The true image of Slymod took shape in Lu Yao’s head.
A mastermind who was happy to do dirty work, good at taking the blame and being the villain, and able to properly handle the interests of the gods.
A counsellor who was extremely capable of preserving his life and observing many situations at all times.
It succeeded Silkworm Bush and became the Eighth Apostle.
The [Incarnate Billions] ability allows Slymod to keep an eye on many places at all times, acting as a master of vision who inserts eyes everywhere.
There was also a limitation to the ability – it’s main body had to be in that world in order to receive synchronised feedback from the Lattice Limb of this world. This was not a problem for Lu Yao.
Slymod recounted the cause and effect of his being gnawed by the spellworm.
Originally, it was in the eighth level, which was far larger than the previous levels.
There were quite a few powerful Gods present there, and they spent most of their time consolidating their respective territories, occasionally hunting for the Curse Worms that came in through the cracks. Slymod was barely able to live by relying on his past skills.
But I don’t know what happened, but the sudden influx of a large number of spellworms plunged the eighth level into all-out war.
Spatial cracks were dense in this layer, as if this space could completely collapse at any time, and the spell bugs suddenly contracted and became orderly in their actions after the frantic invasion.
The gods felt bad.
Just then, the localised area did collapse, and a never-before-seen spell bug drilled out from the gap between nothingness and chaos.
It was called [Boxworm], level LV117.
Arriving here, the Box Worm simply raised its tentacles and greeted the Gods, “So this is how the eighth floor looks like.”
The Box Worm’s appearance caused the Gods to choke a little.
Only in the Flying Leap Zone could one break through LV99, and the Boxworm’s strength was equal to the divine body of a Title Deity, and it clearly possessed normal and clear intelligence.
The boxworm quickly left after a fight, and the power of rules quickly repaired a large number of cracks, but this had already caused all the residents of the eighth floor to feel great pressure.
Slymod decided to move.
There were seals obstructing the abyssal layers from layer to layer, but the spellworms had drilled a path so that they could come in from the tenth layer. Slymod’s [Incarnate Billions] ability could keep splitting off a lattice limb and enter a crevice to try.
After constantly searching for trial and error, Slymod finally found a relatively stable path that would lead it straight to the third layer, which was far away from the dangerous bottom area where the spellworms were located.
It arrived at the third level to find that the prisoners here had somehow disappeared without a trace, leaving only an empty space.
Slymod realised something was wrong.
With the third level sealed intact and yet no gods or monsters imprisoned, it was only possible that the spellbugs had been here.
Then Slemurd was blocked by the host worms, and with the strength and weakness of the host worms it was dismembered and turned into a host and long term ration for the host worms.
The limbs were constantly being eaten away, but the prolonged parsing also allowed Slymod to learn the hidden secrets of the spellworms.
The host worms had first entered the second layer and captured the Lord of the Sea of Divine Stars on that layer. Gorged on by the parasite, the Lord of the Star Sea chose to blow itself up, leaving the parasite worm without a food source.
It then swallowed the sealed Flame of Faith and burrowed into the third layer, attacking the prisoners here. The monsters on this tier were called stranglers, a type of powerful sub-dragon, but they all turned into a meal in the parasite’s belly.
Then it waited for Slemod, who had taken refuge, and was a keeper.
With the passage of time, Slemod’s consciousness became more and more diluted, and eventually its core vein capsule was also controlled by the parasite, resulting in it turning into a muddled regenerating lump of meat.
In this regard, Lu Yao figured out the specifics of the second and third levels.
It looked like the bug infestation in the Abyss was getting worse.
However, after being anchored, with the Clockwork Monkey patching things up in the background, the situation of the Spell Worms hollowing out the Abyss should be alleviated somewhat.
Lu Yao cast his gaze towards the fourth level, however it was pitch black.
He checked the backstage rules, and there was a relevant description under [Seal].
Before unsealing the seal, it could not be observed or touched.
Lu Yao did not choose to open the seal.
He had already gained a lot today, and the further down the abyss went, the more complicated the situation became, and it was not a matter of a moment to straighten it out. Instead, it would add to the troubles.
Next time I have time, I will come back to clean up the spell bugs.
Before Lu Yao left, he destroyed the gaps in this layer to avoid any more spellworms from the bottom layer from climbing up.
