Chapter 583, Section 582: The Clever Qis (Thanks to the guild leader, Law Master)
Hungry.
I'm so hungry...!
Ever since he was caught in the white fog while fighting for the huge energy source on the ship that emitted alluring fluctuations, Keith has found himself getting hungrier and hungrier.
The food that once satisfied it can now only temporarily quell its hunger.
After the brief satisfaction fades, an even more intense sense of emptiness will surge back, tormenting its heart.
It devoured all the creatures in that pale mist, and after breaking free, hunger drove it to ravage the surrounding sea.
Schools of fish, marine mammals, and even decaying wood and rusted metal from shipwrecks.
After devouring all living and dead creatures, the hungry creature even began to gnaw on the hard rocks on the seabed, squeezing out a pitiful amount of energy.
But stones can't fill your stomach!
On the sea, those boats that exude the aroma of food are becoming increasingly rare, and recently they have disappeared altogether.
It's hungry again...
Hunger burned like fire, but it had not yet completely consumed the wisdom it so proudly possessed.
It remembers the north, its former home, which is now overrun by mushrooms and can never be returned to.
In fact, even Keith is finding it hard to withstand the current temperature there.
Keith once fantasized that it would be great if all the mushrooms had frozen to death in the north.
But soon, it discovered traces of fungal carpet on the southern shore, shattering its small hope.
Mushrooms can be found in both the north and south. Fortunately, between these two forbidden zones, there is a long stretch of "clean" coastline.
Of course, it also remembers that besides those mushrooms, there are other individuals in the world that could pose a deadly threat to it.
For example, the guy with the sword I encountered in the dungeon, and the guy I bumped into in the river to the north who drained my blood.
Therefore, even though it was driven to the brink of madness by hunger, it suppressed its instincts and did not easily set foot on land, exposing itself to the sight of those terrifying beings.
It eventually set its sights on the port.
Keith was unaware of the complex wars and occupations between races and nations on the continent, but based on his observations over time, he determined that the port was an isolated place.
Eat everything inside, then immediately retreat to the safety of the deep sea... That should sustain us for a while longer, and we won't go hungry!
But why?
Why are mushrooms appearing here?
The moment the eyeworm spotted the plop, the Heart of Qis began to tremble instinctively.
The mushroom... it really wasn't going to let it go! Even though it had escaped to such a faraway place!
It remembered that Puji had previously sailed around the nearby waters in a boat, searching for its tracks.
That time it narrowly escaped, hiding in the deepest trench, trembling with fear.
Is this... the end for me?
No! No! No!
It's different now!
Although the white mist plunged it into endless hunger, it also gave it new power!
Newer, more, and stronger worms are born from its tumor!
It roared these "progresses" in its heart, using the new energy to give itself courage to fight against the deep-rooted fear of mushrooms in its heart.
Finally, the madness driven to the extreme by hunger, mixed with humiliation and hatred, overwhelmed the instinct to retreat.
attack!
Crush it!
Devour this meat before more mushrooms arrive!
...
Not only those six-clawed insects that tore apart the mage, but also a large wave of insects of various shapes and equally terrifying speeds surged out of the broken city gate.
Their carapaces rubbed together with a teeth-grinding sound, their compound eyes flashing crimson light, as they swept towards the direction of Thirteen.
This scene, witnessed by Mengya and Chouyu, was nothing short of a catastrophe!
"Dry--!"
Mengya's scream was distorted by fright.
In desperation, the succubus grabbed the old goblin stinky fish by the back of his collar with one hand and frantically picked up number thirteen with the other, using almost all her strength to run for her life in the direction she came from!
"Why? Why don't you go eat those fleeing soldiers! Why do you have to chase us?" Mengya shouted in despair as she ran, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Shut up! Save your energy!" the stinky fish, who was being jostled around so much that he was dizzy, shouted hoarsely. At the same time, he pulled out a few round objects from the tattered leather pouch at his waist and threw them behind him without even looking at them!
Puff! Puff puff!
The sphere landed and exploded, releasing a large cloud of thick, pungent, grayish-green smoke that instantly obscured their vision, attempting to buy them some time to escape.
However, the insects did not hesitate to rush through the smoke and chase straight after them.
The Sky-Eyed Worms pinpoint their location using [Magic Perception].
The bug is inherently faster than Mengya, and the reason it hasn't been caught up yet is simply because the two were initially far apart.
But this distance is gradually being narrowed.
Thirteen didn't realize that the insects were coming for it; it thought they just wanted an extra meal.
