Chapter 81: Valley of Venomous Creatures (4)
Translator: bjgoofy
Normally, army ants would spend a night at a temporary campsite.
On cold nights, they would gather to protect one another, and once the sun rose and the temperature went up, they would immediately begin to move again.
But these ones didn't seem to be like that.
Whether it was because they were consuming the food they had gathered or because the queen ant was laying eggs, no one knew, but these ants had been staying at the temporary campsite for the third day.
From their behavior, one could guess that they usually roamed like mad in search of food, and when they had gathered enough, they would settle down for several days before moving again.
I figured they hadn’t completely stopped because they were not going out to forage.
That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for us, it gave us more time for the main unit led by Nunim to arrive.
Since the main unit had bamboo cages for collection and food supplies, if we wanted to carry out my proposed plan of running ahead and scooping up venomous creatures, we needed to reunite with the main unit at least once.
And when Nunim arrived, I understood why the warriors of the Tang Family, except for Grandfather and a few members of the Venomous Creature Squad, had such expressions on their faces in response to my fun little idea.
"My goodness...."
Nunim wore a shocked expression upon seeing the ants across the river.
But her astonishment didn’t end there, when I suggested we run ahead of them and catch venomous creatures, her eyes widened.
"You're saying... run in front of those things?"
"Yes. When that line of ants rushes through, the creatures hiding in grass, between rocks, or in crevices get startled and jump out. If we target those, we can catch venomous creatures very easily. Startled and running blindly, they're easy to catch."
Nunim stared at my face in a daze for a long time, then muttered to herself as if speaking out loud.
"...After the bees, now it’s ants? It hasn’t even been that long since we ran ahead of the bees...."
The reason why the Tang Family’s warriors made those strange faces, excluding Grandfather and a few members of the Venomous Creature Squad.
Now that I think about it, it was because they were all experienced.
Thinking back to Nunim's words, squad leader Gu Pae, the Poison Blood Squad Leader, and several warriors of the Poison Blood Squad had already experienced this.
The death race, that is.
Because they had already experienced a brutal race for their lives from the entrance of Yunnan all the way to the Tang Family when we were dealing with the Golden-Furred King Bee incident.
"Still, didn’t we achieve a great result that time?"
"Th-that’s true, but...."
Honestly, I did feel a bit sorry for Nunim back then.
Even though her tired appearance was charming, she had to run all the way to the Tang Family, drenched in sweat, unable to sleep or eat properly for days.
And because I couldn’t use qinggong, she even had to carry me.
But what made me feel a little less guilty was what Grandfather said.
'Still, she gained an fortuitous encounter because of me.'
When I said that she gained great results, Nunim couldn’t refute it. According to Grandfather, while eating the inner core of the Blue-Spotted Centipede was a fortuitous encounter, the death sprint itself was also a kind of fortuitous encounter.
Because even with an elixir or inner core, it takes a considerable amount of time to fully absorb the energy into one’s qi through cultivation. But Nunim, by exhausting and repeating her internal energy during the death sprint, was able to swiftly convert most of that energy into her own qi.
So I held Nunim’s hand tightly and said.
"Now centipedes no longer needs to absorb energy from the inner core, so let’s completely absorb what’s left this time."
It might sound a bit cheeky, but it’s the truth, so what can I do?
It’s not like I’m doing this for my own benefit, this is all so it becomes Nunim’s blood, flesh, and internal energy, right?
As Nunim's lips squirmed like she wanted to say something in response, Grandfather’s voice came from beside us.
"Come to think of it, then, Soryong, you’ll have to run too, right? Tomorrow, you can run with Hwa-eun."
"Me too?"
I’m still not very good at using qinggong, so if the ants started moving, Grandfather had promised to carry me on his back and run. But then, out of nowhere, he told me to run beside Nunim.
I blinked, wondering what he meant, and Grandfather pointed at my chest and said.
“You ate it too. The elixir.”
“Gasp!”
Right, come to think of it, I also ate the royal jelly that the Golden-Furred King Bee handed over.
In other words, I too needed to absorb that energy.
Nunim’s previously twitching lips curled up slightly.
At Grandfather’s words, Nunim held my hand tightly and smiled.
“Soryong, let’s run side by side tomorrow. I’m happy to run with you, Soryong. Hehe.”