Then he opened up a passageway and brought the Apostle Squad out of the abyss.
……
In the water of the second layer of the abyss, the Lord of the Star Ocean slowly revealed his muddy and blurred body.
He was severely damaged and was still in the process of repairing it.
Previously, in order to be able to get rid of the parasitic worms, He had to destroy His divine body outright and use His [Mud Heart] ability to remake it.
The underwater of the second layer was littered with the corpses of earth elemental creatures, which were the key to the Lord of the Star Ocean being able to recover.
Being submerged in the water caused His body to tingle and fester, but compared to the hatred and unwillingness, this pain was nothing at all.
Being captured and imprisoned by the God of Darkness, that was the privilege of a powerful Lord God.
But being hosted by a parasitic worm was due to a sneak attack.
If one had been prepared, it was absolutely impossible for that spellworm to win!
The parasitic worm even stole the [Wishing Star] that he had worked so hard to build, and it was unable to use …… the damn worm, it was disgusting to the extreme.
The Lord of the Star Ocean silently endured.
As long as the [Earth Elemental Assimilation] continued, the host bug’s body would become more and more sluggish, pausing from its movement and finally turning into a static stone statue.
After all, a bugbear was a bugbear, and no matter how strong its abilities were, it was nothing more than a monster dominated by instinct.
What was needed to deal with curse bugs was patience and constant observation to find the cracks.
The most dangerous thing about facing a curse bug was the encounter.
The Lord of the Star Ocean had paid a heavy price for this, almost falling on the spot.
Now that He had returned from the hell of death and pain, He Himself would be the ultimate winner!
The Lord of the Star Ocean once again entered the third level, only to find that it had become empty.
The vast, monotonous, gigantic cavern was devoid of those bubbles of primordial life, and there was no sign of the parasitic worms.
There was a deception!
The Lord of the Star Ocean immediately fled back to his second underwater hibernation.
His mind frantically analysed.
Those non-stop splitting lattice limbs, with the feeding speed of the host worms, it was impossible to eat them all so quickly. Although most of the spell bugs were not intelligent, they could vaguely know that they could obtain a constant supply of long-term food by simply slowing down their feeding speed.
There was only one reason why the third level was empty.
Some other spellbugs had emerged from the rift and so had digested the grubby limbs of this layer in a short time.
Whether they had entered other layers or were lurking somewhere, the Lord of the Star Ocean knew that his plans for hunting host bugs would have to change.
The Curse Worm called for help.
He was in a sombre mood.
But the Lord of the Star Ocean was not discouraged.
Now that He had lost everything, without the Wishing Star, without the powerful godly body of yesteryear, all of His beliefs revolved around vengeance – killing the Host Worm that had brought humiliation to Himself at all costs!
I can afford to wait.
The Lord of the Star Ocean slowly gathered the earth element under the water.
Before acting again, He needed to be strong enough.
Undead of the second level, give me all your remaining bodies and power.
I promise to hunt down every curse bug in sight.
I will work day and night just to avenge and restore the glory and pride of the Earth Elemental line ……
……
On the first level of the Abyss, a gentle voice rang out from a pair of brass armour.
“So, you guys think that the gods abandoned you?”
Several of the Clay Ones nodded.
“Not in my opinion.”
The man in the helmet let out a laugh, “This is a trial and opportunity given to you by the gods, and in this abyss littered with dangers, the only way to survive is to believe in Yao God.”
“That is the meaning of my presence here, I will help you move forward in the midst of sin and chaos. The way to hunt monsters is actually quite simple, all you need to do is turn yourself into a monster.”
“Firstly, let’s go get that group of ghouls, they will be our first force.”
Sea Fold lowered his voice, “All we have to do is to provoke them to fight within. For example ……”
Shortly after, because the graves had been maliciously vandalised, the ghouls of the first level erupted into a large-scale conflict with each other.
The Clay Clan appeared and took the initiative to repair their graves for them, and built new comfortable, spacious and beautiful high-level burial mounds.
Soon, many of the nearby ghouls became staunch defenders of the Clay Ones.
……
Under the leadership of the Sinister Sea Fold, the Clay Ones began to dig deep into the first layer of the abyss, unearthing numerous skeletal debris and rotting corpses underground. They used the clay to fuse with the ghouls, giving birth to a whole new race with both dexterity and strength.
