Chapter 149: The Catalyst for the Dark Council's Formation

At this moment, the night had passed and the sky was bright.

Above the forest and in the sky, a dense swarm, like a massive locust migration, covered the entire heavens.

All that could be seen were silhouettes of the Bug Race!

Just as everyone was bewildered, Freya's voice came: "Bad! Hurry and intercept them; they must not reach the plane interior!"

At the same time, the communication badges worn on the chests of Baixue and others promptly refreshed with the latest mission notice.

"Emergency notice: Dark Council, all legions and staff, fully block the Bug Race from entering the plane interior and do everything possible to ensure that this plane's important assets and ecological balance… etc., will not suffer severe damage! Mission rewards are as follows:

Kill a mid‑level Bug Race: mission reward 15 points.

Advanced Bug Race: mission reward 30 points.

Level One Bug Race: mission reward 200 points.

Level Two Bug Race: mission reward 2,500 points.

Level Three Bug King Travis: mission reward 30,000 points.

Guarding mission for this plane's important resource points, rewards as follows: …………"

"Sister Baixue, the mission has been updated again. The rewards are almost doubled!"

A startled shout rang out.

Greta stared at the communication violation prompt, unable to open the channel.

"Bad, the direction they're heading is exactly Sky Island!" Baixue carefully identified the direction and found that the largest swarm was heading straight toward Sky Island.

As the Dark Legion's headquarters, Sky Island is undeniably a "important asset" of the Dark Plane.

Leaving aside its symbolic status.

Even just Sky Island alone now gathers massive wealth, knowledge, talent and other reserve resources, as well as various advanced magical research bases and heavy‑industry laboratories.

It represents not only wealth but also the forefront of military‑industrial research throughout the Dark World!

Currently, the Dark World's only large‑scale military‑industrial magical laboratory that integrates research and manufacturing is on Sky Island.

If Sky Island were damaged, it would cause massive casualties among researchers and loss of both intangible and tangible assets such as knowledge.

For the entire Dark World to rise again would require at least a delay of several hundred years, perhaps longer! This includes the four great magical academies and nearly ten thousand magical apprentices—the reserve talent of the Dark World.

Realizing the severity, Baixue's squad hesitated little and pursued the Bug Race.

At this moment, inside the forest, all combat personnel of the Dark Legion also received the urgent mission‑update notice almost simultaneously.

Large numbers of Demon Hunter Knights, Magicians and other combat legions, under their squad leaders, began to converge and advance toward the southern interior of the Dark Plane.

A defensive war for the Dark Plane officially began!

………

The Bug Race's counter‑offensive lasted three months before it gradually subsided.

Although at the crucial moment Bug King Travis had not yet approached Sky Island, he was intercepted by the belated arrival from the southeast seas: Mermaid Tribe leader Avril and the Sea Beast King, the ancient giant turtle.

The tens of thousands of bugs following Bug King Travis, under his near‑mad command, continued marching toward Sky Island.

Unfortunately, before reaching the southern interior, they met the second wave of Dark Legion forces supporting the Canyon Forest battlefield halfway, resulting in fierce clashes.

Half a day later, a Dark Legion contingent that had followed from Canyon Forest ambushed them from behind, plunging them into a war quagmire from which they could not escape, thereby sparing Sky Island from disaster.

But elsewhere, luck was far less generous.

Under Bug King Travis's orders, the Bug Race split into three routes, one led by him himself straight toward the plane's center.

The other two routes headed southeast and west; along the way they caused destruction. Although the western route was eventually blocked and encircled by forces from Moor Forest and the northern Witch, irreversible losses remained, with several kingdoms affected and hundreds of thousands of ordinary mortals perished.

Even worse was the swarm spreading toward the southeast.

The Level Two Bug General leading that force, perhaps aware of the other two routes' fate, broke the unit into fragments, so the cleanup took three months before it barely concluded.

During this period, Fulade and others, for safety, had already sealed the Space Rift.

And they launched an assault on the mastermind Bug King Travis.

Facing attacks from numerous strong opponents, Travis's anger was of no help; when death threatened him and he begged for mercy, the enraged crowd slaughtered him on the spot.

………

Three months later.

Fresh from the Magic Laboratory, Fulade was greeted by his personal attendant Sonia.

"Master~ everyone is waiting for you now," Sonia said, her mournful gaze at Fulade almost pulling at his heartstrings.

Who could have imagined that a maid who had been at Fulade's side since before she was thirteen would still be a virgin to this day!

She should know that she is about to turn twenty soon.

Her body has already fully matured and cannot mature further; it's puzzling why the aloof master treats her this way—does she truly lack charm?

Remembering Sister Malisika's teasing, Sonia felt an instant grievance.

Fulade did not notice his maid's feelings, focusing instead on the upcoming conference.

Guided by the mournful attendant, Fulade arrived at the 396th floor of the Dark Sanctum.

Post‑war cleanup on the Dark Plane is still ongoing; Sky Island's population has sharply declined, and various support, construction, and mop‑up missions keep arising.

Even the Magic Academy's many students, due to the Dark Council's weakened power, have been assigned numerous low‑level tasks to earn points for their trials.

Points are a precious resource for the current Dark faction.

They can be exchanged for gold coins, and many scarce resources—Magic Materials, knowledge, auxiliary cultivation elixirs—also require large amounts of points.

One could say points are wealth.

A flash of light.

Fulade has arrived at the conference room on the 396th floor of the Dark Sanctum.

Now the room is filled with strong individuals from across the Dark World.

Come to think of it, we really have to thank the Bug Race's invasion; otherwise it would have been hard to gather all these people together.

Perhaps sensing the crisis of this invasion, perhaps also smelling an unusual opportunity, when Fulade proposed forming a Dark Council, it was almost simultaneously approved by the major forces.

Why say "almost," because the sea‑royal Mermaid Tribe at first did not want to join; after all, land and sea differ greatly, and they are wary of land creatures, so Avril instinctively refused.

But when they heard that Fulade would launch actions in the coming days and later issues concerning the Plane War, the previously firm resolve began to waver.

Especially after discovering that their rival, the western Naga Tribe, chose to join without hesitation, the sea‑royal Mermaid Tribe leader Avril suddenly realized that if they continued to refuse, the Mermaid Tribe would face isolation and lack of support.

Thus they no longer hesitated and joined.

"Dark Council, the first meeting officially begins! The Dark Council is guided by the principle of peaceful development and tasked with promoting the prosperity of the Dark World."

A voice sounded.

In the center of the hall, Famic, the Witch council chair of the Dark Faction, began to read the Dark Council's agenda outline! (End of chapter)