From the moment Jon conveyed the location of the Voracious Swarm Mother, he was given exactly eight seconds to get clear of the Hive-Womb Capital. Despite his initial desire to descend into the lightless tunnels of the Memento Source Item and assist Song Lian Yu, Jon found himself sprinting towards the edge of the Hive-Womb Capital, rushing to clear himself of the floating hive before his mental countdown had concluded.

  His Fragment Of Instincts detecting the ripples of dragon natured and bow natured spiritual energy in the skies above the Memento Source Item, urging him to move faster.

  His connection with Song growing fainter and fainter with each passing moment. Despite screaming into his Fragment Of Dragon, the Threaded-Heart Of Terminus Est continued to draw upon more weave natured spiritual energy, flooding the space around the Voracious Swarm Mother with as much woven-fire as his heart-mutation was capable of producing.

  Spiritual mouth shields and disruptive gales of protection preventing said flames from making physical contact with the Sixth-Honoured Lord. Through the golden-silver eyes of the epoch-heart dragon, revealed an unfathomably large figure. One possessing a maggot-esque lower body, someone both devouring biomass and producing living larvae even while deflecting Song’s draconic breath.

  The Matriarch Of Gluttonous Insects snarling at Song Lian Yu, not noticing the growing threat above her when suddenly face-to-face with the epoch-heart dragon in front of her.

  Jon leaping from the top of the Hive-Womb Capital, jumping into a two-thousand-metre freefall as he heard the soft sound of a harp string twang above him. Minerva-Infiltration Eyes widening the familiar sound of a sonic boom resounded more than four hundred metres further up in the air.

  Yellowish-green eyes widening, reflecting the image of two shooting, silver arrows.

  [Imperial Bow Art; Divine Bow Rapture].

  Her Fragment Of Eradication producing a thirty-metre-long arrow and shooting it in the direction of the Hive-Womb Capital. Her Fragment Of Mirror replicating the next Spell Trait ability that she activated, duplicating the effect and launching a mirrored arrow construct alongside the original.

  The shooting silver stars of eradication carving a silverish-blue streak through the skies. The speed at which the two travelled at far exceeded even Jon’s irresistible vajra-spear, breaking through the sound barrier the moment Miyoung released her grip over the Seven-Stringed Reignbow.

  Bow natured and spear natured spiritual energies might have similar origins; their inherent conceptual properties were anything but alike. Enhanced through the effects of a Fragment Of Boundless, her imperial bow art possessed both a range and speed that exceeded any of Jon’s abilities.

  One moment it was three-hundred-metres away from the Hive-Womb Capital.

  The next, it was piercing through the verdant flames left behind by his imperial spear art. Penetrating through dozens of layers of half-regenerated flesh-wax walls and screaming Mortal-level insects. Bow natured spiritual energy travelling faster than what the average Knight could perceive before arriving within the chamber that held the Voracious Swarm Mother.

  Spiritual mouth shields and disruptive gales of protection shattering from the lack of spiritual energy poured into them. The Grandmaster Of Wind And Flesh’s dozens of compounded eyes widening in response, flowing more and more spiritual energy into her two defensive abilities before-.

  An earth-shattering explosion resounded out from the waxen core of the floating hive.

  Waves upon waves of silverish-blue flames rushing out from dozens of different entrances across the Hive-Womb Capital. Mortal-level and Knight-level insects alike incinerated through the destructive burst of mana within the confined halls of their floating fortress.

  Larvae barely having any time to scream before dying under a rushing burst of bow natured spiritual energy. The corpses of the Threaded-Heart Of Terminus Est burned away within a matter of moments, as swarm natured spiritual energy started bleeding out from the Memento Source Item.

  The thunderous sound of bow natured spiritual energy tearing through flesh and biomass caused every single insect within the vicinity of Springtown to pause, the connection with their Voracious Swarm Mother interrupted through the effects of Miyoung’s Fragment Of Eradication.

  Jon grinning as he watched several approaching insects come to a halt, their malformed minds torn between protecting their High Priestess Of The Swarm and obeying her commands and continuing to attack the Safe Zone below. The Graceful Dragon Of Treasured Beauty rushing past him, catching him in her two clawed hands and allowing him to remove the instance of [Light Bringer] that saturated his flesh, mind, and spirit.

  Replaced with the debilitating effects of a [Mortal].

  [Mortal]: Reduces all physical enhancements to that of an uninitiated mortal. Transforms all resistances into vulnerabilities. [Mortal] lasts for a duration equal to double the amount of time [Light Bringer] was active.

  Effect (Knight): Upon the completion of [Light Bringer], reduce the effectiveness of all abilities with the Spell Trait by half.

  Long Shen Xi cradling his weakened form within her scaled embrace, the consequences of his Helel-Star Pride forcing him to endure approximately two-hundred seconds of weakness before regaining his Knight Ranked physical capabilities.

