Chapter 1101: Swarm Vanguard
Though individually weak, the Swarm Vanguards overwhelmed through sheer numbers and endless regeneration, quickly refilling any gaps left by the fallen.
But like all things, they weren’t invincible. Charisse had already warned them of their weaknesses.
’The swarm was weak, but impossible to kill permanently without the power of destruction.’
"Arcane Blessing: Destruction."
Arthur used a skill that let the others infuse their attacks with destruction energy, enabling them to permanently erase Swarm Vanguards.
Artemisia’s strikes left nothing behind, Crim’s blood-forged spikes shattered enemies on impact, and Evan’s flames reduced them to ash.
But despite their efforts, the endless horde kept coming.
"They’re so weak, they’re not even giving me EXP!" Evan shouted, unleashing another fiery burst that turned hundreds of vanguards to cinders.
Beatrix, dodging several lunging vanguards, shot him a disbelieving look.
"That’s what you’re worried about?"
"Of course!" Evan shouted back, his flames sweeping outward in a wide arc that incinerated another hundred.
"Come on, you really think I’m in this war to helpthem?"
He pointed toward the distant spirit army, also deep in battle.
"I’m here for the EXP! Gotta level up!"
As he turned back, his eyes caught sight of one swarm member moving differently. Unlike the rest, which lunged mindlessly toward him, this one spotted him, then quickly slipped into the crowd, avoiding him.
Evan’s eyes narrowed, locking on.
’Blink.’
He teleported behind it, grabbed its head in one hand, and slammed it down with bone-crushing force. Pressing his palm to the creature’s skull, he unleashed a point-blank blast that tore it apart, reducing it to fragments.
The moment it died, every swarm unit within 200 meters froze, their bodies going rigid before collapsing into dust.
The sudden quiet around Evan was jarring; the swarm momentarily stopped.
Beatrix blinked, lowering her stance slightly.
"Huh? Are they dead?"
Instantly, both Arthur and Evan snapped their heads toward her, eyes wide with alarm.
""Beatrix, don’t say that revival spell!""
They shouted together, and right on cue, the ground split open once more as another swarm of vanguards burst forth, the forest groaning under the strain as hundreds of freshly-formed, flower-patterned creatures emerged from the soil.
Evan muttered a curse under his breath as the new wave rushed toward them.
"Alright, everyone, pay attention. Remember what Charisse said about the Swarm Mothers."
’Hidden within each swarm cluster is a Swarm Mother, a Vanguard with only subtle differences from the others. The Swarm Mother is the origin of the swarm within a certain range; killing it instantly deactivates all Vanguards born within its territory.
But finding it is a challenge—it looks almost identical to the others. And while there aren’t as many Swarm Mothers as there are regular Swarm Vanguards, they are still numerous enough to ensure the swarm’s unending assault.’
As Evan scanned the area, he noticed several Vanguards hanging back instead of charging in. He took note of their features and called out,
"Some of these things are swarm mothers. Look for the ones with brighter flower patterns and no flesh patches—those are the mothers."
With this new information, the eyes of the other five sharpened, searching for the subtle differences Evan had pointed out.
Arthur unleashed his Gravity Pseudo-Authority, crushing dozens of Vanguards and three Swarm Mothers in a powerful radius, but the space was quickly refilled by more.
He followed up with a thin silver slash of extinction law energy, horizontally cutting through the swarm, while Evan supported him with frostfire spears courtesy of Elemental Weapon Projection (EWP), occasionally striking true but not always hitting the real Swarm Mothers.
’I would love to have Laurene here now.’
If Laurene were present, this battle against the swarm would be a walk in the park. With just one glance, her Mystic Eyes of Truth would easily identify all the Swarm Mothers.
Unfortunately, Laurene was more than 10,000 years away in the future, muttering curses at Evan while drawing a magic circle the size of a football field, completely unaware of the kind of extra-dimensional entity Evan intended to summon with it.
If only she, or future Artemisia, had any clue what he was actually planning.
The thought of their reactions when he finally used it made Evan laugh inwardly as he activated Vortex, tearing the swarm apart.
However, when they regenerated instantly, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"These weeds just keep growing back!"
Evan’s flames incinerated waves of vanguards, but more kept rising from the ground, prompting his frustration as he unleashed another blast of prismatic fire.
Artemisia summoned her Tempest Avatar to clear large groups at once, yet the creatures climbed back up immediately. Beatrix teleported through the swarm, using spatial depletion to carve through them, but even after eliminating multiple swarm mothers, they saw no progress.
Crim turned the blood of nearby devils into destructive spikes and a swirling storm to strike down enemies, but couldn’t stem the tide. Hibiki’s illusions briefly confused and misled parts of the swarm, but they quickly regained focus and charged again.
Seeing this, Arthur turned to Evan and shouted,
"Evan! Maelstrom!"
Evan caught on immediately, activating the skill he had gotten from the Leviathan Crarox.
""Gravitational Maelstrom!""
They called out in unison, and a sphere of warped space materialised in the sky. Its gravitational pull dragged in everything nearby, drawing all the swarm members in range toward its centre.
Bodies were crushed as Arthur amplified the gravitational force using his Pseudo-Authority, spinning them violently before opening his mouth and unleashing a beam of destruction energy that erased everything within the sphere.
