The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend
Chapter 36 - Locust Plague

Chapter 36 - Locust Plague

As Han Wu was lost in thought, a large row of words appeared before his eyes.

[Challengers, please summon your units. The match will begin in three minutes.]

Han Wu’s gaze finally settled on his opponent for the first time. His opponent presented a small, dark-skinned figure with a slouching posture, emitting eerie chuckles which somehow resembled the squeaking of a rat.

“Kekeke, you cheeky little brat. Though I can’t read your information, I’m certain you are a newbie. Don’t worry, I take very good care of newbies. This match will end very soon.”

With those words, Rat Guy summoned his units, and true to his name, almost 300 million Ratmen, half a meter tall, stormed out from his gate.

“This must be the first time you’ve seen so many units, right? Kekeke, since you're most likely afraid, just give up now. Just surrender once I’ve killed all of your units, and I will probably let you go, kekeke.”

Rat Guy chuckled, his face betraying his malicious intent.

Han Wu smiled wryly, immediately summoning his units in retaliation. A locust swarm burst out from his gate, covering the very skies. The sheer number of locusts stunned not just Rat Guy, but the spectators as well. It seemed the guy named after a pest had been upstaged by actual pests!

A wave of surprised chatter and frantic whispers spread through the audience.

“What are those? Are those locusts? Can they even fight?”

“Wait, those are Elite locusts. Interesting...”

“In a battle involving such vast numbers, who would win: the rats or the locusts?”

Rat Guy stood frozen in disbelief. He had really thought having more rats was a foolproof strategy which would secure him an automatic win against this newbie. His “unstoppable horde” could no longer be called that—his opponent’s units had outnumbered his, after all. However, what did it matter? They were ultimately just locusts.

“Kekeke, to think that locusts are your core race. What a shame. Rest assured, I’m a rat of my word. Once I'm done devouring your entire locust swarm, I’ll definitely let you go!”

How could these locusts possibly pose a threat? They are nothing but moving targets! Kekeke, this is my lucky day! I'll crush them and win effortlessly, Rat Guy thought.

The timer ran out, and the match officially commenced.

With practiced motions, the Ratmen drew their crossbows in unison which they had concealed behind their backs, meticulously aimed and unleashed a volley of bolts at the swarm. However, before the 300 million arrows could hit the locusts, Han Wu’s Abyss Bugs launched forward and overtook the locusts, establishing themselves as the vanguard.

The Abyss Bugs’ thick exoskeleton combined with their massive frame created an effective shield, effortlessly protecting the locusts from the incoming bolts. A few bolts did manage to penetrate the Abyss Bugs' armor, but the greater portion were deflected by the sheer strength of their thick exoskeletons. By implementing this tactic, the locust army sustained only minimal losses during the initial barrage of crossbow bolts.

The Ratmen, their anger fueled, intensified their assault and rapidly reloaded. However, before they could fire again, Han Wu ordered his Dark Curse Bugs to attack. The Dark Curse Bugs melded into the shadows and stealthily appeared behind the Ratmen, afflicting them with numerous status ailments like Slow, Enfeeble, and Blind. The impact was widespread, affecting almost all the Ratmen, leaving none of them able to reload their crossbows in time.

Han Wu continued to order his locusts to attack, sending out the Heavenly Demon Insects first. “Heavenly Demon Insects, charge!”

A wave of Heavenly Demon Insects surged forward, bypassing the Abyss Bugs, and plummeted towards the Ratmen, impaling them with their sharp horns. A significant number of Ratmen were instantly killed, impaled by the Heavenly Demon Insects, but those who endured the first wave were far from safe. Due to the effects of the Rank 1 Sacred Object Poison Orb, the Heavenly Demon Insects were now venomous, their attacks laced with poison! The venom hit like liquid fire, streaking into their veins and liquifying their internal organs, leading to rapid organ failure and death within a mere five seconds.

