I Hate Systems
chapter-194

"This…!" Compass Carburettor was shocked to see the scene happening before him, unable to understand if it was actually happening in reality or if he was in an illusion of sorts, "Until now, I've only read documents of this. Never have I witnessed something like this that has happened naturally."

As for Rhizen and Neena, they were unable to even speak, staring at the phenomenon blankly. For a moment, all three of them forgot about hiding, gaping foolishly.

It was only normal because of the scene that was transpiring before them.

There was a wide-open place in the cave, forming a depression into the ground surface. And, hung from the ceiling was a stalactite, one that spanned twenty metres in height.

It was apparent that this stalactite had existed for probably a million years or even more to grow to such a height. After all, it hadn't just grown to such a height, but rather managed to touch the ground.

And over the years, it continued to grow as the tip spread over the ground surface, eventually creating a bowl-like structure.

A stalactite is an icicle-shaped formation that hangs from the ceiling of a cave and is produced by the precipitation of minerals from water dripping through the cave ceiling.

So, over the course of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, the stalactite continued to grow as its tip that had touched the ground expanded along while eventually, the mineral deposit from the ceiling paused for some reason.

This caused the stalactite to break off from the ceiling. And over the years, the top of the stalactite continued to change shape as the mineral deposits began to flow downward, causing the shape of the stalactite to bulge more and more at the bottom.

Eventually, it turned into a container in the centre of which water had stagnated, remaining at almost freezing temperatures due to the nature of the minerals forming the structure.

And throughout the years of mineral diffusion, it had eventually turned the water into a poisonous substance. Normally, it would be something any insect that roamed through the cave would never come close by.

But now, with the changes in the world, this place too began to change, causing minor changes in the chemical composition of the water stored within the stalactite, undamaged, untouched for hundreds of thousands of years.

This change beckoned for the insects to come and enter it. And, when the insects entered it, they entered a state of frenzy and began to hunt and devour the other insects within the stalactite.

As it continued to happen, more and more insects were lured over, streaming in from countless paths that were connected to the labyrinth that run throughout the Eastern Range. And the insects that lived in such a massive habitat…

All of them formed a path and streamed into the stalactite. Moreover, something seemed to be constantly precipitating out of the stalactite and flowing into the ground.

It was blood, or at least, the excreta of the blood after all its beneficial properties were absorbed by the mineral composition of the stalactite, one morphed due to the changes happening in the world.

The insects devoured one another, experiencing faint changes in their bodies. The first to change was the toxin they carried with them. It became more potent and bizarre. This was a process that had once been done in ancient China.

Gu!

It simply translated to poison and was the process in which a shaman—they were called as such; they were just regular humans well-versed in the act of poisons—placed countless poisonous insects in an earthen pitcher and sealed it.

The poisonous insects consisted of scorpions, centipedes, etc. And, all of them were at the larvae stage. In the earthen pitcher, they would begin to starve. Left with no other choice, they would begin to devour one another for survival.

And eventually, only one insect would survive. Most of the time, the process would end up as a failure, since all the insects would poison each other to result in total annihilation. But in rare cases, there would be a survivor.

And, not only this insect would have developed immunity to all the poisons, its own poison too would have mutated, turning into one that didn't have an antidote.

Such poisons were used to assassinate important people. Without an antidote, since this was a brand-new potent poison, the assassination was a guaranteed success. Gu was created by shamans for certain purposes.

But now, the same phenomenon was happening here. But, there was no shaman. It was happening naturally as the insects threw themselves over one another.

"Dammit, run!" Suddenly, upon sensing a powerful Mental Energy stream land on him from within the stalactite, Compass Carburettor was alarmed as he shook the other two, jolting them back to their senses.

Immediately, they turned around and began to run the way they had arrived.

But, it was already too late as the poisonous water within the stalactite shimmered for a moment before a creature exited it, screeching as it rushed towards them. It was fast, faster than them, alarmingly so.

Compass Carburettor looked around, using his running momentum to kick a thin stalactite, breaking it off as he turned around and threw it at the creature, intending to use its sharpness to impale the opponent.

The creature's countless eyes gazed at the approaching spike, quickly evading from its range. But suddenly, its actions contradicted itself as it moved towards the spike instead, causing the projectile to slam into its face.

Neena sighed in relief for a moment, thinking that they had survived the crisis when she noticed through her ability that the creature was still alive. And now, it was angry, dusting its face as it shattered the stalactite, watching a thin line of blood bleed from its face.

A drop of its blood landed on some insects squirming on the ground. A moment later, they dropped dead.

Screee!

Followed by a violent screech, the creature rushed towards them, slamming into countless stalactites along the way, still managing to close in on them.

Neena's forehead was filled with sweat, using a tremendous amount of energy to barely affect the creature's actions.

Author's Notes: January Month's Mass Release Quota

Target: Top 75 GT Ranking

Reward 1: 10 regular chapters

Reward 2: 18 Privilege chapters

Magic Castle: 2

Spacecraft: 5

Golden Gachapon: 10

[Tier 3 Privilege has 15 chaps with a 50% Discount]