Chapter 549 - Dungeon Siege (2)
Chapter 549 – Dungeon Siege (2)
BOOM
A humanoid ant kept bypassing walls and floors, heading back and forth between floors. He disabled traps while he scouted for a way to avoid the majority of golem soldiers and monsters in the dungeon.
Following after the humanoid ant was the army of giant soldier ants. They spread around the dungeon and cleared the path for worker ants, which came after the vanguard team.
The worker ants showed up and began digging through the dungeon walls, floors, and soil to create a new passage for the soldiers. They followed the scent of their general, who had gone ahead and disabled traps for them.
Whenever these ant workers discovered a dangerous area, the soldier team rushed in while the workers retreated to a safe place.
Moreover, there wasn't only one breached area in the dungeon. There was more than one ant general.
RUMBLE
Aside from the humanoid ant, three five-meter-tall metallic ants broke through three other sectors and connected the hive to the dungeon.
These metal ants were the few creatures that successfully digested Nero's diluted blood, which Liu Guang had given to the ant queen. They obtained the toughness of a metal dragon, and their physical prowess was on par with an 8th-stage cultivator.
These ants simply acted as vanguards, destroying traps and golems in the dungeon while using its body to protect their subordinates.
For an hour, these ant generals paved the path for their team, and worker ants followed them, digging through walls and floors.
However, they soon lost the initiative when a man in a black suit came out with a sci-fi-looking rifle.
The black suit man aimed his rifle at the giant ants and pulled the trigger. Then, a red laser beam devoured every ant in its path, instantly evaporating the ant general and soldiers ants.
Brocell clicked his tongue as he ejected the used cartridge and reloaded a new one in the chamber. He readjusted his beam rifle and took aim.
He pulled the trigger again, and the surviving soldier ants were melted.
Brocell ejected the second cartridge and placed his palm on the dungeon floor.
RUMBLE
Suddenly, the dungeon consumed Brocell's energy and repaired itself. All dug walls and floors were closed, isolating numerous ants in the dungeon.
Brocell covered one of his ears with his free hand and shouted, "Pixie, where are the other ant leaders?"
A second later, he heard the voice of the robot operator.
'Two ant leaders are in Sector F, the 389th floor. The shadow monster is moving in a circle between the 399th floor and the 350th floor. I think the giant ants are their decoys while the shadow monster is the main attacker.'
"Leave the giant ants to the dungeon traps and golems. Move dungeon floors around and try to confuse that shadow monster. Pinpoint his location and display it on my system screen. I'll find him!"
'Roger. Marking the intruder on your system.'
BEEP
A semi-transparent screen appeared in front of Brocell, showing the 3D map of the dungeon. It also showed the location of all intruders, traps, sentries, and golems.
The map highlighted one of the intruders, showing a large red dot.
Brocell took note of the location and navigated his way to the target. He ignored the injured ants, leaving the clean-up duty to his golems and the operator.
But before he could reach the mysterious humanoid ant, the ground trembled.
BOOOOOOOM
Something hit the surface of the dungeon from above, and it broke the protective barrier. A massive tree root suddenly penetrated through several floors of the dungeon and dug into the 200th floor.
From a glance, this tree root was at least a kilometer in diameter. Brocell felt like a finger of god just shoved into his dungeon.
Brocell stopped running and looked at his map. The 3D map showed the image of a gigantic wood dragon, which was extending its roots from its feet.
As if the dragon could see Brocell's system, it turned around.
From Brocell's perspective, the dragon looked into his eyes!
"Wood dragon… Mao Miaomiao?!"
Brocell had gathered intels about Miaomiao and his power. He recognized Miaomiao's Wood Dragon appearance.
Realizing that Miaomiao was attacking his dungeon, Brocell's face grimaced, "Challenge accepted! Mao Miaomiao, you are not the first cultivator that attempted to attack my dungeon. I killed several cheaters like you before, and I know how to handle your trick!"
Brocell pressed his palms against the dungeon wall, commanding the entire structure again.
Several floors were removed, and the remaining dungeon floor shuffled. The last floor, aka the 400th floor, was shifted to the 100th floor. As for the deepest floor, there was nothing but empty rooms and holes.
Furthermore, the entire dungeon controlled the soil around itself. It squeezed the tree root of the wood dragon, slowly crushing it.
But suddenly, the tree root transformed into a black metallic object. Then, its surface transformed into a thousand small spikes.
Then, those spikes extended and expanded, creating metal branches of the root!
The sudden expansion of the root negated the crushing power of the dungeon and threatened to separate Brocell dungeon in half!
Brocell broke a sweat. He gulped and paced his breathe.
Then, he opened a small hole in the ceiling and jumped up. He flew to the surface!
As soon as Brocell got out of his dungeon, he found the massive dragon, who had transformed into a metal dragon.
"Mao Miaomiao, what's the meaning of this?!" Brocell yelled at the dragon.
