Volume One: The Hell-Level Lord World Chapter 72: The Swamp Serpent Sphere

While Chen Gu was studying the creatures emerging from the Rotting Marsh, the battle at the front had already reached the marsh’s edge.

His corpse-eating vines retreated swiftly.

Of the six sent out, only four returned, each one bearing wounds, their tendrils severed in many places.

Clearly, these strange creatures possessed formidable combat power underground.

Since their inception, Chen Gu’s corpse-eating vines had always triumphed below the earth. Previous losses had either been due to their consumption in synthesis or for other purposes. Never before had he witnessed them being forcibly destroyed in battle.

This led Chen Gu to a new realization.

“I never expanded the number of corpse-eating vines because a few were always sufficient. Now I see I was too naive. Only mass synthesis is the key to survival in such an environment.

“Corpse-eating vines, go gather materials.”

Issuing his command, Chen Gu withdrew from the bounds of the Rotting Marsh.

The best place to find materials for the corpse-eating vines was the forest.

This time, Chen Gu didn’t need to process the materials himself; he simply dispatched his existing vines, which quickly brought back a large supply.

He synthesized again and again, tirelessly transforming those materials into more corpse-eating vines.

Yet this time, he did not use the new vines as fodder for further synthesis or to enhance their ranks.

Now, the corpse-eating vines were not the original larger ones with eighteen tendrils, but the basic model with only six tendrils.

That was already enough for Chen Gu.

He needed numbers. He needed their underground combat prowess.

As each new batch of vines emerged, the smile on Chen Gu’s face grew.

He had never feared anyone in underground combat.

Only when the numbers surpassed a thousand did Chen Gu return to the edge of the Rotting Marsh.

With a gesture, the corpse-eating vines surged into the marsh.

Then Chen Gu, still holding raw materials, seated himself at the marsh’s edge and continued synthesizing without pause.

Each newly created vine would immediately leave him, gather new materials three times, and only then plunge into the depths of the Rotting Marsh.

As for his other troops, they clustered around him, none daring to set foot in the marsh.

They all understood—the swarms of mosquitoes above the Rotting Marsh were the deadliest threat.

Any creature that charged into the marsh would be drained by those mosquitoes.

Chen Gu had no intention of engaging those creatures. His plan was simple: send the corpse-eating vines in, let them carve a bloody path to the marsh’s heart, and seek the city of Crow’s Nest that should have stood there.

Yet once the vines entered, all Chen Gu could see were the occasional bursts of experience points; he had no way to monitor the battle’s outcome. He didn’t know how they fought, how many enemies they slew, or how many of his own fell.

All he could do was continue synthesizing new vines as long as he had materials, endlessly sending them into the marsh.

Chen Gu synthesized without rest, again and again.

Until, from deep within the Rotting Marsh, a roar of rage echoed out.

Startled, Chen Gu realized there was still something alive in the marsh’s depths.

Then he saw three towering serpentine necks, over ten meters tall, rise from the mire. Three enormous heads twisted and searched the air, as if seeking an enemy.

From a distance, Chen Gu couldn’t make out the details, but he noted each head was a different color—one red, one blue, one green.

As to whether they were alive or dead, the distance made it impossible to judge from details alone.

But Chen Gu understood one thing: this must be one of the hydra’s heads, or a part of it.

Previously, with the beast dormant, he could ignore its existence. Now, things were different.

“All corpse-eating vines, retreat!”

Chen Gu made his decision instantly, leaping onto his vine-drawn carriage and driving away.

He didn’t stop until he’d put twenty kilometers between himself and the Rotting Marsh.

After about ten minutes, some of his corpse-eating vines began to return.

He took this opportunity to tally their numbers.

He had synthesized and dispatched them without pause, yet only about 517 vines made it back.

This didn’t match the total he’d created; the rest must have perished in the marsh.

Still, there were gains.

Every surviving vine had reached level 3, and some had even advanced to level 4.

Considering they started at level 1, this showed just how fierce the underground fighting had been.

Now that the vines were back at his side, Chen Gu finally understood the situation beneath the Rotting Marsh.

There were about a hundred thousand of those strange bugs below. Not truly living, nor entirely dead, they thrived by clinging to corpses buried deep in the mire.

If separated from the corpse, they wouldn’t pursue. If there were unclaimed corpses nearby, no new bugs would come.

Because of this, once the corpse-eating vines cleared a path, subsequent ones could keep pushing deeper without facing endless waves of enemies.

He had thought things would go more smoothly from there.

But he never expected a massive serpent ball to be lurking in the marsh’s heart.

The three serpent heads he saw earlier were only a fraction of the beast awakened. Beneath the waters, at least eighteen more heads were active.

In battling it, the corpse-eating vines lost at least half their number.

If not for Chen Gu’s order to retreat, perhaps none would have survived.

“A massive serpent ball?”

Chen Gu had considered what might be hidden under the Rotting Marsh, but never imagined this.

“Did those serpents pursue you when you retreated?” he quickly asked.

But the answer was no—the serpent ball hadn’t given chase, seeming to remain in a dormant state unless approached.

An idea struck Chen Gu.

Perhaps this serpent ball was a safeguard left behind by the city of Crow’s Nest.

It might not be bad news after all.

With that, Chen Gu swiftly produced a written command, stamped it with the Breath of the Elf, and beckoned a corpse-eating vine to him.

“Take this back into the marsh. If you encounter the serpent ball, present this to it.”