585: Chapter 52: thods to Avoid Bugs_1 585: Chapter 52: thods to Avoid Bugs_1 The underground fissures in the Earth’s Scar, rather than being a re cave, were comparable to a massive world hidden underground.
Even if we only considered the first eight layers that had been mostly explored by enthusiastic explorers, the total area covered was almost a quarter of the Yarran Continent’s surface area.
And that was rely half, or perhaps even a third, of the entire Underground World.
If Ike’s supposition was correct, that each subsequent layer of the Underground World was larger than the last, then the combined area of all seventeen or even twenty-one layers exceeded the surface area of the Yarran Continent itself.
Finding a research facility spanning a few square kiloters in such an imnse underground system was no easy task.
Despite having a general range of about fifty square kiloters, the total figure for each layer was likely close to a thousand square kiloters.
These fifty square kiloters were not uniformly flat, but an interconnected labyrinth within the Underground World.
Possibly, missing a single path could result in forever missing the chance to find the research facility.
“Mr.
Ike, I have a question,” Catherine asked, panting.
“If we encounter another situation where beasts block the only route, do we have any other options except facing them head-on or killing them?”
Here on the fourth underground layer, the group had just descended from the third layer fissure when they saw a five-ter-long beetle blocking the only passage.
The beetle – a pitch-black creature with a shiny thick shell, long antennae, and stout powerful legs covered in barbs supporting its body – had eight sharp teeth that co together in the middle from both sides, forming a fearso oral apparatus.
The girls watched it chomp through a hard rock to consu smaller bugs hiding behind it.
Such a mouthpiece could effortlessly bite the head off any legendary rank professional, even if shielded, they couldn’t help but question whether it could withstand the beetle’s bite force.
Worse still, as soon as it noticed the adventure team mbers, it abandoned its prey, turned to face the group, unfurled wings hidden below its shell, and started to fly in place.
As it buzzed and dove at the girls, the tunnel ward noticeably, by about five degrees.
The sudden rise in temperature led them to mistakenly consider the creature a fire-attribute magical beast.
Unfortunately, it was not a fire-attribute but a physically enhanced beast.
Despite possessing no magic, the power concentrated in its jaws was absurdly strong.
This was the first real fight since the group had descended into the Earth’s Scar.
Against a legendary-rank opponent, the girls felt helpless.
The giant beetle’s shell was incredibly hard, clanging like solid tal when struck.
Catherine had tried hacking at the creature’s shell, but instead of leaving even a scratch on its glossy black armor, she seed only to have provoked it further, raising its speed.
Catherine hadn’t used aggression while hacking but even a blow from a legendary-rank knight strong enough to split a block of marble in half had left the beetle’s shell unscathed, a testant to its hardness.
To gauge the opponent’s strength, Catherine turned down help from the others and battled the beetle alone for five minutes, nearly getting injured by its wing edge.
The beetle’s wing tips were not smooth but lined with fine serrations, difficult to notice unless you paid close attention.
Fortunately, Catherine had sensed the danger as its wings moved towards her and activated an Aggression Shield to avoid severe injury.
It was only after five minutes of combat that she eventually found an opportunity to slit the creature’s soft underbelly, ending its life.
But, this victory ca at a price.
As she stood beneath the beetle slicing open its belly, green bug fluid sprayed all over her body, soaking her in stinky sli and filling the area with a dreadful sll.
“Vivian, help out,” Catherine asked with a pained expression.
Vivian held back her laughter, conjured a water orb, and started to wash Catherine as if bathing her, patiently rinsing out every bit of the filthy muck from her armor.
“Most of the ti, we can choose to detour,” Ike explained.
“Many paths here are interconnected.
In situations where a path is blocked, taking a detour would typically be the easiest solution.
However, just like the situation earlier, a detour would an retreating to the third layer, taking a large detour, and re-entering the fourth layer.
This would consu a lot of ti.
Hence, in such cases, it might be better to choose to kill or drive these creatures away.”
