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Chapter 76: The Insectoids
Chapter 76: The Insectoids
A person who loses their most basic principles and Moral Foundation will find that their achievements, no matter how great, are ultimately meaningless.
With his decision made, Song Chi agreed.
"Alright, let's give it a try. By the way, there is indeed another crystal box like the one you mentioned on the second level."
At the mention of the crystal box, Shen Qing's resolve grew even stronger.
The crystal box on the first level contained a blue artifact and several white artifacts. The artifacts in the crystal box on the second level would only be more precious.
As they discussed, the spatial curtain above them rippled, and soon, insectoids about half a meter tall and nearly a meter long began to fall from the sky.
These insectoids were entirely covered in a hard, dark green exoskeleton, with a particularly fearsome set of mandibles at the front of their heads. The mandibles opened and closed, flashing with a cold, sharp light, more terrifying than the sharpest iron pincers.
The top of the spatial curtain was hundreds of meters above the first level's ground, and these insectoids had no wings. Song Chi and Shen Qing initially thought that they would all die from the fall, but the hardness of their exoskeletons was far beyond what they expected.
Falling from such a height, they landed without a scratch, emitting strange hisses from their mandibles as they quickly charged toward the Sky Fortress and Clear Breeze airships.
Seeing this, the main and secondary cannons on both airships opened fire at full power. The powerful energy beams easily shattered the insectoids' supposedly invincible exoskeletons. While the exoskeletons were indeed incredibly hard, that was only in comparison to other creatures or attacks of the same tier.
Most of these insectoids were only at the Zero Rank, and under the firepower of the two First Rank airships, their exoskeletons were little more than a slightly thicker, harder film, easily torn apart.
Limbs and body parts flew everywhere, and the air was quickly filled with the stench of their dark green, pungent blood. The blood pooled and began to form a thick, toxic green fog, making it impossible to see in the already dim environment.
The heat sensors on the airships, however, could still clearly track the insectoids, whose numbers seemed to be increasing rather than decreasing.
The Sky Fortress and Clear Breeze were equipped with particle beam cannons and ship-mounted main cannons, which were excellent for penetration and range but poor for area-of-effect damage. Against an enemy known for their numbers, this was a significant disadvantage.
Without the nearly endless secondary cannons, the number of insectoids on the first level would have been even greater.
Just as Song Chi and Shen Qing were feeling increasingly frustrated, an alarm from the semi-automatic ship AI added to their woes.
"Beep, beep, beep. Warning: The concentration of toxic fog outside the ship has reached the First Rank. The energy shield is beginning to degrade due to the toxic fog."
Initially, the two airships had a natural geographical advantage by hovering hundreds of meters above the ground. Even with the large number of insectoids below, it was difficult for them to be attacked. This allowed them to attack and retreat as needed, ensuring their safety.
However, with the toxic fog now spreading throughout the entire enclosed space, the height advantage was lost. The fog, now at the First Rank, would follow the airships wherever they went.
"Shen Qing, we need to go up. There are already over twenty thousand insectoids on this level. There shouldn't be many left on the second level!"
In a moment of urgency, Song Chi proposed a plan. They quickly agreed and directed the airships toward the spatial curtain leading to the second level.
Above, more insectoids continued to emerge from the spatial curtain, their slimy bodies and sharp mandibles making them look particularly revolting.
Song Chi and Shen Qing glanced at each other, and the engines of their airships roared, propelling them upward.
Thud, thud, thud!
Falling insectoids continuously collided with the energy shield of the Sky Fortress, causing the shield to ripple and then quickly bounce them off.
These insectoids weren't stupid. They used their numerous appendages to try to stabilize themselves and gnawed at the energy shield with their mandibles.
The energy shield on the Sky Fortress began to flicker, and the shield value dropped several times faster than before.
Don't joke around. What made these insectoids so feared was their mandibles. Even a group of Zero Rank insectoids had mandibles with extraordinary power. Despite the Sky Fortress's energy shield being of the Orange Glory quality, it was no match for the relentless attacks.
