Inside the fountain, the giant golden cicada suddenly let out a series of frantic cries. It sounded like it was begging for help—or perhaps for mercy.
Flora Bloom almost laughed. 'Why would I think a bug is crying for help?'
Just then, a bizarre scene unfolded.
Beside the fountain, a colossal, ten-foot-tall figure cast its shadow over half the pool. The three of them couldn't help but gasp in awe.
It was a giant green mantis.
Its triangular head was flanked by two eyes like white jade. Were it not for its ferocious appearance, those eyes might have been called beautiful. Its limbs were thick and straight, reflecting the sunlight with a metallic sheen. A pair of scythes were tucked against its chest, and the two rows of sharp, serrated spines along their folded edges glinted darkly, hinting at their extreme sharpness.
Its abdomen was enormous, resembling the curved hull of a wooden boat. It bobbed its head, where its compound eyes were located, emitting a warning sound just like the rattle of a rattlesnake's tail.
It was extremely wary, standing motionless beside the fountain for a long time. Only the antennae atop its head twitched, swiveling in every direction. Flora Bloom knew what it was doing. 'It's waiting, checking for any nearby danger.'
Ethan Monroe and Neal Wallace stared wide-eyed at the massive mantis. A quick comparison flashed through their minds. The creature was bigger than both of them combined. 'Is this thing the reason Flora Bloom came to the school?'
Ethan Monroe, in particular, was sweating bullets. Wiping his forehead, he whispered, "Can I get the hell out of here? The three of us wouldn't even be a mouthful for that thing." But then he remembered the corpses littering the ground. "Wait, it doesn't have teeth, but those scythes... I don't want to be diced into little pieces!"
Flora Bloom shot him a glare and put a finger to her lips, silencing him.
The mantis was incredibly cautious. The slightest disturbance would send it fleeing.
The seconds ticked by. Finally, the giant mantis lost its patience. It unfurled the wings on its back, revealing a stunning, jade-green color. If they hadn't known it was responsible for the corpses by the fountain, Flora Bloom and the others might have mistaken it for a beautiful, oversized sculpture.
Its wings beat at a high frequency, lifting its entire body into the air. Despite its enormous size, its speed was shocking. Before Flora Bloom's eyes could even register the movement, it was already hovering over the center of the fountain, poised to dive toward the giant golden cicada she had thrown into the water.
Flora Bloom had crippled the giant golden cicada, but now it watched its natural predator draw closer and closer. The mantis's gleaming, sharp scythes looked ready to slice it in half at any second.
And so, it writhed its plump abdomen, rubbing the appendages behind its mouthparts to produce a series of bizarre, high-pitched shrieks.
Flora Bloom let out a soft "Hm?" of surprise. That sound was incredibly familiar.
In her past life, she had fought countless mutated creatures. This was the sound they often made when summoning their kin.
It was unclear if the giant mantis was startled by the shriek or for some other reason, but its colossal body abruptly froze. Its jade-white eyes went vacant.
Stranger still, as if a spell had suddenly been cast on it, the giant mantis's wings stopped beating. It plummeted from the sky and crashed into the fountain where the golden cicada lay, sending up a tremendous splash.
However, thanks to its immense size, it only thrashed in the water for a few moments before hooking its legs onto the fountain's rim and pulling itself up.
The giant mantis was enraged. It violently shook the water from its body, and with another buzz of its wings, it shot straight up into the sky. Then, it dove. Its chest scthes were spread wide, ready to deliver a fatal blow to the culprit responsible for its fall.
Watching this, a cold sweat broke out on Flora Bloom's back. 'I underestimated it, after all. Nature's creatures were already incredible, but post-apocalyptic life-forms evolved even more astounding abilities. Who would have thought this seemingly defenseless golden cicada had a trick like that up its sleeve?'
A thought struck her. 'If I had a sonic attack like that to use against an evenly matched opponent, who could possibly be my rival?'
