Becoming an adventurer by copying monster abilities

Chapter 127 The Squad That Followed

If you were simply standing on the high walls of the remote town of Kam, gazing into the distance.

This region, known as the "Endless Wilderness," stretches as far as the eye can see, with an endless plain at the edge of the field of vision.

I must say, the environment is really great.

It gave Luke the feeling of stepping into a dreamlike world of fairy tales.

Countless winding, clear underground streams flow gently through lichens, shrubs, and huge crevices in weathered rocks.

Under the intense sunlight, these waterways, like countless crisscrossing golden threads, shimmered across the vast land, forming the veins of this wilderness.

But this romantic illusion lasted for less than half a day.

Once they ventured deeper into the area, they discovered that the terrain was not as flat as it appeared from a distance.

The so-called "plain" is actually made up of countless undulating hills filled with hidden ditches.

Some hills are even as tall and steep as small mounds.

Moreover, amidst these complex landforms, ancient ruins and collapsed stone pillars occasionally appear abruptly, half-buried in the soil.

This makes the already dangerous wilderness terrain even more complex and unpredictable.

Fortunately, Lena had made ample preparations beforehand.

In addition, the Undying Greatsword Squad has considerable authority within the Adventurers' Guild, allowing them to access a great deal of relevant information and records.

The route they have chosen to take to go deeper into the region has been carefully considered at every step.

For example, the section of road they are currently on, which is covered with gravel and grayish-white mud.

According to historical records, a vast ancient underground labyrinth was once hidden beneath this area.

I've heard that a legendary figure, famous throughout the continent, obtained a powerful treasure in that labyrinth when he was young, which allowed him to rise rapidly in a short period of time.

Of course, bards could write eight hundred of these stories a day, but few people would take them seriously.

Moreover, that happened several hundred years ago.

That legendary underground labyrinth has long been trampled and hollowed out by countless treasure hunters, adventurers, and monsters that burrow everywhere in the wilderness.

Therefore, according to the guild's internal risk assessment, this area can now be considered extremely safe.

Of course, this is only in theory.

Having only been in the wilderness for half a day, they were caught off guard and faced the first threat of their wilderness journey.

As the team members formed a loose defensive formation, they trekked for a long time, chatting leisurely from time to time.

Less than twenty feet to the left of the group, a mound of earth suddenly and without warning rose from a patch of cracked, muddy ground.

Immediately afterwards, with a muffled "poof," the soil cracked.

A creature with an extremely peculiar appearance emerged from the ground at an incredible speed.

This monster was enormous, standing over a meter tall and nearly two meters long, almost the size of a robust ponies.

Its entire body is covered with a hard chitinous shell that is dark red, resembling rusted steel.

Its flat head looks like a large ant, and its compound eyes gleam with a murky light in the sunlight.

Below its eyes are two feathery antennae.

With its enormous, grotesque mouth resembling a meat grinder and its thick, bony tail dragging on the ground behind it, it looked particularly terrifying.

It resembles both a large insect and some kind of underground beast.

The well-informed team members immediately recognized the creature: "It's a Rust Monster!"

Before the words were even finished, everyone was horrified to see that the rust monster was not alone.

Around the spot where it emerged from the ground, the cracked earth began to churn and loosen on a large scale.

The second one, the third one, the fourth one...

More and more dark red monsters with feathery tentacles began to emerge from the depths of the earth!

Lena immediately gave the command: "Run!"

Without the slightest hesitation or a single unnecessary word, Lena immediately issued the most decisive order to retreat.

The team members turned around with perfect coordination, without even drawing their weapons, and followed behind their captain, sprinting towards the distant hills at top speed.

Upon hearing the name, Luke quickly recalled the corresponding information from the monster encyclopedia.

This is a low-level monster with a challenge level of only 0.5.

The reason the team fled in such a sorry state was not because they were outmatched.

In fact, for any one member of the team, crushing these monsters would be no different than crushing real insects.

However, fighting such a monster would be a losing proposition.

