Chapter 50: Max-Level Insect Race
The rotting giant tree that served as the lair of the Rampant Clan collapsed, dragon flames blazing fiercely, evaporating all the foul energy emanating from the giant tree.
Having eliminated the Deep Sea Evil Spirit and the Rampant Clan one after another, Su Xiao did not stop. The current completion rate of the legendary mission was still below 50%. He had to destroy the Star-Clinging Crab and the numerous world-destroying clans in this area.
That said, these world-destroying clans were originally much stronger, having been imprisoned in the Eternal Light World for so many years.
If the Four Giants of the Lightless Temple were imprisoned here, gradually losing their immortal and indestructible source power, then these world-destroying clans had lost both their immortal characteristics and a significant portion of their overall combat effectiveness.
The reason Su Xiao felt that their base camp couldn't withstand a simultaneous assault from the Star-Clinging Crab, the Rampant Clan, and the Deep Sea Evil Spirit was precisely because these world-destroying clans were once formidable. He had learned this repeatedly from various records in the Soul Library.
In actual combat, fighting three enemies at once was indeed perilous, but they could still hold their ground. Now that they had caught their breath, they had struck back and crushed two of them.
Confirming that everything was fine here, Su Xiao commanded the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos to take off, leading the remaining 17,000-plus Demon Flame Dragons toward the direction of the Star-Clinging Crab's lair. In the battle with the Rampant Clan, they had lost over 3,000 Demon Flame Dragons, a loss within acceptable limits.
Wind howled past his ears as Su Xiao stood on the dragon's back, gazing into the distance. As for why he wasn't sitting, this was the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos, not the Storm Dragon Dis. Dis's back was covered in dark blue-black feathers, while Barbatos's back was all chitinous protrusions, like armor, with bone spurs further back.
This was why Su Xiao had chosen to establish the dragon-riding contract with the Storm Dragon Dis. It also had to do with Dis's speed and lightning resistance. Dis's flight speed was several times that of Barbatos, and the gap widened even more at full burst. Dis's lightning resistance was over 400 points, while Barbatos's was just over 150.
Su Xiao's dragon-riding mode relied mainly on the World Thunder ability. If he used the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos as a mount for dragon-riding mode, the first to die from the World Thunder might not be the enemy, but Barbatos.
The scenery below flashed by. Since the Star-Clinging Crab was not far from the Rampant Clan's lair, Su Xiao soon saw a giant nest below. The Star-Clinging Crab's nest resembled a termite mound, piled up with a pale substance. It looked crude but was surprisingly sturdy.
At this moment, all the Star-Clinging Crabs were distributed outside the nest. At first glance, it looked like many pale mountain ranges surrounding the nest.
The low-roaring Demon Flame Dragons circled above. One of them dove down, and when it was still a few hundred meters from the ground, it spewed dragon flames.
Facing the scorching dragon flames, the Star-Clinging Crabs on the ground advanced instead of retreating. They clustered together, forming the shape of a Demon Flame Dragon. What was even more astonishing was that this gray-white Demon Flame Dragon spread its wings and took flight. The most jaw-dropping part was that this Star-Clinging Crab-formed Demon Flame Dragon actually spewed pale dragon flames, engaging in a fiery duel with the real Demon Flame Dragon above.
The ability of these Star-Clinging Crabs to form a Demon Flame Dragon seemed to synchronize instantly among all of them. Countless Star-Clinging Crabs on the ground quickly formed tens of thousands of pale flame dragons, flying in the sky and fighting fiercely with their own Demon Flame Dragons.
For a time, the numerous pale flame dragons actually suppressed their own Demon Flame Dragons. Many Demon Flame Dragons were scorched, their bodies damaged, and they fell into the midst of the Star-Clinging Crabs below.
However, this situation only lasted for over half an hour. Demon Flame Dragons flew in from afar—a new batch cultivated by their own mother nest. This increased their numbers from over 10,000 to gradually 20,000. By evening, their Demon Flame Dragon force had reached over 40,000.
Dragon flames blotted out the sky. The numerous pale flame dragons below finally began to falter. When all the dragon flames converged, they condensed into platinum-white dragon flames. With a bang, the last few pale flame dragons exploded. The remaining Star-Clinging Crabs all clung to the outside of the nest.
