[ Zhong Lele ] excitedly hid in a corner to raise the camera angle, while [ Clear Soup Master ] remained immersed in his performance. Upon seeing the Marquis break free of his seal, he opened his arms and cheered loudly:
"Welcome back, Your Excellency, the Oliver..."
Oliver, now a complete monster, swept a hand across the dozen or so Blood Corpse in front of him, then carelessly tossed them into his gaping maw.
Unfortunately, [ Clear Soup Master ] became one of them.
It wasn't that Oliver was planning to settle scores after finally escaping the seal; it was simply that his current state was so chaotic that it triggered one of the underlying logics of the Blood Corpse —self-devouring.
Every Blood Corpse Engine Engineer in the Graycast Corridor knows that even eating grass and drinking water cannot keep Blood Corpse from starving indefinitely.
When extremely hungry, a phenomenon called autophagy will occur in the Blood Corpse horde. The mindless monsters will begin to tear and devour their own kind to fill their bellies, and those that survive become even more ferocious and powerful.
Although such Blood Corpse quickly collapse due to bodily Imbalance, they are always able to cause more destruction than normal Blood Corpse before they die.
If it ingests enough human flesh and blood during the destruction, it might even maintain this irrational, berserk state indefinitely...
Although Oliver was a Middle Tier marquis, he had endured decades of Starve while sealed away. His first meal after awakening was a variety of unappetizing dishes. Just as he was about to erupt in anger, Ed detonated the "toxins" accumulated within his body.
Under the combined influence of various factors, Oliver, the once incomparably noble Adelaide Lineage, was completely transformed into a Aberration monster devoid of any reason.
When reason is completely lost, instinct will be the one controlling the Blood Corpse's body.
Besides self-devouring, another instinct of Blood Corpse is to attack any other living race in the vicinity.
In Oliver's eyes, the Soldier Bee that had already invaded the cave were not enemies at all; they were merely pieces of moving, retaliatory food.
And so, under everyone's watchful eyes, Oliver carved a bloody path through the cave, dragging his massive, bloated body to the cave entrance, and launched an attack on the Soldier Bee without hesitation.
With a swift wave of his arms, several Soldier Bee were grabbed and shoved into the Marquis's enormous, Aberration head.
Several Soldier Bee that witnessed this scene quickly flapped their wings and took to the air, emitting sounds incomprehensible to humans to warn the other Soldier Bee to be aware of the enemy on this side.
However, before their signal had traveled far, several sharp thorns made of Aberration plants shot out from the Marquis's back.
Having completely abandoned reason, Oliver was even able to manipulate the Aberration plants growing on his body through instinct.
The spikes Alienation from the Blood-Drinking Thornbush rammed head-on into the chitinous shells of the Soldier Bee. Most of them were ejected directly, but a few successfully pierced the weak points at the joints of the shells.
The life force of the Soldier Bee that were unfortunately parasitized by the Blood-Drinking Thornbush was quickly drained. In just a few breaths, their smooth and plump chitinous shells became dull, and the bottom was completely hollowed out.
The Soldier Bee that were hit by the attack fell from the sky, while the other Soldier Bee that witnessed this scene quickly sent signals to their companions.
Soon after receiving the signal, the Soldier Bee abandoned the Blood Corpse they were fighting and flew out of the cave. They once again formed a pure black cloud in the low sky, their murderous gazes locked onto the huge monster that crawled out of the cave.
Inside the cave, the players, having lost [ Clear Soup Master ], were momentarily leaderless.
After a long silence, someone suddenly asked:
"So what should we do now? The insectoids don't need our help, and helping the Blood Corpse seems a bit strange."
While everyone was lost in thought, [ Zhong Lele ], who had been recording the whole time, suddenly said:
"Then I'll be a cheerleader."
[ Bread Knight ] asked in bewilderment:
"So, who should we cheer for?"
[ Zhong Lele ] shrugs:
"Random."
Upon hearing this, [ Butter Archer ] suddenly shouted loudly:
"The betting has begun! The Chaos Marquis battles the elite Insectoids! The maximum bet is one silver coin! Winners split the winnings!"
The eyes of the many confused players were instantly ignited with the fire of fun. Before [ Butter Archer ] had even finished speaking, they had already pulled out change from their pockets.
Soon someone asked:
"Should I give it to you directly or something?"
[ Lettuce Priest ] waved his hand and shouted:
"Everyone, take a look at the forum. I've started a poll. The minimum fee to start the poll is one silver coin, and the winners will be announced directly on the forum!"
As soon as the words were spoken, the players inside the cave erupted in cheers:
"666, bro."
"I've already become Blood Corpse, nothing more, just for this sense of belonging."
"I think you guys completely misunderstand the Zerg."
"Go for it, big brother Aberration into a monster!"
"Big brother my foot, this is just an old man."
"Come on, grandpa who 'Aberration into a monster! Don't lose to the bugs!"
The players who stayed here were almost all there for pure fun, because [ Clear Soup Master ] had made it clear from the beginning that staying here would only allow them to witness the ending of this storyline, and there were no rewards to be had.
But they still stayed without hesitation, most of them wanting to see what would happen if the Marquis ate swill.
Since everyone's carrying only tattered gear, and their bodies are already insured by Seraphina— dying won't cause any loss—they might as well just go for it!
The players cheered like a group of enthusiastic fans, rushing out of the cave after the Aberration Oliver.
They automatically split into two factions based on their support for their home team, and quickly found the best viewing angles.
Meanwhile, ahead of everyone, Oliver had already launched a new battle against the Swarm in the sky.
The battle between the two sides was as fierce as an ant colony attacking a small reptile.
Oliver was enormous, and even as he was being fiercely attacked by more than a dozen Soldier Bee, he showed no signs of weakness. While the individual Soldier Bee were not particularly strong, their sheer numbers were overwhelming. Oliver worked for several minutes, but the dark clouds in the sky not only showed no signs of weakening but instead drew even closer.
The Soldier Bee swarmed like locusts, each tearing a piece of flesh from Oliver's body.
The completely Aberration vampire marquis's feet were already rooted to the ground, drawing nourishment from the barren, Wilderness of Chaos, and occasionally reaching out to grab a handful of Soldier Bee hanging from his body or Blood Corpse nearby for a snack.
Just as everyone was engrossed in watching the game, a loud "bang" suddenly came from behind the players.
As the white smoke dissipated, a tall Dragonborn was seen carrying a sack and walking towards the group.
" Scarlet Millet, wanna have some?"