Chapter 676: Chapter 676

After the initial groundwork, the territory began to develop massively, given the increased population.

These local denizens were not just limited to building for the territory, on the contrary, the actual manpower needed for building infrastructure was not very high. These locals would cultivate and do some things that normal citizens do during their everyday lives.

Given the abundant resources in most cases, even if all the local residents were engaged in cultivation, Du You did not mind at all.

The main reason why others kept their cultivation secret skills to themselves was to secure their own positions. But these recruited local residents, they were completely unconcerned about this.

As for outsiders, Du You openly declared that he was concentrating fully on cultivation and territory development, essentially stopping to entertain visitors. Other than Luo Jia, who was on high alert for attacks from the Kingdom of Hanhai, the affairs were handled by Shaliya.

As the territory progressed to the third-tier, more astute individuals started appearing among the local residents. While there was no immediate need for too many administrators on the military side, Shaliya needed more people to manage domestic affairs.

Therefore, a large managing system gradually started taking shape. Everyone was focused either on costal combat or on the development of Du You’s territory.

Although the name of the territory was still ’Mountain Town’ on the panel, it was referred to differently by others.

The territory of Du You was now called ’Mountain City’. The term referred to the cities nestled in between the mountains, implying that it was not just one city, but several connected cities.

At the moment, Du You and his sisters quietly left the territory and secretly entered the Divine Flame Empire.

The Divine Flame Empire was not just prosperous. Contrarily, there were many forbidden areas within. Du You chose to focus on a few forbidden areas on the southern border to level up by killing monsters.

The first place Du You chose was the Great Black Mountain. He chose this place as there were no people around, because the only creature inhabiting this place were ants. But these were not ordinary ants, these were elephant-sized ants which inhabited the entire mountain range.

"Let’s start here. Most of them are two-tiered, but there’s also a good amount of three-tiered ants. However, the level of the three-tiered ants usually does not pass 23, and higher-level ones are fewer in amount which is suitable for leveling up," Du You said, gesturing toward the mountains below. From there, a multitude of ants could be seen crawling everywhere. Those suffering from fear of dense spaces would probably tremble.

"I can’t see any three-tiered ants." Lin Yucha said, puzzled.

"Ants are creatures of clear hierarchy. Since this area has been occupied, high-ranked ants do not appear. The three-tiered ones are generally soldier ants, the ones especially meant to fight."

Controlling their descent, Du You and his sisters landed. Lin Yucha waved her hand and faint golden clouds appeared and floated on the ground. The place was not safe, they had no way of knowing what the ants had done to ground below. This update ıs available on 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕·𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎·𝚗𝚎𝚝

However, they also did not float too high, because if the ants could not reach them, they would not attack, which would not be good.

"Let’s start from here. I’ll go first." Du You waved his hand and cast a large Dark Swamp spell. A large amount of sticky solution spread, swallowing the nearby ants and quickly poisoning them to death.

Without pausing, Du You cast a few Putrid Insect Mists, a spell he had not used in a while. Since there were no outsiders now, he could use it freely for leveling up.

Stronger, higher-level Carrion Dark Scarabs began to eat the dead ants, and their numbers started to increase.

Meanwhile, the ants realized something was wrong when they sensed a different kind of presence in their domain. As a response, countless ants crawled out of their burrows and rushed towards Du You.

A huge amount of ants began to race towards them fearlessly: there were ordinary ants as well as soldier ants. A great number of third-tier ants appeared and they were not afraid of anything in their path.

Soon, a large number of flying ants appeared in the sky, each of them were third-tier.

"What a dangerous place. If average folks were here, even a fourth-tier individual without special abilities could be easily swallowed up by these ants." Lin Yushi was shocked.

"Not just fourth-tier, without special abilities even a fifth-tier expert could be dragged to death in such a place. Also, those sixth-tier folks from the empire obviously wouldn’t come to such a desolate place to deal with these ants, so it has become a desperate place."

This place may not be appreciated by the Empire’s upper echelons, but for the average citizens of the Empire, it is extremely dangerous. Not only is it dangerous, it also lacks benefits. So no one lives within dozens of miles of this area.

"Luckily we have the ability for group kills, just a pity that we two can’t help much," Lin Yucha said glumly.

Her skills were suitable for assassination, dealing with individual targets, her destructive power is not any less than Du You’s. Moreover, Lin Yushi was suitable for battle and tackling a target, but there were too many ants.

Without special skills, Lin Yushi could only rely on her general attack methods, probably using up all her magic power but still not killing many ants.

Speaking of it, without the Putrid Insect Mist and his Slaughter Badge for recovery, Du You also wouldn’t be here killing ants. But having these two skills, Du You could execute a group kill provided that he wasn’t met with a stronger opponent.

"It’s okay, let’s create a few suitable skills later on. Such a large-scale battle isn’t encountered so frequently." Even his Heavenly Disaster Demonic Dogs could not participate in such a battle.

Facing a large amount of ants, the recovery ability of the Heavenly Disaster Demonic Dogs could not keep up with the ants’ attack.

Du You didn’t turn on his halo, because it was useless in this situation. However, Du You had an idea and opened the Resentful Souls Domain. The Resentful Souls Domain damaged the ants’ souls, which was their weakness. Ironically, it also preserved their bodies, providing food for the Carrion Dark Scarabs.

When the magic is fully deployed, the recovery provided by the Slaughter Badge becomes very powerful for Du You. The Resentful Souls Domain costs very little, which could not keep up with his recovery speed, making it seem like the magic power was somewhat wasted.

After a thought, Du You started casting magic in the distance. In the air, a magic array appeared, brief fireballs started to brew in the middle. Du You was preparing to use the Destruction Flames on the ants located at a far distance.

There were so many ants here, even if he destroyed some, it would not affect the number of his Carrion Dark Scarabs. Looking around, it was swarming with a large patch of darkness. From afar, the place looked as if it was surrounded by darkness.