Bab 287: Chapter 286
Fifty, seventy, a hundred... two hundred...
The predators ran quickly through the vast and dark underground cavern. There were huge fungal spheres everywhere, and each sphere contained a creature. Lin was counting their numbers.
The spheres were of different sizes, some were only a few centimeters long, while others were more than ten meters long. Because the ceiling was about thirty meters from the ground, it could fit large objects. The number of spheres was far more terrifying than their size. The deeper they went into the cavern, the denser they became.
Lin now knew why so many fungal monsters attacked at the beginning. Although she still didn't know how they climbed up through the vertical cavern, it at least proved that there were a lot of them.
When the number exceeded a thousand, the predators went deeper into the cavern and saw an endless number of fungal spheres.
Lin began to have doubts.
Why were there so many fungal monsters here? As a defensive force... No, there were more of them than needed to defend a place... They were preparing for war!
Lin's initial assumption was right. These fungal monsters could consciously control a creature and use it as their own army...
The creatures in the fungal spheres seemed to be in a state of deep sleep, but that was not the case. If one listened carefully and observed, one would find that they were beating like a heart. Some of the spheres beat very slowly, while others beat very quickly. They all had one thing in common: they were getting faster and faster.
Lin guessed that they might have been asleep for too long, so it would take some time to wake them up. However, she was certain that they were all alive and were in the process of waking up!
If that was the case, she had to burn them all before that happened!
The predators immediately sprayed flames at the fungal spheres around them. Just as Lin thought she could smell the aroma of barbecue...
"Crack …"
Suddenly, Lin heard a sound.
The predators stopped spraying flames. The flames they sprayed out began to spread wildly. The predators also gathered in the direction of the sound.
A creature had woken up...
The fungal sphere that made the sound was four meters tall. Following the sound, it slowly cracked open like an eggshell. Then, a huge head stretched out from the crack.
Was this... a beetle?
As the fungal sphere exploded, a huge creature appeared in front of the predators. The creature's body was covered in mycelium, but one could still see its original black carapace. It had six thick appendages and three fungal sacs that were constantly contracting and expanding on both sides of its body.
Is the fungus providing oxygen to the giant beetle? They actually knew how to use this method to preserve these giant insects.
"Wu …!" The giant beetle let out a roar. Suddenly, it sprayed out a thick purple mist from its mouth, hitting the two predators in front of it.
As soon as the Predator came into contact with this purple mist, its carapace was instantly corroded and festered. This seemed to be an extremely powerful dissolving liquid. Not only that, but their bodies were also invaded by a large number of mycelium.
What this beetle sprayed out was the bacterial dust that maintained the ability to infect!
The two Predators quickly festered and were unable to move. The Bacteriophages should be able to cope with this kind of attack, but the muscle cells of the Predators could not be transformed into units with resistance.
At this time, the beetle began to prepare to spray at the other predators. The predators immediately spread out and completely surrounded the beetle. The moment they surrounded the beetle, several flames suddenly gushed towards it.
"Wu …" Amidst the raging flames. The beetle kept shaking its body. The fungus on its body secreted a layer of mucus, completely enveloping it. The flames could not continue to burn on its body. Some of the Predators had already sprayed out the flammable liquid in their bodies.
The beetle immediately turned around when the flames were extinguished. A thick spray of bacterial dust instantly sprayed at the surrounding Predators, but this time the Predators reacted in advance and quickly retreated to avoid the attack.
At this time, the Predators rushed towards the beetle together. They climbed onto the beetle's back and used their sharp claws to cut open the fungal skin on the beetle's body, piercing the shrinking and expanding sacs.
Every time the Predators cut open the skin, a large amount of miasma would emerge from the cracks, but the Predators could temporarily close their breathing holes without being affected. At this time, the beetle let out a roar. It began to move all of its appendages and began to rush wildly underground.
"Bang!" The beetle slammed its body against the surrounding stone pillars, crushing some of the Predators on the side of its body into meat paste. Then it continued to rush towards the next pillar. It seemed that it wanted to use this method to deal with the Predators on its body.
But now, the predators jumped down from the beetles because the swollen sacs had been cut open by them.
"Wu …" The beetle did not seem to have noticed. It was still running, but its speed was getting slower and slower …
"Boom!" Its huge body fell to the ground with a loud crash, and the beetle did not move again.
The Predators now walked towards the beetle and carefully observed it. The sacs were indeed used for breathing. It seemed that the beetle's ability was quite complete. In fact, it did not rely on its own strength. The miasma, the bacterial dust, and so on were all the abilities of the plague fungus. Rather than using the beetle to fight, it was more accurate to say that the beetle was more like a carrier.
But because the Predators could cling to the skin of most creatures, coupled with their jumping ability, it was difficult for large creatures to attack them.
Now the beetle's body began to change. The mycelium was growing at a speed that large creatures could see with their eyes. It seemed that they were preparing to retrieve the beetle's body …
Some of the Predators that still had fuel sprayed out flames, and the beetle's body was burned to ashes. The fire-resistant liquid secreted by the beetle had been spilled during its run.
Now the beetle was dead, but the fungus was still alive. But in the face of the Predators' burning, the fungus did not react much. Previously, it could quickly secrete the fire-releasing liquid. It seemed that the reaction speed of the fungus was related to the beetle's brain.
This was only the first one.
There was a constant 'thump … thump …' sound in the surroundings, which meant that there were countless creatures waiting to wake up. The fire set by the Predators had been extinguished at some point.
Chibucha Bugs.
There were many Chibucha Bugs around, watching the Predators in the dark. Some of the Predators had the ability to detect them, so they could discover them.
They were hidden in the cave. They seemed to be inseparable from the Fungi, but it seemed that they could not command the Fungi.
What was going on with these creatures? (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Read it.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone