Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

The newly born Ant Queen is at Level 2, the same as Luo Luo’s level at the time of death. Of course, Luo Luo is somewhat fuzzy about the events before death. At this moment, Luo Luo is immersed in the joy of suddenly becoming a Level 2 mutant beast.

Her perception abilities naturally focused on the skills she now possessed.

The original F-Class skills had long vanished, replaced by two high-level skills with intricate descriptions.

Heart of the Swarm (Ants) (Species-specific Esoteric Level, Active Skills): As the most unique existence among the Ant Race, possessing this skill, the host will automatically wield ultimate authority over the life and death of all ants. When encountering other ant clusters, this ability can be enacted to actively annihilate the self-awareness of any Ant Tribe life form, replacing it with its own will, achieving complete control over the life and death of the ant swarm, and perfect mastery over the swarm.

Note 1: The host with this skill can actively transfer their consciousness onto any ant controlled by Heart of the Swarm.

(Strictly speaking, you do not now belong to a normal living being; you are merely a unified amalgamated consciousness of a group of ants, one which is inexterminable once consciousness exists, hence, the physical body seems to matter less...)

Note 2: All Ant Tribes under the control of Heart of the Swarm will share all skills of the Lord of the Swarm. Meanwhile, individual skills will not face annihilation, yet at the same time, as an amalgamated willpower entity of the swarm, you will have no physical attribute index nor the potential to reach a transcendent state.

(Your main body is simply a bundle of consciousness, a form that cannot possibly have data such as physical attributes?)

The complicated skill description left Luo Luo dizzy... With Luo Luo’s intellect, understanding the specific function of this skill was a difficult task.

Yet unknown information within her mind kindly provided an explanation: ”You can turn all encountered ants into your carbon copy, without any numerical limitations.”

”That’s right, explaining it simply from the start would have been better...”

Luo Luo couldn’t help but complain, still failing to grasp another key factor of this skill—the ability to transfer one’s will arbitrarily, achieving an almost undying state.

This ability, according to Luo Luo’s own understanding, should be her means of controlling the new ant clusters below her.

Comprehending ’Heart of the Swarm’, Luo Luo turned her attention to the second skill.

Negative State Amalgamated Consciousness Entity (Species-specific Esoteric Level, Active Skills) (ability derived from Heart of the Swarm): As an amalgamated consciousness entity of the ant tribe, the host is innately possessed with unimaginable power for ordinary biological beings. Including the host’s surrogate body (currently Luo Luo), every individual among the ant swarm, under the control of Heart of the Swarm, can devour one form of negative state (negative states include but are not limited to plagues, viruses, curses, negative state skills with duration, diseases, etc.). Once devoured, such a negative state will dwell within a single body but can be universally utilized by all ants under control of Heart of the Swarm, providing a boost in attack power for the entire Ant Tribe. Meanwhile, the host will absorb each negative state’s energy, converting it into nourishment for advancing the amalgamated consciousness entity.

Note 1: The amalgamated willpower entity cannot advance through conventional means (absorbing magic crystals or consuming demon’s flesh and blood), and can only progress by expanding the scale of its population or achieving upgrade conditions through special skills.

Note 2: Individual beings within the swarm are not limited by the level of the amalgamated willpower entity, for instance, even if the amalgamated consciousness is at Level 5, a Level 6 individual can indeed appear within the swarm and have physical attributes that can exceed existing parameters.

Another skill Luo Luo couldn’t comprehend...

The mysterious information within her mind seemed exasperated with Luo Luo’s confusion, offering no further explanation, instead providing a comprehensive set of operational instructions.

”First, start from oneself as a base point, then absorb the virus...”

Luo Luo muttered, yet performed her actions meticulously. Quickly, the consciousness surrogate (Ant Queen’s body) opened its mouthparts wide, gulping the toxic mist permeating the air.

The virus disseminated by the Third Generation Seed of Plague, rooted at the Ant Queen’s body as a base point, simultaneously activated the Negative State Amalgamated Consciousness Entity (Species-specific Esoteric Level, Active Skills). As the Ant Queen voraciously absorbed the toxic mist in the air, all ant clusters under control of Heart of the Swarm closely followed Luo Luo’s lead, inhaling the swirling clouds of poison like a horde of monsters.

In just an instant, the poison clouds filling the cave seemingly thinned out noticeably, while a bizarre energy swiftly flowed through all bodies of the insect swarm, transmitting into the core of the consciousness entity.

A sense of comfort surged within, even though there was no indicator of physical attributes, Luo Luo could indeed feel the incessant fortification of her power.

Soon, the toxic fog in the cave was utterly consumed by Luo Luo and the ant clusters. The toxic mist permeating the New Hope Assembly Site above, influenced by the pressure differential, involuntarily siphoned into the cave below, unabatedly supplying the energy Luo Luo needed for an advancement.

In no time, Luo Luo found herself immersed in the unrestrained joy of power enhancement.

...

”Boom!”

A stream of energy from afar streaked across the sky, crashing atop the Pitch-dark Barrier Wen Yu supported like an artillery shell. Even within the barrier with Wen Yu personally overseeing, the massive energy impact still stirred ripples across the Pitch-dark Barrier.

A stuffiness formed in the chest, with perceptive awareness of the demon energy cannons being swiftly erected beside the Demon Realm’s Gate in the distance, Wen Yu felt a vast wave of frustration surge within.

If not for the imminent arrival of The Sixth Soul Pet, I must have been insane to sit so foolishly in this damned place getting bombarded like some target!

Internally full of bitter complaints, yet his actions didn’t cease. Arrows of black energy shot forth from the surface of the Pitch-dark Barrier, swiftly aimed at the rapidly encroaching Demon Group outside.

”Boss, let us out to deal with them.”

The Cyclops’ massive body writhed incessantly, a menacing expression on his grotesque face, eager to burst out from the Pitch-dark Barrier and deal a good blow to those demon bastards.

”No.”

Wen Yu decisively rejected. In this current situation, Wen Yu was resolute about holding firm at the New Hope Assembly Site. Not only wouldn’t he let his soul pets rashly act, even Wen Yu himself dared not move recklessly.

Defend, await the birth of The Sixth Soul Pet, and then immediately flee with that mutant lifeform — the most secure, least variable, and most efficient plan.

What if going out fell victim to the Demon Tribe’s scheme, risking other soul pets for the sake of The Sixth Soul...?

With the Demon Tribe’s power and intelligence, they’re surely capable of such tactics.

Watching as more demon creatures emerged from the Demon Realm’s Gate, among them several auras emanating energy fluctuations even Wen Yu couldn’t ignore, at the moment, not only Wen Yu himself, but even Wen Yu’s soul pets sensed the awkward predicament currently facing New Hope Assembly Site.

Until Victor, responsible for sensing the internal situation of the gathering place, suddenly jolted awake, swiftly climbing up from the ground, cat-like eyes resembling gems fixed on the rear of New Hope Assembly Site.

”Boss, there’s movement in the back...”

”What movement?”

”Signs of new life being born, while the concentration of toxic mist is continuously reducing... rapidly, very rapidly, the toxic mist is converging towards the insect tribe’s earth cave!”

Hearing Victor’s words, Wen Yu decisively issued a command.

”Cyclops and Victor, both of you go and see.”