For some reason, Nunim’s face looked smug as if she had just eaten a mealworm, but maybe that was just my imagination.
‘It couldn’t be, right?’
***
The night before, we secretly moved ahead to where we expected the ants to begin their movement and set up our positions.
We didn’t know how much longer they would remain, but we wanted to secure our spots in advance.
The distance between us and the ants was around sixty jang, approximately two hundred meters.
Once they started moving, we planned to close the distance to about thirty jang, a hundred meters, and run while maintaining that gap.
Of course, the main unit would follow behind us slowly across the river, collecting the venomous creatures we caught, poisonous insects or snakes and the like.
We had agreed to toss the venomous creatures we captured into cages and throw them to the riverbank on the other side.
As I anticipated the next day’s collection, I tossed and turned before dozing off.
Then I heard a chilling sound that startled me awake.
-Ssshhhh!
When I opened my eyes, morning had arrived. The sun was rising and illuminating the basin, and the sound of the bamboo grove rustling like waves began as the ant colony stirred.
We had set up guards with warriors, but there was no need for them.
The ants were sending out an unmistakably powerful signal that they were about to move.
“S-Soryong, wake up.”
“I’m awake, Hwa-eun.”
Nunim, who had been curled up and sleeping beside me, shook me awake.
I immediately stood up without even washing my face and tied the band around my forehead.
Even the Tang Sect warriors, who had previous experience running, were seen tying headbands tightly around their foreheads.
Nunim also quickly tied hers.
It had been explained yesterday, but I had wondered why it was necessary. Apparently, if sweat from your forehead gets into your eyes, it stings.
It was the advice of experienced runners, so I decided to follow it.
‘In my past life, I always wondered why marathon runners tied bands on their foreheads, now I get it.’
Back then, I thought it was just for show, but it turns out it had a reason.
Once we finished our preparations, the centipedes went to me, the lizards to Nunim, and Yohwa had confidently claimed she could run yesterday, so I decided to believe her for now.
If Yohwa couldn’t keep up, she could always cross the river.
Once we were all ready, the red tide began at the bottom of the basin.
-Ssshhhh!
The wave of ants surged forward like a tide.
At the front, as expected, were the large worker ants.
They served the role of soldier ants and led the way at the front of the procession.
As they cleared the path and protected the sides of the formation, the mid-sized and smaller worker ants would pass through the middle, that was the movement formation of the army ants.
“The ones at the very front are called the hunting group, and they bite at anything they touch, so be careful.”
“Ah, understood, Young Master Soryong.”
The vanguard of the army ants was the hunting group, a highly aggressive unit that attacked anything it saw without hesitation.
As I watched the ones approaching closer to us, I thought it was about time to start moving.
-Kyeeee!
The scream of a beast rang out.
It was either a deer or a roe deer that suddenly leaped out from between the ants and us, startled by the ants and bolting in our direction, then, upon seeing us, turned and ran the other way.
Behind it were ants, and in front of it were humans.
The creature must have thought we were scarier, but that choice led to a horrifying result.
-Kyee! Kyeeee!
Its hind leg was caught by the massive pincers of the large worker ant at the front, and it let out a scream as it thrashed and jumped.
The creature thrashed wildly, trying to shake off the large worker ant clinging to its thigh, but the ant would not let go.
Primitive tribes in Asia and the Amazon use large worker ants like staplers to seal wounds with their pincers, once these ants bite, they never let go.
Eventually, the panicked creature collapsed in front of the ants, and the red wave swallowed it whole.
Witnessing that, the warriors of the Tang Family, without exception, rushed forward.
The roe deer had been completely shredded.
“S-Soryong, let’s go too.”
Nunim’s voice came from beside me.
Turning my head, I saw her already in a standing start position with both arms raised.
With her arms lifted, it felt like her heart had already taken off ahead.
I nodded while checking the front, where the ants were drawing closer from the rear.
“Let’s go!”
And so began the true start of venomous creature collection.
***
Army ants have virtually no eyesight, so they don't chase us by sight, but they still advanced at considerable speed.
Their average speed was about the same as a person jogging at a brisk pace.
However, if a scuffle broke out over food up front, new ants would instantly flood in from the back.
About half an hour into running, we had already seen a bear, three wild boars, and two deer get devoured right before our eyes.
It seemed the ants followed the riverbank to prey on animals that had come to drink water.
