novelraw Chapter 351: Two exceptionally large beetle swarms
Chapter 351: Two exceptionally large beetle swarms
Alexander did not rush to issue another command, quietly observing the hysterical crowd below.
After five minutes, his cold voice rang out, unemotionally interrupting the survivors’ outburst, and he ordered:
"All survivors, immediately clean up the battlefield and return to Base Two to absorb the beetles, then move on to the next swarm!"
The emotions that had been suppressed for so long could not be vented in just five minutes. However, in the face of Alexander’s somewhat callous command, no one hesitated; everyone got up immediately and began to clean up the battlefield efficiently.
Every survivor glanced up at the sky where Alexander stood, even though they could only see a blanket of mist, their eyes filled with fervor and reverence. At that moment, Alexander was like a god to them, a deity surpassing all others!
Under Alexander’s orders, the cleanup of the battlefield was extremely swift. Everyone silently gathered the beetle corpses at the fastest speed, then followed the team in an orderly retreat.
There were no conflicts, nor any dissatisfaction among the survivors who couldn’t pick up black beetles due to distance. Whoever collected the beetle corpses had priority in using them, as they were under the watchful eye of their ’god.’
They believed that under Alexander’s leadership, no one would be left behind, and reaching the Emperor level was just a matter of time.
Close to the city, at Survivor Base Two, a hundred million survivors crammed in, with successive promotions emanating. Once their own needs were met, survivors immediately shared excess beetle corpses with others. Soon, after all the beetle corpses were utilized, there were six thousand more Ghost Emperors and tens of thousands of Imperials among the survivors.
The second beetle swarm, also near Base Two, consisted of over four million black beetles. Half an hour later, the survivors regrouped, increasing the number of Ghost Emperors by eight thousand.
The third swarm was located near Base One, the source of the swarm Alexander had encountered upon entering the real world, numbering over three million. The total number of Ghost Emperor survivors reached forty thousand.
The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth swarms, also within the territory, consisted of three million, five million, eight million, seven million, and eight million, respectively. After these five swarms, the total number of Ghost Emperors among the survivors reached one hundred thousand, achieved in four hours.
Next were twenty-one swarms around Bases Three, Five, Seven, and Nine, each numbering up to nine million, divided into four groups, taking five hours. The total number of Ghost Emperors reached seven hundred thousand.
Then, the hundred million survivors divided into seven large groups to encircle swarms numbering over five million each. This time, there were casualties among the survivors. In total, fifty swarms were encircled with tens of thousands of casualties, taking just one day.
The total number of Ghost Emperors reached two million and four hundred thousand. This number had already surpassed the usual ratio of Ghost Emperors in a million-strong beetle tide. Even the lowest-level survivors had reached the Ghost King level.
Alexander gathered everyone again to accelerate the hunting pace, targeting a large swarm of fifteen million beetles.
The larger the swarm, the more terrifying its strength; a swarm of seventeen million had over four hundred thousand Ghost Emperors, with a ratio close to seventy to one. To minimize casualties, Alexander summoned a hundred duplicates to cast the Hell Curse at the forefront.
Billions of soldier-level dark shadows were devoured in just about ten minutes, but the beetle swarm was also resolved without loss. As the strength of the lower-level survivors increased, the cost of advancing to Ghost Emperor decreased.
This time, the number of Ghost Emperors increased by another six hundred thousand in just half an hour, reaching the rank of Crown Prince for all members.
The second wave of beetle swarms, numbering over thirty million, added one million Ghost Emperors. In the same manner, after just over half an hour, the total number of Ghost Emperor survivors reached four million five hundred thousand.
The third, fourth, and fifth waves of swarms, each with a base of over three thousand, increased the total number of Ghost Emperors to over ten million, all at Ghost King level.
The sixth wave, totaling eighty million beetles, added four million Ghost Emperors.
Facing this even more terrifying swarm, the now sufficiently powerful survivor troops didn’t even need to use duplicates, resolving the battle in twenty minutes without loss.
The total number of Ghost Emperors among the survivors reached fifteen million, with over 80% at the Imperial level.
After tackling the second wave of eighty million beetles, the total number of Ghost Emperors among the survivors exceeded twenty million, all at the Imperial level.
This time, Alexander finally took action against the beetle swarm with a base of over a hundred million. The swarm numbered one hundred and twenty million, with nine million Ghost Emperors, nearly a ten to one ratio.
