KRRRR-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!
Ten light-minutes away from Orbit Pier #1, the mile-wide iron gates of the Forbidden Breeding Moon swung wide open, and a black cloud of pure terror boiled out of the crater into the starry sky.
It was a swarm of ten billion Star-Devouring Locusts.
Unlike normal mortal grasshoppers that could fit in a child’s hand, every single one of these cosmic pests was the size of a heavy iron ox-cart! Their bodies were covered in dark green, metallic chitin shells at the Rank 6 (Golden Core) and Rank 7 (Nascent Soul) realms. Four razor-sharp steel wings buzzed on their backs fast enough to slice through asteroid rock, and their front jaws looked like a pair of jagged iron wood-saws stained with dried black blood.
Standing atop a stone watchtower on the breeding moon, First Grand Elder Chong Wu waved his bone staff, which was smeared with a pungent red paste made from fermented Golden Nebula Rice scent that his spies had recorded.
“Smell that, my hungry beauties?!” Grand Elder Chong Wu cackled, his sunken eyes gleaming as the ten billion car-sized locusts went into a feeding frenzy at the scent on his staff. “Ten thousand square miles of fresh, juicy Rank 8 spirit rice and fat meat-potatoes are sitting right over at Orbit Pier #1! Go! Eat every single stalk! Eat the wooden pier, eat their yellow train tracks, and chew up anyone who tries to stop you!”
