A carefree soldier king in the city

Chapter 454 Man-Eating Ants

"What do you think will happen to me after we graduate?" Chao Bufan asked.

"Hey~~~ We're still a long way from graduation!" Fenrit said, putting his hand on Superb's shoulder.

“I know it’s still early,” Chao Bufan said. “There’s just one question I don’t understand. Our magic academy has a history of thousands of years. Where have all the graduates gone?”

"Huh??" Bridal and the others were all taken aback, their faces showing astonishment. Clearly, none of them had expected Chao Bufan to suddenly ask such a question.

“Bufan, why are you asking this out of the blue?” Fenrit asked, puzzled.

Chao Bufan smiled slightly and then said, "Nothing, I just suddenly remembered and asked casually. After all, we will graduate sooner or later, and I want to know where we should go after we graduate."

Bridal nodded, then exchanged glances with Fenrit and the others before solemnly saying, "Bufan, although we don't know why you suddenly asked such a question, we know you certainly wouldn't ask it without a reason. Since you asked, I might as well tell you, but you must keep it a secret after I tell you."

Chao Bufan nodded with a similarly serious expression and said, "Don't worry, I know."

Bridal pondered for a moment, then said, "Actually, behind our magic academy, there is a hidden place called Ancient City. At certain times, Ancient City sends a group of people to the magic academy to learn magic. After the term is over, they will be summoned back by Ancient City."

Upon hearing this, Chao Bufan nodded and asked, "And you? Are you also from Ancient Spirit City?"

Bridal grunted and said, "We all come from Ancient City, and we'll be summoned back after graduation."

"What are you going back for?" Chao Bufan pressed.

“I don’t know,” Fenrit said. “Before we were chosen by the people of Ancient Spirit City, we were all people living at the very bottom of Ancient Spirit City. How would we know what those big shots wanted to do? We only found out what we had done when we were summoned back.”

Upon hearing this, Chao Bufan nodded again and said, "So, the Magic Academy is specifically for training talent for this Ancient Spirit City! What about the Dark Magic Academy?"

Bridal replied, "The Dark Arts Academy is for training people for Blackhouse Mountain."

“Brido, can you tell me what your Ancient Spirit City is like?” Chao Bufan asked.

“I don’t know—” Bridal shook his head and said, “We are all residents living at the foot of Ancient Spirit City. What happens on the mountain is not something we people without status can know. But one thing is certain: those who can go to Ancient Spirit City must be graduates of the magic academy.”

Chao Bufan nodded, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. After a moment, he smiled slightly and said, "Alright, we should leave here."

"Go back or keep wandering around?" Blido asked.

As Chao Bufan walked, he said, "Since we're here, let's wander around! I've never seen what man-eating ants actually look like!"

“I know,” Fenrit said. “I remember when I was ten years old, an old man named Kurabul stayed at my house and accidentally left behind a book called ‘The Warcraft Journal.’ I picked it up and looked at it, and there was a record of man-eating ants in it.”

Now everyone was intrigued, and Dosru was the first to ask, "Tell me quickly, what does it say in that book?"

Fenritt said, "According to that booklet, carnivorous ants, also known as saw ants, are fierce and brutal, reaching up to 1.5 meters in length, and mostly reddish-brown. They have strong mandibles and powerful stingers, especially their pincers, which can easily snap a human's waist. Carnivorous ants have hard exoskeletons, making their defense incredibly strong; ordinary physical attacks are ineffective against them. The carnivorous ant's weakness is its eyes, but in most cases, these are protected by its pincers."

"Do man-eating ants have any natural enemies?" Chao Bufan asked.

“Yes,” Fenritt replied, “the nemesis of man-eating ants is mainly the anteater.”

Unbeknownst to them, the barrier had been left far behind. The tall, lush trees almost completely blocked out the sunlight. Walking through a dense jungle, Bridal and the others had to light up their magic wands to see the path ahead. They were on high alert, taking each step with extreme caution and vigilance.

"Shasha~"

With each step they took, the dry branches and leaves beneath their feet rustled, creating an eerie sound in this dark and deep jungle.

Suddenly, a biting gust of cold wind blew in from nowhere. Curry, who was walking at the back, shivered involuntarily. He quickly bypassed Fenrit and the others and came behind Chao Bufan. Then he asked timidly, "Bufan, don't you think that gust of wind just now was very strange?"

Dosru replied, "I feel the same way."

Chao Bufan walked at the front, his expression calm as he said indifferently, "It's just an ordinary breeze, what's so mysterious about it?"

Strangely, Fenrit, who was usually incessantly talkative, suddenly became quiet. His sickle-shaped eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he felt a chill behind him, as if something was following him. He turned around and was immediately terrified, exclaiming in alarm, "Oh no!"

Just as he gasped in surprise, he heard a rustling sound behind him, then from his left and right, and then from the front.

Almost simultaneously, all five of them stopped—

"Everyone be careful, man-eating ants have appeared," Chao Bufan warned.

As soon as the words were spoken, a rustling sound of withered branches and fallen leaves rang out all around them. Then, countless red and brown figures appeared around them, and the five of them were surrounded by man-eating ants.

Just as Fenrir had predicted, the man-eating ant was 1.5 meters long, reddish-brown all over, with pincers longer than its body, and its entire body was tinged with red. A timid person who saw it would be scared to death, even if they weren't crushed by its pincers.

These man-eating ants seemed to have received some kind of command. They surrounded Chao Bufan and his companions without attacking, only encircling them in a very small space. Bulido and the others did not dare to make any rash moves, and stood back to back, confronting hundreds and thousands of giant man-eating ants.

"Everyone be careful. These beasts have extremely hard shells, and ordinary magical attacks are useless against them, especially their two pincers, which are incredibly lethal," Fenrit whispered.