Hungry.
Hungry...!
Ever since being accidentally swept into that vast white mist last time while fighting for that huge energy source emitting tempting fluctuations on the ship, Qisi found itself becoming hungry more and more easily.
Food that once satisfied it could now only briefly quell that sense of hunger.
After the brief satisfaction faded, an even more ferocious sense of emptiness would surge back with double the intensity, torturing its heart.
It ate all the creatures in that pale mist. After breaking free, hunger drove it to sweep the entire nearby sea area.
Fish schools, sea beasts, and even the rotten wood and rusted metal in shipwrecks.
When all moving and unmoving living and dead things were devoured, the hungry Qisi even began gnawing on those hard rocks on the seabed, extracting that pitiful trace of energy from them.
But stones couldn't fill the stomach!
On the sea surface, those ships emitting the scent of food also became increasingly scarce, and recently, they had become extinct.
It was hungry again...
Hunger was like fire, but it hadn't completely burned away the wisdom it took pride in.
It remembered the north, its past homeland, was now occupied by mushrooms and couldn't be returned to.
In fact, the current temperature over there was something even Qisi couldn't quite withstand.
Qisi had once fantasized: it would be great if all the mushrooms froze to death in the north.
But soon, it discovered traces of fungal mats on the southern shore, shattering that small expectation.
Mushrooms existed in both the north and south. Fortunately, between these two forbidden zones of death, there was still a large stretch of "clean" coastline.
Of course, it also remembered that besides those mushrooms, there existed other individuals in this world capable of posing a fatal threat to it.
For example, that guy with a sword it met in the dungeon back then, and that guy who sucked away its blood in the northern river.
Therefore, even though it was tortured by hunger to the point of going mad, it still suppressed its instincts and didn't step onto land easily to expose itself to the vision of those terrifying existences.
It finally locked its target on the port.
Qisi wasn't clear about the complex wars and occupations between races and countries on the continent, but based on a period of observation, it confirmed that the port was an isolated place.
Eat everything inside, then immediately retreat to the safe deep sea... this should sustain it for another period of time without starving!
But why?
Why did mushrooms also appear here?
The instant the Eye Bug discovered that Puchi, Qisi's heart began to tremble almost instinctively.
Mushrooms... indeed didn't plan to let it go! Even though it had fled to such a distant place!
It remembered previously there were Puchis riding ships, patrolling back and forth in the nearby sea area, looking for its traces.
That time it luckily dodged, trembling while hiding in the deepest ocean trench.
Could it be this time... it was going to fall here?
No! No! No!
It was already different!
Although that white mist plunged it into this endless hunger, it also endowed it with new power!
Newer, more numerous, stronger bugs were bred from its flesh mounds!
It repeatedly roared these "improvements" in its heart, using new strength to bring itself courage to counter the deep-rooted fear of mushrooms in its heart.
Finally, that madness driven to the extreme by hunger, mixed with humiliation and hatred, overwhelmed the instinct to retreat.
Attack!
Crush it!
Before more mushrooms arrived, swallow this meat!
...
Not only those few Six-Clawed Bugs that tore apart the mage, a large wave of bugs with various forms but equally terrifying speed surged out from the broken city gate tunnel.
Their carapaces rubbed against each other making teeth-aching sounds, and their compound eyes flashed with crimson light as they swept toward No. 13's direction.
This scene in Mengya and Old Fish's eyes was no less than an apocalyptic disaster!
"FUCK—!"
Mengya's scream was scared out of tune.
In desperation, the Succubus grabbed Old Goblin Old Fish's back collar tightly with one hand, and hastily scooped up No. 13 with the other, practically using all her strength to flee for her life in the direction they came from!
"Why? Why not go eat those ready-made routed soldiers! Why insist on chasing us?" Mengya shouted in breakdown while running, tears almost flying out.
"Shut up! Save some strength!" Old Fish, who was jolted dizzy, roared hoarsely. Simultaneously, he backhandedly pulled out a few round ball-shaped objects from the tattered leather pouch at his waist and threw them behind him without looking!
Poof! Poof poof!
The balls exploded upon landing, bursting into large clouds of dense, choking gray-green smoke, instantly blocking vision, attempting to buy them some escape time.
However, the bugs rushed through the smoke without hesitation, chasing straight toward them.
The Eye Bug in the sky locked onto their position relying on [Mana Perception].
The bugs were naturally faster than Mengya. The reason they hadn't been caught yet was purely because the initial distance between both sides was relatively far.
But this bit of distance was also being slowly closed.
No. 13 also wasn't clear that these bugs were coming for itself; it thought the bugs just purely wanted an extra meal.
