Chương 42: A Swarm of Millions of Striped Water Mosquitoes

Having landed on the ground, right in the middle of a large clearing, all five quickly jumped off the boat.

"Everyone, stay alert. According to the map, we should be at the edge of the Blood Lions' territory." Rollo Por waved his hand, put away his flying artifact, and took out a thin, concertina-style map booklet.

"Brother Rollo, I'll bring up the rear. You take the front. Everyone else stays in the middle." The giant Badu, after looking around, cracked his neck and, without waiting for an answer, immediately stepped back a little. Standing in the middle, Li Um frowned slightly. This formation was not safe for her and her sister if something went wrong. But she decided to remain silent so as not to sour relations with them from the very start, afraid that it might negatively affect their future completion of the mission.

"My sister and I don't mind! Right, sister?" Li Am, standing next to her with a simple-minded smile, tugged at her sleeve several times. Li Um only nodded, glancing around at the three men, especially the giant Badu behind her.

"Excellent! Brother Uku, Sisters Li, be on guard and keep your eyes open! Even though this is Blood Lion territory, that doesn't mean we won't encounter other spirit beasts looking to fill their empty stomachs." Rollo Por drew his sword and walked forward slowly but confidently, choosing more open spaces to avoid being ambushed by beasts hiding in the undergrowth. ….

On the branches of the trees, directly above them, An, with a chilling gaze, as if he weren't looking at people, watched and analyzed their energy flows.' Their cultivation is lower than I thought… Yesterday I couldn't accurately determine their cultivation levels because of the large number of people around and the distance between us…' An observed them, specifically the density and information of their Qi. Of the five, only the giant was at the peak of the fourth layer.

The rest were only at the early stage or close to the middle stage of the fourth layer of Qi Condensation. After some thoughts, he condensed five small particles of Qi on his palm and waved his hand. These particles flew toward each member of the group, attaching themselves to the soles of their shoes, right at the heels. In this way, he decided to hedge his bets in case he lost sight of someone or some unforeseen situation occurred. Thanks to these Qi particles, he would be able to determine exactly who was where.

Since the particles were minuscule and carried almost no energy, none of the five noticed a thing, especially with all their attention focused on scanning their surroundings for beasts. Leaping from branch to branch, with Qi Silence and Qi Clouds activated on his feet, he barely touched the wood, hovering just a few centimeters above the surface to remain completely silent, and invisible both to the group below him and to the beasts around. ….

"Brother Rollo, are you absolutely sure you're going in the right direction?" Having been wandering through the forest for several hours already, combing through every clearing, Li Um asked quietly with a distrustful look, not forgetting to constantly glance back at the giant." Hmm, according to the map, they should be living in this square. And we're right on their territory right now... Better to spend more time and make sure we haven't missed something that could become a problem later."

Without turning around, Rollo Por held the booklet in front of his nose, continuing to look alternately at it and at his surroundings, checking every bush and blade of grass.

"Don't worry, beautiful... We decide which direction is right and safe. All you have to do is obey and move your tiny little legs... Hehe..." In a whisper, almost silently, the giant Badu could barely hold back a smirk, his eyes lingering on Li Am, who was pressed tightly against her sister, without leaving her side for a single step. Li Um, hearing the mumbling behind her, turned her head toward the giant.

He, in turn, seeing her suspicious look, threw her a good-natured, foolish smile and scratched the back of his head. Turning away, she tensed up greatly. Even though she hadn't heard exactly what the giant had said, when she turned around, she had caught a sinister gleam in his eyes as he watched her sister. The further they went, and the longer they wandered through the forest, the more her gut told her that something was wrong here.

As they made yet another turn and continued to trudge through the woods, she regretted her decision to team up with these three more and more. …. On the tree branches, An continued to follow them slowly. Throwing a glance at the giant shuffling along behind everyone, he read from his Qi a strong emotion of desire and excitement, ready to burst out at any moment. The twins, at the same time, radiated uncertainty. The second twin, Li Um, also radiated strong anxiety mixed with growing fear.

