong enough, it'll be even better."

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