The Black Dragon Fortress tore through space and re-entered the Central Domain.
The moment reality stabilized—
Red flooded the command deck.
"⚠ Warning," Babata's voice cut in, sharp and compressed. "Biological density in the target zone is nine thousand percent above baseline. Terrain anomaly detected."
Su Chen stepped forward. "Explain."
A pause.
"The Volcano of Origins," Babata said slowly, "no longer exists."
"Gone?" His eyes narrowed.
The main viewport expanded.
What greeted them was not a volcano.
It was an ocean.
A writhing, living black sea of carapace and mandibles stretched across the horizon, burying the mountain entirely. Billions of insect bodies climbed over one another in endless layers—Void Scythe Mantises slicing through the air, Magma Beetles grinding molten stone beneath their shells, Acid Spitters rupturing and reforming as they crawled.
They surged toward a single point.
The World Tree Seed.
A hemispherical Magitek Shield flickered weakly around it, light pulsing erratically as insects hurled themselves against it. They burned, melted, disintegrated—
And kept coming.
They weren't attacking.
They were sacrificing themselves to overload the generator.
"Disgusting," Esdeath muttered, arms crossed. "No strategy. No form. Just hunger."
"It's strategy," Su Chen replied evenly. "Just not an individual one."
He zoomed the feed in.
"At this scale, it's a Hive Mind."
His gaze hardened.
"The Insect Queen wants the Seed. If she consumes it, she evolves beyond regional dominance."
"A Planetary God," Babata finished quietly.
Su Chen turned.
Albedo stood nearby in full black plate, bardiche 3F resting against her shoulder. Her wings were unfurled, armor humming faintly with enchantments. Her helm concealed her expression, but her posture radiated impatience.
"You wanted proof," Su Chen said. "Go."
Albedo tilted her head. "Clarify."
"Deploy planetside. Secure the shield generator. Command the Skeleton Army. Hold the line."
She laughed softly. "Against insects?"
"These insects eat dragon scales," Su Chen replied. "Try not to get swallowed."
A beat.
Then Albedo vanished.
---
The Guardian Descends
She struck the ground like a meteor.
CRASH.
Rock exploded outward as her impact pulverized a cluster of Magma Beetles beneath her boots.
"Filthy pests."
Her bardiche swung.
A crescent of emerald destruction tore through the swarm, hundreds of insects disintegrating instantly.
Weak, she assessed. Level thirty trash.
The ground convulsed.
A shadow surged upward.
The earth split as a massive body erupted from below—two hundred meters of segmented armor, each plate thicker than a tank hull. Its mandibles clashed with a sound like colliding buildings.
> [Siege Centipede — Level 70 | Elite]
It screamed and struck.
CLANG!
Albedo caught the blow head-on.
The impact drove her boots half a meter into solid stone. Cracks spiderwebbed outward for fifty meters.
"Ngh—!"
Her arms trembled.
This strength…
It rivals Cocytus.
A bug.
The centipede lunged for her head.
"Know your place!" Albedo roared.
> [Skill: Wall of Jericho]
A black barrier detonated outward, slamming the creature back into the swarm.
Her confidence recalibrated instantly.
This world isn't a game.
The gravity. The mana density. The stat inflation.
This was reality with no safety rails.
"Skeletons!" Albedo's voice rang out, absolute and commanding.
"Form phalanx! Do not let them breach!"
Two thousand Skeleton Soldiers surged forward, cursed blades raised.
Under her direction—precise, ruthless, flawless—the mindless army snapped into formation. Shields locked. Swords struck in unison.
Each hit severed regeneration.
The line held.
The swarm did not thin.
It endured.
---
Super Tier Authority
Five thousand meters above the battlefield—
Su Chen hovered in open air.
Wind tore at his coat. Lich fire burned in his eyes, layered with cold blue brilliance.
"Too many," he observed calmly. "Melee attrition is inefficient."
He raised his hands.
"No cash shop," he murmured. "No cooldown."
[High-Speed Incantation.]
[Mind Authority.]
The Ainz Ooal Gown Magic Library unfolded in his consciousness.
Selection locked.
The sky broke.
Magic circles appeared—not one, not three—
Ten.
Layered. Interlocking. Each spanning kilometers, blotting out the sun over the volcano.
The swarm froze.
Instinct screamed.
Albedo looked up—and went still.
"…That spell."
Her grip tightened.
"Fallen Down."
Su Chen didn't use Yggdrasil mana.
He didn't need to.
Spirit-Fusion Energy surged from his Seed, infinite and violent, flooding the circles until reality screamed in protest.
"…Fallen Down."
---
The Pillar
There was no sound.
Only white.
A pillar of annihilation descended from the heavens, superheated plasma compressed beyond comprehension. It engulfed the volcano—surgically avoiding the shield generator by a margin of meters.
The insects didn't burn.
They ceased.
Molecules unraveled. Air disintegrated. Space warped.
The pillar expanded outward, turning the battlefield into a blinding void.
Then—
BOOOOM.
The roar arrived late, a continent-shaking detonation that rattled tectonic plates and blasted clouds away for a thousand miles.
---
Aftermath
Light faded.
The volcano was gone.
Black stone had become glass—a smooth, reflective crater stretching to the horizon. No corpses. No ash.
Only shadows burned into the surface.
At the center—
The Magitek Shield, intact.
Albedo stood before it, armor smoking, wings scorched at the edges. Behind her, the skeletons rattled silently, untouched.
"A single spell…" she whispered.
"This exceeds the game's upper limits."
Su Chen descended, boots crunching against glass.
> [Kill Count: 4,500,000+]
[Experience: Cap Reached]
[Level Up]
Level 14 → Level 15
"Efficient," he said.
The ground shuddered.
A presence clawed into his mind—not pain.
Interest.
> YOU.
The voice crawled like insects beneath skin.
> YOU ARE NOT THE LIZARD.
YOU ARE NEW.
YOU ARE… TASTY.
Su Chen smiled.
[Telepathy: Active.]
"I just erased your army," he replied calmly.
"Test me again and I'll sterilize your continent."
> I HAVE INFINITE CHILDREN.
I AM PATIENT.
I WILL EAT THE TREE.
THEN I WILL EAT YOU.
The presence withdrew.
Retreat.
Recalculation.
---
The Harvest
Su Chen didn't pursue.
The hive lay in the Western Continent—and this wasn't the time.
He looked down.
Scattered across the glass were glowing fragments.
> [Insect Spirit Cores]
Millions.
"Auto-loot."
A river of crystals surged into storage.
"These will power the Skeleton Army," he calculated.
"Or detonate inside them. Both acceptable."
He turned to the World Tree Seed.
The crystal sphere pulsed rapidly, feeding on residual mana.
"Master," Albedo approached, removing her helmet. Her cheeks were flushed—not exhaustion.
Exhilaration.
"That magic… it is worthy of a Supreme Being."
"It's a tool," Su Chen replied.
He looked at her armor.
"You tanked the centipede. Good execution."
She straightened instantly. "…My equipment is damaged."
"I'll forge you a new set," he said.
"Draconian Orichalcum. Void Carapace."
Her wings twitched.
He faced the horizon.
"The South is secured. But against the Insect Queen—or the Lich King—we need growth that multiplies."
"Babata," he said.
"Yes, Master."
"Prepare the cloning vats from Laboratory Seven."
"And load the Insect DNA."
Su Chen's smile was thin.
"I'm done fighting swarms."
"I'll own one."