Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1202: Hollow Burst

The hive’s core was filled with cells, both hatched and unhatched. At the core of it all, there was an enormous hornet, carrying a green-gold color to it and a crown of bone above its head.

The moment Sylas and the others appeared, it opened its maw, unleashing a roar that seemed to collapse even the air itself.

’It’s significantly more powerful, and not just by a small margin.’

Sylas had noticed that the minions were just around E+ in strength, but this queen was EE-. From his understanding, there was a large leap with every Grade change. But what he didn’t know was exactly how much until now.

If this was truly the Demon World, there was no easy way to tell what level its system was on, or if the conversions were even correct in the first place.

If this was just a projection of the Demon World, or maybe just a Dungeon that had leaked some entrances to the Demon World, then it would be easier to take what he was seeing at face value.

“Protect yourselves,” Sylas said, dropping Jala and Alex to the ground.

Alex put on a “panicked” expression, already beginning to curse up a storm and talk about how heartless Sylas was.

It really was a death sentence for a pair of F-Grades to be here. Not everyone was as broken as Sylas.

But if Sylas’ speculations were correct, this was certainly just the beginning. They had been randomly teleported here, but this was almost certainly not the limit of this world.

Megean was on the verge of Level 101. She was leagues beyond this hive. If her life was in danger, it certainly wouldn’t be here.

With her strength, she might even be able to brute force her way through the tunnels. That meant…

This was just the beginning.

BANG!

Sylas shot out like a rocket. The hive cells in the surroundings burst one after another, a disgusting goop of green, black, and pale white oozing out as one larva after another took shape.

They rushed ahead, but they had no real form or substance outside of being vaguely worm-shaped aside from their wings.

Immediately, Sylas felt that something was off. They weren’t ready to be born yet, but the queen hornet had forcefully expelled them.

Why?

Sylas’ Luck let him know the answer to that quite quickly, and thankfully, he reacted even faster than that.

BOOM!

He punched out just as one of the larvae exploded, shards of sharp bone and volatile Aether rampaging through the air.

Despite the explosion being a distance from him, Sylas was still forced to cross his arms over his body. His forward momentum was stifled, and more of the larvae were rapidly closing in with only a thought to buy their queen more time.

’Stalling. Though not entirely.’

Sylas knew why. The queen was taking this opportunity to call on the Horned Hornet that were around the nest to add to her army.

Her Constitution was almost certainly powerful, but she wasn’t taking any chances nonetheless.

However, by the same token, if he got caught up in one of these explosions, there was no way he could tank it. These were E-Grades he was up against. He was using his vast array of abilities to make up for it, but that didn’t mean that he was untouchable.

Sylas flipped backward through the air, almost landing right where he had started.

But before he met the ground, a familiar roar echoed.

The Hollow Wing appeared beneath Sylas’ feet.

’Let’s end this quickly.’

Sylas’ eyes sharpened and the howl of the Hollow Wing peeled through the skies as though both booms of thunder and cracks of lightning.

It paused in the air for a single moment as though to absorb the impact of Sylas’ backward spin, and then with a single flap of its wings it crossed the distance between them and the queen as though space was entirely meaningless.

Sylas’ eyes flashed, seemingly not expecting such a thing. He barely had the time to register something absolutely ridiculous.

—

[Hollow Wing (???) (Sacred Mount)]

[Level: 17]

[Attribute: Hollow]

[+100% ALL Stats]

[Limit: XXX]

[Talents]

>[Hollow Burst]

>[Hollow Call]

>[Hollow Claw]

>LOCKED

…

When had the Hollow Wing made it to Level 17?

Sylas’ eyes narrowed.

It had actually taken the Demonic Aether he had dismissed.

When Sylas stopped his body from absorbing the Demonic Aether, he hadn’t done anything with it—he just let it disperse on its own. But the Hollow Wing had actually taken it upon itself to take it in.

It had been an unruly creature from the start, but this time it wasn’t necessarily disobeying Sylas’ orders. In fact, it was quite docile and obedient right now.

Instead, much like the Madness Key, so long as Sylas didn’t explicitly state exactly what he wanted, it could take advantage by bending the rules in its favor.

But that Talent it activated just now, the one that allowed them to cross the battlefield without consideration for the explosions or the larvae, as though they had shrunk space itself…

Just what was that?

—

[Hollow Burst (Talent)]

[Level: 17]

—

[Instantly cross {17} kilometer distance, ignoring any barrier, defense, or offense]

—

Sylas took all of this in with a single instant of thought.

The roar of the Hollow Wing was still echoing through the air, its tail, peacock feathers cocked and crimson eyes peering down from above, acting as Sylas’ backdrop.

In that case, he would deal with one problem at a time. First the hornet queen… then the Hollow Wing.

Sylas raised a hand, his Scorpion Warlord Armor flashing into existence.

His Scorpion Tail and palm aligned with one another, a perfect, 100 Foundation Glassvolt Rune taking shape.

The world trembled, the echoing cries of the Hollow Wing sounding akin to the ghost calls of a world beyond.

The poison concentrated and sparks of emerald lightning flashed into a lance.

Sylas’ palm trembled and his eyes flashed, feeling the +100% stat boost of the Hollow Wing take root as he roared as well, his arm striking down with such speed it blurred in the wind.