Chapter 122: In the Black Mist (2) The True King Takes the Field
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The group of insectoid creatures performing a collaborative spell were all clad in tattered and ragged robes. One of them even had a name tag pinned to the robe.
Saint Ross Harbor Magical Research Association, Level 2 Research Mage, Liu Zhenhan.
“It’s a level seven Rainbow Dragon’s Breath! Don’t let them unleash it!” A male mage from the hero faction waved his hand, casting a dozen large fireballs that pushed back the surging tide of insects.
“Leave it to me!” The bear-hide burly man charged into the swarm with several melee experts.
The elven female archer and other heroes formed a defensive line around the ordinary residents, each displaying their skills.
The fierce battle drew everyone's attention, so no one noticed that a common resident, after coughing violently several times, collapsed to the ground.
His body convulsed violently; his skin rapidly blackened, his bones creaked, and his internal organs emitted faint gurgling sounds, as if being boiled alive…
The ordinary citizens, tormented by the black mist, were confused and unaware of this man’s abnormality—or even if they noticed, they lacked the strength to care.
Moreover, starting from that man, more and more people nearby either fell or crawled to the ground...
A mana-exhausted mage, while drinking a potion, glanced at the residents inside and immediately noticed something was wrong.
Seeing the fierce battle in front, he didn’t make a scene but quietly approached a fallen resident and lifted him up.
However, he did not help him stand—instead, he held the person aloft!
The mage stared at the woman in his hands, whose skin was dark and shiny, and froze. He realized her body had completely stiffened!
Her entire body had transformed into some strange alien form; her bones and joints were gone, replaced by a seamless whole…
Suddenly, the mage recalled the cracked insect cocoons on the surrounding buildings!
He released his grip, and the woman-shaped cocoon in his hands fell to the ground and shattered into pieces!
From the shattered body spilled countless small, pitch-black insect cocoons, several centimeters in size, scattering across the ground…
“Break through!” The mage amplified his voice with a spell. “All residents are doomed! Break through! Gather together and break out!”
Everyone turned to look and immediately understood his meaning. Without further words, they quickly regrouped and began a reverse breakout.
They had passed near the funeral parlor earlier mainly to hurry and escort the residents, but now that the goal was lost, detouring no longer mattered.
“We’re surrounded! These bugs have a commander!” The bear-hide man blocked the foreleg of a four-meter-tall alien giant insect, kicked it flying, and shouted to his comrades.
“There are too many of them! The magical disaster has been going on less than half a day—how could such a massive army appear? Could the entire magical disaster of Saint Ross Harbor have been concentrated here?!” A burly man wielding a two-handed greatsword shouted. “Mages, use scrolls! Clear the way! Don’t be stingy with mana and items! Otherwise, we’ll be trapped for sure!”
After deploying scrolls, the journey indeed became much smoother. However, most of the heroes present were Grade A and rarely carried spell scrolls. High-level scrolls were troublesome to make, materials expensive, and their shelf life short. These practical, battle-hardened senior mages usually only made a couple casually in spare time as a precaution.
Thus, the firepower soon quieted again.
But the insects’ offensive did not weaken—instead, it intensified!
Because a large number of flying insects appeared!
Some dragonfly-like flying magical insects had the ability to spew attacks, spraying terrifying corrosive acid from the sky and diving down to strike.
Other small flying insects resembled mosquitoes or flies, equipped with terrifying needle-like mouthparts and tails, charging in groups toward certain targets, trying to drain them dry!
This terrifying, multi-dimensional assault caught everyone off guard.
The bewildering black mist grew thicker, the funeral parlor vanished, and the ground transformed into a vast pit. A great amount of black mist spread from it, rising to the sky and then falling over the entire Saint Ross Harbor area...
At the deepest part of the dungeon, two masked men sat inside a protective barrier.
“Hey, we can’t get out this way, can we?” The burly masked man looked at his companion.
“If the plan goes smoothly, once the boss takes the Rainbow Heart, we can leave,” said the shadowed masked figure. “Don’t worry, this is a presence-shielding barrier I’ve prepared for a long time. As long as we don’t act recklessly, that monster below definitely won’t detect us.”