Whoosh!!
Dragon flames fell from above, causing layers of Star-Clinging Crabs on the outer surface of the giant nest to peel off, until the nest itself was exposed. The nest was first scorched red, then, reaching a critical point, it exploded with a roar.
A fist-sized crystal core floated in midair. Su Xiao issued a mental command, and the dragon flames immediately ceased. Barbatos carried him forward. He reached out and grasped the core, which emitted a faint white light.
It seemed that all second-tier world-destroying clans had such a core. As long as the core remained intact, these clans could endlessly regenerate. More troublesome was that, under normal circumstances, this core also possessed immortal and indestructible properties.
This meant that after a world-destroying clan invaded a world, even if the defenders struggled mightily to repel them and successfully counterattacked to their lair, obtaining this core, a single attack could not destroy it.
For example, with the Deep Sea Evil Spirit's core, once it was exposed, it would immediately reset the time of the world it was in. For a peak-state second-tier world-destroying clan, rewinding a world's time was entirely possible, especially if they only rewound their own clan, not everything.
After immense effort to defeat the Deep Sea Evil Spirit legion and breach their lair, one could only attack the core once or twice. Then, the Deep Sea Evil Spirit clan would reset time and return to their peak state. The terrifying part was that this reset did not include the defenders.
This meant the defenders would have to defeat the Deep Sea Evil Spirit clan again to get a few more attacks on the evil spirit core, followed by another time reset. The truly despairing part was that this evil spirit core had immortal and indestructible properties, capable of withstanding at least tens of thousands of attacks before its immortal source power was exhausted.
Given the strength of the Deep Sea Evil Spirit, a high-end, late-stage world might, with all its might, have a chance to defeat them once. But just when victory seemed at hand, they would realize just how hopeless a disaster it was to have a world-destroying clan invade their world.
Being sucked dry by an ancient god at least allowed for years of lingering survival. But being invaded by a world-destroying clan meant that, before long, one would experience the despair of everything ending. World-destroying clans didn't gain such power out of nowhere; they had devoured countless worlds to achieve it.
Originally, in the Eternal Light World, ten such world-destroying entities like the Rampant Clan and the Deep Sea Evil Spirit were imprisoned, representing time, greed, foulness, distortion, darkness, and so on.
After these terrifying beings clashed, only three of the most formidable remained: the Star-Clinging Crab, the Rampant Clan, and the Deep Sea Evil Spirit. After being imprisoned for countless millennia, their former immortality had been exhausted, yet they were still this difficult to deal with.
As for the third-tier world-destroying entities that were later imprisoned, these were individuals from various realms who had accidentally mastered the Moon Wolf secret technique, using it to banish these third-tier entities to the Eternal Light World. Even the strongest among them, the Bloodthirsty Hound, was a mere junior compared to the Star-Clinging Crab, the Rampant Clan, and the Deep Sea Evil Spirit, who had been imprisoned for many millennia.
This was evident from the mission progress. The legendary mission Eternal Light Lord had only one phase, with a completion rate of 100%. This 100% corresponded to one first-tier world-destroying entity, three second-tier entities, and over a dozen third-tier entities.
The World Devourer accounted for 50% of the mission progress. The Star-Clinging Crab, the Rampant Clan, and the Deep Sea Evil Spirit each accounted for 9% to 12%. The remaining third-tier entities each accounted for about 1.1% to 1.2%.
Previously, Jila had eliminated the Moon Snake Clan, the Rotting Worm, the Bloodthirsty Clan, the Cursed Tribe, the Sea Demon Clan, and the Abyssal Demon—six third-tier world-destroying clans. This had increased the legendary mission progress by 6.7%.
Su Xiao looked at the Star-Clinging Crab core in his hand. For some reason, he felt it was different from the evil spirit core he had just obtained. That core, though weakened, still had some time-based fluctuations. However, due to the depletion of its corresponding source energy and the fact that this was the Eternal Light World, the difficulty of achieving a time reset had skyrocketed.
This was not Su Xiao's guess but a statement from Zuiyasi, a time-system user. According to Zuiyasi, using time-system abilities here came with a noticeable sense of obstruction.
