"Halt! You are not allowed to venture past this point by order of Lord Beelzebub!" Rancido announced with a solemn expression.
Clearly, even though they had recovered and become stronger, they still didn't fancy their chances against Darius' trio without the True Lord by their side.
If they could outright defeat them, they wouldn't resort to such ploys like trying to scare Darius away long enough for Beelzebub to recover.
Darius paid attention to their body language and narrowed his eyes. He then folded his arms behind his back and stepped forward.
"So, you killed and ate them, didn't you? That is how you regained your strength this quickly, isn't it?"
Immediately, the three bugs flinched with horror, moving back a step or two in response to Darius' accusation. Verbally none of them had answered his question, but it was no longer necessary as Darius had confirmed the truth using this simple trick.
It might not have worked on the smarter bugs, but the group had sent their three biggest lunkheads over because they had needed muscle to hold Darius off, not smarts.
Indirectly, this allowed Darius to ascertain the likely cause for their powerup, though he wasn't 100% banking his conclusion on their collective reaction as it could relate to many different things.
However, Darius was taking it as their confession of having been in some sort of partnership or relationship with undersea mermaids, which they only recently decided to take advantage of as a resource due to the plight the Itemancer had put them in.
Darius directly shook his head and stepped back. He then turned to Gunner and spoke lazily. "Any changes to the situation can be deadly, so we cannot allow any interruptions at the last moment. Go all out to finish these three quickly."
Gunner grinned like a child who had been told they would get to visit Disneyland. The half-giant spread his arms out and roared as his muscles bulged, a green aura exploding from his body that coated his form softly.
With Earth's Guardian activated, Gunner had enough Strength and Endurance to even beat Hercules into the ground, much less these Grandmaster bugs.
When they felt the power radiating off the large lad, the faces of the bug trio understandably changed as they backed away. Knowing that things had fallen apart in the worst possible way, they intended to retreat and regroup with the others to make a concerted effort.
Xela smiled and drew a circle with her fingers. Immediately, her Isolation Ward spell was activated as it enclosed the three bugs with Gunner.
They were trapped in a dome cage, and the two outside could watch the events unfold within like an audience at a wrestling match.
However, what followed was far more brutal than mere wrestling.
Heracron, as the first one to grasp their situation, roared as he charged at Gunner, grabbing the fellow's fists as he intended to wrestle him down long enough for his allies to help.
The giant blue beetle strained every bit of his power to keep Gunner down, but the large lad wasn't even applying strength yet.
As such, when he suddenly lifted Heracron and tossed him into the ward at full strength, the fellow shot out faster than a normal eye could follow and crashed into the ward, cracking it greatly just from the sheer force.
His blood splattered as it coated that section of the ward, and his wings that were kept under his shell were destroyed along with his back that was cracked extensively.
[Heracron - Level 94 War Bug
HP: 6,899/55,076 MP: 6,987/6,987 STA: 21,500/21,500]
Heracron could barely get up, his blood leaking greatly. He could only slump to the side and watch the rest of the brutality unfold with front-row seats.
Rancido spat out a wad of toxic acid towards Gunner that also had sticky properties, hoping to bind him rather than harm him. Gunner frowned and avoided it with ease, then calmly glanced to his right to see Gluttworm sending his tail end over.
Gunner simply stretched a hand out and stopped the attack with ease, the residual force from the sweep manifesting behind him as a small shockwave that blew his hair up and down.
Before Gluttworm could retract his body, Gunner gripped it tightly with a ferocious grin. He then lifted the entire giant worm up with ease, much to the shock of the worm and the slug, Rancido.
When Gunner turned to face the slug, it paled greatly as it understood that it was now standing at the crossroads of death. The half-giant, with his arm upraised, held Gluttworm like some form of club and then used it as the weapon, bringing him down on Rancido's position.
Rancido screamed with terror as he was overshadowed by the downcoming worm, and sprayed out every bit of toxic sludge he had to try and coat himself. However, it was a futile endeavor, as the width of Gluttworm alone was more than three times his size.
There was the sound of a great thump, as the worm's body met the ground, and the entire cavern shook heavily. Gunner raised up Gluttworm body as the worm slumped over weakly, also suffering from the force and the burning acids from Rancido's desperate retaliation.
[Gluttworm - Level 99 Devourer Bug
HP: 34,450/87,540 MP: 3,656/3,656 STA: 45,977/45,977]
Gluttworm tried to thrash about in pain, but could only mindlessly groan as it was semi-conscious. However, its situation was nowhere near as bad as Rancido who now looked like a deflated balloon.
[Rancido - Level 98 Toxic Bug
HP: 1,224/62,920 MP: 4,565/4,565 STA: 23,965/23,965]
The fat slug was now almost crushed to a pancake on the ground, a slight gully forming where Gluttworm's body smashed the ground. Rancido was barely moved, but it was clear that the fellow still had some life left and could be saved if given some treatment.
In order to make sure that never happened, Gunner, still flourishing Gluttworm casually, brought the worm down once more.
This crash once again shook the entire cavern, and this time, when Gluttworm was brought up, Rancido's body was actually blasted open, all his toxins splayed within the gully, the other half on the side of Gluttworm's body then crashed down on Rancido.
Gunner did not stop there, but brought Gluttworm down on Rancido's corpse many times until its head section was a total mess.
It eventually also burst open, releasing all of Gluttworm's brain matter and mucus into the gully, pouring and mixing with that of Rancido.
At least, one could say that their core fluids had merged together in death, some sort of morbid brotherhood.
When he was done, Gunner gazed at the broken corpse of the giant worm and grimaced before tossing it away. He then turned to face Heracron, who had been watching all this with a numb expression.
The giant beetle was lost in a sea of thoughts, wondering why this had to happen to them, disbelieving that his two brothers that he laughed and fought with were now just a bunch of fluids on the ground, and mocking himself for once thinking that these three would be an easy lunch for them.
When Gunner eventually reached him and towered over him, Heracron slowly raised his head and gazed into the eyes of death. As he had accepted his own demise, he asked one question that seemed to stem out of almost childish curiosity.
"Are we Insects truly evil?"
Gunner, who was stretching a hand out to grab Heracron, paused and pondered the question of the giant beetle. He then shook his head and gave his own honest answer as a sort of farewell token to a former enemy.
"No, Insects are not evil. I don't believe that any race is inherently evil. What makes you evil in the eyes of others is your seemingly endless desire to consume resources, even though every living thing consumes resources to live and grow." Gunner answered straightforwardly, gazing into the eyes of the beetle.
He then grabbed the head of Heracron and lifted him up. "Your race's only 'evil' was that you consume far too many resources, far too fast."
Heracron, in the tight grip of Gunner, was not bothered by this, but rather displayed an enlightened expression as if he finally understood something.
"Consumption of resources… consumption of resources…!! I see! I see!!" He muttered incoherently.
Gunner paid him no heed as he clenched his fist the next second, completely crushing the head of Heracron. He then tossed the limp body where Rancido and Gluttworm died, allowing the three to be close in death.
He then turned off his Earth's Guardian and cleaned his hands with a handkerchief lazily. Darius walked over and gazed at the three, opening his mouth to use Elemental Breath on them, but focusing its output to fire.
The Dragon's Fire swept over the course and set them ablaze, soon turning them into ash that was swept away with the low wind in the cavern.
3 Grandmaster bugs down, 9 more to go.
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