Clayne’s original intention had been straightforward.

After the final insect survived the brutal slaughter, he intended to immediately test the Beast Enslavement Spell that he had obtained from the inheritance of the Nether Corpse Sect elder.

The timing seemed perfect.

The strongest insect remained alive.

Every other competitor had already died.

The battlefield had been cleared.

All he needed to do was use the spell, establish control, and obtain his first genuine subordinate.

At least...

That was what he thought.

However, the moment he focused his attention on the surviving Red Mantis, an indescribable feeling suddenly crept into his heart.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The feeling was subtle at first.

It was not fear.

It was not danger.

It was more like a faint warning coming from his instincts.

Ever since he began cultivating, his senses had become increasingly sharp.

Many times before, those instincts had saved his life.

They had warned him about dangerous undead.

They had warned him about hidden threats.

They had warned him about situations that seemed harmless on the surface but concealed deadly risks underneath.

Therefore, Clayne immediately became cautious.

He stopped himself from acting.

Instead of using the Beast Enslavement Spell immediately, he decided to continue observing.

The battlefield outside had become eerily silent.

The endless massacre among the insects had already ended.

The giant centipedes were dead.

The mutated beetles were dead.

The monstrous ants were dead.

The strange winged creatures were dead.

The horrifying insect mutants that had emerged during the past few days were all dead.

Everywhere he looked, there were corpses.

Piles upon piles of corpses.

Broken shells.

Torn limbs.

Crushed exoskeletons.

Green blood.

Black blood.

Purple blood.

The street looked like a nightmare.

And standing at the center of that nightmare was the Red Mantis.

The victor.

The final survivor.

Yet what immediately caught Clayne’s attention was the fact that the Red Mantis did not leave.

It did not search for a nest.

It did not rest.

It did not patrol its territory.

It did not celebrate its victory.

Instead...

It continued eating.

Relentlessly.

Endlessly.

Without stopping.

Its crimson blade-like forelimbs moved continuously.

Every motion would drag another corpse toward its mouth.

Every motion would reduce another insect into food.

The speed was astonishing.

The efficiency was terrifying.

The mantis seemed completely obsessed.

Almost frantic.

As though it was racing against time.

As though it desperately needed every last corpse.

Clayne narrowed his eyes.

The more he watched, the stranger it became.

The creature was devouring insects at a speed that should not have been possible.

Entire bodies vanished within moments.

Massive beetles disappeared.

Mutated centipedes disappeared.

Winged monsters disappeared.

Everything disappeared.

The more it ate, the more obvious the changes became.

Its shell became brighter.

Its crimson coloration deepened.

Its body became sturdier.

The blade-like appendages extending from its forelimbs seemed sharper than before.

Even its movements became more powerful.

The creature was growing stronger.

Not gradually.

Not slowly.

Rapidly.

Dangerously rapidly.

Clayne’s instincts immediately screamed at him.

Kill it.

Destroy it now.

End it before it evolves further.

End it before it becomes a problem.

End it before something worse happens.

Yet strangely...

He hesitated.

For some reason, another instinct was telling him something completely different.

Watch.

Continue watching.

Do not interfere.

Not yet.

Something important is about to happen.

Clayne frowned.

The conflicting instincts made him increasingly uncomfortable.

However, his curiosity eventually won.

And then...

He noticed it.

The rear portion of the mantis.

Its abdomen.

At some point during the feeding frenzy, the abdomen had begun changing.

At first the change was so minor that he almost missed it.

Then it became noticeable.

Then alarming.

Then completely absurd.

The abdomen continued swelling.

Growing larger.

Growing rounder.

Growing heavier.

The size increased continuously.

The expansion became more and more ridiculous.

Soon the abdomen looked completely disproportionate compared to the rest of the creature.

The Red Mantis resembled a warrior dragging an enormous balloon behind itself.

Yet despite the grotesque appearance, the mantis continued eating without hesitation.

More corpses disappeared.

More flesh vanished.

More energy entered its body.

The swollen structure behind it continued expanding.

Clayne stared intently.

A bad feeling slowly formed inside his chest.

The creature had already become dangerous.

Yet whatever was happening now felt far more dangerous than anything he had seen before.

Then suddenly...

The swollen abdomen twitched violently.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The movements became increasingly violent.

Then something began emerging from it.

At first it looked like liquid.

A thick crimson substance slowly oozed out.

Then more followed.

And more.

And more.

The amount became absurd.

Soon the substance no longer resembled liquid.

Instead, it resembled living flesh.

Living silk.

A strange organic material that should not have existed.

The material accumulated on the ground.

Then continued growing.

The mantis remained motionless.

As though this was completely normal.

The strange crimson mass expanded continuously.

Soon it began forming a sac.

A gigantic sac.

A fleshy structure covered with strange patterns and veins.

The thing pulsed rhythmically.

Like a beating heart.

Like a living organism.

Like something that should never have been born.

Clayne felt goosebumps rise across his body.

The sight was disturbing.

Deeply disturbing.

Yet he could not look away.

Then...

Something even stranger happened.

The surrounding atmosphere changed.

The air became heavier.

The temperature dropped.

A familiar sensation appeared.

