Chapter 1357
In an instant, every trace of breath vanished within the cave—scent, magical aura, even the pulse of life—all sealed away in this hollow. From the outside, the pale green membrane appeared no different from the original stone wall, flawless and without a single crack.
The Rock Giant warlock pressed one hand against the green membrane, and from his stone-formed palm, strands of peculiar magic pulsed outward, sustaining the spell.
A dozen seconds later, the cave’s connecting tunnels erupted—each passage spewing forth swarms of crimson giant insects. They resembled ants but stretched over three meters long, their forelimbs shaped like scythes, and their mouths packed with at least a hundred needle-like teeth.
In less than three seconds, the giant insects had overrun the cave. The stone walls—ceiling and sides alike—were crammed with them, the ground a writhing pile of bodies stacked atop one another. All their antennae quivered restlessly, as if searching for something.
"Archmage Leon Merlin, these are just magical beasts, none above level thirty. We don’t need to hide, do we? If you’re scared, go ahead and hide yourself. We’re not afraid!"
Shelton stood there with his arms crossed, sneering at the dozen giant insects crawling over the green barrier. From here, everyone could see every disturbing detail, yet none of them felt threatened.
Sunny stood nearby, her laughter cold and constant.
"Shelton, you probably don’t know this, but the only reason he’s survived this long is because he’s cautious enough to hide from everything first. Only when he’s certain there’s no danger does he show his face. It doesn’t matter if it’s level-twenty bugs or level-four ones—he’d still hide first…"
Leon glanced indifferently at Shelton and Sunny, ignoring them. Beside him, Maxwell frowned.
These two idiots—willing to sell out everything for power—still stirring up infighting at a time like this. Archmage Leon Merlin knows this plane far too well; if he’s being this cautious, there has to be danger.
Besides, Archmage Leon Merlin’s research into bloodline transplantation goes deeper than mine. There’s no real conflict here—befriending him is what matters. If we can get those transplantation techniques from him, our flaws and strength will both improve, and our research could advance. Maybe we’ll even discover something new.
These two fools, still provoking Archmage Leon Merlin for no reason… Utterly stupid.
"Sunny, Shelton, enough. Since Archmage Leon Merlin said so, there must be a reason. If you’re not satisfied, you can leave on your own."
Maxwell personally snapped at Sunny and Shelton. Both looked sour, but neither dared to argue further.
"Master Merlin, you seem to know a lot about these giant insects. Could you explain a bit?"
Maxwell turned to Leon with an apologetic smile.
Leon ignored Sunny and Shelton, waited a few seconds, then began to explain to Maxwell about the giant insects.
"Ever heard of army ants? The kind that devours everything in its path? These giant insects are this plane’s version of army ants. They spend most of their time underground, and their nest is down there too. Their scythe-like blades can cut through magic, even spells—they’ll shred and devour anything.
That includes our shields, mana, bodies, and souls. Their bodies have strong magic resistance and their shells are tough. Each one’s only around level twenty, but the thousands here are just a small foraging squad.
Once they detect something alive, their antennae transmit the signal back. Within three minutes, not only this cave but a dozen surrounding ones will be surrounded—then the swarm will close in, and their true army will arrive.
When that happens, we’ll need Sky Rank power just to kill these giant insects.
But using Sky Rank power here will collapse the cave, and we’ll never escape. A single insect colony numbers at least a million, and underground, who among us could kill a million? Their queen is definitely Sky Rank, and there are at least ten thousand at level thirty-nine.
Most importantly, using transcendent power underground will attract something, and then we’re all dead…"
Leon explained calmly, even his last words delivered in a flat tone—yet everyone felt a chill at the same time.
It was a simple statement, as factual as stating a law of nature.
Maxwell’s expression changed slightly. He could tell Leon wasn’t threatening them—he was just stating the truth.
