Chapter 1157: Real Body
When it was wounded, the centipede-like monster fully revealed its vicious nature. Its body jerked around intensely, causing the ground to undulate like ocean waves. The cave opening also began to rock back and forth, cracks appearing all over the ceiling. Sandy soil crumbled downward, making it seem as if the place might cave in at any time.
Because of the centipede’s strange, frenzied movements, Yu Yanluo couldn't even hold on anymore and was flung away. However, Zu An seized the opportunity to summon the Poisonous Prick, stabbing it into the monster.
The shell surrounding the strange bug seemed as tough as armor. The fact that Paper Bride’s attacks had only produced some sparks proved that. But even the toughest shell couldn't stop the sharp edge of the Poisonous Prick, which sliced through it like tofu.
The centipede had been unleashing world-shaking movements mere moments before, but a second later, it twitched and its entire body went limp, falling to the ground.
Kong Qing was shocked. He knew that even though his attack had been able to wound the monster, it hadn’t done enough to seriously injure the creature, let alone take its life. Just how had that kid Zu An accomplished such a feat?
Suddenly, a miserable scream rang out. Those present turned their heads and saw that the dark elf had tried to use the opportunity to run. However, after he reached the entrance, another strange bug had suddenly come out of the walls and bitten down on him.
Even though that all took a long time to describe, in reality, from the moment the first bug had attacked Zu An and Yu Yanluo to the moment Zu An had killed it with his Poisonous Prick, only a few breaths of time had passed. Meanwhile, the dark elf had been running carefully toward the entrance, just happening to reach it at the same time.
“There’s another one?” Zu An exclaimed, greatly shaken. He quickly ran over to Yu Yanluo’s side to prevent her from being attacked again. Meanwhile, Yu Yanluo’s face paled. She looked at the dark elf nervously.
Compared to Venom Child, who had been bitten without being able to put up a bit of resistance, the dark elf had always been vigilant, even dodging to the side at the last second. Unfortunately, he had been seriously injured, making him a bit slower than usual.
Still, because the dark elf had evaded, the bug was only able to bite his right arm instead of engulfing his torso. He struggled frantically. However, because of the enemy’s clamp-like mandibles, his right arm was torn off completely.
The strange bug’s body squirmed as it devoured his arm in one gulp. But with a body that large, a single arm couldn't satisfy its appetite at all. It moved forward to bite down on the dark elf’s entire body. It moved as fast as lightning, not giving him any time to escape.
The others wondered whether, if they had been in that situation, they would be able to escape that quickly.
However, the strange bug missed its target. Its terrifying mandibles smashed into each other fiercely with a metallic clang.
Meanwhile, the dark elf quickly entered the shadows. A split second later, he reappeared inside the cave. He didn’t dare to try escaping on his own anymore; the path ahead was full of unknown dangers. He could only feel safe next to the other cultivators.
He quickly sealed the acupoint of his right arm to stop the bleeding. Compared to losing his life, losing a single arm wasn’t much at all. Then, he looked up toward where the strange bug had been. He wanted to see just what the thing that had almost ended his life was. However, the bug was already nowhere to be seen.
“Be careful!” Zu An suddenly called out in alarm.
The dark elf immediately felt his fine hairs stand on end. Even though they were enemies, he didn’t dare to doubt the warning at all. He quickly tried to enter the shadows again, but he was still half a step too late.
The dark elf screamed miserably as the bug’s mandibles clamped down on his waist, almost instantly biting him in half. His lower body remained inside the bug’s mouth, while his upper body fell to the ground. However, he still frantically clawed at the ground, doing his best to crawl away from the bug.
The scene was just way too cruel. Even Kong Qing and Paper Bride subconsciously took a few steps back.
Zu An moved just then. However, he worried that Yu Yanluo would be attacked after he rushed forth, so he decided to take her with him. He wasn’t trying to save the dark elf because he was Mother Teresa or anything, though; he was just worried that if the bug went back underground, it would be hard to find it again.
Judging from the monster’s brief battle against the dark elf, he could tell that it seemed to be able to move through the earth almost instantly. Between that and the way it spent most of its time in the earth, it was really much too difficult to defend against the bug’s unpredictable appearances. Rather than passively defending when the time came, it would be better to take the chance to defeat it while it was attacking.
When Zu An moved, Kong Qing acted as well. It was clear that he planned to cooperate. With someone taking the lead, Paper Bride also joined in, as did Yu Yanluo. Several attacks rushed toward the strange bug at the same time.
