13: Chapter 13 Pre-Battle Military Parade and the Second Divine Transformation
The clamor and ostentation of the divine feast receded from Su Chen's consciousness like a receding tide.
Those hypocritical smiles, greedy gazes, and the ancient divine majesty inadvertently revealed amidst lofty discussions all transformed into a cold backdrop.
When his will pierced through the planar barrier and descended once more upon his divine domain, the entire world seemed to let out a satisfied, low rumble.
Here, there were no verdant leaves of life, no nectar of jade.
Only endless yellow sand, and the absolute solemnity of slaughter imprinted upon heaven and earth.
A figure was already waiting at the center of the divine domain.
Queen of Blades Sarah knelt on one knee. The sleek lines of her carapace outlined a form that blended power and a sense of annihilation. She bowed her head, reverent and fanatical.
"Father, I have not failed your command."
Her voice carried immense penetrating power, tinged with a metallic rasp.
Su Chen's gaze moved past her.
Then, his breath hitched for an instant.
The sky.
The original, dusky yellow sky of the divine domain, constructed by his will, was now completely blotted out by a writhing, ink-green shadow.
A full one thousand Corrupted Wyverns.
They were no longer as gaunt as at their birth. Each had swelled to a colossal five meters in size. Every beat of their massive fleshy wings churned up rolling waves of hot air, and thick acid dripped from the edges of their wing membranes.
"Sizzle—"
The acid fell upon the yellow sand, instantly corroding deep pits and emitting acrid white smoke.
They hovered in mid-air, not making a single extraneous sound. Only tens of thousands of crimson compound eyes were locked fiercely upon the lone god on the ground.
It was a silent reverence, belonging to weapons of slaughter.
Su Chen's gaze slowly lowered.
On the ground, the world of yellow sand was covered by another color.
Black.
A boundless expanse of black.
Tens of thousands of twice-evolved "Fission Steel-Fanged Ants" were arrayed in impeccably neat phalanxes. They were no longer a disorganized Zerg Swarm, but a terrifying legion with strict discipline, obeying orders instantly.
The carapace of each Steel-Fanged Ant gleamed with a cold metallic luster. Countless carapaces linked together, forming a silent sea of steel. They stood on six legs, their ferocious mandibles tightly closed, as if ready to tear everything apart the next second.
Su Chen extended his hand.
A Steel-Fanged Ant nearest to him immediately broke from its formation. With precise steps, it came to his feet and lowered its head meekly.
He stroked the hard, cold carapace, feeling the explosive power contained within. A surge of irrepressible pride began to rise and burn in his chest.
This... was his power.
This... barely had the nascent form of a "calamity."
"Excellent."
Su Chen's voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the perception of every Zerg Swarm unit.
However, this surge of pride lasted only a few seconds before he forcibly suppressed it.
In his mind flashed the image of the Nature Goddess Flora, followed by the figures of those demigods lurking in the shadows of the banquet, emanating an aura of decay and antiquity.
They were true veteran deities, having accumulated foundations over who knows how many tens of thousands of years.
The legion before him, though terrifying, was still far from enough to face them.
"Not enough yet."
Su Chen's voice turned cold.
What he wanted was not to take a share of the feast.
What he wanted was to take the entire pot!
"I will undergo the second baptism!"
Su Chen's will transformed into a command. Deep within his divine spark, the golden ocean formed by the convergence of Power Of Faith began to churn violently.
He unhesitatingly mobilized the largest portion of energy within it.
Six million!
Boom—!
A golden pillar of light that pierced heaven and earth abruptly stabbed down from the void of the divine domain, precisely enveloping Su Chen.
The divine fire once again blazed fiercely above the divine domain.
The golden flames tinted the ink-green shadow in the sky with a layer of radiance. The entire world of yellow sand was filled with an overwhelming divine majesty.
Su Chen closed his eyes.
His consciousness did not linger on the strengthening of his divine body. Instead, with unprecedented depth, it sank toward the core region of his divine spark.
There lay the source of the rules representing his divine portfolio of "Slaughter."
This time, his goal was not simply to enhance his divine power. He intended to forge a deep, unprecedented link between this divine authority belonging to a deity and the "collective consciousness" of the boundless Zerg Swarm beneath his feet.
He was creating.
Creating a divine art unique to the Zerg Overlord, unique to him.
Time lost meaning.
Within the divine domain, only the golden divine fire roared silently.
An unknowable amount of time passed.
When Su Chen opened his eyes again, that heaven-piercing, earth-rending golden pillar of light had already dissipated.
Deep within his pupils, it seemed as if a dark abyss formed by the convergence of billions of insectoid shadows was reflected. Within it, they swam, roared, devoured each other, and fused into one.
An intangible wave, with him at its center, erupted and spread!
This wave had no sound, no light or shadow, yet in an instant, it swept over the one thousand Corrupted Wyverns in the sky and the tens of thousands of Fission Steel-Fanged Ants on the ground.
Hum—!
The bodies of all Zerg units resonated with an extremely subtle vibration at this moment.
A Steel-Fanged Ant at the outermost edge of the legion suddenly gained tens of thousands of different perspectives in its vision. It could "see" the aerial view of the wyverns overlooking the land, and also "see" the carapace of its companion at the legion's center, seemingly right before its eyes.
A Corrupted Wyvern circling in flight suddenly felt vibrations from the ground in its perception, as if it too possessed six legs treading the earth.
Information flowed, shared, and raced through the entire Zerg Swarm at a speed surpassing light!
In Su Chen's mind, a majestic proclamation echoed.
"Divine Art Awakened: [Swarm Consciousness]!"
"[Effect]: When you activate this divine art, all Zerg units will share vision and have pain perception blocked. Furthermore, as the number of the Zerg Swarm increases, the attack power of each insect will receive cumulative amplification!"
Su Chen slowly clenched his fist.
He could clearly feel a torrent of power, so immense it was nearly distorted, converging from the tens of thousands of Zerg Swarm units. Through that intangible web of will, it continuously fed back to him.
Every insect became his eye, his limb.
And he was the sole will of this steel sea.
As long as the Zerg Swarm endured, his perception would be omnipresent.
As long as the numbers were sufficient, every one of his attacks would carry the combined strength of the entire swarm!
"This is... the violent aesthetics of numbers."
The corner of Su Chen's mouth lifted into a cold, cruel arc as he savored that terrifying power capable of overturning heaven and earth.
"Gods, are you ready for a surprise?"