Locust Plague

As Han Wu pondered, a line of large words appeared before his eyes.

[Contestant, please deploy your retinue. The match will officially begin in three minutes.]

At the same time, Han Wu saw his opponent for the first match.

The fellow was short and dark-skinned, hunched over with a crooked back, and occasionally let out sinister cackles.

"Kid, although I can't see through your information, I'd bet you're a newbie. Don't worry, Lord Rat takes especially good care of newcomers. The match will be over soon."

As he spoke, Rat Disciple summoned his retinue with a sinister grin.

Ratmen barely half a meter tall were summoned one after another, densely packed, numbering some three hundred million in total.

"Kid, I bet you've never seen this many retinue before. Scared now, huh? If you're afraid, just give up resisting. Once Lord Rat has killed all your retinue, I'll let you leave. Hehehe." A trace of cruelty showed on Rat Disciple's twisted face.

Han Wu merely smiled and summoned his Core Kin: locusts.

In an instant, a vast swarm of locusts flew out and blotted out the entire sky.

At this sight, not only Rat Disciple but even the sparse spectators in the stands were dumbfounded.

"What the hell? That many locusts? Can those things even fight?"

"Elite Lifeform locusts? Interesting."

"This is a contest of numbers. It's hard to say who'll win."

When Rat Disciple noticed that Han Wu had deployed locusts, his expression froze.

He had thought that in a contest of numbers, his Ratmen retinue could never lose. Yet he had not expected his opponent's retinue to be locusts in even greater numbers.

"Hehehe, your Core Kin are actually locusts? How pitiful. Don't worry, Lord Rat keeps his word. I guarantee this match will end soon." Rat Disciple became even more confident in this match.

They were just locusts. How strong could they be? They were living targets!

As the three-minute countdown ended.

The match began.

The Ratmen summoned by Rat Disciple all reached behind their backs and drew out small hand crossbows.

They pulled the triggers, firing arrows at the locust swarm in the sky.

A total of three hundred million arrows shot toward the locusts like a sudden downpour.

Han Wu made a snap decision and issued a Divine Decree: "Fallen Insects, defend."

From the immense locust swarm flew Fallen Insects, each larger in size and protected by thick carapaces. They formed a shield before the other insects and met the first wave of arrows.

Some arrows struck their shells, but even more were deflected away by the carapaces.

The locust army suffered negligible losses.

Seeing that the first rain of arrows had produced no obvious result.

Rat Disciple grew somewhat irritated and ordered the attack to continue.

The Ratmen retinue began skillfully working their hand crossbows and loading arrows.

Han Wu continued issuing Divine Decrees. "Curse Insects, ambush them!"

The Curse Insects flew through the air, melting into the shadows and silently slipping behind the Ratmen before unleashing curses.

Sluggishness Curse, Weakness Curse, Blindness Curse...

Nearly every Ratman was affected by curses at the same time, and they failed to load their arrows properly.

Han Wu issued another Divine Decree. "Heavenly Demon Insects, charge!"

Countless Heavenly Demon Insects flew over the Fallen Insects' defensive line, their wings buzzing as they raised their long horns and stabbed toward the Ratmen.

In an instant, massive numbers of Ratmen were pierced by the Heavenly Demon Insects.

And being pierced was not the end of it.

Most Heavenly Demon Insects had been affected by the level-one sacred item, the Poison Mist Orb, and carried poison in their bodies.

The toxins entered the blood and flowed into the Ratmen's internal organs.

Within five seconds, swathes of Ratmen died.

The entire process took less than twenty seconds, yet the casualties it caused were terrifying.

Every spectator could see that Han Wu's retinue survival rate remained at 99.99%.

Meanwhile, Rat Disciple's retinue survival rate plummeted in a straight line, dropping to 42.73%.

Who was strong and who was weak was obvious at a glance.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Rat Disciple could not believe what he was seeing.

How could his Ratmen army have been crushed so easily?

