Ascenders Rift

Chapter 141: The Insect Clan's Soldiers, Captain Slasgh

Qeodreona's night scene was a dark and spooky one, the sounds from its various creatures capable of instilling fear into all during its reign. Yet, despite this scene, and even more hellish scene was occurring.

Bang! A towering tree branch shattered into many different fragments of wood that scattered about the area, smashing into the window of a few old looking ruined buildings. As this happened, a series of whizzing sounds resounded as ten strange looking creatures flew as if trying to escape something.

Looking at them carefully, one would notice that most of them had a similar appearance, beings of a humanoid structure with arms and legs that seemed no different from bugs, along with their wings. They each had compound eyes, along with slender physiques encased by a hard-green coating just like a bug's shell.

Leading them was a similar individual with four arms and a more muscular physique. Even his shell-like coating was a tint darker than the others as his eyes shone even more sinisterly. The bug-like faces of everyone seemed to be filled with panic as countless wounds were visible on their frames, oozing with green blood droplets.

"There, hurry over there!" The group leader said in his insect language as he pointed to a narrow ditch with leaves, concrete, and other objects, such as vehicles scattered around it.

Not wasting any time, he flapped his wings as he blurred from the sky and rapidly flew into the hole, the others did the same and were only a few notches slower than him.

Moments of after they vanished, however, a series of buzzing noises resounded as a horde of Scarlet Blood Mosquitos soared through the jungle of concrete of woods. 

They were about to charge into the unassuming ditch, but right at this very moment, they halted their approach as if something was repelling them. Instantly, the mosquitoes scattered towards a different area, leaving this region as fast as they could.

Looking towards the ditch once more, one would notice that a vague green smog was wafting from it, carrying a repulsive smell. It took only a few seconds for it to fade, before the party of insect humanoids cautiously make their way out into the opening once more.

"That damn bitch and her mosquitoes, she doesn't even know how to keep her pets tamed, and hardly treats our kind as allies," The leader said with an annoyed expression.

"C-Captain Slasgh, we've already lost sight of them; shall we continue our mission?" An insect man said as he looked at him with worry, it's obvious he didn't want to continue patrolling 'that' person's domain.

Captain Slasgh frowned for a moment before he looked around at the surroundings, the lights from the two moon's shining on his figure as he spoke, "We have no choice, there have been strange movements from those of the Mother Breed. Traveling through this bitch's domain is the quickest way for us to figure out their exact details. Besides, you know how it is, why they've entrusted this task to us and not that Mosquito Bitch?"

The other insect men showed looks of understanding as they heard those words, Captain Slasgh nodded as and spoke, "Good, we should get on our w..."

He was about to command for them to move out once more, but right at this very moment, a voice sounded from nearby.

"Ho, well that's quite the interesting details, you guys seem to know quite a few things," A silhouette said from a dark corner.

Captain Slasgh and the others grew wary, as even with their superior senses as insect lifeforms, they still didn't sense the man's presence.

Captain Slasgh turned towards the silhouette as his eyes could see through the dark of the night, easily identifying the brown-haired human as he spoke with flashing eyes, "Human, how did you get here? It's obvious that you are not of the average scale, are you an elite from the straggling bunch of last survivors?"

Though Captain Slasgh said this, he was still on high alert as he had already used his antennas to send odd signals to his comrades prepared to fan out and surround the human silently.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you are a bit mistaken about something. We'll be the ones asking questions you see..." The brown-haired young man said with a smile as he waved his hand, causing a black claymore with a stylized sword guard to appear.

Captain Slasgh was a bit alarmed, he wanted to say something but soon found that it was already too late. Unknowingly to him and his men, they had already been surrounded by a group of humans that gave off an odd feeling.

"Shit! Everyone prepare for battle!" Captain Slasgh said as he took combat stance despite his injuries, spreading his four insect arms and causing a few parts of his shell-like armor to open as his body glowed in green lights.

The others also did the same, but because of their wounds, their momentum couldn't cause any effect on anyone.

Evan, Joe, Layla, Breya, Emilia, and Rick looked at their opponents like cats trapping a bundle of mice, their eyes shining coldly underneath the night scene no different from beasts themselves.

Joe's eyes flashed; he inspected them once again while raising his arc shield; they were already brief to capture them by Evan since they seemed to know quite a few details.

