Chapter 2842: Snatching the Ore Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio "Alto, what’s that by your feet?" Huh? The player, puzzled, looked down at his feet. "Chi!!!" Suddenly, the surface of the ground exploded, and a dark brown shadow shot up from below, leaping straight toward him! "Bang!!!" Alto’s protective suit shattered instantly, and the massive impact sent both him and the Licker flying backward. What the hell?! The surrounding players heard the explosive sound and turned around in alarm, their expressions changing dramatically. "Careful! It’s a mutant worm!" Where did it come from? Without much time to think, the players immediately raised their energy beam weapons, aiming at the flying Licker and firing in unison! "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!" The Licker, still in midair, was pierced by a barrage of energy beams. "Bang!" The Licker crashed to the ground heavily. "Chi, chi chi..." What?! The players gathered around in shock, noticing that the mutant worm creature, which had been pierced by hundreds of energy beams, was still not dead! The Licker struggled on the ground, and its wounds rapidly healed. What kind of monster was this? Its self-healing ability was terrifying! They had never seen anything like this! Whoosh! After recovering, the Licker lunged at the nearest player again. "Stop it!" At the same time, dozens of beam weapons continuously fired at the Licker, blasting it backward once more. It was still not dead?! After hitting the ground, the Licker began to struggle madly once again. The captain in charge of the mine squad broke out in a cold sweat. The players were at a loss for what to do, but suddenly, they felt another faint tremor beneath their feet. They looked down again. The ground beneath them was cracking open! Could it be...? A chilling premonition started to rise in the players’ minds. "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!" In the next moment, the ground cracked open even further, and numerous black-brown mutant worm bodies shot up from the earth, charging straight toward the player group. "Bang! Bang! Bang!!!!" When the Licker swarm attacked from underground, players found that once a Licker got close and made even a single attack, the energy shield provided by their tactical suits would instantly shatter, sending both the Licker and the player flying backward! The player leader was also sent flying as his shield shattered under the Licker’s attack. When he struggled to his feet and looked up— In the blink of an eye, the entire iron mine domain was swarming with black-brown mutant worm creatures! More and more mutant worms were bursting out of the ground. "Retreat!" The squad leader didn’t hesitate, shouting as he turned and ran. These terrifying mutant worms! There was no way to survive against them! In an instant, the players in the cave scrambled to escape. "Chi, chi chi..." The mutant worms cleared the entire mine, and the Licker swarm quickly spread out of the cave, sweeping through the mining area before using their stealth skill to bury themselves back underground. Everything returned to silence. It wasn’t until over ten minutes later that a crack appeared in the ground at the center of the mine. Several Lickers emerged from the crack, expanding the entrance before backing away. In a moment, Fang Heng leaped out from the passage. "Heh, we’ve arrived." Fang Heng looked around the mine. The positioning device provided by the spawn tribe was quite useful, allowing them to accurately locate the ore deposits, saving them time searching. Wayne and his group followed closely behind, climbing out of the tunnel. Seeing the bloodstains and traces of battle around the mine, the group quickly deduced what had happened. "Looks like the passage is sorted." Fang Heng nodded in satisfaction and turned to Wayne, saying, "The summoned creatures will finish extracting the ore and transport it back to the forest through the passage below. When that happens, I’ll need you all to help with sorting." Huh? More? Wayne’s scalp tingled when he heard "sorting." "Alright, fine..." "Good." Fang Heng, multitasking, controlled a group of Lickers to lay an ambush while also sending zombie clones to begin mining. He nodded and said, "Almost done. Let’s go check the next one." ... On the cliffs outside the desert. Joachim had been watching the two mutant worm swarms. Even though they had been fighting for an entire night, neither side showed any signs of stopping. Suddenly, Joachim let out a disdainful laugh. His confidant couldn’t help but ask, "Boss, what’s so funny?" "The mutant worms are indeed strong individually, but unfortunately, their activity is limited to the desert region. The threat they pose is relatively small." Fang Heng! Why did he not come out yet? Well, no matter. Let’s see how long they can hold out. Just as Joachim was thinking, a player hurriedly approached and whispered something in his ear. "What?" Joachim’s expression immediately darkened. "What happened, boss?" his confidant asked. "The mining area was attacked by mutant worms." His confidant felt a sinking sensation and stayed silent. Recently, they had occupied several mining areas and had been steadily extracting ores. They had encountered a few sporadic mutant worm attacks, but nothing major. Joachim slowly turned his head toward the desert, his voice cold: "The mutant worm creatures that launched the attack are the same as those in the desert." His confidant instinctively glanced back at the desert, fear appearing in his eyes. If these creatures attacked their mining area, could that end well? Joachim gritted his teeth. Something’s wrong. Very wrong. Joachim felt a strong premonition that things were not as simple as they seemed. Before Joachim could sort out his thoughts, another player hurried over and reported, "Boss, there’s another problem. The Veron mining area was also attacked by mutant worms." "What?" Two mining areas under attack? And both the largest ones? Was this directed at him? Joachim grabbed his subordinate by the arm, asking, "What about the others? Have the other mining areas been attacked by mutant worms?" "We’re not sure yet." "Go check! Find out!" Joachim released his subordinate and turned to look toward the desert, a deep sense of wariness in his eyes. He had a strong feeling. The mutant worm swarm was coming for him! No more waiting! "Take me back!" Joachim didn’t want to waste any more time and immediately followed his subordinate back to the mining area. An hour later, Joachim rushed to the mining area. From a distance, he noticed a group of players gathered outside the mining area, looking like they had just been through a fierce battle. The situation seemed grim. "Boss." When they saw Joachim return, the subordinates stood up in unison. "What happened?" "The mutant worm creatures suddenly burst out from the mine, attacking us. The mutant worms were too strong, and with our abilities, there was no way to fight back. We had to retreat, and we only barely escaped with our lives."