Centipede Extermination 5

YAWN!

The only downside to this new home is not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. Truly it is terrible. I never want to do anything, and this is the first time I even have experienced this. What have I done...

Oh well! I need to get to work fairly early today, I may have quote-unquote 'rested' yesterday, but I need to make up for not completing more of this quest. I'm looking forward to the rewards. Not that I know what it is. That's not the point.

I stretch and get up, lazily worming my way into the common room. Well, 'stretched' may be a stretch, hehe. My bristles can't really do that so my body just kind of expands. Really cool feeling though. I circle around the common room once to wake myself up before heading out the exit.

I take the second leftmost tunnel, opting to go to the site of my last battle. I want to see if I can get that orb of dead centipedes. It may not taste good, but it has to hold a ton of life matter. It can honestly be phrased as necessary, since I'm too weak apparently.

After around half an hour of energetic worming and a left turn into the main tunnel, a begin to approach the battle site. It seems... crowded? Or to phrase it better, whereas there used to be no creatures around here, I'm beginning to see more and more acid centipedes, and they all are headed in the same direction as me. It's kinda creepy. And don't get me wrong, there ARE other creatures too, but the centipedes are deliberately ganging up on them, jumping on the other creatures and ripping them to shreds or boiling them down into a puddle of goo, before eating them obviously. I even saw a poor nine-legged spider get assassinated by an acid centipede before five more came in and ate it. It's somewhat terrifying if I'm honest. Their sheer numbers are enough to trump most elites.

At this point, I've already covered myself in a cloud of void particles, though it only barely sates my fear. I've spotted at least thirty acid centipedes higher level than me, and I'm not even in the middle of them, not even close! I'm sticking to the side, in the ceiling too for some increased protection.

As we approach the remains of the centipede battle, the crowd of the critters gets increasingly bigger. I'm almost sure that there are over 300 centipedes! What the hell! Did they clear out their nest? Maybe I should've gone there instead...

Oh, I'm almost there! It's maybe 150 meters away! Oh shit.....

As I approach within 150 meters of my last battle with the centipedes, I spot something, huge. It's definitely a centipede, but its sheer size is crazy. It is five times my size! Don't look down on that either. I may only speculate, but I'm certain I'm bigger than three meters! This dude is at least 15 meters tall! And I haven't even seen all of him!

The acid centipede in question is, of course, currently asleep. Zeroing in at around 15 meters tall, it is a huge abomination and its acid green covering is actually translucent, showing its organs under it. Or rather, showing the huge acid sack, with tons of acid sloshing around whenever the centipede shifts in its sleep. It also crushes several Elite Acid centipedes when it rolls over, mind you those crushed centipedes are stronger than me.

So I think it's safe to say that I've found the lesser centipede overlord. I mean, damn, can't really miss that. The damn thing could take me out by sneezing. And it's sitting on my orb... What the fuck!!

Still, it's not like all has been lost. As I track my way back to the outer edge of the huge mob of centipedes, I notice the levels quickly decrease, with a limit of level 7. Easy kills, yes! Of course, I won't immediately come down and kill one, I don't want to get swarmed. I've got to be stealthy.

That being said, I sneak down from the ceiling of the tunnel, right at the edge of level 7 and 8 acid centipedes. Having covered myself, I'm untraceable for people below my level. Feels good, honestly. Sneaking down at a speed more similar to snails, I worm down to the ground, mixing in but too much with the Acid Centipedes. Another new thing about the void cloud, apparently centipedes hate it. I thought that they would only passively avoid it, but no, they actively maintain a meter or more of distance. Whatever, it works out for me, which is nice. I can practically hear Jeremy snickering in the background, system or not.

I take a moment to blend in with the mob of centipedes, moving with them and generally acting as a natural phenomenon. Using this time, I also pick out a target, which turns out to be too easy. I find a level eight acid centipede, and it honestly seems drunk. Oh well, I won't judge.

The first part of my plan goes smoothly, as I meander my void cloud over the body of the target and lower it onto the prey, smothering its senses. It starts to panic, so I have to speed things up a little bit. I form a small blade from the void, and penetrate the centipede's vitals, cleanly piercing them. It dies without so much as a sound, Success!

I thicken the cloud, planning to bring the acid centipede with me, when a feel a weird sense of fear. I scan around looking for the source, and find my 'eyes' locked on the lesser overlord. It rolls over and yawns, smashing several of its pawns along the way. It stretches its mandibles, before exaggeratedly clacking them shut.

Clack!

It slowly turns and looks at me. Every other centipede seems to receive a signal, also turning my way. I freeze in fear.

I've been found out.