This was the fifth layer of the newly formed dungeon—a relatively narrow space of only a few thousand square meters, but more than three hundred meters deep.
Almost the entire space was occupied by a presence.
A terrifying insectoid creature, over two hundred meters tall, head bowed low, covered in dozens of meters thick chitinous armor!
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It had a cockroach-like head, six pairs of compound eyes, and a pair of insect mandibles as sharp as twin blades, clearly lethal. Despite its massive size, its body was sleek and streamlined, appearing agile rather than cumbersome.
Countless tiny magical insects crawled over its body, and the seemingly tough black armor would occasionally open its mandibles to swallow the small insects. This monster’s entire body was alive!
This creature was likely the physical form of the Endless Sea King, still slowly growing.
Back then, the true form of this demon king was said to be a giant insectoid over several hundred meters tall, with infinite regenerative abilities, capable of freely splitting and merging, plus the terrifying power to manipulate billions of tons of seawater.
Who knows how the Rainbow Hero managed to repel such a beast by the sea and forcibly seal its body!
On the left side of the creature’s chest, a glimmering speck of iridescent light flickered slowly—a Rainbow Heart exposed outside.
Many tiny magical insects crawled over the heart, seemingly trying to cover it, but every insect that touched the Rainbow Heart would rot and dissolve into black sludge.
“Impressive, a cellular-level seal,” said the shadowed masked figure with admiration. “The Rainbow Heart continuously causes the monster’s body to self-disintegrate, preventing recombination. In theory, over time, the monster’s body will be completely broken down, losing the concept of ‘self’ and disappearing.”
“But you reintroduced the concept of ‘self,’ causing it to reaggregate and form again, right? Meanwhile, the Rainbow Heart’s disintegration radius expands over time, resulting in an inability to decompose this externally gathered ‘existence,’” mused the burly masked man. “It’s a lost cause. Moreover, the Rainbow Heart is currently ownerless, unable to actively adjust its disintegration frequency; it can only perform broad-spectrum weak disintegration, powerless against tightly clustered high-density cells, barely suppressing them.”
“Exactly,” said the shadowed figure. “It’s unfortunate but necessary. Do you oppose the boss’s plan?”
“No opposition,” the burly man shook his head. “It really is necessary…”
The massive insectoid body twitched slowly; among its six pairs of compound eyes, red glimmers flickered intermittently, resembling a person half-awake, half-asleep.
On the ground, the heroes besieged by the insect horde were already taking casualties…
Several Grade B melee heroes, exhausted, were dragged into the swarm by giant insects. Despite desperate rescue efforts, facing the vast sea of insects, everyone felt a profound helplessness…
“This isn’t working. These bugs are all Grade A and S level, with a high elite ratio. I’m barely holding on,” the bear-hide man lay within a protective circle, receiving healing spells.
His body was pierced with dozens of broken insect legs and mouthparts; the bear-hide cloak he wore had almost fused with his skin.
“Don’t waste mana. The Beast God’s power is nearly exhausted. If this continues, the consciousness of the beast will take over me…” The bear-headed man stood, and with his breathing, brown hair like steel needles spread across his bare chest. “I will launch a final charge… follow me…”
The bear-headed man staggered forward. His gait was not from fatigue but because his body proportions were changing.
His once strong, muscular long legs grew thicker, his torso expanded, spine creaking, and arms becoming more robust…
A roar!
Finally, the man transformed into a massive bear over five meters long, covered in thick brown fur!
The giant bear charged madly, like an unstoppable biological tank, crushing and knocking aside all insects in its path!
Neither the insects’ sharp claws and mandibles nor the acid spit by flying bugs affected the thick fur…
This furious beast carved a bloody path through the insect sea!
But then a problem arose…
“That idiot… he’s running too fast…” The bear’s teammates watched his silhouette fade away, shaking their heads with a bitter smile.
Indeed, the berserk bear had completely forgotten his teammates had only two legs and far less strength than his fully beastified self. In the blink of an eye, he left them all behind…
The bear wagged his tongue happily, dashing madly through the black mist. The insects along the way became his snacks—crispy bites with thick meat, quite to his liking.