They were all powerful experts. After being so terrified and alarmed for so long, why would they hold back? They beat the strange bug until green liquid splattered everywhere. It staggered around gradually before eventually crashing to the ground, clearly having lost its life force.
“Huh?” Kong Qing and the others’ expressions grew strange. They hadn’t expected they would kill it so quickly.
The dark elf called out weakly, “Boss Kong, save… Save…” He died before he could finish his sentence. His eyes were wide as he perished with many remaining grievances.
Kong Qing squatted down to inspect the corpse. He saw pitch-black blood seeping out of the dark elf’s waist, and that even his internal organs were black. He said seriously, “With his cultivation, he should still have been able to keep his life even if he were bisected at the waist. But that strange bug had poison in its mouth, so he could not be saved.”
Zu An thought to himself, No wonder Venom Child seemed to have lasted a bit longer. Apart from his cultivation, Venom Child specialized in poison himself, and had a certain amount of resistance to poison.
Zu An walked over to the strange bug’s side. Only then did he see its full appearance. It had two mandibles that were several meters long, and its mouth contained helical rings of saw-teeth. However, it didn’t have any visible eyes. He didn’t even know whether it had a head.
Apart from the sharp mandibles, the bug had seven long feelers. They were likely used to detect any nearby scents and movements, and even scan the surroundings the way a master rank cultivator would.
The strange bug’s body had been left in chunks. Every single segment seemed to be covered in hard, armor-like scales. That was likely why the sound of scraping preceded its appearance; Its scales produced sound when they rubbed against the sand and dirt. What was striking was that the bug’s scales were brightly colored and rather pretty. It was hard to associate them with the vicious beast they had just faced.
Zu An reached out his hand, but Yu Yanluo jumped in alarm and quickly pulled him back. He patted her small hand and said reassuringly, “Don’t worry, it’s already dead. I’ll be careful too.”
Kong Qing had a strange expression, having noticed their intimate actions. Madam Yu really does seem to have a different kind of relationship with him. The clan lord might not be able to win against her…
Zu An grabbed one scale and slowly tore it off the strange bug. In the end, the whole scale was over ten meters long. The rest of the bug’s body was nearly identical to the parts of the first one that had been exposed; both its head and tail were the same. The only major difference was in their sharp mandibles.
Zu An dragged the first one that had attacked him over. It was over twenty meters long, and its body was a third thicker than the second bug. No wonder it had seemed harder to defeat.
“Is this thing a dragon or a snake?” Paper Bride asked in shock as she walked over.
“Either way, it’s definitely not a snake,” Yu Yanluo remarked, feeling a bit unhappy that Paper Bride had called it a snake.
“It’s not a dragon either,” Kong Qing said. After all, he was from the fiend races, and was quite familiar with the Dragon race. He said, “It seems to be some kind of bug.”
“Bobbit worm!” Zu An blurted out. When he saw the others’ confused expressions, he said with an embarrassed smile, “That’s what we call a strange bug from my hometown, but this thing is tens, no, a hundred times bigger.”
Afterward, he looked at Kong Qing with confusion and said, “Even though this thing is formidable, it shouldn’t have been able to swallow up the Gray Wolf King and even seriously injure all of you, right?”
He recalled the previous encounter. These insects’ biggest advantage lay in their unpredictable attacks that were hard to guard against. Furthermore, their mandibles could instantly rob their target of fighting strength.
But Venom Child and the dark elf were both humanoid, and relatively small at that. It would have been difficult for them to survive if they were bitten by those mandibles. However, the Gray Wolf King hadn’t been much smaller than the strange bugs. How could it have been bitten and swallowed?
Kong Qing’s expression turned somewhat ugly as he said,“Even though they are similar, the one we encountered was probably not these two. The one we faced was a hundred times more terrifying.”
As if to prove his point, strange cries that could shake one’s very soul emerged in the distance. Those present all felt their fine hairs stand on end.
“It is… It is that thing!” Kong Qing exclaimed. His voice was starting to shake a bit.
Zu An’s expression turned grave. Indeed, it was precisely that creature that gave off a pressure even greater than that of a grandmaster. Furthermore, compared to what they had heard before, its cries now seemed to convey extreme anger and hatred.
“Don’t tell me these strange bugs have some way to communicate with each other? Does it know that we killed its subordinates?” Zu An exclaimed in shock.
Kong Qing’s expression was ugly as he replied, “I fear that they were not just its subordinates. Based on the knowledge of the fiend races, they might be its children!”