Chapter 1539: Wasted Effort

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After half a day, the group of Bladefoot Worms finally led the Boa Worm near the second exit.

Through the Bladefoot Worms, Lin Huang had already caught sight of this exit’s guardian from far off.

The bug beast guarding the exit this time was a Ghoul Spider. Its combat strength was also ninth-rank heavenly G.o.d-level.

A Ghoul Spider was a brutal bug beast that specialized in a.s.sa.s.sination.

Not only did it possess invisibility and control-type powers, but its body also contained toxins, and it was extraordinarily swift in its attacks.

Ghoul Spiders that were not contaminated with Abyssal energy were already hard to deal with.

The one that was guarding the exit had an even more terrifying aura, and its character was even more twisted.

The moment the group of Bladefoot Worms appeared in front of it, the Ghoul Spider spat out spider silk to control the six Bladefoot Worms.

Lin Huang thought his parasite technique had been discovered, so he dispersed the Leech Pods. However, after that, he saw the Ghoul Spider manipulating the Bladefoot Worms to walk over to it. It then bit off half of one of the Bladefoot Worm’s bodies.

Within two minutes, the Ghoul Spider had devoured all the Bladefoot Worms completely.

Right after that, it faded from view and disappeared.

Virtuoso and the rest noticed that Lin Huang was silent and did not press him. Instead, they patiently waited for his probing results.

Lin Huang heaved a sigh of relief only after confirming that the Leech Pods had not been discovered. He then told the rest what he had seen.

“The exit guardian is a ninth-rank Ghoul Spider. I’m not sure if it was being cautious or it just happened to be hungry—it attacked my group of Bladefoot Worms and ate all six of them…”

“It wasn’t being cautious, nor was it hungry,” Virtuoso explained from where he was off to the side, “Ghoul Spiders are inherently brutal. They will attack any creatures that enter their territory. The Ghoul Spiders that have been contaminated with Abyssal energy are even more ruthless. It’s very normal behavior for them.”

“So what do we do now? Do we go to the next exit?” Lan Ling had already manipulated the Boa Worm to stop.

“This exit is also guarded by a ninth-rank bug beast, so we can basically confirm that our previous speculation is correct. The remaining exits should be guarded by ninth-rank bug beasts as well,” Virtuoso said calmly, “The next exit will be the same as this.”

“Are we going to charge through?” Tu Tong had entered battle mode as he spoke.

“There’s no rush; let’s try this first,” Virtuoso swiftly performed a few hand seals with both hands as soon as he was done speaking.

The next instant, a figure that looked exactly like Virtuoso detached itself from their body. It seemed to ignore the existence of the Boa Worm and the hive walls, gradually emerging from the ground and appearing in the Maze pa.s.sageway.

Virtuoso No. 2 charged quickly as soon as it found steady footing in the pa.s.sageway. Their figure abruptly sprang forward, running straight at the Ghoul Spider that was guarding the exit.

The invisible Ghoul Spider attacked almost as soon as Virtuoso No. 2 appeared.

Virtuoso No.2 seemed to have sensed the incoming attack. Before Ghoul Spider’s attack could come anywhere near them, they retreated quickly and turned to flee.

The Ghoul Spider chased after it for two paces, but soon recalled something. It then turned around and retreated to the exit. It watched Virtuoso No.2 as they departed in the distance, and gradually turned invisible again.

Everyone saw the scenario clearly through Lan Ling’s spell projection.

“It failed.” Saber9 was clearly a little disappointed.

After seeing this, Lin Huang and the rest understood that Virtuoso was attempting to lure the tiger from its den, using the shadow to draw the Ghoul Spider away. Unfortunately, it was not fooled.

“Given a Ghoul Spider’s character, it will give chase under normal circ.u.mstances, but it decided to give up right away.” However, Virtuoso seemed to have expected this to happen. “It proves that the orders it was given definitely included no pursuit to prevent being lured away from its post.”

“If any of you have other techniques, you need to utilize them quickly. The Ghoul Spider has almost certainly reported the test we did on it earlier.” Lin Huang glanced at the group. “As expected, there will be more search teams coming in this direction now. We don’t have much time left.”

“Let me try again.” It was still Virtuoso who spoke up once more. They turned their head to look at Lan Ling as soon as they were done speaking. “In a little, when you hear my order, send the Boa Worm charging over there.”

Lan Ling nodded instantly.

Virtuoso swiftly began performing complicated hand seals with both hands. The mask on their face also started lighting up with gold sigils.

A moment later, Lin Huang and the others saw the Ghoul Spider suddenly reveal itself; it was hanging above the exit. However, it suddenly froze.

What they did not know was that to the Ghoul Spider’s eyes, a Boa Worm had come out from underground suddenly and was hurrying toward the exit.

The Ghoul Spider leaped down from above the exit, and a sharp claw pierced through the Boa Worm’s body.

However, a few figures suddenly emerged from the Boa Worm’s body and attacked it…

“Now!” As soon as Virtuoso gave the order, Lan Ling controlled the Boa Worm to burrow underground toward the exit.

It took only the work of a moment for the Boa Worm to arrive beneath the Ghoul Spider. The way ahead was a dead end, so Lan Ling could only manipulate it to emerge from the ground and continue hurrying toward the exit.

However, right at this moment, a spatial fluctuation suddenly came from not too far away.

A silhouette stepped out of a Dimensional Whirlpool and happened to see the Boa Worm that was about to rush out from the exit.

A claw flashed through the distance, turning several golden gleams that pierced through the Boa Worm’s body and sliced it into multiple b.l.o.o.d.y pieces.

Everyone was shocked. Never had they thought that a ninth-rank Golden-clawed Bug would emerge out of nowhere at the very last second and ruin Virtuoso’s plan completely.

The Golden-clawed Bug was a being in the Bug Tribes that had extremely powerful attacks.

Their legs were unlike many of the Bug Tribe monsters—they had sharp, beast-like claws, and usually possessed slicing sequence power. The intensity of their attacks was no lower than human sword cultivators and saber cultivators of the same combat strength.

Golden-clawed Bugs that were contaminated with Abyssal energy had even tougher physical const.i.tutions. The Abyssal energy within them could absorb Rule Bending Power and sequence power remnants from attacks. This meant that their Enhanced Regeneration ability would go into effect when they were attacked with Rule Bending Power and sequence power, which caused their close-quarter combat abilities to be even more resilient.

In the wake of the intense energy shockwaves from the Golden-clawed Bug’s attack, the sixteen eyes of the Ghoul Spider above Virtuoso’s group rapidly began to glow with blinding blood-red gleams.

The Ghoul Spider was awake!

The initial plan of pulling a Ghoul Spider a full level higher than their combat strength into an illusion was already the limit of Virtuoso’s ability. In reality, even without any interference from the outside world, their illusion would not last for even a few seconds when cast on the ninth-rank heavenly G.o.d-level Ghoul Spider. Therefore, they had immediately urged Lan Ling to control the Boa Worm and leave at once.

However, the energy wave caused by the Golden-clawed Bug’s attack made the Ghoul Spider realize something was wrong. It merely struggled a little and shook off the illusion. It then saw the carca.s.s that the Golden-clawed Bug had sliced into multiple pieces and several figures emerging from the carca.s.s…