BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1292: The bugs (18)
June returned moments later. "The path is clear," June said. "At least for the first hundred meters."
Erik nodded, and the group moved.
…
…
…
The group navigated through the tunnels and caves for some time. Each time they came across an intersection, Erik blocked the paths Amber and the others told him were not those bringing him to the underground city.
By blocking all side routes, he would prevent the bugs from ambushing them or cutting off their path.
This meant relying on a single escape route, which carried its own risks. If the bugs destroyed Erik's blockages, they would be forced to confront them in the narrow tunnels if the group had to retreat.
The confined space would limit their movement and force them into close-quarters combat, making it harder to use their abilities and face huge numbers of bugs at the same time.
There was only a path, after all, and it would bring the monsters stumbling into the tunnel directly to them.
While Erik and the clones could break through the walls he had created, a lot depended on their location. The bugs could be anywhere—right in front of a sealed tunnel entrance or far from them.
"There's a large chamber beyond that, filled with thaids. There are at least a hundred warriors and around two hundred workers."
"It looks like the queen is trying to stop us from reaching her, but why?" Erik asked.
The queen was strong, so the reason it felt the need to stop Erik and the others was weird. Could it be she wasn't confident about winning?
"Maybe she is weakened for some reason," Mira said. "It's not uncommon for bugs' queens to have less energy if they made a lot of eggs. Given how many of her troops she lost, she might have felt the need to increase their numbers, and this might have left her weakened."
"It can be," June said. "Anyway, I didn't have time to check it thoroughly, but the left path seems to be clear."
"Are you sure it's the right path?" Erik asked.
"I am. The last time we went through it, there were around two dozen thaids."
The task itself wasn't complex, but they had been lucky—if any thaids had escaped to alert their underground city, the group would have faced an overwhelming swarm much earlier, and they would have never found the city.
This was the problem with exploring an unfamiliar place. If they had known about the massive bug nest, they would have been more cautious in their search.
"What do we do, master?" June asked. If they wanted to proceed, they would need to fight a large group of thaids, and Erik didn't know if they would be able to prevent even one of them from leaving and alerting the nest.
"We need to block their escape," he said. He turned to the other clones. "Shapeshift, go behind them, and block their path of retreat. I will kill them."
"Yes, master."
The clones shapeshifted and then did as Erik instructed.
"Are you sure you will have enough mana, then?" Mira asked. "There are not few thaids, and they are all as strong as the blackguard foot soldiers."
"I shouldn't have problems."
"If you are sure…"
The clones turned into humans again as soon as they got behind the thaids, blocking their access to the tunnel behind them.
What happened next was simply a massacre. Erik didn't use wind blades to kill the thaids, but created stone spikes, making them jut from the ground. This way, he would be sure the Chimaeric Demons wouldn't be injured.
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[0%...1%... 5%... 30%... 70%... 100%]
[mana successfully absorbed, starting the conversion procedure.]
[3...2...1...0]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
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[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
Sharp stone spikes burst from the ground one after another, killing all the bugs.
The guard bugs' hard outer shells broke apart as the spikes pierced them. The worker bugs died even more easily since their shells were softer.
The guard bugs tried to escape, but Erik's attacks were too quick and covered too much ground for them to escape. The stone spikes struck each bug multiple times, stabbing through their bodies and cutting off their legs, all in a brief span of time.
The dying bugs made horrible crunching sounds as their shells broke apart.
A few bugs survived the first attack and ran toward the tunnels to escape, but the Chimaeric demons blocked all the exits.
One large guard bug tried to ram through the clones, but they were many times stronger than the creature and killed it easily.
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
[Operarius thanatocoleoptera killed: mana-absorbing process starting.]
In seconds, the chamber was filled with stone spikes. The dead bugs were stuck on them, bodies limping and fluids flowing.
Not long after, silence came inside the cave.
"Are we done?"
"Yes, master."
"Good. Check the tunnels and let me know how the situation is."
"It will be done, master."
The clones confirmed the following part of the path was relatively clear, and the group started moving again.
The tunnels gradually expanded to twice their original width as the group went deeper underground.
The walls had been worn smooth from countless bugs passing through over many years. Regular grooves and scratches marked the surfaces where the bugs' shells had scraped against the stone during their travels.
The bioluminescent fungi was still there, though, and it grew more abundant.
<At least there is some illumination, thanks to the fungi.> Erik didn't want to think about how it would be to navigate here with just torches. They would attract a lot of attention. Of course, Erik also sealed all the side tunnels, leaving just one path to retreat.
After twenty minutes, the tunnel opened into a cavern. Unlike the natural formations they'd gone through so far, this place showed signs of human construction.
"We are here," Amber said.
They reached the entrance of the underground city.
