Chapter 159: Army Ants

"Roar~~!!" The fake dragon led the way at the front, its formidable dragon roar causing all the living creatures in the forest to flee in panic.

Even entering the territory of magical beasts did not matter, because beasts below the fourth tier would scatter into the unknown simply upon hearing the dragon's roar, daring to return only after the dragon had departed.

Guided by the dragon, the kobold army advanced unimpeded, quickly arriving at the saltpeter cave that Jia Zhengjin had discovered yesterday.

The gigantic fake dragon was left outside the cave to keep watch.

Jia Zhengjin led Zhuoma, Karl, and more than two thousand kobolds into the spacious cavern.

Everyone raised their torches, illuminating every corner within.

"Listen up, everyone! There might be some weird creatures inside, so keep your guards up!" Jia Zhengjin shouted loudly. "Now, on my command, march inside!"

Upon receiving the order, the kobold troops immediately began pushing further inward.

"Whoosh!" Just a few steps in, the strange black shadow from yesterday appeared once more.

"Hah!!" Zhuoma reacted swiftly, rushing forward and striking with an axe.

"Squeak~~" The black shadow instantly shriveled up.

[System Message]: Zhuoma killed a Fungus Ball. You gained 40 experience points!

"A fungus ball?" Jia Zhengjin walked forward, thinking to himself that this shadow was actually quite weak.

He reached out and felt around.

[System Message]: You obtained Fungus Spores!

[System Message]: You obtained Delicious Mushroom Meat!

Fungus spores were plantable seeds. Once grown, they probably yielded these slime-like black shadows. However, these things seemed aggressive; planting them in the city might endanger the children.

Delicious mushroom meat was edible food. After taking a bite, he found it slightly sweet and genuinely delicious!

Moving further in, there were about a dozen more of these fungus balls.

Zhuoma and Karl attacked from both sides, dispatching them all effortlessly before the kobold troops even had time to react.

These fungus balls seemed to drop only spores and mushroom meat, with no other loot.

"Start mining!" After advancing a distance and discovering a large amount of saltpeter ore, Jia Zhengjin gave the order immediately.

The kobold miners went straight to work, rapidly chiseling away in the torchlight.

Jia Zhengjin left 500 kobold warriors behind to protect the 100 miners at work, then said to Zhuoma and Karl, "Let's go take a look further inside!"

"Understood!" Zhuoma and the werewolf Karl immediately took the lead to clear the path.

The further they went into this cavern, the wider and more spacious it became!

After entering, Jia Zhengjin even felt a bit worried about whether the stone layer above might collapse.

The cave was filled with stalactites hanging from the ceiling and standing tall from the ground, countless in all sizes. Viewed from a distance, one would definitely mistake it for the mouth of a gigantic monster, with the stalactites serving as its dense, sharp teeth!

Although there was plenty of natural water inside, the humidity wasn't particularly high, and the air even felt somewhat dry.

Crucially, saltpeter ore was everywhere near the stalactite layers. This was practically a treasure trove of saltpeter! If they mined all of it and brought it back, how much gunpowder could they make? Jia Zhengjin was thrilled.

"There are many more caves inside!" Zhuoma observed carefully. "This is too huge!"

"The bigger, the better!" Jia Zhengjin laughed. "Ideally, it's full of ore, and then I'll never have to worry about gunpowder production again!"

Just as he was speaking, he suddenly heard a strange sound of footsteps.

"Clack, clack..." The sudden appearance of the sound was already eerie enough, and with the cave echoes, it felt even more terrifying.

"Is there something inside?" Jia Zhengjin prudently retreated into the formation, having Zhuoma and Karl guard his flanks.

The kobold troops immediately stepped forward, assuming a combat-ready stance.

"Shh~~" Hearing the sound getting closer, Jia Zhengjin made a gesture for silence.

After a moment, a skeleton clad in iron armor and wielding an iron sword walked out from one of the caves. The moment it emerged and spotted living beings, it immediately broke into a sprint and charged forward.

"Crap! This shouldn't be a graveyard, right?" Jia Zhengjin was startled.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!!" The skeleton was truly unfortunate. Before it could even reach Jia Zhengjin, it was instantly riddled with holes like a honeycomb by a volley from hundreds of kobold cross-bowmen, and its head was shot clean off.

[System Message]: Kobold Cross-bowmen killed a Skeleton Swordsman. You gained 35 experience points!

"So vulnerable?" Jia Zhengjin quickly walked over to collect the loot.

[System Message]: You obtained an [Iron Helmet]!

[System Message]: You obtained [Iron Armor]!

[System Message]: You obtained an [Iron Longsword]!

[System Message]: You obtained [Iron Greaves]!

[System Message]: You obtained [Iron Boots]!

[System Message]: You obtained [Bone Powder]!

The skeleton swordsman dropped all the iron weapons and armor it had been wearing, along with a pinch of bone powder, leaving Jia Zhengjin speechless: "What a poor ghost! Could the whole place be filled with such paupers? That would be so boring! At least send out some monsters that drop good loot!"

"Rustle, rustle!" Just as his voice trailed off, the echoed sound of dense footsteps reached his ears.

"Didn't I say to be quiet?" Jia Zhengjin turned back and cast a displeased glance at the kobold troops. However, he found that the kobolds hadn't moved at all. Then where was this noisy, flood-like sound of footsteps coming from?

"Lord Keane," Zhuoma raised her great axe and watched the front warily, "so many are coming!"

"The scent of insects~~" Karl lifted his nose to sniff, then turned to tell him.

"Insects?" Jia Zhengjin was about to ask what kind of insects, when out of the countless cave entrances before him, an astonishing number of ants—appearing quite literally like a flood—instantly surged forth!

These ants were cyan all over, as large as adult water buffaloes, and their mandibles, resembling two scythes, collided to make a bone-chilling clacking sound.

"Crap! This quantity..." Cold sweat streamed down Jia Zhengjin's forehead. Anyone with trypophobia might have fainted on the spot. In just a few seconds, several thousand giant ants had already appeared, and their numbers were still increasing.

Seeing Jia Zhengjin and the others who had broken into the cave, they immediately let out threatening roars, then swarmed forward in a rush. War was about to break out instantly!

"Spit fire!!" Jia Zhengjin hurriedly put on the Tiger Mask, spewing raging flames from his mouth to incinerate the giant ants.

Zhuoma brandished her great axe and charged head-on, fighting frantically amidst the ever-growing swarm of ants.

[System Message]: You killed a Legion Ant. You gained 2 experience points!

[System Message]: Zhuoma killed a Legion Ant. You gained 2 experience points!

...

Karl also joined the battle immediately, and the kobolds lined up in formation. An exceptionally fierce battle thus commenced!

Fortunately, although the legion ants were terrifyingly numerous—numbering at least tens of thousands—their combat power was so weak that even the kobolds could easily shoot them down. As for Zhuoma and Karl, it was even more exaggerated, akin to effortless reaping.

The experience per kill was indeed low, but it couldn't withstand the sheer volume!