Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

The ocean of insects kicked up a tsunami; on the land, the ‘carpet’ composed of insects was seething, flowing towards Ange from all directions like a tide crashing into him.

There were too many of them. Ange stomped hard, pulling Little Angel and Little Zombie into his embrace, and then was engulfed by the sea of insects.

The man in rags eerily muttered, “Against absolute numbers, individual strength is useless. Even if it turns into a war of attrition, I could still grind you down. Life Acceleration would be of no help; I don’t believe you can keep it up forever. Last time, there were too few insects. Otherwise, I could have drained you dry. It’s all about who can outlast whom!”

Soon, a mound rose where Ange had been standing, composed of the corpses of insects.

The insects were desperately gnawing at each other’s bodies, burrowing into their flesh, growing all the while. They went from small beetles to larger beetles, then died, their bodies gnawed by their kin. The same process repeated over and over again.

Amidst the surging tide of insects, the man in rags noted some strange changes. The types of insects kept increasing, their sizes getting larger, and some even grew enormous mouthparts.

“Is this evolution? Is Life Acceleration accelerating their evolution?” the man in rags said excitedly. During their time in the underground lair, he had skilfully exploited Ange’s Instant Death Halo, successfully breeding a few humanoid insects.

While he wasn’t specifically cultivating them now, as long as the numbers increased, the insects would surely cannibalize each other and spawn the most powerful Insect King.

However, as the pile of insect corpses grew larger, he didn’t notice that the growth rate of some insects was faster than ever, so fast that they didn’t even have time to gnaw on their kin’s bodies before growing old and dying.

An hour passed, then two, then three. The carpet of insects that initially spanned the entire land had now shrunk to a small mound, which was completely covered in insect corpses.

Since the man in rags had commanded the insects, they swarmed very efficiently; there wasn’t a single insect left elsewhere.

However, the scene he anticipated did not occur. The insects didn’t cannibalize each other and evolve into the strongest Insect King. Instead, they all fell dead.

The last insect convulsed and rolled down from the mound of insect corpses to the foot of the man in rags.

The small hill-shaped mound of insect corpses had grown large enough to spread to his feet.

“How can this be? How can this be? How is this possible? Doesn’t the Life Acceleration still exist? Why didn’t they evolve? They did last time.” The man in rags mumbled in shock.

A flame sparked within the mound of corpses, reducing insects to ashes wherever it passed, stubbornly burning a path out. Ange and his party emerged from within.

“What’s impossible? This time it wasn’t just Life Acceleration, it was also insecticide.” The voice of the Bronze Dragon echoed from Ange.

The demonic face in the bonfire had quietly disappeared at some point, realizing early that something was wrong and making an early escape.

Little Angel clenched her little fist angrily, lighting up with Holy Light. Despite Ange’s protection, she had been bitten by several insects. Now a true angel, not a skeletal figure cloaked in flesh, she could feel pain.

“Ah! Holy Light? Are you from the Church of Light?” The man in rags snapped out of his daze, quietly kneeling on the ground. “Don’t kill me. I’ll buy Redemption Tickets, three of them!”

“Huh, this line sounds familiar. Is it you? The one from the Dark City Underground? Weren’t you soul-searched?” Negris exclaimed in surprise.

“I…,” began the man in rags, just as an image of a piece of parchment appeared before him. The image quickly ignited, and the man in rags’ eyes, ears, nose, and mouth started spewing a greenish glow. He howled in agony.

“So, you traded your soul and were resurrected by a demon,” Negris realized.

Ange conjured up a scythe and swung it at the burning parchment-shaped projection.