Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 814: Urek’s Prank

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“I knew it…good thing I’m here.” Gibson sighed as he browsed reports from his office at the Dimensional Frontier.

The Bug Empress coming here to see what humans were doing in person was within his expectations. In fact, it’d be weird if she didn’t come. He did something huge, after all. And she, being wary of humans, would want to know what’s up.

The Hive Mind allows her to know what’s happening, but she can’t see it the way her children see it. The simple-minded bugs won’t be able to accurately describe what they’re seeing or experiencing, so she needs someone more intelligent to report to her or see it herself.

“It’s a pity that none of the shots hit her.” Gibson then shook his head. “Well, she wouldn’t be the Bug Empress if my big guns could kill her that easily.”

He didn’t dwell too much on the missed opportunity. He wasn’t expecting much to begin with. The fact that the railguns he installed were enough to scare her away from the dimensional gap was already sufficient.

Their threat gives humans more time, more breathing room, and more space to develop. And Gibson planned on exploiting every second of it.

“Having clones sure is awesome, though. Heavens bless humans for giving birth to that kid.” Gibson sighed in awe.

Now that he had clones working in tandem, Gibson was convinced that he couldn’t live without them anymore.

Their use truly goes beyond convenience. It allowed him to do so much by having them. He couldn’t imagine going here, doing all of this while also doing his actual job as a councillor, and being expected to continue comprehending Origin Laws all at the same time.

There’s just not enough hours in a day for him to do all three at the same time. Especially since each task requires some serious focus.

That’s why this Divine Cloning Art—as they now call it—was truly godsent. It helped them free up so much time, allowing them to extend their reach and do more than just sit in their office and stamp papers all day long.

Beep!

“Yo, Gibby! I saw those railguns firing! Did she come?” Urek called, asking this question.

Urek had been roaming the void outside the Dimensional Gap, pranking the scattered nests of the Horde outside, slowing them down. It’s because of him that the reinforcements had been delayed without the Bug Empress knowing. He’s just that good.

“Yeah, she did,” Gibson replied. “The railguns did their thing, scared her off real good. Be careful and don’t blow your cover. We can’t let her know that we’re this free to move around.”

“I know, I know. Don’t worry. When it comes to disguises, even she couldn’t see through me.”

Urek sounded confident, and he had every right to be. His skill in disguises had been proven many times in the past.

Just so you know, even the Bug Empress wasn’t immune to Urek’s pranks and ambushes. Out of all five councillors, he has the highest success rate in catching her off guard, and nobody comes close.

And now that he’s equipped with the Divine Cloning Art? Oh, the Horde was about to be in so much trouble.

**

After disconnecting the call, Urek slipped into the cracks of reality.

The areas outside of the Dimensional Gap were unstable and chaotic. The environment was harsh and hostile to all life. Only the strong can survive out here; that’s why anything that could roam this place were creatures that cannot be underestimated.

Because of the environment, Urek could easily slip through the gaps of reality itself. This place was so chaotic that space, time, and reality itself could fracture at any given moment.

Typically, shuttling through spacetime and reality was a dangerous move, especially out where everything was so fragile and volatile. But Urek wasn’t your typical Life Evolver who was accidentally thrown out here. No, he voluntarily went out here all for the sake of pranking the bugs.

Urek’s specialty was illusions. He is capable of breaching the line between what’s real and what’s not through this. He can weave ultrarealistic illusions that could imprison someone in their own mind willingly.

Through his illusions, he could effortlessly breach your memory bank and learn everything about you; he could also freely rewrite your memories as he pleased, he could alter your skills, and he could even mess with your concept of law comprehension if he’s given the chance.

He could alter somebody completely from inside out and vice versa if he really wanted to. That’s how dangerous he is.

And his power isn’t just limited to living beings. His illusions are so strong that he could even convince reality itself of his ideas.

One time when he was visiting a planet, he experienced how harsh and cruel that climate was. He then thought that such a harsh and cruel climate doesn’t fit a planet like this. He thought that the weather should be nice—sunny with clear skies and large puffy clouds, maybe some occasional rainstorms every now and then.

That was just a stray thought of his. But because he was too powerful, a sliver of his intent leaked out and permanently altered the climate of that entire planet.

This was just an example…a weak and modest example of what he could actually do.

And so, while it’s dangerous for others to jump into the cracks of reality and travel through them, for Urek, it is not.

He could convince reality that he’s part of them, that they’re one and the same, preventing it from ever hurting him. He doesn’t have to bend reality to his will; he could just make it believe that it’s looking at its own reflection.

And with its protection, Urek can freely travel without being seen. Unless they have some overpowered ability or artifact that allows them to see through anomalies, Urek will remain unseen unless he decides to reveal himself.

**

Urek shuttled through the spaces between reality like a fish swimming in the sea.

He passed through many spatial storms, unstable realms, fractured realities, and so on. He saw many stray creatures who are doing their best to survive out here.

But they’re not his target.

Urek doesn’t plan on making things difficult for these creatures; being out here is already a cruel fate for them.

Instead, he was searching for horde nests. Preferably ones near the dimensional gap of the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm.

He had already discovered some earlier, but those had been dismantled due to Gibson’s actions in the dimensional frontier. They most likely retreated or changed locations based on the orders of the Bug Empress, so Urek has to find them again.

Urek didn’t plan on destroying the nest themselves. That would alarm the hive mind, so he wouldn’t do that.

What he will do, instead, is to drive them nuts, slowly but surely.

The brains of bugs were surprisingly defenseless. It’s practically inviting Urek to come and mess with them. It couldn’t be helped; not all bugs can have everything. The Supreme Will doesn’t permit it.

But pouncing on every opportunity to directly mess with the bugs was a stupid move too. Again, any immediate inconsistencies in their performance will alarm the hive and send the Bug Empress after his trail. And that’s not something he could risk.

Especially since she’s probably still nearby. Gibson’s railgun just scared her off the Heavenly Star’s Dimensional Gao, after all.

So, to truly achieve what he wants, he had to start simple first. Pranks.

’Oh! My victims are here.’ Urek smiled mischievously to himself, rubbing his palms in excitement.

He finally located a nest. A medium-sized one with at least 10 billion bugs within.

From what he could tell, this nest was new. He could see hints all over the place. And they must’ve formed after a combination of two or more nests that reshuffled after the incident on the frontier.

Without leaving his cover, Urek stared at the nest. He was practically standing in the middle of the nest, but no bug ever saw or sensed him. They’re all moving in the same manner as before.

Urek then walked near the common bugs—laborers that are tasked with building the nest. They were his first victims.

They were simple-minded bugs, dumb and only following orders. They don’t tire and become food for other bugs once they don’t have any use anymore.

Urek started with one. He made it believe that it’s feeling sick. And the results were immediate. The worker bug began feeling lethargic. Its movement is slowing down, and its energy is dropping slightly.

Its bug companion noticed, and they too believed that this one was sick, further intensifying the belief. It spreads until everybody’s convinced of this, and it becomes the truth.

Once the situation came this far, Urek escalated his tricks.

He made the symptoms worse with vomiting, uncontrollable bowel movements, and erratic behavior.

Once the chaos started brewing, he whispered to another bug that this one might be infectious and therefore must be isolated.

He then ’infected’ another bug with this ’illness’ to strengthen that belief.

Because of this, more and more bugs were starting to notice…