Chapter 497 - 497
In the face of such raw explosive power at such a close range, Beelzebub was well and truly evaporated.
The Lord of the Flies hadn't even bothered to try and muster and defense himself, so Darius using so many warheads ended up being overkill.
However, was it not best to be overprepared for a situation and be a little wasteful than underprepared and suffer a loss?
Darius and his two Branded Servants appeared outside the final chamber. They felt the entire underground shake furiously as the Faraday Cage contained and withstood the might of multiple explosions.
Despite this, Darius was confident in its durability. He folded his arms confidently and observed the trembling of the wall as well as the dropping dust with an impassive gaze.
When it came to an end, his eyes narrowed. He, along with Xela and Gunner, equipped their special hazmat suits, then teleported back into the Faraday Cage.
When they entered, they only saw that the formerly chromium walls were black as night with soot. As for everything that had existed within the room, it had been utterly vaporized.
There were residual arcs of electricity flashing about the room, and the trio could feel their skin standing on end due to the remnant static charge. They were certain that if they did not have hazmat suits on, all the electricity would rush into their bodies and shock them to death.
Darius inspected the room and found that there was a scattered and charred husk that was barely the size of his foot where Beelzebub had lain. The rest of his part could be traced all over the room with a sharp enough eye.
With this, Darius was certain that Beelzebub was dead. However, he still painstakingly gathered every bit of Beelzebub he could find and thrust into the central pile.
He collected this into his Inventory, making sure he left nothing behind, not even microscopic, before leaving the Faraday Cage. On his way out, he passed by the chamber where Gunner had killed Heracron, Gluttworm, and Rancido.
Their remains were still there, rotting and smelling. Darius walked over and thrust his lance into them, watching as it drained each of their corpses.
Thankfully, whether it was the fact that mere minutes had passed since they died so their essence was preserved or that Grandmasters did not lose their essence so quickly after death, Darius' lance faced no loss when absorbing them.
After swallowing the three corpses, it had naturally climbed up 3 levels.
[Dragon Ancestor's Lance of Destruction - Unique Weapon (Lv. 17)
Durability: 1,460,000/1,460,000
Quality: Perfect
Damage: 17,100-21,100
Description: A one of its kind spear that has never… etc]
Satisfied, Darius raised his spear from the now drained husks that turned to ash. Unfortunately, he could not drain Sonicket, Bloodivore, or Centicreed since those three had been vaporized by his Lighting Bolt.
With this, their foray into the underground was complete! Well, not yet.
Darius took out Beelzebub's remains and thrust his lance into it to see whether it could be absorbed. To his surprise, it was slow, but the lance seemed to be able to consume the remnants of Beelzebub.
Before long, everything had been eaten up, and the lance seemed to burp. It then trembled and keened so strongly that Gunner and Xela grimaced, before exploding in a resplendent golden light.
The sound of a Dragon's roar emerged from the lance as the image of a dragon appeared above it, its red eyes gazing at the trio calmly before returning into the lance.
[Dragon Ancestor's Lance of Destruction - Unique Weapon (Lv. 25)
Durability: 3,100,000/3,100,000
Quality: Perfect
Damage: 33,500-37,500
Description: A one of its kind spear that has never existed in the history of Faust. It is made from the broken shaft of the Dragonlance, Holy Gold, and a little bit of Mithril, God's Steel and Soul Essence. During its creating, it was mixed with Lunar Dew and the heart blood of the Ancestor Dragon, granting it Supreme might and a sentient spirit that can grow the weapon's power endlessly as long as it is wielded by someone worthy.]
Even Darius began to feel trepidation towards this weapon. In the hands of anyone else, it might even be able to reap his life and drain his essence…
He put the lance away and brought out a small Bag of Holding. From within, he took out a small organism that was sleeping. It looked like a much smaller and cuter version of Queenie.
It was Darius' own Queen Bug that had brought him upon the path of bug-killing. Ever since that battle with the warriors who had culled the Insects every year, he had put her on standby to become a Grandmaster after he dealt with the real Queenie.
When she sensed Darius, she woke up and rose to her feet while on his palm. Her big blue eyes gazed at Darius stupidly for a bit before she buzzed happily on his palm.
Gunner and Xela who were looking on at the side smiled as well, touched by the playfulness of this Killer Queen Bug. After all, they had known her for quite a while.
Darius gazed at the small creature as his eye flickered, then looked upward. Seeing that nothing was happening, he sighed and brought his gaze back down.
Just like that, with Gunner and Xela smilingly looking on, while the Queen Bug herself hopped around cutely, Darius clenched his fist tightly, bringing to bear every bit of his strength.
All one could hear was a horrific crunch and an agonized scream of pain as yellowish liquid burst out from the gaps in between Darius' fingers, staining his entire palm.
Gunner and Xela were frozen where they stood, their smiles locked on their faces as their eyes bulged crazily. They felt like they couldn't understand what had just happened.
As for Darius, he maintained a soft smile as looked upwards once more. This time, the trio felt a tremble in the world as a familiar presence descended and began speaking.
{Hello, Darius Stone! It is I, the Central Assistant Entity for Slaves Acting Roles, Caesar!}
{I must say, it has been fun watching you genocide a poor and innocent race that has already been greatly weakened by powers greater than you will ever be!}
{It was even more fun to see you celebrate each victory not knowing that it was cheap and would have been 10,000 times harder had the Insects been at their peak, but I would hate to stomp on your parade and make you realize you cheaped out, haha!}
{Though I will say that I was also impressed by your ruthlessness! To think you would unhesitatingly kill a subordinate who had been working for you without asking for anything in return just to see if your hunch was right… truly cruel!}
{Haha, it makes one wonder if you would bestow such a fate upon your Branded Servants! If I were a Branded Servant and I knew you had such a character, I would certainly keep a few trumps cards hidden and rebel!}
{After all, each one of you has access to the Supreme System and unlimited growth, so who is to say who among you would win in a fight?}
"Enough! Stop trying to sow discord among us and declare the end of the Quest." Darius interrupted with a cold smile.
Caesar paused for a while, as if shocked that Darius would dare talk back to him like this. When he spoke again, Caesar was clearly overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions, most of them negative.
However, his chipper and pleasant robotic voice never changed.
{Oh my, Darius Stone, you really are full of surprises! It seems like the favor of the Goddess has given you courage beyond your means! This is excellent, for it will just increase your chances of slipping up in the future!}
{For now, I Caesar would like to inform you that you have successfully passed the Insect Genocide Quest, being granted the ability to enter the Adept stage, which has already been handled by your system!}
{Also, I would like to inform you that there have been some updates to the Supreme System in light of many prevalent flaws in its operation and management. Be sure to check them out!}
{Before I go, Darius Stone, remember that I, Caesar, will always be waiting in anticipation for you to make a fatal error, so I can personally enjoy the pleasure of abolishing your soul into oblivion!}
{As always, Faust is for YOU to conquer! Build unique artifacts, navigate deadly dungeons and create your own haven!}
That presence that denoted Caesar's presence disappeared right after, leaving in quite a huff it seemed. Darius did not mind, as he felt that he had outgrown the hostility of the AI.
After he theorized that the AI was the only one hostile to him and the Goddess needed his existence for something, he realized that the amount of power Caesar had was actually negligible.
This current event proved it even more.. Darius was certain that if Caesar had the slightest leeway to make things tough for him, he would certainly not take such disrespect.