Damn it, what’s really down there? If even Archmage Leon Merlin thinks it’s this dangerous, if he’s convinced we’ll die, what is it?
Is there some terrifying creature sleeping underground? Is the reason we can’t use transcendent power that it might wake this monster?
Yes, that must be it. Only that explains why this plane is so bizarre. The odds of powerful creatures emerging here are higher than in any plane I know. How could there not be some intelligent life?
No, it’s not that there’s no intelligent life—it’s that a terrifying transcendent being, maybe an entire race of them, was born underground in this plane. And they’re sleeping down there.
The closer you get, the higher the chance of being discovered. If you use transcendent power underground, you might wake that monster—and it would kill everyone on the plane…
(Irrelevant system message skipped.)
This plane probably did have intelligent races and creatures, but that terrifying presence must have killed them all…
"Master Merlin, are you saying there’s some terrifying transcendent creature sleeping beneath this plane?"
Maxwell’s words drew everyone's attention—not just the Thorned Crown, but Hubert, Reina, and Lord Shaun all looked at Leon in surprise.
Leon nodded slowly, thinking back.
"Incredibly powerful—by level, it’s probably forty-eight or forty-nine. If it wakes, there won’t be a single living thing left on this plane.
Well, except for the bug-like magical beasts. They might survive…
I hope everyone understands: we’re here to explore for resources, not to die. To be blunt, if you wake that monster, all your flaws will get you killed before I do—the whole plane is its territory."
Suddenly, the whole group fell silent—even Sunny and Shelton, who usually looked for trouble, just gave a skeptical, cold laugh and said nothing.
At that moment, a strange fluctuation surged through the Rock Giant warlock. His magical aura grew chaotic, and the stony blue barrier began to ripple.
Outside, the giant insects—having already searched every inch of the cave—suddenly seemed to sense something. All their antennae vibrated wildly, then they began hacking at the stone walls with their bladed forelimbs. Stone chips flew everywhere, and in seconds the cave grew larger, the walls chewed away by nearly half a meter.
A dozen giant insects outside the blue-gray barrier also hacked away furiously, sending chunks of stone flying, while the space where the group hid retreated under the Rock Giant warlock’s control.
When the insects’ blades struck the barrier, it was as if they were hitting solid rock. But all the stone was from the nearby walls or the ground—the space itself, under the warlock’s control, had merged with the stone and was completely hidden.
That’s the unique ability of these mutant bloodline warlocks. With spells alone, this would be impossible—by now, the giant insects would have found us.
"Master Maxwell, I can’t hold on much longer. My bloodline’s starting to go haywire. If I keep this up, I’ll lose control in three minutes at most."
The Rock Giant warlock’s face twisted, his skin shifting between flesh and stone—his arms morphing back and forth. The bloodline fusion was starting to fail.
That’s his flaw: using Rock Giant bloodline power, no force can be sustained for too long. For spells like this, after less than ten minutes, he can’t keep it up. If he pushes, his blood will boil, the fusion will break down, and his body will turn entirely to stone. At that point, his heart and soul would be crushed—he’d die for sure…
Leon frowned, eyeing the insects outside with suspicion. Why was this foraging squad staying so long? Normally, after devouring every trace of their presence, they’d leave.
By the calculations, the Rock Giant warlock should have had no trouble holding out…
Leon sighed. He didn’t want this expedition to end in failure—if it failed now, it would be decades before they could try again. For the next few decades, this plane would be off-limits.
He took out some Golden Honey from his spatial ring, along with a pile of reserved ingredients. In his left hand, a head-sized orb of water appeared, swirling with a vortex inside. Leon tossed all the herbs into the water orb.
As the vortex spun, the water orb changed color, splitting into more than thirty layers, each with a different spinning vortex.
With every spin, the materials were shredded by the water’s force—but their effects stayed intact. Tiny bits of impurity were filtered out and clung to the orb’s surface.