Leaving behind the haunting sights of creatures being consumed by the red wave, we continued running and picking up venomous creatures that sprang out in front.
While I was scanning one side, I heard squad leader Gu Pae shout from the opposite side.
“Young Master Soryong! There’s a huge snake ahead! It might be a python!”
‘A huge snake!? A python?’
Startled by Gu Pae’s cry, I turned around and saw a massive snake crawling toward us with all its strength, fleeing the approaching ants.
Glossy scales and a massive body.
The formal name of what was crawling toward us was a Burmese python!
"It's a Burmese Python! We have to catch that!”
The Burmese python is one of the five largest snakes in the world, the biggest among pythons.
What’s more, they’re relatively docile and not too difficult to raise.
There was no way I was letting that one go.
‘It may not be venomous, but it’s a pleasure to raise.’
Gu Pae wore an exasperated expression.
A disgruntled grumble escaped his lips.
“Young Master Soryong, didn’t you say the same thing when that whip scorpion appeared just earlier? And before that, when that toad showed up… At this rate, we might as well catch everything that comes out….”
The reason Gu Pae was grumbling was that we had agreed to only collect the ones of value, but I kept wanting to catch everything that showed up.
But what could I do? Every single one was valuable and rare!
‘Getting people to work is hard. Maybe I should just lead by example?’
So I dashed toward the creature, and shouts erupted.
The snake was closer to the ants than expected.
“Young Master Soryong, it’s dangerous!”
“Soryong!”
Ignoring the cries of the Tang Family warriors and Nunim behind me, I rushed in and wrapped up the snake.
“Whoa, this guy is no joke.”
The Burmese python, which can grow up to six meters, was about three meters long. I grabbed its head and slung it over my shoulder, and I could feel its heavy weight.
As I took one step forward with the snake over my shoulders, I heard a chilling sound from behind.
-Rustle.
I turned back while sprinting forward, large worker ants had already crept up.
Among them, a medium-large worker ant with jaws meant for cutting and crushing swung its mandibles.
The ants had gotten far closer than I expected.
Just as I felt the weight on my shoulder and took a step, I slipped on the grass.
-Swoosh.
“Whoa!”
Nunim and Gu Pae’s eyes went wide in shock.
They immediately launched forward using qinggong with alarmed eyes.
When I looked back, the swarm of ants was surging toward me.
“Soryong!”
“Young Master Soryong!”
Nunim’s and the squad leader’s shouts were drowned out by the roaring surge of the ants, and just as I thought that my final moment would be regretting my own greed.
-Sssshhhhh.
Suddenly, my body was being dragged forward in a smooth glide.
I slid across the grass, pulled ahead without realizing what was happening.
The place where I was dragged to was right in front of Yohwa. Apparently, without my knowing, Yohwa had wrapped me in spider silk ahead of time.
-Kssit! Ksssissit!
Yohwa immediately began scolding me as if I were being punished, and Nunim chimed in from the side with a sharp comment.
“Well done, Yohwa! Give him a good scolding! Soryong! From now on, I won’t let you get that close to the ants again!”
“I-I’m sorry.”
I had nearly turned into a meatball because of my greed.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, and after that, I no longer participated directly in collecting venomous creatures. I simply gave commands to the warriors while quietly following behind Yohwa.
Partly because I had caused trouble, but mostly because Yohwa had tied a strand of spider silk around my neck and wouldn’t release me.
‘I mean, I’m not a pet or anything....’
“Yohwa, can’t you please let this go?”
-Kssit!
I tried several times, but she responded with a firmly resolute tone that didn’t budge in the slightest.
In the end, until the sun began to set and the ants came to a stop just beyond a hill, I had to quietly follow behind Yohwa.
It was just as I was being dragged by Yohwa over the crest of the hill.
From beneath the hill, what looked like a gate came into view, and several martial artists rushed out from that direction, stopping us with a loud shout.
“Beyond this point is the territory of the Beast Palace! Intruders, reveal your identity!"
Among the group that came running, the man in the lead had a leash tied to what looked like a wolf’s neck and was dragging it along. When he saw me tied by spider silk next to Yohwa, and then looked at his own leashed wolf, he wore an expression of stunned confusion.
“Uh....”
‘No, it’s not what you’re imagining. It’s really not....’
*****
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