17. Not Really an Insect

"Fritz, what are you standing there for? Aren't you going to fix us something to eat?"

Newt has to break the endless train of thought Fritz was having. Upon hearing that, the latter's stomach wildly growled at him. A spoonful of the hotpot that he cooked wasn't enough to satiate their hunger earlier.

"Oh, right. Hehe, cooking will be finish in a minute before you fully recover."

Fritz gets on with it. He took out their last ingredients and set the pot on fire.

***

A scrumptious meal will clear you off your hunger. Newt let out a satisfied burp after eating an overfilled bowl of the delectable. Both were gulping down a whole bottle of water. That was the last water they have.

"You're really good at cooking! Do we still have more bottles of water? I'm still thirsty."

Fritz brought out all of the empty water bottles and showed them to Newt.

"That's the last of it... Also, consider this as the last supper."

Newt's brows had aligned. "What?! That's the last?! Then, how what are we going to eat now?! And the water, AaAHhHh!"

Fritz stored the empty bottles back in his spatial inventory. The capacity it could hold had increased too, from 50 items to 100 items. That's really a lot of help. He had stored a lot of things back when he was picking up the loot from the dungeon.

"Just drink your pee then. And eat soil or rocks if you ever get hungry."

"Don't say that with a serious face!"

"We can always eat monsters. Yum yum..."

"Gross!"

"What, you never tried to eat monster?"

"I have tried before, but dungeon monsters are different from monsters in the outside world!"

"Then this is the best time for you to try one!"

***

"This... this is... a farm?!"

Both were awestruck by the sight of farmland. Vegetables and fruits were planted and, almost all of them were on the verge of withering.

"Look, there's a water wheel there. Let's go and refill our bottles."

The water isn't contaminated or anything. The farmland truly was confusing. After refilling the empty bottles, Fritz and Newt looked for fruits and vegetables which are still good to eat. Food stored inside the spatial inventory doesn't rot or wither. The flow of time inside the inventory moves really slow.

"Isn't this really weird? We are harvesting root crops and fruits. We even manage to secure ourselves some water. There's something really weird."

'Yeah, the fact that there's sunlight in here was totally weird. Can someone explain that to me?'

"There's no sign of monsters here too."

They looked around. There's no sign of monsters. But, the fact that there was still water in there was alarming for them.

"It's like, this place has been recently deserted."

The almost rotting vegetables and fruits say that there were people in there not too long before it was deserted.

"So, shall we proceed to the 3rd level?" Newt was in a rush. He can't afford to eat the monster's meat. He was glad they found vegetables and fruits to eat.

"No. You've said it. There's something weird in here. It's faint but, I'm feeling a few presences scattered around. It's like they are watching us right now."

'But where? The trees were too small to hide someone. And even if they are too far, they won't be able to see that far. Is it invisibility? If so, then this would be a pain in the ass.'

"Don't let your guard down. The presence I'm feeling feels really close yet feels so far."

Newt panicked a little. He couldn't sense the monsters' presence.

"Shouldn't we at least hide?" Panicking isn't one of Newt's nature. He's more of a calm and fierce warrior in front of enemies. Was he bluffing?

"Yeah, we should."

Hastily, Fritz grabbed Newt at his wrist and dragged him in a more open area, where trees and crops were far from them.

"Aren't we going to hide?! Oh, well, this strategy's good too."

There are linear mounds of soil everywhere. Fritz thought that it was just an unfinished part where the inhabitants of the place would be planting the seeds.

"The ground, something is moving below us!"

Multiple movements beneath them were clearly sensed by the two. The movement stopped right where they were standing.

"Incoming attack!"

Monsters came out of their ground. Both kids jumped back to evade getting swallowed by them.

"Earthworms!"

It wasn't any typical worms that go their way around the soils. Their size and body thickness were incomparable to the usual worms. It's like a man-eating worm that would swallow you whole and alive. There was more than what the two had thought, though it wasn't that many.

"More insects!"

This time, the worms couldn't speak. Maybe because they don't have a tongue or mouth? I don't know. But in any sense, the worms seem somewhat displeased by what Fritz had said to them, which caused them 

to attack.

"Stop making them angry!"

Newt cast a glance at the other and decided to wield the dagger Fritz gave.

'Isn't this the best way to use the spear?' Thinking about it with such excitement, Fritz displayed the weapon's content.

[True Warrior's Spear]

[Rarity: Silver]

[Attack Damage: 45]

[Durability: 69/420]

[Passed down by generations. This lizardmens' heirloom has become their hope of victory. The spear had gone through so many hardships and struggles to survive.]

[Passive Skill: The spear's attack damage will increase if the spear recognizes the user worthy of the possession. Damage increase will vary.]

[Due to the recently chosen path of the Demon King, the spear has recognized your great potential. The spear's damage will be tripled.]

"How long are you going to stand in there?!" Newt grabbed Fritz at the back of his collar and vigorously pulled him away from getting swallowed. 

"Tell me if you're planning on dying, I'd kill you instead!" He slapped some sense into Fritz, who was still baffled by the damage multiplier.

"Sorry and thanks." Short but sincere. Fritz doesn't want to be all cringy when expressing his feeling. He smiled dryly after that. "Five of them, huh? So, how do we split it up?" The two really liked competing against each other.

"The one to kill first gets two more!" With that, Newt accelerated as he approached the group of worms. 'Will this even cut that deep? It looks like it's gonna shatter after a few slashes.' The dagger was all strained and such. Demiurgus presented countless numbers weapons to Fritz but, he chose not to have anything from it. Still, Demiurgus insisted and, he gave Fritz the Severance Blade. The blade was used to cut his limbs and head off.

The invertebrates dove back to the ground beneath. Newt came to a halt, Fritz too. Moving around will just tire them out. They were trying to predict the next attack instead. The ground moved a bit shakily and, there it is!

They won't be jumping that high just to dodge the worms' attack. The attacker might go about two or three and, the other will wait for them to land and will attack then.

"I think I can use mage's skills."

[Setting Mage as a current class. MP has increased by 50. Intelligence has also increased by 10.]

'Activate skill.'

[Activating Skill: Skill Generator!]

[Water Splash]

[MP Consumption: 20 per use]

[Although this skill deals no damage to your enemies, this will likely help you beat the insects! This skill can be used multiple times and will be replaced upon generating a new skill.]

'Oh, so you agree with me calling them insects, right?'

"Newt, are you still thirsty?"

"What are you asking at a time like this?" He has no idea if Fritz was serious about what he asked or, he was just messing around with Newt.

"Didn't you see me drink water already?"

"Okay, a glass of water coming right up!"

"Skill Activation: Water Splash"

(I will be using the single quotation whenever Fritz is activating his generated skills.)

Fritz stretched his arm forward, his hand open, not letting his fingers touch each other. A magic circle was cast on Newt. It appeared above him.

"What? Why are you casting it on me?"

Before Newt could even move his ass to avoid getting wet, the water splashed down on him. He was totally drenched.

'Hmm, about ten liters. It didn't wet the ground that much. I'll have to do 

it again.'

"And there! Your glass of water."

"What do you mean a glass of water! Do I look like I just drink a glass of water?!"

Fritz shut both ears of him. Cast another skill to the dry ground. He kept on repeating the same skill again and again till he hit 0 in his MP.

'This will probably take about a few minutes for me to properly move. I feel exhausted haa...'

"You have pointlessly wet the ground and, now you're lying down?! Man, get up!"

"Shut up. I've hit rock bottom. I purposely wet the ground to turn it into a muddy one. That way, the worms will go to the surface. I think that's what they will do."

~