Clayne’s eyes widened.

The red mist.

The mysterious red mist that had transformed the entire world.

The same red mist responsible for countless mutations.

The same red mist responsible for creating undead.

The same red mist responsible for driving creatures into violent evolution.

It appeared again.

However, unlike before, it did not spread throughout the sky.

It did not descend upon the city.

It did not paint the heavens crimson.

Instead, it flowed directly toward the sac.

The phenomenon was astonishing.

Streams of red mist emerged from every direction.

From buildings.

From streets.

From sewers.

From distant corners of the city.

All of it converged toward a single point.

The sac.

The giant fleshy sac absorbed everything.

The absorption speed became increasingly terrifying.

It resembled a gigantic vacuum cleaner.

The red mist disappeared the moment it touched the surface.

More arrived.

More vanished.

More arrived.

More vanished.

The process continued endlessly.

Meanwhile, the sac itself began changing.

Its color deepened.

Crimson became dark crimson.

Dark crimson became blood red.

Blood red became almost black.

The thing looked increasingly unnatural.

Increasingly terrifying.

Increasingly dangerous.

Then...

The sac began expanding again.

Its growth was explosive.

Violent.

Almost impossible.

The structure inflated rapidly.

The size doubled.

Then tripled.

Then quadrupled.

Within a short period of time, it had become larger than a vehicle.

Then larger than a truck.

Then larger than a house.

The sight was utterly ridiculous.

Clayne could only stare.

He had absolutely no idea what he was witnessing.

Then he noticed movement.

Inside.

Something was moving inside the sac.

At first he thought it was merely shifting.

Then he saw multiple shadows.

Small shadows.

Numerous shadows.

Dozens.

Perhaps hundreds.

The silhouettes moved continuously.

Then...

They began fighting.

Clayne immediately froze.

The creatures inside had already developed.

That realization alone shocked him.

The eggs had not even existed long ago.

Yet the beings inside were already moving.

Already fighting.

Already killing.

The silhouettes clashed repeatedly.

The shadows became fewer.

And fewer.

And fewer.

The massacre occurring inside the sac was somehow even more brutal than the one outside.

The strongest survived.

The weakest died.

Again and again.

Again and again.

The number continued decreasing.

Hundreds became dozens.

Dozens became ten.

Ten became five.

Five became three.

Three became two.

Eventually...

Only one remained.

A single giant silhouette.

The shadow was enormous.

Far larger than the mother outside.

Far larger than anything that should have fit inside the sac.

The giant shadow slowly moved.

Then settled down.

Silence followed.

Absolute silence.

The sac stopped trembling.

Stopped shaking.

Stopped moving.

Then a new transformation began.

The gigantic structure started shrinking.

Slowly.

Steadily.

Relentlessly.

The enormous flesh sac compressed inward.

Its energy condensed.

Its mass condensed.

Its contents condensed.

Everything compressed.

The house-sized structure became smaller.

Then smaller.

Then smaller.

Until eventually...

The gigantic monstrosity had become no larger than a basketball.

Clayne stood there completely speechless.

He genuinely did not know what to think anymore.

Everything that had happened exceeded his understanding.

Yet the situation was not over.

Not even close.

Because moments later, new sounds began appearing throughout the city.

Growls.

Roars.

Screeches.

The sounds echoed from every direction.

From rooftops.

From streets.

From underground.

From distant buildings.

Powerful creatures were gathering.

Many powerful creatures.

The same kind of monsters that had survived previous waves of mutation.

The same kind of monsters capable of slaughtering ordinary survivors.

One by one, their presences emerged.

One by one, their killing intent spread.

One by one, they approached.

They had all sensed the same thing.

Whatever existed inside that tiny basketball-sized sac...

It was valuable.

Extremely valuable.

The Red Mantis immediately entered a combat stance.

Its forelimbs rose.

Its wings unfolded.

Its body became tense.

Then it released a loud hiss filled with warning and hostility.

The mother was guarding the sac.

Protecting it.

Defending it.

Even at the cost of its life.

Clayne stared at the scene for a long time.

Then his gaze slowly shifted toward the basketball-sized sac.

His thoughts began moving rapidly.

The heavenly tribulation.

The dried mango.

The spiritual energy.

The endless insect slaughter.

The red mist.

The surviving mother.

The monstrous offspring.

Everything connected together.

The more he analyzed the situation, the more excited he became.

The creature inside had consumed countless mutated insects before even being born.

It had absorbed heavenly tribulation energy.

It had absorbed immense amounts of spiritual energy.

It had absorbed the mysterious red mist.

And now it was attracting powerful monsters from every direction.

A slow smile appeared on Clayne’s face.

His breathing quickened.

His eyes brightened.

His heart began pounding.

Because if his deductions were correct...

The thing inside that sac was no ordinary mutant.

No ordinary insect.

No ordinary monster.

It was a future apex predator.

A creature capable of becoming an absolute menace.

And the moment that realization fully settled inside his mind, Clayne’s eyes shone with greed and excitement.

He stared at the sac and no longer at its mother and quietly muttered.

"No matter what happened next, no matter what creatures appeared, no matter how dangerous the situation became, I absolutely had to obtain that creature for myself!"