Chapter 11: Horrifying Human-Face Centipede
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A foul smell lingered in the air. As a gust of wind swept the dried leaves off the ground, and the thick, foul stench surrounded the jungle in a blink of an eye.
“Ugh…” A few students could not stand the intensity of the smell and dropped on one knee, vomiting.
A large beast crawled out slowly from behind the huge rock. At a glance, it looked to be four or five meters long, with thick limbs that made crunching noises as they stepped on the dried leaves on the ground.
The limbs of the beast were covered in white fur and had twisted, irregular joints. Its body was covered in a deep green carapace that looked like a rock covered in seaweed, but what was most horrifying were the individual severed heads that lined the carapace. Between the gaps in the carapace was a yellow pus that occasionally oozed out. Some of it was even half dried, with leaves and dirt stuck in it.
Some of the heads that were attached to its body had probably been there for a long time and looked like dried, cured meat.
Other heads, however, were fresh and dripping with blood, with eyes that were large and staring.
Hai Lanyu almost burst into tears. He recognized who that head belonged to; it was the head of his Black Raging Kong!
He felt a mix of pain and sadness.
After all, the Black Raging Kong had cost quite a fortune. It cost as much as a car did before the cataclysm. It was bought only two days ago, and now it was dead. His father would surely scold him to death when he got back home.
Ying, Ying… This horrifying giant centipede was making cries that sounded like an infant’s crying.
Could this be a Horrifying Human-Face Centipede? Gao Peng thought as he suddenly recalled what the teacher had introduced in class. It was brought up as a negative example as how monsters come to be, and the example of the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede was a meaningful one. It was also a monster that had easily identifiable features, as it was rare to find a low ranked monster that was this horrible and disgusting.
According to what was known about it, the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede was the result of a sudden malignant mutation. It was originally supposed to be a giant centipede variant. Due to the large number of deaths during the cataclysm, certain areas were left with piles of dead bodies that were not taken care of in time.
During the early periods after the cataclysm, these giant centipedes were thriving, and mutated easily. Because of the large number of dead bodies available, some giant centipedes mutated from feeding on dead bodies over a long period of time, and even developed the gruesome habit of adorning their bodies with the heads of their prey. Possibly because they fed on human bodies initially, Horrifying Human-Face Centipedes had a preference for the heads of primate species.
According to researchers, the behavior of wearing the heads served to scare away natural predators and other competitors. This was because other than the venom it originally possessed, the only other defense that the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede had was its large body size. Adult ones could grow to a length of five to six meters, but in the wild, that only counted as a medium sized creature.
“Everyone be careful. No matter what, do not go too close to the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede. It can spit venom out of its mouth with a range of more than 10 meters. Its venom has a strong corrosive effect, and it is also very revolting…” said Murong Qiuye with her brows furrowed. She was not in the best condition either, as it was the first time she had encountered such a savage and perverse monster.
“The Horrifying Human-Face Centipede has only one other method of fighting other than spitting venom: that is to overwhelm its prey with its relatively large size. Everyone, we should be fine as long as we do not get too close. The Horrifying Human-Face Centipede does not move very quickly. It usually hides under a large rock or in a cave, and waits for its prey to come close. But just to be safe, we should all take a few steps back,” asserted Gao Peng calmly, before taking two careful steps backwards.
Mr. Zhang had gone through the weaknesses of the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede in class before, and it was also written in their textbooks. But who knew if the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede had evolved any new abilities, or if there were gaps in the existing knowledge of it. Gao Peng was not willing to bet the safety of his life on mere words and pictures on paper.
The retreating of the crowd seemed to allow the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede to relax quite a bit. After all, on its list of prey, humans were one of the most delicious…
Just like how a shark would be less cautious of humans after tasting human flesh, a tiger that had eaten human meat would naturally place this new organism under its list of prey.
The eyes of the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede lit up as it saw the oppressive crowd of humans taking two steps back. It took two experimental steps forward before stopping, with its antennae up high and erect with caution.
Immediately, it saw the crowd of humans take another two steps back.
This set its mind at ease. It needed not worry anymore.
It began a mad scuttle, stepping on the dried leaves below it and causing a continuous crunching sound. With each movement of its body, the human heads and the Black Raging Kong head moved along. The hollow eyes of the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede stared straight at the crowd in front of it, as though laughing at them from the depths of hell.
The Horrifying Human-Face Centipede clambered out from behind the huge rock, revealing its entire body. It made its way towards the crowd triumphantly, with swagger, constantly making noises that sounded like an infant crying. It was moving like a landlord patrolling his property, as though nothing had a right to stop it.
[Monster Name]: Horrifying Human-Face Centipede
[Monster Level]: Level 12 (Elite)
[Monster Grade]: Normal
[Monster Attribute]: Corpse/Poison
[Monster Condition]: Minor injuries (Arrogant)
[Monster Weakness]: 1. Light 2. Fire
Light type and Fire type… As Gao Peng focused on these two words, they suddenly went dim, as though a ripple was going through them. A new line of words suddenly appeared below them.
[Countering Methods]: 1. Light type attack (capable of dealing additional damage to the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede) 2. Bright light (capable of causing strong stun effect on juvenile specimens. Long-term exposure can lead to a mutant variant) 3. Powdered Light Mandrake can be used as a powerful repellant which is capable of causing devastating injuries…
There was a lot more below, but this alone was enough to surprise Gao Peng. A lot of this information was never even mentioned in the books that he had read. Maybe certain books had selectively picked out some of the methods here, but most of these were definitely new pieces of information that Gao Peng had never seen before.
At this moment, without anyone’s notice, large mantises started appearing one by one on the tree branches.
These were the standard Familiars used by the Blue Shield Protection Agency, the Devil Mantis. Just from the statistics of the Devil Mantis, every one of them should be able to easily dispatch the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede.
Right now, the sky was already dark and only a few flecks of light shone into the forest. Coupled with the flickering lights of the torches, these Devil Mantises blended in perfectly in the darkness.
“Bell Sparrow!” Murong Qiuye suddenly shouted out.
The Silver Winged Bird that was silently perching in the trees suddenly dove down in a flash of silver. Before the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede could react, it had flown past the centipede’s back. One of the heads on its back was cut off and sent flying.
From the rupture on the Horrifying Human-Face Centipede’s back, large amounts of yellow pus started flowing out. The pus got thicker as it flowed out, turning from a pale yellow to a dark yellow. This thick fluid covered the entire wound and stoppered it.
The Horrifying Human-Face Centipede let out a mournful shriek and spat out a viscous black liquid towards the sky. It missed completely.
The liquid that landed on the ground corroded the dried leaves, letting out a cloud of white smoke.