Chapter 178: Chapter 158: Terrifying Giant Beast, Egg Pancake

A deafening BOOM rang out.

A flaming claw slammed into the trunk of a large tree, dozens of centimeters thick, instantly snapping it in two.

Immediately after, the entire tree was set ablaze, turning into a fiercely burning torch.

Yet, the Flame attached to the clawtips didn’t dissipate. Instead, it formed a claw-shaped brand of Fire that continued to blast forward in the direction of Egg Pancake’s swing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

After smashing through four or five large trees, the Flame finally erupted, turning into a shower of sparks that ignited the surrounding trees and grass.

Fortunately, a flash of frosty light streaked through the air, extinguishing the burning blades of grass and preventing a forest fire.

"GROOAAR!"

Egg Pancake beat its chest like a monster with energy to burn, its blood-red eyes continuously scanning the surrounding trees as if it wanted to destroy them all.

’Since the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm is inside Egg Pancake’s Body, could it create a pair of wings to help it fly?’ Han Ning wondered as he watched the Vigorous Soul Beast.

He’d actually had this idea when the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm first entered his own Body. However, due to the fragility of the human form, a pair of wings would have limited use beyond dodging in emergencies.

The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm combined with his own human Power was basically just the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm.

But the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm combined with Egg Pancake... that didn’t seem as simple as 1 + 0.5.

At this thought, he sent a command to the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm via his Spiritual Power, "Create a pair of insect wings like the Blood Bee’s, scaled proportionally."

"HISS~"

Following Han Ning’s command, a pair of insect wings began to rapidly sprout from Egg Pancake’s back. Their surfaces were covered with purplish-red patterns, and they were as thin as a cicada’s.

Han Ning let them grow until each wing was five meters long before telling the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm to stop.

"Egg Pancake, try to fly!" he transmitted to the Soul Beast.

Another benefit of the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm was that it could form a pseudo-organ within its host’s body without interfering with the host Soul Beast’s control.

"KREE!"

Although Egg Pancake had grown agitated, it showed no signs of cruelty or bloodlust. It immediately gave the huge wings on its back a tentative flap.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

A powerful gust of Wind radiated from the wings, sweeping up the charred and tender green leaves from the ground.

However, even after a full ten seconds of its wings beating into a blur, Egg Pancake’s stocky limbs remained planted firmly on the ground. There was no sign of it taking flight.

’Not enough lift? Or are insect wings too flimsy for a creature with Egg Pancake’s mass?’ Lacking any knowledge of aerodynamics, Han Ning was at a loss. He recalled that the wings of a Giant Dragon were powerful membranes. He could only send another command. "Make the wings bigger. Add some light, jointed struts between them and grow a smaller pair of auxiliary wings underneath to increase the Power."

"HISS~"

Blood Qi suffused the insect wings. One by one, purplish-red, jointed appendages shot through the wings like bones, forming a rigid frame. All the while, the wings continued to grow rapidly.

Beneath them, a second pair of wings, one-third the size of the first, also began to take shape.

Five meters, six meters, seven meters... they kept growing until they reached twenty meters, making Egg Pancake at their center seem relatively small. Only then did Han Ning command the Growth to stop.

"Alright, try again! Take off!"

"KREE!"

Egg Pancake let out an excited cry, tilted its head toward the mist-shrouded sky, and powerfully flapped the wings on its back.

The blood-red phantom of its Giant Beast form suddenly shifted, dissolving into a dense, sanguine light that enveloped the wings, granting Egg Pancake even greater propulsion.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!~

A powerful gale formed in the forest.

Visible waves of wind blew outwards in all directions.

Han Ning instinctively narrowed his eyes. He watched as a massive creature with a wingspan of over twenty meters laboriously flapped its wings and slowly rose into the sky.

’As expected... when the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm possesses a Soul Beast, it can unleash even greater Power.’ He was thrilled as he watched Egg Pancake glide happily through the sky.

This gave him several more trump cards to use against the Insect Masters!

Han Ning had once tried to have the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm enter Yin Yi’s Body, but the Spiritual Silkworm had rejected it, perhaps because Yin Yi was not a creature of flesh and blood.