It did notice the Eye Bug in the sky, treating it as the eyes and ears of the bugs. But under the current situation of being chased, it was really not easy to find an opportunity to counter-kill the Eye Bug.
In fact, if these bugs didn't want to eat it, it would have been quite happy to stay on that hillside and properly appreciate the destruction of the port.
The bugs got closer and closer; seeing that they were about to be caught up.
Mengya, fleeing in panic, drilled headfirst into a narrow crack between two mountains.
Behind her, the claws of the closest bug almost hooked Old Fish's tattered leather boots dangling in the air.
Behind the crack was a canyon. However, as soon as they entered the valley, their hearts truly sank to the bottom—this was a dead end visible at a glance.
As long as the bugs broke open the entrance or came in from above, they were done for!
"Ac... actually dying by being eaten by bugs?" Mengya leaned back against the cold, smooth rock wall, listening to the increasingly loud sound of carapace friction outside, and despaired.
She had imagined various endings for herself: perhaps dying under a human's sword, perhaps being executed by her superior after a failed mission, or even dying of old age in some sunless demon stronghold...
But being divided and eaten by a group of hungry seabed bugs truly exceeded her worst nightmare.
"Just being eaten, it's alright I guess." Old Fish was much calmer.
Among his Goblin compatriots, not few became military rations themselves while fighting battles. Being eaten by bugs didn't count as an unacceptable way to die.
"I haven't lived enough yet! My peak of demon life, my glory and wealth..."
As for No. 13, it was thinking about taking the opportunity to slip away from above when the bugs came in to eat these two guys.
A slight noise, almost negligible, came from a narrow fissure in the adjacent rock wall.
Mengya and Old Fish turned their heads subconsciously, only to see a small slime the size of a fist slowly squeezing out from the stone crack.
Here... seemed to be an area naturally rich in mana where slimes were born.
Just then, that scalp-numbing noise outside the valley entrance rapidly faded away without warning.
Gave up?
Why?
Mengya and Old Fish looked at each other, their faces filled with the blankness and disbelief of surviving a disaster. They couldn't figure out why those ferocious bugs fell short at the last moment.
But not figuring it out didn't hinder them from being hit by immense joy!
"Ha... haha! Hahahaha!" Mengya jumped up abruptly, hugging Old Fish and No. 13 beside her, incoherent with excitement. "This old lady said it! How could I be so unlucky! Heaven won't end me! Heaven won't end me!! Hahahaha!"
Slap—
No. 13, squeezed in the middle with its mushroom cap deformed, unceremoniously waved its tentacle, breaking free from this uncomfortable embrace and retreating a few steps away.
...
Meanwhile, outside the canyon.
The bug swarm controlled by Qisi was fleeing backward with all its might without looking back, at a speed even faster than when chasing!
Initially, when that mushroom began to flee in panic, a predator's excitement indeed surged in Qisi's heart.
Offense and defense switched; it seemed to occupy the absolute upper hand.
But the more it chased, a familiar feeling surged up more clearly from the depths of its memory.
In several confrontations with mushrooms, which time wasn't falling into a fatal trap suddenly when victory seemed within reach?
When that Puchi finally drilled into a dead end surrounded by sheer cliffs in panic, Qisi's vigilance instantly soared to the peak!
It's a trap!
Without hesitation, it ordered an Eye Bug to risk death from eye strain to boost [Mana Perception] to the limit, penetrating the thick rock layers to scan inside the valley.
The feedback information made Qisi's heart tremble violently.
Behind the rock layers, there were densely packed mana clusters!
Trap! It was indeed a trap!
Without hesitation, Qisi decisively made the bugs flee back.
Simultaneously, an indescribable smugness, mixed with lingering fear, rose in its consciousness.
This time... it finally saw through the mushroom's scheme! It reined in the horse at the edge of the cliff at the last moment before falling into the trap!
Although it failed to kill that scout Puchi, its main bug swarm force was intact.
More importantly, to lure it into taking the bait, the mushroom didn't hesitate to play this chase game with it for so long.
During this time, the other bugs it left in the port ruins hadn't been idle and had already collected as much food as possible.
The original plan was to eat the port completely dry and wipe it clean. But looking at it now, risking war with mushrooms possibly ambushing on the side for the sake of those remaining scraps hiding in corners was clearly unwise.
After all chasing bug swarms returned, Qisi didn't linger at all, decisively commanding all units to retreat back into the sea.
Behind it, only the rolling thick smoke of the port burning in a great fire was left.
This time, the satisfaction of slightly outsmarting the mushroom in strategy made Qisi's hungry heart feel a trace of satisfaction even more than obtaining this batch of emergency food!
One day, the mushroom would be defeated under its power and wisdom!
(End of Chapter)
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