Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 512: Bugs

Duke memorized all the information he saw here, then started slowly retreating.

He silently withdrew from the area of the ocean infested by the Insect Race, as if he had never been there.

Returning to the shoreline, he wasted no time and immediately contacted Herbert through the Wizard’s Mark to inform him of the intelligence he had gathered.

He concisely described the key characteristics he had observed, the pyramid-like twisted structure, the heavy biological armor, energy conduits resembling giant pythons, and so forth.

"It’s indeed a Level 2 Nest, but it seems this nest has used up too many resources for its promotion, otherwise your side wouldn’t be defending so easily," Herbert said thoughtfully.

Through this period of fighting against the Void Insect Race, they gradually realized that every mother nest might have completely different development strategies, not just a simple progression.

These Void Insect Races have extremely strong environmental adaptability; not only do the insects themselves evolve according to the environment, but the mother nest also makes different decisions based on the environment.

Even among the mother nests on the Florence Continent, there are subtle differences in development strategies, and the soldier species they hatch aren’t exactly the same.

Based on currently known information, Herbert speculated that the mother nest of the Void Insect Race should have a complete bloodline of various Insect Races and would hatch different insect species as needed to better cope with the complex and changing environment.

Duke recalled when he was defending the Maple Hill County border, encountering those Iron Armor Beetle Race later on, which he hadn’t seen before, but suddenly appeared.

It was apparent that the mother nest chose the Iron Armor Beetle Race as a soldier type based on actual combat situations, but ultimately they couldn’t breakthrough Maple Hill County’s defenses.

...

Two days later.

Upon receiving Duke’s exact intelligence, Herbert handled the matters on that side with astonishing efficiency and arrived at this coastline.

He did not greet excessively; after meeting with Duke, he cast a heavy gaze upon the ocean where the Void Insect Race mother nest was located.

"Lead the way," Herbert said concisely, his powerful aura ready to be unleashed.

Duke nodded, diving into the water like a fish familiar with the currents, guiding Herbert in the right direction.

Herbert followed closely behind, forming an invisible force field around him to fend off the seawater, moving swiftly.

Though slightly slower than Duke, it wasn’t because Herbert couldn’t swim faster, but would cause quite a commotion otherwise.

Under Duke’s guidance, they quickly dove deeper, approaching the concave zone located on the side of the underwater mountain range.

The massive, pyramid-like twisted Level 2 Nest still pulsed slowly in the dark, emitting an unsettling energy fluctuation.

This time, Herbert had no intention of hiding his tracks.

When he and Duke entered the mother nest’s sensing range, the cold, massive collective consciousness was instantly alerted.

The entire underwater basin seemed to awaken from sleep in an instant, turning into an utter frenzy of slaughter.

Countless insect races swarmed out from the mother nest’s apertures, surrounding biological structures, and shadows of dark trenches, with varying forms but the same aura.

Beasts draped in heavy bone armor, like moving fortresses, stamped their way through the seabed, forming an unstoppable assault line.

Some twisted, pale anemone-like creatures curled their bodies, then released visible, eerie ripples that trembled the surrounding seawater.

Moreover, translucent, ghostly jellyfish-like creatures spread out silently, and wherever their dangling tentacles reached, even glowing algae dimmed instantly and died.

Following them were more forms unfamiliar to Duke; predators with long bodies and spear-like sharp bone spikes evolved at their front ends, swinging their strong tails like arrows breaking through the water.

Also, there were bloated, living artillery-like units, with engorged sac cavities quickly charging, spewing out energy clusters of dark green, emitting a strong corrosive stench.

All of these bizarre, menacing figures, their cold gazes or sensing organs, locked tightly onto Herbert.

The amassed, tangible hatred and destructive desire seemed to freeze the surrounding seawater.

These insect races weren’t seen on land, clearly belonging to new Void Insect Race species, but due to the unique environment of the seabed, had hatched more suitable species adapted to it.

This is the Void Insect Race’s extreme adaptability; they inherently possess a rich bloodline pool, enabling them to adjust freely.

Furthermore, during their expansion and devouring processes, they actually collect new bloodline powers, integrating them into their own bloodline pool, thus giving birth to brand-new Void Insect Race species.

Duke observed from a distance, with a heavy heart.

Such Void Insect Race has an exceedingly high potential, continually invading other planes, devouring a plane’s resources and energy, and also absorbing its bloodline power converting it into their accumulation and sediment.

Through this constantly repeating cycle, the Void Insect Race can grow stronger continuously.

The mother nest itself fully awakened, layers of biological armor sliding open, revealing numerous spore cannons and energy-focusing organs beneath, flashing with lethal radiance.

Facing this frenzy backlash that could obliterate a legion, Herbert’s expression remained unchanged.

He didn’t even glance at the insect race ocean pouring in from all directions; his gaze was entirely fixed on the pulsating core of the mother nest at the basin’s center.

"Just bugs."

He nonchalantly uttered a few words, then raised his right hand.

Centered around him, the seawater within a kilometer radius was instantly emptied and compressed by an invisible force, forming a giant spherical vacuum area.

Countless frenzied charging insect races, whether heavy deep-diving armor beasts or invisible ghostly jellyfish, upon entering this vacuum area, exploded instantly due to the terrifying pressure imbalance inside and out, turning into cloudy blood mist and shell fragments.

The mother nest’s spore shells and psychic beams, upon entering this absolute vacuum, got stuck like in a mire, their speed dropped, energy structures became highly unstable, disintegrating and detonating before getting close to Herbert.

The next moment, Herbert’s clenched right hand suddenly opened.

A pure white light beam, refined to the extreme and seemingly containing the principles of star life and death, burst forth from his palm.

This beam ignored all the barriers in between, whether it was the frenzied insect races or the mother nest’s hastily erected biological energy shield, and directly hit the mother nest’s core.