This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 203, Section 202: I Love Peace
Staying here would mean certain death, but not all demons are willing to face death.

While Shou was still hesitating about being ordered to escape, another senior warrior took the lead, suddenly turned around and broke away from the group, running wildly towards the passage they had come from!

"I told you we should move south! I told you... It's all your fault! Hirohiko! It was all your idea, you should take responsibility for it!"

The desertion of a senior soldier ignited the fear that was already weighing on everyone's hearts. Several more soldiers, terrified, cried and screamed, pushing aside their comrades who were blocking their way, and followed him.

"Coward!" one of the remaining soldiers spat fiercely.

He didn't even glance at the escapees; his gaze was fixed on the two enormous evil eyes.

The Qis seemed to have finally gathered and begun their hunt. Six-clawed figures disappeared into the shadows, while beetles covered the ground like a tidal wave.

"Hunt! Run!"

Urged on by him, Kariya could only grit his teeth and turn around.

But before Shou could lead the group a few steps, something unexpected happened.

The soldiers who fled into the passage had just disappeared into the darkness when a short, bloodcurdling scream suddenly rang out from within!
Then came the teeth-grinding tearing sound and the greedy chewing sound!

Several six-clawed creatures, their bodies stained with blood, emerged from the passage. Even a high-ranking warrior, once they lose their composure, would be swiftly and decisively killed by such a sneak attack.

With their escape route blocked, Qi Si's true encirclement was now completely closed, leaving everyone utterly trapped.

"Kill—!" Hengyan roared, and was the first to charge out!
Despair ignited a final frenzy, and the battle instantly entered its most brutal phase.

The warriors roared, each slash and thrust carrying the spirit of mutual destruction.

Blood and flesh flew everywhere, and severed limbs mixed with Qisi's purple blood splattered all over the place.

Demons continue to fall.

One warrior rolled over and stabbed a six-clawed creature from below, its position exposed by the blood on the ground. Before he could even pull out his spear, he was pounced on by three other Qis and instantly torn to pieces.

A senior warrior wielded his weapon in a death storm, tearing any Keith that approached to pieces. However, under the combined "care" of the two evil eyes, his joints petrified, his weapon slipped from his grasp, and he was then overwhelmed by the swarming Keith.

Inside the cave, a layer of blood and flesh swamp, a mixture of demonic offspring and the remains of the Qis, quickly accumulated, and the air was filled with a nauseating smell of death.

With his body covered in purple blood, Hunt felt as if his arms were filled with lead, and every swing felt like the bones were about to be thrown out.

Behind him, Qiong held aloft a dazzling orb of light that could dispel invisibility, while continuously unleashing potential-activating spells on his companions. Waves of dizziness from the intense exploitation of his magic power washed over him, and he mechanically cast another wake-up spell on himself.

This is a hopeless battle, with only an endless swarm of insects before us.

Just as everyone was about to be crushed by this meat grinder—

"Strange...I...I'm..."

The indistinct sound came from some unknown tunnel, layer upon layer, filled with an eerie atmosphere.

The hunter couldn't understand the meaning and only thought it was the roar of some kind of Qis, but an old warrior muttered in confusion, "Human?"

But after the sound appeared, an even stranger thing happened!

Just a moment ago, the Qis army was attacking frantically and in perfect order, but now it was as if the pause button had been pressed!

Whether it was waving its claws, spraying acid, or preparing to become invisible, even those two evil eyes radiating terrifying pressure, they all froze completely at the same moment!

The movement froze, and even the annoying hissing sound stopped abruptly!

The entire cave fell into a deathly silence, broken only by heavy breathing and the dripping sound of blood. This sudden stillness was more chilling than the preceding commotion.

"what happened?"

opportunity!

While some of the clansmen were still in a daze, Hengyan reacted immediately, and the despair in his eyes was instantly replaced by a frantic urge to grasp at the last straw!

"Go that way!" he roared, using all his strength to swing the blood-stained and flesh-scratching hammer at the weakest point of the swarm, tearing a gap for escape through the solidified insect wall!
Without the slightest hesitation, Shou grabbed the dazed Qiong and rushed towards the bloody path that Hengyan had cleaved open!
He stopped caring about the others and persisted until now, when only the two of them are left among the young people.

The two evil eyes were the first to "awaken" from their stiffness, and pale rays burst forth from their enormous eyeballs!
The ray swept past the group, but fortunately, Hunting was unaffected and successfully entered the tunnel.

The other Keiths had also recovered, but they were no longer as at ease as before. Some of the Keiths rushed towards the group, clearly not intending to let go of the duck that was already in their mouths, but most of the Keiths turned around and headed in one direction. It seemed that they could also hear a rumbling sound coming from afar.

Although it was only a small number of Keiths, it was still fatal to the team that now had less than ten members.

Hirohiko and several other soldiers, too badly wounded to escape, turned around and blocked the narrow entrance to the cave.

"Walk--!"

The sounds of shells cracking, Qis's frantic roar, the muffled thud of a hammer striking, and distant rumbles... all these sounds mingled behind me.

In his final glance back, Kari saw only the blood-soaked figure of Hirohiko being completely engulfed by countless Qis.

The dark passage stretched forward, with hellish howls behind them. Shou gritted his teeth and dragged the nearly unconscious Qiong forward.

When he finally crawled out of the cave and returned to the stone fortress, there were no other tribesmen around him except for Qiong.

Having gathered the strength of almost the entire tribe, nearly forty of the strongest warriors... in the end, only he and Qiong remained on their journey home?

They couldn't even bring back the shattered magic cores of their clansmen!
When he looked at Qiong beside him, even more pain struck. One of Qiong's hands and one of her feet had disappeared, leaving only petrified fragments at the edges.

"Qiong..."

at this time--

Click…click…click…

The dense, crisp, and chilling sound of arthropods striking the stone slabs came from all around.

The sound grew louder and louder as it approached, and soon a large number of figures surrounded the two of them.

Finished!

The thought clearly surfaced in Kari's mind.

With one hand supporting the sky and the other raising the shattered bone spear, Shou prepared for this final battle.

There's nothing to be resentful about; he's done his best. It's just that everything was destined from the moment he entered the stone fortress.

However, the expected attack did not occur.

After the encirclement was completed, a green-glowing eye worm floated over, and a voice appeared in both Kari and Sora's minds at the same time.

"I love peace. Shall we talk?"

(End of this chapter)