Then a fireball appeared in Leon’s right hand, wrapping around the water orb. The impurities burned to ash, and inside, the water began a complex reaction. Layer after layer merged, forming a dark green liquid that changed color under the flames.
From the outside, nothing was visible—only Leon holding a blazing fireball.
Everyone nearby was stunned—Maxwell’s crystal eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Is he making a potion? Alchemical potions can… can be made like this?"
The whole group stared, dumbfounded, as Leon finished. In less than a minute, the fireball vanished, leaving a ball of black viscous liquid in his palm. Leon glanced at the Rock Giant warlock.
"Open your mouth."
The guy was already stunned—he’d never seen anyone make an alchemical potion like this. The black, foul-smelling liquid was definitely a potion, though nobody doubted it.
(Irrelevant system message skipped.)
In this situation, no one thought Leon was just fooling around…
At Leon’s words, the Rock Giant warlock instinctively opened his mouth. Instantly, the black water ball turned into a stream and poured straight in.
In an instant, the warlock’s shifting complexion returned to normal—though he looked as if he’d just eaten dog crap, one hand pressed to the blue-gray barrier, the other trying to claw the stuff out of his mouth.
The Rock Giant warlock looked horrified and disgusted. Just standing nearby, people nearly gagged from the smell—if they had to eat it themselves…
"Time’s short—just deal with it."
Leon was quite satisfied with his slapdash potion. Time was tight, so he’d used a rough method—the potion looked terrible and wasn’t very effective, easily the worst he’d ever made, but it was enough for now…
The warlock kept gagging, not realizing the blue-gray barrier had stabilized. But Maxwell, whose crystal eyes saw more than most, instantly noticed something was off.
"George, your arm’s normal again, your complexion’s back, your aura’s recovered… Oh hell, your bloodline stabilized?"
Maxwell’s voice trembled, his pitch rising—he sounded nothing like a Sky Rank Level 5 powerhouse, more like someone seeing a flying man for the first time.
Maxwell’s shout made the atmosphere strange. George, who’d been clawing at his throat, froze like he’d been turned to stone. He yanked his hand from his mouth, stared at his restored arm, then at the blue-gray barrier, mouth agape as if he’d seen a ghost.
"It’s… it’s like I’ve seen a ghost… My bloodline’s stable…"
After saying that, George noticed the looks from the other bloodline transplant guys. Shivering, he eyed the stinky liquid on his stone hand, stuffed it in his mouth, and bit down, swallowing every last drop. Seconds later, a brand-new stone hand grew from his wrist…
Looking at his companions, George grinned sheepishly.
"It’s gone—all finished…"
George kept grinning, but everyone could see how proud he was of his new stone hand.
Maxwell’s face was shocked and pained, his eyes nearly shooting daggers at George.
This idiot actually gulped down the last bit of potion. Didn’t he realize how precious that stuff was for us?
If there’d been any leftovers, at least they could’ve analyzed the ingredients—even if they couldn’t figure out the recipe, they could make something with a similar effect. But this idiot…
Were they really going to fight him for the little bit left in his mouth? Damn it, this idiot, idiot, idiot…
Maxwell was about to burst with rage, his chest heaving, magical aura in chaos. The others glared daggers at George, looking ready to kill him—not sure if it was for not leaving a sample, or just because they didn’t get a taste.
George sensed the awkward atmosphere and tried to explain.
"I figured, if I swallowed all the potion, I could stay hidden longer. After all, none of us knows when those nasty bugs outside will leave…"
Maxwell said nothing, face dark. The others glared at George, but nobody pressed the issue—they still needed his ability, with the giant insects outside still expanding the cave. Who knew when they’d leave…
After sensing the change, the giant insects kept digging, determined to search meters deep. They wouldn’t leave for at least a few more minutes…
George’s unstable bloodline, thanks to the foul potion—smelling like sewer water from a city slum—had finally stabilized. Judging by his aura, he’d be fine for a while.