Good stuff is coming~ Good stuff from all directions~
The mutated ant swarm moved extremely fast; they barely managed to keep up after taking the speed-boosting pills. The deeper they went, the higher the temperature became, and the heat-poison debuff would appear if they weren’t careful.
The effect duration of the Cooling Pill was shortened.
Luckily, Yan Yiqiu had prepared plenty. Even taking one every hour was enough, allowing them to advance without fear. If it had been ordinary players, they might not have dared to go deeper.
The dim light ahead gradually brightened. Large chunks of crystal ore emitting a red glow and heat appeared on the stone walls, and the passage was wider than outside.
After chasing for about ten minutes, a sharp, high-frequency sound came from deep within.
The ant swarm, which had been retreating frantically, paused for two seconds, then, against its usual behavior, charged forward again.
“Make sure to replenish your □□ and fullness.”
Yan Yiqiu stepped forward first, shooting a few arrows and taking out the lead mutated soldier ants on the spot. She even made time to grab some food to restore her dropping 50 fullness points.
She warned them, “There should be a fierce battle ahead. Get ready.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze increased their speed in taking pills and eating food.
Fortunately, there were no side paths here; the mutated ants could only come from the front. Yan Yiqiu relied on her crossbow to suppress the swarm.
With the pills working, Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze soon caught up.
They were now close to the core of the ant nest. Worker and soldier ants kept coming up and were pushed back repeatedly. The high-frequency screams from deep inside became more frequent and piercing, and the mutated swarm grew increasingly agitated.
However, as more soldier ants died, the rate at which they were replaced slowed, and eventually, no mutated soldier ants came. The remaining worker ants began retreating deeper into the nest.
Yan Yiqiu glanced at Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze.
They weren’t in great shape, so she told them to sit and rest.
“I can keep fighting!” Yun Yan insisted.
“No rush,” Yan Yiqiu said, counting the remaining arrows in her pack. “I suspect the dungeon boss is inside. We don’t know what the situation is yet, so adjust your status first. I also need to restock arrows.”
Hearing that the boss might be inside, Yun Yan immediately sat on the ground, slumping however she could.
“Now it makes sense why they weren’t retreating—the boss is inside. Those high-frequency screams just now were from the boss?”
Yan Yiqiu nodded, “Most likely.”
She took two bottles of energy pills and prepared steel arrows.
The crossbow for mob control was really handy.
They rested for seven or eight hours. During this time, Yan Yiqiu even set up a tent so Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze could sleep for about three hours. While they rested, she prepared more potions, food, and enchantments. Once they woke up, she distributed the items, and the three of them headed toward the deepest part of the nest.
No forks appeared, and they didn’t encounter more mutated ants on the way.
After more than half an hour, the passage suddenly opened into a spacious nest chamber.
In sight was a gigantic ant, roughly the height of a four-story building, with a crimson body.
The upper body looked relatively normal, but the abdomen was swollen and semi-transparent, showing densely packed, goose-egg-sized eggs inside. Surrounding it were ants slightly bigger than workers but smaller than soldiers.
Seeing Yan Yiqiu and the others, their antennae quivered wildly.
The swollen queen ant emitted the same high-frequency sharp sound they had heard while fighting the swarm.
“My god, such a huge ant!?” Yun Yan’s eyes widened, amber pupils reflecting the giant ant. She gasped, “Its health bar must be huge… and all those eggs inside—kinda gross…”
Yan Yiqiu squinted, “It’s the queen.”
And also the dungeon boss.
Honestly, its appearance was indeed a little disgusting.
It looked overweight, with its belly swollen from eggs, layered rather than smooth, resembling fat. Its enormous size amplified the repulsiveness several times over.
Yan Yiqiu, having seen grosser things in her previous life, showed no reaction.
But Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze clearly couldn’t handle it and quickly averted their gaze.
There was no time to look anyway, as the queen’s high-frequency sound drew the mutated workers and soldiers deeper into the nest.
