Fabre in Sacheon's Tang-Chapter 198: Blue Light (5)

The lantern flickered violently inside the tent, as if mirroring the shock of those present.

A flurry of urgent questions followed.

“What... what is this? It doesn’t seem like the blood creature you mentioned!”

“So-ryong, what exactly is this? Do such bizarre insects really exist?”

“It looks absolutely grotesque!”

Elder Tang Mu-seong, Tang Cheolsan, and Taeheo all stared at me, their eyes wide in disbelief as they looked at the drawing I had made.

Their expressions clearly conveyed the same thought—Does such a thing even exist in this world?

Well, I couldn’t blame them. The camel spider’s appearance was truly monstrous.

It looked like something straight out of an alien horror movie.

With two pairs of pincers protruding from the sides of its face, an elongated oval-shaped abdomen, and spindly legs, it resembled the kind of parasitic alien creature you’d expect to see in a sci-fi film.

If someone had told me it was a creature from Mars and not Earth, I might have believed them.

But that wasn’t the problem.

The real issue was that my expert prediction had turned out to be slightly off, making me look a little foolish.

Avoiding their stares, I coughed and rubbed my neck.

“Ahem... well, you see...”

I had confidently declared it was a scorpion, only for it to turn out to be a spider.

Those bastards from the Five Venoms Clan really screwed me over this time. They had Deathstalkers, so why the hell would they send a camel spider?!

If you’re talking about iconic desert venomous creatures, the Deathstalker scorpion is the gold standard! These guys had no sense of grandeur.

And to make matters worse, the camel spider wasn’t even venomous!

My frustration spiked.

Never mind anything else—this was an outright crisis for my credibility as an expert.

Just then, Tang Hwa-eun’s voice came from behind me.

“Is it a Wind Venom?”

She entered the tent, shooting Bini a slight glare.

It seemed Bini had sneaked out and brought something back.

But my ears perked up at the term Tang Hwa-eun had just used—the camel spider’s alternative name in the Central Plains.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freewebnσvel.cøm.

That was interesting.

After all, this was a spider that wasn’t exactly a spider, and yet they were calling it a scorpion.

“Wind Venom?” I repeated.

“Yes. It’s called Wind Venom because it moves as fast as the wind. Some regions in the west call it the ‘Sun-Avoiding Spider’ since it hides in the cracks of rocks and sand during the day.”

Oh-ho!

Since taxonomic classification wasn’t fully established in this world yet, the Tang Clan seemed to have categorized the camel spider as a type of scorpion.

Honestly, given its resemblance to desert scorpions, I could understand how people in this era might see it that way.

At a glance, its appearance was different, but its exoskeleton and coloration were similar enough to scorpions to cause confusion.

Thanks to Tang Hwa-eun’s words, my credibility as an expert was salvaged just in time.

With a completely composed expression, I nodded.

From now on, the camel spider would forever be known as Wind Venom—for the sake of my professional dignity.

“Yes, that’s right. Wind Venom. Fast as the wind. Indeed, incredibly fast. No doubt about it.”

There was a perfectly good reason why the Tang Clan called the camel spider Wind Venom.

It was one of the fastest creatures among arachnids—no, among all insects.

Despite living in the desert, the camel spider boasted astonishing speed.

A five-centimeter-long camel spider could sprint up to twelve to fifteen times its body length per second.

That meant a tiny five-centimeter spider could cover 60 to 75 centimeters in a single second.

With that kind °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° of speed, it was only natural for it to be named Wind Venom.

In fact, on average, a camel spider could travel 16 kilometers per hour across the desert.

Of course, it didn’t scale proportionally, but in theory, if the creature were to grow to one meter, it would be capable of moving at 320 kilometers per hour.

A racing car among arthropods—that was the camel spider.

Wait a minute... that sound I heard earlier—!?

Realizing this, I suddenly understood what that strange noise had been when I arrived here.

I had dismissed it as the wind rustling through the grass, but in reality, that eerie noise—

It must have been the sound of a camel spider running.

Due to seasonal winds that shift directions rapidly, gusts often blew strongly for a while before suddenly dying down.

A westward breeze had abruptly stopped...

Now, the mystery of the disappearing camels and missing people was starting to make sense.

The reason why no traces were left behind became clear.

Oh-ho. I see it now...

This wasn’t just an attack—it was an abduction.

The creature must have rushed in at high speed, bitten its prey, and bolted away.

At night, camel spiders moved almost silently.

Their bodies were covered in fine hairs, and when they ran, these hairs made contact with the ground before their legs did.

Because of this, they left almost no tracks and could sprint across any terrain, be it sand, gravel, or even shallow water.

So, in the dead of night, if a camel spider had dashed in and snatched a person or a camel, it would have happened in an instant, leaving no evidence behind.

Furthermore, camel spiders didn’t leave behind bodies.

They used their razor-sharp pincers to crush their prey, then dissolved the flesh with digestive fluids—leaving no remains at all.

Just as I finished piecing together the mystery—

The voices of admiration rang out.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Oh! So it really was a blood creature! Incredible.”

“Amazing, So-ryong!”

“Incredible, So-ryong.”

“Haha... well, I am an expert, after all.”

I awkwardly responded to their praise, but then I noticed something...

The atmosphere in the tent had changed.

Everyone had an expectant look on their faces.

