Adrian flicked his wrist after Dylan killed the first king insect. His sword gleaming with cold light.
“It’s about time.”
He looked down into the rift. The part they were located had stopped being fired upon for a while. Under the dense bombardment, this was the only opening.
Even the king insects that could tank the firepower wouldn’t do so when there were alternatives available.
The king insects would soon notice and head this way, which was contrary to the common notion that the insect race was unafraid of death. That characteristic was more in line with the swarm these king insects controlled. They themselves were more cautious.
Adrian glanced back at Ano and smirked a little. “They’re coming, Ano.”
Ano also walked over to the edge and cast his gaze down into the rift. He could already spot the first wave of king insects scaling the walls.
They crowded together and scrambled in this direction. Some of the king insects even used others of their kind as stepping stones from time to time.
Dylan frowned. “Throw their bodies back into the rift as much as you can.”
Otherwise, it would be troublesome to move around the piles a while later.
Adrian and Ano both answered.
The livestream had already exploded.
[My scalp is going numb from the sheer number of them… Only in a king insect nest would you find this density.]
[But most of the insects in a king insect nest are ordinary insects. Their combat abilities pale in comparison to their ruler.]
Others were skeptical.
[The three Grantz aren’t retreating? Although they are very strong, can they really withstand that? Wouldn’t falling back to the barricade be better?]
But as the king insects surfaced and the battle began, any and all doubts were soon silenced.
[I don’t know how to even feel anymore. Three seconds per king insect…I don’t even chop vegetables that fast.]
[I’m all fired up! Just went to the kitchen to chop up two cabbages! Definitely going to register for the next military academy recruitment session!]
[Watching them kill insects always gives me the illusion that I can do the same. That’s why Grantz was invited by international organizations before to record and publish footage of them killing king insects. The footage was deemed key learning materials by various countries in the first year and incorporated into observation classes in the second.]
[No, no, no. It’s not the same at all. There was only one king insect shown in that video. After watching them at work today, I’m hit with the sudden realization that they might have deliberately slowed down back then. That video lasted an entire minute, after all.]
[What do you mean ‘only’ one minute? That was already quick enough to shock the entire galaxy back then.]
[Grantz: Did you get that? If not I can do it again in slow motion. Us: RIP.]
As time passed, the Grantz left the edge of the rift as king insect carcasses inevitably piled up. They began to go their own ways.
More than halfway through the battle, even the livestream viewers stopped being shocked over every little thing and started seizing the opportunity to watch the Grantz battle from up close.
[My eyes hurt after staring at them for a while. The likes of me can only watch a 10x slowed down replay…]
Ye Muo kept a distance from his uncles at the start. Since Ano was nearest to him and the one he was most familiar with, he ended up following him.
At first, he would subconsciously shy away from the king insects. Only once a swipe phased through his waist did Ye Muo remember that they were just images transmitted from some far off corner in the Exile Sectors.
Eventually, Ye Muo grew accustomed and focused solely on Ano. It slipped his notice how easily he kept up with the man.
Before, in the classroom, he could only gasp in awe with the rest of his classmates as they barely caught some of the deliberately slowed down movements of the Grantz in battle.
It was due to this proximity that Ye Muo was the first to notice something off about Ano.
Ye Muo nearly stopped breathing when Ano’s movements stagnated for a beat. He subconsciously stepped forward, but it was already too late.
Ano’s out-of-control psychic power swept through the entire battlefield, frantically cutting deep grooves into his surroundings.
Dylan and Adrian sensed this a distance away almost immediately.
Adrian was midair when Ano lost control. The king insect below twisted and opened its gaping mouthpiece as it attempted to throw Adrian off of itself.
Adrian’s pupils shrank almost the instant it happened. His head jerked in Ano’s direction.
The king insect was still advancing on him. He didn’t even spare it a glance as he jumped over it. Leaving a short mark on the ground upon landing, he rushed in Ano’s direction.
The king insect’s carcass collapsed behind him, stirring up tons of dust.
It was all over before the bullet chat even had time to shriek.
[That scared me to death! Please pay attention when fighting, Your Highness! I almost got a heart attack!]
Meanwhile, Dylan took care of his prey with similar ease before sprinting straight in Ano’s direction.
Ano felt his heart thud particularly hard for a beat. He collapsed down to one knee, barely holding himself upright by stabbing his sword into the ground.
He was more than familiar with this sensation. Ano tried to reign in his psychic power again to no avail. He was powerless to stop their rampage, and would soon lose control over even his body and mind. He would go permanently berserk and become a mere vessel for his psychic power, a killing machine.
Ye Muo was right by Ano’s side, yet he could do nothing but watch and anxiously circled him.
Ano stopped, but the king insects he was dealing with did not. On the contrary, they realized something was off and swarmed him even faster than before.
The insect that was closest to Ano reacted first. It twisted and shrieked as it charged him.
Ano spotted it in his peripheral vision. He endured his pounding headache and physical discomfort and tried to get up and raise his sword. However, as soon as his knee left the ground, it fell back with a thump, as did his sword.
Ye Muo had already forgotten this was just a holographic projection. He instinctively threw himself in front of Ano and shielded the man with his back.
Ano raised his head and looked in Ye Muo’s direction. For a moment, Ye Muo almost thought the man could see him.
Yet he quickly snapped out of it and looked behind him.
The king insect savagely charging at them had fallen just an arm’s length away from Ye Muo. Dylan, who stood on top of it, was removing his sword from its body..
Adrian had also arrived at Ano’s side. He crouched down and checked on Ano’s condition with a rare solemn air.
Dylan quickly jumped down, sending clouds of dust into the air.
Adrian didn’t complain for once. He raised his head and met Dylan’s gaze. “It’s real bad. Have them fall back.”
Meanwhile, low growls were already coming from Ano’s throat.
Dylan nodded. His psychic power spread over the entire battlefield and issued an immediate evacuation order to nearby Grantz forces.
Psychic power blades continued to appear at random in the vicinity. Dylan’s cheek was cut when he dodged one a beat too slow.
Ano instinctively tightened his grasp on the handle of his sword before quickly releasing it. He couldn’t control his psychic power right now nor connect to the internal Grantz channel. He could only quietly stated, “Kill me, Big Brothers. Before I turn my sword on you.”
It was almost impossible to reign in a berserk Grantz under the best conditions, let alone on the battlefield. He would be nothing but a huge burden to them.
Moreover, Ano truly despised how he acted like some ugly beast after losing control.
Without waiting for Adrian or Dylan to respond, he continued, “You know this doesn’t mean anything.”
As long as Ye Muo was still around, they would eventually meet again.
Ye Muo also crouched down by Ano’s side and quietly listened in on their conversation. When he heard Ano ask for death, his hands subconsciously clenched into fists. It stung as his nails dug into his palms.
