90: Second-order mission! Term - Absolute domination! (Two chapters in one)

“You have entered the dungeon: Demon Ant Cave - Hell Difficulty!”

As a prompt sounded, Ye Ze appeared in a vast, black and red wasteland.

Looking around, the land before him was as desolate as if it had been eroded by scorching magma, its surface covered in cracks, and grey-black smoke shrouded the sky.

The entire dungeon was a scene of desolation with a faint, scorching aura.

But Ye Ze didn't pay much attention to the scene before him; instead, he was very concerned about the dungeon's name:

“Demon Ant Cave?”

“Simon, is this Demon Race territory?”

“Your father, the Demon King, couldn't possibly sense this place, could he!?”

At the mention of the Demon King, Ye Ze clearly felt his scalp tingle. His current strength meant certain death against the Demon King, so he absolutely couldn't provoke him.

If this dungeon was related to the Demon King, Ye Ze would probably prepare to make a hasty retreat...

He could do without the dungeon, but not without his life!

At this moment, Demon Dragon Simon sensed for a moment, then appeared beside Ye Ze in human form, affirming:

“There's no Demon World aura... It's just a regular dungeon.”

“Although most of the Demon Race reside in the Demon World, many clans are distributed across various worlds, similar to the Human Race...”

Receiving confirmation, Ye Ze's mood eased considerably.

This meant it was likely just an ant dungeon with a few Demon genes... worlds apart from the difficulty of the Demon Race.

“Then I can rest assured...”

Ye Ze thought, then slowly walked towards the black and red wasteland. Since that was the case, speed-running was key, and he could still aim for the first clear!

He copied the Mantis's ‘Void Killing Eye’ and activated its x-ray vision.

At this moment, the wasteland became transparent, and the rock structures beneath the surface were clearly visible...

And not far ahead, on the subsurface, he discovered two or three dozen giant ants with dark black carapaces and reddish feet, crawling outwards.

“Demonized Soldier Ant (Lv.30)”

Type: Rare Monster

Attributes: Strength 500, Constitution 200, Agility 150, Spirit 130

Skills: Immense Strength, Ant Acid Corrosion, Guard

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Compared to other dungeon monsters, ants were particularly effective against strength-based classes, especially Fighters and Warriors.

This was not only because of their high Strength attribute but also because an ant's neck joint could withstand thousands of times its own weight in force... this was a racial advantage.

However, this only applied to direct clashes of strength.

Ye Ze summoned the Fox and chose a traditional yet practical tactic: “Use telekinesis to gather them!”

When his spiritual power was strong enough, controlling enemies with telekinesis was very easy, something Ye Ze had experienced before.

The Fox's eyes glowed purple, and then immense telekinetic power forcibly controlled and pulled the ants' bodies into the air...

Accompanied by the sound of rolling stones.

The dozens of ants before him were all gathered in the sky by telekinesis, forming a spherical 'ball' of ants, unable to move due to the telekinesis.

Ye Ze originally intended for the Fox to use another skill to instantly kill them, but the Demon Dragon spoke first:

“I'll do it!”

From the Demon Dragon's mouth, destructive Black Flame condensed into a giant black fireball.

Annihilation Black Flame!

This was actually a passive legendary skill, meaning the Demon Dragon could release Black Flame in any form, with effects almost identical to a fire mage.

The Black Flame sprayed onto the 'ant ball', instantly causing a violent explosion.

Wave-like flames quickly engulfed the ants, and their screams and wails were drowned out by the roar of the flames.

The grey-black smoke in the sky grew thicker.

“Killed Demonized Soldier Ant, gained experience +1200 (+100%)!”

“Killed Demonized Soldier Ant...”

Dozens of kill prompts instantly popped up, making Ye Ze quite pleased.

“Although the experience from this dungeon isn't much, the number of monsters is truly immense!”

Especially with Ye Ze's 'gather and instantly kill' process, the experience was still considerable, and the monster-killing speed was very fast!

Moreover, merely gathering the monsters didn't consume much of the Fox's spiritual energy.

And these were just the monsters on the surface; one must remember that ant nests are mostly underground, and more monsters are also underground!

Ye Ze activated Void Killing Eye and continued to delve deeper!

Along the way, Ye Ze continued to use the same method to clear out the various ant colonies he encountered—gathering and instantly killing them, rapidly accumulating experience, which was already at 60%.

Furthermore, Ye Ze suddenly noticed that Simon's recent performance had been exceptionally proactive.

Even excessively proactive.

However, with his rich experience from his previous life, Ye Ze immediately understood:

The Demon Dragon wanted to improve!

But thinking about it, after the Demon Dragon was summoned, the Mantis first synthesized a term, greatly increasing its combat power, and then the Fox and Squirrel each received a term.

