Blackshore Caverns

Deep inside the large rocky caverns that lie directly underneath the bug hive, not a single trace of earth could be seen along the passageway leading deeper underground.

The rocky walls, ground, and ceiling had all been replaced by countless fleshly veins of green and red while multiple red-glowing sacs hung from them and illuminated the dark caverns like lightbulbs. 

The enormous crevasse that appeared in the deepest depths of Blackshore Caverns had grown even larger, and the darkness that once eluded the depths of the crevasse was no longer present. 

At the bottom of the crevasse, there lies an entire city of the Scruxs civilization. 

Numerous trees, plants, and fleshly buildings were clustered together like stalagmites, and millions of worker-class Scruxs crawled around with high activity. 

In the city center, a group of worker-class Scrucxs extracted blood energy from the fleshly veins before transferring them to the tallest stalagmite-looking building in the Scruxs city. 

It was the city’s core, home to the highest-ranking members of Scruxs in the city. 

After sacrificing millions of humans and feeding their blood and flesh to the Scruxs, Luther Krebs and the rest of the Krebs family were elevated to noble-class among the Scruxs. 

Without exception, every one of them had assimilated with the Scruxs, which empowered them and served to connect them telepathically, allowing communication between Scruxs.

Luther Krebs, in particular, managed to achieve perfect assimilation with his parasitic bug and retained most of his human form. 

However, it was only the form.

Luther Krebs was anything but a human with his eerie emerald eyes and body covered in green veins. 

He had already abandoned his humanity.

At that moment, Luther Krebs stood in a hall with other noble-class Scruxs, each with their own unique form of evolution, as they waited in rows of two on their queen, a Broodmother-class Scruxs. 

Even if the entire Scruxs civilization was destroyed, so long as a single Broodmother-class Scrux survived, they could rebuild everything again. 

Whether they are worker-class, soldier-class, or noble-class Scruxs, they were all born from the Broodmother-class.

Unlike other Scruxs, the Broodmother-class all looked like crustaceans with a large balloon-like body.

Shortly after the Broodmother-class Scruxs arrived, the high-level Scruxs meeting commenced.

“In recent days, I have vaguely sensed the presence of other Broodmother-class arriving in this world. However, their hive’s progress is incomparable to ours. In this regard, the credit goes to you, Luther.” 

“I am flattered, my queen.” Luther Krebs bowed subserviently in response to the Broodmother-class Scruxs, Queen Karkina’s praise.

“Nevertheless, I am a little unsatisfied with the current situation. How much longer do we have to wait before we can start our aggressive expansion?” Queen Karkina inquired. 

“It shouldn’t be much longer, my queen. Although we are quite strong now, we are still not ready to show the world all of our cards. At the very least, we are not strong enough to face the Four Emperors of the human race,” Luther Krebs replied. 

If not for Queen Karkina listening to his previous advice to hold back on their aggressive expansion and lay low to quietly build up their strength, the entirety of Stillwater city would have already fallen. 

Nevertheless, his advice had nothing to do with sparing the humans out of goodwill but everything to do with his survival.

“If we reveal our fangs now, the humans will feel the threat of extinction and send in their most powerful experts to destroy us. However, if we stay according to plan, we can keep luring in decent Hunters to become strong nourishment for our people.”

“Hmm…” 

Queen Karkina was silent for a moment before she inquired, “How strong are you now in comparison to the humans?” 

“Reporting to my queen, my strength should be around the level of an A-rank Hunter. However, the humans have hundreds of such Hunters, not to mention the four S-rank emperors,” Luther Krebs answered. 

However, he was also aware that there were other humans even more powerful than the Four Emperors, such as the Dark Emperor and the reclusive experts of the Ancient Sects that abstained from worldly affairs.

“These kinds of people have transcended the limits of humanity and embarked on the path of immortality. They wield strange powers that can even summon the winds and rains.”

“Bullsh*t!” a noble-class Scruxs suddenly interjected.

“My queen, don’t listen to this human’s words. While we are growing, humans are also growing. If we want to conquer this world, we must take the initiative and not show any cowardice! The path ahead is forged by the brave!”

“I also think so, my queen. We are simply limiting our growth by holding ourselves back. Therefore, I agree that we should proceed with the aggressive expansion plan,” another noble-class Scruxs inserted its opinion.

Queen Karkina favored their opinions, but she couldn’t ignore her strategist either. 

“Well, this is quite the dilemma. The opinions are divided. How should I deal with this?” Queen Karkina tapped the ground with her legs before saying, “We’ll decide with a majority vote. Any objection?”

“None, my queen!”

Once the Broodmother-class Scruxs made her decision, no one could reject it. 

A majority vote was soon held, and without surprise, it was 10-to-1 in favor of the aggressive expansion plan.

Luther Krebs had no choice but to accept the outcome. 

“It’s decided then. We will commence the aggressive expansion plan—” 

Rumble…!

The entire building—no, the entire underground space suddenly trembled just as Queen Kakina was about to finish her declaration.

Several fleshly veins outside the city burst, and blood spilled out from them before the worker-class Scruxs were thrown into chaos as they were quickly ordered to repair the damages.

Rumble…! 

The entire space trembled again, causing greater chaos and damage to the Scruxs’ city as some unstable buildings collapsed.

“What is going on?!” 

The noble-class Scruxs were immediately shocked. 

At the same time, Queen Kakina received numerous reports from her worker-class and soldier-class subjects via telepathy before a suppressive feeling weighed down on the meeting hall.

“We are… under attack!”

…

…

…

Meanwhile, Albion and Fenriri continued to wreak havoc in the Scruxs’ territory on the surface.

“Tear them all down, Riri! Don’t leave a single building standing!” Albion encouraged. 

“Yes, Master!” Fenriri responded excitedly.