A Sorcerer's Journey 358 The Acraepoid World

In the Acraepoid World.
So subtle and mysterious was the evolutionary process of life in the Acraepoid World beyond the reach of the Sorcerer World, that a race known as the Acraepoids lived. They had dominated the resource-rich world since beginningless time.
One had already lost track of the beginning of the Acraepoid World to the passage of time.
But unquestionably, judging from some of the ruins that depicted the Mother Spider Deity as well as the Mantis God, the rulers of the ancient Acraepoid World might not be an Acraepoid at all.
It wasn't until one day…
The first Acraepoid king, who wielded the ability to communicate with unknown creatures of the foreign worlds and could open up gates to the foreign worlds, who mastered the power of flames and souls and could turn the enemies' fear into his own strength was born to this world. Thus, the whole evolutionary history of this world changed completely.
The Acraepoids marked a milestone in the evolution of the world's life forms.
The ancient times when the world was dominated by gods were completely overturned by the great Acraepoids.
A race that fed on plants, worshipped fire, embraced the beauty found in the endless cycle of life and death, who made their enemies crumble in despair with their great infernal powers and their great numbers; a race that took joy in inciting terror among their enemies became the absolute lord of the world.
In the times that followed.
The Acraepoids have waged a few expeditions into the foreign worlds. All of them ended in tremendous victories. As they harvested fresh souls from foreign worlds that had provided them with nourishment, seven new infernal gods were born after the First Acraepoid King Infernal God.
Among the seven infernal gods.
Three of them fell in the expeditions into the foreign worlds. The remaining four established powerful kingdoms comparable to the one founded by the First Acraepoid Infernal God.
The five great kingdoms of the Acraepoid World were namely: the First Acraepoid Empire, the Darkborne Kingdom, the Darksmother Kingdom, the Darkglow Kingdom, and the Lightglow Kingdom.
Other than the five great kingdoms that took up the richest and widest land of the region, there were still thousands of Noble Acraepoids, potential candidates for the new generation of Infernal Gods, that have established vassal kingdoms of their own.
At the extremely cold lands beyond the rich plains lived some of the foreign creatures whose gods have been killed by the Acraepoids during the ancient times. It became an adventurous paradise for the brave warriors of the Acraepoids.
As with the nature of things, there was an utterly mysterious Acraepoid guardian within the Acraepoid World. They traverse around each corner of the world, constantly in search of anything that could threaten the Acraepoid World.
Within the Sungta Vassal Kingdom.
The Noble Sungta had lived for three thousand and seven hundred years.