This led to progress in the strength of each summoned beast.

Only he remained stagnant.

Although the Demon Dragon didn't understand what terms were, he knew that Ye Ze had the ability to make him stronger!

Although the Demon Dragon didn't explicitly say so, it was clear from his actions... he wanted to strive for it!

Realizing this, Ye Ze found himself a bit amused and exasperated.

However, Simon, after all, bore the goal and mission of contending for the Demon King's throne, so he naturally yearned for power.

And for Ye Ze, if Simon could win the Demon King's position, there would naturally be many benefits...

This meant he could have the entire Demon Race as his trump card!

Thinking this, Ye Ze decided that if there were opportunities for future terms, he could consider the Demon Dragon more...

At this moment, he had just arrived at a cave.

The ants on the surface of the wasteland had been cleared, and to continue, he would have to enter the cave, into the ant nest!

The cave stretched endlessly, exceptionally dark, emanating a vast magical power.

After a moment of contemplation, Ye Ze suddenly had an idea:

“Simon, use your Black Flame to directly pour into the cave, keep pouring!”

Burning the ant nest!

Others might not be able to see clearly into this cave; but Ye Ze, with his 'x-ray vision' effect, could naturally see that below was a massive ant colony!

Perhaps having discovered the slaughter of the ants outside, the ant colonies chose to squat in the cave, waiting for Ye Ze.

But Ye Ze chose to directly set fire to it!

Boom—!

Simon opened his Dragon mouth wide, and Annihilation Black Flame poured into the ant cave like a whirlpool!

In just a moment, after the Black Flame fell, screams were incessant, and a strong smell of char spread out.

“Killed Demonized Soldier Ant, gained experience +1200!”

“Killed Demonized Worker Ant, gained experience +1000!”

“Killed Demon Ant, gained experience +2000!”

“Even elite monsters were burned to death?”

Ye Ze smiled; this meant his strategy was very suitable.

Elite monsters, which often posed a great threat to pioneering teams, died without even showing their faces to him.

At the same time, his experience bar also soared...

70%... 80%... 90%!

“I have to say, there are quite a lot of monsters in the ant nest.”

As the Demon Dragon continuously breathed fire, Ye Ze's experience bar quickly maxed out!

“Ding! Your level has increased to: Level 20!”

“Talent—You have gained one 'Infinite Gold Term' draw!”

“Finally, Level 20!”

This also meant that the opportunity for the second class advancement was coming!

Each class advancement granted different rewards, but most were exclusive.

The last reward was an exclusive skill; he wondered what this time would bring...

Ye Ze opened his class panel and clicked the class advancement option:

“You have reached Level 20, you can choose the difficulty for the 2nd Tier Class Quest—”

“1. Normal Advancement, Reward: Summoned Beast Space +1, Attribute Growth +1.”

“2. Advanced Advancement, Reward: Summoned Beast Space +1, Attribute Growth +2.”

“3. Perfect Advancement, Reward: Summoned Beast Space +1, Exclusive Equipment Chest (Fine—Excellent Quality) *1, Attribute Growth +3.”

“4. Supreme Advancement, Reward: Super Summoning Space +1, Exclusive Equipment Chest (Epic Quality or above) *1, Attribute Growth +4!”

----

“There's an exclusive equipment chest! Not bad at all!”

Ye Ze currently only had two pieces of equipment on his entire body, so he was extremely lacking in equipment!

This would be a good opportunity to make up for it.

But what puzzled him was, “Super Summoning Space? I've never heard of that!”

For decades, textbooks had only ever mentioned normal summoning spaces...

Could it be that the 'Mythical Revival' had been activated, leading to a higher cap forProfessional?

Other than that, Ye Ze couldn't think of a reason.

But, who cares!

Not understanding wasn't important; he'd know once he got the rewards!

A Super Summoning Space had to be stronger than a normal one, that was for sure!

“Choose Supreme Difficulty!”

“Ding! You have chosen the Tier 2 Class Advancement Difficulty: Supreme!”

“Successfully randomized the Supreme Advancement Quest: “Genius Must Transcend Tiers”!”

“Transcendental combat isn't difficult for me.”

After all, the quality of Ye Ze's summoned beasts was indeed too high.

However, the quest description made him gasp:

“Genius Must Transcend Tiers”

Quest Content: Directly defeat a Tier 4 Summoner-type professional.

—Who dares to call themselves a genius!

----

“What the hell, transcending tiers means transcending two tiers, doesn't it!?”

A Tier 2 quest requires killing a Tier 4 Summoner!

The most crucial part of this was that most Summoners who could reach Tier 4 were top-tier powerhouses!

