Chapter 495: Chapter 495: Black Lake

Song Jian returned to the previous fork and chose another passage to continue forward.

Demonic Soldier Ants swarmed towards him; each time Song Jian advanced one meter, he had to kill several, even a dozen of them.

Without the Ant Soul Orb, regardless of Song Jian’s strength, he could only seek to retreat under the tide-like attack of Demonized Soldier Ants, and it would be impossible to continue deeper.

The Demonic Ant Nest was dark and gloomy, and Song Jian didn’t know how long he had been killing. Unconsciously, the number of Demonized Soldier Ants blocking his way had become fewer, while more and more bodies of the slain ants were left behind. If it wasn’t for their self-immolation after a while, the entire passage would be full of Demonized Soldier Ant corpses.

After an unknown period, Song Jian suddenly found himself in a bright open space, and a vast black lake appeared before him.

Above the lake, a five or six-meter-long spatial rift stood in mid-air. Endless black breath came out from the rift, which both consolidated the rift and continuously merged into the lake below.

The black lake covered a large area, and Song Jian couldn’t see its end. As the black breath infused the lake, its surface continuously churned and occasionally bubbles emerged, like boiling water.

In the black lake, there was a small island where nothing grew, only a huge, golden ant lay, bound tightly by black chains. Some chains had even embedded themselves into the hard shell of the golden ant.

Song Jian saw that numerous golden ant eggs radiated around the golden ant, forming an incubation chamber similar to the previous one. The only difference here was that the ant eggs were much larger, while their quantity was several times less.

Just then, a huge golden ant egg suddenly burst open, and a wet ant squeezed out. As soon as it appeared, it flapped its wings and gave a roar towards the big ant bound by black chains.

“This is… an Ant King?” Song Jian stared in amazement at the newly hatched golden ant, not expecting that all the golden ant eggs would hatch into Golden Ant Kings.

Buzz~

With a soft vibration, the newborn Ant King rushed towards the ant bound by the black chains, and the moment it approached, it flapped its mandibles savagely biting the chains.

Puff, puff, puff~

Acid continuously sprayed from the Ant King’s mouth. Upon contact with the chains, it caused a violent reaction, and the sound of corrosion was endless.

However, as soon as the black chains were damaged, the spatial rift above released a vast amount of black breath, which continuously attached to the chains, repairing them.

The huge ant bound by the black chains didn’t move at all, as if dead, allowing the Golden Ant King to struggle against the chains using its acid.

But it didn’t take long for the surrounding black breath to surge towards the Golden Ant King. Numerous strands of black breath transformed into ropes and bound the Golden Ant King entirely before slowly dragging it into the black lake.

Song Jian suddenly found this scene familiar, as if it resembled the Summoning of the Abyss he used previously to enslave the Golden Ant King.

“Abyssal Power, I didn’t expect this place to be corrupted by the Abyssal Power too…” Song Jian was at a loss for words. Although he also borrowed the power of the Abyss, seeing this scene made him feel a sense of heaviness in his heart.

Song Jian observed that golden ant eggs continuously hatched, and all the emerging ants were Golden Ant Kings. Their first action after hatching was to pounce on the huge golden ant bound by black chains, using acid, mandibles, fangs, claws, and any means necessary to try to free the giant golden ant.

However, due to the existence of the spatial rift in the air, black Abyssal energy continuously surged out. If the black chains were damaged, it would quickly merge with them and fully repair the damage.

Song Jian was convinced that the black chains on the giant golden ant were condensed by Abyssal energy, and were very much similar to the chains he summoned during the Abyss Temptation.

The newly hatched Golden Ant Kings were soon bound by the ropes condensed from the Abyssal energy and dragged into the black lake, never to be seen again.

Song Jian could sense that the giant golden ant on the island was resisting the Abyssal Power with all its strength. A thin golden light barrier enveloped its body, and it continued to resist the invasiveness of the black chains even though they had deeply buried into its shell.

However, all it could do was resist with all its might. But due to the existence of the spatial rift in the air, the continuous flow of Abyssal energy meant that, if it didn’t have any other means, it would eventually be corroded by the Abyssal energy and turn into an Abyssal creature.

At that moment, Song Jian saw that the edge of the black lake began to churn vigorously, as if bubbling like lava. A pitch-black Ant King slowly emerged from the water.

“A Demonized Ant King, this is… a Demonized Ant King?” Song Jian stared at the Ant King that had just emerged from the lake, with a look of surprise on his face.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind. Could it be that all the Demonized Ant Kings in this nest were produced like this? Were the Golden Ant Kings dragged into the lake, transformed into Demonized Ant Kings after being corroded? But this didn’t add up!

The Demonized Ant King that emerged from the lake turned its head to look in the direction of the island. Its crimson eyes glared and opened its mandibles, roaring loudly before slowly walking towards a passage.

At this moment, Song Jian saw the motionless golden ant suddenly open its eyes to look at the Demonized Ant King, its gaze full of helplessness and sadness.

Song Jian hesitated for a moment, glanced at the newly transformed Demonized Ant King, and moved towards the black lake.

He could sense that the black lake was filled with rich Abyssal Power, and any ordinary creature that came close would likely be transformed into an Abyssal creature immediately.

The moment Song Jian approached the black lake, five or six black tentacles suddenly shot out from the churning waters, flying towards him.

…