Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Chapter 211: Zerg Hive

”Huh?! Another battle maniac? Sure enough, all the Devils are brutes no matter how normal they may look...”, the Zerg Hive in the distance muttered in a low voice, but her words accurately reached Liora’s ears.

She didn’t care about the disdain in her words. She had far more important things to deal with.

After all, the Zerg Hive’s words were not meant as a show. Instead, they were one of the Zerg Hive’s signature abilities—a soul attack.

Hearing the disdainful words, Liora felt as if an invisible hand was digging into her body, clutching her soul, and trying to tear it apart violently.

For a moment, even she was unable to react.

Fortunately, the Myriad Devils Body activated on its own.

This was an ability that not only enhanced physical defenses but also provided a powerful defense against targeted soul attacks.

The crimson veins covering the black armor pulsated as if they possessed a heartbeat.

As a result, Liora was jolted awake.

Immediately, she discovered that although she had only fallen into an illusion for a brief second, the Zerg Hive had already appeared not far away from her.

A look of surprise flashed in her icy eyes just when she was preparing to cast her next ability.

”Waking up so soon? It seems that one can never underestimate you brutes.”, the Zerg Hive chuckled while a trace of non-disguised excitement flashed within her eyes.

The moment her eyes landed on Liora, the Zerg Hive felt an intense sense of yearning stemming from her own body.

She recognized that reaction.

This was her bloodline, urging her to kill and devour Liora! Doing so would bring her great benefits and could perhaps allow her to advance further!

For a moment, the two women’s expressions mirrored each other.

Liora was excited to have finally met a worthy opponent, while the Zerg Hive was happy to have found a suitable, nutritious prey.

Neither of them spoke any further.

The next moment, each of them used their own means.

Liora activated Reanimation and commanded the beasts to rush at her opponent, while the Zerg Hive did something similar.

The landscape around her transformed into insect-like creatures, seemingly using the same ability as the one that the Founding Emperor had previously cast.

But being a member of the Zerg race and the ability’s true master, the Zerg Hive’s control over it was many times stronger than the Founding Emperor.

Immediately, hundreds of insects appeared in front of her.

Similar in stature to the summoned beasts, they were covered in a thick carapace as their front limbs resembled the blade of a sharp sword.

The next moment, the summoned creatures followed the instructions of their respective master and began fighting against each other.

The beasts originally held an advantage due to their various extraordinary abilities, but under the seamless cooperation between the Zerg Servants, the gap between them narrowed.

Though individually weaker, the formation arranged by the Zerg allowed them to deal with opponents far stronger than themselves.

In the end, the two were almost evenly matched.

Seeing this, Liora understood that Reanimation, an ability that had killed the Founding Emperor, would not work on the Zerg Hive.

”As expected.”, she whispered.

But this realization didn’t serve to dampen her excitement. Instead, it made her even happier.

”That’s good! That’s good!”, Liora couldn’t help but say as the darkness surrounding her rippled.

Shadows emerged from the ground and rushed upwards like a tsunami, revolving with her as their center.

For a moment, Liora seemed to have transformed into the Goddess of Darkness, exerting her supreme control over the concept of darkness.

She soon turned into a blurry afterimage as the shadows turned into waves and pushed her forward, opening a path along the battlefield of the summoned creatures.

Ignoring the Zerg Servants and her own summoned beasts fighting around her, Liora made her way through them and soon arrived before the Zerg Hive.

A halberd made of black ink appeared in her hands, and she let the shadows launch her upwards, before bringing it down with all her strength.

Her own power and the momentum she had been accumulating caused an earthshattering impact.

The space itself around her trembled as if it were ready to shatter, crumbling under the mere pressure of her attack.

Sitting on the end of the halberd’s trajectory, the beautiful woman sensed its overwhelming power most keenly.

However, she didn’t display any fear.

Her mouth opened, and a cloud of translucent mist poured out, floating in front of her and transforming into a giant shield.

The next moment, the halberd struck the shield, creating thousands of blazing sparks that scattered everywhere.

The trembling of the space grew even more violently, while the earth below tumbled and cracked.

Yet, as the person holding onto the halberd, Liora immediately noticed that the halberd had been unable to break the misty shield, as if it were an invulnerable wall.

Sure enough, when she regained her balance and raised her head again, she discovered that the shield was still floating in front of the woman and only a small part of the mist had dispersed.

The moment her eyes landed on the translucent mist, information emerged in Liora’s mind.

In an instant, she understood that this mist was actually not a real thing, but the power of the Zerg Hive’s soul.

The ability to create and control Zerg Servants was not the only ability that Zerg Hives possessed.

When push came to shove, and they had to fight for their lives, their naturally powerful soul could be used to launch soul attacks and even impact the world around them as if it were a material thing.

Although Liora was deep in thought, her movements did not pause for even half a moment.

After relieving the force raging inside her body, she was about to launch another wave of attacks.

However, her intuition suddenly warned her of extreme danger.

Instinctively, she controlled the shadows to wrap around her waist and pull her back.

Her body did a circle through the air before she landed a few tens of meters away.

Her decision was soon proven to be the correct one.

The moment she landed, the mist that made up the shield tumbled and transformed into a volley of glowing arrows that then fired out towards Liora.

When they landed at the place where she originally stood, they passed straight through the earth as if they were a mere illusion.

However, Liora understood that they were not. These arrows indeed existed and posed a great threat to her.

Though they possessed no material form, her life would be in danger if they were to land on her.

That was because these things were not real arrows, but powerful soul attacks disguised as mere weapons.

Taking advantage of the brief window of time when the Zerg Hive had nothing to defend herself with, Liora shot forward once again.

The waves of darkness pushed her forward as the halberd broke into two pieces with each landing on her hands.

As she flashed beside her, one dagger struck at the Zerg Hive’s head, while the other one aimed at her abdomen.