“I’ll hold off the mobs; you two focus on the boss. Deal as much damage as you can,” Yan Yiqiu efficiently delegated, firing ten arrows from her crossbow at the swarm.
This arrangement ensured that boss rewards, which are distributed based on damage contribution, would be maximized. It also prevented players from free-riding the boss.
“Got it!”
“Understood.”
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze obeyed and attacked the boss despite their disgust.
[Player Yun Yan dealt 8,019 damage to the Mutated Crimson Queen Ant.]
[Player Wei Jiaze dealt 1,178 damage to the Mutated Crimson Queen Ant.]
They carefully switched positions to avoid the boss’s area-of-effect damage.
The queen, due to her massive size, couldn’t retaliate directly and only used sound waves to stimulate the worker and soldier ants. But Yan Yiqiu suppressed them at the nest entrance.
“Sis, this boss seems defensive. Can’t attack, just huge health,” Yun Yan shouted after a few hits.
Yan Yiqiu stood firm at the entrance, “Then focus on output.”
Yun Yan took a blue-quality damage-boosting pill, energetically responding, “Got it!”
Wei Jiaze also took a pill and unleashed his attacks.
After a few waves of failed assaults, the worker and soldier ants gave up and retreated.
The queen let out a despairing cry and then violently ate the surrounding mutated male ants.
Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze thought it would go berserk, but nothing happened.
“Sis, the boss ate its kind but didn’t attack. Is it charging a big move?” Yun Yan asked.
“Maybe healing,” Yan Yiqiu said, approaching the queen and looking into its large black eyes. “If necessary, kill the male ants first, then focus on the boss.”
Yun Yan nodded, and the male ants were easily dealt with.
With the swarm threat gone, they had no urgency.
Yun Yan asked, “Why did the ants leave? Aren’t they protecting the boss?”
“Damage control. They know they can’t save the queen, so they retreat to preserve their species’ strength,” Yan Yiqiu speculated.
Yun Yan muttered, “So pragmatic.”
Yan Yiqiu smiled, letting them attack for two full hours before finishing the queen herself.
[Player dealt 987,230,198 damage to the Mutated Crimson Queen Ant, effective damage 3,827,190.]
[Received boss chest: Purple ×1, Enchantment Blueprints ×4, Red Ant Scythe (Purple) ×1, Red Ant Ring (Purple) ×1, Holy Light Staff (Purple) ×1, Energy Crystal (Purple) ×50, Element Ore (Purple) ×72, Cloth (Purple) ×100, Meat (Purple) ×150, Poison Wool (Purple) ×10, Glow Sand ×500, Wood ×102,937, Tier 1 Ore ×87,201, Tier 2 Ore ×62,211, Tier 3 Ore ×41,098, Tier 4 Ore ×21,900, Tier 5 Ore ×9,018, Gold ×5,000, EXP +10,000.]
[Yun Yan: Sis, how much HP is left?]
[Yan Yiqiu: Over 3.8 million.]
[Yun Yan: …That health bar is huge.]
Curious about the boss’s HP, Yun Yan noted it would take several more hours even with continuous buffs. Five to six million HP! Terrifying!
But the boss’s rewards were excellent.
Yun Yan happily examined the dropped materials. Even just the wood alone was over 90,000.
She opened the boss chest and, in her usual ritualistic way, asked for luck while touching Yan Yiqiu’s and Wei Jiaze’s hands.
“Good luck, give me some fortune!”
“Good stuff is coming~ From all directions~”
“Chest! Open!”
Wei Jiaze hesitated, “Does this work?”
Yun Yan screamed, “It works!! Sis!! I got something amazing!”
“Something good?” Yan Yiqiu looked over.
Yun Yan dramatically read out: “Blue-quality Alchemy Furnace: reduces crafting time by 3%, with a 20% chance to improve quality and quantity of potions!”
