Who designed this underworld dungeon?.

Chapter 647 Deep Nest
Deepnest is a map derived from Hollow Knight.

This is the second most hateful map in Gong Qiying's opinion, after the Road of Suffering.

The most hateful thing about Deep Nest is its terror, but it's not that difficult in terms of difficulty; it's far less challenging than the Path of Suffering.

If someone is afraid of the dark or has arachnophobia, they would be scared to death in the Deep Nest. Even today, many adventurers in the Sien Dungeon have had heart attacks from being frightened by spiders in the forest area.

"Hey, there's a new hidden map."

Abe, Ero's grandson and Euphemia's apprentice, looked around curiously.

Similar to the first half of the Road of Suffering here, it's an underground tunnel-like place. The difference is that there are no sharp spikes in sight, but the corners and edges are covered with thick, dusty spider webs. With so many spider webs, it's possible that a whole family of queen spiders has made their home here.

The surrounding environment was even darker than the Catacombs of Carthus. The darkest places even impaired the dragon's vision, but this did not mean that there was no light source at all. Cool-toned light shone from somewhere, cutting the darkness intermittently.

In a classic horror movie, the distant light source would gradually go out, and the demons lurking in the darkness would flicker and approach the protagonist.

In fact, it seems that Cangyin Dungeon really did pull this stunt.

Just as Abe's gaze fell upon the tunnel in front of him, something vaguely appeared wriggling in the darkness. Its outline could be seen in the darkness, but it vanished without a trace as soon as it moved into a light source. As a result, the light in that section was suddenly blocked, creating the effect of a monster rapidly approaching.

If a human were here, they would be terrified, but Abe is a dragon. If he's a dragon, then he'll be fine, right?

"Ugh, that's disgusting."

Abe's face displayed an expression that combined negative emotions such as disgust and aversion, and the mental energy he released increased at that moment.

The monster rapidly approaching him seemed to awaken some unpleasant memories!

"Gah!"

An indescribable scream rang out in front of them, and a spider-like monster, half the size of an adult, suddenly sprang out from the spider web covering the tunnel. Its face looked like it was wearing a pale, multi-eyed mask, and it howled as it pounced on Abe.

Abe dodged the attack with a quick step and kicked the spider as it landed, ending the fight swiftly in the blink of an eye.

If it were Fudolin, she would probably stand still and throw a punch directly, but Abe has been taught by Yuffie and has learned the techniques of dodging attacks from humanoid creatures in combat, and has also mastered a lot of combat skills.

"Honestly, I hate spiders."

Abe frowned deeply as he looked at the large spider carcass on the ground.

His daily routine now involves going to the Sien Dungeon for special training—that is, entering Guior's body and fighting random dragons.

If you're lucky, you might encounter dragons like Tigrex or Diablos that you can fight normally. If you're unlucky and encounter Elder Dragons, then you'll really have to rely on willpower to persevere.

Especially when encountering a Silver Dragon, a Black Dragon, or some other creature, once you get tainted by their things, you have to use your willpower to overcome your frenzy.

Erro seems quite willing for Abe to encounter the ancient dragon, because it would stimulate his training. Abe initially thought so too, but now he is becoming increasingly weary.

After all, no one would be excited about going in just to get beaten up, even if their strength could gradually improve.

His aversion to spider-type creatures stemmed from an incident where he was exhausted after being beaten by an Elder Dragon and left to die. Suddenly, a bunch of "small animals" appeared out of nowhere—that is, spiders from Monster Hunter—and dragged him into a cave, where they subjected him to a series of inhumane acts.

From then on, he developed an intense aversion to spiders and even insects. Whenever he saw an earthworm while walking, he would chop it into eighteen pieces with his claws.

However, there is a big difference between disgust and fear. The difference is like how people hate shit, but are afraid of the soul holding shit.

"Do we really have to move forward? I hate this feeling. Where did everyone go?"

Abe sighed and reluctantly walked into the tunnel filled with thick spider webs. He breathed fire directly into the tunnel, burning the spider webs to ashes and killing the spiders inside.