The reason is the peculiar characteristics of these insects.

The pair of feather-like tentacles below the Rust Monster's eyes have an innate ability to resist the corrosion of metallic substances.

In battle, even a slight brush from those tentacles can be fatal.

Whether it's buried metal deposits or the equipment and armor worn by adventurers, they will be rapidly corroded by that strange ability.

Then they would be easily bitten and swallowed by the monster's sharp mouthparts.

Therefore, although this monster is not high-level, it can be said to be the most annoying guy that adventurers least want to encounter.

If you're not careful, your expensively crafted gear could be turned into a pile of rusty scrap metal by these giant insects, which will devour it completely.

This creature is a natural enemy, especially for dwarves who are passionate about forging.

At this moment, Akash, the orc who was always fearless, was also running forward with a lot of squeals.

His heavy armor was quite valuable, and if it were damaged by the rust monster, even just a small part, the repair cost would be extremely painful for him.

The warlock in the team, Kalan, could easily resolve the crisis with his spells.

After all, no matter how powerful the rust monster's tentacles are, they can't corrode pure magical energy.

However, as more rust monsters emerged from the ground, their numbers appeared quite terrifying.

Even if Kalan manages to resolve everything, he will essentially be drained and temporarily lose his spellcasting ability.

In this endless wilderness where deadly dangers may arise at any moment, spellcasters naturally need to conserve their energy and mana as much as possible.

Therefore, Kalan only saw some approaching rust monsters while he was running away.

He would then casually cast a low-cost [Flame Arrow] or [Thunder Wave] spell.

Shoot those troublesome insects far away to slow their pursuit.

Fortunately, due to their size and structure, these rust monsters, who live in underground labyrinths year-round, do not move very fast in a straight line.

After sprinting at full speed for a while, the group finally managed to shake off those troublesome monsters.

Akash, panting heavily, complained, "Damn it! Aren't these insects only found in the Underdark? How come there's such a huge swarm of them here?"

Come?"

Kalan had cast the spell "Slip Away with Oil" on himself while fleeing, and now he seemed more relaxed than Akash. He speculated, "It's probably related to that underground labyrinth. This kind of underground environment is indeed very suitable for the Rust Monsters to survive in."

After completely leaving the maze area, the group dared not let their guard down any longer.

They continued walking until the sun set and it became completely dark.

We found a relatively secluded depression on the leeward side of a steep hill and set up camp for the night.

With a spellcaster around, even the journey through the wilderness becomes much easier and more convenient.

Whether it's a warning spell to alert one to danger, a mage's hand to start a fire and cook, or a light spell to illuminate the night, etc.

Various simple and practical tricks were unleashed from Karan's hands.

This also allowed Luke to personally experience the convenience that high-end adventurers enjoy when traveling.

Meanwhile, during the dinner break, there was the wanderer Latour, who had been hanging at the back of the group all day and would occasionally disappear for a while.

It slid down silently from the top of the distant mound.

He strode to the campfire, a hint of excitement in his triangular eyes: "The fish has taken the bait!"

As a high-ranking wanderer who has reached level 6 and unlocked the "Shadow Lurker" subclass.

Ambushes and tracking are his specialties.

Counter-tracking is naturally no problem for them either.

Luke also agreed with this.

Last time in the Mossy Forest, if it weren't for his strong senses that warned of danger in advance...

They might suffer a great loss from the treacherous trap set by this wanderer.

The "fish" that Latour was referring to was naturally the squad he had encountered in the lobby of the dilapidated inn in Cam Town the day before.

Even after their first meeting, Lena was already wary of that group.

Before leaving the town this morning, she had a secret conversation with Latour.

Through his secret observations and arrangements over the course of the day, Latour had fully confirmed:

The team did indeed follow the trail they left behind after leaving the city, keeping a close watch.

"However, the spies on the other side were a bit young, and they were stepping on the marks I deliberately left behind."

Latour smugly toyed with the dagger in his hand. "These guys should be lured to the top of that underground labyrinth by now."

