Chapter 336: The Burrow X
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Saris was a slightly plump sorceress that specialized in discovering Sound Wave Sorcery. She was holding a metal serving plate and there was a shadow of an Elemental Rooster that vividly stood on top of the plate.
The rooster cocked its head side to side looking at the people in the surrounding area. However, as it was only temporary sorcery, this rooster had no consciousness within it.
Saris held the plate higher and declared in a deep voice, “This alarm rooster is able to channel some of my Thought Echo that could possibly interfere with the Wolfspiders’ Thought Echo. However, I cannot specify how effective this method will be as I do not specialize in the field of Thought Echo.”
Alarm rooster?
Alxa and Grimm were both delighted and nodded at Saris.
Although the outcome might not be effective, it was still better than nothing. Also, there were not many species in this Burrow World that could trigger the Thought Echo. The most important aim of the group was to pass through The Wolfspider Burrow safely as they proceeded to The Snowthread Burrow, and not to dwell on battles with Wolfspiders.
Saris paused for a while when she suddenly realized, “Actually, there is a way for Elemental Sorcerers to handle these Thought Echo spells.”
As she was still talking, she suddenly activated the official sorcerer’s ability of nature’s force which had caused a series of changes to occur.
Hmm?
Alxa, Grimm, Nairo, Lou Linman, and the other Level 1 and 2 Demon-Hunters were all astounded as they silently sensed toward Saris. She concentrated her nature force on both sides of the sorcerer barriers to form a dual-layer elemental barrier made up of an internal and external layer. Everyone was taken aback and wondered how she could pull that off.
She subtly controlled the forces of nature.
The external layer of the barrier repeatedly gathered nature’s force, while Saris guided it into her body.
The internal layer of the barrier, on the other hand, constantly discharged magic power that had been stimulated toward the external layer which then formed a layer of magic power.
The layers of elemental barriers were not meant for defense purposes and between both the layers was a layer of elemental vacuum area occupied by a thin layer of the sorcerer’s barrier.
Saris spoke calmly, “Do you see it now? This is an elemental vacuum area. It is able to defend against the Thought Echo that attacks the nervous system which controls the hearing and senses of our body.
After a pause, Saris continued: “However, forming this vacuum layer requires great control of nature’s force from the sorcerer. At the same time, the level of sensitivity toward nature’s force will decrease whereas the consumption of magic power would increase after its casting.”
Many of the Demon-Hunters who were around gathered their thoughts to analyze the feasibility of it and even started to try it out themselves.
A while later, only two were successful in activating the dual-layer elemental barriers.
These were the two Level 2 Demon-Hunters that could only passively defend themselves. Nairo, the Level 1 sorcerer and also the old sorcerer that was first recruited by Grimm.
In other words, the two of them had the highest control when it came to nature’s force as well as the lowest consumption of magic power among all of the Level 1 sorcerers.
Grimm also attempted the spell on his own.
Unfortunately, Grimm was not good at controlling nature’s force. When Grimm was qualified as an official sorcerer and choose the option of not physically leveraging his mental strength, it was then when his own capabilities were also affected.
It was already difficult for Grimm to maintain a single complete elemental barrier, let alone forming a perfect elemental vacuum area between two layers of elemental barriers.
Like all other Demon-Hunters, Grimm too let out a sigh and stopped trying.
After a moment’s rest, many of the Demon-Hunters that had been attacked by the Wolfspiders earlier now resumed their journey. The dark surroundings of the burrow space gradually illuminated by elemental light from the magic staff of the sorcerer which stood on top of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus.
Time slowly crept by, as two teams continued their journey carefully into the Wolfspider Burrow.
Soon, two days had passed.
“Stop!”
This time, the command was from Alxa.
Grimm followed and ordered his team to stop as well. With his dual-colored eyes under The Mask of Truth, he turned toward Alxa trying to make sense of what happened.
Alxa, the old witch, silently bowed as she tried to sense her surroundings.
After a few moments, Alxa suddenly raised her head and said, “Within the past twelve hourglasses of time, a battle had occurred around here that involved a Demon-Hunter good in Life Energy Sorcery.”
A battle had occurred here within the time period of twelve hourglasses?
Grimm was amazed by the witch’s sensing ability. Without any doubt, he waved his hand toward Nairo, Lou Linman, Saris and the other Demon-Hunters teams that were behind him. ‘Swosh, swosh, swosh, swosh’
In order to locate possible traces from the previous battle, all of them spread out and flew across the ground filled with plantations that were covered with a layer of ice crystals.
Additionally, the three Level 2 Demon-Hunters that were led by Alxa also spread out across the area.
“Woo! Master, I will go get some rest. Let me know if you need me.”
