Supreme Magus novel Chapter 237

Lith was no Clacker, but his mana perception was high enough to allow him to perceive the earth magic traveling under his feet.

’Damn, I’d better be quick. I am sure that Clacker didn’t waste its last moments of life to improvise dance moves. It has called for reinforcements.’ Lith thought.

The mass grave had been enlarged so that the various carcasses could be separated based on their quality. In the leftmost corner of the pit, there was a giant cocoon made out of webs and covered in eggs.

Solus’s mana sense could see that the eggs yielded an orange core, while the hatchlings that were taking cover inside the cocoon had already reached a yellow core. Tufts of flaming red hair were scattered around the floor.

Lith gritted his teeth, realizing that his worst fears had come true. Protector’s body was lost.

’Damn Clackers! I can’t resurrect the dead, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let them go away with it.’ Lith jumped out of the pit, releasing a stream of fire on the cocoons until the incubator was turned into a funeral pyre.

The dying screeches of the hatchlings filled him with joy, so he kept pouring fire while watching the eggs boil from within until the pressure made them burst. Hatchling Clackers tried to stop him. Now that he was alone, Lith only needed a glance to unleash several wind blades and turn them into mincemeat.

The Hatchlings were all the size of a basketball, like those he had faced during the mock exam. They were too small and afraid of the fire to be a threat. The only reason why they were attacking him was that they didn’t dare to disobey the Brood Mother.

’Lith, on your right!’ Solus warned him. Lith turned just in time to see a huge stone disc crash land right beside the pit, from which descended a human like female figure with razor sharp claws aiming for his head.

The creature was incredibly fast since it could exploit the Clackers’ natural speed and boost it with air fusion magic.

"How dare you harm my babies?" She hissed with a voice full of hatred.

The Brood Mother current form resembled a woman of breath-taking beauty with long black hair that reached the ground. She wore a black evening dress similar to those Lith had seen the noble dames wear during social events.

Aside from the claws, many things revealed her inhuman nature. Four spider legs came out of her back and she had eight eyes instead of two. Two on the forehead, two on her cheeks and the last two beside her chin.

Thanks to Solus’s warning, Lith managed to dodge just in the nick of time. He had been checking the surroundings with Life Vision, but the rocket like disc had been an unpleasant surprise.

"My army!" She cried in outrage, watching all her careful plans to take over the forest turn into ashes.

Lith took a few steps back, watching four gargantuan Clackers approach from the site of the crash. Each one of them was three meters (9’10") tall, with legs as thick as young trees.

’Beware, those four all have a deep cyan core.’ Solus warned him.

’It seems this Brood Mother has really found a way to use corpses and living prey to hasten her offspring growth. If it keeps like this, all the members of her personal guard could evolve within a few months!’

Lith didn’t care much about the future, he was concerned enough about the present.

He had never expected to face an evolved monster capable of using all elements, let alone that it would have so many powerful bodyguards.

According to the dryad’s words, the Brood Mother was supposed to have only recently evolved. He had assumed she would have at her disposal a very limited amount of skills.

Otherwise, Lith would have never wasted so much time burning the eggs. Yet she was already able to shapeshift and nurture very powerful warriors.

It was a fight where he had nothing to gain and very much to lose.

’How strong is she, Solus?’

’More than you. Her core is light cyan and very close to become deep blue. There is a piece of good news, though. Now that I look better at them, despite their cores being already this powerful, they have only a limited amount of mana.

’I think their evolution was too fast, their bodies have yet to develop enough to employ so much power. They will probably break if you push them strong enough.’

The Brood Mother’s body shapeshifted. The dress disappeared under her skin. Her lower body turned into the abdomen of a giant spider with eight long longs. The front legs were different from the others, shining under the sunlight like they were made out of obsidian.

It was like someone had attached a human to the spider body, starting from the thighs. Her upper body still looked the same, but her skin had turned from pink to a chitinous grey and her hands had unnaturally long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws.

"You owe me, human!" Her rage subsided when she looked at Lith with Life Vision.

"Your body will do just fine! A living host is much better than maggots infested corpses. Surrender and I promise you won’t suffer. Much."

Despite her threats, the Brood Mother was reluctant to attack first. She could tell that the intruder was quite strong and she needed him alive to recover from the massive loss of the incubator chamber.

She had two of her Praetorians position behind her back and the other two on her sides.

"I’m sorry, but I already have a girlfriend." Lith sneered.

"You defiled my friend’s body and dare to ask for compensation? Here is my offer. Let me go and I will not kill you." His tone was stone cold. He wanted nothing more than kill her in the slowest, more gruesome way possible, but he was outnumbered and outmatched.

Also, charging blindy was something the old Lith would have done, taking unnecessary risks just to quench his rage.

’Wrath without a purpose is just acting without thinking of the consequences. I can leave the Scorpicore to deal with these vermin, there’s no need to dirty my hands.’ He tried to convince himself.

The Brood Mother reacted by spreading her fingers and releasing a stream of lightning toward Lith, who Blinked out of the harm’s way opening the exit point on her right side. Yet the Brood Mother was well aware of that.

She had never stopped using Life Vision, even though it consumed a lot of mana. She knew that if her opponent was capable of using dimensional magic, he could have appeared behind her back and kill her in one fell swoop.