Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 489: Nest

Along the way, they encountered several small groups of the Insect Race. To avoid startling them, they tried to slip by unnoticed, but when avoidance was impossible, Duke and Vivian would swiftly eliminate them without making a sound.

However, Duke noticed that as they advanced, they encountered more and more Insect Race squads, and it seemed they were directly targeting them.

Normally, they were already very cautious, and every time they encountered the Insect Race, they completely eliminated them, yet the enemy could accurately locate their position.

"These Void Insect Race might have some long-distance communication means, capable of transmitting our location back immediately," Duke speculated.

They still knew too little about the Void Insect Race, causing them some passivity.

Following the energy flow and traces of Insect Race activity, they groped forward for more than an hour, and the scene before them suddenly changed.

They lurked behind a dense thicket of deadwood on a steep slope, looking down to see a gigantic basin seemingly struck by a meteor.

The situation inside the basin shocked the three of them, even though they were mentally prepared.

In the center of the basin, a colossal, living mother nest was slowly pulsating.

It was like a gigantic dark purple heart, covered with thick energy vessels and slime-secreting pores, with countless worker bee-shaped Insect Race busily bustling on its surface.

Around the mother nest stood several flesh-like high towers, hatching chambers where Insect Race larvae were visibly developing and forming rapidly.

Further away, defensive organs resembling Spore Cannons were slowly turning, their tops flickering with ominous glows.

The entire interior of the basin was almost entirely covered with dark purple biological substrates, forming a complex Insect Race architectural cluster.

An unstable small wormhole flickered above the mother nest, exuding unsettling spatial fluctuations.

They finally saw with their own eyes the Void Insect Race’s nest, a malignant tumor from another Plane frantically drawing nutrients from Florence Continent, attempting to transform it into a barren wasteland.

Judging by its scale, this nest seemed to have been constructed not long ago, as its area was still small.

According to some related intelligence previously shared by Lucas, such a nest’s area could even cover the entire continent.

Now it’s just in a tiny valley and still in its extremely early stage.

The Void Insect Race’s nest must be nipped in the bud, not giving them a chance to develop, or the consequences will be endless.

Duke and the others then began to carefully observe, seeing that the nest was surrounded by numerous Insect Race guards.

The number and variety of these Insect Race guards were many, including many species Duke and his companions hadn’t seen before, making it unclear what the characteristics and attack methods of these Insect Races were.

"The defense is very tight, the patrol routes intersect, leaving almost no space for infiltration." After careful observation, Vivian made a calm judgment, "Forcing our way in would only lead to being overwhelmed by a sea of Insects."

Duke nodded: "There are simply too many and there are also new types we haven’t seen before. Attacking rashly would indeed be unwise."

He silently memorized the layout, defensive force distribution of the nest, the ever-pulsing central mother nest, and the unstable wormhole above.

They then lurked for a while, carefully recording the defensive systems around the nest, patrol patterns, and main building locations.

Until confirming enough intelligence had been collected and noticing a patrol route of a hovering guard team seemed to extend towards them, they slowly left the area.

The return journey was much smoother, allowing them to avoid patrolled areas detected earlier and without any pursuers behind.

After the trio returned to Fengqiu City, Rein quickly departed to conduct various deployments, planning to set up a strict alert line at the forest’s edge while warning everyone in the territory not to enter the forest.

He also deployed a group of capable individuals from the Nightingales into the forest, responsible for keeping watch at various positions.

They were not responsible for combat work, only to monitor movements within the forest.

Duke then reported the scouted situation, including the nest’s exact location, scale, observed Insect Race species, defensive layout, and the pivotal wormhole, in detail to Lucas.

Lucas, on his side, had more information about the Void Insect Race, informing Duke of the names, basic habits, attack and defense methods of the Insect Races he saw.

"The nest you discovered seems to be in its initial stage, relatively easy to deal with. I’ve arranged for people who are on their way, and you just need to coordinate with them to eliminate this nest," Lucas said.

"Understood." Duke then had another exchange with Lucas.

Lucas also mentioned that Vivian had reported to Thorn Holy Tower, so Black Sail and Thorn Holy Tower had some exchanges, and both sides dispatched personnel to resolve the issue.

After Duke ended his exchange with Lucas, he didn’t feel light-hearted.

Although the discovered nest was still in its early stage, making it relatively easy to handle.

But this was just what was discovered. No one knew how many such nests existed in the Wizard Plane and how far they’ve developed.

Duke recalled a saying, that when you find a cockroach at home, there might already be countless others.

He vaguely felt that this matter might not end so easily.

...

Five days later, a fleet of ten Floating Airships arrived in Maple Hill County.

Among them, six belonged to Black Sail, and four to Thorn Holy Tower.

This marked a joint operation between Black Sail and Thorn Holy Tower, as both forces were primarily engaged in the battlefield of the Devourer Plane, leaving limited forces to be diverted elsewhere.

However, the main force referred to here were Level 3 Wizards and above, most of the Wizards below Level 3 had already withdrawn from the Devourer Plane.

The ten Floating Airships carried hundreds of people, all Wizards from Black Sail and Thorn Holy Tower, along with a hundred thousand slave creatures.

Their purpose here was not simply to deal with a single Insect Race nest, but to execute a long-term mission of garrisoning the Florence Continent.

Both Black Sail and Thorn Holy Tower were acutely aware that the Florence Continent surely harbored more than just this one nest, with many more tasks lying ahead.

Even if currently, there was only this one, once the Insect Race’s forces accumulated sufficiently, the Florence Continent would inevitably be affected.

By then, the region’s power levels would be incapable of resisting the Void Insect Race’s invasion, and it wouldn’t be long before this continent turned into a desolate land.