Chapter 358
Words:1970Update:22/06/26 10:07:22
There was still a loud rumbling sound coming from underground, as if a group of evil beasts from the abyss was running wildly through the rocks and mud. Lily carefully looked down at the hole. Her eyes were glimmering, but in the deep darkness, she could only see a blurry shadow moving quickly. "It doesn't look like it's chasing us … That thing doesn't seem to know how to turn."
With a flapping sound, Vivian's bats reformed into human form. She threw a small bat into the hole to take a closer look. The small bat burst into a burst of lightning, and at that moment, both Vivian and Lily could see clearly what was happening below. The huge 'tentacle' was still extending forward, and the rough, brownish-black skin was flashing at the bottom of the shaft. Even with Lily's werewolf super vision, she could not see the details clearly. However, the tentacle did not seem to be able to sense the situation above the shaft. It was just blindly chasing forward. Perhaps, as Lily said, this thing did not know how to turn.
After a while, the tentacle finally stopped moving forward. It seemed to have reached the end of the tunnel. After a moment of hesitation, it began to slowly shrink back, leaving only a slightly expanded, smooth and complete rock tunnel.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief. Lily sat on the ground and patted her chest. "Looks like it's retreating. That scared the hell out of me …"
She then rubbed her eyes and looked at Vivian with a slight grumble. "Your Lightning Strike was a little too bright. I almost went blind."
Vivian had no idea if Lily's second half of the sentence was an exaggeration or a normal statement …
"What the hell is that thing?" Lily sat on the ground for a while and quickly got up. She patted the dust off her body and looked at Vivian curiously. "You're very knowledgeable. Have you seen such a thing before?"
Vivian shook her head. "I've never seen it before. At first glance, it looks like an underground creature. Maybe it's the tentacle of a giant creature, but its skin doesn't look like an animal's … It's more like a wrinkled plant. Unfortunately, the situation was too chaotic at that time. But I got some samples — "
As she spoke, she raised her hand to show a large piece of black material. It turned out that when she jumped up, she had sent some bats to tear some tissue samples from the surface of the tentacle during the chaos. Lily immediately moved closer with great interest. Her eyes sparkled under the light of the two silver moons. The details of the black tissue were clearly visible under the moonlight: it had a wrinkled surface and was covered with cracks like dry bark. The edge was hard, but overall, it had a certain degree of flexibility. Vivian flipped it over, and the two of them saw that there were strange patterns on the back of the tissue sample. It had the characteristics of a plant.
"It really looks like a plant. It smells like one too." Lily sniffed. "Well, it's definitely not the smell of meat. Battie, what did you think of? "
Vivian turned her head and looked at the Gnarled Grove not far away. "... It is said that the Gnarled Grove has a larger body underground. It is a cluster of roots that extends to the center of the Blood Lake and the depths of Dragonspine Ridge... Based on the location and the shape of the tentacle... could it be the roots of the Gnarled Grove?!"
Lily suddenly felt goosebumps all over her body. "No way! Do you think tree roots will chase after people? "
Vivian put away the black material and turned to walk towards the Gnarled Grove. "It's just a guess, but the possibility is high. There are many strange things in this world. This forest gave me a strange feeling from the beginning. I don't believe it is just a simple plant... "
Lily quickly caught up with Vivian. "What are you doing? Are you going to dig a hole in the forest to verify it? What if you dig out the tentacle again? "
Vivian shook her head. "Of course I won't take that risk. I just want to see if the tree and the 'black skin' in my hand are the same. "
She paused for a moment and said to Lily while thinking, "Don't you think it's strange? We hypothesized that the tentacles were the roots of the Gnarled Grove, but according to local legends, these underground roots were very, very deep. The locals even thought that it was just a myth. They had lived here for hundreds and thousands of years and had never been attacked by the tentacles. The only sighting was when a group of dwarves dug too deep into the mountains and came across something that looked like a few tentacles. There was no concrete evidence in that report... "
Lily may be dumb, but she was not slow. "You mean these tentacles or roots have only recently moved to the shallow layer?"
Vivian nodded solemnly. "The Gnarled Grove has been here for 10,000 years. The tentacles — whether they are roots or not — should be quite ancient. But the people of Beinz have never encountered them, which means that they have been living deep underground. But the tunnel under the outpost is only 10 meters deep... I suspect that the tentacles are preparing to come to the surface."
Lily broke out in a cold sweat and had goosebumps all over her body. "Tsk... I kind of want to go home! Why does it sound so frightening? "
"You haven't seen anything scarier than this. There were monsters in the Mythological Era that challenged your worldview. Wouldn't you be scared to death back then?"
"Who said so! You can't underestimate the courage of a werewolf! I just feel a little nauseous. "
"Don't let go of your tail when you say that. How can you be so self-righteous when you walk with your tail between your legs..."
The two of them walked away noisily. Not long after they left, there was a sudden rush of hooves from another direction.
A team of fully-armed church knights and church mages rode to the outpost ruins. They were the sentinels who patrolled the area at night. The knights dismounted outside the camp and cautiously walked into the ruins of the outpost. One of them was talking to the others. "It came from this direction..."
"It sounds like it came from underground... Don't tell me those stone monsters have learned to burrow?"
"Goddess, I don't know if the monsters can burrow, but your brain must have been pierced by someone!"
Suddenly, a sentinel shouted in front of them. "There's a tunnel here!"
The soldiers hurriedly gathered. They had found the shaft that Lily had left behind.
The leader of the sentinel squad pondered for a moment before he called out two warriors. "Jefferson, Holman, you two go down with me."
In the sky, the two cold silver moons were still hanging high. The blood-red spot on the main moon was like a bloodshot and cold eye looking down on the land. It looked down at the tiny creatures crawling on the ground until a dark cloud floated over and covered the blood-red eye.
The moonlight dimmed. Hao Ren looked up at the sky. "The dark clouds are coming. It might rain."
Wuyue was elated. "Rain is good, rain is good..."
"Shhh —" Hao Ren suddenly covered Wuyue's mouth. "There's a cave up ahead."
Not far ahead, a cave that was cleverly hidden by the surrounding rocks appeared in front of them. If not for his enhanced observation skills, Hao Ren would have missed the oddity in the rocks. Wuyue immediately raised her guard. She slid silently on the ground and followed Hao Ren to the cave.
A gust of cold and slightly fishy wind blew intermittently from the cave. Nangong Wuyue subconsciously opened up a mist barrier to block the strange wind. "There's an evil smell in there."
Hao Ren looked at the siren in surprise. "How do you know it's evil?"
"That makes it sound more interesting!" Wuyue put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue. "Alright, it's hereditary. Although I'm a siren, my dad at least gave me a sixth sense. I don't think there's anything good in there."
Hao Ren shrugged and led the way. "Let's go. The progress bar won't hold much longer."
The cave was deeper than expected. When Hao Ren entered, he saw a long cave that extended to an unknown distance. The walls on both sides were neat and smooth. It was obvious that someone had dug it.
Obviously, he had found a big secret.
The cave was crooked with many twists and turns. Fortunately, there were no forks or secret passages. Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue had no idea how long they had been walking. Suddenly, they saw a light in front of them.
It was just a torch on the wall. But the light was enough to prove that someone was inside.
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