"Nutritional supplentation activities...?" Hero repeated the term used by Hunting Knowledge, his voice tinged with hesitation.
"Yes, prey on the hunted to supplent nutrients."
"But if this is a Sanctuary, then the prey you ntioned..." Hero’s expression suddenly turned solemn, realizing a cruel truth.
"It’s likely to be Humankind." Hunting Knowledge without any hesitation turned Hero’s guess into certainty.
This was not sothing difficult to guess.
The Sanctuary located at the center of the city, and the young scorpions of Devouring Curse Demon would go directly from this hidden passage to the "outside world"——and this so-called outside world, other than the cities and tribes inhabited by humans, what else could it be?
As for the so-called "prey" and "nutrition," other than the humans residing in the city, being "sheltered" by a Great Demon, what else could it be?
Kingdom Church believes that there is no true god in this world, so this ancient Curse Sanctuary is fundantally a lair of Magic Creatures.
And those sheltered humans are, in fact, nothing more than dosticated livestock.
"As we know, Devouring Curse Demon feeds on curses, which are a conglorate of curses, and also possess a trait that is quite rare among high-level demons—a strong asexual reproduction ability."
In the deep underground ruins, Hunting Knowledge turned the pages, narrating about the Demon Scorpion’s records.
"As everyone knows, the stronger the magical power of a creature, the lower their reproduction rate, a pattern that applies to all powerful life forms, including Elental Life without a biological form. The more powerful they are, the less likely they are to leave inheritors with similar elental structures.
"This is determined by the stacked nature of magic power. The more powerful the magic power, the more complex its structure. Reproduction is like stacking blocks; the higher the stack, the more likely it is to collapse midway."
Hunting Knowledge continued to explain: "From this perspective, humans chose not to compress the stack structure of magic power but to build a physiological foundation of magic power, ensuring both the number of their race and providing possibilities for individual postnatal growth. This evolution direction is indeed a wise choice."
Hero thought of the Snow Woman Clan, which had only about a dozen people and was even smaller than a small village, and couldn’t help but nod.
Although Hunting Knowledge’s lecture was sowhat abrupt, she didn’t interrupt its explanation, having prepared to stay underground for several days without hurry. Besides, understanding more about Devouring Curse Demon may aid in the upcoming battle.
"So, what do you an by the asexual reproduction of Devouring Curse Demon?" Seeing Hunting Knowledge pause, she initiated the question.
The sound of flipping pages rose again, promptly responding to Hero’s eagerness to learn.
"This is because Devouring Curse Demons have a similar evolutionary direction to humans; they are not born carrying nurous and intense curses, but grow into Devouring Curse Demons through mutual devouring and fighting in their later lives.
"The young scorpions produced by Devouring Curse Demon, although nurous, are only slightly stronger than adult goblins and carry very weak curses.
"However, these young scorpions will instinctively head toward intelligent beings—human settlents—and spread curses in various ways, causing diseases, creating accidents, provoking negative emotions among humans, leading people to curse each other and cause mutual harm.
"They will actualize people’s curses, eventually feasting on both the cursed and the curse casters... this is their thod of growth."
Hero involuntarily held his breath upon hearing this.
The city "sheltered" by such Magic Creatures, she dared not even imagine, nor could she fathom what kind of life the people there led.
"Next, the grown young scorpions will again gather instinctively, curse each other, and hunt and devour their own kind... the young scorpions that survive this competition beco conglorates of concentrated curses, eventually growing into new Devouring Curse Demons."
Hunting Knowledge paused again, allowing Hero to digest the information before turning the next page.
"However, if this place is ruled by a Devouring Curse Demon, the young scorpions it bore would likely beco its food again after growing up.
"In other words, this passage serves both as a birth canal and as a feeding tunnel; the newborn young scorpions go out from here, drag their prey back here to eat and grow, and after growing up, they are then devoured by the Mother Scorpion, and their remains beco supplentary food for the next generation of young scorpions before they acquire hunting capabilities.
"After the city’s destruction and the Sanctuary’s sinking, what’s left here are only human remains, young scorpion residues, which continue to decay over the long years, forming what you see here.
"The abandoned Hell... For you humans, this Sanctuary is probably such a place."
[Witch Demon Scorpion (Devouring Curse Demon) R2~7]
A Poison Scorpion with the ability to devour curses, its favorite food is its own kind.
Although the reproduction capability is not weak, the numbers are extrely rare.
[Tainted Path (D2 30)]
2d100 30 46=d100(41) d100(25) 30 46=142
→☆→☆→☆→✧←★←★←★←
After listening to the lecture on Hunting Knowledge, the expression on Hero’s face as he looked at that room again could no longer be described as rely ugly.
It was not only because of the weighty history from the distant past, but also because of the difficult choices he was about to face.
"Do I really have to walk through here..."
The sticky, fetid filth overflowed from every crevice, emitting a tangible, dense miasma that delivered a dual shock to both body and mind.
The room outside the hidden passage was already like this; what about inside?
The black cat he held in his arms tightly closed its eyes, its fur standing on end like needles, yet its paws clung desperately to Hero’s arm, evidently very unwilling to be put down.
"Although it is indeed difficult for humans to endure, I still need to remind you, since this place is the birthing canal of the Devouring Curse Demon, it can be confird that inside indeed leads directly to the ultimate destination."
Hunting Knowledge calmly finished stating this, then said no more, quietly waiting for Hero to make a decision.
Although the miasma was not just an assault on the sense of sll and sight, it seed to be no stress for him, after all, he is a Conceptual Elent.
"Your Majesty, what should we do?"
As an Elental Life, Gleaming Scale Serpent was similarly not greatly affected, but asked Hero with so concern.
Hero remained silent for a few seconds, then managed a strained smile:
"Hunting Knowledge is right, if this place really is the passage of the Devouring Curse Demon... there would not have been traps or barriers set up initially. So much ti has passed, there probably aren’t other dangers inside anymore."
Recalling the battle with the Goblin Hive, Hero felt more confident in his own resilience.
This place has been abandoned for so long, surely it can’t be worse than the Goblins, right?
Convincing himself, Hero did not dare to breathe deeply, only put on a determined expression.
"Alright, let us set off!"
Instantly, the light breeze swirling around her intensified, the necklace Wind Moon Night diligently fulfilled its role as equipnt, cleansing the incoming filth outside the protection of the Demon-locking Ring.
[Hero’s Protection (D Constitution, Demon-locking Ring 30, in Negative Energy Environnt, effect of Wind Moon Night’s Steel Wind Blessing 40*2)]
D127 30 80=d127(90) 110=200
[Protection 200>Taint 142, Hero was not hard]
[Nausea Level (100=Goblin, Extre Failure 30, determines the ntal state of Hero after completing the walk)]
D100 30=d100(32) 30=62
[Hero’s Exploration (Perception 98, Global D2 30, Hidden Passage 30)]
2d98 60=d98(40) d98(41) 60=141
[Deep Environnt of Curse Temple]
D100 46=d100(37) 46=83
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