Volume One: Hell-Level Lord World Chapter 103: Cleaning the Battlefield

After receiving orders from Chen Gu, Kebas hurriedly departed. Meanwhile, Chen Gu and Pan remained on site, waiting for the jade ants to clean up the battlefield.

After dragging some flesh and blood mixed with mucus back into the mother nest, more jade ants soon emerged from underground. At the same time, Chen Gu noticed a new city had appeared in his territory interface.

[Territory Name: None
Main City: Vine Light (Level 1, Mobile Base), Jade Forest (Level 1, Jade Kingdom)
Subcities: Silver Pine Valley (Level 3, Elven Realm), Fire Scroll Valley (Level 1, Elemental City), Crow’s Nest City (Level 6, Elven Realm), Acid Pool City (Level 1, Jade Kingdom)
Resources: 13,433 Gold, 79 Stone, 91 Wood, 57 Metal, 144 Food, 8 Mercury, 4 Crystal, 6 Gems, 2 Sulfur
Wild Camps: Wolf Mountain (Level 1), Wolf Mountain (Level 1), Fire Crow Farm (Level 1)
Wild Resource Points: None
Roads: 3 (Silver Pine Valley–Holy City Route, Holy City–Everglow Forest (Destroyed), Flame Scroll City–Crow’s Nest City–Scar Rift)
Outposts: 3
Safe Zones: 0.21%]

It seemed the mother nest had urbanized the jade ant colony and given it an official name: Acid Pool City. How it differed from a standard jade ant nest was unknown.

With the jade ants’ intervention, Chen Gu could finally begin clearing the battlefield again. Meanwhile, the carrion vines were not idle either; they busily disposed of the treant corpses left behind.

[You have obtained 331 Golden Bridges.]
[You have obtained 17 pieces of Millennial Bark (White).]
[You have obtained 31 Tenacious Roots (White).]
[You have obtained 56 units of Wood (White).]
[You have obtained 3 Ancient Tree Hearts (Green).]
[You have obtained...]

[Millennial Bark (White): The protective outer skin of special treant units. After years of battle, this bark possesses exceptional defense and can be used to craft shields or armor, as well as for synthesis.]
[Tenacious Roots (White): The roots of special treant units hardened through prolonged combat, possessing iron-like hardness. They can be used to craft weapons or for synthesis.]
[Ancient Tree Heart (Green): The primal power of treants, usable for synthesis.]
[...]

However, what truly caught Chen Gu’s eye was not these materials, but the weapons and equipment left behind by the skeletal soldiers and zombies on the ground.

[Lumber Axe (White): An axe usable both for chopping wood and combat. Grants +2 attack in battle and +3 efficiency in woodcutting; effective against treant-type units.]
[Skeleton Bow (White): A longbow made from white bones, effective range between 100 and 150 meters.]
[Bone Shield (White): A shield crafted from bones, lighter than iron-bound wooden shields but with stronger defense.]
[...]

One by one, these items were sent to the warehouse at the rear of the Vine Light. Although the warehouse had yet to be constructed, it was already filling up with various supplies.

Chen Gu also acquired several Hero Tokens during this process, the most important being that of the Ghost Hero. It resembled a gelatinous substance. Holding it, Chen Gu immediately understood its purpose.

[Phantom Brain (Undead Hero Token): Allows transformation of subordinate soldiers into ghost-type heroes.]

Chen Gu had no particular interest in this undead-only hero token. However, the remaining items piqued his curiosity.

He never would have guessed that the ghost hero was once an alchemist.

[Worm Potion (Green): Grants immunity to strong acid damage upon consumption.]
[Insect Potion Manual (Green): A magical alchemy guidebook. After studying intently for three hours, one can randomly master three potion recipes targeting insect-type enemies.]
[Carrion Beetle Skin (Green): Skin from naturally deceased carrion beetles, acid-treated for use in crafting leather armor.]
[Strong Acid Vial (Green): When thrown, releases a large amount of strong acid over an area, causing acid damage to all who enter.]
[...]

From these items, it was apparent that this ghost hero had met his demise through his own experiments.

Other undead heroes also had minor items, though none compared to the Elven Holy City’s artifacts that could directly enhance attributes.

Chen Gu merely glanced at them before gathering all the items.

He rested here for over eight hours before the battlefield was finally cleared. The massive carrion beetle mound, resembling a small mountain, had only been reduced by about a tenth.

Even so, wave after wave of new mother nests and brain larvae appeared, taking advantage of this window.

Chen Gu obtained eight jade mother nests and jade brain larvae. The remainder settled nearby.

While overseeing this, the brain larva from before emerged to brief Chen Gu on the situation.

Because the jade kingdom’s ant nests were relatively small, the maximum city level could not exceed 6, and the main city in each region could not surpass level 5. However, the jade ant nests had their own system.

For example, what they had just done was to create a city cluster composed of one level-4 ant nest and six level-3 ant nests.

This arrangement allowed the city cluster to produce jade ants at a rate equivalent to a typical level-6 city.

This was a kind of workaround, as the ant nests were simply too small. A territory that could host a level-5 city could accommodate several level-4 ant nests.

This method merely supplemented ant production speed and did not enhance the nests’ other functions.

By any measure, this was a disadvantage for the jade ants.

Yet, for Chen Gu, it was not a significant loss.

At this moment, Chen Gu’s territory interface changed again.

Behind Acid Pool City, six satellite towns appeared, forming what was marked as the Acid Pool City Cluster (approximately equivalent to a level-6 city).

Seeing this, Chen Gu smiled quietly.

Yet what interested him more were the newly appeared jade ant soldiers.

These jade ant soldiers didn’t have enhanced biting strength; instead, their mouths had evolved into something resembling spray nozzles.

It was clear they belonged to a ranged unit.

However, given the ants’ size, their shooting range was quite limited—at most about one meter.

Moreover, they could only spray once. After that, their internal acid stores would be depleted, and they would perish.

Puzzled by this, Chen Gu asked the brain larva for its opinion.

The brain larva chuckled.

“Master, their spraying isn’t like that. If you want ranged shooters, they’d need a different energy source; strong acid won’t suffice. Their spray functions as a form of propulsion. Let me have them demonstrate it for you, and you’ll understand.”