Chapter 250: Earth

The soil steadily fell, beginning from faint sprinkles to an eventual landslide. A Frenzy Beast head peeked through a hole, only wide enough for its head. It looked at the dust it pushed out, watching a stream of water wash it all away.

It had eight eyes, uniform, parallel to one another, forming two rows, with four in each. The eyes were tiny as compared to its face, only around 30 centimetres in radius. Another pair of eyes existed at the top, smaller than the others, and positioned closer to each other.

Hair-like projections grew all over its body, gently swaying about even without any wind. Its mandibles looked blunt, lacking any semblance of threat. The rest of its body was plain, barring any segments of evolutionary advantage, looking weak.

It was a plain face, around eight metres in size. If not for its large size, it would have been difficult to differentiate it from its common Tier 1 brethren. It was a shade of purple, possessing a tone akin to a stone, dull, eroded for years under the weather.

Seeing its appearance, the flower Rhachis Ancestor Spindle lay on mildly trembled, its petals curling up a little. Rhachis Ancestor Spindle expressed its frown but continued to lay with unabated laziness. It messed around with its growing nails, trimming them with patience using the nails in another hand.

Psychic Ancestor Coral retreated a little into its tunnel, apprehensive, ready to retaliate upon a moment's notice. It diverted most of its attention to the newcomer, only focusing the bare minimum upon Rhachis Ancestor Spindle.

The target of their reactions was unperturbed, looking no different from a Tier 1 Frenzy Beast. It was as if it would die with a single hit, lacking any robust foundation to lean upon. Its eight eyes swerved to the top, the pupil within its innumerous lenses dilating once upon sighting the figure seated on the flower.

It opened its mouth, speaking with a human voice, the language being Modern Rodawri, "Your final form would be interesting."

Tier 6 Frenzy Beast—Rhachis Ancestor Warlord!

A legend even among the Ancestors, the sole existence apart from Rhachis Ancestor Parasite that had survived to this day after slapping the faces of humanity numerous times. Its combat power stood at the peak of the world, able to contend with top human experts, the sole Frenzy Beast Ancestor that had managed to do so to date.

A wide chasm existed in the power difference between humans and Frenzy Beasts, with it becoming wider and wider at higher Tiers. Humans were even capable of killing Frenzy Beasts a Tier above their own, the sole race able to achieve this feat in large numbers.

Such an expert popped in other Frenzy Beast races at most once a decade, displaying the ferocity of humanity. If not for Rhachis Ancestor Parasite dealing vicious blows to their foundation regularly, humanity would have ruled the world long ago.

As such, being able to contend against a similar levelled human one-on-one, its power was unquestionable. It was the strongest among the Floating Spiders. Rhachis Ancestor Warlord looked around, its voice gentle, almost inaudible, "I represent the Floating Spiders. Now that the representatives of the River Whales and the Spindle Bees are here, that leaves the Lava Turtles."

"I've been here since the start. This place is positioned just atop my shell." Followed by a booming voice that caused mud to fall from the ceiling, lava churned from within the tunnel on the right. It turned into a serpent and slithered its way, eventually peeking out the tunnel.

It morphed into a tiny turtle, its appearance looking no different from an Observer Lava Turtle. It stood, taking a spot in the cavern, blocking the tunnel it came out from. On seeing its appearance, Rhachis Ancestor Warlord emitted chuckling sounds, "There is no use in being this cautious. We are not enemies, at least, until humanity is wiped out."

"This place is too tiny for me, I hope you can understand." The Lava Turtle replied, slowly turning its head to look at Rhachis Ancestor Warlord. "Besides, I have shown my sincerity. I created the Crust-Mantle race to fulfil our objective. Also, we Lava Turtles don't feel the threat of humans like you three. Your homes are fixed, but we can make our homes anywhere we wish."

Rhachis Ancestor Spindle snapped its fingers, causing the flower to tilt a little. Its feminine voice resounded, "Enough probing around, Earth. Don't forget the existence of the Shell Family in Marble City."

The Lava Turtle turned its head, its motions a blur, a stark contrast to its earlier slow actions. It stared at the flower, causing it to wilt immediately, the moisture within vaporising instantaneously, the built-up gaseous pressure exploding the vines.

A second later, the vines regrew; another flower emerged and formed a bed Rhachis Ancestor Spindle rested upon. Followed by parlous laughter, it lifted one of its arms, gentle in its actions. Before anything could happen, Rhachis Ancestor Warlord interrupted, "Before the humans sense our absence, let us finish our plans. I noticed Strongest had been roaming the Wilds recently. It is better to avoid any battle with him for the time being."

