Chapter 169 - 164: Collapse
The instant the command was given, he had already spun around and was charging toward the cave entrance they came from.
Kael followed close behind, his form blurring into a phantom.
Barrett dragged Ola along. The short-legged Dwarf wanted to look back, but the old veteran yanked him away.
"Go!"
Behind them, the "hill" formed by the giant serpent’s body and Original Blood Crystals was coming to life.
Countless Original Blood Crystals rolled off its body with a series of sharp cracks. The ground began to shake, and dust and rubble rained down from the ceiling.
Sarah moved silently to Velin’s rear flank. Her half-human, half-insect body showed extreme adaptability in this rugged terrain, her six legs moving in alternating, steady steps.
Her eyes reflected the Crimson Red glow brightening behind them, filtering the information and projecting it into Velin’s consciousness.
A low hum vibrated from behind, making one’s chest feel tight.
"Damn it! Who was that?!"
Barrett roared in the matrix, his eyes filled with shock and fury.
"Forget it! Go!"
The team charged into the narrow rock crevice they had passed through earlier, the only path to escape.
However, the way forward was not clear. A pile of huge fallen rocks blocked the path, leaving only a gap wide enough for one person.
Apparently, the tremors from the giant serpent’s awakening had caused a new cave-in.
"I’ll smash it open!"
Ola raised his battle-axe.
"No! It’ll collapse!" Velin stopped him at once. The tactical map in his mind instantly provided the optimal solution. "Twenty meters to the left, there’s a bigger fissure! Quick!"
The group immediately turned and rushed into the darker, more winding passage.
The space here was narrow, only allowing two or three people to walk abreast, and the rock ceiling hung low overhead.
Behind them, the giant serpent’s commotion grew louder. It seemed unable to squeeze into this small passage and resorted to ramming the rock walls with brute force.
BOOM!
CRASH!
The entire tunnel shook, sending down a shower of rubble and dust.
"It’s breaking through the wall!" Barrett’s voice was tinged with despair. "We’re not going to make it..."
The words had barely left his mouth when the rock wall to their rear flank suddenly exploded open. Amidst the billowing dust, a head the size of a house forced its way in. A pair of indifferent, Crimson Red vertical pupils locked onto the rear of the group.
A sense of despair washed over everyone.
Velin, however, did not let his mind be swayed by emotion.
"Soldier Ant Number 20, hold it off."
A Soldier Ant at the rear of the team received the directive and acted without a shred of hesitation.
Having received its orders, the Soldier Ant turned to face the behemoth, spreading its sharp foreclaws.
The Master of the Gray Swamp seemed somewhat surprised by the tiny insect charging at it, but its movements didn’t pause in the slightest. It opened its massive maw and swallowed the Level 3 Soldier Ant whole.
It didn’t even chew.
Everyone’s scalps tingled with fear. The brief pause hadn’t even bought them a single second.
Seeing its reaction, Velin sent another command.
Two more Soldier Ants broke from the group, one from the left and one from the right, charging toward the giant serpent.
This time, the Master of the Gray Swamp seemed to be enraged.
Its massive body surged forward, crushing the Soldier Ant on the left into a pile of pulp.
At the same time, its tongue flickered out, flicking the one on the right into its mouth.
The moment the Soldier Ant was swallowed, Velin issued his final command.
"Tumble!"
Inside the giant serpent’s esophagus, the freshly swallowed Soldier Ant used the last of its strength to madly churn and tumble, its sharp appendages and mouthparts tearing at the flesh.
"ROAR—!"
A roar mixed with pain and fury erupted from the mouth of the Master of the Gray Swamp.
Its massive body began to writhe violently, its head slamming crazily against the cave walls, dislodging countless rocks.
’It’s working!’
A glint of hope flashed in Barrett’s eyes.
Ola was stunned as well. He hadn’t expected such a suicidal attack to actually be effective.
However, their hope lasted for less than three seconds.
Just then, Velin saw an ominous orange-red glow light up from deep within the serpent’s throat, the temperature there rising rapidly.
"Scatter! Now!"
Velin issued the warning.
Everyone instinctively dove toward the rock walls on either side.
The next second, a torrent of viscous flames erupted from the giant serpent’s mouth.
It scorched the path they had just been running on, burning the entire floor and ceiling of the passage red-hot.
The air was instantly sucked away, and the scorching heat wave nearly seared the skin off their bodies.
Kael and Barrett pressed themselves tightly against the rock wall, not daring to even breathe.
On Velin’s tactical map, the ceiling of the tunnel, scorched by the sulfuric breath, showed an extremely unstable rock structure. Countless lines representing cracks were spreading across it.
A bold plan formed in his mind.
"Ola!"
"Your axe! Directly above! The base of the largest stalactite! The part that’s glowing the reddest!"
Ola didn’t hesitate for a second. At this life-or-death moment, he chose to trust his lord’s judgment.
He leaped up from the ground, drew the handaxe from his lower back, kicked off the rock wall with both feet, and put all his strength into his core, his body twisting in mid-air like a fully drawn bow.
"Get the hell down!"
With a furious roar, the handaxe flew out, spinning and whistling through the air, and struck the piece of overhanging rock that was glowing red-hot.
CRACK—
A sharp cracking sound.
It was followed by a continuous series of fractures.
The tunnel ceiling, its structure compromised by the intense heat and the heavy blow, could no longer support its own weight.
Huge chunks of rock began to peel away, triggering an avalanche-like chain reaction.
The Master of the Gray Swamp also sensed the danger and let out an unwilling roar, trying to retreat.
But it was too late.
Tens of thousands of tons of rock poured down, instantly burying its massive body and the passage behind it.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—
The deafening roar continued for nearly a minute.
The entire subterranean world trembled.
Velin and the others had already taken the opportunity to flee a hundred meters away. They lay flat on the ground. Sarah was on top of Velin, fiercely protecting her father’s head as rubble and dust covered them.
When everything finally fell silent.
Barrett was the first to lift his head. He looked at the completely sealed passage behind them and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
"We survived..."
Everyone lay on the ground, gasping for breath, their chests heaving violently.
A narrow escape.
They didn’t dare to linger. They helped each other up and ran for who knows how long—perhaps an hour, perhaps longer.
As the adrenaline faded, exhaustion washed over them.
The group’s pace slowed, and they chose to stop in a relatively spacious underground cavern.
Barrett was the first to slide down against a wall, his chest rising and falling violently like a worn-out bellows.
Ola leaned on his battle-axe, which he had recovered at some point, and panted heavily. His meticulously braided beard was caked with dust, giving him a battered appearance.
Kael’s figure melted into the shadows nearby. He regulated his breathing while vigilantly observing their surroundings.
Sarah stood quietly by Velin’s side. Her hard carapace was covered in scratches, and the marks of intense heat lingered on her chitinous exoskeleton.
Velin’s face was also a little pale. Maintaining the hive matrix was a significant mental strain.
He didn’t rest immediately. Instead, he directed the eight remaining Soldier Ants to scout the surrounding area, working from the inside out.
Moving points of light spread out on the three-dimensional map in Velin’s mind, feeding back information about the surrounding terrain and environment.
Suddenly.
Velin’s mind jolted.
To their northeast, about three hundred meters away, behind a hidden stalagmite.
A humanoid point of light was there, perfectly still.
Unmoving.