Chapter 79: Valley of Venomous Creatures (2)
Translator: bjgoofy
The opinion of Grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons and Squad Leader Gu Pae was that there might be some big figure lurking around.
Even though I was practically an obsessive otaku about venomous creatures, I had enough sense to read the room.
That’s why I concealed my joy inwardly and put on a serious face like everyone else.
"This is really a serious matter."
‘If an otaku wants to live a hidden otaku life, they need to be good at pretending to be a normal person. But my lips keep twitching upward, and that’s troubling.’
While I was struggling to hide my glee, before we went deeper into Mount Ailao, Grandfather Man of Ten Thousand Poisons volunteered to go scout the area himself.
He said he would check things out personally for safety’s sake, since we didn’t know what might be there.
After all, he was the most skilled among us.
“I will take a look around myself, so everyone fall back to the place where the rivers Yun and Amo meet. There still seem to be birds flying around over there.”
"You mean across the river?"
“Yes, that side.”
Looking where grandfather was pointing, I saw birds flying over the land beyond the place where the two rivers met downstream from where we had crossed earlier.
And upon closer inspection, this side of the river was completely devoid of life, whereas birds and other insects could be seen flying on the other side.
It felt like something was dividing the area along the river.
At grandfather’s words, I quickly nodded and led the group across the river.
As grandfather said, it could really be dangerous.
“Understood, grandfather. Alright, everyone, let’s retreat to the other side.”
“Understood, Young Master Soryong. What are you all waiting for! Hurry up!"
“Yes!”
As we retreated back across the river with the group, I was deep in thought.
Just what kind of creature was waiting for me?
‘Could there be something that considers Mount Ailao, starting from this side of the river, as its habitat?’
But as I thought about it more, something started to feel off.
Mount Ailao wasn’t a mountain standing tall on a plain, but one located near the end of a mountain range.
And the vast meadow in front of the mountain was quite expansive.
Although I hadn’t encountered all the venomous creatures of this region, based on those I had met so far, most of them seemed like ordinary creatures from my past lives that had undergone some kind of special evolution.
The Blue-Spotted Centipede is an evolved form of a centipede, the Lizards are evolved lizards, and even Yohwa is an evolved spider.
With that in mind, no matter how I thought about it, there hadn’t been any creature that made such a vast area its territory.
There was no base creature with such a unique trait in my memory.
“No matter how I think about it, it’s just too big.”
As I was mulling this over, muttering to myself in confusion, Nunim tilted her head beside me and asked,
“What is, Soryong?”
“Ah, grandfather said there might be a large venomous creature, but something seems strange, so…”
“Something strange?”
“Yes. The Blue-Spotted Centipedes don’t eat prey but absorb natural energy, and since the mother was guarding eggs at the time, it probably drove other creatures away and stayed underground. But this place feels different.
Looking at the path leading from across the river toward Mount Ailao, there doesn’t seem to be any signs of life. If something claimed this place as its territory, it’s too vast.
If nothing else is around, it would be hard for a beast that needs to hunt to find prey. Unless, like the Centipedes or Lizards, it consumes some kind of energy.”
-Tsurut?
-Kurook?
“Not you guys.”
As soon as they heard me mention them, they thought I was calling, and poked their heads out from my clothes.
Worried they might get jealous, I quickly moved my hand and gently tickled the heads of all five of them, then pushed them back into my clothes.
-Tok tok.
Then I felt something tapping on my shoulder.
When I turned my head, Yohwa was sticking her head toward me.
“R-right, I mustn’t forget our Yohwa either.”
In the end, after I patted Yohwa on the head as well, I heard the sound of Nunim and Squad Leader Gu Pae talking beside me.
“Surely, if it were a creature that feeds on something like Soryong said, then making the area so uninhabitable would be strange, wouldn’t it?”
“Now that I hear Young Master Soryong’s words, it really does make sense.”
"Yes, the way animals and plants live can be called ecology, and the interplay of these ecologies can be called an ecosystem, which makes this really strange.