"Oh, you're out already? Is dungeon master supposed to leave his dungeon in a fight?" The metal dragon sneered.
"What have I ever done to you? Why are you attacking my home?!"
The dragon opened his mouth. Energy swelled in his throat as Miaomiao gathered his strength to fire a Dragon Breathe.
Brocell stopped talking and point his beam rifle's muzzle at Miaomiao's mouth.
Brocell pulled the trigger first, but Miaomiao also fired a dragon beam at Brocell.
As soon as the beams collided, the dragon energy pushed back the energy of the beam rifle. Brocell's weapon couldn't overpower Miaomiao's raw element Qi.
Brocell dove back into his dungeon and dodge the Dragon Breathe. He entered the hole that he had created and sealed it, preventing Miaomiao from following him into the dungeon.
…
Miaomiao, in his dragon form, laughed at Brocell when the latter ran back away.
Unfortunately, before Miaomiao could pinpoint Brocell's karma string of existence, the latter already fled. Still, Miaomiao managed to grasp Brocell's general location, using the karma string of hatred as a guide.
Since Miaomiao had established a karma connection with Brocell, he decided to send some karma centipedes, using the threads as the medium.
He also wondered if he could weaken the dungeon master with other curses. However, Death Curse of Diaochan wasn't a good choice since it would take too long to kill the dungeon lord.
He then glanced at Liu Guang and Guo Jia, who were standing by, waiting for his instruction.
Miaomiao lifted his front legs and detached the metal root, which had been attached to his feet earlier.
The root was hollow. The space was enough for a million giant bugs to dive in.
"As you have planned, Guo Jia. From now on, you give the command. Whatever you want me to do, just say it."
Miaomiao delegated the command to Guo Jia instead of controlling the battle himself.
Guo Jia nodded. He pointed at the hollowed metal root, "Your Majesty, please deploy soldiers that are immune to the fire element and extreme heat into the hole."
"Fire Element?" Liu Guang wondered what Guo Jia was trying to do. She looked at Miaomiao, but the latter gestured that she should follow the strategist's instruction.
"Okay."
Liu Guang nodded and summoned a thousand sandworms, which could sustain and survive in an extreme environment. They also cultivated fire element and earth element Qi, so their fire resistance was better than other bugs.
Unfortunately, the strength of these bugs was only comparable to a 6th-stage cultivator. They couldn't use domain power, and they didn't have Soul Qi.
Guo Jia frowned as he wasn't satisfied with Liu Guang's choice, but he didn't complain. He turned to Miaomiao, "Please enhance these worms with your power, my lord."
"How should I enhance them?" Miaomiao was curious.
"I've heard about your luck power and karmic power from Lord Xie Tian. Please give them the power of negative karma. Also, you must transform into one of the worms and enter the hole that you created."
"…"
Miaomiao shrugged and shape-shifted into a giant sandworm. He opened his mouth and showed the sharp teeth to Liu Guang and Guo Jia.
"It's disgusting, but it's fun. Guang'er, want me to use this form the next time we dual-cultivate?"
"No, thanks," Liu Guang was speechless. She didn't want to imagine doing him in that appearance. It would have been a nightmare-inducing experience instead.
Miaomiao giggled and jumped into the hole in the metal root. The other sandworms followed after Miaomiao.
Soon, the hole was filled to the brim as there was no exit.
Guo Jia sent his next order, transmitting his voice to Miaomiao's mind, "Next, increase the temperature of the metal root. Make it hotter than Hell Flame!"
Miaomiao's loud voice soon echoed in Guo Jia's head, 'Are you trying to cook me alive?!'
"No. I'm camouflaging our attack. Just do what I said."
'Alright.'
The black metal root suddenly turned bright red as if they were smelted ore or magma. The temperature sharply rose.
"Next, expand your roots. Spread the branches around with those burning metal!"
…
After Brocell returned to his dungeon, he stopped pursuing Miaomiao. Instead, he resumed his plan, targeting the shadow monster.
He rushed toward the humanoid ant that could shadow teleport. Soon, he found the guy.
When Brocell could see the humanoid ant's face, he bellowed, "It's really you, Wang Yun!"
Wang Yun, aka Mike, had been resurrected as an ant general. His arms, legs, and torso were covered in strange red shells, but his face was still recognizable. He also had six extra arms, which extended from his back.
Wang Yun sneered at Brocell, "Hello there. I heard you have a lot of guns, so I'm here shopping. Can I see your wares?"
Brocell's face darkened, "The shop is closed, dear customer. Please leave. You are not welcome here."
"That's a pity," Wang Yun chuckled. He brought out a cigar from a spatial ring and lit it.
While puffing the smoke, six long arms behind Wang Yun pointed the tips at Brocell.
The tips of the strange six arms suddenly transformed into gun barrels.
"Since you're not open for business, I'll just rob you! Hand over your treasure and your dungeon core!!"
Wang Yun's six arms spat fire and a hundred air bullets rained upon Brocell!