An unnatural screech of pain came from beneath.
Mei reflexively reached to cover her ears, only to realise she was wearing a helmet.
And the same time, the very earth began to tremble, a loud rumbling enveloping the caverns. Dust and rocks began to fall from the ceiling.
"What was that? There's a monster below causing the earthquake?" Wang Wei said anxiously.
"Actually, I think it's probably just Yingyi's Spellarm." Liu Qiang looked at the gash in the ceiling. "Why didn't they warn us how powerful these were?"
Yingyi stared at the drains below, paling a little. What was he going to do when the elder spirits asked where the Spellarm was?
His thoughts were interrupted by a horrific metallic bang, loud enough to drown out the rumbling of the chamber.
Mei stared in horror as she saw the gigantic metal grate shoot into the air. She couldn't process what it was doing so high up, dozens of metres above her.
Seeing the massive metal grid descend upon them, she had a realisation. Was this what flies saw before they were mercilessly crushed by a swatter?
Another brief thought ran across her mind, of trying to slash at the grate as it fell. But her arm didn't listen.
Ah. It was all over now.
In the next moment, the grate slammed into the ground with a metallic screech that shook the very caverns. Massive chunks of cavern rock began to fall from the ceiling, big enough to crush any unfortunate passerby. Several giant ants fell from above too, flailing helplessly.
Mei felt a massive force slam into her, followed by her vision going dark. The shock continued to reverb through her very being, and all she could see was darkness.
What... what just happened?
After taking a moment to figure out which way was up, she realised she was covered by piles of rock. She struggled for a moment to climb out, and was greeted by damaged metal bars above.
Huh?
Oh. She had really been swatted. She patted her armour. How crazy strong was this thing?
Pushing her thoughts aside, she slashed at the bars with her sword, bisecting them with a metallic clang. She grabbed onto one of the intact bars and climbed out.
She turned to stare at the now open drain, finally seeing the culprit. Hundreds of grey watery tendrils had reached out of the pit, flailing wildly. Each was at least 30 metres long, and as bulky as tree trunks.
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What the hell was that? She took a step back, her heart stuttering.
At the side, she heard the sound of cut metal and a thud. Wang Wei had climbed out as well, still clutching the compass.
Oh, she was the first to climb out? A brief moment of smugness overrode her terror for a moment.
"That monster... the compass says the plague spirit is inside!" he stammered.
"We're supposed to fight that?" Mei yelped.
A tendril swung over, crashing into Wang Wei and barely missing her. She turned and watched as he shot off like an arrow, slamming into the distant cavern walls and reducing them into a hail of rock and dust.
BOOM!
Her heart began to race. No way in hell!
She quickly took out her teleportation token. A moment later, Mei was gone in a flash of light, just as another tentacle slammed into where she stood.
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Slowly, Xiuying unearthed herself.
The translucent behemoth before her gave a sense of dread like no other. In the distance, Wang Wei dislodged himself from the wall, stumbling around for a bit before regaining his balance.
With every movement the monstrosity made, rocks and metal crumpled like paper. Her instinct screamed that a mere touch would be certain death.
Her hands trembled. Her knees felt weak. Beads of sweat trickled down her face, coating the inside of her armour.
This was not the time to be cowardly. Hadn't the previous strike proved the armour could protect her?
A few thoughts of her whispered that it was not certain. Perhaps the armour had a limit. Perhaps a hard hit to the head could snap her neck.
Xiuying pushed those thoughts aside. She was reminded of the Sect Master's words from a lecture. Cultivation was not merely to gather qi, but also to cultivate one's mindset, to overcome personal shortcomings. With the right mindset, even a person with mediocre talent could surpass a cultivation genius.
Was this not the chance for her to overcome-
BANG!
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by a tendril slamming into her and sending her flying into another section of cavern wall.
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"This... what is going on?"
Mace felt a strong sense of anxiety as the very earth shook, loud thuds sounding from above as cavern rock struck the roof. There had been occasional tremors in the past, but it had never experienced a quake of this magnitude in its life!
"Pardon us, but we must investigate!" Shi Xin said.
"Wait!" Mace shouted, but they were gone in an instant.
Did it imagine that, or was there a little glee in Shi Xin's voice?
....
"That was quite the insane and irresponsible plan, giving the disciples those Spellarms." Tu Teng said. "Not only did you put the disciples into danger, but by causing the quake, you have also endangered many lives... that of the ants and mushrooms."
"Hey now. It wasn't my decision to use the Spellarm. I even told them not to." Shi Xin said. "And those armour sets can endure attacks from even a Dao Seeking cultivator!"
"You know what I mean. You planned for the disciples to use them."
"My friend. If you had any objections, you should have voiced them earlier, while I was pitching the plan."
Tu Teng went silent.
"Now, now!" Dian Ying said. "Tu Teng, I understand your concerns. But considering the severity of the situation, we must take urgent action, even if small sacrifices must be made. Were you not the one first realised?"
Indeed.
Tu Teng's seal on the spirit was a unique one, one that would allow it to sense the surroundings of whatever he had placed it on. After the plague spirit fled, the elder spirit sensed it had run into a massive drain at the end of the river. Far beneath, a mass of bacteria flooded the entirety of a groundwater deposit, accumulated over countless years.
Were it allowed to escape to the surface, there was no doubt countless lives would be lost.