Su Xiao surveyed the countless lifeless Star-Clinging Crabs around him, then issued a mental command. All Demon Flame Dragons continued to spew dragon flames at the location of the Star-Clinging Crab's nest.
Platinum-white dragon flames poured down. Before long, the bottom of the nest was burned through, revealing a bottomless pit over a hundred meters wide. A Demon Flame Dragon swooped into it. After confirming that the dragon hadn't died, Su Xiao sent over a hundred Demon Flame Dragons into the pit.
Such caution was necessary when dealing with a world-destroying clan. Su Xiao checked the mission progress again. Seeing it was still 38.5%, he leaped into the deep pit.
The sensation of falling created an airflow. The pit was vertical. After descending several thousand meters, Su Xiao felt the air become damp, cool but not cold. When the airflow changed, his descent speed suddenly decreased, and he landed at a moderate pace.
Su Xiao could do this because of his understanding of space-system abilities. However, he was not a specialist in space systems. Understanding it to this degree was sufficient. Spending more time on it would be less efficient than focusing on his Blade Grandmaster path.
Looking around, Su Xiao found himself in an underground space. The ground was covered with a layer of milky liquid. The ceiling, over a dozen meters high, was covered with glowing vines. Translucent blue stalactites hung down, illuminated by the faint light of the vines, making the place look beautiful.
He followed the direction of the water flow. After passing through a rock crevice only half a meter wide, he came to an area filled with faint light threads.
At the center of these light threads was a pale, sea-urchin-shaped crystal. This pale crystal seemed alive, pulsing with each beat. Seeing it, one immediately thought of a beating heart.
As Su Xiao advanced, the light threads along the way were cut by his blade aura. The pale crystal also developed cracks, eventually shattering, revealing a mass of pulsating flesh within.
Crack, crack, crack~
Su Xiao grabbed the crystal layer with one hand and picked up the pale flesh floating in midair.
[You are touching the Pale Lord.]
[Warning: You are being eroded by mental energy!]
...
Even as a Blade Grandmaster, Su Xiao felt a sharp pain in his brow. The moment he touched this object, he confirmed one thing: the true target of the ancient Law Destroyers' seal was not the Star-Clinging Crab, but this [Pale Lord].
More precisely, the Star-Clinging Crab was indeed a powerful clan, but it lacked the collective consciousness of an insect race. It was closer to the survival and reproduction instincts of normal creatures. The Star-Clinging Crabs were like this: gathered, they were a world-destroying calamity; scattered, they were a delicacy on the table.
Without the [Pale Lord]'s drive, the Star-Clinging Crabs had no interest in normal worlds. Although they were high-level, supernaturally enhanced crab-like creatures, they only liked worlds that had withered and decayed. They preferred to parasitize such worlds, slowly consuming them until nothing remained.
After devouring everything, the Star-Clinging Crabs might cluster together and drift through the chaos, searching for another withered world. This was their way of life. Normally, they had no collective consciousness. Male crabs would even fight over mates, raising their claws, and often brawled over food.
In short, as long as the number of Star-Clinging Crabs didn't exceed a dangerous threshold, they were harmless.
In fact, long ago, some high-end worlds had specialized crab hunters who made a living, even a fortune, by hunting Star-Clinging Crabs. The unique digestive system of the Star-Clinging Crabs meant that after consuming a withered world, their meat became exceptionally delicious. Conversely, if they consumed a normal world, their flesh became foul-smelling, nauseating, and even corrosive due to undigested world energy.
With the [Pale Lord] as their core consciousness, the Star-Clinging Crabs became a world-destroying calamity. One possessed powerful mental control, immortality, and infinite reproduction, while the other had the ability to devour worlds. The [Pale Lord] enabled the Star-Clinging Crabs to reproduce rapidly, and because they could devour worlds, their reproduction rate was even more terrifying.
Speaking of which, Su Xiao had seen Star-Clinging Crabs before in places like the Demon Castle and the Black Abyss. At the time, he had wondered why they varied in strength. Now it seemed that the [Pale Lord] plus the Star-Clinging Crabs were the true world-destroying calamity. The real enemy of the Law Destruction Faction was the [Pale Lord], not the Star-Clinging Crabs.