It was as if they assumed the problem would be solved immediately.

“Well, now that we know what it is and how to find it at night, we should be able to catch it in no time.”

“Exactly! We spent months chasing shadows, but in just a single day... As expected of an expert!”

“As expected of my brother!”

But... the camel spider wasn’t a scorpion.

It was not an easy target at night.

I let out an awkward cough and explained,

“Ahem. We’ve identified it, but... catching it might take a few days.”

“Hm? Why is that?”

“Is there a problem?”

Their expectant smiles faltered slightly.

I nodded.

“Most blood creatures glow in the dark, making them easy to track at night. But Wind Venom doesn’t emit any light, which means... it will take a lot more time to find it.”

“So... Wind Venom doesn’t glow?”

“No, at least not to human eyes.”

The group hesitated for a moment.

But Tang Mu-seong’s people were rational optimists, and they quickly adapted to the new situation.

“Well, there’s got to be a way, right?”

“So-ryong is an expert. Surely, he has a plan!”

Wait... is my credibility rising this fast?!

This was turning into a real challenge.

I needed to come up with a method quickly—

My professional reputation depended on it.

***

After the commotion of the night had settled, I woke up early in the morning and walked alone to the plains outside the village.

I needed to figure out how to catch the camel spider that sprinted across the open fields like a locomotive.

If it were a small one, I could just craft a net and capture it. But to catch a giant spider that moves like a sports car, I needed a different approach.

First, I analyzed my surroundings.

Alright, this is a high-altitude plateau. Knee-high grass everywhere. Dry climate, but with scattered lakes and puddles. A wide, open field.

It seemed that Qinghai had a much higher elevation than I initially thought.

Even some of the Kunlun Sect members had asked if I was feeling lightheaded.

Of course, since we were martial artists, we weren’t as affected by it, but ordinary people here suffered from altitude sickness.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t useful information for catching the camel spider.

Altitude sickness is an acute reaction caused by moving to a low-oxygen environment.

But camel spiders were highly efficient oxygen users, meaning this had no effect on them.

Their grotesque speed came from their highly efficient respiratory system.

Humans breathe through their noses, sending oxygen down the airway into the lungs, where oxygen is exchanged with carbon dioxide in the red blood cells before being transported throughout the body.

It’s a complex and indirect process.

However, camel spiders had three breathing holes on the underside of their abdomens, which directly injected oxygen into their muscles.

By inhaling through these openings and delivering oxygen straight to their muscles, they could utilize oxygen much more efficiently than humans, enabling their insane speed.

So high altitude only affects us, not them...

If the terrain had a canyon or some other natural bottleneck, I could try herding it into a trap.

But this was an open field, covered in knee-high grass—hardly useful for trapping such a fast creature.

As I stood alone, staring at the vast plains, deep in thought, Tang Hwa-eun’s voice called out from behind me.

“So-ryong, are you thinking about how to catch it?”

After spending so much time together, she could tell just from my expression that I had yet to come up with a solid plan.

But she smiled reassuringly.

“Well, we’ll just have to think of something.”

I glanced around and noticed something.

The children were nowhere to be seen.

I had come out quietly, and no one else had followed me.

“What about the kids?” I asked.

“Oh, Sister Seol is watching them.”

At that moment, my mind flashed.

Now’s my chance!

The camel spider was important, sure.

But wasn’t I also a man in the middle of a budding romance?

I mean, I can think about something else for a moment, right?

We weren’t married yet, but with the kids constantly around, we never had the chance to act like a proper couple.

Slowly, I moved closer to Tang Hwa-eun.

“W-why? S-So-ryong, your f-face looks strange....”

What do you mean strange?

This was the face of a love-starved man!

As I crept forward, trying to take her hand—

Suddenly, my ankle got caught on something.

And I toppled right onto her.

“Ugh.”

“Kyaa!”

When I came to my senses, I realized I was pinning her down.

She lay beneath me, her face red as she turned her head to the side.

“So-ryong... y-you’re so impatient...”

No!

It was a misunderstanding!

I had just been trying to hold her hand, but my foot had gotten caught on something!

But from her flustered expression, she looked like she was expecting something.

As I was contemplating whether young men should really take things slow—

–Sluuurp?!

A voice suddenly echoed behind me.

Startled, I looked up.

Cho had crawled out, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

He was staring at Tang Hwa-eun and me as if he had just caught us doing something scandalous.

His bright, sparkling gaze practically screamed, What are you two doing?

“N-no, it’s nothing! Ah, um... Daddy tripped, and Mommy caught him!”

“Y-yes, Cho, that’s exactly what happened!”

Tang Hwa-eun quickly nodded, scrambling to her feet.

Still feeling flustered, I turned to see what had tripped me.

Something was odd about the grass.

I crouched down and examined it.

The ends of the grass were tied together.

“What the...?”

“Oh! U-uh, nomadic tribes do this sometimes to tie up their horses. It’s just a temporary method.”

Tang Hwa-eun seemed flustered as well, speaking a little too eagerly to cover up her embarrassment.

And at that moment—

A brilliant idea struck me.

I just need to trip the damn thing!

If I tied the grass together in a spot where the camel spider was likely to pass, then reinforced it with Yo-hwa’s silk, I could set up a perfect trap.

What if it tripped at full speed?

That would hurt a lot.

Yes, that sounded like a very painful fall.