Shen Qing's situation with the Qingfeng was even worse. Under the relentless gnawing of a few Zero-Class insectoids, the light barrier on the Qingfeng's surface had already dimmed significantly, and it was only a matter of time before it would completely overload.
Fortunately, this situation didn't last long. The two airships, braving the descending insectoid tide, quickly passed through the spatial barrier above. Once they entered the bright second layer, Song Chi immediately ascended to a higher altitude, rapidly increasing the distance between them and the insectoid swarm below.
As Shen Qing surveyed the scene, he quickly understood why Song Chi had shown such a grim expression earlier. Compared to the countless insectoids, the gigantic, egg-like structures that had been mostly torn apart from below were far more unsettling.
It was hard to imagine how his own expression would have been if they had truly opened the second layer's spatial barrier during their previous exploration of this ruin.
Just as Shen Qing's skin was crawling with goosebumps, Song Chi's voice suddenly rang out.
"We need to find a way to neutralize that insect queen first."
At the mention of "insect queen," Shen Qing's gaze shifted to the extremely conspicuous, several dozen meters high, fleshy tumor-like nest ahead.
Judging by the height of this tumor-like nest, the insect queen inside was likely not of a very high rank. After all, insect queens are typically extremely bloated and massive, far surpassing ordinary insectoids of the same rank.
According to official data from the Ember Human Civilization, a Zero-Class insect queen usually has a volume of less than ten meters, while a First-Class insect queen can grow to several dozen meters, and some peak First-Class insect queens can reach nearly a hundred meters in size.
Clearly, the insect queen they were facing was most likely not above Second-Class. In theory, such a creature shouldn't be a cause for such trepidation for two First-Class Ember airships. However, the key was that this was an insect queen.
Even an insect queen without sufficient energy to produce threatening eggs was far from comparable to other creatures of the same rank.
In addition to the ability to produce large numbers of eggs in short cycles, most insect queens typically control a highly powerful elite insectoid guard corps. All the insectoids in this guard corps are the strongest and highest-ranked in the entire insectoid nest.
They didn't know if the insect queen in the second layer of the ruin had such an elite guard corps. If it didn't, that would be good news. However, if it did, it was likely that the corps had not yet been awakened, as among the tens of thousands of already awakened insectoids, there were no First-Class ones yet.
To avoid the potential appearance of this uncertain elite guard corps, they had to act first. Even the tens of thousands of Zero-Class insectoids were already causing them significant trouble. If a full First-Class elite insectoid army were to join the fray, their chances of obtaining the item in the crystal box nearby would be virtually zero.
Without further ado, the two exchanged a glance and nodded in unison. They quickly stopped clearing the smaller insectoid nests below and directed their airships straight toward the massive tumor about a kilometer ahead.
Simultaneously, they turned their cannons and resumed full firepower.
However, the results were unexpectedly disappointing, and their expressions turned grim.
"Damn it, how can a First-Class insect queen's nest be so sturdy..."
Shen Qing gritted his teeth.
The attacks from the two First-Class main cannons on the Canqiong and the Qingfeng only left very shallow marks on the giant insectoid nest, which was completely unexpected by both of them.
At this moment, Song Chi's projection in the communication screen spoke up.
"A First-Class insect queen's nest shouldn't be this tough unless this insect queen was of a higher rank when it first built the nest."
Based on this hypothesis, they proceeded to speculate further, and the more they delved into it, the more plausible it became. They finally confirmed the specific situation of the insect queen.
According to their speculation, this insect queen had been trapped in this enclosed space for an unknown amount of time. Over the years, due to a lack of energy supply, the insect queen had to consume the energy stored in its body to maintain its life. As a result, its bloated body gradually shrank over time.
When the energy in its body was depleted to a certain extent, to supplement the continuously decreasing body energy, the massive insectoid nest also began to shrink. Eventually, the insect queen and the nest itself reduced to their current size of several dozen meters.
Having reached this conclusion, the two were mostly convinced. Their determination to neutralize the insect queen as soon as possible also grew stronger.
