Chapter 596: The Mysterious Void

"Is this the void?" Muria drew his Seven Sins Blade and split a gigantic worm, nearly a hundred meters long, in half. Watching the writhing mass of flesh, he was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected the void to be so "lively."

Muria had anticipated that the void would be a place of deathly silence, occasionally inhabited by star-devouring beasts. Such an ecosystem made sense to him. However, the scene before him was far beyond his expectations.

As soon as his fleet emerged from Erathia, void creatures resembling worms swarmed from all directions, like moths to a flame, showing no sense of self-preservation. They charged towards the fleet's cannon fire and the attacks of legendary beings without any intelligence, driven purely by instinct.

"These are void worm swarms. Don't get entangled with them, Muria. Order the fleet to proceed at full speed and shake them off," advised the Seventh Princess, who had volunteered to serve as Muria's navigator.

"Alright," Muria, who held the highest control authority over the three fleets, issued the command to the fleet controllers: "Full speed ahead, shake off these worms."

"Understood, Commander," responded three mechanical female voices in Muria's mind, devoid of any emotion.

These voices belonged to the ship spirits of the three five-thousand-meter-long void battleships, similar to tower spirits but far more rigid and incapable of the flexibility seen in Casio. They could only execute orders mechanically, assisting with fleet operations and navigation.

"Indira, hurry back," Muria called to Indira, who had transformed into a nine-headed dragon and was devouring void worms. He felt both helpless and worried.

In the Kingdom of Rockman, without Muria's restraint, Indira had indulged herself and God knows how many creatures she had devoured. Her current nine-headed dragon form was undoubtedly one of those she had consumed.

"Wait for me, Muria." Indira, with her nine unified heads, swallowed nine more void worms before transforming into a blue-feathered roc and swiftly catching up to Muria's flagship.

"She can transform into whatever she eats and perfectly inherit the abilities of what she consumes, even optimizing them," Muria admired. "This ability is terrifying. If such void creatures appeared in swarms, it would be horrific."

"Your Highness, such creatures cannot appear in swarms; it goes against the balance rules," said the ancient green dragon Fiona, who had also just returned to the flagship after driving away the void worms. She looked at Muria, her eyes glowing with green light. "If Titans appeared in swarms, that would be truly terrifying. Almost nothing could stand against them."

"Mhm," Muria nodded, seeing that the legendary figures who had left the ship to drive away the worms had all returned. He looked at Gladys, needing an explanation for why they were attacked by thousands of worms right after their jump, without any prior warning.

"Why that look? Encountering void worms is just bad luck. Nowadays, a fleet can travel in and out of the void a hundred times without encountering them," retorted Katherine, one of the princess's followers, standing up for her friend.

"Lina, stop it. Lord Muria, this was indeed my oversight for not warning you. However, this is the first time I've seen these void creatures described in textbooks," Gladys admitted.

"I was just unlucky," Muria shrugged, looking at the angry purple-haired girl. "Tell me more about these void creatures. I'm quite curious."

"These are low-level void creatures that grow and reproduce by absorbing the energy radiating from worlds. They don't stray far from worlds. They are attracted to high-energy substances and are drawn to the energy radiating from our fleet. They are not attacking us; aside from their energy consumption, they are almost harmless.

When our world first began colonization, the outer layers of the world barriers were filled with such creatures. However, as more void fleets traversed, these worms became rare because mage organizations discovered that their bones and flesh were highly valuable."

"Highly valuable?" Muria's eyes lit up. Given his current debt, anything valuable piqued his interest.

"Don't think about hunting void worms. Without specialized capture ships, you won't make much. Focus on reaching the locust world. That arrogant princess has already set off," Gladys advised.

"I understand," Muria sighed, looking ahead. As the fleet moved away from the world of Erathia, the void worms ceased their pursuit and returned to the world membrane to continue absorbing its energy.

As the fleet ventured deeper into the void, Muria's expectations were met. The void was silent and devoid of life, with only the starlight shining from countless worlds, many of which were familiar to Muria.

"The Boundless Heaven Realm!" Muria looked up, seeing a world radiating pure, holy white light. Even from this distance, he couldn't see its entirety. It was a world on par with Erathia but with extreme rules.

"That's my world!" Muria looked back at the vast world of Erathia, its barrier obscuring his entire view, even blocking out the dark void behind it.

Erathia is one of the top-tier worlds in the endless void. Epics rarely leave it unless necessary. It's the world where the Dragon King willingly shackled himself to become a Dragon God for power. The countless void legions that set out from it are proud, taking pride in being natives of Erathia.

"At our current speed, we'll reach an imperial void star gate in forty-five hours. Using it will significantly shorten our journey."

...

"I..." As soon as they emerged from the wormhole, a terrifying pressure descended on the fleet. Seeing the princess Gladys's terrified expression, Muria knew they had encountered another unexpected event, causing a wave of strong emotion to surge within him.

Muria looked up at the spiritual display screen, but before he could see clearly, the large crystal screen shattered into shards...

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