The moment the Rending Technique tore a gash in the black substance, it began to boil like hot oil poured into water.
The largest "oil drops" splattered over two meters away.
Hovering in the air, Li Ban darted backward, dodging all the black matter.
Still, his attention remained fixed on what lay behind the exposed gap.
Behind the gap lay even more of the black substance. It did not seal the passage completely like a solid wall, but rather resembled a spiderweb—riddled with gaps, yet densely woven together.
But since he had already started cutting, he might as well cut all the way through.
Li Ban continued flying forward. It was as if an invisible longsword preceded him, cleaving through all the black web-like matter blocking his path.
Just as he sliced through the final piece of black web, a massive flock of birds suddenly swarmed out from the gaps behind it.
But they were not real birds.
They had all once been parts of human beings. After discarding their sanity, the only things they retained were the brains needed to sustain their existence and the mouths needed to feed.
Yet they did not even possess normal digestive organs.
These Rib Birds had likely been hiding behind the black web from the very beginning, waiting for whoever cut through to blunder straight into them.
However, they probably rarely had the chance to fight a Priest.
The moment Li Ban spotted the flock of Rib Birds, he also caught sight of the horde of monsters closely following them.
Sure enough, cutting the black web alerted the monsters in here.
With a quick teleportation, Li Ban shifted to another corner of the room temporarily free of monsters.
His sudden disappearance left the flock of Rib Birds momentarily dazed.
But one of them quickly spotted his location.
Its throat-like mouth drew shut into a narrow slit, and as air rushed through, it let out a piercing whistle. This instantly alerted the other Rib Birds, which bumped into one another in midair before turning to fly toward him.
In that brief window, Li Ban managed to get a clear look at the floor's layout.
Something resembling a beehive hung overhead, situated dead in the center of the sprawling gymnasium.
Numerous holes dotted the dark gray hive, and various objects protruded from them.
Some were bladed weapons, others were the limbs of humans or monsters, and there were even plastic items completely unrecognizable from their original forms—
Li Ban even spotted wild rye growing abundantly in a few of the holes.
They grew in thick clusters, making it look less like a monster's nest and more like a patch of fertile soil.
The chaotic assortment of items made it look as though those swallowed by the nest were trying everything in their power to escape.
Several hound-like monsters lunged at Li Ban from midair.
They had originally been clinging to the black web, curled up in the air; they only emerged to hunt upon spotting an enemy—or rather, a meal.
But similarly, these creatures with their massive claws and mouths possessed almost no abdominal cavities.
Li Ban nimbly dodged two of the hound monsters in the air. Taking out his Iron-Eating Sword, he easily dispatched their glaringly obvious heads.
Even though the Iron-Eating Sword's abilities could not be used, it remained a sharp and handy weapon.
A flock of Rib Birds was still chasing him, and over a dozen different monsters lunged at him from behind the black web overhead.
There were even monsters intentionally hanging back inside the black web, waiting to attack from behind as soon as Li Ban flew past.
Just as Xie Xiaowu had mentioned, the monsters surrounding the nest not only coexisted peacefully, but had even learned to coordinate with one another.
Had it not been for Li Ban's ability to fly, anyone else would likely have found it very difficult to reach the monster nest.
Still, the nest before him—which looked to be the size of a small house—likely could not hold very much.
Even if it were packed to the brim with wild rye, it would only amount to a few days' worth of rations for the camp, wouldn't it?
So, leaving the monster nest alone was simply because it was not worth the effort.
But the rift Li Ban needed to reach was surrounded by thousands of these monsters.
He stared at the continuously contracting and pulsing nest overhead, as if seeing the beast tide blocking his path.
Li Ban abruptly raised his hand and threw out a massive Rending Technique.
The entire nest was instantly cleaved in two.
A large amount of black liquid spilled out from within with a loud splash.
Li Ban instantly teleported above the nest, watching as the dozen Rib Birds that had just been chasing his tail were drenched over their heads by the puddle of black liquid.
A terrifying sizzling sound of corrosion rang out.
Accompanied by yellow-white smoke and a stench, it was just like concentrated sulfuric acid splashing onto flesh.
Without turning his head, Li Ban raised his hand and swung twice, striking away two monsters lunging from the side before hovering above the nest.
After cutting open the nest, he suddenly realized there was absolutely nothing inside.
Those objects protruding from the holes were literally just that—only the exposed parts existed.
So everything inside was dissolved by the black liquid? It seems neither plastic nor metal can escape it.
This stuff... is actually quite potent. I wonder if there is a way to utilize it.
But even if he wanted to utilize it, Li Ban could not temporarily think of anything to hold this black liquid.
He looked at the bisected nest.
Both sides of the nest were connected to black webs, so it did not fall after being cut open, but instead hung trembling in the air.