Now, the total number of survivors, one hundred and three million six hundred thousand, were all treasures in front of Alexander. To ensure a lossless resolution, Alexander summoned over ten thousand duplicates. The dark shadows summoned by the Hell Curse, though only at the Crown Prince level, outnumbered the swarm by more than tenfold.
After this battle, the number of Ghost Emperors among the survivors doubled, reaching forty million. After conquering two more swarms, each with a base of less than two hundred million, and with the ample supply of beetles, all one hundred million survivors under Alexander’s command became Ghost Emperors!
A hundred million Ghost Emperors!
This time, aside from the two extremely terrifying swarms discovered by Cain, Alexander had no more concerns and began to sweep through the global beetle swarms.
Whether it was swarms numbering in the millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, Alexander did not spare any. Even the smaller swarms spread across the globe, those numbering less than a million, were targeted. After all, even a swarm of one hundred thousand represented at least several hundred to a thousand Emperor-level beetles.
Apart from the five colossal swarms exceeding a hundred million, where Alexander employed duplicates, he swept through the rest with ease.
In just ten days, Alexander amassed ten billion Emperor-level beetles, hundreds of billions of Imperial-level, and even more soldier and general-level ones. It’s estimated that there would be enough for every ghost in the Horror World to have one, with a surplus.
Additionally, Alexander encountered an unexpected windfall. Some black beetles, which had devoured large amounts of dark shadows, experienced indigestion and, like abandoned beetles, could be directly transformed into Ghost Pills.
Unfortunately, such beetles were in the minority. Even though Alexander could utilize over two hundred thousand duplicates capable of casting Hell Curse, most were employed in the Horror World’s snowballing efforts. Thus, even with deliberate cultivation of these beetles, the number of Ghost Pills obtained was only about two billion.
The ghosts of the Horror World were not like these survivors, the majority of whom had consumed Ghost Pills. The hell warriors were also not like these black beetles, capable of inflicting damage even without the power of the forbidden.
Ten trillion, or even more Ghost Pills!
As news of the successful encirclement of the swarms kept coming, Alexander’s brow remained furrowed. He had not overlooked those two exceptionally large swarms, suspecting they contained a significant number of abandoned beetles.
After all, they had devoured the entire real world, so indigestion among the beetles would not be rare. Although some swarms he encircled had such beetles, the numbers were not substantial, suggesting the bulk was in those two massive swarms.
However, Alexander only had to glance at them with his ghostly eyes to realize he had to abandon the idea.
Cain was right. Not even all the survivors as Ghost Emperors, even ten times over, could handle it.
One of the beetle swarms was in the Pacific Ocean, where hundreds of miles of sea had turned black, densely packed with black beetles both on the surface and the seabed, making it impossible to predict their exact number.
Alexander even felt that summoning the trillions-strong army of the Horror World might still not be enough to confront them. Even if they could be defeated, the losses would be more than he could bear.
Alexander’s main goal remained the rapidly encroaching Mist world. As for these swarms, likely the source of the Mist, they would have to be dealt with later.
"Boss, we’ve encircled most of the large beetle swarms, except for those two special areas. There’s only one left with a billion beetles, and without your order, we dare not act. This swarm is also massive, with probably over a hundred million Emperor-level beetles. Even with the brick enhancement, we might not have many survivors left after the battle," Cain approached Alexander, who was deeply troubled.
Alexander momentarily suppressed his concerns and said with a frown, "I have eighty thousand duplicates left. I’ll reserve ten thousand for emergencies and use the rest to cast Hell Curse to block the swarm. I’ll give you some auxiliary Ghost Treasures and other items, which should suffice. After this wave, let’s head to the Horror World."
"Aren’t we just giving up on the real world?" Lucy hesitated, "Although we have collected a lot of food in the storage space of your duplicates, the Horror World can’t produce food in large quantities. We can’t survive like the ghosts of the Horror World, who feed endlessly on Xiao fish from the underground. What will we do when the food runs out?"
"That is a problem! But we can’t stay in the real world anymore," Alexander replied, "The duplicates I placed near those two terrifying swarms reported they are becoming more active, possibly sensing we are killing their kind."
Alexander spoke, noticing the doubts of the others and reassured them, "Don’t worry. Although you can’t live on Xiao fish, the food we have is enough to last all survivors for ten years. Once we deal with the Mist world and unite the power of the entire Horror World, we can return to cleanse the real world..."
While comforting the group, a sudden inspiration struck Alexander like lightning, illuminating his mind. He looked at Lucy excitedly, "Repeat the last thing you just said!"