Myna seemed to be exhausted from his quarrels with the parrot and informed Grimm about his intention to rest as he nodded off to sleep. He then got into the Dimensional Gap.
“Hmm.”
Grimm ignored Myna. A while later, many members from the Demon-Hunter team flew back, seeming to have some findings from the search.
“Indeed, a battle had occurred here within the past twelve hourglasses of time,” said one of the Level 2 Demon-Hunter as placed a shred of cloth from a robe that belonged to a sorcerer on the back of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus covered with red lengthy fur.
The others returned and brought back some shards of magic staff and other pieces of magic tools. There were also a few corpses of Wolfspiders, but none of them were Demon-Hunters.
Grimm sunk deep into his thoughts and slowly spoke, “Were they able to make it?”
“It must have been an intense battle to have such a huge amount of destroyed magic tools. There were also not many Wolf Spider carcasses, and it seemed that not all of the sorcerers were able to escape the battle that had occurred earlier.”
As a Level 2 Demon-Hunter that had been to multiple demon-hunting expeditions, Alxa was confident in her assumptions. Of course, they were made based on the experience that she had gained from the many battles in the foreign world.
Grimm nodded in acknowledgment of Alxa’s assumptions, considering she was indeed far better than him in terms of practical experience.
“Then what happened to their corpses…”
The old witch’s elemental eyes were blurry, emotionless, but full of wisdom. She quietly pondered for a while and replied in a deep voice, “These spider creatures, they prefer to feed on the living…”
Feed on the living!
Grimm was shocked beyond words. He could imagine a grotesque image of Demon-Hunters being affected by the Wolfspider’s Thought Echo.
As the echo took effect, they were then forcefully injected with digestive fluid into their bodies as they endured and felt every bit of the meltdown of the body’s internal structure, slowly consumed alive by the spiders…
During the time when Grimm was still a sorcerer-apprentice in the Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy, he had performed a lot of these experiments when he was studying on topics related to Symbiotic Insects.
Initially, Grimm felt normal when he observed and learned about them.
However, he could hardly imagine if he were to be killed in such a cruel way by the spiders. Like many other Demon-Hunters, he would rather choose to kill himself.
“Oh yes.”
Grimm asked in a deep voice, “What about the web building skills of the spiders?”
“The Wolfspiders are different from spiders who capture their prey by building webs to trap them. Although they might still retain the capability to construct webs, they would neither use if for battle nor for hunting.”
The old Level 2 sorcerer replied calmly. Compared to a Level 1 Demon-Hunter, he was sharper in observation and had better analytical skills owing to the fact that he too was highly experienced from his past demon-hunting expeditions.
“Hmm, it seems like we have to…”
Boom!
Suddenly, before Grimm could even finish, an explosion of elemental waves could be heard coming from about 10,000 meters away. The deafening sound of the explosion had turned into an elemental shockwave that spread quickly across the area.
Everyone looked toward the direction from where the sound of the explosion came from.
Even all of the eyes of the Thousand-eyed Carcinus were pointed toward the same direction.
There was a bright glow that disappeared in an instant, and the space around the burrow immediately returned back to silence.
Although Grimm was not good at controlling or sensing nature’s force, he immediately reacted with a shock and asked, “Self-explosion of an Elemental Sorcerer?”
It was the last resort for many Elemental Sorcerers. Although it was a self-sacrificial act, its impact on its surroundings was huge.
This last resort was owing to these Dark Sorcerers who had been around near-death experiences for years. While being trapped in the constant killings and brutalities, they slowly evolved to become cruel, ruthless, overly independent and would not rely on anyone else.
Being official sorcerers themselves, the Dark Sorcerers had started off by realizing how insignificant and unimportant they were, which in turn, increased their insecurities. This had caused many of them to dabble and to experiment on such sorcery which had no turning back.
Without much hesitation, Alxa and Grimm flew toward the direction of the explosion with their team members.
Two reasons continued to drive their interest. First were the rules of the demon-hunting expedition, and second, was the reward that came after the demon-hunting!
Unlike Dark Sorcerers, if a Bright Sorcerer were to encounter such incidents, they would not hesitate to gather in groups before rushing toward the enemy. This was the purpose of their existence and also part of their demon-hunting mission.
As for the Dark Sorcerers…
The reward from saving other sorcerers would surpass the reward gained from a demon-hunting mission. All of them were driven by profits in order to gather more resources to strengthen themselves.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The crowd surrounded the Thousand-eyed Carcinus that was led by Alxa and Grimm. They vanished into the shadows and flew quickly toward the direction.
They had even dimmed their elemental lights.
Upon their arrival, it was evident that if they did ever encounter anything unusual, their best option was to retreat and ensure their own safety.