Use this to hold it?
Li Ban shifted left and right, evading a long-armed monster ambushing him from behind. Judging by the sound of the wind, he sliced off its two thick arms without looking back.
The owner of the arms was a bit smarter than the hound monsters. Once it lost its arms, it shrank back and did not jump down to continue attacking Li Ban.
But this had little to do with rationality; it was likely just a behavioral inertia from when it was alive.
Is the surface of this nest corrosive?
Using the side of his sword, Li Ban struck the freshly severed arm, batting it toward the nest's outer skin.
The severed arm struck the nest and stuck to it, not bouncing off.
It seemed to be sucked in by a hole on the surface.
Li Ban watched as the severed arm was snapped by a massive suction force and swallowed into the hole.
—And then it dropped right out from the bisected interior.
Wait, could the holes on this nest actually be its mouths?
So the nest was not a true nest, but rather a type of monster.
Since those holes can still swallow, it means I didn't cut through its brain. But this thing is so uniform in shape; where would its brain be?
If he could not kill the monster, using its skin to hold the black liquid inside would be unsafe.
Just then, Li Ban suddenly heard two muffled "thwip" sounds from above.
Without hesitation, he immediately teleported close to the wall and looked up.
In the deeper darkness overhead, two black webs came hurtling over.
However, the area of the webs was only two or three square meters, and they could not reach Li Ban's current hiding spot.
Li Ban flew upward once again.
Truthfully, his path of exploration this time was pretty much over.
To conserve spiritual rhinoceros, he had originally planned to just observe the nest and then leave.
But the monster shooting black webs from above truly aroused his curiosity.
So even if it meant carving a path with the Iron-Eating Sword and no longer using the Rending Technique, he wanted to go up and take a look.
Because all the doors and windows on this floor were blocked by the black substance—Li Ban was now certain that the black substance was just multiple layers of webs stacked together—there was almost no light in the room.
He flew higher for quite a while before he vaguely saw things resembling barnacles clinging to the ceiling.
They were densely packed, numbering in the hundreds.
The instant Li Ban drew near, those barnacles fired like machine guns pulling their triggers. With continuous "thwip-thwip-thwip" sounds, they shot black web-like matter toward him.
The speed was extremely fast, arriving before him in the blink of an eye.
"Protection Spell!"
A massive transparent protective shield appeared in front of Li Ban, directly blocking all the black webs.
The black webs were extremely sticky, but their impact force was average; Li Ban barely felt any damage to the protective shield.
However, as massive amounts of black webs piled on top, they quickly turned from black webs into a black wall.
Hearing the sounds stop, Li Ban teleported directly above the black webs and flew upward once again.
And those barnacle-like things clinging to the ceiling wall were bulging bit by bit, as if charging up for their next launch.
He took this opportunity to approach quickly, scanning his surroundings.
These densely packed shooters connected into a single patch, linking to the black silk webs on the walls on both sides. Extending downward, they led to the suspended nest.
Good grief, the nest is the mouth, and the top is the weapons, but where exactly is the head?
Or are all these shooters its heads?
Li Ban casually picked a larger shooter and used a Rending Technique to cut it open.
The moment a gash appeared, the shooter exploded.
The unformed large black web inside turned into small clumps and burst apart in all directions.
That shooter stopped moving, but the rest were still charging and looked about to fire.
A place with this many monsters definitely has resources too. Unfortunately, without clearing these monsters out, there is simply no time to search.
Sigh... it seems this place really isn't worth exploring. I took a loss this time.
Slashing open the wall full of shooters one by one would consume an unknown amount of spiritual rhinoceros.
Not to mention, there was still a horde of monsters eyeing him hungrily as they climbed up from below.
Just as Li Ban was disappointed and preparing to leave, something suddenly dropped from the shooter he had just torn open.
Li Ban could not see it clearly, but he vaguely sensed something and drew closer to the falling object.
[Discovered waste element "Mist Bell". Do you wish to absorb it?]
"Absorb!"
His previously consumed spiritual rhinoceros was instantly replenished by more than half.
This... Li Ban raised his head again, looking at the dense cluster of shooters overhead. Is it a coincidence, or does every single one of them have one?
"The Vice-Captain has been gone for a long time." Liu Yi crouched on a rock, looking grim. "He wouldn't have accidentally exposed himself while observing, would he?"
In Liu Yi's eyes, exposing one's tracks while alone near a monster nest was practically the same as death.
Xie Xiaowu glanced at Liu Yi. "You call him Vice-Captain quite smoothly."
She then cast a sidelong glance at Ming Kai. This guy had actually wanted to go together with Li Ban earlier.
"Ming Kai, do you still want to tag along now?"
Who knew that Ming Kai would actually stand up, tightening his grip on his machete. "We need to know the outcome."