Yan Yiqiu raised an eyebrow, “Indeed, good stuff.”
The rest of the chest contained purple-quality crafting blueprints, materials, and a travel tent—very useful items.
The boss nest emptied after the queen’s death, and the swarm wouldn’t return soon. They rested here, and Yan Yiqiu opened the chest quietly.
[Obtained Blueprints (Purple) ×5, Enchantment Blueprints (Purple) ×2, Travel Tent (Purple) ×1, Energy Crystal (Purple) ×50, Flour (Purple) ×100, Sugar (Purple) ×100, Meteorite (Purple) ×50, Element Ore (Purple) ×50… Gold ×5,000.]
The purple travel tent could expand indefinitely, immune to 50% of physical/magic attacks, waterproof, poisonproof, and only occupies two square meters.
Yan Yiqiu considered putting it inside her invisible tent to make it invisible. She tried—pulling out a blue-quality invisible tent and inserting the travel tent inside.
[Item cannot be stacked!]
Yan Yiqiu disappointedly put away the purple tent and called Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze into the invisible tent to sleep and rest together.
The three of them slept soundly for several hours. When they woke up, they lazily lay in the tent without moving and opened the chat channel to browse.
[What’s going on? Why are the small monsters appearing so frequently and in such numbers all of a sudden? Luckily I’m fast!]
[Saw a big ant, ran run run run—that’s an elite monster—!]
[Why do they suddenly feel more ferocious? Is the dungeon about to end? Previous dungeons lasted ten days; this one shouldn’t be different, right?]
[High price wanted for cooling-type food and medicine!]
[Urgent urgent urgent, does anyone have small potions or food to restore HP?]
[…]
Yun Yan turned over and snuggled next to Yan Yiqiu. “Sister, is this dungeon almost over?”
“Not sure.” Yan Yiqiu switched channels to continue browsing the chat. “I guess it won’t end that early. After level five, territories need a lot of materials. If each dungeon only lasted ten days, even two-thirds of players wouldn’t be able to upgrade their territories.”
Yun Yan thought for a moment. “Makes sense. So what should we do next? Keep farming monsters?”
Yan Yiqiu said, “Mine. We probably won’t be able to farm monsters anymore.”
Both Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze were surprised and asked in unison, “Why?”
“The Queen Ant is dead. The mutated ant swarm will most likely move elsewhere to dig a new nest. From their perspective, this nest is no longer safe,” Yan Yiqiu explained.
Yun Yan said, “Makes sense. Let’s go mining then!”
It was their rest period after high-intensity monster farming.
Leaving the tent, Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze took out the chisels provided in the beginner’s gift pack, ready to become miners. Out of the corner of their eyes, something yellow flashed past. They turned to see a yellow mechanical mining cart.
Yun Yan: “!!!”
Wei Jiaze: “!”
Yan Yiqiu calmly sat on the mechanical mining cart and used the digger to scoop red crystal ore from the stone wall.
“Sis, where did this mechanical mining cart come from?” Yun Yan asked, full of envy. She looked at the huge scoop on the cart and then at her small chisel, her gaze inevitably showing a hint of disdain.
Yan Yiqiu replied, “Dropped by a small monster.”
Unfortunately, it didn’t drop the blueprint, otherwise she could mass-produce them and sell them on the trading market. This mechanical mining cart would definitely be very popular.
Sensing Yun Yan and Wei Jiaze’s envious eyes, she smiled and said, “Let’s take turns using it—two hours per person.”
After all, there was still plenty of time left in the dungeon, and she didn’t want to mine every day.
By the end of the dungeon, all three of them had bags full of ores and returned fully loaded.
[Dungeon closed. All surviving players will return to their respective territories.]
[Next dungeon opening time: TBD.]
The familiar synthesized female voice sounded.
Yan Yiqiu retracted the mechanical mining cart and slowly exhaled.
The fourth dungeon lasted a full twenty days. She wondered what her territory’s development looked like now.