[Insect Soldiers - Level 8 ]

[Race - Insect Lifeform (Common) | State - Stage 1 Lesser Tier Lifeform (Early-Level)]

[Class - Insect Warrior]

[Health - 300 / 800]

[Corrosive Power - 30 / 50]

[Strength - 81]

[Vitality - 85]

[Agility - 85]

[Defense - 80]

[Skills:]

[Innate Skill: Insect Guard - A passive skill that allows the hardness of the host's body armor to increase by 10%]

[Corrosive Spit - A blob of poisonous and deadly saliva that can melt anything it touches.]

[Metal Arms  A destructive attack that hardens the hosts' arms allowing for them to crush their targets easily.]

---

[Captain Slasgh - Level 9 ]

[Race - Insect Lifeform (Superior) | State - Stage 1 Lesser Tier Lifeform (Early-Level)]

[Class - Insect Warrior]

[Health - 550 / 950]

[Corrosive Power - 30 / 60]

[Strength - 91]

[Vitality - 99]

[Agility - 99]

[Defense - 95]

[Skills:]

[Innate Skill: Insect Gaurd - A passive skill that allows of the hardness of the host's body armor to increase by 25%]

[Corrosive Spit - A blob of poisonous and deadly saliva that can melt anything it touches.]

[Metal Arms  A destructive attack that hardens the hosts' arms allowing for them to crush their targets easily.]

....

"Tsk, if they were in good condition, they might have proven a little challenging, but now, hehe, things should be better," Joe said with a smile.

The others shared similar sentiments; they no longer wasted time and looked at Evan, who smiled and spoke, "Begin!"

In an instant, the party of six had vanished. As the insect soldiers and Captain Slasgh similarly acted, their bug wings vibrated at alarming speeds, causing their bodies to blur vanishing from sight.

Soon, the sounds of metal colliding against metal sounded as sparks appeared at various locations at the same time, flickering about the ruins as some stray energies scared the concrete ground, and buildings, some even broke through dense vines and tree roots within distant areas.

Suddenly, Rick and one of the insect soldiers could be seen fighting against each other, the two moved quickly, but Rick was even faster, his spear dancing between the soldier's defense as it struck his shoulder.

With a bang, the insect soldier's arm burst to pieces, due to the power behind Rick's spear, filling him with a hint of pride, but he knew that if they weren't injured, he would have needed to use more battle energy to defeat them.

"Kreee! D-Darn human! I'll get you for this!" The insect soldiers said, but before it could do anything, Rick had already vanished and appeared at his side with spear extended.

He made a swinging motion while twirling his body, smacking the shaft against the back of the insect soldier's neck, causing it to grow dizzy before it closed its eyes and lost consciousness.

Much like Rick's battle, everyone else easily overpowered the others, as Breya bound her foes with her threads serving their limbs, while Emilia used her arrows to do the very same act standing at a distance with ease on her face.

Joe and Layla had also just now finished up, but the person who ended the quickest was none other than Evan. He now stood before the severely wounded Captain Slasgh, who no longer had his four arms or legs as he spoke, "Tell me of the details you've previously mentioned..."

Joe, Rick, and the others were also dragging over their defeated foes, prepared to listen to his words. It seemed that everything was in their control, but the face of Captain Slasgh only showed mockery as he looked at Evan and spoke, "Haha, foolish human, you don't know what you're dealing with, you'll never be able to get out of his place alive."

Evan showed a calm look as he spoke once more with cold eyes, "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, make your choice."

Captain Slasgh stared at Evan and smiled in a sly manner, instantly his mouth expanded by triple the size as he shouted while spitting, "Go to hell!"

Ptooey! In a flash, a large blob of saliva wrapped over Evan's body, splashing about an area of one meter and melting everything with a sizzling sound. As the salvia faded into the earth, Evan couldn't be seen anymore.

Captain Slasgh looked at this and made a hearty laugh, "Hahaha, such a dumb fool; he had no idea..."

He was about to say something, but Evan's voice sounded from behind him, "Fine, we'll do it the hard way..."

As Captain Slasgh heard this, he turned and looked at Evan, but what he saw was no longer the face of a simple human, no... it was a look that was no different from a devil in hell.