Chapter 31: Don’t Get Distracted

Rust Beasts, also called “Underdark Scavengers” or “Subterranean Wanderers.”

Like other insects, they typically lived in the countless deep, dark tunnels of the Underdark.

The lightless environment caused their eyesight to degenerate, their vulnerable eyes shielded by hard carapaces.

Feather-like antennae on their heads and fin-like tails bristling with coarse hair served as canes, guiding them through dark caverns.

To an extent, these bugs, not primarily carnivorous, were relatively docile.

With enough food and care, they could even be tamed as pets, like cats or dogs.

But, bearing the “Beast” suffix, Rust Beasts could also display intense aggression at times.

Rust Beasts fed on metal.

Iron, adamantine, mithril… they devoured most metals.

Their highly developed senses could detect delicious metals from miles away.

Naturally, adventurers’ armor and weapons fell into the “delicious metal” category.

According to the Adventurer’s Guild, many adventurers died annually exploring the Underdark, killed by Rust Beasts— even knowing they could survive by discarding their gear.

Like camels in deserts or migrating herds in dry savannas, their unique feeding habits gave Rust Beasts an innate ability to locate ore veins.

Their highly corrosive saliva helped them easily erode and soften hard metals for consumption.

As neighbors in ore-rich tunnels, the forging- and mining-savvy dwarves despised these creatures.

Some clans even sent specialized “pest control” teams yearly to clear these “parasites” from their mines.

I, from another world, had only met one dwarf—Barn, the towering bearded owner of Rockhammer.

But now, facing the menacing figures crawling nearby, I empathized.

Glancing at the meadow, where a single-handed hammer lay almost fully corroded by greenish saliva, I felt my mouth dry, swallowing hard.

My sweat-soaked palm gripped the sword hilt tightly.

At that moment, I seriously considered fighting with my two waist daggers.

“This pressure… it’s suffocating!”

Hesitation lasted a moment.

Despite my inner turmoil, I gripped my longsword and instinctively charged to support.

My rest spot was in a corner, far from Larry across the camp.

Even reacting quickly, I couldn’t match the Rogue by the central campfire.

A few steps forward, and Wood’s low-presence figure appeared like a shadow beside the first Rust Beast.

“Screech!”

Air tore, a cross-shaped silver gleam bursting forth.

I saw a blur before Wood’s two daggers dripped with yellowish-green bug blood.

“Hiss—”

A shrill, piercing screech echoed through the woods.

The Rust Beast’s carapace, barely cracked by a hammer, was sliced like paper by Wood’s palm-sized daggers.

Bug blood sprayed!

Its fin-like tail whipped like a lash, hitting only soft grass.

Wood had already vanished.

His ghostly, agile body leaped, landing on the beast’s back carapace.

Brows furrowed.

Failing to kill in one strike, the blow that heavily injured the Rust Beast seemed unsatisfactory to him.

The Rogue skill [Gut Strike], capable of shredding organs and bones, didn’t achieve his desired effect against a creature with inhuman anatomy.

But his vast combat experience and monster knowledge let him instantly pinpoint the beast’s weak spot.

“Swish!”

His dagger shot out like a venomous snake, piercing precisely through the carapace gap at the neck.

Like a wasp’s sting, a light jab.

The grating screech stopped.

The heavy, carapace-clad body collapsed like a powerless machine with a “thud.”

One of four Rust Beasts down.

No time to relax, Wood, pulling his dagger from the beast, seemed to sense something.

He snapped his head up.

Pupils shrank!

Unnoticed, a bug had circled during the chaos, reaching the camp’s other end.

Where Hai’an stood!

“Young master, watch out!”

He shouted, voice strained.

His body, perched on the carapace, blurred into a shadow, vanishing.

Silver hair plastered to his sweat-soaked cheeks, Hai’an, in the back since the fight began, had his bowstring taut, ready to support any front.

“One down by Wood, one with Larry and Doris, one not yet in camp, I need to…”

“Wait, where’s the last one!?”

His mind raced, analyzing the battlefield.

A jolt, Wood’s shout echoing.

No time to think!

The next second, a shrill screech and sour stench closed in from behind.

He spun.

A towering Rust Beast loomed, its menacing form raised.

Bone-white mouthparts gaped, deadly green venom brewing.

Death’s approach froze time before Hai’an’s eyes.

But then,

an iron-gray arc from the darkness snapped him back.

[Whirlwind Slash]

The razor-sharp arc, like a crescent moon, flashed briefly.

Cutting cleanly through the carapace gap, half the bug’s brain spun off.

“Thud.”

The heavy body crashed, reeking bug blood gushing like a fountain.

Sheathing smoothly,

I glanced at my blade, seeing only bug blood, no corrosive venom, and sighed in relief.

Noticing Hai’an, dazed by the sudden attack, his face smeared with green blood, I frowned:

“Be careful, don’t get distracted.”

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