"Speaking of strongest," Psychic Ancestor Coral spoke, staring at the flower with its three pair of eyes, "You are the only one who had faced him till now. How strong is he?"

Hearing the name, Rhachis Ancestor Spindle shook its head, "He was not my match but, I couldn't scratch him either. For some reason, my Skills shook with fear in his presence. I haven't witnessed it ever before in my life."

"Strongest is the son of that mysterious lady," Rhachis Ancestor Warlord replied, expressing no emotional disturbance, "He is the product of a century's worth of Marble City's resources. His abilities are unknown. We have to factor in a large room for failure in our plans."

It then looked at Psychic Ancestor Coral, "Show us what you have planned."

Psychic Ancestor Coral peeked out a bit more, unleashing a psychic arm. Within a moment, a large coral structure appeared in their midst, with terrain, layers of ground, air, clouds, etc. all encased in a sphere of water, 100 metres in radius.

Half was land while the rest was air. The land hand many layers, with the bottom-most looking similar to lava, the only difference being it an imitation. The coral forming the lava were normal corals with that specific colour. Still, it helped with the visualisation for everyone else.

On the land, spanning a radius of 11 metres was a transparent dome, having concentric cylindrical walls spanning 10 centimetres high, coloured magenta. The concentric rings numbered 11 in total, with the 11th ring being incomplete, with smaller enclosed segments.

Within it were needle-like objects, standing tall, and proud. The needle-like structures in the outer three rings were a shade of grey, mixed with white. As for the rest, they steadily changed from white to magenta the deeper one went towards the centre. In the three innermost rings, it was completely magenta.

Underneath it were four more similar layers, with the bottom-most layer being completely blue. The two layers above it were green while the layer below the top was a murky grey. Psychic Ancestor Coral spoke, "This is the map of Marble City. I can't guarantee its accuracy, as most of the details of the inner 7 Rings are at least a century outdated. I could only probe bit by bit over the years and compile this. Even then, I can't guarantee anything. Marble could have changed everything, or everything I witnessed was something he had wanted me to see."

Rhachis Ancestor Warlord nodded, spewing out a ball of silk through its mouth. The silk ball was only a metre in radius at first, quickly expanding like a balloon as it detailed Marble City and its surrounding terrain. There were many discrepancies in what it displayed and what Psychic Ancestor Coral showed.

It nodded with a laugh, "Of course, it can't be that simple."

Seeing their actions, Rhachis Ancestor Spindle waved its hand, watching a vine grow bigger, eventually creating a 3-Dimensional map of Marble City. Obviously, it differed from the other two in many aspects.

Finally, the Lava Turtle vomited a copious amount of lava, solidifying it into stone a moment later, creating another map of Marble City. It stared at the four maps, thinking of many possibilities, ruling out one after another, correcting the mistakes it detected.

The four ancestors conversed, exchanging information they had accumulated to date about Marble City, trying to remove as many errors in their maps as possible. Finally, the Lava Turtle splashed out into lava, forming a tiny pool in the place it stood.

A formless pressure appeared in the cavern, avoiding all the prostrating Crust-Mantles, concentrating on the four maps. Soon, the four maps began to change, combining with one another, fusing at certain parts while breaking down at others. Changes continuously occurred, making the other three Ancestors look at it with a hint of praise.

Finally, Rhachis Ancestor Warlord couldn't control itself, expressing its praise, "Your Unranked Skill is impressive. Even though it has little battle capacity, it excels in other aspects, especially in the areas of creation, deduction, and modification."

"It's nothing much," The same Lava Turtle as before reappeared, nodding at Rhachis Ancestor Warlord once. "I think we can conclude this to be a fairly accurate map of Marble City and its terrain."

Before them lay a realistic model of Marble City; it showcased the buildings in the upper two layers, various plants in the two layers below, and the coursing water in the lower-most layer. Placed at principal locations were functional institutions that were of vital importance. The structure of each place, the land it anchored upon, the tectonic plate it existed upon, and the magma flow beneath, everything was factored into and displayed.

"Let us begin the scheme to destroy Marble City in the fateful war, four decades from now." The Lava Turtle turned silent, taking a glance at the Crust Mantles for the first time since its appearance.

Tier 6 Frenzy Beast—Rhachis Ancestor Earth!