It did notice the eye worm in the sky, treating it as the insect's eyes and ears, but being chased in the current situation, it was not easy to find an opportunity to kill the eye worm.
In fact, if these insects hadn't wanted to eat it, it would have been quite content to stay on that hillside and enjoy the destruction of the harbor.
The insects were getting closer and closer, and it looked like they were about to catch up.
In her panic, Mengya plunged into a narrow crevice between two mountains.
Behind him, the claw of the nearest insect almost snagged the rotten fish's tattered boots dangling in the air.
Beyond the crevice lay a canyon, but once inside, their hearts sank to the bottom—it was a dead end that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Once the insects break through the opening or come in from above, they're doomed!
"Uh... so this is how you die: being eaten by insects?" Mengya leaned against the cold, smooth rock wall, listening to the increasingly loud scraping sounds of carapaces outside, and despair filled her heart.
She had imagined all sorts of endings for herself: perhaps dying by a human's sword, perhaps being executed by her superior after a failed mission, or even dying of old age in some dark demon stronghold...
But being devoured by a swarm of hungry sea worms was far beyond her worst nightmare.
"Just being eaten, it's alright." Stinky Fish was much calmer.
Many of his goblin brethren ended up as rations during the battles, so being eaten by insects wasn't an unacceptable way to die.
"I haven't lived enough yet! My peak of demonic life, my glory and wealth..."
As for Thirteen, he was thinking of taking advantage of the moment when the bugs came in to eat the two guys, and then sneaking away from above.
A faint, almost negligible sound came from a narrow crack in the rock wall beside them.
Mengya and Chouyu subconsciously turned their heads and saw a small slime, about the size of a fist, slowly squeezing out of the crack in the rock.
This place... seems to be a region naturally rich in magic, where slimes are born.
Just then, the chilling noise outside the valley entrance disappeared without warning.
Have you given up?
Why?
Mengya and Chouyu exchanged bewildered glances, their faces filled with the shock and disbelief of surviving such a close call. They couldn't understand why those ferocious insects had failed at the last moment.
But their inability to understand it didn't stop them from being overwhelmed with immense joy!
"Ha...haha! Hahahaha!" Mengya suddenly jumped up, hugging Chouyu and Thirteen next to her, so excited she was incoherent, "I told you! How could I be so unlucky! Heaven hasn't forsaken me! Heaven hasn't forsaken me!! Hahahaha!"
Snap—
Squeezed in the middle, with its mushroom cap deformed, Number Thirteen unceremoniously swung its tentacles, breaking free from the uncomfortable embrace, and retreated a few steps away.
...
Meanwhile, outside the canyon.
The swarm of insects controlled by Keith is fleeing at full speed, without looking back, even faster than when they were in pursuit!
Initially, when the mushroom began to flee in a panic, Keith did feel a hunter's excitement.
The balance of power has shifted, and it seems to have gained an absolute advantage.
But the more he pursued it, the clearer a familiar feeling surged up from the depths of his memory.
In every encounter with the mushroom, wasn't it just when victory seemed within reach that I suddenly fell into a deadly trap?
When the little creature finally panicked and scrambled into a dead end surrounded by sheer cliffs, Keith's vigilance instantly soared to its peak!
It's a trap!
Without hesitation, it commanded an eye worm to push its [Magic Perception] to its limit, risking death from overuse of its eyes, and to penetrate the thick rock layers, sweeping into the interior of the valley.
The feedback sent a jolt through Qi Si's heart.
Beyond the rock strata, there were countless clusters of magic energy!
A trap! It was definitely a trap!
Without hesitation, Keith decisively ordered the insects to flee back.
At the same time, an indescribable sense of pride, mixed with lingering fear, arose in its consciousness.
This time... it finally saw through the mushroom's trick! It pulled back from the brink at the last moment before falling into the trap!
Although it failed to kill the scout Poogi, its main swarm was unharmed.
More importantly, the mushroom played this chase game with it for so long in order to lure it into the trap.
Meanwhile, the other insects it left in the port ruins were not idle; they had been gathering as much food as possible.
The original plan was to completely wipe out the port, but now it seems unwise to risk fighting with mushrooms that might be lurking in the side just for the last bit of remnant hiding in a corner.
After all the pursuing insect swarms returned, Keith showed no hesitation and decisively ordered all units to retreat back into the sea.
Behind them, only the port, billowing with thick smoke, remained burning in the flames.
This time, the satisfaction of outmaneuvering the mushrooms in terms of strategy brought even more satisfaction to Qisi's hungry heart than obtaining this emergency food!
One day, the mushroom will be defeated by its own strength and wisdom!
(End of this chapter)
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