Chapter 377: The Mountain Has Collapsed! The Lord of Darkness

"Deep Abyss Beetle—what is this?"

Seeing this, Princess Chenxi could not help but ask.

Lomina said: "It's a small insect from the lower Abyss of Demonic Insects. They're born no bigger than a fingernail, but they eat anything they see—stones, grass, corpses, everything—until they're too full to eat more, then they die. This beetle is this big; it must have been eating for at least a week."

Princess Chenxi immediately thought of the collapsed passage and said:

"So these collapsed passages were caused by them? Why are there so many Deep Abyss Beetles beneath the Loki Mountains? Who put them here? Aren't these abyssal creatures severely suppressed?"

Lomina nodded and said:

"They'd certainly be severely suppressed—if they were in the Abyss of Demonic Insects, they wouldn't stop eating until they died. If I'm right, there must be many more Deep Abyss Beetles."

"Queen, come quickly—there are insects in this passage!"

"Queen…"

No sooner had Lomina finished speaking than night elf after night elf came to report.

The number of Deep Abyss Beetles was too great.

Just those discovered by the night elves already numbered dozens!

Those undiscovered must be even more.

After all, they were blocked on this side by collapsed passages and knew nothing of what lay ahead.

Princess Chenxi could not help but say:

"Mother, could these Deep Abyss Beetles have been released by the Lord of Darkness? But the Abyssal Rifts are sealed—how did she get them up here? What does she want? To block our path with these beetles?"

Lomina's expression turned Solemn, indicating she was deep in thought.

Hearing Princess Chenxi's words, she said: "The eggs of the Deep Abyss Beetles can remain viable for a very long time. As long as they're not given energy, their eggs can stay dormant indefinitely. These eggs may have been brought up when the Abyssal Rifts opened, only now activated. As for what she wants…"

Lomina's mind raced swiftly: "I need to observe further."

So far, the clues are too few.

The Lord of Darkness has not launched an attack.

She has merely used the Deep Abyss Beetles to block our path.

Blocking our path without launching an attack—this naturally left Lomina puzzled.

Even as a former Queen of the Night Elves, her wisdom was terrifying!

"If the Lord of Darkness merely wants to block our path, we could simply retreat a stretch and take an upper path back to the surface. Or perhaps she plans to have the beetles eat through the passage above us, causing the rock to collapse and crush us?"

Lomina thought.

Thinking of this, Lomina ordered the night elves in the great cavern to retreat a distance and scatter.

So they wouldn't all be wiped out in the cavern by the Deep Abyss Beetles.

She also dispatched numerous night elves to scout other directions.

Soon, these night elves reported their findings back to Lomina and Princess Chenxi.

On matters like this, Princess Chenxi's knowledge was inferior, so she mostly listened to Lomina's analysis.

Lomina took out a sheet of paper and began drawing.

"We are here now."

Lomina drew a circle first.

"Ahead lies the Loki Mountains."

Lomina drew a line.

"According to their reports, these beetles are almost entirely along this line. Our area has seen none—meaning the beetles are all beneath the Loki Mountains. As for their number, over a hundred have been found so far; undiscovered ones are likely far more—perhaps thousands."

Here, Lomina pulled out a black grimoire.

It was the Dark Codex, dedicated to abyssal creatures and abyssal magic.

On the Continent of Gods, such grimoires were forbidden—but after twenty cursed years, Lomina no longer cared.