Ascenders Rift

Chapter 194: The Rising Undercurrent

Far away from the X Space, within the verdant wilds of Qeodreona. A region filled by nests and a variety of giant cocoons belonging to many kinds of insects, a strange-looking bug man with green shell-like armor, two large bug eyes flew at a rapid speed towards the nest of the Insect Queen.

It didn't take long for it to arrive at its destination, halting by the sturdy-looking black shell bug guards before being authorized to enter the queen's domain.

A moment's after, it had arrived outside of the room filled with a myriad of cobweb. The Insect Queen was currently at the center of her giant spiderweb, as her most trusted three insect guards garbed in thick black gold shell armor that covered their entirety knelt before her.

Her features only now revealed, showing her long black hair with purple streaks, a small nose, juicy purple lips, slightly pale but pure white skin, as her body was wrapped only at the critical areas with a dress made of webs as her purple-colored almond eyes glowed in a sharp ray.

She was the very first mutant insect to evolve and reign supreme, dominating the wilds at an equal standing of Mother Nest's Queen, the Insect Queen Yelshiva. 

At this time, Yelshiva's expression wasn't particularly good, as she had not heard any news from Devora about Marilin's movements, and nothing has come about the Mother Breed's actions.

She frowned as she pondered with sharp eyes, 'What's taking them so long to find anything? Tsk, these minions simply aren't up to the task, must I do everything myself?'

Yelshiva was beginning to feel anger, but as she didn't want to demolish her hard build nest, she consciously suppressed her destructive emotions.

At this moment, Yelshiva soon noticed that a weak presence was standing nearby her chamber. She frowned, causing a dominating aura to rise around her body, the room trembled as the green insect man struggled to breathe.

Only after he coughed for a while, did she withdraw her power and glanced towards the insignificant bug man and spoke, "You are of the Sonic Bug Clan, why have you come here?"

The insect man having caught his breath, promptly replied in his insect language, "My dear queen, I have to bare a report against the actions of that Mosquito Witch."

"Hmm, Marlin? Speak sonic bug, what do you know of her actions?" Yelshiva said with a more interest gaze.

The bug man replied, "Dear queen, our clan was forced to hand over the best sonic bug man only recently after suffering countless losses in her pests raid. I don't know what her true objectives are, but I don't think she's up to any good..."

Yelshiva's eyes narrowed at those words, as she thought, 'A sonic bug? Why would she need such a critter? Aren't those things only useful when dealing with humans?'

When she thought to here, her eyes glowed in a terrifying light before she glanced at the bug man and spoke, "You've done well to provide these details, go and rally what remains of your troops."

"As the queen wishes," The bug man replied before leaving the room in a hurry.

Yelshiva's eyes had a sharp ray within them, but right at this time, another insect had arrived, it was a small bee that a human body.

Yelshiva looked at this with a slightly better expression as she thought, 'Hmph! I see that Devora knows better than to betray me...'

The bee which landed on the ground grew into a human-sized male bee as he spoke in reverence, "Greetings to the queen, I come bearing news of Mother Devora..."

"Speak," Yelshiva said in an indifferent tone.

The bee man gulped before he replied directly, "Mother said that in tailing the Mosquito Witch, she had discovered a strange portal connected to some other space. It is guarded by high power human armaments that though useless to your highness's level, is more than enough to decimate regular troops. Mother believes that it's the fabled hiding nest of those humans, and is prepared to sneak along with the Mosquito Witch's army."

When Yelshiva heard those words, her eyes beamed in excitement; she thought, "The nest of the humans... excellent! Haha! I'd have never thought that it would be that troublesome Marilin of all my generals that would have made such a discovery. I guess the sonic bug found was most likely the Electro Sonic Bug... the one's that are capable of disarming their most troublesome weapons. Hehe... since it's all like this, I shouldn't waste time; I must oversee it myself."

Once she made up her mind, Yelshiva's eyes glowed as she looked at not only the bee man by all her subordinates and spoke, "Heed my orders, and gather all warriors of our Insect Hive! We will be launching a direct assault on the base of those humans..."

The three trusted insect guards whose features were oddly similar bowed and replied, "As the queen wishes!"

The bee man grew flustered as he spoke, "My-my queen, if we do this, what do we do about those of the Mother Breed?"

Yelshiva frowned at this and glared at him, causing him to feel oppressed as she spoke, "Do you dare to question my orders?"