  Although the effects of his Mortal Ranked Title were immune to [Mortal] to a degree, Jon found his connection to both his Seir-Perpetual Heart and Murmur-Arhat Marrow partially muted and unable to flow additional spiritual energy into them.

  Such a thing was unnecessary seeing as though the insects around him were swiftly being killed by the remaining summoned companions. Several four-winged eagles surrounding a lone Lord-level insect, who found their wings plucked from their back before managing to regain their sense of focus.

  Devilish-looking goblins hurling poisonous potions from Mortal-level blimps or other strange spiritual constructs. Lightning storm fey and rampaging lava fey surging through the air en masse, sending barrage after barrage of Spell effects towards lingering poisonous-fang termites and acid-stomach termites.

  ‘There is absolutely no way that the Voracious Swarm Mother came out of that unscathed.’ Jon thought to himself.

  ‘Two Fragments Of Eradication that either struck it directly, or more likely detonated in the innermost chamber of the Hive-Womb Capital. Thousands of Mortal-level insects and larvae dead in an instant. Potentially even killing the Lord-level flesh clones that can also produce more eggs for its growing swarm.’

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  The Hive-Womb Capital fracturing in several places, chunks of waxen-substances crumbling under the continued abuse from two powerful Knights, vanishing into motes of swarm natured spiritual energy motes later. Two metre-wide fractures stretching down more than a dozen metres along each side of the Memento Source Item.

  Lingering evidence of his two imperial spear arts.

  On top of all this, the once buoyant qualities of the Hive-Womb Capital had started to fail, causing the enormous five-hundred metre wide hive to slowly start falling towards the ground. At a rate of about three-metres-per second if Jon was counting right.

  No… seven-metres-per-second.

  Eighteen-meters-per-second.

  Forty-one-metres-per-second.

  Ninety-seven-metres-per-.

  Jon felt his eyes widen in horror.

  His Carcosa-Form Horrors strengthening the connection between his and Miyoung’s minds.

  “Miyoung!” His voice echoed throughout her Reckless Strength Palace.

  “The Voracious Swarm Mother is going to crash its hive into Springtown! Tell Rosenrot and Jiu Mei Lan to inform Amadeus and Delila to move everyone outside of the Guardian Walls!” Jon crawling along the limbs of the Graceful Dragon Of Treasured Beauty, moving atop her back as the fua-heart dragon surged towards the descending construct.

  The speed at which the Hive-Womb Capital was falling almost exceeded the maximum speed of Long Shen Xi. Despite the fact that it was only about two-thousand metres above the ground, the Voracious Swarm Mother was obviously increasing its velocity as much as it possibly could in an effort to maximize its inflicted damage on the Safe Zone below.

  All of the insects that once soared through the skies maintaining their positions within and around the Sunless Cloudlight Obscurity. Continuing to battle against various flying-type summoned companions through the dusk-filled cloudlight.

  Although Jon wanted to activate his Fragment Of Annihilation once more, the speed at which the Hive-Womb Capital descended was quicker than the travel speed of his frozen end arts. Miyoung manifesting another instance of her imperial bow arts, actions mimicked through the spiritual-mirror construct beside her.

  [Imperial Bow Art; Divine Bow Rapture].

  Two more silver-coloured arrows of eradication shot down from almost three-thousand metres above Springtown, piercing through the sound barrier in an instant and arriving at the falling hive within the blink of an eye. Miyoung letting out a small tsk, seeing that her Fragment Of Eradication only managed to nick one side of the hive, causing its descent to shift by several dozen metres.

  Instead of landing smack bang in the centre of Springtown, the Voracious Swarm Mother and its Hive-Womb Capital would land-.

  Her expression paling, seeing the Boundless Heaven Gate vanish beneath its outrageous shadow. The Western Gate, where Delila, Rosenrot and Jiu Mei Lan all fought becoming the new intended target for its inevitable impact.

  Both the Archon Of Reigning Dragons and Princeps Of The Wandering Mutation watching on in absolute horror as the five-hundred-metre wide hive crashed into the western portions of the Safe Zone.

  Resulting in an explosion that seemed to cause the very air itself to tremble in fear.

  Break.

  Delila Anderson-Moore thought that the battle was going well.

  Perhaps a little too well.

  Her preparations for this fight were beyond anything that Amadeus or Maliq had expected.

  The production of wall-type spiritual items had been one of the lynchpins upon which supported her plan, alongside the creation of Imperial-Spell Towers and Guardian-Rampart Walls. The strength of spiritual items laid not necessarily within those handheld ones, such as pendants or talismans but rather structures who effects could be shared by all willing to input spiritual energy into them.

  The categorizing of citizens into various “classes” as Jon, David, and Michael put it allowed her to sort Knights and Mortals into squadrons that could highlight their individual strengths the greatest.