Left with no choice, he hadn’t tried again since.

’Next up is Egg Pancake’s evolution...’

The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm, which had joined him later, had evolved before Egg Pancake. Now Egg Pancake needed to evolve as soon as possible, too.

"Okay, Egg Pancake, come on back!"

Maintaining that state consumed a terrifying amount of Blood Qi. To conserve his Soul Beasts’ Physical Strength, Han Ning had them stop the experiment.

Next, he took the Crystal Stones from the two remaining Extraordinary Level and the other remaining Awakened Level Blood Demons, absorbed their Void Energy, and added it to Yin Yi’s panel.

’If I want to increase my strength quickly, I’ll have to go out and hunt Soul Beasts of the same level.’ He recalled the fierce conflicts between Insect Masters and figured they were also trying to seize each other’s resources and powerful Soul Beasts.

After a short rest, Han Ning took out a map to confirm his route into the true Earth Flame Forbidden Land.

「...」

The entrance carved out by the Yinsaike Race was not far from the gray stone forest, only about a hundred kilometers away.

Han Ning recalled Egg Pancake, then vaulted onto the back of the massive purplish-red bee and flew toward the location marked on the map.

Now at the Extraordinary Level, the great bee’s flight speed had increased significantly. It only took a little over ten minutes to reach their destination.

The great bee descended from above the mountain forest. Before long, Han Ning spotted a bare cliff face to the northeast, rising out of the vast woods.

Carved into one section of the cliff were several lines that resembled natural cracks.

But Han Ning knew they were location markers left by the Yinsaike Race.

Beneath the cracks was a hidden cave: the entrance the Yinsaike Race had created.

The great bee landed smoothly near the entrance.

The cliff face before him was covered in a dense curtain of green vines.

Han Ning leaped off the bee’s back. Several sharp, jointed appendages shot from his fingertips to part the curtain of vines.

Soon, a three-meter-wide cave mouth appeared before him.

The opening was quite spacious; even Egg Pancake, at its largest, could pass through.

His five Insect Puppets had now become eight. Under the control of the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm, their bodies shrank slightly as they flew into the cave ahead of him to scout.

With these Puppets, scouting, standing guard, and group combat had all become much more convenient.

The clear green light radiating from Yin Yi illuminated the surroundings.

Perhaps because no living creature had entered for a long time, the air in the tunnel was foul, and the ground was covered in fine gravel.

This was only the most direct route to the dormant volcano; it didn’t lead straight to the Nether Fire Crocodile’s territory.

From here on, Han Ning would have to find his own way.

As they ventured deeper underground, descending what felt like several kilometers, more and more groups of Soul Beasts came into view.

Thanks to Egg Pancake’s Mimicry, however, none of the nearby Soul Beasts detected their presence.

Many Soul Beasts, well-adapted to the environment, still survived in these barren, scorching-hot underground caverns.

There were subterranean worms as long as trains that treated the solid rock walls like water, as if they had mastered Earth Escape. They would leap from the cavern floor and crash back down, sending showers of rubble into the air. Dangers aside, the spectacular scene was almost poetic.

Fortunately, these subterranean worms showed no desire to attack Han Ning. Otherwise, their immense size alone would have been more than enough to deal with.

Gradually, the white mist that perpetually shrouded the Insect Continent began to dissipate.

The view around them immediately cleared up.

Intense heat radiated from the rock walls and the ground, scorching every inch of the space. Even the air ahead began to shimmer and distort.

Reddish-brown, sharp stalactites, each several meters high, hung sporadically from the cavern ceiling, adding a bit of interest to the otherwise monotonous scenery.

"The temperature is still climbing."

Han Ning suddenly felt as if he were inside a great cosmic furnace. He glanced at his watch: 46°C.

He was already drenched in sweat.

’If I go any deeper, I’ll be reaching the limits of human endurance.’

Feeling the intense heat of the cavern, Han Ning had no choice but to have Yin Yi generate her most energy-efficient Frost Shield to lower the temperature.

After entering this great cavern, the surrounding terrain grew even more complex.

Faint, chilling roars of unknown Soul Beasts drifted through the air.