Ashen God
Chapter 259 - 258: You Think I’m on the Fifth Floor, But Actually I’m on the Minus First Floor

Chapter 259: Chapter 258: You Think I’m on the Fifth Floor, But Actually I’m on the Minus First Floor

Zhang Yanhang had currently designated an area that was approximately one square kilometer in size. In theory, given Zhang Yanhang’s current movement speed, he should be able to clear it quite quickly.

However, the structure of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest differed completely from that of Raccoon City, which resulted in a certain difference in clearing efficiency between the two.

Raccoon City featured open spaces where one could walk anywhere they pleased; and if it became too troublesome, one could simply jump from buildings or break through walls.

The Crimson Iron Ant Nest, by and large, contained only the various tunnels and branch paths excavated by the Crimson Iron Ants. To navigate successfully through it, one had to dutifully follow these branching paths with unknown ends and the many winding passages.

Moreover, situated within the Crimson Iron Ore Vein, the place was filled with walls made of sturdy crimson iron ore; the possibility of breaking through these walls and walking anywhere one wished was wholly absent. These two major environmental factors, taken together, made clearing the Raccoon City significantly different from clearing the Crimson Iron Ant Nest.

For this reason, the Crimson Iron Ant Nest was in some ways quite similar to a sewer system. However, what set it apart from sewers was the abundance of monsters. Almost every branch path contained monsters, with the denser ones harboring an entire squad, around ten Crimson Iron Ants, and the less populated ones containing just two or three solitary Crimson Iron Ants.

This made every branch path worth clearing for Zhang Yanhang, and so, even though his hunting efficiency had improved, he had yet to clear even a square kilometer of the area after half an hour due to needing to clear all the branch paths.

Even so, Zhang Yan felt he should be able to entirely clear this one square kilometer area very soon, probably in no more than another ten minutes or so.

Whether it was because the Advanced Crimson Iron Ants were slow to react or due to some other reason, Zhang Yanhang had initially thought that the nearby Crimson Iron Worker Ants might all be summoned away.

Contrary to expectations, even after Zhang Yanhang had just eliminated over two thousand Crimson Iron Ants, these remaining Crimson Iron Worker Ants were still at their posts, showing basically no change from when Zhang Yanhang had last visited—and even the monster density was about the same.

Zhang Yanhang had always believed that the batch of Crimson Iron Worker Ants and Crimson Iron Flying Ants used to besiege him had been summoned from the vicinity. But now, it seemed likely he had guessed wrong, as the density of the nearby Crimson Iron Worker Ants had not changed.

Therefore, it could be deduced that the batch of Crimson Iron Worker Ants that had attacked him previously must have been mobilized from a distant location by the Advanced Crimson Iron Ants. It was quite puzzling; he had an abundance of Crimson Iron Worker Ants nearby, yet they preferred to summon help from afar, which was rather incomprehensible.

But Zhang Yanhang was not inclined to theorize about the reasons because it was quite possible that the thinking patterns of the Crimson Iron Ants were simply peculiar. Moreover, he felt that if he were to ponder such matters, it was easy to slip into thinking that the Crimson Iron Ants were on the fifth level when in fact they were on the minus first level.

Although it had been half an hour, Zhang Yanhang still hadn’t managed to erase all the monsters within this square kilometer area; nonetheless, his hunting efficiency had indeed improved.

Zhang Yanhang remembered that the last time he was clearing monsters in the Crimson Iron Ant Nest, even after deliberately taking paths with a higher monster density and spending over an hour, he had only managed to kill just over a hundred Crimson Iron Ants.

But now, even though he had only been clearing for half an hour, he had already eliminated nearly two hundred Crimson Iron Ants, which meant his efficiency had more or less tripled compared to before.

This was quite normal, given that his movement speed alone had nearly doubled since then, and with the addition of the Death Wave Skill, a threefold increase in efficiency was understandably reasonable.

With the entire Crimson Iron Ant Nest covering only forty square kilometers, Zhang Yanhang quickly estimated, at a rate of forty minutes to clear one square kilometer, that it would take one thousand six hundred minutes to clear the entire Nest. Converting that to hours, it would be around twenty-seven hours.

"Even if the Advanced Crimson Iron Ants don’t organize a large force to besiege me, at most, I only need to work continuously for twenty-seven hours to completely clear the entire Crimson Iron Ant Nest. The hunting efficiency from my First Tier Period really can’t compare to now.

However, it’s a pity that although my physical strength improved due to my Constitution Attribute reaching the Second Tier Limit, I still cannot manage to work continuously for twenty-seven hours."

Since he had only begun working half an hour ago, Zhang Yanhang didn’t yet know how long he could maintain continuous work before needing to rest, but even with a conservative estimate, he felt he could work for at least six hours straight before requiring rest.

Since physical strength did not have a specific numerical value, Zhang Yanhang could only vaguely estimate how much stronger his physical strength was compared to the First Tier Period—it was definitely at least more than eightfold.

Using the simplest calculation, an eightfold increase in physical strength would mean his endurance time also increased by eightfold, which is to say, it would go from the previous two hours to sixteen. However, calculating physical strength consumption wasn’t that straightforward.

Since Zhang Yanhang’s movement speed had increased, it naturally meant that the physical strength needed for mobility had also increased; hence, the relationship between physical strength and endurance time could not possibly be as simple as multiplying by eight.

Furthermore, with Zhang Yanhang occasionally activating the Death Wave Skill to hunt monsters, his physical strength consumption increased further, thereby reducing his endurance time accordingly.

Considering other factors as well, Zhang Yanhang speculated that although his physical strength had increased by at least eight times, he had only estimated six hours of endurance time for himself.

Of course, this estimated endurance time was not particularly reliable. The actual amount of time he could continue clearing before getting tired could only be ascertained through practical experience.

As a side note, the six-hour endurance time Zhang Yanhang estimated for himself was a conservative estimate because he felt that during this time, he might adjust the frequency of using the Death Wave Skill depending on the specific circumstances.