The ants who were just minding their own business were immediately squashed and killed by us who ambushed them all and since our levels are a lot higher than theirs, it was just quick to work for me and my companions.
"Hmm, the bloody mess works but not enough to satiate my cravings I guess," Cath Palug licks his front paws while judging at our kill.
"Master, should I pick up the loot as well?" Lina asked.
"No need. Just harvest the bodies for materials and leave the rest here. Their drops are close to worthless. We have lots of them inside our storage already."
"Understood."
Lina immediately started working and Gobu also helped as well, making short work on gutting and removing the materials. As for me, I am inspecting the corpse that they are eating. It was clear that they are not eating their comrade but it does look like an ant as well because it was mangled beyond comprehension. The only thing that I can tell it was from an ant is because of its thorax. Compared to the ants that we killed which have a white color in their body, the one they ate is color yellow-green which is something I have not seen from an ant, but as I said, I don't know if my assumption is accurate.
We continue on our way to the place. Soon enough we arrived in an area surrounded by rock walls, and the only way to progress here is the entrance to a cave. This cave is where the main expedition will go and most enemies are going to be present, and of course, the treasures that are coveted by players who discover them first. Also, it seems we are near the sea as the smell of the ocean is pretty strong and we can hear the waves of the sea crashing on the rocks.
Anyways, we are now going to proceed here and join the fray of the majority of chaos happening here.
"Damn, what is this place? It's crawling with lots of sh*ts and stuff going on. Pretty violent I must say and I am liking it," Cath Palug grins as he looks like he is looking forward to it.
"Master. Looks like this is the perfect place for us to power-level Cotton. If what Cath Palug said is true, that means we can just go in and have some kills against these monsters and deal with them, right?" Lina tilted her head as she pat the head of Cotton.
"Yeah, this place should be it. We should explore it and start sweeping this place. With a lot of monsters to kill, we will also be able to satiate this cursed cat on my head and whatever cravings he was having as well, right?"
"I also smell treasures as well, Master," Gobu grinned. Even though he is a different goblin, whenever it comes to treasures, they still have the same senses to sniff at them.
"Ah yes, human greed of getting all the treasures, very natural. But I don't care about that much. Now, what are you waiting for? Monsters don't die on their own, they die when they are killed. Now go in and let me see some carnage."
As much as I am pissed with Cath Palug, I don't think I have to really care about him at this point. As long as he does not do anything to f*ck me up, then it's fine.
So, without waiting too much, we entered the cave.
[You have discovered the Hidden Cave of Abnormalities]
-you are the first person to discover this place! Would you like to announce this achievement to the Hall of Fame?
Of course, I clicked no. There's no need for players to know that I am already raiding this place all for myself.
...
...
The cave is massive and it splits off in many tunnels, making it hard to determine which place is which and which areas you want to go in first but since I am the only one who is here, I should take my time and explore every nook and cranny of this place.
Of course, the monsters are also present as well. They are not going to disappear after all.
[Metal Back Centipede]
Level 210
HP: 430,000/430,000
Type: Insect Poison, Metal
"Gobu!"
"Leave it to me, Master!"
The goblin held his magic sword tight and ignites it in flame and charged forward to the centipede who also attack in return. It made a shrill cry and we already know it is going to call reinforcements.
"Tina, get ready to back up Gobu if he is in trouble or if reinforcements are coming!"
"Yes!" Tina did not bother to unleash her true form and just started controlling the wind by gathering swirls on her palms, waiting for a new monster to appear.
And just like what I expected, three more came in.
"Support me in the backline, Tina! Let me deal with it!"
It's been a while since I fought monsters. It was like a few weeks without any monsters I fought with and now, I am back again.
As soon as the monsters appear, the shadow dragon is showing its hunger.
"Heh, it looks like you have been waiting for a new meal huh? Then, devour them, once I defeated them all!"
I rush forward and imbued the Versatile Weapon with the electricity element. Tina supported me from behind by immediately sending the other centipede flying, allowing me to safely come close to the first and second centipedes that just appeared.
Once I got very close, I strike down my sword to one of the shells and sends electric voltage to it, paralyzing it as a result. Once it got paralyzed, I immediately raise the Versatile Weapon, point the tip of the blade to the head of the centipede that got paralyzed, and smashed it open, killing it instantly.
The second centipede didn't like it when I killed it so it attacked, only for it to be gripped by my Gauntlet Versatile Weapon form that transformed from the blade and tightly grips the centipede's body before I started smashing it to the ground repeatedly without halting until I realized the centipede has been squashed to pieces. As for the third, Tina already took care of it by slicing it to pieces with her wind. Gobu was already a few moments ago and is just waiting for us to finish killing the rest of the monsters.
Since the Versatile Weapon's shadow dragon is hungry, I just let the monster eat them all like it was nothing. Sadly, this kind of devouring does not give any bonuses at all which is sad since it is eating materials and yet there are no stat bonuses were gained.
"This little bugger might not be much but the hunger he has actually terrifies me..." Cath Palug casually commented as the Shadow Dragon chomps off the scattered body parts of the centipedes.
"Wow, I didn't know you would feel fear, aren't you a mighty beast capable of unleashing destruction?" I frowned.
"Even world-ending entities like me do get afraid of something. Besides, I also think your weapon is something on a scale of world-ender as well if not handled properly. Soon, its hunger might no longer be capable of being handled anymore and you might suffer the consequences instead."
"I agree with Cath Palug as well, Master. Something like this weapon being able to change its form and devour anything you shove in its mouth whether it is living or non-living things is honestly horrifying. With its hunger alone, do you think it will ever get full? And once it gets hungry again, how much will it eat to satisfy its hunger? I think Cath Palug's fear seems justified," Lina on the back said her sentiments to my Versatile Weapon.
Cath Palug's words got me thinking indeed plus the words of Lina just made it solid as well. However, even though it always is hungry and it devours things, it never devours things that much aside from eating them on my command. This can be considered a world-ender item especially if its hunger cannot be contained anymore. And if even the world-ender Cath Palug said that he is a little bit fearful of my weapon, perhaps it was real.
One thing is for sure though, this item is something that Nobuhiko gave to me when I was returning to the past. I don't know why he gave me this but perhaps there is indeed a deeper explanation why. Still, I don't think I can answer that question myself and if I do, perhaps in the future.
Still, I will just continue to use it, and whatever happens in the future, then I will handle it myself just fine.
"Let's go. We still need to plunder this place and gather all the treasures."
Even if that day comes, it would be fine, after all, this is just a game.
Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