Watching the group below him, he suddenly stopped and looked into the distance.' Damn! What are they doing here?' He swiftly began climbing higher, to the very tip of the tree, and completely held his breath, pressing himself against the trunk and looking into the distance. Several hundred meters away, through the dense forest, he saw many strange Qi flows, very weak, but at the same time, numerous.

At first there were a few, and after a few seconds, he already saw tens of thousands of Qi flows merging into a single mass, making it impossible to distinguish individual sources.

But remembering the book about spirit beasts, he instantly understood what it was. …. Bzzzzzz~ Suddenly, the entire forest began to fill with a dull hum, which grew louder and heavier.

"What is that?!" Uku Tom immediately frowned and grabbed his sword.

"What is that sound? Sister, what is it?" Li Am turned pale and began tugging at her sister's sleeve.

"Get behind me!" Li Um, with one movement of her hand, shoved her sister behind her back and grabbed the hilt of her sword with both hands.

"Damn it! Everyone, come closer to me! They're Water Mosquitoes! Quickly!" Dropping his map booklet on the ground, Rollo Por began rummaging through his pouch, pulling out talisman after talisman. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"No, no, no! Not this one either! Ah, here! Found it!" With his hands trembling from panic, Por finally found the talisman he had been looking for." Millennium Fire Shield!" Directing his Qi into the talisman and activating it, he raised it above his head. Immediately, an energy fire barrier began to form, enveloping all five under a dome. Bzzzz~ Zzzz~ Immediately, through the trees, through the bushes, through everything around them, millions of tiny mosquitoes the size of palms flew directly at the fire barrier.

Smelling the food before them, the mosquitoes, like possessed beasts, began smashing into the barrier and immediately burning up, not even having time to squeak.

"E-enough! Sister! Do something! Please! M-make them stop!" Li Am, holding onto her sister, began to scream, trying to drown out the heavy ringing of the mosquitoes, which was making the very ground around them tremble.

"Brother Rollo, will the shield hold?" The giant Badu activated his Qi and enveloped his hands, fully prepared for a desperate battle.

"No!" Rollo Por examined the shield and saw that barely noticeable cracks had already begun to appear on its surface.

"Brother! Think of something!" Uku Tom, with wide eyes, shouted, placing all responsibility on his brother Rollo.

"I'm thinking! Stop screaming! I'm thinking!" Por again started ripping out all his talismans, this time tossing the useless ones onto the ground.

"Found it!" Finally finding what he was looking for, he began pulling out golden talismans with red glyphs on them.

"Take these! Each of you take three!" He began distributing them to the other four, three to each, "The moment the shield breaks, one of you will activate their talisman and throw it into the air! And I will immediately activate the second talisman, recreating the barrier around us again! Understood?" Everyone nodded, gripping their talismans tightly, except for Li Um. She frowned and shouted, trying to be heard over the noise of a million mosquitoes, "What about the order? Who throws first?"

Without hesitation, Rollo Por began pointing his finger at each of them, calling out a number at the same time. Bzzzzz~ Standing with their backs to each other, they raised their heads and, with their legs shaking, watched as the shield grew thinner and thinner. Suddenly, at the moment when a large crack opened right in the center of the shield, Rollo Por pointed at it and shouted, "Throw! Throw!"" All-Devouring Flame! HA!" The giant Badu activated the talisman and threw it directly into the crack.

Right behind him, Por threw his talisman, which immediately began creating a new fire dome. And just as the barrier began to form, the talisman the giant had thrown detonated, and a huge wave of roaring, incinerating energy burst outward." Aaah!" Li Am grabbed her head and sat down on the ground, feeling the heat from the fire wave even scorching the tips of her hair. Everyone else dove to the ground beside her, shielding themselves from the fierce temperature around them.

"They're not decreasing! This isn't working!" Uku Tom also began to panic, seeing that new mosquitoes were arriving to replace the destroyed ones.

"Enough! We have to stick to the plan! We don't have any other choice anyway!" Li Um was the first of the group to get to her feet, and she immediately began watching the fire barrier around them, which was already starting to crack again. Clenching the talisman in her hand, she focused on every microscopic crack, waiting for the moment when she would have to throw.

