ATAPOW Chapter 132
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Chapter 132: Meeting again
“Tsss…” The scalp-numbing sound of excreting saliva resounded.
He could barely make out a great amount of densely packed small eyes — numerous like stars in the vast sky — incessantly approaching him from inside the pitch-black darkness.
He could sense a blood-chilling, gloomy feeling gradually approaching him.
He wasn’t sure what the creature’s intentions were. However, from the intention glittering in its numerous small, glowy-red eyes, friendliness or goodwill was definitely out of the question.
Rather, it was like a predator drawing close to its prey, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
“Ka, ka, ka…” The monster’s intention to attack couldn’t be more obvious from the sound its limbs made against the ground.
Taking a slight step back, Ji Bai unsheathed his fang-shaped longsword and returned the monster’s intention with a chilly gaze radiating out his helmet.
“Hiss, siiiiii…” A sticky silk-like material wrapped itself around the blade.
Ji Bai narrowed his eyes. At the same time, he let go of his sword hilt and rolled to the side.
“Boom! Scree…” As if a massive pressure was pressing downwards, the spot where Ji Bai was a moment ago caved in, forming a large hole. A sound resembling massive pincer-like fangs piercing through soft tissue resounded.
“Tssss?!” Its numerous red eyes swiveled up and down as if baffled about missing its prey. They then swiveled around until they finally locked onto Ji Bai to the side.
‘Threads. Terrifying, densely packed, small eyes…’
Ji Bai imagined the specific form of this massive spider monster in his mind.
His opponent possessed night vision. Judging from the earlier sound of metal colliding, this monster possessed sharp fangs at its front end. It would be extremely worrying if its armor was anywhere similar in toughness as quilted armor.
“Tssss!” Countless small, red eyes shot upwards. Within the pitch-black darkness, Ji Bai seemed to be able to make out a large spider monster brandishing its fangs and claws towards him.
His heels bumped against the soft wall behind him.
He was seemingly caught in a dead-end.
“Tssss!” A bone-chilling screech resembling the mournful wails of a female ghost at midnight resounded outwards at the same time a burst of chilly wind whipped against Ji Bai’s face.
‘Let’s see which of us is more desperate.’
A gaze overflowing with bloodthirstiness shot out from his helmet as his leather boots forcefully stepped onto the soft wall one after the other.
Both opponents charged at each other simultaneously.
“Tsss!” The instant that both sides collided, the massive spider realized that its fangs had pierced nothing but air. At the same time, it felt something weighing down its stomach and scuttling to its back.
“Tsss??!” After some confusion, the large spider was thoroughly whipped into a frenzy. It swayed and swiveled its body around like its life depended on it, intending to throw this reckless human off.
Ji Bai on the other side tightened his hands around the spider’s neck. Its violent rocking caused him both dizziness and lightheadedness as his stomach churned and a wave of nausea hit him. Despite that, he stubbornly refused to let go.
“Tsss!!” The large spider was thoroughly enraged, but all to no avail. Its eight legs and two arms were too short, making it impossible for it to reach its back. In a fit of abrupt anger, it smashed itself against the surrounding soft walls all around.
Both sides were incessantly exhausting the energy and endurance of one another. Though, in this war of attrition, it was clear as daylight that Ji Bai’s fleshly body was inferior to that of the spider monster, whose tendons and bones seemed to be made up of metal.
“Get out of the way.” Suddenly, a cold and clear voice resounded.
His spirit weary and his strength exhausted, Ji Bai raised his head. He felt like countless wooden sticks were stirring his brain, causing his consciousness to turn dull.
Compared to the bizarre cries of monsters, words spoken by humans were still more pleasing to the ears.
A speck of flame incessantly increased in size in his vision as it approached from a distance.
Ji Bai threw himself to the side by flipping his body off the large spider’s back.
“Whoosh!” Intense light enveloped and covered the huge spider, its blazing aura directly assailing Ji Bai’s face.