Lena smiled and handed Latu a piece of roasted jerky: "I hope those rust monsters can have some fun with them."

The Rust Monsters live in the depths of dark, shadowy places where it is impossible to see one's own hand in front of one's face, so dark vision is naturally an essential racial characteristic for them.

In the darkness of the wilderness, these guys had unobstructed vision.

Moreover, due to the lack of direct sunlight, their activities become more frenzied and agile.

It is several times more difficult to handle than during the day!

With the traps that Latour had deliberately set up around the area, even if the team wasn't wiped out, they would definitely cause them a lot of trouble.

It all started when that small team chose to follow their trail, with malicious intent.

Lena had already established an irreconcilable enmity between the two sides in her mind.

There is naturally no room for negotiation when dealing with the enemy.

If the other party backs down, that's fine.

If Lena continues to follow the team, she wouldn't mind adding some other "benefits" to this assignment.

Over the next few days, the team strictly followed the fixed safe route that Lena had previously planned on the map, traveling at high speed.

They didn't encounter any major dangers during the trip; all the troubles lurking in the shadows were detected and avoided by Latu and Kalan in advance.

Most of the animals you encounter are solitary wild beasts or goblin squads hunting for food.

It posed no threat to them; they simply crushed it with a flick of their wrist.

Until the early morning of several days later.

After braving the thick fog and crossing a hill that resembled a small mountain.

The group finally arrived at the final destination of this mission, "Zanharaso".

Unlike most places in the wilderness.

This place is filled with dilapidated buildings made of ancient megaliths.

Among these building ruins, traces of terrain that had once been carefully cultivated by humans can still be vaguely discerned.

This is a vast city ruin lying dormant in the wilderness.

Even though most of the area has been buried deep underground by thick, grayish-yellow soil.

However, one can still sense the brilliance and splendor of the civilization that once existed here from the corners of those buildings that have not been buried.

"What's that fairy dragon doing hanging around in a place like this?" Kalan patted the dust off his robe and complained wearily.

Despite the various spells that aided and assisted him along the way, the intense marching over several days took its toll on the spellcaster, whose physique was not particularly strong.

Fairy dragons' habits make them prefer to stay in forest ecosystems.

The ancient ruins before us, filled with decay and desolation, clearly do not meet their habitat standards.

Despite his complaints, Karan still pulled out the magic compass.

As magic was infused into it, the originally ordinary compass began to emit a light blue glow.

Then, the pointer above began to spin wildly and uncontrollably.

Akash, standing to the side, pointed at the rapidly spinning compass and asked curiously, "Kalan, can you use this thing as a fan?"

Kalan slapped the orc's hand away with a hint of annoyance, his expression turning serious.

After a while, he stopped channeling magic and explained, "This damn place is a bit strange. Not only is the magnetic field disordered, but the arrangement of magical particles is also abnormally erratic."

Lena never expected that, as they approached their destination, the most crucial navigation step would fail in this ancient ruin.

She asked, somewhat exasperated, "Is there any way to solve this?"

Venturing into such a complex terrain is somewhat dangerous.

Without a compass to guide them, facing such a massive ruin, these five people alone would have been helpless.

Even if you search for ten days or half a month, you probably won't find anything.

"Let's take a closer look. If the target is very close, this compass can still detect it."

Karan said with great certainty.

The magical item in his hand could be considered his family heirloom, and he had absolute professional confidence in his ability to detect things.

"Okay, let's slowly start by searching the outer perimeter."

Since we've already come all this way, nobody wants to turn back and leave empty-handed.

However, as everyone pondered where to enter...

Latu, the wanderer who had been keeping watch at the back of the group, suddenly changed his expression.

The trap he set behind the squad suddenly lost contact.

This is also an exclusive ability of the "Shadow Lurker".

As long as it's within a certain range, once any trap he personally set is destroyed or triggered, he will instantly detect it.

He immediately warned the rest of the team, "Watch out, someone's coming!"