Chapter 108 - 106: Slay! The Weakness of the Insect Sea Tactic

Chapter 108: Chapter 106: Slay! The Weakness of the Insect Sea Tactic

The dazzling Thunderbolt light carried a terrifying impact force, not only shattering Leader Xuan Jiu’s Protective Energy but also blasting him into the water!

The lake’s surface churned.

The Destruction force within the Thunderbolt killed a large portion of the Insect Race near the surface, but powerful units like the Profound Flood Dragons and Profound Armor Cyan Aos still charged forward. They entangled Leader Xuan Jiu, who had already broken through the surface, and desperately dragged him back underwater.

"No!" Leader Xuan Jiu roared unwillingly.

To fight the underwater Insect Swarm, he had already unleashed his power desperately, causing his defense to plummet. The terrifying lightning had nearly destroyed the Life Force within him. He pushed his remaining strength to the absolute limit, pouring it into his Armor. The Armor glowed, projecting a defensive barrier covering a three-meter radius.

This was the advantage of human Martial Artists. Although their defense, strength, and physical attributes fell far short of most Demon Fiends, they could achieve formidable defensive capabilities by relying on Weapons and Armor.

But there were simply too many Insect Swarms surging toward him. Even though Leader Xuan Jiu swung his Long Saber so fast it became a blur, the underwater Insect Swarm around him continued to flood forward endlessly, attacking without any fear of death.

In the water, even those proficient in the True Intent of Water would always be at a disadvantage when fighting Demon Fiends!

Why did the Great Wei Court tolerate the existence of the Dragon Race and aquatic Demon Fiends? The most crucial reason was that human Martial Artists struggled to exert their full strength underwater. Even if they were excellent swimmers and had comprehended the True Intent of Water, they would still be at a disadvantage against peers of the same tier!

"Water Dragon Tornado!" Leader Xuan Jiu manipulated the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, wrestling with the Insect Swarm for control of the water currents in a desperate bid to launch himself back into the sky.

Although there were hundreds of Flying Insect Race units in the sky, compared to the Insect Swarm underwater, the air was his only chance of survival.

WHOOSH!

A Profound Flood Dragon thrashed its massive tail, carrying the crushing weight of the water currents to strike him heavily. The moment his Scale Armor shattered, the leader of the Xuan Nine Squad, who had been trying to float up, was sent sinking even deeper into the water.

The surrounding Insect Swarm was a densely packed, pitch-black mass, pressing down on him like a heavy tide.

"I can’t break out," Leader Xuan Jiu thought, his heart filled with intense unwillingness. If the other members of his squad hadn’t been poisoned right from the start, they wouldn’t be in such a miserable state.

They were Dao Soldiers! Specially cultivated "Dao Soldiers" from within the Blood Demon Sect! The vast majority of their methods relied on the Daoist Armor they wore, allowing them to link together and unleash even greater power.

But right at the beginning, three of them were poisoned. The Daoist Soldier Array shattered the moment it was activated. Furthermore, fighting underwater meant they were forced into a fatal predicament before they could even display a tenth of their true strength.

"If I can’t live, don’t even think about having it easy! Let’s die together!" A despairing roar echoed through the murky depths. A flash of madness and absolute resolve crossed Leader Xuan Jiu’s eyes as he whipped out a blood-red Elixir and swallowed it without hesitation!

The moment the Elixir entered his stomach, a sudden mutation occurred!

"ARGHHHHH!" He let out an agonized, inhuman howl. His muscles swelled madly as if inflated, stretching his Daoist Armor until it groaned and cracked!

The veins beneath his skin bulged and writhed like horned dragons, turning a horrifying purple-black. A massive maw tore open across his abdomen, while wildly rolling eyes snapped open across his back, torso, and arms. His aura skyrocketed.

Boundless blood-colored Energy exploded outward with him at the center, forming a frenzied shockwave that blew away the Profound Flood Dragons, Profound Armor Cyan Aos, and other units attempting to close in. A few Sharp-toothed Catfish that were too close were instantly pulverized into a mist of blood!

"ROAR!" In just a brief moment, Leader Xuan Jiu had transformed into a three-meter-tall, half-human, half-demon flesh monster!

He completely abandoned all defense. Swinging his mutated, grotesquely swollen arm covered in a thick keratin layer, he threw a Fist that forcibly blasted an approaching Profound Flood Dragon into a bloody mist. Devouring the flesh and blood in massive gulps, he carved a bloody path straight toward the center of the Insect Swarm.