All along, the [Pale Lord] had been influencing the judgment of all Star-Clinging Crabs, making them feel that Law Destroyers were threats to their survival that must be eliminated. Even Star-Clinging Crabs outside this world were affected to some extent by the [Pale Lord]'s influence. This was the terrifying aspect of the [Pale Lord]'s ability.
Once the [Pale Lord] was eliminated, the Star-Clinging Crabs would become just a high-level species. They wouldn't go to normal worlds; they would seek out withered, decaying worlds, which were their true habitats. As for opposing Law Destroyers, the Star-Clinging Crabs would, from then on, flee from powerful beings like normal creatures to avoid capture.
Knowledge was gradually increasing like this. If he encountered Star-Clinging Crabs in a desolate world in the future, his first reaction wouldn't be to run, but to chase them. He could bring them back and have Xia steam them—who knew how delicious they might be.
Now was not the time to think about how delicious normal Star-Clinging Crabs might be. Su Xiao looked at the [Pale Lord] floating before him. The ancient Law Destroyers had sealed this thing here because they couldn't destroy it. Over the years, the immortality of other world-destroying clans had been affected, but the [Pale Lord] had been largely unaffected.
Could he seal it? Probably not. Su Xiao didn't know how strong the ancient Law Destroyers' sealing abilities were, but the sealing expertise of the Slintez Dwarves was unquestionable, as evidenced by the Scarlet Monarch still trapped in the Nightmare Seal.
Sealing wasn't feasible, and there was no clear method of destruction. Trying to devour it was the safest option. However, if he tried to have his own insect nest devour the [Pale Lord], would its mental control affect the Demon Insect Race? If that happened, it would be disastrous.
Soon, Su Xiao thought of a countermeasure. He took out the [Book of Original Sin] and removed the [Necronomicon] sealed on the second page. As soon as the [Necronomicon] appeared, the [Pale Lord] opposite it immediately erupted with violent, even frenzied mental energy.
Buzz~!
The spreading mental energy caused a ringing in Su Xiao's ears, and his brain felt as if it were being pierced by countless mental needles. Fortunately, the sensation was fleeting. Translucent tentacles extended from the [Necronomicon], wrapping around the [Pale Lord] and dragging it inside.
After a moment, the [Necronomicon] fed back a sense of satisfaction, and a dissipating translucent tentacle formed the void number 1. Seeing this, Su Xiao was in a good mood. The success rate of his subsequent plan had increased by at least 30%.
He checked the legendary mission progress again. It had reached 46.9%, meaning that eliminating the [Pale Lord] would completely destroy this world-destroying clan. As for the Star-Clinging Crabs, there was no need to annihilate them all. From now on, they were just a high-level species. Although harmless, they shouldn't be provoked lightly—they were still quite formidable.
Su Xiao returned to the bottom of the exit, leaped onto the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos's back, and with a whoosh, Barbatos took off, flying out of the deep pit.
Half an hour later, above their base camp, the Demon Flame Dragon Barbatos flew over the mother nest. The base camp had returned to its previous state, except that the hundred-meter-high living walls were gone.
After checking the remaining bio-energy, Su Xiao issued a command to Jila: have the mother nest rapidly cultivate Demon Beasts, then use them to clear out all world-destroying clans on the Rampant Land except for the World Devourer.
A few minutes later, a spectacular scene unfolded. Their Demon Beasts turned into a black insect tide, surging in all directions. From above, it looked like the vast Rampant Land was gradually being submerged by the insect tide, with tens of thousands of Demon Flame Dragons flying overhead.
Half an hour later, Su Xiao's current world reputation visibly climbed. However, the increase wasn't too exaggerated. In the end, his reputation value reached 489,500 points. Killing world-destroying clans didn't give much reputation. Previously, killing each of the Four Giants of the Lightless Temple had given over 500,000 reputation points.
Su Xiao entered the nesting chamber and found Jila eating a dessert. The dessert didn't look appetizing, but from Jila's expression, it tasted good.
He checked the mother nest's data. After eliminating all world-destroying clans in this world except for the World Devourer, the mother nest had 1,920 evolution points. To raise the clan level to Lv.100, it needed 1,800 evolution points, with some left over.