"I... I would never my queen, I... I only suggested in your best interest," The bee man said in a flurry.

Yelshiva snorted before she took her eyes from him and spoke, "We will be commencing with the attack once all hands are gathered, as for that Galgorax, hehe... I refuse to believe that she will make a move against my forces directly. Now hurry and make the preparations!"

"At the queen's wish!" The bee man said as he hurriedly left the room with a flap of his wings.

The insect guards also left the room, leaving only one of them, Yelshiva glared at the black gold armor insect man, whose face was hidden behind a mask and spoke, "So you sent your clones to handle the rest of the tasks, why did you not go personally? "

"..." The insect man remained silent for a moment before lifting his head, staring directly into her eyes with his own sharp-looking green eyes as he replied, "Because my place is by the queen's side..."

Yelshiva looked at him with a hint of surprise, but she soon snorted, not saying anything. She rose from her seated posture, falling from the center of her web as she lands on the ground like a fallen leaf.

When she moved, her web-like dressed cascaded behind her, creating a gorgeous sight for all to witness. However, the only person who could see her beauty was the most loyal guard, who watched on in silence while following behind as she slowly left her chambers to the world outside.

***

With the region of the Mother Breed, there were only three gigantic horde carriers remaining, each of which had a few thousands of smaller Horde Carriers floating below them.

At the top of these giant Horde Carriers, were three different individuals that wore dark robes with unique patterns, each having a face with long horns with three sinister-looking eyes that glowed from below their hoods.

Suddenly, a dark cloud gathered about the heavens, as occasionally one would see a few flashing claps of thunder. As if one of them was disturbed, he glanced at the lightning and muttered, "Hmm, Mother is disturbed..."

"..." The others remained silent, not saying anything, they knew full well what it meant when she got into this mood.

Soon, a roar sounded from the depths of the Breed Nest, "Deerut, come here now!"

Deerut, who was the only of these Eight Destroyers to have multi-colored glowing eyes, nodded at the others before turning into a colorful blur that bolted towards the nest.

At this time, within the queen's chamber, Galgorax sat on her throne of flesh and bones with a dark look on her face, as she thought, 'Where did that insect learn of that world's entrance? Does she also know of the World Tree? Damnit! She's even mobile two of her generals...'

Galgorax thought with fire in her eyes; she had no idea how Yelshiva found out about the X Space. After thinking for a while, her eyes flashed in a cruel light as she made up her mind, 'I can't let this go her way, I've waited long enough for the next appearance of the World Tree, and now that it's only a short two months away I can't afford to lose it. No matter how hard she tried, she won't be able to enter that space, only weaker lifeforms can travel through its passages...'

When Galgorax thought to here, her eyes shifted towards the corner of the room, were that mysterious passage was hidden. Her mouth curved into a sinister smile as she spoke, "Hehe... I'll show just what happens when you try to take what's rightfully mine..."

As Galgorax's sinister giggle sounded, a swooshing sound was heard as Deerut appeared in the room, she soon looked down on him with warm eyes as she spoke, "Deerut, I have for you a single mission,"

Deerut hearing this bowed and spoke, "Mother, I am at your command,"

Galgorax nodded and spoke, "Good, listen and obey, take your troops, and venture through this gate. Once you arrive there, I want you to build a base and do nothing else but fortify at whatever location you arrive and kill every other lifeform that gets in your way. Do you understand?"

Deerut made a confident expression as he saluted and replied, "If it is mother's will, it will be done!"

"Hehe...that's my good son, now go, go and make me proud!" Galgorax said with flashing eyes, the pressure in the room rising, as it acted as the prelude to an incoming war.

***

Far away from both the Insect Hive and the Mother Nest, within the depths of the Origin Lab. A large glass chamber stood at the center of a spooky basement. Looking at it carefully, one would see a humanoid male body with long green hair, floating within a strange bubbling green liquid as a myriad of tubes were connected to it.

Around these tubes were massive roots, each ripping through the concrete floor and metal walls like it was nothing more than paper. No one knew how far these roots had spread, but looking at their sheer size, one could tell that they reach would be all-encompassing.

Suddenly, the eyes of the being inside this container twitched as they opened slowly, revealing a dazzling ray as his mouth curved into a sinister smile as his voice echoed across this quiet world, "It begins..."