Chapter 435: Subterranean Insect Demon Kingdom

Leaden clouds obscured the sky, a freezing wind howled through the air, and a layer of pale gray snow blanketed the earth. This was the seventeenth layer of the Abyss—the Frigid Domain.

No plants grew in the Frigid Domain. Only half-elemental demons and those with exceptionally low food requirements could survive here. It was a realm of true chaos.

Following the fall of the previous lord of the Frigid Domain, no new abyssal lord had risen to take their place. Several High-Tier Legendary demons had carved up the territory, plunging the land into endless warfare.

The Cold Nest Broodmother stood out as one of the stronger High-Tier Legendary demons. She possessed formidable strength and a vast horde of minions. Her insect demons, capable of surviving by consuming dirt, had hollowed out the earth to establish the Insect Demon Kingdom deep beneath the frozen ground, aggressively expanding outward to vie for the throne of the abyssal lord.

Despite the harsh environment of the Frigid Domain, the sheer value of Frost Demons drew countless adventurers to establish camps on this abyssal layer. Frostspear Town was the largest among them.

Taking on his dragonkin form and donning the Cloak of the Faceless One, the White Dragon Lord appeared on the Teleportation Platform in Frostspear Town. After paying the teleportation fee, he strolled down the streets.

Even across the entire Abyss, Frostspear Town was considered an excellent adventurer camp. A Magic Barrier held back the harsh environment of the Frigid Domain, allowing its founder, Duvana Frostspear, to build a town within it that provided a range of services for adventurers.

To establish a town-sized adventurer camp in a demon-infested abyss, Duvana Frostspear's strength had to be extraordinary. She was a High-Tier Legendary storm lord, an advanced Warrior class capable of commanding storms to fight on her behalf.

Many failed to understand why a High-Tier Legendary storm lord would build a camp in this desolate wasteland and choose to stay. While Frost Demons were valuable, they were not enough to attract a High-Tier Legendary powerhouse.

The White Dragon Lord had a faint suspicion: Duvana Frostspear likely knew the Cold Nest Broodmother possessed Divinity, and she was simply waiting for an opportunity.

Whether or not Duvana Frostspear had remained here for the Divinity, with the White Dragon Lord's arrival, that Divinity was no longer any of her concern.

The White Dragon Lord stepped outside the town gates, checked his bearings, and headed toward the Cold Nest Broodmother's territory. His silhouette faded into the wind and snow, eventually vanishing from the sight of the guards.

One of the guards hurried toward a building in the center of town to meet the leader of Frostspear Town, Duvana Frostspear. She was an alluring female Warrior clad in animal skins, her face painted with colored oils.

"Mistress, a powerhouse has headed in the direction of the Cold Nest Broodmother," he reported.

"How strong?"

"I don't know. He concealed his aura and traveled alone. Most importantly, the cloak he wore appeared to be the Cloak of the Faceless One."

"I understand." She waved her hand, dismissing the guard.

Duvana Frostspear's eyes flickered. The Cloak of the Faceless One was an artifact of the Star Realm; ordinary legendary powerhouses had no right to possess one. This meant the stranger was highly likely a High-Tier Legend.

A mysterious powerhouse venturing alone into the wilderness toward the Cold Nest Broodmother's territory—this string of details sparked wild speculation. Duvana Frostspear tightened her grip on her legendary battle spear.

Meanwhile, after slipping out of the guards' sight, the dragonkin-formed White Dragon Lord took to the sky and sped toward his destination. Following a lightning-fast flight, he arrived at the core of the Cold Nest Broodmother's territory.

The White Dragon Lord gazed down from high in the sky. The earth was riddled with pits of all sizes, resembling mines left behind after a predatory excavation. Insect demons occasionally scurried out of these holes; they were the offspring of the Cold Nest Broodmother and the guards of the Insect Demon Kingdom.

Because the Cold Nest Broodmother's kingdom was built underground and defended by a massive horde of demonic minions on the periphery, the internal layout of the subterranean kingdom remained a mystery to the outside world. Even the White Dragon Lord had failed to obtain relevant intelligence.

The difficulty of finding the Cold Nest Broodmother within a sprawling maze of tunnels and assassinating her amid the protection of countless demonic minions went without saying.

But that was only true for ordinary adventurers. If the Abomination Rank White Dragon Lord unleashed his full fury, this layer of the Abyss would not survive the devastation.

The White Dragon Lord activated his Soul Sight. Peering through the ice and permafrost, he spotted a dense swarm of demon souls. Amidst that sea of souls, a High-Tier Legendary Level demon soul stood out as conspicuously as a glowing beacon.

Having locked onto his target's position, the White Dragon Lord buffed himself with various enhancement spells. He knew that even a lion hunting a rabbit must use all its strength, let alone when facing a High-Tier Legendary demon lord who had dominated the plane for years.

