Chapter 403

Despite being at the Grandmaster stage the Queen Bug couldn't speak verbally, so she transferred the experience her children had gained to the group. 

Once they found out what happened, Darius face became grim, while Gunner showed thunderous anger. Xela covered her mouth with shock, not believing what she was seeing. 

Darius then took out today's Bowl of Lunar Dew and commanded his Queen Bug to drink. Excited by the pure energy that had helped her evolution, she drank so until her tiny body was almost cartoonishly bloated. 

She immediately fell into a deep slumber to digest it and Darius took her back into a Bag of Holding. 

"What should we do?" Xela asked with uncertainty. 

Darius smiled thinly. "We were warned that we cannot let them interfere with the underground world. We have to prevent them from ruining everything." 

"Those who are looking for treasure above ground, as well as those who are heading to the sinkhole to open the vault are not threats, they will not partake in the slaughter below." 

"Those Grandmasters though, will certainly do so. I didn't want to show my face as it may lead to problems later on, but I kinda realized that I don't have to now, do I?" 

The grin on Darius' face emanated pure evil, before he used his Dragon Transformation ability that he had gained with his new bloodline. His body slowly shifted from humanoid to Draconic, his size increasing to the size of a villa. 

Gunner smiled and activated his Earth's Guardian and Mageward Barriers together. The greenish light lay below the white-blue light, making Gunner's form hard to discern, this was further exacerbated when he used the basic ability of Charisma to change his face into that of Boris. 

Xela was silent for a while before she used the intermediate ability of Charisma, Metamorph, to change her entire physical form from an elf into a normal human woman she had once seen in passing. 

The group mounted Darius's back and took to the air. It had to be said that the distance the Dragon could traverse with a single flap of his wings was far faster than using the consecutive teleportations. 

As they had been near Vault 01 which was at the north-easternmost end of the continent, it took them very little time to reach the mid-eastern section which was where the battle had occurred. 

By this time, the parties had only just come ashore and were dealing with the aftermath, as well as setting up their encampment before diving below the surface. It was unnatural to expect them to just charge into battle the moment they had landed, especially after encountering an unexpected ambush. 

The encampment was quite busy at this time, and the various Masters and Grandmasters were in a command tent, discussing what had just happened as well as ways to deal with it. 

"I believe that this is a sign that the Insects are getting more powerful and ready to invade once more! How can you argue for inaction when the threat of invasion looms upon us?!" A bald old woman wearing a brown kasaya argued as she slammed the table. 

Opposite her, a man fully garbed in a Dragon Warrior's armor, reserved for the most powerful samurai group in Houto, folded his arms and rebutted calmly. "Those are alarmist speculations! There wasn't even a single Grandmaster among them! What's so special about encountering an army of bugs who were defending their home? Just like with typical bugs, their hunger must have overwhelmed them into stupidity. " 

Some heads nodded in agreement with the Dragon Warrior while others agreed with the Grandmaster from Pan. The latter glared at the Dragon Warrior with anger. 

"Are you really going to risk it all just because of a silly feud between our continents?" 

The Dragon Warrior shook his head. "Only you still see the feud. We have long since forgotten about it. I'm just trying to provide a sensible counterargument to your claims. If we can all agree that your point holds more merit than the typical counterargument, then it is logically sound." 

The Grandmaster Monk sneered. "Everyday logic this and that. Then why don't you cancel out your beloved Bushido since it advocates for honor and reputation, huh?" 

This infuriated the Dragon Warrior, making him also slam the table as he rose to his feet. "You can insult anything but our Bushido! Retract your words or we shall fight to the death now!" 

The woman seemed to be the unreasonable kind as she also rose to her feet and sneered. "I will insult whatever I want, especially if it is foolish and backward! Bring whatever fight you have on, I have always found you to be an eyesore." 

Most of the other Grandmasters only looked on with interest, while the older and wiser ones rubbed their foreheads with exasperation, moving to placate either side and prevent a fight. 

However, a shadow soon covered the entire encampment from top to bottom, making all those within pause and age to the sky. Their bodies trembled when they saw a huge Dragon fluttering above in the sky, its eyes gazing down upon them like they were ants. 

From the back of the Dragon, a huge fellow jumped off and hovered in the sky for a few seconds. He then manifested a greenish orb that grew in size greatly, them compressed itself into a tiny ball. 

When he tossed it out, its size began to increase with each meter it passed, until it was huge enough that it mimicked the Dragon that was still hovering above them. 

Eventually, the Grandmasters within the encampment came out of their tent and saw what was going on, shock coloring their faces as they gazed at what was likely Armageddon. 

Immediately, they all used their various means to protect themselves, forsaking the entire encampment. Even if they had the power to do so, against a Dragon and whatever that fellow had sent out was, they would eventually kill such small fry off in time. 

The Omega Blow collided with the earth, creating a phenomenon no different than when these Grandmasters wiped out the insects. A huge green explosion occurred, killing everyone within the encampment below the Master-level even if the Supreme System usually prevented one-hit kills due to how damage was calculated.