This was the Ratmen army he had cultivated with vast amounts of divine power!

The locusts knew no restraint. They continued slaughtering.

During the few seconds Rat Disciple hesitated, his retinue's survival rate had already fallen to 31.45%.

"I concede! I surrender!" Rat Disciple cried out in heartache.

In the past, he had always watched others grieve for their retinue. He had never imagined that today, the pitiful wretch would be himself.

As Rat Disciple announced his surrender, a protective barrier descended over the arena.

In the end, only 31% of the Ratmen were teleported back to Rat Disciple's Divine Realm.

The locusts were likewise all teleported back to the Divine Realm. Looking at the Ratmen corpses strewn across the ground, Han Wu could not help wanting to summon the Skeleton Knight and raise all the corpses present into Skeleton Soldiers.

But in the next moment, Han Wu dismissed the thought.

A gigantic magic formation emerged on the arena floor. Its patterns somewhat resembled Han Wu's Life Sacrifice ability, yet were far more potent.

The Ratmen corpses on the ground were absorbed by the formation and eventually condensed into a Divine Realm Core Fragment, which fell into Han Wu's hand.

That was Han Wu's reward for winning this match.

After being teleported out of the arena, Han Wu was too shocked to put his feelings into words.

It was his first time seeing an ability similar to Life Sacrifice.

While he was still marveling, Tian Wen walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and praised him. "Student Han Wu, well done. You won your first match with ease and made me quite a lot of divine power."

"Your retinue didn't suffer many losses. Are you interested in entering the second round? If you can keep winning, the Divine Realm Core Fragments you obtain will be ten percent more than this time."

The moment he heard that, Han Wu immediately agreed. "Then let's continue. My retinue is in need of experience."

After submitting his application, Han Wu registered for his second match.

Ten minutes later, the match began.

Twenty minutes later, the third match began.

On the thirty-second day, Han Wu paid the price of self-destructing one hundred million Heavenly Demon Insects and narrowly claimed victory in his 184th match.

The entire venue erupted, countless spectators shouting the words "Locust Plague."

That was the nickname the spectators had given Han Wu based on his retinue.

And this victory was Han Wu's eighty-ninth consecutive win.

The Divine Realm Core Fragment he received was a full 8.9 times larger than usual.

The higher the level of a Divine Realm Core, the more Core Fragments it required for each upgrade.

To advance from level five to level six, Han Wu had used sixty-nine Divine Realm Core Fragments of various sizes.

After absorbing the Divine Realm Core Fragment he had just received, his Divine Realm Core barely rose to level seven.

As for advancing to level eight, the required number of Core Fragments would exceed the total used to upgrade through levels six and seven combined.

"Getting stronger is becoming harder and harder." Han Wu could not help sighing.

"My lucky star, what are you sighing about now?" Tian Wen walked over with a cheerful smile.

Across all 184 matches, Tian Wen had wagered large amounts of divine power on Han Wu.

Han Wu had lived up to expectations. Out of 184 matches, he had lost only three.

Tian Wen had thus won an immense amount of divine power, and even the way he looked at Han Wu had changed.

It was as though he were looking at a glittering, gold-shining child who delivered wealth.

"I was sighing over how slowly my Divine Realm Core is leveling up," Han Wu replied.

Tian Wen smiled at that. "Actually, with the strength of your retinue now, you could try challenging a demigod."

Han Wu paused slightly and asked, "Would challenging a demigod as a Divine Being increase the rewards?"

"You'll receive ten times what you would normally gain from winning a match," Tian Wen said without exaggeration.

"For example, if you challenge a demigod in your next match and win, you'll receive the benefits of ninety consecutive victories multiplied by ten—that is, ninety times the amount of ordinary Divine Realm Core Fragments."

After Tian Wen explained it like that, Han Wu was immediately tempted.

He looked inward at his Divine Realm, where nearly four billion locust retinue still remained.

Han Wu felt that he needed to try challenging himself.

What if he won?