Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 833: Mother of Cockroaches

As the frightening wave of energy struck the sand, the ground began to crack and splinter. Blue water-attuned genetic energy raged like a storm, sending huge swathes of sand and boulders into the air.

A huge wave of energy swamped the desert, sending the black cockroaches flying into the air, where their bodies were annihilated.

As though Zhang Lie had opened a portal to hell, large swarms of cockroaches were sent into the air in a black tide, provoking a visceral sense of disgust.

The black cockroaches released a dark yellow fluid as they were cut apart by the genetic energy, and a vile stench emanated from their carcasses.

Like a voracious beast, the blue genetic energy devoured all life nearby. None of the cockroaches were spared. The ground broke apart, layer by layer, as cockroaches were sucked out of its interior and destroyed amidst ocean-blue energy that reminded one of ocean waves.

This was a disaster for the cockroaches, a race with a larger quantity of lifeforms than Zhang Lie had ever seen to date. Zhang Lie's punch had been intended for the disaster-grade genetic lifeform underground, but it had actually struck directly at the cockroaches' burrow.

Of course, Zhang Lie could sense the lifeforce that was teeming underground, but the visual impact of all that life was astounding.

Even Zhang Lie's [Fists of the Silent Sea] wasn't able to clear out all the cockroaches. More and more began pouring out from the ground—such was the might of a race that could devour and deplete all the resources of a rich, bountiful world.

The cockroaches weren't fully responsible, but they certainly played an important role in this achievement. They continued pouring out from underground, as though a black flood was overwhelming the land.

From the center of the cockroaches, Zhang Lie could sense a disaster-grade aura. A titanic claw emerged from underground, as sharp as a scythe, but Zhang Lie attacked before the lifeform could.

"[Ninecarp Transformation: Golden Tiger]!" The image of a golden tiger appeared behind Zhang Lie's back, and its roar echoed through the air. A golden aura suffused Zhang Lie. A mountain of blades rested atop the tiger's back, and Zhang Lie's body itself underwent a transformation. His hair turned silvery-white, until they became akin to silver needles.

His genetic energy likewise became more honed. Silvery-white genetic energy gathered over his body, and tigers' stripes appeared on his arms. His eyes became those of a tiger's, and steely sharpness erupted from every pore.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" The condensed genetic energy solidified into sharp silver crystals, which shot out with Zhang Lie's attack. They tore apart the sky as they pierced through the endless waves of cockroaches and penetrated the interior of the disaster-grade mother of cockroaches.

An ear-splitting screech could be heard from the hole in the ground that Zhang Lie had created. The screech was so shrill that it distorted the air, and the weakest of the cockroaches froze stiff and fell to the ground like drops of rain. However, even more swarmed up and took their place.

As the black scythe-like appendix began to fall toward Zhang Lie, he shot a glance at it. The golden tiger behind Zhang Lie made a move then, swiping its claws and cutting the appendix in two.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" A crystal wall appeared behind Zhang Lie, reflecting light in five colors, so dazzling it dazed any who looked at it, so beautiful it sparked their desire.

As Zhang Lie manipulated space, that crystalline genetic energy shot out of the wall behind him in the form of sharp daggers, combining water-attuned genetic energy and spatial fluctuations into potent silver beams that could pierce through anything.

They tore apart the waves of cockroaches, exterminating them as though they were made of premium insecticide.

Within moments, cockroach carcasses filled the ground. The disaster-grade mother of cockroaches had no choice but to step out herself, emerging from amidst a veritable mountain of carcasses.

Her humongous body made her look like a skyscraper. She was at least fifty meters tall, and like a centipede, her body was segmented. Each segment was engorged, and the visual impact of her body alone was stunning.

The leg that Zhang Lie had chopped off had already regrown, and dozens of scythe-like legs came sweeping toward Zhang Lie.

Zhang Lie transformed into a dragonwolf with russet fur and limbs covered with dragons' scales. His aura became magnified as a hurricane of blood spawned around him. The next moment, Zhang Lie vanished from sight.

After that, all the legs of the mother of cockroaches were suddenly cut off.

Zhang Lie condensed his genetic energy. Sharp white crystals manifested around his body like silvery-white starlight, glimmering in the air.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!" As he cocked his fist, dozens of crystalline dragons formed behind his back, roaring in unison and causing the lava to quake. Their bodies were translucent, and they gave off light in all the colors of the rainbow as the sunlight struck them. They roared into the air, causing the entire world to quake.

The dragons shot out through Zhang Lie's right arm, hundreds of them in all, criss-crossing in the sky. Their silvery-white scales, like angels' feathers, covered up the entire sky and turned it into a sea through which the crystalline dragons swam.

The disaster-grade mother of cockroaches was unable to handle their combined might. Her body was torn apart by dragon after dragon, until she was nothing more than pulp.

[You successfully killed a disaster-grade mother of cockroaches. By consuming the core of the disaster-grade mother of cockroaches, you may receive one to ten disaster gene fragments.]

The cockroaches' bodies were crushed by the impact of the mother of cockroaches falling to the ground.

Despite her 'death', the mother of cockroaches continued to squirm and struggle. She clung stubbornly to life, devouring all the carcasses around her, but her body had been torn apart so completely that any recovery she hoped to achieve proceeded at a glacial pace.

This was the first time Zhang Lie had seen a lifeform with such vitality.

Ordinary disaster-grade lifeforms would perish the moment their cores left their bodies, but the mother of cockroaches seemed to be the exception that proved the rule.

The disaster-grade core was located right in the center of the disgusting black mess, and Zhang Lie honestly didn't want to dig through it to claim the core for himself. However, it would be difficult to get to it via any other means; even a king of the realm's authority over space would be hard-pressed to claim such a core outright.

There were very many lifeforms in the region, but superior- and lower-grade lifeforms were unable to touch a disaster-grade core, nor even to get close. For instance, using the disaster-grade lava salamander's core as an example, a superior-grade lifeform that drew close to it would be burned to death before being able to lay a single hand on it.

It wouldn't be too difficult to find peak-grade lifeforms around thanks to the draconian sage's authority, but Zhang Lie had a better choice.