High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1160: Chapter 222: Slap

Insects! Insects! Insects!!

The Black Cat’s body tensed up; its mind was filled with images of insects with bodies covered in white fur writhing and tumbling. Without any surprise, if that overwhelming swarm of insects were to flood this camp, Sister Korma’s low-equipped three-member expedition team wouldn’t last a minute before being cleanly devoured by those insects.

Though Zheng Qing had never been bitten by a carrion beetle, he had seen the scenes of army ants marching on TV—vast and unstoppable, any organic matter in their path reduced to nourishment for the swarm, leaving nothing but bare stones and soil. While carrion beetles were not the same species as army ants, the sense of threat they posed to the Black Cat was no less intense.

If they caught up, he would surely be eaten clean, leaving only a pile of picked-clean bones!

Imagining a scene where a poisoned Black Cat lay swollen and limp on the forest floor, its eyes lifelessly staring at the sky as carrion beetles crawled all over it, Zheng Qing shuddered uncontrollably and ran even faster.

One step, two steps... Suddenly, a red flash of lightning crossed his mind.

The Black Cat’s pace began to slow down.

A strange emotion spread from the bottom of its heart—why am I so afraid? The exit to the Secret Realm is right behind me, and there is a defensive line around. A normal retreat would suffice, so why did I imagine so much and feel such fear just now?

Then, a question emerged in his mind:

What had these insects been eating to survive up until now? Considering the size of their population, even the entire Silent Forest would struggle to satisfy their appetite, let alone this underdeveloped Secret Realm world.

Besides, the appearance of that boundless swarm of insects seemed too coincidental, and the images of the insects rampaging through his mind, along with the sound of the swarm rustling louder in the front and softer in the back, faintly suggested an element of deliberation.

The Black Cat stopped in its tracks.

”Wait a moment,” it growled lowly, turning its head to look at the dark forest behind: ”Don’t you find this odd?”

”Odd? Just run, we can talk once we get out!” Korma clutched a Law book in one hand and a Talisman in the other, her expression tense as she stared at the gap between the ancient acacia trees: ”In fifteen seconds we can open the exit to the Secret Realm. No Face should retreat first, followed by the Black Cat; I’ll be the rear guard... Once ’No Face’ gets out, pay attention to immediately strengthen the camp’s defenses in the Silent Forest, and be careful not to capsize in the gutter.”

Elena nodded silently, her back to the exit of the Secret Realm, cautiously watching for any movements in the forests to the left and right.

The rustling footsteps of the insect swarm moving through the bushes seemed to quicken.

”The ecosystem of the Secret Realm can’t sustain such a large swarm of insects,” Black Cat pricked up its ears, its pupils flickering with thoughtful light: ”What I mean is... what do they normally eat?”

Korma, who was maintaining the ritual, stiffened for a moment.

The Gypsy witches looked at Black Cat thoughtfully: ”Perhaps these are mutant insects that lie dormant underground... awakening only when they sense prey?”

Black Cat chuckled softly: ”Hey... mutation still goes through basic processes, don’t mutant insects need to eat to reproduce? Such a large swarm, without considering their daily survival, just their birth alone would require a massive number of corpses.”

As it spoke, it glanced at the rabbit carcasses discarded at the edge of the woods, adding: ”These few rabbits alone couldn’t support so many insects. If there really were that many insects, these rabbits wouldn’t have been able to grow so large.”

”Perhaps they feed on mist and dew, and consume wood chips, stone fragments, and soil,” Korma finally turned around to look at Black Cat.

The Black Cat cocked its ears, attentive to the movements in the woods, its expression becoming more determined: ”If they eat wood chips, stone fragments, and soil, then what have we got to worry about?”

The expedition team’s leader finally gave up debating with the Black Cat.

”What do you want to do?” She continued to maintain the Magic Ritual for the exit just in case.

”Give me a Clear Heart Symbol... it’s in that stack of Talisman papers I gave you before,” Black Cat ordered softly without taking its eyes off the depths of the forest: ”You should all use one as well.”

Without needing Sister Korma’s order, a Gypsy witch casually threw a Clear Heart Symbol, which landed squarely on the black cat’s forehead. In the blink of an eye, three straight wisps of blue smoke rose in front of the ancient acacia’s crevices and silently disappeared among the dense tree canopy.

The witches’ previously flustered expressions quickly calmed down. At the same time, the rustling sound near Zheng Qing’s ears and those terrifying images in his mind faded considerably, almost vanishing.

Korma bit her lip, showing a look of annoyed embarrassment.

Without a doubt, they had just experienced an extremely realistic illusion. They were so close, so very close to giving up on this first exploration mission. Although the basic data of the Secret Realm’s world had already been mostly gathered by the exploration team, the gap between fifty percent completion and one hundred percent was clear.

No one had so much time to waste on the journey in and out of the Silent Forest.

Although annoyed at heart, Korma didn’t act impulsively, instead, she demonstrated the qualities of a competent Hunter.

She slyly communicated with her two companions through hand gestures, altering the subsequent plan.

’Since the unidentified creature only dares to hide in the forest and use Illusion Technique, it means its actual combat strength is very weak.’

’Black Cat, climb the tree and ambush from above.’

’No Face and the Captain, set out from both sides and pincer from left and right.’

The two witches, with talisman papers like ’Illusion form,’ ’Light body,’ and ’Retract breath’ attached to them, silently made their way through the edge of the camp and into the bushes. Compared to them, the black cat naturally possessed the appropriate skills and therefore did not waste any additional talismans.

With the black cat’s keen senses and the witches proficient in Divination on the team, they quickly located the suspect near a small puddle less than twenty meters from the campsite.

Or rather, to use a more precise term, a ’suspect bug.’

It was a fat, white slug, about an inch thick and a foot long, resembling a snail. On its head, it bore a ring of black antennae of varying lengths that looked like a snail’s.

When the Black Cat set its sight on it, the creature was splat at the edge of the puddle, its head antennas undulating as if accompanying a beautiful piece of music.

It wasn’t until the two witches blocked its puddle.

The ’Snail’s’ head antennas finally stopped their fluttering. The illusions in the minds of Zheng Qing and the others, as well as the rustling noise in their ears that mimicked the footsteps of insects, also stopped abruptly.

The truth was laid bare.

”Snap!”

With a crisp sound, the chubby bug was crushed into a pulp under Korma’s foot. Perhaps it was an illusion, but the black cat felt the light around flicker for a moment, as if a lightbulb had gone bad.

It raised its head and looked at the sun and moon hanging in the sky.

The sun and moon lingered there, blurry, looking exactly the same as when it first saw them.

The Black Cat shook its head, brushing aside the doubts deep in its heart.

”You really are too wasteful,” the black cat said regretfully, looking at the cold, lifeless mutant bug: ”Taking it back alive, even if it’s not for exchange credits, it could have sold for a good price at the Wandering Bar.”

”It’s not our objective,” the exploration team’s leader answered crisply: ”Besides, I hate bugs!”

The black cat sighed and ultimately didn’t bother with the mess.