“What?”
“If that's the case, then what about the forks in the tunnel?”
“It’s hard to say, but I have two hypotheses.”
Li Wufeng shook his head.
“Hypotheses?”
“Splitting or giving birth. After all, whether they are ordinary animals or monsters, reproduction is an unavoidable topic for any living being.”
Hearing Li Wufeng say this, Li Huai suddenly understood.
“Then should we go check out the forks first?”
“Sure. Better safe than sorry.”
Li Wufeng nodded.
He roughly understood what Li Huai wanted to look for at the forks.
The group quickly retreated, arriving at the nearest fork in just three minutes.
Li Huai took the magic lantern from Kam’s hand and floated up as if treading on the wind.
Since Li Huai had made his entrance this way before, the others weren't particularly surprised.
“It’s about one meter.”
After measuring the distance between his legs and Li Wufeng's shoulders, Li Huai reached a conclusion.
He then moved to the other side of the fork and measured again.
He found that the opening on this side was about one point seven meters.
After checking another opening further back, he found it was also about one meter.
The two finally reached a conclusion: Li Wufeng’s previous guess was highly likely to be correct.
The monster they had just seen had probably split off from a much larger body.
After all, the original entrance to the cave was only a bit over two meters wide.
“Lisara, sense the area and see if there are any monsters in this direction.”
After thinking for a moment, Li Wufeng gestured to Lisara.
Lisara nodded. After closing her eyes to check, she discovered that there was indeed another 'mountain hedgehog' present.
With this hypothesis and Lisara's confirmation as a foundation, the group returned to the back of the first monster.
This time, their goal was to take down this hedgehog.
“So, how do we fight it?”
Li Huai certainly had more of a say in this matter, so Li Wufeng simply left the planning to him.
“I'll start with some probing attacks. If things go south, we retreat immediately.”
Li Huai didn't have much else to say. It was time to get to work.
After all, his talent was built for this.
“Alright.”
Li Wufeng didn't say anything more. He looked at Kam, who understood the signal and unslung his hiking pack. He pulled out several rectangular E-grade shields and distributed them to the group to hold in front of them.
“You came well-prepared.”
Li Huai was a bit surprised to see the shields.
“Shang Chuan made us bring them. He said your combat power would be fine, so we just needed to focus on protecting ourselves.”
Li Wufeng didn't hide anything. They were in a partnership, after all.
Shang Chuan had likely mentioned this to Li Huai already.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so blatant about telling them to focus on their own safety.
In fact, it was exactly as Li Wufeng suspected.
Upon hearing this, Li Huai didn't say much, only giving a faint nod.
“Then I'm going in.”
With that, Li Huai took a step forward.
Li Wufeng led the others back a dozen meters, forming a defensive formation.
Once he saw that Li Wufeng and the others had finished their defensive preparations, Li Huai raised his hand.
Boom!
An invisible but powerful blast of wind shot directly from his hand, slamming hard into the mountain hedgehog.
The mountain hedgehog's fur immediately bristled as it had before.
Having seen this already, Li Huai didn't pay it much mind. He continued to gather wind elements for his next attack.
However, at that moment, a sudden change occurred.
The quills on the mountain hedgehog’s body began to tremble.
With a sudden whoosh, over a dozen quills shot out from the creature's body, flying straight toward Li Huai.
“Eh!”
“Holy crap!”
This sudden turn of events left not only Li Huai stunned, but also the others hiding behind him.
It hadn't used this move before. Why was it suddenly attacking now? Was it because it had been provoked?
“Defend! Prepare for rescue!”
Despite his shock, Li Wufeng, as the leader, reacted instantly.
The others immediately pulled out potions, ready to rush forward and treat Li Huai if he fell.
After his initial shock, Li Huai pushed his mana to the limit, forming a visible wind wall in front of him.
Thud, thud—thump—
The quills slammed into the wind wall. Those at poor angles were immediately blown away toward the ceiling.
However, some with better angles successfully pierced through Li Huai’s wind wall and impaled him directly.
Two quills even struck Li Wufeng’s group’s shields, penetrating ten centimeters deep before stopping. The sight left the people behind the shields breaking out in a cold sweat.
But now was not the time for fear.
Seeing the quills stop, Li Wufeng rushed out immediately.
“Save him!”
...
Li Huai was carried out on Zhao Dulay’s back.
After applying medicine to him immediately, the group fled in a panic.
There was no other choice.
If even someone with an S-grade talent like Li Huai was in this state, what could a few nobodies like them do? They would just be feeding themselves to the monster.
Once they reached a fork in the tunnel, Li Wufeng finally had Zhao Dulay set Li Huai down.
“How are you feeling?”
Li Wufeng looked at Li Huai with concern.
“Not great,” Li Huai said with a pained smile.
His face was pale due to the two puncture wounds. He never expected his defense to be breached so easily.
This had never happened before.
He supposed things had been going too smoothly lately, and he’d gotten cocky.
“It’s fine. This was a scouting mission anyway. It’s not like we didn't gain anything.”
Seeing that Li Huai could still smile, Li Wufeng knew he wasn't in mortal danger.
He handed a healing potion to Li Huai and sat down. He picked up a shield and began to study the quill stuck in it.
“Are we heading back now?” Lisara asked timidly.
“No... wait, let me think.”
As the leader of this operation, Li Wufeng had a duty to bring back useful information. Otherwise, neither Shang Chuan’s nor Lan Qingyou’s investment would be justified.
This was especially true since Shang Chuan had promised them a ten percent share of the profits.
Although he said they had gained something, it was mostly to stabilize the group's morale.
This quill was extremely hard.
In Li Wufeng's estimation, it might even be harder than the E-grade equipment they carried.
But a single monster quill, no matter how hard, wasn't enough to call the mission a success.
Although Li Wufeng hadn't graduated from university yet, he had been a liberal arts student—one who had even audited political science classes. He knew clearly that their mission completion rate would directly affect their image in the eyes of their patrons.
After all, while they were essentially wage earners for Shang Chuan, in reality, it was just a partnership.
And Shang Chuan had many other gathering squads. They weren't irreplaceable.
Rate on N.U.
