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41: Giant Bugs

The sunlight hugged the earth, illuminating the otherwise bleak city. The city was in ruins, a storm of death having torn it to pieces long ago. The infestation of cockroaches was evident with just one glance, and the hunter in the sky rejoiced at the sight.

A bird flew in the sky, silently watching the earth below. The bird was abnormal, and after eating countless strange cockroaches, it had mutated to become deadlier and more intimidating with its sharp features.

Perhaps the special energy inside its diet contributed to its mutation too.

It sports four eyes and a wingspan of four feet despite only having a body length of one foot. Its talons were thick, sharp, and seemed like tiny scythes, easily able to penetrate even concrete.

After gliding in the sky for so long, a suitable prey finally entered its vision.

FOOOSH!

The bird dove down like a lightning bolt, before rising back up a moment later like a rocket.

With a satisfied cry, it went home to feed its young. The one feet long cockroach on its talons was sure to satisfy the stomachs of its voracious children.

Watching the bird of prey leaving Zharan’s territory, Helzar let out a broken chuckle. His laughter sounded like a malfunctioning engine roaring to start, yet only coughing up smog.

Helzar glanced at Zharan, who had grown to over four feet in length.

Zharan’s exoskeleton was black with hints of crimson, and a rough outline of a heart pattern rested on her elytra, which would separate in half whenever she wished to fly. Her thick, barbed legs were as thick, if not thicker than a man's thighs, and on her head was a pair of compound eyes that seemed translucent, glowing ever so slightly a majestic blue mixed with strands of blood red.

Helzar himself grew to ten inches in length, making him both happy for the growth, and bitter at being two inches short of the one foot long milestone.

Helzar was constantly in his demonic form after leaving the Nest back at his lair. His six, thick legs had four claws at the end of each, and his four pairs of wings were folded on his back like a silk robe. Helzar's exoskeleton was black like Zharan, although he had dark-blue stripes covering his body like a tiger while his eyes glowed an eerie blue as well.

Zharan replied, her husky voice distorting like a mix of a wheeze and a growl.

Helzar couldn't help asking.

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Helzar had his own method of theoretically infinite growth, but Zharan, he wasn't quite sure of.

Zharan gave birth to an egg. The egg hatched into thousands of little white nymphs in just a few seconds, all of which scrambled away except for one.

Zharan led Helzar to an open area where the sunlight could reach before placing the nymph on the ground. The nymph squirmed happily, stretching its fragile limbs. With Zharan carefully patting its body, the nymph curled up in joy as its exoskeleton hardened, turning from white to brown, and finally to black.

The nymph was a mere inch when it was born, but after its exoskeleton hardened, it was already three inches. Helzar noticed that it was still growing, cracks on the edges of its exoskeleton were forming because of its rapid growth.

Zharan described before letting the newborn cockroach go.

Zharan’s cockroaches only have one month to live, and during that time, they'll lay hundreds of eggs. Each generation of cockroach will have slightly weaker fertility and regenerative abilities than the previous generation, with the eggs laid by Zharan having the strongest innate abilities.

Helzar stared at Zharan for a few minutes. His Spawns needed to eat to gain energy. They couldn't just bask in the sun or sit in a random place to absorb ambient energy like Zharan’s “children”.

If he could, he wouldn't have allied with La'Queen to defend against the Agents. Just hiding in a sewer and watching the Swarm grow would be enough.

‘Zharan’s innate ability cannot be replicated through the Nest, just like La'Queen’s innate ability,’ Helzar bid Zharan good bye and returned to his lair.

The Swarm occupied half of the Western Continent, while La'Queen and Zharan each occupied a fourth of the continent. Helzar's lair was located in a dense, residential area in the biggest city on the continent. All the houses, apartments, and other buildings around his lair were covered in thick, black vines that had blue blood running through them as though they were veins.

In reality, that wasn't too far from the truth.

Apart from the black vines that seemed to swallow the buildings, there were ordinary plants, vines, moss, and even soil carpeting the buildings. In a few select areas, some yellow and red flowers were even growing.

‘A little over a year has passed since the final battle with humans. Now, I rarely see them,’ Helzar thought as he flew through the air, surrounded by hundreds of millions of aggressive Spawns.

‘The few humans that are still alive have… mutated as well. I wonder if they've been eating Zharan’s children?’ Helzar thought that it was plausible.

Zharan allowed both Helzar and La'Queen to eat her children as long as they were over a foot long. In other words, when the cockroaches were a month old and were near the end of their natural lifespans. It was through Zharan’s generosity that the Swarm is not declining from the sudden lack of prey.

‘La’Queen detests eating Zharan’s children for reasons neither I or Zharan know,’ Helzar quietly laughed at stubborn La'Queen. ‘Thanks to that, I get to eat more fat, juicy cockroaches from Zharan.’

After playfully mocking La'Queen, Helzar's mind went back to the surviving humans. They were all over six feet tall, even the children were all over five feet tall when they reached their teenage years. Not only that, they have enhanced strength and they showed signs of being compatible with cosmic energy.

‘I don't know what kind of magic humans will develop,’ Helzar wished he knew where the humans hid. No matter how few, a group of people who can wield magic is dangerous, Helzar had the Agents as proof of that.

‘The Agents used weapons infused with Spiritual Magic, as well as practiced Cultivation Mgic, which is still under Spiritual Magic. Will humans learn to use Spiritual Magic?’ Helzar felt dubious.

Spiritual Magic was developed by Spirits and Elementals, and humans definitely did not have connections to those two nearly extinct races.

Shaking his head, Helzar cleared his mind for the meantime. Flying leisurely on the free skies became Helzar's favorite activity. Not having to worry about hostile creatures attacking him while feeling the air surrounding his body was an experience he will never forget.

BUZZ…

Suddenly, an abrupt and unusually loud buzzing of wings registered in Helzar's mind, prompting him to refocus on his surroundings.

Helzar frowed, calling the Swarm to exterminate the foreign bees. The millions of Spawns surrounding Helzar had no hesitation in following Helzar.

However, Helzar noticed an anomaly as soon as a Spawn entered his field of vision.

Surrounded by millions of Spawns were dozens of giant bees, all of which were more than one foot long.