"She's right! Brother Uku, pull yourself together!" Rollo Por also got to his feet, not wanting to be outdone by a girl, and prepared a new Millennium Fire Shield talisman. Several hours passed in a tense war of attrition: talismans on one side, millions of mosquitoes on the other. The majority of the tiny beasts had been destroyed, and the remaining swarm, realizing their numbers were dwindling, began to retreat.

Bzzz-zzzz-zzzz~ Their hum changed, and as if on command, all the mosquitoes flew higher, to the level of the treetops, and began to fly away through the dense leaves on the branches." Haaa… Haaa…" Falling to the ground, Li Um wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was more tired than anyone, as she had been forced to take the talismans from her sister, who had been unable to pull herself together and get up off the ground. Kneeling on the ground, she hugged her sister and lowered her head onto her back.

"It's alright now… We're safe. Calm down… Remember when that hound attacked you, and our father rubbed your ears to calm you down, and despite all your protests, he refused to let go, gently kneading them… Ha! Remember how you pouted and put on an offended face with red cheeks when he finally let you go? Hahaha!" Hearing her sister's laughter, Li Am immediately calmed down and began to laugh." Haha! I-I remember, I didn't talk to him for almost two w-weeks! Until he bought me that ebony bracelet!"

Raising her head, she wiped away her tears and, giggling, hugged her tired sister tightly.

"Are you all alright?" Sitting on the ground, Rollo Por wiped the sweat from his face and looked at his two brothers. Both Badu Dum and Uku Tom were tired and pale, especially Brother Uku, who was touching his iron prosthetic, trying to put it back in place so that the growing pain from exhaustion would stop. ….' I chose a bad tree…' With a pale face, An did everything to ensure that the huge swarm of mosquitoes flying right past him, literally just a few meters away, did not sense him.' Striped Water Mosquitoes…

They shouldn't fly this far from their usual habitats, lakes and large bodies of water… Perhaps something happened that provoked them to migrate, but migration usually happens with a queen… But in this cloud, I couldn't find her.' He watched as the mass of tiny creatures moved further and further away, searching for food and a possible new habitat.

Lowering his gaze back to the group, he noticed that they had all closed their eyes and begun to meditate, trying to recover as quickly as possible, ' They were just attacked, they made so much noise, and now they were all starting to recover right here, without moving a single step? Do they not realize where they are at all?' An couldn't understand their logic.

In their place, he would leave this place as quickly as possible, because at any moment, some hungry and curious spirit beast could come here attracted by the loud noises and the lingering smell of charred flesh, specifically, roasted mosquito. …. After almost half an hour of careless recovery, right in a forest full of hungry beasts, everyone began opening their eyes, one after another.

"We need to start moving again before it gets dark. Quick Cleanse!" Standing up from the ground, Rollo Por activated his Qi and completely cleansed himself of dirt. His clothes began to shine again. Every smudge of dirt, even the smallest speck on his face, instantly vanished. Like a man reborn, he walked over to the map booklet, which had been slightly buried by the burned mud from the multiple talisman explosions. Picking it up and dusting it off, he opened it and walked back to the others." Quick Cleanse!""

Quick Cleanse …" Everyone else did the same, removing any dirt from themselves and their robes.

"Brother Rollo is right. We need to move out!" The giant Badu clapped his hands together and began stretching his muscles. Everyone agreed, even Li Um, though still exhausted, gave a firm nod.

"Excellent! Maintain the same formation, with me in the front, Brother Badu bringing up the rear. Forward!" Por waved his hand and walked ahead, beckoning everyone to follow.

"Are you alright? Does anything hurt?" Li Um took her sister's hand and began examining her again, trying to make sure she was definitely alright. Her sister, Li Am, in response, smiled innocently and shook her head, trying to calm her sister. …. On the tree branches, An suddenly looked at his hands. Turning them over in front of himself, he saw that his skin was stained with soot from alchemy and residue from pill refining.

Wrinkling his nose, he shook his head, activated Qi Clouds, and began moving through the trees, following the group closely.