Weak Summoners simply couldn't reach Tier 4.

Even Ye Ze's strongest Martial Saint Panda barely reached the attributes of a normal Tier 4...

“To defeat a Tier 4 Summoner, I'm still quite a ways off!”

Ye Ze sighed; he had chosen the quest himself, so he had to do it.

His strength still needed to improve...

Just as Ye Ze was about to draw the Level 20 term, he suddenly noticed the Demon Dragon's flames getting smaller and smaller...

Until the Demon Dragon coughed twice, unable to spray even a wisp of fire.

“Oh no, take a break!” Ye Ze had forgotten to tell him to stop...

The Demon Dragon had been so straightforward that he kept spraying until there was nothing left.

Ye Ze quickly took out a bottle of mana potion and poured it down the Demon Dragon's throat, then put him back into the Summoned Beast Space.

Being in the space also had the effect of restoring spirit and stamina.

At this point, the ants inside the cave had mostly been cleared out.

In his x-ray vision, he could see only one 'Ant Queen' remaining, hiding in the deepest part, and she was the strongest, a Level 40 Epic boss!

Ye Ze thought for a moment, then summoned the Mantis to 1v1.

With Void Shuttle and the ability to foresee opponent's movements from Void Killing Eye, the Mantis was basically invincible in single combat.

Dealing with a slow-moving Ant Queen was more than enough.

After sending out the Mantis, Ye Ze began to draw a new term!

The 20th one...

“You have drawn a Gold Legendary Tier: Absolute Domination!”

“Absolute Domination: Absolute control and domination over enemies; effects vary based on the difference in attributes and status between you and the enemy.”

Control and domination over enemies?

Ye Ze pondered for a moment; it seemed to be a control-type skill.

The specific effects would probably only be known after it was granted.

Although Ye Ze wanted to make the Demon Dragon stronger, this term wasn't combat-oriented.

The Demon Dragon could wait for the next term.

Perhaps when the Demon Dragon became the Demon King in the future, the 'status difference' effect in 'Absolute Domination' would become apparent.

For now, “I'll give it to myself.”

“Term 'Absolute Domination' successfully granted!”

A prompt sounded, and Ye Ze looked at his changes.

He suddenly discovered that a new skill had appeared in his skill bar:

“Absolute Domination: Select a target, making their mind and body unconditionally obey your commands for 1 hour, cooldown 2 hours.”

(Note: Success rate is affected by the difference in attributes and status between you and the enemy.)

“Their mind and body unconditionally obey me?”

Ye Ze's smile suddenly became perverse.

Although the cooldown was 2 hours, he had Martial Arts Mastery' 80% cooldown reduction, allowing for infinite control.

The only problem was the success rate...

“If it really doesn't work, I can give it to other summoned beasts; their attributes will be higher, so the success rate might be higher.”

Ye Ze thought, planning to try it out when he had a chance next time.

He just didn't know if his honorary gold medal counted as a type of status...

At this moment, the Mantis reported success:

“Killed Boss - Demon Ant Queen, gained experience +10000 (+100%)!”

“Congratulations on your first clear of 'Demon Ant Cave', you have received Hell Difficulty First Clear Reward: Experience +10000 (+100%), First Clear Chest *1!”

Another twenty thousand experience, plus a treasure chest, had arrived!

This efficiency was quite high.

Ye Ze temporarily put the treasure chest into his backpack and went down into the cave to collect the items dropped by the Ant Queen...

In the deepest part of the ant nest, the Mantis floated above the Ant Queen's corpse. The giant Ant Queen's corpse was seven or eight meters long, and its tail still exuded demonic energy.

However, after a moment, the corpse disappeared, leaving only two Epic pieces of equipment.

“Damn, that's stingy.”

Ye Ze complained, but fortunately, both pieces were high-star Epic equipment, four-star and five-star, so their value was decent.

But at this moment.

Ye Ze, who had been using his x-ray vision all the way down, suddenly discovered an anomaly in the deepest part of the nest behind the Ant Queen...

A dark vortex! Just like a dungeon portal!

“Could there be a hidden dungeon within this dungeon?”

This kind of in-dungeon portal was something Ye Ze had never encountered before.

It was difficult to judge at once.

And he didn't know what kind of enemies would be on the other side of the portal?

Ye Ze thought for a moment, summoned the Squirrel, and chose to use Auspiciousness and Avoiding Evil's intuition to sense it.

The result... he didn't feel any danger!

He felt much more at ease!

Ye Ze was relieved, as such hidden dungeons would surely offer no small rewards.

He also touched his 'Escape Talisman' just in case; if anything went wrong, he could still run!

Ready, Ye Ze stepped into the hidden portal...