Only 20 seconds had elapsed, and yet Rat Guy had sustained devastating losses, his grand army completely ruined. In stark contrast, Han Wu’s forces retained an astonishing 99.99% while Rat Guy's had dwindled to a dismal 42.73%. The stark contrast in power was instantly apparent. The gap wasn’t a margin—it was a massacre.

“No, it can’t be!” Rat Guy shrieked in denial, vehemently rejecting the reality before him and unable to comprehend the swift decimation of his Ratmen army, a force he had invested heavily in! Meanwhile, across the arena, the locusts persisted in their relentless assault, their mandibles tearing through flesh like it was paper.

Rat Guy's momentary lapse in action allowed his already dwindling forces to be further reduced, leaving only 31.45% of his army standing. Quickly snapping out of his daze, Rat Guy urgently declared, “I surrender!”

He had revelled in the destruction of his adversaries' prized units, but now karma's retribution was upon him, and he was the one watching his own forces crumble.

Once Rat Guy conceded the match, a barrier descended, preventing further combat. Ultimately, he was only able to recover a mere 31% of his units to his divine realm.

After his locusts returned to his divine realm, Han Wu's gaze fell upon the numerous Ratmen corpses. He considered summoning his Skeleton Knight to raise additional skeletons from the fallen bodies.

Unfortunately, Han Wu's plan was thwarted by the sudden appearance of a massive array on the arena floor. While it shared a resemblance to his Sacrifice array, this one possessed a significantly more potent pattern. The array absorbed the Ratmen's corpses and transformed them into a core fragment, which was presented to Han Wu as the reward for his victory.

Han Wu was confused when he left the arena, since he'd never seen a technique like his Sacrifice before.

Tian Wen approached him, happily patting his back. “Great job, Han Wu! I believed in you from the start. I’ve won a lot of Divine Points for betting against Rat Guy. Since you retained most of your units, do you want to challenge another opponent? You get to win 10% more core fragments with each consecutive victory.”

Han Wu nodded the moment he heard he could get extra core fragments. “Then let’s continue. It seems I need to train my units even more.”

Ten minutes after his request, Han Wu was paired with an opponent. He secured a swift victory in that match and, after a half-hour interval, commenced another battle.

***

After 32 days of continuous combat, Han Wu narrowly secured his 184th victory, but only by resorting to the desperate measure of self-detonating 100 million Heavenly Demon Insects to eliminate his opponent’s units. The crowd erupted in cheers, chanting the name Locust Plague, a title they had unanimously adopted for him.

This also marked his 89th consecutive win, increasing his reward to 8.9 times the standard core fragment payout per match. However, he found himself needing to use an increasingly larger quantity of core fragments each time he wanted to advance his core level. Increasing his Core from level 5 to level 6 had cost him 69 core fragments, and after absorbing the remaining core fragments he had won, it increased to level 7. However, he required significantly more core fragments to increase his core level to level 8.

Han Wu sighed to himself, “It’s becoming harder to develop my Core.”

Tian Wen asked, “Hey, my lucky star, what’s making you sigh?”

Over the course of 187 matches, Tian Wen had faithfully bet on Han Wu. With Han Wu only losing three times, Tian Wen had amassed a substantial amount of Divine Points. It was no exaggeration to say that Tian Wen now perceived Han Wu as a walking treasure trove.

“I’m lamenting the fact that it's taking forever to level up my core,” Han Wu explained.

Tian Wen responded, “Why don’t you try challenging a Demigod instead? You should be strong enough right now.”

Han Wu hadn’t thought of that possibility. “Will I get more rewards if I win against a Demigod?”

Tian Wen replied, “Expect roughly ten times your current reward. In the event that you are able to defeat a Demigod in your next match, your core fragment reward will be multiplied from 9 to 90.”

Upon hearing this, Han Wu immediately agreed—he still had close to 4 billion locusts in his divine realm, after all. It was a good chance for him to test his limits and possibly earn even more core fragments.