Chapter 11: Ritual: Void Proliferation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 11: Ritual: Void Proliferation
The Void Insect Hive.
Xie Bai’s plan was simple: stake out the Void Insect Hive and wait for the Chaos Cultists to show up.
When they arrived, she would use her Shadow Return skill to slip into their shadow and hitch a ride back to their base.
After all, the enemy might use some form of teleportation to return to the church; if she only followed them in her Spirit Form, she might lose them.
But once she was inside a shadow, she had nothing to fear. In this world, a person’s shadow was a one-to-one bond. As long as she was submerged in their shadow, she could follow them no matter where they went.
Furthermore, after Shadow Return reached Level 13, it gained a permanent binding feature.
Once she had entered and exited someone's shadow once, she could later enter any shadow and emerge from that specific person's shadow. It was essentially unlocking a permanent, personal teleportation point anchored to that individual.
As for whether the Chaos Cultists would actually show up, Xie Bai wasn't particularly worried.
She didn't believe the Chaos Church was so incompetent that they wouldn't notice thirty million Void Insects being wiped out.
Hum—
Sure enough, after waiting only two hours, Xie Bai saw a man dressed in black robes appear out of thin air.
His attire was identical to the Chaos Cultist she had seen meeting with Roland earlier.
The moment he appeared, Xie Bai activated Shadow Return and slipped into his shadow.
"Strange. According to the Cult Leader's predictions, the Void Insect Hive should have launched its first offensive by now. Why is it still in a state of recovery?"
"Did someone clear out all the insects the hive had accumulated? Could it be Roland?"
"No, that's impossible. Roland still hasn't figured out how to bypass the Voidification talent of the Void Insect Race."
"Based on the perfect synergy between Voidification and the hive mind, the more Void Insects are killed in a short period, the higher the damage reduction for the entire swarm becomes."
"If the numbers are high enough, they can even achieve 100% damage reduction for a period of time. There's no way Roland could have killed this many Void Insects."
the Chaos Cultist muttered to himself. He racked his brain but couldn't understand why the Void Insects that were supposed to lead the first wave of the attack were simply gone.
He didn't have much time to ponder, as the surrounding Void Insects began to notice his presence.
One after another, glowing purple compound eyes snapped open, staring at the cultist as the swarm began to grow restless.
"Not good. I need to grab a few eggs and get out of here."
With that, the Chaos Cultist blinked to the air above a cluster of eggs.
Using some kind of storage magic, he collected over a dozen eggs. Before the enraged Void Insects could swarm him, he vanished instantly, leaving the Void Insect Hive behind.
Thinking his mission was a success, the cultist had no idea that an uninvited guest was now lurking within his shadow.
*
-6.057 Billion
-6.057 Billion
-6.057 Billion
【Killed Chaos Cultist Lv.67】
【Killed Chaos Cultist Lv.62】
【Killed Chaos Cultist Lv.63】
【Judgment rendered: Chaos Bishop Lv.75】
【Obtained Spirit Mass * 1500】
Xie Bai had torn through the Chaos Church's territory with ease, only to realize this place was merely a branch temple.
"Tsk, these Chaos Church people are so weak. The Bishop with the highest health only had two million HP. I killed them all just using the area-of-effect damage from Echo."
Xie Bai boredly put away Funeral Rites.
Without using any skill-based damage multipliers, the three-stage damage of her basic attack currently totaled over six billion. By releasing Echo to inherit that six billion damage and converting it into AoE, she had insta-killed every cultist in the branch temple.
It wasn't even a challenge.
Looking around the now-empty Chaos Branch Temple, Xie Bai walked over to a very prominent pedestal in the center.
【Ritual Center】
【Current Target Ritual: Void Proliferation】
【Current Ritual Progress: 98.5%】
【Please insert ritual items】
Ritual items?
Xie Bai looked at the Void Insect Eggs she had snatched from the cultist.
【Void Insect Egg * 16】
【A special item unique to the Void Insect Race. Under the nourishment of a Void Insect Hive, it can give birth to new Void Insects. It is also an excellent Void item with strong Void properties.】
"Is this the key item needed to complete the ritual?"
Xie Bai hesitated for a moment.
She didn't actually know what this mysterious "Void Proliferation" ritual was for. She could only guess that it was related to the Chaos Church's World Destruction Plan.
"Should I... try putting one in?"
In the spirit of causing as much trouble as possible, Xie Bai tried placing one Void Insect Egg onto the Ritual Center.
Hum—
A flash of light swept over the Ritual Center, and the egg vanished.
In Xie Bai’s vision, the progress bar for the Ritual Center ticked upward slightly.
【Current Ritual Progress: 98.6%】
"One egg only gives that much? Looks like I need to put in fourteen more."
Xie Bai didn't hesitate much longer. In a way, she was quite well-suited for infiltrating the Chaos Church.
*
Hum—
Hum—
Hum—
After the fifteenth Void Insect Egg was swallowed by the light, Xie Bai tucked away the final remaining egg.
With that, the ritual's progress bar finally hit its maximum value.
【Current Ritual Progress: 100%】
【Ritual has met final conditions!】
【Please select an effect to activate:】
【1. Void Insect Hive Quantity Proliferation】
【2. Void Insect Hive Species Proliferation】
"There's a selection phase?"
Xie Bai looked over the options.
The first option, "Quantity Proliferation," didn't just mean the hive would produce more insects. Instead, it gave the Void Insect Hive a self-replication trait. Every so often, a brand-new Void Insect Hive would spawn next to the original one.
Furthermore, the newly born hives would retain this trait.
With this, the Void Insect Hives could achieve terrifying exponential growth. If they weren't destroyed immediately at the start, their numbers would keep increasing until they reached a point where no one could stop them.
Eventually, the massive scale of the hives would allow the endless Void Insect Race to devour the entire continent until the world was destroyed.
It was, undeniably, a horrific effect.
Considering that a single Void Insect Hive had already caused the Aodu Empire to mobilize in force, destroying a fully developed hive in its early stages was likely an extremely difficult task.
Granting the hives the ability to self-replicate was likely the Chaos Church's true goal for this ritual.
However, Xie Bai had hijacked the entire process.
She then looked at the second effect: Species Proliferation.
Simply put, it allowed the Void Insect Hive to continuously produce new species of insects.
Originally, the hive only produced three types: Void Soldier Insects, Void Heavy Armored Insects, and Void Flying Insects. The variety was pitifully low, and they were all essentially cannon fodder.
If not for the fact that Voidification allowed them to stack massive damage reduction over time, Roland could have wiped them out single-handedly.
But what if the Void Insect Race could constantly introduce new species?
Xie Bai read the detailed description. If the hive had this trait, it could birth a new species every three days.
This coincided perfectly with Xie Bai’s plan to harvest the hive every three days.
Moreover, as time passed, the species born from the hive would become stronger, and the level of the hive itself would increase. This, in turn, would raise the levels of the insects it produced.
With a few rounds of "weeding out the old for the new," the Void Insect Hive could potentially reach a level where every unit was Level 90 or higher.
And a massive number of high-level Void Insects was exactly what Xie Bai needed most for grinding.
Without a second thought, Xie Bai made the decision for the now-deceased Chaos Cultists.
"Activate the second effect!"
【"Void Insect Hive Species Proliferation" selected.】
At Xie Bai’s command, a massive array of complex magic circles erupted from the Ritual Center. They spun violently, glowing with a brilliant purple light.
Boom!
As the dust settled, Xie Bai received the ritual notification.
【Ritual successfully activated!】
【Trait added to Void Insect Hive: Species Proliferation】