Chapter 145- Exploration Part 3

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"Because of the avalanche and earthquake, everything becomes chaotic and unpredictable, including the movement of the death worms so we have to change our strategy." Theo explained as Liu Guanyi nodded.

"The death worms are solitary creatures. Even though they are the feared apex predator in here, with the sudden surge of many creatures running around the tunnels, they would be forced into hiding since they can't resist them as they will be easily swarmed and ganged up due to their solitary nature. Especially since the shinheuh lose their natural fear as they are in a crazed state."

"The death worms can simply dig into the rocks, the walls, and even the ceilings to avoid being detected so we have to check every nook and cranny of their traces." Theo said as he examined each of the paths closely as he spotted many messy footprints on the ground.

Shaking his head, the scout spoke as he let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, these tracks aren't identifiable at all so we have to gamble our luck again. So please, sir, choose the way."

Liu Guanyi tested all the six paths to make sure. He nodded, indeed, even with his unparalleled senses, he still couldn't feel any and spot any difference. Without hesitating any longer, they decided to choose a random tunnel and went into it together.

As they traversed it for a while, Liu Guanyi felt a slight vibration on his foot that became clearer by the second. Soon, it quickly became much greater as Theo also began to feel it.

"Sir, it seems there's another swarm of Shinheuh coming to our way, we have to hide." The scout quickly said in a hushed voice as Liu Guanyi nodded and they quickly climbed the ceiling.

They hanged themselves with their bodies sticking close to the ceiling as they rooted their hands and feet into the rock.

"Sir, let me use my stealth shinsu control on you. Although the effect will be weaker for two people it's much bett-" Theo was about to explain himself as Liu Guanyi quickly cut him off.

"There's no need." Liu Guanyi spoke curtly as he enveloped himself in a dark bubble as his body turned unnoticeable and blended to the ceiling.

Theo could also feel that even his shinsu flow became weaker and weaker until he couldn't feel anything emanating off of him. And when he saw the spot where Liu Guanyi was, he could only see a normal rock without anything off, which absolutely shocked him!

Not only Liu Guanyi was very strong as a fisherman, but Theo also didn't expect that he could use a scout technique better than him, an experienced C-ranked regular!

Just a few moments later, they could see that tunnel was visibly shaking as the shinheuh showed themselves, it was a massive swarm of snakes.

They had many different colors and sizes, from green, yellow, black, gray, and from the small ones like around two meters to the huge ones seven meters and even more.

However, they all had a single similarity, they were all desperately trying to slither away from something, something that was behind them.

Something that was terrifying enough to make all of the snakes scrape away to be just a little bit faster than their fellow species.

Then, Liu Guanyi saw it, the monstrosity.

It was a humongous snake, its size was so big that it filled almost half of the tunnel. Its length was also extremely long, more than dozens of meters and probably almost reaching a hundred meters.

With its raven-black scales that glinted in the darkness, thick hard skin, and most importantly, pair of deep and dark red eyes, the humongous snake gave off a deadly horror to anyone whom it set its reptilian eyes upon.

As the gigantic snake slithered calmly, it suddenly stopped as it suddenly stretched its tongue.

It managed to pick an unusual smell and its head turned toward their direction, more specifically, Theo's direction.

Sensing this, Theo immediately held his breath as his heartbeat raced up and he started to sweat. Trying to calm himself down, he did all his best to mask more of his presence using his stealth ability. He couldn't afford to be found out by such a monster!

The snake approached them closer as it poked its head up, smelling and sensing the particular area using its long tongue.

When its tongue got really close to Theo as its deep red eyes looked at him, or at least his direction, his heart couldn't help but stop beating for a second as he felt immense dread.

Suddenly, he felt he couldn't move nor feel his body, literally.

He could still see with his eyes, perceive the touch on his skin and his beating heart but he couldn't move and do anything despite all of his efforts. It was as if he was looking at the world in a birds' view.

Just as he felt that, miraculously, the snake suddenly lost its interest as it pulled back its tongue and began to slither away quickly, probably wanting to catch up to the fleeing snakes.

When the snake was gone, he felt the restraint on his body suddenly vanish away and he let out a deep sigh of relief. Knowing, the threat was gone, they quickly dropped to the ground.

Looking at Liu Guanyi, Theo bowed his head deeply.

"Thank you." He said with heartfelt emotion, he had just evaded death itself.

Liu Guanyi simply shrugged it off and spoke. "Let's go, we don't have all the time in the world."

Theo nodded and quickly moved in the front as they continued their exploration. However, the scout wasn't as focused on the task as he couldn't help to think about what happened just a moment ago.

Just after the giant snake moved away, Theo realized that what happened to his body wasn't because he was frozen in fear. No, although he was afraid then, it wasn't to the point that he would have frozen on the spot, he was an experienced regular, after all.

After thinking about it, Theo knew a particular skill that apply the same effect when it was cast upon a target…

It was Reverse Flow Shinsu Control!

An adept Wave Controllers' ability to manipulate and reverse the flow of shinsu in an object or being to their liking. Be it to destroy their body from inside or to stop their motion, or in Theo's case, stopping the flow of his body's shinsu and motion to mask his presence like a lifeless object.

However, Theo knew that Liu Guanyi wasn't a wave controller, no he was but a fisherman.

A fisherman that could skillfully use a scout's skill with ease and even master and cast an advanced shinsu control skill on him silently with such an impeccable control.

And Liu Guanyi did all of these while he was still a C-ranked regular. No wonder princess Adori took him as his teammate, Theo pondered.

However, such a talented regular should still become well-known in the tower even if he joined the princess's team.

Glancing his eyes to the black-haired young man behind him, Theo thought to himself deeply. 'Who is this fisherman, why there is no mention about him at all? What is his true identity?'