  Those capable of inflicting debuffs that reduced resistances towards fire-type spiritual energies were given teammates with Lava Mana Cores, Sun Mana Cores and Inferno Mana Cores.

  Those that possessed powerful transformative-type abilities but lacked defensive buffs to sustain it were given allies capable of granting shield effects and recovery buffs. Life Mana Cores, Shield Mana Cores and even Protection Mana Cores were the most common.

  Close-quarters combat specialists such as Mael and Regulus were given the moniker of “Duellist.”

  Unmoveable fighters that fought in the forefront such as Shamael and Yumis were called “Bulwarks” and specialized in maintaining the frontlines.

  Individuals that were capable of performing numerous roles given the moniker of “Vanguard.” Such as Amadeus and Jon.

  And “Healers” and “Supporters” were self-explanatory roles. Individuals such as Maliq, Sariel and Raflea fell under this category.

  It certainly allowed her innate sense of order to flourish, having a system of “classes” to categorize individuals under.

  “Himmel! Move your team thirty-metres back. Yul’ash and the others will provide cover fire for your retreat.”

  “Sandolf and Tigrash will spread their teams fifty-metres down each length of the Guardian Walls. Everyone else is to adjust their positions accordingly.”

  “All teams are to prepare for the next change in shifts. Imperial-Spell Towers will be deactivated for a period of one-hundred-and-eighty seconds. Permission to overload defensive fragments is permitted.”

  Through the effects of her Chaotic-Thunder Palace she was able to command more than a dozen different ten-man squadrons at once, utilizing both her Fragment Of Command and Fragment Of Bond in order to convey her orders.

  Even with the sound of thunderous lightning striking the earth, or fiery explosions detonating at the base of the Mortal Ranked Guardian Walls, she was still able to communicate with a near-perfect clarity.

  Her Civilization Mana Core and Order Mana Core synergized quite well with one another. Her abilities able to both enhance damaging effects of her bonded targets, while also mitigating severe instances of damage by balancing it out across dozens of willing partners.

  Summoned companions were included in this number as well, both Nestor and Schwarz Eis accepting this bond without so much as a hint of a complaint.

  The occasional barrage from both Wilheim and Maliq aboard the Piercing-Void Ship granted them some level of air superiority, even if the two were pestered by the occasional Knight-level insect that managed to breach through Vritrium’s Sunless Cloudlight Obscurity.

  Although she was unable to communicate with either Amadeus and Mael at the Northern Gate, nor Regulus and Raflea near the Southern Gate, she felt as though neither one of them should be hard-pressed to defend Springtown. They possesses the advantage in terms of quantity of spiritual energy.

  Even if the numbers that they faced were ten times the population of Springtown, their methods of performing ranged attacks were lacklustre at best. If it was not for the harassment of flying insects or the fact that their enemy could “devour” the abilities of their fallen comrades, this battle would have been won an hour or two ago.

  [Piercing Rune Art; Wind-Lance Glyph].

  The illusory-tattoos that were engraved into her flesh and spirit activating at a moments notice. Manifesting over half-a-dozen wind-lance constructs in the space around her, launching themselves in the direction of a few swooping hornets and wasps.

  Delila raising her opposite hand, activating another colourless rune.

  [Bubble Rune Art; Foam-Shield Glyph].

  Manifesting a wide, dome-shaped bubble construct around the Carnelian Devil Of Rose Sin. The carnelian rose devil lifting her head towards her, giving her a small nod, allowing her excess rose petals to clump around the soles of her feet.

  Rosenrot possessed an interesting combination of abilities.

  Being able to willingly take in debuffs and afflictions and transforming them into rose petals. She was then able to expend rose petals instead of spiritual energy, allowing her to cast an assortment of different Spell effects.

  She lacked a method of cleansing or refining said debuffs, feeling the pain of said afflictions until she activated one of her Spells. Although, the Scent Of Draconic Plum-Wine did make up for her lack of cleansing effects. The humanoid-dragon standing atop the Guardian Walls, continuing to produce various wines and spirits that possessed an assortment of different effects.

  Jiu Mei Lan did possess a Fragment Of Transformation, although did not show its effects during the battle. Choosing to use her Mortal Ranked abilities over the ones she had obtained at Knighthood. Delila choosing in that moment to divert her attention away from Miyoung’s two additional summoned companions, feeling Nestor whisper something to her in the back of her mind.

  Her movements growing still as both the carnelian rose devil and wine-transformation dragon halted their actions, eyes widening and looking up towards the sky. Dozens of other summoned companions mimicking their actions and peering upwards towards the Sunless Twilight Obscurity.

  Expressions of horror appearing on all of their faces as the image of a five-hundred-metre wide hive came crashing through the dusk cloudlight rushing towards them with a reckless and merciless abandon.

  The Tribune Of Thunder And Civilization feeling her breath hitch as she screamed into the connection formed through her Fragment Of Bond and Fragment Of Command.

  “To Porta! Now!”