Mythshaper
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Chapter 53: Upgrade (1)
🕑 Added 2024-04-28 19:03:20 +0000 UTCShai’s initial reaction to the assignment was apprehension. She feared she would need to hunt down a substantial number of creatures for the empathic spider fledglings to eat. However, she quickly realized that the corpses of tainted creatures were not exactly suitable nourishment for the fledglings.
Needless to say, corruption was poison to the fledgling spiders who could not control their empathic nature.
“So, how much food do we need to bring in?” Shai inquired as Marvel carried her toward the cultivation field.
The empathic spiders primarily cultivated various types of mushrooms, which didn’t require sunlight and grew mostly on decomposed corpses. They had to put all the corrupted creatures somewhere, after all. Why not put it to good use in cultivating their sustenance?
Previously, there had been five mushroom fields, but due to maintenance issues and attacks from the corruption, only three fields remained in full capacity. By "field," she meant pits layered with complicated script formations to make it possible for the mushrooms to grow.
Shai felt disheartened when she realized they wouldn’t be able to completely harvest even one field with the limited time they had… And from what she had discerned from the spiders, it appeared they were planning to leave this place for good. None of them spoke it out loud, but she could detect it.
Since they would be leaving most of it, Shai decided she would keep an inventory full of those delectable mushrooms for herself alone. I’ll see to it if anyone complains…
Suddenly, a loud screech echoed through the air, causing Shai to shift her position atop Marvel to locate the source. More growls and screeches soon followed. The noise was coming from the direction they were heading.
“Crap, the protective wards are broken,” her ride said, accelerating to her maximum speed. She leapt from one side of the stone wall to the other, swinging on her webs if she had to. “If there are any iron-ranked creatures, we might have to go back and call one of the guardians.”
True, they had hunted an Iron-ranked creature together, but it had been a struggle of hours, using various means which weren’t available to them. Not to mention, the task had left them exhausted and afflicted with various afflictions.
Marvel’s anxiety was palpable, evident through the empathic waves, as returning for assistance would waste more of their precious time. Shai refrained from offering encouragement, still unfamiliar with the full extent of their predicament. Moreover, her heart lurched, judging that the location they were headed was not unfamiliar to her.
Apparently, it was exactly the mushroom cultivation pit she had stumbled upon before. She had looted a great load of mushrooms from here, which had practically saved her life more than once, be it in cushioning a fall of two hundred metres or restoring her from physical stress when needed.
The problem was that, to hide the evidence of her thievery from the empathic spiders, Shai had damaged some part of the script formations and left corpses of a few corrupt creatures... It had worked brilliantly, as none of the spiders had put a finger of blame in her direction... yet...
Shai hissed. But there was no protection when I entered...
And she had only damaged the formation a little, and she had only been a little snake... Those corrupt creatures could do a lot worse than her.
As they neared the pit, Shai’s eyes emitted a golden shimmer. The reach of [Golden Eyes] was beyond her. She could see the halos of the corrupted creatures nonchalantly feasting on the mushrooms with not a care in the world. Thankfully, none exhibited the distinctive, deep orange aura of an iron rank, though she did catch the sight of a few deep red halos, which set them apart from the rest.
Shai sighed with relief and relayed to Marvel, “No need to call the guardians, there are no iron-ranked creatures here. The highest among them seems to be a lizard called [Corrupt Inix Lvl 44].”
Confident in her abilities, Shai believed she could handle a Level 44 creature on her own. Especially after her recent encounters and enhancements. Marvel, too, was not to be underestimated. Her level had risen to 38, and subtle shifts in her aura suggested she had grown significantly stronger recently.
Marvel emitted an empathic echo of relief. “Wait, how can you tell that?” she asked, caught between disbelief and surprise. “There are dozens of creatures; inspecting each one would take at least—”
“Let’s talk about this later,” Shai interrupted. “After we finish this assignment. For now, just know that I can see more than you.”
