Chapter 683: What happened?

[State Acquired: Hive King’s Mandate.]

[Those who willingly accept your command will understand your intent more clearly.]

[Under your leadership, fear will be easier to suppress, formations will become easier to maintain, and group coordination will improve.]

Kael raised an eyebrow at that.

Hive King’s Mandate, huh...

He could already see how useful that ability would be. On the battlefield where even a moment’s delay could cause a tragedy, if his troops understood his intent even a little more clearly, the advantage he would gain would be massive.

’Holy shit, this is good.’

Kael couldn’t help but curse in his head.

The System, however, felt—

He wanted people who chose to stand with him.

But maybe the System felt generous today, because it kept on giving—

[State Acquired: Command Nodes.]

[You may appoint trusted allies as temporary command nodes during large-scale battles.]

[Command Nodes can receive a portion of your battlefield awareness and help lead separate groups under your authority.]

’Holy...’

Kael couldn’t even complete the words in his mind.

This was...

Did he just win a lottery?

He couldn’t help but wonder in his head. And with his Sovereign Mind State activated, his mind had already come up with many possible ’nodes’ he could appoint in the future.

Another stream of his thoughts was thinking of ways to use this on the battlefield, it was...

Any army general’s dream come true.

An army that understands the complete battlefield at all times.

How absurd is that?

These rewards truly were exceptional, no wonder the Trial itself was so hard.

Then finally, when Kael realised that these were all the rewards he was going to get, his focus returned to Imperia.

And just as it did—

[Mother of All Ants has completed her First Metamorphosis.]

Another message appeared.

[Authority Awakened: Evolution Hive.]

Imperia, who was still in Kael’s arms, lifted her head.

[Skill Acquired: Swarm Evolution.]

[The Mother of All Ants can now guide the evolution of her children.]

[Ants may evolve into specialized castes based on need, environment, resources, enemies fought, and traits consumed.]

[Skill Acquired: Trait Assimilation.]

[When the swarm defeats or consumes insect-type enemies, useful traits may be extracted and stored as future evolution paths.]

[Stored Traits Detected:]

[Firemaw Trait.]

[Razorshell Trait.]

[Bloodcarver Trait.]

[Ghostveil Trait.]

[Undereign Trait.]

"Ria..."

Kael read the messages and he couldn’t believe it.

"Yes, Father?"

Imperia tilted her head, as if she had no idea.

"Your new ability..."

"My new ability...?"

Imperia frowned.

"Are you perhaps talking about Evolution?"

"The Evolution Hive, the ability to evolve your ants."

"I did not gain it, Father, I’ve had it ever since I was born, and with my evolution complete, I can now use it. It will be of help."

Imperia nodded.

Kael only blinked at her.

This little thing...

She really was like a Final Boss, wasn’t she?

Not only could she command millions of ants, she could now also evolve them?

How absurd is that!?

And how much more absurd would she become!?

Not that Kael was complaining, with the position he was in, he needed any advantage he could get.

This was indeed a warmly welcomed surprise.

That was when something happened—

The dead bodies of the enemy insects began to glow faintly. Golden threads rose from them, the Firemaw Beetles, Razorshell Mantises, Bloodcarver Ants, Ghostveil Ants, and the Undereign Devourer, these threads then moved towards Imperia.

Kael narrowed his eyes for a moment, thinking it might be dangerous but—

"It is alright, Father."

Imperia spoke in her usual calm voice.

"I know what this is."

Kael nodded at her. Imperia closed her eyes as the threads surrounded her, her small body glowed, the rest of the ants in the Hive trembled, then, once the light faded away, Imperia opened her eyes again and—

"I believe it is time we leave."

She spoke and the moment she did—

Everything around them, the ground, the roots, the Brood Chamber, even the remaining ants, it all started disappearing, just then—

*Flicker Flicker*

Imperia and Kael’s bodies flickered and they—

They returned to Nerathis.

And this time, they were victorious.

Kael had a big grin on his face when he came back, he was excited to share everything with Lavinia, however—

"Father! You are back!"

The moment he appeared.

He heard Cirri’s hurried voice and he frowned.

Cirri seemed... worried.

He looked around and he couldn’t see Lavinia either, neither could he sense her, and as multiple streams of his mind independently thought of every single possibility he could think of—

His expression turned grim.

Most of the possibilities he came up with were... not good.

Something happened.

"What happened...?"

Kael asked directly.

"You need to come here."

Cirri answered in a hurried tone. From her voice, it was clear the Sky Dragon had been waiting for him for a long time now. She just couldn’t reach him because he was inside the Genesis Hive and that made Kael clench his wrists.

The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.

What could have possibly happened?

"Where?"

He asked without wasting any more time and before Cirri could answer—

"I know."

Imperia spoke up, her tone wasn’t good either.

Kael didn’t waste any more time, he rushed out of the room, jumped into the air, and rushed towards the shore, where Lavinia and the others were.

[Draconic Surge]

He did not even think about it, he activated his ability to increase his speed, at the same time—

"What happened?"

He asked Imperia.

The Ant paused for a moment, then—

"It is perhaps... better for you to see it yourself."

Imperia answered with a complicated look on her face.

He tried asking Cirri too, but the Sky Dragon’s answer was the same as Imperia’s. Seeing the usually cheerful Cirri act like this, plus sensing that none of his Bonds were actually inside his Sanctuary, so they must be with Lavinia too—

All of that made it obviously clear that—

Something bad had happened.

Kael’s face turned even grimmer. He increased his speed further, then, as he moved forward, his eyes finally saw something.

"Is that..."

"Yes."

Imperia nodded.

"Mother."

Kael moved at a higher speed. The closer he got, the clearer his vision became, that was when he frowned as well—

Lavinia was kneeling beside a body.

Prince Edric Dragonborn.