บท 39: Bug Hunter (1)

Kai slowly moved backward while sizing up the oncoming wave of [Rock-Wyrms]. He wanted to escape but was also tempted by the prospect of gaining Qi from all these targets.

"Let's give it a try, if I'm in any danger, I'll just escape using [Hare leaps over Moon]". Kai resolved himself and stopped moving back. He used Qi to enhance his body then activated his newest E-Rank Martial Arts [Primordial Dragon Stance] then let out a primal roar as he ran into the heart of the beasts.

Kai crashed heavily into a pile of [Rock-Wyrms]. He used his Qi-enhanced fists to crush the skulls of the closest two, but there were too many and he quickly started to take damage. His initial collision had counted as being attacked, so he had already amassed some defensive stacks from his skill.

Kai didn't stop his attacks and continuously crushed the skulls on the closest bugs before moving onto the next group. He was super-enhancing his fists with [1 Qi] per hit. This would usually overexert his muscles, but this time was a little different. He had now already gained the full 10 defensive stacks from [Primordial Dragon Stance] and was noticing a significant change in his body.

"This effect is better than I thought. It feels like my body has hardened. My muscles aren't even tearing with the super-enhancement!"

Kai quickly did the math and realized this was also very sustainable. He would only have to use [1 Qi] to super enhance each hit. If he was able to kill one beast with each hit, then he would gain [5 Qi], netting him a profit of [4 Qi]. The best part was after having built the initial 10 stacks of [Primordial Dragon Stance], he only needed to refresh the 10th stack every 10 seconds by being hit once. This was extremely easy to do in this environment.

A strange smile crept onto Kai's face once he realized this and his movements became bigger and more confident. He started to super-enhance his legs as well and used them to jump around while crushing the beasts and avoiding encirclement.

After an intense three hours of fighting, the number of [Rock-Wyrm] had been significantly reduced and Kai was exhausted.

"This skill is amazing. As expected of an E-Rank skill. Their teeth could cut bloody wounds at first but when I had all the stacks, the worst they could do was scratch me a little"

The [Rock-Wyrm] hadn't all been defeated, however, Kai had to stop his massacre because he noticed something terrible. New [Rock-Wyrm]s were appearing and dragging their dead comrades away.

Kai didn't know why they were doing this or where they were going, but he desperately needed their gallbladders so he stopped fighting to collect as many gallbladders as he could. He couldn't store the gallbladders anywhere so he ate them as soon as he dug one out, covered in bug Ichor and all.

He would only jump back into the group to refresh his defensive stacks. The [Rock-Wyrm] had also mostly started to ignore him and were more focused on collecting the large amount of biomass now laying in the tunnel.

Kai checked his [Qi] and [Life Essence] progress as he moved.

=[Life Essences required for next promotion]: 177/200

[Qi:500/500]

Gaining the required amount of Qi was easy thanks to all the bugs, so he was more concerned with the Life-Essence.

"I need 23 more, but it looks like all the dead bugs have been dragged away". The [Rock-Wyrms] had worked fast and cleared out the tunnel. Kai followed them while slowly picking off the ones lagging at the back. He was curious as to what they were doing so he followed them deeper into the tunnel.

After only 30 minutes, they arrived at an eerie-looking passageway, covered in what Kai could only assume to be eggs. Kai hid at the entrance and just watched them for a while. He had already gained the remaining 23 gallbladders he needed and wanted to find a quiet place to consolidate his gains.

"I know where this place is now so I'll come back later". Just as Kai was about to leave, he felt a sense of danger then used [Hare leaps over moon] immediately. This wasn't the first time he had experienced this feeling and didn't dare to doubt it since it had saved his life before. He went into action without any hesitation and escaped. He looked back to the spot where he was standing but didn't see anything out of place.

"Strange, was this a false alarm?". Just as Kai thought this, he noticed something crawling high up in the shadows of the ceiling. It looked just like a [Rock-Wyrm], but had massive pincers coming out of its head as well as long, razor-sharp legs running down its body, making it look like a centipede.

Kai used [Qi Detection] as he moved away.

[Grade 2] [Rock-Wyrm Adult] Qi 366]

"Adult...does that mean all these worms are just recently born juveniles?...", Kai was at a loss for words. This whole time he was just fighting hatchlings. Vicious hatchlings that would have torn him apart if given the chance for sure, but hatchlings nevertheless.

At that moment, the [Rock -Wyrm Adult] shot out a series of spikes out of its tail aimed at Kai. He made some distance between himself and the beast but he never expected it to have a long-ranged attack. By the time he could react, the spikes were already on him so he could only block his face and chest using his arms.

The spikes were made out of a stone-like material and slammed into his body, pushing him back out of the tunnel. Luckily he had protected his vitals so he only suffered wounds on his shoulders, arms and legs.

He had been out of combat for too long so his defensive stacks were now gone. Kai could only run away for now.

"Damned bug caught me off guard, I'll come back for you as soon as I level up!". Kai yelled as he ran out of the tunnel. He looked back and noticed that it wasn't following him out so he breathed a sigh of relief.

Kai ran back to the initial tunnel. He walked over to an inconspicuous looking crevice in the wall and pulled out his backpack. Along with it, was two half-conscious [Rock-Wyrms] with their heads and tails bound together so they could not move. He had caught them in the earlier confusion then hid them here. Kai planned on using them to gain some early Qi as soon as he leveled up.