Chapter 533: Island of Devil’s Maw (39)
Translator: Lonelytree
At the southern-east of the crystalline maze, there was a place called ‘Leaf of Terror’. This Leaf of Terror was both the name of a location and also a thing. And the owner of this place or rather this leaf, was the queen of the sky at the crystalline maze—Silkworm Worm.
Just as the same time Feng Bujue’s group received the quest… Following a strange ‘fu tsk fu tsk’ sound, a large white shadow was swarming this way. Her speed was incredibly page, belying its great size. It did not take her too long to climb onto this giant mulberry leaf that was as big as a football field and rested herself on the veins of the leaf.
“Ergh—Ou—” The Silkworm Mother used her ‘cute’ voice to elicit a series of incredibly horrifying vomiting sound. The next sound, a burst of saliva shot out of her mouth. Then a powdery white human-shaped large cocoon dropped out and landed on the large lead.
“he he he… You have not gone mad?” The Silkworm Mother laughed. “This is the first time I’ve encountered a human that can hold on for so long…” When she spoke, the human cocoon was slowly lifted up by the threads and headed higher into the air (The Leaf of Terror was on the same level as the web and the Silkworm Mother had kept her movement on the same altitude). “After a person has been controlled by me, normally they will immediately sink into extreme terror. Even if I just leave them be, they will go insane within 10 minutes.” The Silkworm Mother continued. “But you… even after you have been swallowed whole by me and brought to this place, you show no signs of a mental breakdown at all…”
Around the Leaf of Terror stood 4 to 5 extremely large crystalline columns that clawed their ways into the sky. While the Silkworm Mother spoke, the cocoon that contained Uncle Worthless had been lifted to the top of one of the columns and was dangled there.
“But don’t you worry… I can wait.” The Silkworm Mother smiled wickedly. “I believe you can hear them right? He… Indeed, inside the cocoons next to you, there are creatures as stubborn as you, they too are still alive.” What she meant were the cocoons dangling on the top of the other columns. But the size of these cocoons were much larger than the one Uncle Worthless was in. From their appearance… the hostages inside were not human beings.
“The time that they have been in there… is far longer than you can imagine… He he he…” The Silkworm Mother continued. “Do not expect that hunger will be your salvation either… You won’t die from that, my cocoon will keep you alive until you become a mentally-broken delicious meal.” She laughed proudly twice before her tone became cold. “Hmph… I know you still have hope.” She scoffed. “Indeed, you few partners have indeed successfully snip off the ‘brain silk’ that I have implanted but do you think that they will be able to come here and rescue you.”
At this point, her whole body shook again. In that instant, the web above the crystalline maze had returned to its invisible state. “I will not let them succeed…” The Silkworm Mother said darkly, her cute voice forming a great contrast to her menacing tone, “I will wait for them here… for them to walk willingly into my trap…”
…
On the other side of the crystalline maze.
…
“Eh? The web has disappeared again.” Atobe saw the change above their heads and he commented.
“it did not disappear, it merely turned invisible again.” Feng Bujue corrected.
“Based on my opinion…” Ambitionist added with thought, “That is probably a sign that the Silkworm Mother has returned to her lair…”
“I say…” Pegasus then turned to Feng Bujue, “Are you sure we are going the right way?”
“Yes, that is something I’ve been wondering. How come it feels like you are so confident this way is correct?” Atobe added.
“I am not 100 percent confident, this time I am only 70 percent confident…” Feng Bujue explained. “You guys have seen the web that has been fixed earlier right? I have basically analyzed the sequence and the direction of the Silkworm Mother weaving the web based on the color intensity of the silk web. From that, I speculated the direction she has gone.” He used his finger to gesture about him. “Furthermore… the direction that we are heading, is the direction that she came from earlier.”
“Ah whoo—” Before Brother Jue could finish, a typical wolf howl suddenly came from before them. The four player immediately stopped moving and started to be alert. They were now strung like arrows on a bow, even the smallest rustle of the leaf would kick up their caution into high gear…
The scariness of a Nightmare Scenario could be seen at this moment… Even though the team consisted of all 5 expert players, it did not make the progress much easier because the scenario did not give them the chance for them to really show off their natural advantage. From the start of the scenario until now, there had not been any actual fights but the group’s Stamina Points had mostly been exhausted already; under the triple debuff of thrist, hunger and fatigue, there was no need for strong monsters, just some disgusting set up would be enough to make the players tired from the running and be thrown into a fluster.
“Grr…” The growl of the beast slowly approached. Behind a half translucent crystal column before them, a beastial shadow flickered. Just as the players thought a wolf-type monster was about to show up, the system pulled yet another surprise on them….
“Whoo~” With another howl, the illusion beast finally leaped out from behind the column and showed its true self. It was a goat… And it appeared to be a wild mountain goat. It had brownish grey fur, the color on the front part of its coat was darker than the back. It had a slightly round horn growing out of its head. It was bulging with spurs, looking like a mountain range.
“Ah Whoo!” The mountain goat’s rounded eyes were glaring. It then lowered its head and swung its horn threateningly before howling again. The expression on the players’ face had no trace of fear at all. The group only looked at this creature before them with an unreadable expression.
“This is… a goat right?” Atobe said with his lips twitching.
“Ah, no matter how you look at it, it is a goat.” Ambitionist confirmed.
“Hmm… Perhaps due to biological evolution, it has learned to mimic the howling of its natural predator?” Feng Bujue scratched his chin and hypothesized. Just as the three were discussing the biological anomaly that was this mountain goat, Pegasus suddenly leaped into the air.
“Evil creature!” Pegasus pointed with his finger and shouted with heroic pizzazz, “Do you intent to stop the way of heroes?!”
“Ah Whoo—” The goat howled again, as if it could really understand Pegasus.
“My advice is for you to turn back while you still can!” Pegasus titled his body around to change an angle and used a completely opposite pose to point at the animal. “I can see a trace of kindness in your eyes… Even if the incident between your mother and the wolf has peppered your childhood with prejudice from others, you cannot give up on yourself, you need to…”
“Enough!” Feng Bujue darted from behind him and landed a slap on Pegasus’ face as he shoved him aside. “What mother and wolf? What childhood trauma? Who is here to prejudice against it? And why are you trying to persuade a mountain goat? Do you really think you are Naruto?” As the spiel finished, there was a clink as Brother Jue flashed his cleaver.
“Back away, all of you. Leave this to me who has the ability of ‘Wu Hu Xing’.” Feng Bujue raised the cleaver and prepared to make his move. In his eyes, be it wolf or goat, there was no difference… he had eaten an elf, what other ending could normal animal have when they entered the man’s life?
“Erm… What is he talking about?” Ambitionist asked with plain confusion.
“Well, if you have to know… Wu Hu Xing is the best five chefs from the Dark Cooking World from the comic, Chūka Ichiban!” Atobe answered. Once he said that, he sighed and covered his face with shame. “Aiz… why would I know something like that…” As they spoke, Brother Jue already headed towards the goat…
Then, in the moaning and groaning of the animal and the man, an extremely awful wrestling match occurred. To preserve the ‘food ingredient’, Feng Bujue chose to fight in close quarter combat, but the result was he was tired himself out of it first…
In the end, he had no choice but to activate Body Enhancement Spell and completed the kill. When the goat was pressed to the ground and had its throat slashed, Feng Bujue did something that made the stomachs of the people watching roll… He leaned forward to take a direct seep out of the goat’s gushing blood.
After having his fill, he wiped away the blood with his sleeves, stood up and burped. “Ah… that’s some good stuff.”
“I really do not know what to say about what you have done anymore…” Ambitionist licked his lips subconsciously, “I guess we can call you an extreme realist.”
“if you want a sip, get over here. When you’re done, I’m going to move to the body already.” When Feng Bujue said that, he even naughtily used the goat’s blood to draw out a smiley face on the corners of his lips.
“Is this… really drinkable?” Pegasus asked as he swallowed deeply. Obviously, he was as thirsty as his teammates, but there was still a gulf in his mental acceptance.
“Well pig blood cake is an actual street food at Taiwan, so I guess blood is drinkable…” Atobe continued, “But I don’t have the guts, I’m afraid of getting infected.”
“Okay then…” When Ambitionist heard that, he relaxed a lot and walked right to the mountain goat’s dead body. “Then there is nothing to be worried about, perhaps the taste is even not so bad.” His thought was practical, if it was infection, there was nothing to worry about… since infection wouldn’t happen in game. Even if some negative status came out from this, they could cure it with antidote. Ambitionist knelt down and lowered his head to the goat’s throat and took a few sips. 3 seconds later, he stood up and said with a strange expression, “What the… how can it be so disgusting?’
“I never did say it was tasty.” Feng Bujue shrugged.
“Then why did you say ‘Ah… that’s some good stuff’ earlier?” Ambitionist roared.
“Because it did help with my thirst and it did not apply any negative effect on me after drinking it.” Feng Bujue countered. “It is already a good drink if it passes these two points, what more do you want?”
“Well, if you ask me…” Atobe answered, “I wish to fill them in a bowl and add some coriander and chopped peanuts…”
“I personally want to boil it to kill the germs and season it with some salt.” Pegasus offered.
“Stop mumbling!” Feng Bujue was quite speechless with these two who answered his rhetorical question. “Get a move on if you want to drink. After that, I still need to deal with the rest of the body. Do you guys still want to save Uncle Worthless? Or are you planning to give up here and go back to Gao Lao Village (from Journey to the West)?”