But he stopped coughing almost immediately, clutching his throat and coughing for a while, muttering to himself with a dark expression:
"Yesterday I had a shouting match with someone from Gui'er whose name I don't even know, and I ruined my voice."

Left with no other choice, he had to walk inside, trying to avoid the spider webs as much as possible.

However, the number of spider webs inside was outrageous, and he couldn't get around them no matter how he tried. If he tried to tear them apart with brute force, they would stick to his hands. No matter what choice he made, he would be extremely annoyed.

"Why does something as disgusting as a spider web exist in this world, you bastard!"

The further you go in, the stronger the presence of the spider webs becomes, to the point that they can't be ignored. No matter how you walk, you'll get some of this stuff on you. Luckily, Abe's human form is bald; if his hair got covered in spider webs, he'd probably be disgusted to death.

Moreover, these spider webs weren't just for creating an atmosphere; their stickiness was incredibly strong. So strong that when Abe accidentally stuck his arm into one while trying to beat up a large spider, he actually had some trouble pulling it out, and it was still partially attached to the spider.

Although the spiders attacking him so far are just E-level to D-level minions, there's no guarantee that a C-level or even higher behemoth might suddenly appear later. In a battle of that level, being slowed down by spider webs could have serious consequences.

"I should have kept some magic scrolls on me like my master. If I had fire magic, my situation would be much better now."

There are still some differences between the fighting styles of Abe and Yuffie, who are purely human.

Speaking of Yuffie, she took Vann and the others to the capital, and they're busy with something there. Moore and Abe have been left to their own devices, spending their days wandering between the Dragon's Nest in the capital and the Sien Dungeon in Blackrock City.

As the tunnel continued to extend, the full picture of the Deep Nest map gradually came into Abe's view. It was a map whose visual effect could be described as "narrow" no matter how you looked at it.

Although the space gradually opens up as you walk further in, the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling create an unusual decoration, as if the sky is about to fall. Even though you can't touch the cobwebs when you stand up straight, you can't help but want to lower your head to walk.

The number of monsters is increasing, and their overall strength has reached the D level. They have different forms, but they are generally based on spiders, lurking in the darkness and launching surprise attacks from time to time.

Everyone says that lunging at someone's face is the most basic way to scare someone, but it really works. After being lunged at in the face so many times, Abe actually experienced a few heartbeats. After regaining his senses, he was naturally both ashamed and angry, and his fighting became even more ferocious. He also naturally got more sticky spider silk on his body, which caused his movements to be slowed down from time to time.

The fact that he's already entangled in spider silk during a battle in human form, what would happen if he transformed into a dragon?

Putting aside the question of what he would look like if he were to become covered in more spider webs in his dragon form, the current Deep Nest map looks like a series of narrow tunnels connecting to larger spaces. If he were to transform into his dragon form, he probably wouldn't even be able to squeeze through some of those tunnels.

If you get stuck in the tunnel and can't move, and a spider eventually crawls out of you...
Ugh, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. It's even more disgusting than a real wall butt.

What made Abe even more upset was something else.

As he moved forward, he would occasionally step on spider webs wrapped in small balls, which he could easily crush with one foot. Inside were actually a large group of tiny spiders, no bigger than a human finger.

These little spiders were so small that even their killing intent couldn't be detected. In Abe's perception, they were as if they didn't exist. He would often walk along and suddenly step on them without warning, and a slippery and itchy feeling would instantly come from his leg.

The slippery feeling came from the countless spiders he had crushed with his foot, and the itchy feeling came from the spiders crawling up his leg.

It's not the strength of the enemy that's scary, it's the disgusting nature of the enemy. These little spiders don't even qualify as enemies.

"Disgusting!"

The moment a spider crawls onto his body, he is reminded of the humiliation he suffered inside Gui'er's body, and his battlefield PTSD immediately kicks in, making the entire dragon somewhat irritable.

Given how disgusting this place was, Abe finally became a loyal listener of the 365-mile journey, taking a step forward and rushing straight towards what he could see, without even glancing at the brightly lit side road beside him.

