Chapter 983: Massacring the City
There were only a tenth of the locusts compared to last time, and their overall quality was nowhere close. However, there was still a locust Daemon Commander among them, which had turned into a colossal insect, enough to rival Soaring Dragon ships. He flapped his wings and sailed through the air before slamming into the formation heavily. This time, no one could stop his advance anymore.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The protective formation with no one at the helm only possessed the most basic defensive ability. Under these constant impacts, it reached the brink of shattering very soon.
Several dozen Scarlet Wolf guards stood solemnly in the main hall of the Hawkwolf Guard. The great tremors were like thunder, slamming against everyone's mind heavily. The screams of the mortals howled like the wind and sea, surging into the quiet hall wave after wave and perturbing them mentally.
Even though they had faced hundreds of battles already, many of their foreheads became covered in sweat. Only the woman before him maintained absolute composure.
"Commander, what do you think we should do?" Yu Shukuang asked.
"The locust daemon is about to breach the city. You should all disperse. If you can save people, then save people. If you can't, then hide away and wait for help!" Hua Chenglu said.
Everyone looked at one another. An order like that only left them disheartened.
"Are... there any other orders?" Yu Shukuang asked.
"Without my order, you are forbidden from returning here!" Hua Chenglu waved her hand, turning around and climbing up the stairs.
"Commander, are you staying here?"
Yu Shukuang frowned heavily. The Hawkwolf Guard happened to be one of the few structures in the city that possessed a formation of its own, but the eye-catching scarlet hawk on the rooftop would definitely turn this place into a prime target for the Soaring Locust King.
"Don't say anything more. Go!" Hua Chenglu glanced at Yu Shukuang from the corner of her eye before vanishing upstairs.
"Yes!" Yu Shukuang wanted to say something else, but all he could do in the end was clasp his hands. With his cultivation, there was nothing he could help her with.
Out of everyone's view now, Hua Chenglu's brows furrowed as well. If she had guessed correctly, the first target that the Soaring Locust King would go after this time would be her. She could basically sense the tremendous malice from the locust Daemon Commander in the sky, his compound eyes piercing the floors and gathering on her.
She returned to the highest floor, to her room. She sucked in a deep breath before taking out a formation and a stack of talismans. She began to make preparations.
With a great rumble, the protective formation shone its last glow before shattering and dispersing under the locust Daemon Commander's attack. Billions of locusts swarmed in.
Hua Chenglu stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and held a cup of tea. A few petals drifted on the deep-red liquid.
Talismans covered the windows before her, and the walls around her were no different, seemingly all connected. A small, golden bell hung from the ceiling. She had constructed a simple Golden Bell formation.
However, it did not bring her the slightest sense of safety. Suddenly, she thought of that tall, large figure again and shook her head with a wry smile. She could not get so lucky every single time.
She finished off the tea. It was up to fate to decide how long she could last!
There was only one thing she bore in mind. She could not end up in the hands of the enemy!
The cloud of insects above the prefectural city split into several large swarms, attacking the various regions of Clear River city individually. After reaching these regions, they split off into several dozen more swarms, raiding every single street. They were like a well-trained army—no, even an army could not achieve such unity.
A group of homeless beggars ran furiously through the streets, almost losing their minds to the omnipresent sound of buzzing. To their despair, the buzzing only drew closer from behind.
!
A head-sized locust threw itself at the small beggar at the very back. Its sharp mandibles plunged into his shoulder, sending blood splattering everywhere!
The little beggar screamed out and struggled for his life, only for the locusts behind to swallow him. His cries came to a halt.
A beggar could not help but look back, only to see gaping mandibles fly right in his face.
The howls rang out briefly before falling silent again.
The locusts devoured the people they caught very quickly, without leaving a single bone remaining. They only left behind a ground covered with tattered cloth, as well as dark-red marks of blood.
The physical strength of individual locusts were perhaps no greater than a feral dog, but their sharp mandibles and ability of flight was well beyond what a feral dog could rival. The most terrifying part of them was their bloodthirstiness and frenzy.
The locusts that ate human flesh rapidly swelled in size. Their daemon qi also showed signs of consolidating. As long as they kept eating, not only would it prevent their rapid deaths, but they could even become one of the countless clones of the Soaring Locust King.
This was why the Soaring Locust King did not care about his locusts. Regular locusts could be replenished with the eggs buried deep underground, while his clones were merely daemonified regular locusts. He could continue down this path like a snowball until there was no "snow" left.
The person who ran at the very front was an old beggar with peppered hair. Each step he took was equivalent to ten from the others. Even as he ran, he clutched a metal staff firmly in his hand and listened to the cries.
Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, directly facing the incoming insects.
"A World Without Insects!"
With a twist of his wrist, he produced several afterimages of the staff, sending over a dozen locusts flying.
"You damned locusts. I am the leader of the Beggar's gang, Hong..."
Before the old beggar could even finish his words, he was struck by a gust of wind, and a colossal locust lunged over. He raised his staff to block in a hurry. With a crack, the staff was forcefully bitten apart.
"... Jiugong!"
He mobilised all of his inner force and slammed his palm into the giant locust's head. Thick liquid splashed everywhere. If it had been a human or a beast, it definitely would have ended up more dead than dead with that, but the giant locust only paused momentarily, continuing to bite down with its mandibles.
Crack!
"Jiugong!" the beggars cried out.
An old head was tossed into the air, filled with disbelief. Before it could even fall back down, a locust caught it and began eating away.
Insects had always been renowned for their vitality. That was the case even for the most regular bug, let alone one of Soaring Locust King's clones.
The Soaring Locust King used regular locusts to deal with regular people while controlling his clones of various strengths to hunt down the humans capable of resistance one by one. He did not blindly try to overwhelm them with his swarms of locusts. He unleashed the fullest potential of his advantage in the number of clones as he did his best to eat more humans. He was just like a grim chess player overlooking the board. Even when they hid within the structures, they could not stop the locusts from bursting in.
Meanwhile, the strongest clone of the Soaring Locust King that directly led the army of locusts, the locust Daemon Commander, stood in front of a door that was difficult to breach within the city.
"Bitch! Bitch! Bitch! Get out here!"
The locust Daemon Commander swung his right claw suddenly, and there was a surge of light. Wood and stone flew everywhere. The formation around the Hawkwolf Guard had been torn apart with a single move, leaving behind four terrifying and huge claw marks.
Crack! Crack!
Countless cracks stretched across the windows before Hua Chenglu. Over a dozen talismans were reduced to dust, revealing a vicious face that was half-human, half-locust. It was less than three meters away.
"I'd like to see how Li Qingshan saves you this time!" The locust Daemon Commander threw another punch, and the windows shattered into pieces. All of the talismans were reduced to dust.