Su Xiao began using evolution points to raise the Demon Insect Race's clan level. After investing 1,800 evolution points, although it indicated that the clan level could reach Lv.100, he could still continue to invest evolution points. So he used all remaining evolution points to raise the clan level.
After selecting the upgrade, Jila, who was enjoying her dessert, suddenly felt an irresistible drowsiness wash over her. She was about to fall into a deep sleep. But before that, using her willpower, she shoved the last bite of dessert into her mouth and swallowed it. The next second, she was enveloped by the nest tissue surging from behind and fell into slumber.
Su Xiao sat on the crystal chair, placing the sheathed Dragon-Slaying Flash upright on the ground, his hands crossed and pressing on the end of the hilt. Even if the World Devourer attacked now, it wouldn't matter. At most, he would take Jila back to the Gray Holy Sanctuary. As long as Jila was safe, this upgrade wouldn't be interrupted.
Time passed. Ten hours later, the retracted nest tissue gradually expanded. The situation Su Xiao had most feared did not occur. The Demon Insect Race's clan level reached Lv.100 smoothly. In fact, evolution points were a type of evolutionary energy transformed from a mixture of soul energy and insect-race-specific energy. All insect races needed this energy to advance.
The problem was that other insect races faced risks because they had to use limited evolution energy to achieve advancement, gambling on probability.
Jila's situation was the opposite. It wasn't about how much evolution energy she had, but how much she could absorb. Each level she gained involved absorbing evolution energy to its limit before attempting further growth.
This was similar to Su Xiao's method of burning titles or enhancing his own abilities. If it wasn't a 100% probability, he would find a way to make it 100%, rather than relying on luck.
[Tip: The Demon Insect Race under your command has reached clan level Lv.100, the maximum level achievable for the Demon Insect Race.]
[Insect Race Dominator Jila has awakened dual ultimate-level abilities (two of the strongest insect race ultimate-level abilities).]
[Insect Race Dominator Jila has mastered the ultimate-level ability: Uncrowned Dominator.]
[Uncrowned Dominator (Passive, X): Due to Jila's uniqueness within the insect race, after becoming a dominator, she cannot command other insect race queens, etc. However, even if all insect race elders gather their mental energy, or even the entire insect race gathers their mental energy, they cannot affect Insect Race Dominator Jila.]
[Insect Race Dominator Jila has mastered the ultimate-level ability: Eternal Light Lord.]
[Eternal Light Lord (Active Effect, X): After Jila establishes an insect nest in this world, that nest will be qualified to directly absorb the surplus "World Force" of this world. The nest can convert this "World Force" into the highest-grade bio-energy. Demon Insect Race units cultivated with this type of bio-energy will have their overall combat effectiveness increased by 30% on top of their existing base.]
[Tip: After the nest activates this ability, it will become the main nest of the Demon Insect Race. The main nest can never leave the Eternal Light World. This restriction does not apply to Insect Race Dominator Jila.]
[Eternal Light Lord (Passive Effect, X): When Jila is within the Eternal Light World, the insect race units under her command within this world are immune to area-type instant death and execution abilities.]
[Tip: Insect Race Dominator Jila's Eternal Light Lord ability has achieved a high-fit resonance with your existing title War Lord. Yes/No to proceed with this resonance? After completing the resonance, the War Lord title will undergo significant changes. Consider carefully.]
[Tip: This resonance can be performed at any time.]
...
There were quite a few notifications. Su Xiao hadn't expected Jila to awaken two of the highest-level insect race abilities. The "Uncrowned Dominator" ability seemed ordinary and useless at first glance, but when it actually took effect, it would undoubtedly be a core ability.
The structure of the insect race was actually extremely complex. However, with the "Uncrowned Dominator" ability, Jila didn't need to worry about any of that. Even if all insect race mental energy was focused on her, it wouldn't affect her in the slightest.
As for the second ability, Eternal Light Lord, it was quite intriguing. Effect 1 gave her the qualification to directly absorb the "World Force" of this world. The concept of "surplus World Force" was not difficult to understand.
Suppose this world needed to maintain 10 million points of World Force to function normally. If the World Force in this world was only at 10 million points, Jila couldn't absorb any. But if the World Force storage reached 15 million points, Jila would be qualified to absorb 5 million of them, leaving the necessary 10 million for the world.
