CHAPTER 284: CHAPTER 213: THE TRAP

Tactical-Level Light Magic Explosion Bullet.

Dozens of light magic explosion bullets descended from the sky, landing with precision between the sea of fire and the valley floor. A powerful shock wave tore everything apart instantly.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

At the moment each magic explosion bullet detonated, the air seemed to be ripped open. Flames and smoke surged, with shattered bones and insect body fluids splattering like a rain of blood, shimmering in the night sky like a scarlet constellation descending.

In just five minutes, the vanguard of the insect corpse army’s first wave was almost completely annihilated.

Rock stood by the window, his eyes wide open, staring in disbelief at the stunning scene.

The violent air currents generated by the immense power almost stirred the air for the whole valley.

He could feel the heat and oppressive force in the air, and the aftermath of the explosions compelled him to raise his voice once again: "That is... Magic Explosion Bullet! The fire attack weapon personally chosen by my Lord! Especially designed to deal with these monsters! Their remains have been utterly crushed beneath this sea of fire!"

The onlookers had forgotten their initial panic, their eyes filled with indescribable horror and astonishment.

"Even if these monsters are undying, they cannot possibly escape! This is the true power of the Red Tide!" Rock’s voice was hoarse, yet full of pride and passion.

He looked at the bustling crowd, a smile playing on his lips: "We’ve already won this battle!"

These short words, like the sound of a morning bell, instantly struck everyone’s heart.

The crowd fell silent for three seconds, and then

"Long live Lord Louis——!!!"

No one knew who shouted first, but it was like a pile of dry hay suddenly set ablaze, as the Earth Towers erupted.

Men shouted, women cried, children waved their fists.

Every face was filled with excitement and fervor.

"My mother was right! Only the Red Tide Lord is truly our hero!"

"God’s blessing? No - it’s Lord Louis blessing us!"

"I’ve been on edge these past two days, but now... I feel that even if hell were outside, we wouldn’t be afraid!"

"Lord Louis is like a general descending from the heavens!"

"My son was just born yesterday, and the first word I’ll teach him is ’Lord Louis’!" The people all spoke at once, their words full of admiration and gratitude.

An old grandmother with gray hair, leaning on her cane, choked up as she said, "With this Lord among us, our lives truly have value."

Someone else jumped in excitement: "Do you all remember? We used to survive by scavenging roots in the snowy ground! Now we can live in the Earth Towers, and we even have someone to protect us! It’s not just luck; we chose the right leader!!"

Rock found himself crowded and pushed forward by the people, some stuffing steamed buns into his hands, others giving him dried fruits.

A little girl tied a bundle of dried flowers and herbs onto his arm with a grin: "Thank you for telling us... you speak like a hero from the plays!"

Rock chuckled helplessly: "You should thank not me, but Lord Louis... I’m just a storyteller!"

The people’s cheers were so loud they almost rattled the brick walls of Earth Tower City.

Yet, standing at the edge of the battlefield, Louis showed no trace of joy.

His gaze went beyond the sea of fire and thick smoke, past the charred remnants of the insect corpses, and settled in the distant, yet unburned forest valley.

The wind was quietly changing direction.

He smelled the scent of decaying hatching, a stench more vile than the insect corpses, spreading from the valley.

"It’s not over yet," Louis muttered low, his eyes sharp as blades.

"The Nest... the main body hasn’t moved yet."

Just as he finished speaking, within the forest valley, deep in the mix of mud and snow, a massive cyst began to twitch.

It was originally half-buried underground, but now it slowly lifted itself.

The Nest sensed the threat.

It had thought that this small territory, Red Tide, was just an isolated outpost, easy to tear apart with some low-tier insect slaves and assault species.

But now, it had to admit, this was a tough bone to crack.

The valley of flames ripping through the landscape proved one fact: to conquer Red Tide, it must deploy its entire force.

The Nest’s thought process was slow, yet not devoid of logic.

A simple and brutal strategy formed in its not fully evolved brain—

Consume it.

Swallow the entire Red Tide whole.

And so, it moved.

The forest valley began to collapse, trees were knocked over, the snow layers melted into corrosive slush.

The enormous insect shell cyst crawled slowly from underground, its back covered with mottled black-brown bone plates and oozing flesh.

Dozens of tendrils extended like vines from around the cyst, scraping against the remaining snow and scorched earth, making a wet, slithering sound.

More horrifying was that from the holes on its surface, semi-transparent insect corpses continually "dripped" out.

They appeared like unborn embryos as they slipped from the Nest’s shell, hit the ground, and twitched before immediately rushing forward.

A horde, another horde, and yet another.

These insect corpses were not an orderly force like the previous wave but a fallen flood of staggering numbers, leaving no trace of life wherever they passed, as if even the air was corroding.

Rock watched that massive figure advance slowly along the main mountain path, his throat tightening, unable to speak a word.

The fire walls blasted, rolling logs and spike traps triggered, the pre-arranged defenses exploding like a series of mechanisms set off.

But those traps, so effective against ordinary insect corpses, were now useless against the Nest.

The thick outer shell withstood the flames, spikes couldn’t penetrate that intertwining of soft flesh and bone plates, and self-healing tissues writhed, regenerated, and sealed before one’s very eyes.

"This..." Rock swallowed hard, struggling to squeeze out a sentence, "There’s a... rather large monster coming."

Everyone turned to look at him.

But he paused, then raised his voice as if it was nothing: "But... everything is within the Lord’s foresight. Everyone, don’t panic!"

Even as he shouted these words, he felt a lack of confidence himself.