With all preparations complete, the White Dragon Lord transformed himself into an elemental state capable of traveling deep into the earth, silently sinking into the soil.

To avoid alerting his target prematurely, the White Dragon Lord bypassed the demons in the tunnels and dove deeper underground.

Along the way, he discovered that these insects had truly hollowed out the underground. Beneath the surface lay overlapping layers of interconnected tunnels, forming an elaborate three-dimensional maze.

Though the earth had been hollowed out, the probability of a collapse was extremely low. The permafrost was exceptionally sturdy, and the secretions of the insect demons reinforced the tunnel walls.

The White Dragon Lord was immediately reminded of the Dark Lands. Legends said the Dark Lands were the remnants of an ancient insectoid civilization, and that the Abyss had created these insect demons based on that original template. Now, it seemed that legend held a degree of credibility.

The deeper he went, the higher the density of the insect demons became. He even spotted several magic traps hidden in the soil, vastly increasing his risk of exposure. He halted his descent to secretly observe these bizarre insects.

A swarm of oversized, earth-yellow maggots writhed on the ground, using their hideous mandibles to swallow the hard permafrost and widen the tunnels. At the same time, they spewed a yellowish slime from their mouths to secure the freshly dug passages.

Demon bugs resembling ants with stingers acted as overseers nearby. Whenever they spotted a lazy maggot, they would inject it with a sting, immediately rendering the maggot much more obedient.

A group of humanoid insect demons clad in carapaces patrolled the tunnels; even the ant overseers had to lower their heads before them.

The White Dragon Lord noted that the insect demons came in a wide variety of species, all with clearly defined roles. Broadly, they fell into two categories: producers and combat-ready guards.

Most guard-type insect demons possessed thick carapaces, sharp claws, and other natural armor. They either roamed the tunnels in packs or wandered alone, inspecting the work of the other insects.

Those insects acting alone often held higher status. When other insects encountered them, they would proactively yield the way and lower their heads in humility.

An idea formed in the White Dragon Lord's mind. Retreating to a deserted corner, he shapeshifted into the strongest insect demon he had discovered so far—a Legendary Rank Level beetle.

Now in the form of a beetle, the White Dragon Lord stepped out of the corner and swaggered through the tunnel, steadily drawing closer to the Cold Nest Broodmother. As expected, the insects along the way scattered upon seeing him.

During his trek, the White Dragon Lord realized these insect demons did not just live on dirt; they had developed agriculture. Translucent subterranean fungi and a type of plump white grub served as the staple foods of the insect demon society.

Gradually, the White Dragon Lord grew closer to his target. He sensed that his beetle disguise was losing its effectiveness. The most obvious shift was the increasing number of Legendary Rank insect demons around him.

"Salaham! Where are you going?" another kin greeted the White Dragon Lord.

The White Dragon Lord's brow twitched. He had transformed based on the appearance of a Legendary Rank beetle demon, only to run into an acquaintance of the original. He lifted his head high and magnificently chose to ignore the familiar demon.

He managed to scrape by on sheer luck.

Finally, the White Dragon Lord reached a tunnel entrance, where two Legendary Rank insect demons wielding mantis-like blades blocked his path.

"Halt! Salaham! What are you doing? How dare you trespass into the Broodmother's quarters!"

Thanks to his comprehend languages buff, the White Dragon Lord could understand the insect demon tongue, but speaking it was a bit too tall an order.

However, making it this far was enough.

Unhurriedly, he retrieved an ice-blue Crystal Ball—the Divine Artifact, the Authority of Winter.

The moment he drew the Divine Artifact, the White Dragon Lord reverted to his dragonkin form and blasted past the blockade at a speed neither guard could react to. His spiritual energy locked onto the High-Tier Legendary aura a thousand meters away. At the same time, he seized control of the Ice Elementals within a radius of a thousand miles, gathering them to his side.

Swept up in a frenzy of elements, the White Dragon Lord froze everything in his wake. Only the Legendary Demons with rapid reflexes managed to temporarily dodge the disaster.

Within a colossal underground cavern, a massive white blob lay sprawled across a sea of multicolored gems. This enormous white blob was none other than the Cold Nest Broodmother. Her upper half was that of a stunningly beautiful female Drow Elf, but her lower half was a pale, bloated maggot. Millipede-like slender legs protruded from the maggot's abdomen. The proportions between her upper and lower halves were entirely warped, looking as absurd as a sesame seed growing on a watermelon.

Suddenly, a terrifying wave of spiritual energy locked onto the Cold Nest Broodmother. Shock gripped her heart. Before she could make a single move, the White Dragon Lord smashed through the outer defenses enveloped in an endless Cold Wave, crashing into her field of vision.