’Right, Arthur has a breath attack for some reason...’
Evan thought to himself as the area ahead of them cleared up for a moment, but only for a moment, as the swarm rushed back in just as fast as it had been wiped out.
"What the fuck!? I’ve been targeting the mothers specifically, but it’s like each one I take down is immediately replaced!"
Beatrix shouted in frustration, raising her hand to erase another Swarm Mother from existence. But right before her eyes, two more spawned, instantly fleeing from her to avoid being erased.
As they ran, they spawned more localised swarms, and by the time Beatrix finished clearing those out, the mothers had already disappeared.
When Arthur saw the scene unfold, his patience finally snapped.
|¬Alright. ¬|
His Faux True Voice echoed like thunder in their ears, his expression cold.
|¬This is getting irritating. Everybody, get off the ground. Now.¬|
The command carried an edge that jolted everyone into immediate motion.
Evan remembered the last time Arthur had said those words and acted immediately. He grabbed Crim by the waist and took to the skies, ignoring her confused gaze as he shouted at Hibiki, who was still on the ground.
"Hibiki, get off the ground now!"
Hibiki looked up, saw Beatrix and Artemisia already ascending, and spread her wings, joining them without a word.
Arthur alone remained below.
The swarm charged toward him from all sides, every creature aiming to tear him apart, but he paid them no mind.
He raised Lostvayne, pointed the blade downward, and drove it into the earth.
From the weapon, an overwhelming surge of divinity and anti-divinity erupted, interweaving into a violent storm of purple energy. Time and destruction twisted together in a volatile storm that exploded outward in all directions.
|¬Extreme Nothingness: Seismic Surge¬|
The unleashed energy carved through everything it touched, from swarm vanguards to devils and any other lifeform unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.
Waves of destruction tore across the land, erasing all life within a deadly radius that stretched for kilometres. In seconds, the battlefield was reduced to a barren wasteland, the remnants of the swarm reduced to ash.
Arthur withdrew his sword from the ground, cosmic energy spiralling around him as he prepared to teleport, but something strange caught his eye.
At the far edge of his vision, where the remains of swarm creatures were beginning to sink back into the earth, a figure was revealed.
It was an arthropod-like creature that seemed to have the same earthy, plant-like composition as the rest of the swarm, but it was also different—larger and suffused with more creation law energy.
’That thing NEEDS to DIE.’
Every one of Arthur’s instincts screamed that warning. Evan and the others spotted it too. It had been buried within the sheer volume of swarm numbers, but Arthur’s attack had revealed its existence.
"Evan!" Arthur yelled.
Without waiting for a reply, he charged straight at the new enemy.
Understanding instantly, Evan tossed Crim into Hibiki’s arms and dove down to join Arthur, the Unforged already ablaze with prismatic flames.
Side by side, the two charged forward, their powers rising as they closed in on the insectoid creature, raising their weapons in sync.
Arthur struck first, thrusting his blade forward and channelling his energy into a singular attack.
|¬Extreme Nothingness!¬|
A beam of purple destruction erupted from his sword, faster than thought, tearing through the air toward the target.
Beside him, Evan thrust his weapon forward.
"Prismatic Vortex!"
His energy spiralled out, a blazing torrent of prismatic flames ripping forward, leaving a wake of devastation as it locked onto the enemy.
But just as the beams drew near, the ground exploded again, and more swarm members burst out, forming a wall of flesh between the attacks and the arthropod creature.
Vanguards and newly emerged swarm mothers flung themselves into the path of the beams without hesitation, their bodies absorbing the brunt of the strikes. One after another, they were reduced to ash, but for each one destroyed, another rose to take its place.
The swarm mothers began replicating at an alarming pace, each one spawning hundreds of new swarm creatures within seconds, creating an unending flood that hurled itself against the boys’ attacks, draining their power little by little.
As their attacks slowed under the swarm’s unending numbers, Artemisia and Beatrix joined the assault from the sides. Artemisia unleashed a cyclone of lightning from her twin blades, while Beatrix hurled a spatial energy bolt with her spear.
Though their attacks struck the target, the arthropod creature emerged from the smoke unharmed, its defences barely scratched.
It was, to say the least, a disheartening sight.
Prompted by it, Evan pulled up the result of his earlier appraisal, grabbed Arthur by the shoulder, and showed it to him.
|Name- None
Race- Unknown Insectoid
Gender- Inapplicable
Age- 0.48
Level- 899
Existence Level- Undefined
Titles- Swarm Vanguard Broodmother, Vanguard of Triffid, Spawn of the Infernal Verdant.
Class- Swarm Broodmother
Health– X3
Energy- X3
Strength– NULL
Agility– NULL
Durability– X3+
Intelligence- X2
Condition- Normal
Magic Tiers- Plant Tier 6
Skills- Kin Control, Swarm Mother Birth, Defence Amplification, Geass (Attack Sacrifice).
Unique Skills- Swarm Creation. |
"This...!"
This wasn’t just another Vanguard, nor was it anything like the swarm mothers they’d been battling.
It was something entirely new—a result of Vonun’s fusion with Triffid, and the true reason the Swarm numbers hadn’t dwindled, despite them having torn through hundreds of Swarm Mothers.
This thing was birthing new Swarm Mothers!