It was Leike.
This scale had long exceeded the limits of what Leike could achieve. Back in the Outer City, the swarm he released could at most cover a few blocks. Compared to the sight before them, that earlier swarm did not even amount to a fraction.
Meanwhile, in the Outer City, amid the swarm and above the ruins, Klaus and the others stood together, looking up at the pitch-black shadow that blotted out the sky.
The countless Swarm Insects were continuously pouring forth from the figure suspended high in the air, spreading like an endless tide toward the massive wall of Flesh in the east.
Green stood to one side, his wrinkled face filled with astonishment. A flicker of shock also passed through the eyes of Blue Knight, attendant, and the others. No one spoke.
Leike stood at the very center of that Sea of Worms.
More precisely, he no longer had anything that could be called a "figure."
At this moment, Leike could no longer be considered human.
His body had long since fused with the Swarm Insects filling the skies. The boundaries of his skin, the outline of a human being, had completely vanished.
His Flesh had merged into one with the Swarm Insects; there was no longer any clear dividing line between man and insect. Countless Swarm Insects held him aloft and clustered around him, barely piling themselves into a vague humanoid outline around his body. Yet that outline changed every moment, as though something within it were constantly churning and reshaping itself.
Fifth Order Swarm Insect Leike—perhaps he could no longer be called a Swarm Insect. He should be called the Mother of Swarm.
At this moment, Leike was no longer that silent figure hidden beneath Klaus, the man who could not string together more