Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Tang Yue happily joined the salamander and allowed her body to be pulled towards it. 

She then casually walked into the center of the spiraling firestorm and gazed at the big round eyes of the Emperor beast.

"You called me and I am here. What now?" She chuckled.

The salamander watched her incredulously as its powerful lava flames did not even tickle her body.

It even watched her spit on the flames as if they were beneath her. The flames that were hot enough to instantly vaporize her spit into violet-black gaseous fumes did not affect her at all.

Just how thick was her skin? Was she made of fire? Its four short chubby legs suddenly felt weak and its head felt hazy.

"What… What is happening?" 

The beast blinked in puzzlement as it slowly lost its consciousness and a few seconds later, dropped dead, without even knowing what killed it.

Until the last moment, it could only stare at her in fear.

"Heh. Your skin might be thick enough to block my poisonous sword but what about your nostrils?"

Tang Yue smiled, casually dismissing the flame spiral with the snap of her fingers.

The poisonous fumes, however, still hovered.

She bent down to pick up and toss the Emperor beast's body inside her spatial ring.

"Are those guys almost done?" Tang Yue sat down on the ground and activated her [Soul Parasite] skill absorbing everything in her sight.

She then shot back into the ground and slithered towards the group of snakes. 

Though the dragon had not made any moves yet, Tang Yue did not want to take any chances. She hid her presence immediately by stepping back into the tunnel.

A few minutes silently passed and the snakes dug out a significant portion of the tunnel when suddenly the earth started rumbling.

As Tang Yue tried extending her soul sense to get a picture of what was coming their way, her body inexplicably stiffened up.

She did not sense one or two but rather a million tiny beasts crawling their way!

"An ant herd?? How??"

"Be alert." She shot forward while simultaneously warning the others. An entire army of ants was headed their way.

While these didn't possess a terrible risk to her, even a single one of these ants can wipe out the other snakes.

They were also extremely close to the chasm and it would be a terrible loss to retreat now without getting the rest of the clan members. 

So Tang Yue short forward and her single figure stood in between the giant army of ants and the few snakes.

"Crystallize." Tang Yue muttered.

The coarse grainy earth that laid ahead instantly began to cluster together, the moisture within them turning sharp and crystalline.

Instead of the layered grainy ground, there was now a bed of small spherical balls with sharp thorn-like projections.

These were strong enough to completely impale lower-level beasts.

Tang Yue quickly took out some potions from her spatial ring and downed them inside. 

Since this spell affected a vast area, it had also cost her a majority of her mana reserves.

But ultimately, it was worth it. 

Now that the trap had been set, Tang Yue licked her lips in anticipation as she waited for the ants.

They were coming in from the northern part of the island and they bulldozed towards their location.

But as soon as they neared the tunnel, loud screeching sounds echoed as every single ant that stepped into the territory was being torn apart by the sharp crystallized thorns.

They could no longer blindly rampage and their movements had slowed down a lot.

"Tsk. Tsk. I expected some more carnage." Tang Yue clicked her tongue.

Even though most of the ants were barely strong enough to stand before her, they were incredibly coordinated and there still seemed to be a million of them, their numbers barely even touched.

The crystallized earth did not deter them for long and the ants soon started slowly trickling through one by one, skillfully navigating through the spikes.

Hmmm… Tang Yue paused for a moment and observed the enemy in front of her. Their numbers were something she was right now extremely worried about.

But at the same time… it was also something that she could use against themselves.

Tang Yue's emerald eyes gleamed as she searched through the army of ants. 

And just like she had expected, amongst the millions of beasts, there were a few ants that were much stronger and powerful. 

They seemed to be commanding the ants surrounding them, the entire army divided into sections.

"Good. Good. It's nice to be organized." Tang Yue hissed. She slithered closer to one of these stronger ants and cast [Enslave].

Almost immediately a loud screech sounded and battalions of ants started fighting with each other instead of progressing further.

This coupled with the crystalline earth barrier, it became extremely simple for Tang Yue to pick out the few ants which slipped through.

She also activated her [Soul Parasite] skill and started absorbing fumes of souls from the massacre and chaos that ensued.

This continued for a few more seconds and Tang Yue also managed to enslave more 'lieutenant ants' which completely threw the army out of order.

But before the entire swarm could get wiped out, a loud shrill sound echoed and all the movements suddenly paused.

The ants that were muddle-headed stopped fighting with each other and once again started dashing towards their common enemy.

"Your cheap tactics will not break us down." A loud booming voice sounded.

"Hissss! Do I sense another Emperor beast?" Tang Yue chuckled.

"Were you the one who defeated the Lava Emperor?"

"How does that concern you?" Tang Yue summoned her spirit sword and sent out a powerful slash, taking down dozens of ants coming at her.

"You should have never stepped inside the island, intruder." The ant snarled. "You have crossed lines that you shouldn't have."

"Is that so?" Tang Yue smiled. "But I am not the one who is intruding… am I?"