2035 Danger

The silver glass bug’s wings had been broken. There were knife marks adorning its body, and its shell had been battered to the point where its flesh was mostly exposed. It was gushing silver blood everywhere.

This guy’s life must have been a tough one for it to be so determined. Even in a state like that, it had come looking for Han Sen.

Seeing the silver glass bug coming toward him, Han Sen couldn’t help but raise a wry smile. His situation was even more dire than the silver glass bug’s. He didn’t have half the power he would need to fight a scary xenogeneic such as that.

Blergh!

The silver glass bug came over to Han Sen and coughed up silver blood. It looked like it was doing just as badly as he was.

“I say, Brother… Since we are both looking like this, why don’t we try to get along? We could just not step on each other’s toes for a time.” Han Sen was heavily injured, and he scooted backwards across the ground as he spoke to the silver glass bug.

Han Sen did not know if the insect would understand him, but he didn’t have many options. He did not have the time to fight, as his body was aching and his fingers were soft.

The silver glass bug did not understand Han Sen. The jaws filled with saw-like teeth opened wide, and it came snapping at him.

Han Sen could not do anything. He summoned a beast soul armor and put it on. He didn’t have the strength to dodge the bug’s attacks.

The armor provided Han Sen a small boon of power, but it also took that same power to use it. He was so soft right now that he had absolutely no strength.

There was no point in thinking about using the Demon Stone Cow beast soul, as shapeshifting beast souls were quite taxing on the body. In Han Sen’s condition, he could not afford to spend any more energy.

The silver glass bug jumped on Han Sen. The monster’s claws scrabbled around as it kept trying to bite Han Sen.

But the beast was heavily injured, too. Its strength was low, and it could no longer use silver light. Its jaws weren’t as strong as Han Sen expected, and when it latched onto Han Sen, its teeth could not penetrate his armor. All that was left were some light marks.

Han Sen let out a sigh of relief. If the bug couldn’t kill him while he was wearing that armor, he might stand a chance.

The silver glass bug soon grasped the situation, as well. It gave up trying to gnaw through Han Sen’s armor, and it grabbed Han Sen by the leg instead. Then, it dragged Han Sen away and into another cave.

Han Sen did not know where the silver glass bug was taking him, but he had no strength to fight back. So, he decided to play dead and allow the bug to drag him deep into the recesses of the caves. He focused on trying to recover his body, hoping that he could at least regain enough strength to fight if the need arose.

Earlier, Han Sen had hung around in the cave beneath the silver statue that held the Beginning of Ancient God. He had not traversed the entire cave system, however.

Now that the silver glass bug was tugging him along, he soon found himself passing down tunnels he had never seen before. The silver glass bug marched forward relentlessly.

The silver glass bug was heavily injured. It dragged Han Sen very slowly, and after half an hour, they both found themselves inside a giant cave. Han Sen heard the sound of running water, and he looked up to see a pool that had flowers in it.

Han Sen glanced around. He thought he might have been dragged to the very bottom of the cavern system. The pool before him must have connected to the waterfall outside. He could still hear water sounds from there.

The walls of the cavern were laced with vines. They were covered in leaves, but there did not seem to be any fruit. It was difficult to tell what type they might have been.

The silver glass bug continued to drag Han Sen. Judging from the way it was going, the silver glass bug was dragging Han Sen towards the pool.

It wasn’t long before Han Sen realized something was wrong, though. The silver glass bug was heavily injured. It had opted to drag Han Sen all the way there instead of prioritizing its own grievous wounds. It had obviously brought Han Sen there for more than just a simple bath.

“What does it want? Why did it drag me to this pool? Does it want to drown me?” Han Sen thought to himself as he eyed the pool.

Han Sen was too weak to use his Dongxuan Aura, so all he had to rely on was his basic eyesight and hearing. But for the time being, he couldn’t hear anything unusual. All he heard was the sound of water.

But when he looked carefully at the pool, his face turned glum.

Inside the pool, Han Sen spotted a giant black shadow. It looked like something had been hidden deep within the pool.

Han Sen didn’t know what that patch of darkness was. Perhaps it really was just a shadow, but when Han Sen took the silver bug’s behavior into consideration, he determined that the pool was nothing nice.

Han Sen tried to resist, but his body was weak. He could not pull his legs free from the bug’s mouth, and he could not stop the bug from entering the water.

The silver glass bug kept bleeding, but it insisted on dragging Han Sen to the pool. When it reached the pool’s edge, it gathered itself and then lobbed Han Sen into the water.

Han Sen struggled, but it was no use. He plunged into the water.

When the icy water touched him, it jolted him awake. He felt a bit of strength return to him, and he tried to swim back to the shore.

But the silver glass bug was standing guard at the edge of the water. When Han Sen got too close, the bug’s claws flashed forward to whack him on the head. It sent Han Sen tumbling back into the pool.

Han Sen tried swimming to another shore, but the silver glass bug was not willing to let him go. As soon as he grew close to land, the creature used its claws to knock him back into the water again.

Han Sen had been on Dream Island for a long time, digging for gemstones underwater. He was good in the water, but he did not have any strength right now. Merely keeping himself from sinking was all that he could manage. If he fought the silver glass bug, he’d collapse after only a couple rounds. He was already struggling to breathe in the water, so he did not dare go too close to the shore again.

The silver bug was afraid of something, though. That seemed to be why it was avoiding the water itself. It was still injured badly enough to remove its ability to fly.

Han Sen did not go to the shore again, so it stayed where it was. It kept squealing at Han Sen, sounding very angry as it did.

Han Sen tried his best to stay afloat, but when he looked down, he could not see much in the water beneath himself. The depths of the pool looked like a black hole beneath him. He could not see the shadow that he had noticed beneath the surface.

He could not see anything, but he sensed something moving in the darkness beneath him. It seemed like it was rising, too, which made his stomach sink.

“Am I going to die today?” Han Sen had a very strong will, but his circumstances filled him with hopelessness. He felt the shadow grow larger.