'The farmhouse courtyard in my dimension has a pen; it should be possible to raise creatures there. But I wonder if this golden cicada can even survive inside my dimension?'
Indeed, the moment the golden cicada's sonic attack sent the giant mantis plummeting into the water, Flora Bloom had decided to claim the cicada for herself.
'Looks like I can't let this big mantis have its way.'
Just as she tightened her grip on her axe, about to dash out and save the cicada, a strange noise suddenly filled the sky.
Flora Bloom froze and looked up, only to immediately shrink back into cover.
"Holy hell, what is that giant swarm of things?"
Ethan Monroe couldn't help but cry out.
Anyone with trypophobia would have fainted on the spot. A dark, dense swarm was flying toward them, their deep brown bodies flecked with gold—just like the crippled cicada in the fountain.
"They're all cicadas. Remember that strange shriek from the golden cicada earlier? It must have been calling for reinforcements."
Flora Bloom explained softly, inwardly relieved. 'Good thing I didn't rush out. A swarm this large, and every one of them is huge. A single bite from each of them could probably tear that mantis to shreds, right?'
Even as she thought this, she knew that in the natural food chain, a mantis was a cicada's predator, which should give it a distinct advantage.
The massive swarm of cicadas droned loudly as they converged on the mantis. A dark, oppressive cloud soon enveloped it completely, hiding it from the view of Flora Bloom and the others.
The droning was deafening, and every so often, the swarm seemed to collectively unleash the same sonic attack as before.
Soon, Flora Bloom noticed that the mantis, which had been hovering in the air, seemed to abruptly lose its ability to fly. It plummeted down, crashing into the water yet again.
'Is it going to lose?'
'So the food chain isn't so reliable in the apocalypse, huh?'
But just then, a piercing shriek erupted from the mantis's abdomen. A vortex, as wide as the fountain's diameter, suddenly appeared and swept through the entire cicada swarm.
The once-orderly swarm of golden cicadas was thrown into disarray by the massive vortex. Many were sucked inside, only to be shredded into pieces moments later.
Seizing the opportunity, the mantis leaped from the fountain, its great scythes opening and closing as it attacked the scattered cicadas.
Only then did Flora Bloom get a clear look at the mantis's condition.
Its antennae were snapped off. Its limbs and abdomen were pockmarked with what looked like bite wounds.
Worst of all, its jade-green wings were completely shredded. Greenish fluid oozed from wounds all over its body. It had lost all its former magnificence and looked utterly wretched.
The golden cicada swarm hadn't fared much better.
Many had been killed by the mantis's vortex, their fragmented corpses littering the ground. But what made Flora Bloom's eyes gleam was the sight of white crystals falling from the shattered cicada bodies. Those were Energy Crystal Cores!
Although a Crystal Core's energy content was related to its size, and these white ones weren't large, their sheer number made up for it. In a world where currency was now useless, these crystals—and Zombie Crystal Cores—were money!
The giant mantis, burning with rage, was using its great scythes to reap the lives of the remaining cicadas. After it cut down more than half of those left, the survivors saw that the tide had turned and began to flee. Who could spare a thought for their companion crying for help in the fountain now?
But having had its authority so brazenly challenged, the giant mantis was in no mood to let its enemies escape. It coiled its thick hind legs and sprang, its massive body launching toward the few remaining cicadas.
Its giant scythes rose and fell, and with each slash, more corpses dropped to the ground. In the end, fewer than ten golden cicadas actually escaped.
At that moment, the mantis finally succumbed to exhaustion. It tumbled from the air, landing on its back. It twitched a few times but no longer had the strength to even turn over.
Flora Bloom's eyes lit up, and her brows shot up in delight.
'Perfect! Both sides utterly exhausted—isn't this the exact outcome I was hoping for? The only question is whether that giant mantis is dead yet.'
But Ethan Monroe was even faster on the uptake. He was already sprinting out, his target the white crystals scattered all over the ground.