For the great Infernal Gods who were almost immortal, three thousand and seven hundred years was nothing. But for the Acraepoid race that had a relatively short lifespan, his existence was legendary, only second to the great infernal gods.
As he skillfully swung his blades, he could emit the energy from his infernal strength at will. His bladesmanship, as well as his control over the rapid energy charges had reached the peak of what was the way of the sword commonly practiced by the people of the world.
"As expected of the Sungta Noble, the strongest Noble of the Darkborne Kingdom. I'm afraid that other than the great infernal gods that are high up above, there probably isn't anyone in the whole Acraepoid World that is worthy enough to be your opponent."
The female Acraepoid had a height of one point seven meters. She's rather tall for an Acraepoid.
She wore a beautiful blouse weaved together by an unknown flaming feather. The sweet scent of youth came off her body. The female Acraepoid paid the fit and stout male Acraepoid that was in front of her a compliment.
A common feature of the Acraepoid race was that there was a black flame engulfing on top of each of their heads.
He sheathed his sword.
In a full suit of metallic armor, the male Acraepoid known as Sungta shrugged his head. "Li-er, stop with the flatteries. Your compliments would make me feel conceited and forget the humble ways of the Infernal Blades."
In secret, Sungta addressing the drop-dead gorgeous beauty as Li-er was a brewing scandal in the Sungta Kingdom known only by an extreme few.
He raised his head.
He saw through the hundreds of layers of scarlet nests, toward the scorching sun that was radiating an endless amount of heat. He mumbled to himself in a soft voice. "Unless we become the great Infernal God ourselves, we are nothing but normal Acraepoids under the sun."
Li-er gracefully walked in front of Sungta, bringing with her a sweet fragrance as she went into his embrace.
"I believe you."
Her voice was meant for Sungta's ears alone, a whisper to his ear.
He embraced her gently. He was still looking at the sun above as he spoke softly, " I have traveled the whole Acraepoid World, and as you have said so yourself, even though there are still some powerful reclusive Nobles that are worthy of my respect, but they could no longer provide me an opportunity to advance myself."
Li-er was still cuddling in Sungta's embrace.
Although she was a bit taller than him, it was only in his embrace when she could feel shorter. She raised her head and asked, "I've heard in the Ice Plains of the North Pole…"
"Are you talking about those ancient foreign race?"
Sungta laughed at her notions dismissively. "Let them become the training grounds of the younger generations, their ancestors had witnessed the glory of the Acraepoids. It would be a pity to wipe them all out now."
Li-er could sense how powerful Sungta was, but she could only sigh.
She's but a normal Acraepoid. In recent years, she had felt that she no longer have enough time to remain by Sungta's side.
Her eyes were filled with reluctance. She enjoys her last warmth with Sungta.
"Li-er."
Sungta spoke softly as he gently embraced the beautiful Acraepoid.
"Hmm?"
Her eyes were closed. Her voice seemed to come from the depth of her throat. She just wanted to enjoy the peaceful moment quietly.
"A year from now, it would be the turn of our Darkborne Kingdom to open up the World Gate. This time the Darkborne Kingdom plans to open up the gate to the Burrow World. I plan to explore the enslaved world properly and consume some new, strange souls. At the same time, I shall use the lowly primitive creatures there to train the battle spirits of my infernal soul."
Li-er opened her eyes and looked at Sungta.
"The enslaved world where the Infernal God, Compassionate Soul fell?"
Sungta nodded. "Exactly. Among the expeditions into the foreign worlds by the great Infernal Gods, the Burrow World was one of the foreign worlds that had put up a huge fight. A powerful, cruel god of the foreign world had slain the great Infernal God Compassionate Soul and made him fall."
After pausing for a moment.
Sungta spoke in a deep voice. "But now, the Burrow World is the richest among the six enslaved worlds of the Infernal Spirit World. There are countless new and strange souls there. The Burrow World is extremely cold, it is the most conducive ground to train one's Infernal Spirit. There are quite a number of monsters that are at the level of the Nobles among the primitive creatures which would be good to sharpen my battle will. The effects would be a hundred times better than those ancient foreign race."
As he finished, his eyes lit up with hope.
They went into the Burrow World one thousand five hundred years ago to harvest souls. Emerging from the unimaginable hardships that were waiting for them in the world, he successfully became an Acraepoid Noble and went on to establish a kingdom of his own.
Li-er smiled reluctantly. Her eyes were filled with a thick sense of reluctance. She spoke softly, "You are the Lord of the Sungta Kingdom, you are one of the few Acraepoid Nobles that could become the new generation of infernal gods. Your will shall make those primitive foreign creatures tremble and beg under your knees. They will submit to your will and give you their very own souls."
Sungta smiled. He cuddled the beauty that was in his embrace tightly.
Half a year later.
Sungta led tens of thousands of Acraepoid warriors who had the ambition to go into the Burrow World for further training into the Darkborne Kingdom.
Another half a year later.
In the sky above the Darkborne Kingdom, a dark flame hundreds of meters in height appeared. Hundreds of millions of Acraepoids were boiling in their blood.
Cheers and screams pierced their ears.
As the high and mighty dark Infernal God performed his miracle, the space-time above the millions of Acraepoid warriors that were hovering in the sky gradually became distorted. A wormhole that connected to the Burrow World was about to be opened.
It was an unnerving moment, a time that the Acraepoids would not soon forget.
All of the Acraepoid warriors who wished to advance themselves had paid a high price to earn the chance of harvesting fresh souls and training their battle spirit in the enslaved world.
They were singing praises of the dark infernal gods as they raised their heads in expectation.
However, something happened and the world gate did not open as expected. This stunned the excited Acraepoid warriors.
Soon, a second flame that was hundreds of meters in height appeared!
"Darkborne, why did you summon me?"
The second dark flame was communicating in spiritual telepathy. He sounded unimpressed.
"Dark Destroyer, something cataclysmic had happened in the Burrow World. My soul slaves there had suddenly been reduced by more than half, they're not enough to support the opening of the world gate."
"What!"
The Dark Destroyer Infernal God had a change in his tone of voice. He panicked. "Let me try, if it's unsuccessful again we'll have to ask the First Acraepoid King to use his unsurpassed godly powers that he's been storing in the Burrow World and open up a gate instead from the Acraepoid World in reverse."
Moments later, Infernal God Dark Destroyer breathed a sigh of relief.
His soul slaves in the Burrow World too have suffered heavy casualties. But after joining forces with the Darkborne Infernal God, they could still open up the world gate, but just barely.
It seems that some cataclysmic event had really happened in the Burrow World.
The two infernal gods looked at each other and wondered if they should personally descend upon the enslaved world.
Obviously, something must have happened in the Burrow World that had caused the two infernal gods to lose a huge amount of soul slaves.
As an enslaved world that was swept and harvested every half a millennium, it is impossible for a new World Lord to be born in the primitive Burrow World.
Still, they could decide after the ritual is over.
As the two great Infernal Gods of the Acraepoid World was about to announce the official opening of the soul harvesting expedition, there was a ripple at the world gate. A giant crab pincer emerged.
On top of the brownish-red hair of the huge crab was a small, faint image of yellow sand. They were both pushed out from the world gate.
"Heeheeheehee, so, 'tis the Infernal Spirit World?"
Beneath the pale-gray mask, the little figure mumbled to himself in an eerie manner. Two flames were burning brightly from the eye sockets of his Sabbatical Goat Staff.

Chapter end