Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 510: Hive Location

From the current situation of these Void Insect Race, it seems almost impossible for them to break through Duke and his team’s defenses until their power increases significantly.

The Hive mind is also equipped with a certain level of intelligence and will adjust strategy when it knows something cannot be done.

It is not a life form per se, but more like a collective consciousness.

This collective consciousness almost has no concept of emotions and won’t act on impulses based on emotions; everything is for the development of the species.

Recently, Duke has been communicating with Herbert and closely following the movements of the Insect Race.

Herbert hopes that Duke can find the location of the Insect Race’s hive, as solving the hive would eliminate the potential threat here.

Once these insects decide to change direction and move elsewhere, it would be a problem.

Other places don’t have such strong defenses like Maple Hill County; once they leave here, they can quickly expand and grow, undoubtedly becoming a big trouble.

In the following days, although the insect tide’s attacks continued, their intensity and frequency noticeably decreased.

They no longer try massive assaults to break through the iron defenses of the Rock Armor Heavy Army and Level 2 slave creatures, but rather shifted to continuous harassment and tentative attacks, seemingly concealing something or rather, buying time for some deeper action.

Standing on the frontier, Duke looked west towards Silver County, his brows furrowed.

Blade-winged Demons bring back massive amounts of reconnaissance information daily. They’ve almost scouted the ruins of Silver County and Maple Hill County in detail but still haven’t found any large biological structures or abnormal energy sources matching the hive’s characteristics.

The brain commanding millions in the insect tide seems invisibly hidden.

"This is unreasonable." Duke said to Vivian beside him, "The hive needs a huge supply of material and energy, and a hive that can hatch so many Insect Race must be extremely large in physical form, and its energy response should be impossible to hide, unless..."

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

"Unless it’s not on the land at all."

He swiftly turned and headed towards the temporary operation room behind him, where a more detailed regional map was hanging.

Duke’s eyes fixed on the vast ocean west of Silver County; Silver County is several hundred kilometers from the sea, a considerable distance in this era.

"The ocean... resources are far richer than the barren land. The Sea Race and Wizards have a gulf, making it a blind spot for supervision. Most importantly, all of our searches inadvertently limited themselves to the land area."

The Hive mind has no emotions, only absolute rational profit calculations.

On land, it might face threats of pinpoint extermination from Level 3 Mages like Herbert.

Diving into the sea, it can not only gain richer resources but also use the Sea Race’s cover to reduce attacks on the hive from other forces, which is undoubtedly the best solution.

Duke had previously fallen into a mindset of only seeking the hive traces on land and kept not finding it.

The insect tide initially erupted in Silver County, so he instinctively thought the hive was near Silver County.

Now looking over this map again, he shifted attention to the distant coastline.

Normally, with such a distance, it shouldn’t be in the usual consideration scope.

But this is for ordinary people; Florence Continent mostly was populated by ordinary people before, only at most having some creatures like Magical Beasts.

These distances used to be very far, but for the Void Insect Race, they can completely reach land through some pathways from the seabed.

Thinking of this, Duke got inspired.

Moments later, accompanied by the piercing eagle screech, the enormous Storm Dragon Eagle descended from the sky, collecting its wings engulfed in wind and thunder powers, prostrating before Duke, who leaped onto the dragon eagle’s broad back.

The speed of the Blade Serpent is actually faster than the Storm Dragon Eagle, much faster indeed, which is a gap hard to cross between Level 2 Life and Level 1 Life.

But Blade Serpent needs to hold the frontier, being an important defense force here.

Another reason is that Blade Serpent doesn’t actually belong to Duke’s direct slave creatures; communication requires a Control Talisman as a medium, always lacking the seamless connection with the Storm Dragon Eagle.

"Head to the coast, fly low along Silver County’s west coastline."

The Storm Dragon Eagle spread its wings and soared up, carrying Duke speeding westward.

High altitude’s fierce winds were blocked by Duke’s automatic wind attribute shield formed around him, his eyes scanning rapidly below like an eagle.

The land was scarred and battered; Silver County has completely turned into a dead zone, only some low-level insects wandering through the ruins.

Soon, the blue coastline appeared at the horizon’s edge.

The salty sea breeze came face-to-face, starkly different from the foul smell of the land.

Duke ordered the Storm Dragon Eagle to slowly circle along the coastline while externally releasing spiritual power to meticulously perceive every trace of energy fluctuation below.

He was also quickly integrating all previously ignored, scattered information from Blade-winged Demon in his mind, not missing any trace.

Duke’s eyes sharply swept over the sea surface. Here the seawater seemed slightly murky, near the shore remnants of sea beasts and fish gnawed to the bone could still be seen, traces of Insect Race activity.

He drove the Storm Dragon Eagle to fly a distance into open sea, spiritual power focused to the extreme.

Suddenly, in an offshore area about dozens of kilometers from the coast, he sensed a hint of extremely subtle yet immensely grand life and energy fluctuation.

That life fluctuation was serene and slow, like the heartbeat of a deep-sea monster, starkly different from the frenzied insect race individuals on land, carrying an aura of origin, controlling everything.

"Got it..." Duke muttered to himself, a flash of cold light in his eyes, "Indeed hidden in the sea."

He immediately instructed the Storm Dragon Eagle to ascend, avoiding alerting the enemy prematurely.

The depth of the sea at that position is unknown, but the hive’s main body must be entrenched somewhere beneath the seabed or within a cave, using complex terrain and seawater to shield itself.

This position indeed is extremely concealed, because it’s just on the remote corner of Florence Continent and also not within the Sea Race’s active range.

The Sea Race rarely operates near Florence Continent; as long as this hive doesn’t wantonly expand on the seabed, it’s hard to attract the Sea Race’s attention. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Judging from the Silver County insect tide, this Hive mind indeed is smart, choosing to develop and spread on land.

It just hadn’t expected to encounter obstructing forces like Duke; now it’s likely considering retracting its forces and shifting to expand in the sea.