He's only thinking about collecting some plants along the way and leaving; he has no intention of staying in the deep nest any longer.

There are also plants in the Deep Nest map.

These plants blend perfectly with their surroundings, mainly in gray tones, and are easily missed if you're not paying attention. Moreover, most of them are aggressive.

Seemingly to compensate adventurers who enter this dangerous and frightening map, the probability of obtaining the plant itself or even its seeds by attacking the plants here seems to have increased significantly. After half a day of effort, Abe has already obtained several plants, twice as efficient as in other maps.

Sacrificing some SAN points for a better reward should be a worthwhile trade, right?
As he ran, he didn't know where he had entered. When Abe emerged from the tunnel, he found himself inside a rather large semi-circular building. At first glance, he thought he had entered the cocoon of some kind of insect.

Generally speaking, if you see an open area in the Sien dungeon, you should consider whether there are elites or even bosses ahead.

But this is the Cangyin Underground City, and there's nothing inside the building; you can't even see a spider moving around.

Instead, piles of insect corpses, all wrapped in spider webs, formed small hills, and scattered on the ground lay the corpses of humanoid insects, all motionless.

Even more abruptly, next to this mountain of insect corpses, there was a brightly lit iron bench standing there.

It's strange, even though that chair looks ordinary, it gives people the feeling that "sitting on it would definitely be very comfortable".

"I feel tired and have no energy."

Seeing that there seemed to be no murderous aura here, Abe swayed his arms around as if all the fatigue had rushed over him. When he saw the bench, he sat down without thinking and groaned as he leaned against the comfortable bench, which was quite soft.

He wasn't physically tired, but he was mentally exhausted, or rather, weary.

Abe's self-talk could be heard coming from inside the huge building.

"I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I feel like my energy is draining very quickly. I can't concentrate on anything. Could it be that I'm getting old? I've heard that humans go through menopause at a certain age. Could it be that I'm experiencing that too?"

This feeling of quickly expending energy no matter what I do is something that only recently started happening to Abe. Thinking about it carefully, it probably started when the war festival reopened.

Just as he had lost interest in everything in the world, like those electronically impotent people who were too lazy to open games anymore, Abe was too lazy to do anything.

At first, he was unwilling to do things he wasn't interested in. Later, he grew tired of the work he was supposed to do in the clan. Now, even though he was quite looking forward to collecting plants, he became lazy after only a short time in the Azure Dungeon. It was definitely not because he was disgusted by the spiders.

"Ah, I just want to lie in bed and do absolutely nothing, just wait to die!"

Abe made a sound of resignation, closed his eyes to rest, and soon began to snore.

What he didn't notice was that this laziness didn't seem to be unique to him.

Even his usual playmates have been a bit resistant to being invited out to play lately. Moore has lost interest in the daily training that Yuffie left behind, and even Erro would yawn at the banquet where Luluvo was entertained.

What is happening right now is something he cannot yet comprehend.

After an unknown amount of time, Abe opened his eyes. He felt refreshed and energetic after a good night's sleep.

"Alright, let's go out and see how everyone's collection is going. That's all for today."

He yawned and was about to stand up from the bench.

"Huh? Can't you stand up?"

His body didn't move at all; more accurately, the bench had stuck him to it!

It was only then that he realized that the reason the bench felt soft was because a large number of dark spider webs were stuck to it!
"How can it be so sticky? Damn it, I can't stand up!"

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get up because the spider web was stuck to his skin, and he didn't dare to pull it off.

This is so embarrassing! If word gets out, everyone will laugh at me.

Just as Abe was pondering how to break the deadlock, he heard a slight noise from the side.

He looked over sharply, and the next moment, he saw that the insect corpses that had been lying on the ground had slowly stood up and completely surrounded him.

"Um, is there anything I can help you with?"

Stared at by dozens of enormous insects that stood upright like normal people, Abe managed a weak smile.

The insects remained silent and slowly approached him.

"Wait, what are you doing!"

"I'm warning you, don't come any closer!"

"Get out of here!"

(End of this chapter)