In an ecosystem, insects that are too small for the eye to see become food for small animals, and then larger animals come to feed on those, so if there’s absolutely nothing here, that would ultimately mean the creature itself would starve.”
“Ecosystem?”
“Soryong, you’re speaking like some kind of sage.”
As I chatted with Nunim and Squad Leader Gu Pae while watching the direction where grandfather had disappeared toward Mount Ailao, I spotted grandfather flying toward us using qinggong from far away.
Arriving at the river, grandfather leapt across in a single bound and spoke with a grave expression.
“There was nothing all the way to the entrance of Mount Ailao. I have a feeling there might be nothing even in the Valley of Venomous Creatures either. What a loss.”
‘Damn it.’
Only then did the grim reality come to mind from grandfather’s words.
Because of some unknown great creature, not just Mount Ailao but even the Valley of Venomous Creatures had been completely emptied out.
It had been said that many mysterious venomous creatures lived in the valley, but it was now certain they had either been eaten or disappeared.
This meant I wouldn't be able to catch any other creatures from the valley, so it seemed I would have to catch this one for sure.
Although I had caught several species on the way, that wasn't enough to satisfy me.
‘In that case, I’ll catch that giant creature no matter what!’
“No matter what kind of creature it is, we can’t return empty-handed, so we must catch it, right?”
At that, grandfather nodded.
“It seems we have no choice. For now, we need to set up a place to sleep here and start searching. Do you have any good ideas? After all, you’re the expert when it comes to venomous creatures, Soryong. Haha.”
"Y-yes, I'm the expert."
Recalling the incident with the Golden-Furred King Bee, I answered with an awkward smile.
And so, what I first thought to do to find the main culprit behind this situation was to figure out the size and shape of this lifeless land.
If I could figure out the approximate size and shape, I might be able to tell where the creature was hiding.
“First, let’s record how large and widely this land without a single animal stretches on the map. grandfather.”
“You seem to think the center of it is where the creature’s lair will be?”
“Yes, no matter how vast, most beasts tend to be at the center of their own territory.”
'We'll need to examine the terrain, but typically they position themselves in the center of their territory.'
With that in mind, we dispatched warriors and began exploring the surrounding area.
By evening, the dispersed warriors had returned and began marking the boundaries on the map, and that’s when something odd began to emerge.
"This is... rather strange."
“It really is.”
Both grandfather and Nunim remarked how odd it was.
I, too, nodded as I looked over the map.
Because it really was strange.
“Starting from Mount Ailao, it ends to the north in a mountain range and to the west at a river, which marks the border of this empty land. But it extends endlessly to the southeast along the river, doesn’t it?”
When we marked the strange empty land with no living creatures on the map, and starting from Mount Ailao, the domain of the unknown great creature stretched endlessly southeast in a long, narrow shape.
Reports from the warriors indicated that beyond the western and northern borders, separated by the river, there were signs of life. But to the east and south, there were no boundaries and the lifeless land continued on endlessly.
It was an odd shape to be considered a creature’s territory.
“Once the sun rises, we’ll have to travel along the river to see how far it stretches. As long as we don’t cross the river, it shouldn’t be dangerous.”
“That certainly seems like the best approach.”
Even as night passed, no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t make sense of the shape.
In the end, after tossing and turning all night, I set out at dawn as soon as the sky brightened.
Occasionally, grandfather would cross the river to scout ahead.
And just like that, two days passed.
Even after two full days, we still couldn’t see the end of this territory.
“We’ve been moving along the river for two days to figure out its exact shape, and it’s just strange.”
“Indeed, grandfather. It’s big, too big.”
We all stared out at the silent grassland before us.
At that moment, the warriors who had prepared food and Nunim began distributing food to everyone.
“Soryong, here you go. Please eat this. And you kids, let Daddy rest and come to Mommy.”
“Thank you, Hwa-eun.”
Nunim now spoke very naturally using “Mom” and “Dad” terms, with no hint of awkwardness left.
As I laid down in the grass, tearing into the jerky Nunim gave me for lunch, I looked up at the sky and saw dragonflies flying overhead.