Her eyes shimmered in brilliant golden light, emphasizing the fact.
“Wow, your eyes—” Marvel began, then abruptly turned her attention back to the creatures. “There are a lot of them, though.”
“Why, are you nervous?” Shai asked smugly, dismounting from Marvel’s back.
Marvel emitted a wave of contempt. “I’m only worried about the little Lvl 25 Hatchling.”
Shai hissed as if disgusted. “I’ll show you who’s little, Lil’ Marv...”
With that, she charged toward a Lvl 28 Twisted Chilopod—a familiar enemy that she had comprehensive experience dealing with. Shai formed a venom-free, but potent [Arcane Shot] as she advanced. The oblivious creature was devouring the mushrooms, unaware of the predator aiming for its neck.
Wait, do centipedes have necks?
The question didn’t deter Shai from launching the [Arcane Shot]. A semi-transparent bolt of essence tinged with a golden shimmer released from her mouth and whispered through the air to plunge deep into the creature’s first body segment.
The chilopod reared up, screeching in agony. Wishing to end its suffering quickly, Shai augmented her body with [Empower] and struck into the hole created by her attack. Disgusting blood gushed into her mouth, which she ignored in a practised manner as she dug further. She pierced through its stem, severing the head’s functions from the rest of the body.
To put a cherry on top, she shot another [Arcane Shot], as the recoil force jerked her out from the creature’s body. I’m practically a low-capacity machine gun…
The familiar notification of the creature’s demise popped up. Shai ignored it and glanced towards Marvel. The empathic spider had already immobilized three of her foes with webs and was dispatching them one by one with ease. She clearly didn’t need Shai’s help.
Even though the hunt had begun, most of the tainted creatures were still gorging themselves on mushrooms... and when they fought back, it was driven by their insanity and bloodthirstiness.
Shai wasn’t complaining. In fact, this made things easier for them. As long as the creatures remained distracted by the devilishly delicious mushrooms, they wouldn’t be able to overwhelm them with numbers.
She gulped down a couple of those mushrooms and set her sights on her next opponent, a low copper rank like the last one. Two more copper creatures to upgrade her [Predator] mark… Shai hadn’t forgotten that. There was no point in wasting her stamina on the toughest opponent yet.
Her new opponent—a Corrupt Chilopod Lvl 28—seemed aware of her presence and dodged her attack, utilizing dozens of its appendages effectively. It wasn’t any more powerful than her last opponent, but being aware of the threat gave it some ability to contend with Shai. No doubt, it was agile, but it erred to believe it stood a chance against her.
Shai prowled the creature. She feinted a bite and struck with an [Arcane Shot] at point-blank range. She missed the body segment by only a few inches, but thankfully, her [Arcane Shot] was powerful enough to pierce its tough exoskeleton.
The monstrous centipede let out a guttural screech and lunged at her. If Shai had hands, she would have welcomed it with open arms. Instead, she snapped her tail and lunged forward, aiming for its right eye.
[Empower] was active throughout the fight. The skill toughened her body enough that she didn’t have to worry about any initial attack striking her. However, she still avoided a direct blow from the creature, manoeuvring her way to target its eye.
She finished it off with another [Arcane Shot]. Using two [Arcane Shots] on a low copper rank creature seemed like a reasonable trade, considering her essence pool allowed her to fire a couple dozen of those shots and still be left with a little essence to escape danger safely.
Shai had barely extracted herself from the creature when another attacked her from behind, breaking her [Empower]. A reptile with a horned head, a meter tall and over a couple of metres long, a kind of lizard creature she hadn’t encountered before. And it wasn’t alone.
[Horned Anole – Corrupt Inix Lvl 35.]
[Horned Anole – Corrupt Inix Lvl 29.]
[Horned Anole – Corrupt Inix Lvl 39.]
[Horned Anole – Corrupt Inix Chief Lvl 44.]