Existing bio-energy and bio-energy converted from World Force were not the same. Not to mention anything else, the fact that the strength of Demon Flame Dragons could be increased by 30% showed the purity and concentration of this bio-energy.
However, this power came at a cost. Jila's main nest could never leave this world. Jila herself, however, was not restricted.
Effect 2 of "Eternal Light Lord" was powerful. Why couldn't the Demon Insect Race deal with the Four Giants of the Lightless Temple before? Because the Four Giants all had area-type instant death and execution abilities. When the insect race got near them, they would not only die instantly but also restore the Giants' health.
Now the situation was different. Within this world, the insect race under Jila's command was unafraid of any world-destroying entity. Imagine if Jila used World Force to cultivate tens of millions of Demon Beasts, hundreds of thousands of Demon Flame Dragons, and tens of thousands of Titan Beasts, all at clan level Lv.100, with their strength increased by 30%. Even peak-state Eternal Dark Lord, the Ancestor, or the Star Devourer would be surrounded and killed to death.
Immortal and indestructible? No problem. That just meant killing them repeatedly until their immortal source power was exhausted. From now on, the Eternal Light World would no longer be a prison for world-destroying entities. It would be their burial ground.
Any world-destroying entity banished here would face an endless tide of Demon Insect Race, an infinite sea of Demon Beasts, a sky-darkening swarm of Demon Flame Dragons, and Titan Beasts capable of shattering space with plasma cannons and filling spatial gaps with plasma, rendering any escape attempt futile.
Except for enemies like the Scarlet Monarch, any other strong being who came to the Eternal Light World and opposed the Demon Insect Race would face certain death. As for the Scarlet Monarch, he held the Scarlet Scepter, a daddy-level original sin object. Su Xiao was well aware of the weight of original sin objects. Even a peak Law Destroyer wouldn't directly confront an original sin object, showing the might of a daddy-level original sin object.
Inside the nesting chamber, the nest tissue expanded, and Jila, with her long purple hair, floated up, exuding the dignity of an insect race dominator. But the next second, she yawned and said, "I'm hungry."
"..."
Su Xiao, who was contemplating his next plan, ignored Jila.
"I'm so hungry."
"..."
Su Xiao looked at Jila. The previously confident Jila immediately wilted. Seeing this, Su Xiao checked his storage space. He found that most of the food couldn't be taken out due to the Eternal Light World's notarization rules, except for some dried fruit. He took out the dried fruit and gave it to Jila. Her mood immediately improved. She ate the dried fruit while floating around Su Xiao—this was one of her new abilities.
Su Xiao closed the mother nest's data. He decided to eliminate all existing insect race units and bio-energy. The World Force storage in this world was severely overflowing, enough for the nest to cultivate many Demon Flame Dragons. Barbatos also needed to reconstruct its body to enhance combat power.
The Demon Flame Dragons to be eliminated would be used to fight the newly emerged ones, thereby increasing the War Lord title's bonus, ensuring that subsequent Demon Flame Dragons all reached level 3. This would make dealing with the World Devourer foolproof.
In short, the combat power of the Demon Insect Race had increased by several tiers. Of course, this came at a cost. The main nest couldn't leave this world. When summoning Jila in other worlds, the nest she formed would be a normal one, unable to absorb the World Force of that world.
Su Xiao didn't mind this. In fact, he had been considering where to station the fully upgraded Demon Insect Race. A Demon Insect Race at clan level Lv.100 would be violently rejected by any other world it entered. The world might even drive all its inhabitants to besiege the newly established nest.
There would be only two outcomes: the world would collapse, or the Demon Insect Race would be driven out. So, being able to permanently station in the Eternal Light World was actually a good thing. At least he didn't need to find a desolate world for Jila to establish a nest, to avoid rejection.
[Tip: The insect race faction under your command has reached the maximum level.]
[Your faction's main nest is the only existing maximum-level insect nest!]
[Your main nest will periodically and limitedly produce "highly rare resources" based on the characteristics of this world.]
[Based on the characteristics of the Eternal Light World, the currently producible highly rare resources are:]