manynovel Chapter 13 The Impossible Exit
Chapter 13 The Impossible Exit
All the corpses of the spiders were devoured by Luo Lan in a whirlwind.
The insect's green sap flowed all over the ground, forming small puddles that reflected an eerie green light in the dim cave's glow.
[Light?]
Unlike the fixed orange-yellow light from candles in the underground palace and ancient castle, this beam of light shone in from a more distant rock wall at a very oblique angle, illuminating a visible Tyndall effect on the liquid mist floating in the cave.
Luo Lan followed the trajectory of the beam of light.
A narrow crack appeared on the rock wall of the distant cave, and a pale purple light curtain adhered to the crack, like a thin film of water rippling slightly.
Sunlight streamed in from outside the purple light curtain, casting a faint purple glow and creating a dreamlike, ethereal effect.
[Could that be... the exit?]
Having endured so much in the dark, desolate underground palaces, castles, and damp caves, Luo Lan would occasionally let his thoughts wander, imagining what the outside world was like.
Extraordinary powers truly exist in this world; how colorful and diverse must the vast outside world be?
Right now, a purple light curtain embedded in the crack in the rock wall is at the end of the line of sight. Sunlight is squeezing in from the crack, making it look like an exit.
Excited, Luo Lan didn't rush over impulsively.
The [Disguise Shell] feature is back in use.
Ripples spread across its heavy carapace, its surface temperature plummeted, and its massive body almost blended into the surrounding cold, rocky backdrop.
Luo Lan gazed at the exit area from afar.
High up in the cave walls, there are not only huge gaps that allow sunlight to shine directly down, but also many deep tunnels of similar width scattered throughout the cave floor.
These tunnels meander and twist, extending deep underground, their bottoms completely invisible.
[Does this cave have an underground section?]
These intricate tunnels reminded Luo Lan of the karst landscape documentaries she had watched on Earth, but this place was clearly much more dangerous than the caves on Earth.
There are two paths, one going up and one going down.
At this moment, rather than crawling through those dark tunnels, Luo Lan would rather climb out of this cave and bask in the sun.
He hadn't felt the warmth of the sun in far too long.
After scanning with normal vision, Luo Lan then turned on [thermal vision] and scanned every corner near the cave exit to confirm that there were no monsters like the giant armored spider that could disguise themselves and were lying near the exit.
Everything has been confirmed.
Luo Lan remained hidden, taking steps with her limbs bent low, inching her way toward the cave exit.
[Oh, the sunshine...]
Muttering to himself, Luo Lan drew closer, and a few rays of sunlight fell upon him, warm and comforting, completely different from the cold and gloomy underground world.
Luo Lan couldn't help but stand there a little longer, letting more light shine on her carapace, feeling the long-lost warmth that seemed to penetrate her very soul.
The cave exit is just a few hundred meters away, and there are more and more tunnel entrances around it, so densely packed that they almost completely hollow out the cave's foundation.
"Ta-da..."
Without warning, the ground beneath Luo Lan's feet suddenly began to tremble.
[I knew it wouldn't be that simple!]
Sensing something was wrong, and snapping out of her reverie from the warmth of the sunlight, Luo Lan retreated rapidly with all eight legs, trying to increase the distance between herself and the underground epicenter.
But the sudden tremor grew increasingly violent, clamping down on Luo Lan directly below, moving even faster than he could escape.
"boom!"
A deafening roar. Earth and rocks flew everywhere, and the earth shattered.
A colossal, suffocating monster crushed the rock layers, its massive jaws, filled with sharp claws, snapping violently at Luo Lan from the ground.
Before the giant maw of the abyss burst forth from the ground, Luo Lan leaped to the side with all her might, barely narrowly avoiding its sharp mandibles.
As the dust and sand scattered across the sky settled, the full form of the enormous monster from the ground was revealed.
Its body, more than 20 meters long, lies horizontally in the cave, with a diameter of at least three or four meters. Its yellowish-brown shell is pieced together in sections, making it look sturdy.
Hundreds of pairs of legs lined up densely on both sides of its body, still paddling and scraping against the rock wall with a whooshing sound.
Its head has two long, thin antennae with slightly trembling tips. Beneath the antennae are a pair of small, dark red eyes that gleam with a fierce light.
The first pair of maxillipeds were jet black and shiny, with serrated protrusions along the edges. If Luo Lan hadn't dodged quickly and been caught by that thing, he would probably have been cut in two on the spot.
After staring at the monster that resembled a gigantic centipede for a moment, Luo Lan understood:
[Those long tunnels beside the cave exit, were they all dug out by this thing?!]
With such a large size, it doesn't look like someone to be trifled with.
Without even considering fighting to the death, Luo Lan only wanted to avoid battle and escape, so he immediately activated [Terror Lv.3].
The enormous scarlet single eye suddenly shrank, and an invisible mental shockwave spread out, directly hitting the centipede monster's pair of dark red eyes.
But at the very moment the mental fluctuations erupted, the giant centipede's antennae twitched, as if it sensed danger, and it lowered its head to avoid eye contact.
The centipede's mandibles smashed through the rocks again, and with incredible speed, it burrowed back into the newly dug pit, leaving only a section of its still-waving tentacle on the surface.
[Oops!]
The mental attack missed its mark. Luo Lan cursed under his breath, and without even glancing at the sunlight streaming into the exit so close at hand, he turned and ran, his eight thick, long limbs digging through the ground and sending pebbles flying.
On the uneven cave floor, Luo Lan relied on the [Grasp Bristles] to frantically gain momentum, retracing his steps and rushing back towards the narrow stone bridge, his target the gap in the ancient castle's underground palace.
As Luo Lan withdrew, the tremors from underground followed him relentlessly.
The giant centipede seemed to be swimming through the soil and rocks, relentlessly pursuing him.
The two were about the same speed, and just when Luo Lan thought he could leave safely.
The giant centipede's head suddenly emerged from the ground, its jet-black mandibles tearing open to the sides. A burst of extremely high-frequency, ear-piercing sonic waves erupted directly from the depths of its mouth.
The sound wave distorted in the air, creating a visible, semi-transparent ripple that hurtled straight toward Luo Lan.
"Bang!"
The invisible sonic impact blasted a huge crater in the cave wall beside Luo Lan, sending debris flying everywhere.
[There's also ranged attack?!]
The wide-range sonic attack startled Luo Lan, who dared not walk in a straight line anymore.
Using the [Grasp Bristles] ability, Luo Lan constantly changed his route among the vertical rock walls, sloping stone pillars, and piles of rocks on the ground.
Using this unconventional movement, Luo Lan dodged the destructive sonic waves that kept shooting out of the ground from behind by leaping and rolling.
As Luo Lan fled, the rock wall behind him was riddled with holes, and stone fragments were scattered everywhere.
Finally, the stone bridge came into view.
Luo Lan used all eight legs to propel himself up to the top of the rock wall, and using the [Grasp Hair] to climb back up the ceiling to the other side of the castle's underground palace.
At the other end of the stone bridge, on the edge of the cave where the underground river had blocked the way, the massive front half of a giant centipede emerged from the deep pit and coiled on the shattered surface it had destroyed.
"Buzz—"
The giant centipede let out a final shriek, the sound waves condensing into a ball that slammed into the rock wall above Luo Lan's head, causing the entire rock wall to tremble.
Luo Lan lay on the gap in the underground palace of the ancient castle, looking at the newly blasted pits and newly dug tunnels on the other side of the stone bridge, speechless.
[Who designed this dungeon? There's a burrowing boss lurking near the exit, how sneaky!]