Chapter 585 - 389: Siege of the Insect Race, Might of the Demon Artifact

"The World Will has awakened!"

Izera’s dark gold vertical pupils constricted abruptly. Her voice trembled, laced with an indescribable sorrow.

Because another, more frenzied and twisted Will had awakened in sync, threatening to drag the entire world into an endless nightmare.

Two Wills—utterly different, yet equally immense—intertwined and clashed at the Heart of the World.

The Rules of the entire Esok World began to grow chaotic and indistinct.

The frigid wind was no longer merely cold; it carried chaotic whispers. Ice crystals struck the face, leaving a bizarre burning sensation, and even space itself rippled.

"Let’s go! We’re going to the Heart of the World!" Izera suppressed the tremor in her heart and turned to lead the way.

She and Ian shot up from the ground almost simultaneously, breaking through the howling blizzard in an attempt to reach the entrance to the Earth Core.

However, when their gazes pierced the churning, icy fog and they saw the scene beyond the icefield...

The color drained from Izera’s face in an instant.

"This... This is..."

The light in her vertical pupils flickered violently. What greeted her eyes was a terrifying sight, enough to make anyone break down.

A sea of insects.

A boundless, all-consuming sea of insects.

It was no longer the scattered Nests from before, no longer swarms operating in separate regions.

It was every surviving Insect Race unit in the entire Esok World, having received the same supreme command from the otherworldly Nest.

They had abandoned all their strongholds and missions, converging into the most frenzied insect tide. From every corner of the world, they swarmed toward the Extreme North Icefield—toward their very position!

The sky was blotted out by a dense swarm of Shadow Wing Insects, their transparent or dark purple wings vibrating!

Like rolling black smoke, they filled every inch of the sky layer by layer, completely obscuring even the light from the expanding Rift.

The high-frequency hum of their vibrating wings merged into a storm of noise that pierced the very Soul.

The Earth was writhing—a terrifying wave formed by the trampling of insect feet, the scrabbling of limbs, and the scraping of Shells.

From the edge of the icefield to the far horizon, the skyline had been completely replaced by an advancing wall of insects.

At the forefront were countless Male Bees and Rapid Insects. Their scarlet compound eyes held only the pure command to kill as they charged forward, trampling over the Shells of their comrades.

Mixed in the middle were colossal Bone-Eating Insects and acid-spitting Eroders.

One could even see some bloated, almost completely immobile Level Four Queen Insects that normally remained in the deepest parts of their Nests. Now, they were being dragged by swarms of Engineer Insects into the heart of the insect sea.

Their massive abdomens still writhed, continuously laying new eggs.

The moment the eggs hit the ground, they hatched rapidly under the chaotic Energy Field and catalytic mucus, joining the charging horde.

In the air, besides the Shadow Wing Insects, were other, more terrifying figures.

Level Four Guard Insects with condensed auras, their Shells glinting with a cold, metallic light. Their mouthparts were capable of tearing space itself, and they circled in droves near the Queen Insects.

They were locked onto Ian and Izera high in the sky, their blade-like forelimbs twitching with anticipation.

Farther away, Shadows that emanated Soul fluctuations flickered in and out of sight—the remaining Soul-Devouring Insects.

They hid deep within the insect sea like the most insidious assassins, waiting for an opportunity to land a fatal blow.

Acid, corrosive gases, scraping Shells, hisses and shrieks, the humming of wings...

Countless sounds and smells mixed together, forming a foul, frenzied torrent that was drowning the entire icefield.

CRACK! CRACK!

The permafrost and Rock at the edge of the icefield continuously cracked and collapsed under the crushing weight of the insect sea, only to be swallowed by the black tide.

Their advance was incredibly fast. At this rate, the entire icefield would cease to exist in ten minutes at most, becoming just another part of the insect sea.

Izera’s body trembled slightly, not just from fear, but from a profound sense of powerlessness and despair.

As the head of the Summoner Council, she had seen Insect Race armies and experienced countless brutal battles.

But she had never witnessed a full-scale encirclement of this magnitude—so frenzied, so utterly heedless of cost, leaving no path for retreat!

This was the Void Nest’s most direct and brutal response to Ian, the outsider. It was pouring out the full might of an entire world’s Insect Race just to utterly crush him!

"It... It’s trying to manifest by force..."

Izera’s voice was hoarse as she looked up at the frantically expanding Rift in the sky.

Behind the Rift, deep within the dark purple Void, a massive, indescribable shadow was gradually coming into focus.

It was a behemoth at least hundreds of miles in diameter, composed of countless writhing biological tissues, Shells, and energy veins.

The main body of the Level Five Void Nest!

It was frantically battering the world’s barrier, trying to tear open the Rift and force its own colossal body into the Esok World.

Once it succeeded in manifesting, never mind Ian—the entire Esok World would meet its end.

The awakening of the World Will, the revival of the Abyss’s Will, the forced manifestation of the Nest, the ultimate encirclement by the Insect Race...

At this moment, the Esok World seemed to have been pushed to the edge of a cliff, arriving at a turning point of destiny.

Ian hovered in the air, his robes fluttering loudly in the chaotic currents.

His face showed none of the panic or gravity Izera had expected; instead, he was exceptionally calm.

His deep eyes swept over the insect sea that blotted out the sky, over the terrifying shadow behind the Rift drawing ever closer, and over the furious Will that had locked onto him.

He could feel the boundless, cold, and tyrannical killing intent of the Void Nest, tinged with the ultimate fury of having been provoked by an ant.

"This... is what desperation looks like."