“Tssss… Gigigi!!” Through the mournful shrieks, Ji Bai was able to clearly make out the appearance of this spider monster in the light of the scorching flames.
Its upper body was that of a woman, with a pair of large pincers extended out from the area where her ears were. It all, together with the spider threads inside its abdomen, was turned to ashes inside the raging fire.
This wasn’t the first time that Ji Bai had met such a creature.
“You understand human language? So, may I know who you are?” Ji Bai had the nagging feeling that he had already heard this cold tone somewhere before.
After the newly arrived blew out the remaining flames between his fingertips, everything returned to silence.
“Clack, clack…” An orderly series of footsteps resounded.
The other party, it seemed, was silently chanting something.
Ji Bai stood up without hurry. Making use of the light of the remaining flame, he kept a close eye at the silhouette that was coming this way.
[Auxiliary School – Fluorescent Light Technique]
“Thud.” A ball of cold light rose upwards like a firefly and dispersed the surrounding darkness.
“…It’s you?” Under the ample lighting, Ji Bai was able to clearly make out the other’s appearance.
“You know me?” The handsome youth with light-blue hair slightly knitted his brows as his hand lightly pressed against the hilt of his sword in a minute and indiscernible manner.
In his understanding, only his enemies were capable of recognizing him.
Ji Bai didn’t say a word and silently removed his metal helmet.
“…You’re that one who was together with the vampire that day… The knight.” Gordon narrowed his eyes and slowly lowered the hand that had rested on his sword hilt.
“Why are you here?”
Ji Bai didn’t respond as he averted his gaze and placed his fang-shaped longsword into its scabbard.
“And, what about you?”
“I naturally have my purpose for coming here… Though at this point, I guess that it has been accomplished.” Gordon shot a gaze at the soft meat walls surrounding them.
“Do you know what these meat walls are?”
“I’ve got a rough idea about them, but I’m not planning to tell you.”
“…” Ji Bai went silent for a moment before unsheathing his sword and moving forward.
“Don’t waste your strength. There’s nothing to explore on the path ahead. You’ll only lose your life in vain if you head there.”
“…” Ji Bai didn’t respond and stubbornly pressed on with his sword in hand.
“What a stubborn guy.” Gordon shot a glance at Ji Bai, who had made up his mind.
“Forget it. How about we make a deal? I’ll tell you about the things I know and you tell me how to leave this accursed place. How about that?”
Ji Bai stopped in his tracks. “Aren’t you more adept than me when it comes to escaping, sorcerer?”
“Do you think I don’t want to? They have laid down a very potent magic net over the orphanage on the surface. Any transmission witchcraft spells of grandmaster-rank and below are completely useless.”
“I don’t know how to get out. Please find someone more qualified than me.”
“Then how did you come in?”
“I fell down.”
Gordon covered his face in speechlessness. “I’m a complete fool to place my hopes in you. I even wasted a spell slot to save you for nothing.”
“With or without your presence, I could have handled it all the same.”
“Hmph. What big words you have here. How were you going to pierce the skin of those human-faced spiders? By relying on your sword skills that are weaker than crushing class?”
“How could you know when I haven’t given it a try?”
“I think you’re…”
“Crack!…” And it was at this moment that a part of the soft meat walls that had been sealed tight caved in and formed the shape of a door.
“Hehehe…Found you, noisy birds!” A large horde of trolls — sturdy and tall in height and packed with explosive muscles — spilled through the caved-in ‘meat door’ while wearing a sinister look on their faces.
“…Darn it, you blabbermouth. What are you doing, running your mouth so loudly like that? Now look what you’ve done, you’ve lured a large force of demons over!”
“So the meat walls can be used this way?” The iron helmet tilted to the side.
“That’s not the main point you should be focusing on right now…”
Ji Bai lowered his helmet, seemingly sinking into contemplation. After a moment, he asked Gordon in a strict tone, “Did I speak too loudly earlier?”