City of Sin

Book 3, 143

The Broodmother Evolves

Things had never been so smooth on Richard’s side. All of his battles against the Iron Triangle Empire had been one-sided, intimidating the noble youths who had followed along. While they were young, they would still pass on the information to the various influences they came from. He was making use of this to terrify the nobles of the Sequoia Kingdom, warning them not to let the huge profits rush to their head. For the time being, at least, this would preserve his influence.

Bluewater was expanding rapidly, the population already passing 50,000. A magic tower was being constructed in Richard’s lands here, becoming a powerful defensive structure that also guaranteed him the right to do as he wished in the city. Those who still considered him an eyesore watched on as the tower was built, but even after half a month there was nobody who disagreed. There weren’t even any probes and attempted negotiations from the nobles.

This showed just how stable Richard’s position had become. At least for now, no organisations would challenge his position.

Amidst this calm before the storm came news from the broodmother in the Land of Turmoil. She had finally absorbed all the power of the sacred spirit’s blood, the energy within so vast that she was entering sleep to assimilate it into herself. Richard pacified her for a while, having her keep the newest batch of fifty humanoid knights around to protect herself.

......

At that very moment, deep within a forest in the Land of Turmoil was an empty space that was about ten kilometres in area. No signs of life could be seen here, only a dark grey earth. This place had been part of the forest once, but it had been cleared out with the help of hundreds of worker drones and humanoids working together. The worker drones had a powerful frontal sting that could bring down even the thick trunks that hugged each other with a few attacks, allowing them to unroot the trees. Of course, any living creatures from ferocious beasts to small ants had fled from fear, getting as far away as they could.

The depths of the Land of Turmoil were a mysterious and dangerous place. The trees here grew in a twisted manner, and beneath them was a dead grey soil. There were no nutrients to support the growth of normal plants here. Numerous golden strips of light covered the sky not far away. However, what should have been magnificent seemed strangely cold in this still grey world.

And cold they were. These were strips of unstable timeforce. The fate of those caught within varied; nothing could happen, but just as easily one could be flung to another plane. There was also a chance that only part of one’s body would be sent to another plane, leaving the rest in Faelor. Most dangerous was that these ribbons roamed about unpredictably, often appearing out of nowhere. Not even a powerhouse could fight back if they were caught unprepared.

This was why the Land of Turmoil was considered one of the forbidden zones of the plane. Some other danger areas had at least a few adventurers checking them out, but nobody was willing to come here.

Trees fell by the dozens at the corner of the empty space as the broodmother slowly entered the clearing. She stopped crawling when she reached the centre, her enormous body that was over forty metres long and seven metres tall going still. This was a size surpassing even a dragon’s; deep imprints were left on the earth everywhere she passed, the large twisted trees mere stalks of grass in front of her enormous frame.

Once she stopped, the broodmother then supported herself as numerous spiracles on her abdomen opened up, spraying out large amounts of yellowish-green acidic mist that covered the entire area. Once the mist slowly dissipated, a layer of green was left on the surface of the ground. Even a creature smaller than an ant would have been killed by this attack.

She then lifted her head with difficult, beginning to spray bundles of white syrup that immediately dried in the wind, forming thin white threads that covered her. The same threads were formed from the spiracles as well, and in a day’s time an incomparably huge cocoon appeared at the centre of the empty space.

......

Another fifteen days had passed. Richard was carefully placing a rune into a magic sealing box, finishing off his third set in just over a month’s time. His mana pool had grown by a fair amount as well; as long as he didn’t use Sacrifice to the limit as he had against the Mensa youth, he could now cast a level 6 spell without dropping in level.

As he placed the three sets in his hands, Richard felt like he was seeing three million gold. The huge amount of wealth caused him to overflow with satisfaction; this was a great strength that embodied his value.

At that moment, a consciousness called out to him from the distant Land of Turmoil, “Master, I have awoken.”

Deep within the Land of Turmoil, the gigantic cocoon split open and the broodmother crawled out from within. Her body had shrunk from before, only twenty metres long and five metres tall, but her shell sparkled like black glass with intricate patterns all over it.

She started to gnaw at the remaining parts of the cocoon, the humanoids who had performed guard duty all this while gathering around and picking a few pieces themselves. The large group of workers was growing restless, but after a mental command, only ten crawled out with the right to eat.

This cocoon was made out of the broodmother’s own nutritious fluids and the remaining blood of Zuka that she could not absorb. This held great benefits with respect to evolution, so these drones instinctually wanted to have some of it.

As the cocoon was weathered away, a strange little worm with a black shell that was only a metre long appeared amidst the remains. It looked like a smaller version of the broodmother herself, laying lazily on the ground unmoving, but the drones who were eating didn’t dare to get close to it.

The remaining portions were quickly divided up, and the broodmother quietly lay there, as if she had fallen into a deep sleep. It wasn’t just the broodmother. The humanoids and the worker drones that had eaten were all immobilised as well, bloody veins appearing in the eyes of the former that quickly spread within. Bloody patterns were formed on their pupils.

An unknown amount of time later, the broodmother propper herself up once more. Cracking sounds rang out as her shell split apart on her back, four translucent wings spreading out from underneath as rows of elliptical lightening organs lit up. As the wings began to jolt, the broodmother’s huge body actually ascended to the sky!

“What? You can fly?” Richard was shocked!

“Yes, Master. This my newest data, please take a look.”

An overwhelming amount of information was transmitted to Richard, to the point that his brain started pulsing. Now at level 6, the broodmother’s mental strength completely overpowered his own.

Only after all the data was received did the throbbing stop, allowing him to focus on what had been sent over. The broodmother could now fly 500 kilometres in ten hours, after which she would need to stop and feed to replenish her energy. With her terrifying digestive abilities, however, as long as she had the food she could replenish her strength in half an hour.

“In other words...” Richard started to grow excited.

“Yes, Master. When required, I can now take part in battles!” the broodmother replied.

There was no question that the broodmother was individually the strongest powerhouse in his possession. Even at level 6 she had no problems dealing with a regular saint, and on top of that her acidic mist was an effective ranged weapon against multiple enemies.

However, Richard and his followers were already strong enough to eliminate a saint easily. Thus, weighing the pros and cons, he found that he still wasn’t prepared to let her take so many risks. “Unless it’s a life or death crisis, you are not to participate in battle. Your safety is the greatest priority!”

“No! I have a fighting soul!” the broodmother argued.

This answer nearly made Richard fall. He couldn’t believe these words had come from the broodmother, feeling more like they belonged in Gangdor’s mouth. The broodmother had a soul, and having a soul meant possessing wisdom and character. However, no matter how he thought about it she was supposed to be icy and calm. Why was she having such passionate, hot-blooded thoughts?

“Bullshit. Why do you want to fight?”

She went silent for a while, her reply back to a tone he was used to, “There are many enemies of yours that I wish to eat since they will be useful for my evolution. I wish to directly participate in battle and get the food I’m interested in. Zendrall has already wasted too many materials, I hate it.”

Richard understood her words. A saint’s body in Zendrall’s hands could create a level 13 death knight at best. There were many limitations with the undead, and level drops were inevitable. However, a saint’s corpse in the broodmother’s hands would strengthen all of her drones. Individually the difference might not be much, but that was an infinite army all of whom were strengthened slightly. The impact of that was on an entirely different level.

He suddenly remembered something, asking, “Who taught you to speak about fighting souls and stuff?”

“Phaser. It was an answer she gave me after asking Gangdor.”