Large schools of Sharp-toothed Catfish rushed forward like an underwater wolf pack, tearing and biting at his body, but they were casually swatted to pieces, turning into a bloody mist. This bloody mist was then inhaled into his body with every breath.

Leader Xuan Jiu’s broken body, now replenished, rapidly regenerated. Faintly, his aura even grew a fraction stronger. He was like an out-of-control killing machine wreaking havoc underwater. Wherever he passed, Insect Race units were torn apart and blown to pieces. He had actually temporarily halted the momentum of the Insect Swarm’s siege!

"A Flesh Golem? It’s another desperate move that attacks indiscriminately. Are all the Blood Demon Sect’s desperate Secret Techniques this insane?" Qin Yu frowned as he watched Leader Xuan Jiu in the center of the Insect Swarm.

He had originally hoped to capture the man alive to extract some information, but that seemed impossible now. He didn’t order the Insect Swarm to continue fighting this mutated, inhuman "monster." The encircling Insect Swarm quickly scattered and swam in all directions.

In his eyes, Leader Xuan Jiu was already dead. The thing alive at this moment was merely a lump of wildly mutated meat. Having researched the Blood Demon Sect extensively, Qin Yu knew exactly what was happening. The Mountain Giant Ape’s Death Frenzy originated from the same principle.

However, the Mountain Giant Ape’s technique was controllable. It was an instantaneous burst of internal Life Force within a short time. This thing, on the other hand, was completely uncontrollable. The only similarity was that it would die shortly after the outburst.

Having completely descended into madness, Leader Xuan Jiu chased after any moving target, unleashing his fury on whatever dared to approach. By sacrificing a portion of the swarm to entangle him, the rest of the Insect Swarm successfully retreated. From a distance, they watched as Leader Xuan Jiu’s muscles finally atrophied in his madness, oozing thick black blood.

If there was enough flesh and blood to devour, this thing might have sustained itself for a while longer. But without any flesh to replenish it, it would die very soon.

A moment later, the monster’s body suddenly stiffened. Then, like an overinflated balloon, it began an uncontrolled, violent expansion!

BOOM!!!!!

An incredibly muffled, earth-shattering explosion erupted underwater! Terrifying blood-colored Energy mixed with thoroughly destroyed flesh and bones, forming a devastating circular shockwave that spread wildly in all directions! The lake water within a radius of hundreds of meters was instantly displaced and vaporized, creating a brief vacuum!

Self-destruction!

When everything settled and the murky lake water rushed back together, only a massive crater remained in that area, along with lingering blood stains and turbulent Energy currents.

"What a pity. If I could have gotten the Daoist Armor on his body, I might have been able to research something out of it," Qin Yu thought to himself. His consciousness was attached to the surrounding Insect Swarm, observing the now completely fallen Leader Xuan Jiu. The armors of the other five Blood Demon Sect members had already been collected by the Insect Swarm, but the most crucial core set was completely shattered.

Facing increasingly powerful enemies, the efficiency of simple insect sea attacks was too low. Many times, they would be broken through by formidable individual strength. The Mountain-Splitting Demon King had done so, and so had this Leader Xuan Jiu.

"After this battle ends, I need to deduce the power of Arrays as soon as possible so that the Insect Swarm can also combine their strength. This way, their power will drastically increase!" Qin Yu sighed inwardly. The death of Insect Swarm units during slaughter was fine; it wasn’t a major issue. But allowing enemies to charge through the Insect Swarm at will was a massive problem.

It meant the enemy could fight when they wanted to and flee when they wanted to. The Insect Swarm didn’t even have a decent countermeasure. It was too passive, too disadvantageous.

Combined attack methods had powerful offensive capabilities, but they were lacking in aspects like defense and trapping enemies. Furthermore, combined attacks had exposed a significant problem during this battle. Although the Thunderbolt attack was extremely powerful, its attack range was a major flaw.

An attack range of about a kilometer greatly restricted the combined attack’s might. Maintaining a combined attack of over a hundred units was already the absolute limit. After all, Thunder Rocs were colossal beasts with wingspans of nearly sixty feet; there was simply no room to arrange them!

Arrays might be another solution! Even in the memories of the Insect Nest, the Insect Swarm actually had a similar method called an "Energy Matrix," which allowed them to pool their strength.

When forming an insect sea, any incoming attack could be borne by the entire swarm. Even when facing a top-tier individual unit, they could rely on their staggering numbers to simply swarm over and strangle it!

"I’ll have Father check the Treasure Pavilion to see if there are any suitable Dao Soldier forging methods, as well as other defensive and trapping Arrays.

"Of course, all of this will have to wait until that Flood Dragon is dealt with first," he resolved inwardly.