"Even better than what I thought." Lian muttered to himself.
Maybe they really could reach the tribe within a few hours!
Sometimes One would jump over a rotten trunk, and upon landing, its entire body would drop for a moment, but its six legs would distribute the impact among themselves.
Ravian constantly pointed out the direction.
"Right side. After that root, take the path upward."
Lian transmitted the command.
One obeyed without pausing.
After a while, they reached a massive root whose surface was spread out like a complete floor.
A long crack ran through the middle of the root, and clear water was flowing in it.
For them, the crack looked more like a narrow river than a split in the wood.
The water flowed down the slope at high speed and had formed deep pools in some places.
Fish-like creatures were moving in the water.
Their bodies looked small, but each was almost the size of a dog. They had transparent fins and their round mouths were full of tiny teeth.
Lian glanced at them briefly. These were the largest fish he had ever seen with his own eyes.
The problem was that these were literally not monsters, just normal fish, and yet they had such massive size.
This made him curious whether the gigantism of everything in this forest was natural, or the result of some kind of mutation or external intervention.
At first glance it seemed foolish, but the natural and logical explanation was that there must be a reason behind everything, just like this forest.
There had to be some reason why everything was gigantic.
"Go from that edge. The middle is deep." Ravian pointed to a narrow section beside the river.
One changed its path.
Its left legs landed on the dry part of the root, and its right legs dipped into the water several times.
The fish-like creatures immediately moved toward the movement. One of them jumped out of the water and snapped its jaw at One’s leg.
The Heavy Carapace shell prevented the teeth from penetrating.
One shook its leg.
The creature fell back into the water, and the current carried it away.
Nemi looked down at the river from above.
"Even the fish here want to eat you, is there anything in this forest that doesn’t?" Lian said.
In this forest, practically all living things were omnivorous. The food chain and the structure of the forest creatures made him wonder how the creatures of this forest had not gone extinct yet?
In any ecosystem, there had to be some kind of balance, but here all he saw were predators, predators that hunted weaker predators.
No one answered, because they had no answer to give.
For them, this situation was completely normal, after all, they had grown up here.
A few kilometers ahead, One suddenly stopped, its six legs locked on the ground at the same time.
Hive Link sent a faint warning to Lian’s mind.
A heavy and approaching vibration.
"Don’t move." Lian immediately raised his hand.
Ravian looked at the ground. A few seconds later, he himself felt the vibration too.
From a distance, the sound of breaking branches and heavy footsteps was heard.
One changed its path toward a large piece of bark that had separated from the tree trunk.
The bark was curved like a roof over the ground, and the space beneath it seemed enough for the ant to hide.
Everyone stayed low.
One pulled itself under the bark and pressed its body to the ground.
A few moments later, the massive creature appeared. Only its legs were visible from under the bark’s gap.
It had green and gray skin, and curved claws protruded from the tips of each toe.
The identification panel appeared for a moment.
[Stonehide Root Strider]
[Level: 31]
Every step shook the ground. One of its feet landed only a few meters away, and the impact made the bark above them tremble and soil fall from the ceiling onto them.
Nemi held her breath. Sera placed her hand on her shoulder.
Even One, with its elephant-sized body, was nothing more than an insect next to that creature.
The Stonehide Root Strider passed by without noticing them.
Its heavy tail dragged over the moss and uprooted a massive bush, and the sound of its footsteps slowly faded away.
Lian waited a few moments, then through Hive Link made sure the vibrations had weakened.
He gave the command to move.
One came out from under the bark and the journey continued.
About an hour later, a shadow suddenly passed over their heads.
One reacted before anyone else.
Vibration Detection this time was not from the ground, but the change in air pressure and the faint trembling of the leaves had given the warning.
A massive dragonfly was descending through the mist.
Its body was over ten meters long, and its four transparent wings moved at such speed that they created a roaring sound.
Its multi-segmented eyes fixed on One. Compared to the aerial predator, the ant seemed like suitable prey.
Lian immediately spotted the path of a large leaf that was bent on the ground and sent a quick command.
Take cover.
One Dashed toward the leaf without delay. Its legs pounded on the soil, and its massive body slid under the leaf’s shadow.
At that same moment, the dragonfly passed over their heads. The wind from its wings violently shook the leaf.
Nemi almost separated from One’s back, but Sera grabbed the rope around her waist.
The dragonfly circled in the sky once and hovered above the leaf for a few moments.
But One remained still. Lian kept its presence calm through Hive Link. Finally, the aerial predator lost interest and disappeared into the columns of mist.
"On foot, we couldn’t have escaped from that." Ravian let out his breath.
He looked at One with gratitude, the monster that he had been afraid of, he now understood what a great blessing it was.
He was even slowly coming to the conclusion that he wished their tribe could also tame such monsters.
At that time, their tribe could become the strongest among all the forest tribes! But unfortunately, such a thing was only a dream, and they did not have such an ability...