“Alright, understood,” Catherine nodded, speaking to her teammates, “You guys saw the enemy’s fighting strength.
If this beetle could uphold a hunter position on the fourth underground layer, it signifies that most magical beasts have comparable strength.
So, if we encounter a situation where we must fight, we all join in and eliminate the enemy as quickly as possible.”
“No problem.
If we all join in, we should be able to kill the magical beasts as quickly as possible,” Lina agreed.
“But I noticed sothing strange.
Ever since we descended to the Underground World, we have predominantly encountered large bugs.
We haven’t encountered a single normal-looking magical beast.
Mr.
Ike, do you know why that is?”
“Didn’t I ntion it to you guys?” Ike widened his eyes, recalled, and realized he hadn’t ntioned it.
He sheepishly scratched his head, “From the seventh layer and below, it’s difficult to find traces of these big bugs.
But before the seventh layer, the Underground World is basically dominated by these creatures.
You could say that this is their kingdom.”
“So, we’ve unintentionally stumbled into a bug’s nest?” lanted Lina.
“I was wondering if there was any way to reduce the probability of us being detected by these bugs.
On the third layer, we’ve faced at least four situations where we had to race against these bugs.
If it weren’t for Pannis’s broad sensing range allowing us to avoid the hunting grounds of these bugs, we might already be engaged in battle.
If there are other thods, such as turning off the lights to reduce our chances of being detected, we might have an easier ti traveling.”
“To correct you, we didn’t carelessly barge in, but rather, cautiously and ticulously ventured into the insect hole.” Pannis sardonically corrected, “Also, are you, like Freya, not a fan of insects?”
“How many normal girls would like a swarm of insects, particularly grotesque ones of this size?” Lina rolled her eyes, muttering complaints, and then suddenly addressed Freya, “Don’t get wrong, dummy.
I just thought of this problem because I also hate insects, not because of you.”
“Regardless of your reasons, I’m afraid you’re bound to be disappointed.” Pannis shrugged, switched off his shoulder lamp, sidestepped a few steps away from the team’s light, and said regretfully in the dark, “The intensity of light has a very minimal effect on insects, but quite a significant effect on us.
After all, most insects have a darker vision which is stronger than Ike’s.
Advancing in the dark without light will only give the insects more opportunities to attack us.”
“Tch, what a pity.” Lina pouted and shook her head, “It looks like we have no choice but to proceed amidst the insects.”
“It’s not that exaggerated actually,” Ike explained, “The insects here have a characteristic.
They don’t swarm or herd together, preferring instead to live individually.
It might have sothing to do with their size.
After all, with their large size, if they gathered in swarms, they would likely consu the fauna of a region in the blink of an eye.”
“Not only that,” Pannis added, “The existence of insect swarms is primarily because individual insects are too weak; they swarm for self-protection and easier foraging.
Now that they don’t have this problem, naturally there’s no need for them to live in colonies.
Hence, as you’ve seen earlier on the road, most insects live alone, at most in pairs or trios.
Sotis, they even stay alert to their own kind to avoid hunting each other.
However, the effect you want might not be impossible to achieve.”
“Huh?” Both Freya and Lina paused, barely resisting stopping in their tracks, “Is there a way to make the insects avoid us instinctively?”
“There indeed is a way.” Pannis produced a bottle from his pocket with a mysterious expression, “The best thod is this particular item.”
“That?
Isn’t that the sli from the beetle you just collected from the one our big sister killed?” Lina asked puzzled, “It looks disgusting, what are you planning to do with it?”
“Among insects, there often exist strange senses, even across great distances, likely so can sensitively find others.” Pannis explained, “So people have surmised that their bodily fluids carry so strange signal that can be broadcast far and wide.
Ike and I checked earlier, this type of beetle is one of the dominant ones on this level, if we sar this fluid onto us, even just a little, the other insects would mistake us for the beetles and will mostly stay far away.”
“Hold on with your discussion.” The voices of Catherine and Ike emanated from ahead, “You’d better co and take a look.” (To be continued.
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