‘There are a lot of dragonflies here. Is it because we’re near the river? Wait a second?’
Something sparked in my mind as I watched the flying dragonflies, and I sprang up and made a request to grandfather.
I felt I had to confirm something after seeing the dragonflies.
“Grandfather, could you go back along the way we came and check how many dragonflies are flying across the river?”
similar insects are flying across the river?"
"Dragonflies? You seem to have an idea. Alright then.”
Still chewing on a dried rice cake, grandfather murmured as he set off retracing our steps. After about an hour, he returned and shared what he found after checking the area behind us.
“For about half a day’s distance, dragonflies are flying both across the river and on this side alike. This is...”
As grandfather trailed off, I nodded, and then he immediately gave an order.
“We split into two groups. Those with fast qinggong and strong martial arts, step forward!”
“Yes!”
At grandfather’s command, the group swiftly divided and arranged into formation, and Nunim quickly came over to my side to ask.
“What’s going on, Soryong?”
It seemed she was puzzled at the sudden disruption of our meal.
“Even if we can’t tell with ground animals, things like dragonflies flying in the sky move about freely, right?”
“That’s true.”
“No matter how frightening something may be, if it’s not visible, things like dragonflies will return quickly. Even if they sensed something unknown and fled, they’d be back as soon as it was gone.”
"Oh, so?"
"Yes, we thought something had claimed this territory, but it seems something is moving ahead of us in that direction."
The reason this territory seemed endless.
It was because the mysterious great creature was continuously moving ahead.
***
As soon as we finished eating, I, grandfather, Squad Leader Gu Pae, and several members of the Poison Blood Squad decided to use qinggong immediately.
To stay as light as possible, I only had Cho on my body.
Since whatever it was seemed to be getting farther ahead, we had to increase our movement speed compared to now.
“Well then, I’ll leave the kids to you.”
“Yes, Soryong. I’ll take care of the kids, so go ahead.”
-Kuguk!
-Tsurut!
-Kissit!
“Yes, I’m not going alone. I’m just going ahead first, so you all follow slowly with Mom.”
“Let’s go, Soryong!”
“Yes, grandfather!”
Right after eating, we crossed the river and quickly formed a formation and rushed forward.
When performing qinggong, it’s easy to overlook the presence of things around, so during group travel, we move in formation like this.
As I ran alongside Squad Leader Gu Pae, right behind grandfather, the scenery flew past us.
Only the gurgling sound of flowing water from the river rapids filled my ears.
“Huff, huff.”
“Is it tough?”
“No, I can handle it.”
Normally, I’d be complaining like I was dying, but there was something waiting for me ahead, I couldn’t collapse from just this much.
After running for quite some time, as the evening glow began to dye the river’s surface red along with the sky, we came upon a dense jungle filled with subtropical vegetation and banana plant species I had seen once before with Nunim.
“It’s a dense jungle, so everyone stay on high alert! Venomous creatures are different from people, they hide and strike, and their presence is not easily sensed.”
“““Yes!”””
“Yes, grandfather!”
The jungle of Yunnan, which I had only heard about, had appeared.
Grandfather immediately warned us to be even more cautious, and so, while maintaining greater vigilance, we continued our pursuit. However, with the dense foliage obstructing our view, we naturally had to slow down.
Eventually, grandfather came to a halt up front, and was just about to suggest that we stop tracking for today.
"Let's stop here for today and tomorrow when it's... Huh?"
-Swaaah.
A strange sound could be heard.
-Swaaah.
-Swaaah.
The sound of massive undergrowth rustling in the wind.
No, the sound of bamboo stalks in a bamboo grove swaying in strong winds.
That sound was coming from ahead of us, and drawn by the eerie noise, we pushed through the jungle a bit farther, and then, a massive basin dyed blood-red like crimson appeared before our eyes.
-Swaaah.
“Th-this is! Demonic!?”
What appeared before our eyes was a swarm of blood-red ants, each about the size of two human fists put together.
*****
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