Chapter 268 To Conquer The Queen of the Dark Heaven Insects

The strength of the Dark Heaven Insect at the third grade of the three-star level was similar to a spirit manipulator at the Heavenly Stage, transcending a spirit manipulator at the primary level of the Heavenly Stage even. Also, a spirit manipulator master at the advanced level of the Heavenly Stage would not readily take on a Dark Heaven Insect of that ranking, more so, defeat it. Thus, even with his strength at present and assured help from Uriah and Rubygon, Rocky was not entirely confident that he could conquer and capture the Dark Heaven Insect he was now facing.

Fortunately, Rocky was quite experienced in the art of capturing Dark Heaven Insects. That aside, he knew its weaknesses and how to immobilize it. Thus, notwithstanding the apparent challenges involved in capturing it, he had some serious advantages that improved the odds of getting it alive.

For fear that any further delay would only cause him more trouble, Rocky promptly teamed up with Uriah and Rubygon to launch a potent offense against the Dark Heaven Insect. While his war beasts dashed at the insect, he bided his time, brandishing an arrow, waiting patiently like a predator stalking its prey. He knew the insect would sooner expose its Achilles' heel under the joint attacks, leaving it vulnerable to the swift strike of his arrow. That would be the perfect time to deal a fatal blow. It was the best plan he could come up with at the time. And it was slightly failsafe.

Uriah's power had improved as quickly as Rocky had grown in strength. In a general sense, the spirit-manipulated beast of a spirit manipulator grew in power as its master became stronger. If the strength of the spirit manipulator continued to grow, then all aspects of the spirit-manipulated beast would improve as well. Rocky was well on his way to make the eighth grade of the Earthly Stage, which was the primary condition for his spirit-manipulated beast to reach the third grade of the three-star level. Hence, the quicker Rocky's strength grew to the eighth grade of the Earthly Stage, the faster Uriah would become a beast of the third grade of the three-star level.

Consequently, with its improvement in strength, Rocky observed Uriah had a noticeable change in its fighting ability. The last time, Uriah was unable to defeat a Dark Heaven Insect at the second grade of the three-star level. This time, however, Uriah was much fiercer, more energetic, and full of superiority and momentum in facing an even stronger insect. Uriah had made for the insect without hesitation, initiating a vicious attack.

While the insect appeared stunned to see such strong opponents, its attacking actions were notably cautious. Relying on its characteristic hard, durable exoskeleton, the insect defended all the attacks with no small effort. Although, from time to time, it would use its massive size to its advantage by colliding with and counterattacking its attackers. As the fight ensued, the insect moved, razing the woods around the areas it passed in an instant-an apparent depiction of its strengt

ever, his senses tingled, warning of something approaching. While his disposition remained mostly unchanged, Rocky moved cautiously to avoid whatever was headed towards him. He heard a whip through the air, turning around to see a tail, long and thick and full of spikes, like a scorpion's tail.

"When did Dark Heaven Insects begin growing tails?" Rocky could not believe his eyes. He was still contemplating the spectacle he had witnessed when the storm began to clear, revealing the insect with the magnificent tail attached to it somehow.

Rocky did a quick mental search of any information regarding Dark Heaven Insects in the Beast Encyclopedia in his mind. It wasn't hard before he found a match. The record contained a single sentence; it could be easily missed if a reader didn't watch it carefully. Should the spirit manipulators of the Wild Spirit Land he was in now read the record, Rocky believed, they would not hesitate to battle him for the insect.

The sentence read, "A Dark Heaven Insect with a scorpion's tail full of sharp spikes is the queen, and only the queen can hatch the larvae." Rocky could not believe his luck. He had found the Dark Heaven Insect Queen, which was so rare that it was regarded as the myth of the Beast Encyclopedia. Moreover, only the queen was capable of producing the eggs and hatching the larvae of the Dark Heaven Insect. In other words, the queen was key to the multiplication and continuation of the Dark Heaven Insect species.

Everything was beginning to make sense to Rocky now: why it was surrounded by many spirit-manipulated beasts earlier. Like the queen of any colony, it was being protected and looked after. He understood immediately what that implied. The spirit-manipulated beasts were the insect's to control. Rocky turned to face the Dark Heaven Insect Queen whimpering in the sand. Unexpectedly, a series of strange events had led him to encounter such an extremely rare beast. The odds of the encounter were one in a million. Thus, Rocky was thrilled by his good luck.