However, a figure suddenly appeared directly in front of him.
“Hm… bear?” The average-looking man stared at the bear’s snapping jaws, neither dodging nor flinching, allowing the bear to bite his right shoulder.
The bear bit down, then pounced with both arms on the man, shaking his head wildly to tear him apart.
But as he shook, a crisp cracking sound echoed in his mind…
The bear froze, feeling pain in his gums, and opened his mouth.
Clack, clack...
Several huge, finger-thick sharp teeth fell out. The bear stared at the man’s torn clothing and the unblemished skin beneath—no trace of injury.
That furious bite, with all his might, neither hurt the man nor even left a mark; instead, the man had broken several of his teeth!
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This bear was the rampaging product of an out-of-control Grade S hero, with strength nearing that of an S-level boss, base strength over 120, capable of tearing aircraft carriers apart with bare hands and going toe-to-toe with the Hulk.
And the man who could withstand such a monster unscathed was naturally only one person within a hundred-mile radius.
Good King Dais.
“You don’t look like a monster…” Dais smiled, scratching the bear’s chin.
The bear roared and stepped back; his instincts told him he couldn’t beat this guy!
He was not prey but…
a god!
“Wooo~~~” The bear whimpered like a lost dog while retreating.
“Hm, I think I understand your situation. Come with me.” Dais flickered, grabbed the loose skin at the back of the bear’s neck and lifted him up, then began sprinting at a speed visible to the human eye.
The bear whined in fear but was powerless. Against a monster like Good King, his brute strength was insignificant, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t even scratch through that layer of skin…
“Good, everyone’s still holding on.” Dais glanced at the heroes hundreds of meters away. The ground exploded beneath his feet as he increased speed again.
In the next moment, he soared into the air.
“Fortunately, there aren’t that many. I’m not good at dealing with large swarms of monsters…” Dais clenched his right fist while holding the bear, then suddenly threw a powerful straight punch!
Boom!
The heroes on the ground felt something huge sweep overhead, and the swarm of flying insects above dispersed by more than half.
The bear watched the scene, feeling his bestiality subside somewhat.
In front of Good King Dais, a hundred-meter-wide giant fist imprint pierced through the black mist, and through it, the bear could even see the clear sky beyond.
Dais’s punch powerfully cut through more than half of Saint Ross Harbor…
“Hold on to me tightly; the ground situation is complicated. Don’t be too rough,” Dais tossed the bear up and instructed. “Be careful.”
The bear obediently wrapped his arms around Dais’s neck.
In the next instant, Dais stomped on the air and plunged downward, the shockwave from the landing instantly pulverizing all insects within a hundred meters!
“Who is that… Someone carrying Mars charging over?!” Mars’s teammates, an S-level hero clad in heavy armor wielding sword and shield, watched the scene as if dreaming…
“Hold tight, I’m only using thirty… no, twenty percent of my strength. Begin… the charge!” Amidst swirling dust and flying remains, Dais patted the frightened bear’s mouth, bent slightly, and smiled reassuringly.
Then, his figure vanished from everyone’s sight!
Gusts of wild wind blew toward the heroes from all directions, carrying countless shards of corpses and stones.
The insect horde surrounding them was crushed directly by the shockwave brought by the gale!
A tornado suddenly appeared, swirling black mist and hurling countless debris into the sky…
At the center of the eye of the storm, a beam of light shone on the heroes.
“Wind-element spell?” A male mage blinked, lowering his head to ponder the spell. “Looks like a level seven Cutting Tornado, but far more powerful and concentrated… Is it an ultra-magical essence specialization? Or the elemental incarnation of the Wind Lord?”
“Greetings, everyone!” Dais appeared before them, holding the curled-up bear Mars. He placed the bear on the ground and smiled, greeting the group.
“Who are you?” A burly man looked at Dais and suddenly realized. “Good King! It’s Good King!”
“Hm?! What’s this…” The male mage stared at the wind barrier around them, stunned. “Physical body, martial arts?”
“No,” Dais shook his head, smiling brightly and giving a thumbs up. “Just went for a few jogs.”
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