Even if this insect queen, which was likely of Second-Class, Third-Class, or even higher, had lost a significant amount of its life energy due to various reasons and had now been reduced to a First-Class level, its terror was far beyond what a regular First-Class creature could measure. If they couldn't eliminate it now, Song Chi and Shen Qing would likely be the ones in deep trouble.
Since the long-range bombardment proved ineffective, the two decided to have their airships move closer to deliver sustained, close-range attacks on the same spot. They were determined to breach the nest's fleshy walls.
As the Cangqiong and Qingfeng rapidly approached, the rows of fleshy nests below suddenly shattered, and a new breed of insectoids, distinctly different from the thousands of armored bugs they had encountered earlier, emerged.
"It's Spitter Bugs! Watch out!"
Song Chi, who immediately recognized them, shouted a warning. These Spitter Bugs, unlike the heavily armored Iron Bugs, lacked both the hard shell and the formidable strength. However, they could spew a highly corrosive acid.
Even though textbooks often mentioned that the range of a zero-grade Spitter Bug's acid spray was limited, that was only in the vast expanse of the star sea. In this enclosed space, which was less than a kilometer high, the acid could cover any position.
The two rapidly advancing airships suddenly paused, their hulls twisting and turning to avoid the dense streams of acid shooting up from below.
The corrosive nature of the acid was astonishing, and with thousands of Spitter Bugs below, the two energy airships, already having lost a significant amount of their shield integrity, would be in serious trouble if they continued to charge forward. The Cangqiong might survive, but Shen Qing's Qingfeng would definitely not, as its energy shields would surely overload.
However, a new problem arose. The giant fleshy nest in the distance began to tremble slightly, and the slumbering Queen inside was awakening. If they were delayed too long by the Spitter Bugs, they would miss the opportunity to eliminate the Queen before she fully awoke.
Once the Queen was fully awake, it was uncertain whether the Cangqiong and Qingfeng could completely eliminate all the insectoids, including the Queen. Even if they could, it would take a considerable amount of time.
They had less than ten hours before they needed to return, and even if they managed to clear all the insectoids, they wouldn't have enough time to open the crystal box.
Based on the last time it took the Qingfeng over ten hours to break the seal on the crystal box, even if both the Cangqiong and Qingfeng worked together, it would still take them at least five hours. This left them with insufficient time.
As Shen Qing hesitated, Song Chi spoke up first.
"Shen Qing, let's retreat. We don't have any area-of-effect main cannons, and it will be difficult to break through the Spitter Bugs' attack network in a short time."
Song Chi wasn't being selfish; in the current situation, they had two options: either make a full-scale attack with a low success rate and significant subsequent danger, or abandon this exploration altogether. They needed to make a decision quickly, as hesitation would only increase the danger to both airships.
Seemingly spurred by the word "retreat," Shen Qing's indecision finally turned into determination. He wanted to try.
The first level of the ruins contained blue-quality star sea curios. The second level, with its crystal box, was likely to contain something of even higher quality.
As someone who had only awakened a colorless Flame Seed, Shen Qing's potential was capped at the first tier. He had managed to advance the Qingfeng to a first-tier energy airship in just a year, and with steady training, breaking through to level 10 in the Energy Guidance Technique was almost certain.
But that was as far as it would go. The colorless Flame Seed meant the Qingfeng could never surpass the threshold to become a guardian-level energy airship. The energy training platform, which was tied to the airship's level, would only reach level 19. At level 19, it would be difficult for him to break through to level 20 in the Energy Guidance Technique and achieve his second life ascension within the next 160 years.
So, ultimately, he needed to improve the quality of his Flame Seed.
But upgrading the Flame Seed's quality was incredibly difficult. Without a significant opportunity, an ordinary first-tier Flame Airship would never gather enough resources to purchase an upgrade.
What was a significant opportunity? Shen Qing didn't know much, but the item sealed in the crystal box on the second level of the ruins was definitely one in his eyes.
The first level had blue-quality star sea curios, so the second level's crystal box might contain a purple-quality item. With this in mind, Shen Qing turned to the communication screen and said to Song Chi:
"Xiao Chi, I want to try!"
(End of Chapter)
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