Ice Elemental Deprivation!

As a member of the Winter Legion carrying the blessing of the Winter Empress, the White Dragon Lord commanded the Ice Elementals to retreat from the Cold Nest Broodmother, stripping her of the right to wield them.

For a High-Tier Legendary demon specialized in ice magic, losing access to Ice Elementals was like a tiger having its fangs pulled. Unable to mount any effective resistance, the Cold Nest Broodmother had her heart ripped out by a single claw strike from the dragonkin White Dragon Lord.

The White Dragon Lord withdrew his claw from the Cold Nest Broodmother's chest, grasping a blackish-red demon heart in his grip. Blood trickled down his fingers. The despairing Cold Nest Broodmother collapsed to the ground, twitching as her life aura faded away.

"Huh?"

The White Dragon Lord probed the Divinity within the demon heart. To his utter delight, he discovered that the Cold Nest Broodmother had actually harbored two portions of Divinity.

He then looked at the sea of gems covering the ground, his mood improving even further.

"These insect demons digging around underground really did yield a good harvest!"

The White Dragon Lord stored away the Divinity-infused demon heart, followed by the Cold Nest Broodmother's corpse.

Even though the Cold Nest Broodmother had crumbled so easily before the White Dragon Lord, she was still a powerful demon who had ruled a territory. The value of her corpse was easily on par with this sea of gems.

Just as the White Dragon Lord was collecting the Cold Nest Broodmother's massive corpse, a swarm of insect demons rushed in from the tunnels, only to find their matriarch already dead at the hands of a mysterious powerhouse. The demons fled even faster than they had arrived.

The White Dragon Lord shot a glance at the fleeing demons but ignored them. Without the High-Tier Legendary Cold Nest Broodmother standing guard, someone else would naturally mop up these insect demons.

Be it hostile demons, greedy adventurers, or something else entirely, it was very likely that the Cold Nest Broodmother's branch of insect demons would be completely wiped from the Frigid Domain.

After securing the Cold Nest Broodmother's corpse, the White Dragon Lord summoned a few Ice Elementals to help gather the gems. There were simply far too many. Looking over the sea of jewels, the White Dragon Lord fell into deep thought.

He estimated that these insect demons had discovered a large-scale gem vein, perhaps even more than one.

After some consideration, the White Dragon Lord abandoned the idea of finding the exact location of the gem vein. His time was precious; he could not afford to waste it on low-yield tasks like mining.

Of course, scooping up a ready-made hoard right in front of him was another story.

Following the fall of the Cold Nest Broodmother, the news spread like wildfire. The entire Insect Demon Kingdom descended into utter chaos. Countless insects scurried madly through the tunnels, with some even fleeing to the surface.

On the surface, the storm lord, Duvana Frostspear, saw the panicked insect swarm. Her expression changed dramatically. Lightning surged from her body, scorching the surrounding insects to a crisp as she plunged into the depths of the earth.

Carving a path of slaughter, Duvana Frostspear finally reached the area where the White Dragon Lord was.

By this time, the White Dragon Lord had nearly swept the entire sea of gems clean.

Seeing the dragonkin hovering in midair, Duvana Frostspear's heart ran cold. She could not sense the slightest bit of aura from the White Dragon Lord, instantly making her realize that this was an entity she absolutely could not afford to provoke. She hurriedly stowed away her spear, reined in her lightning, and slowly backed away.

The White Dragon Lord shot a glance at Duvana Frostspear and frowned. He could sense a thick wave of resentment coming from the woman.

A moment later, his brow smoothed out. After all, he had snatched her prey; it was only natural for her to harbor some resentment. He was not a bloodthirsty tyrant of a dragon who would slaughter someone just for holding a grudge against him.

Once the gems were completely cleared out, the White Dragon Lord cast a teleportation spell and vanished from the underground cavern.

His next target lay in the 71st Layer of the Abyss, not far from the Rotting Swamp: the lord of the Bloodstained Swamp—Dexika the Formless.

Dexika the Formless did not have nearly as many minions as the Cold Nest Broodmother, and his combat strength was strictly average, but he was far more troublesome. This was because he was a mutated devourer whose abilities closely resembled an ooze monster. He could split into millions of avatars, and could even splinter his very soul.

It was a profoundly vexing ability. The White Dragon Lord would have to slaughter every single one of his avatars to claim the Divinity.

In the past, Abomination Rank powerhouses had attempted to eradicate Dexika the Formless, yet he had managed to escape them all—and even dared to show his face out in the open afterward.

To be entirely honest, the White Dragon Lord had little confidence in his ability to kill him. Still, there was no danger in trying, especially since this target's location was clear and he had no powerful backers.

All things considered, this was a transaction where a win meant a massive profit and a loss carried zero penalty.