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Chapter 154. Mantises

It didn\'t take long before the hissing sound ceased.

While they had narrowly escaped the immediate threat of plummeting to their deaths, Charles knew the crisis was far from over.

Clutching the ropes anchoring the vessel to the air balloon, he perched on the ship\'s edge and daringly leaned out to survey the surroundings. The blinding light pollution painted everything around him in a stark, bleached white. He couldn\'t even pinpoint where their earlier assailant had struck from.

"Damn it. What in the hell was that?" Every muscle in Charles\' body tensed up in preparation for the impending battle.

Suddenly, a dark shadow fleeted overhead. Before Charles could even react, the bloodied half-corpse of a disciple plummeted past him and continued its grim descent toward the ground.

By the time Charles had scaled the rope and climbed atop the balloon, the enemy had vanished, and only four disciples remained.

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Charles cast a questioning glance at the remaining disciples, "Did any of you catch a clear look of that thing?"

"It\'s huge... like an insect."

Before Charles could pose another question, the Sky Battler lurched violently. The creature had moved downward.

Charles gracefully leaped off the balloon.

As gears whirled, a grappling hook shot out from his prosthetic limb and secured itself into the ship\'s deck. Using the chain\'s momentum, he swung beneath the airship. There, he finally came face to face with their monstrous assailant, which was hanging upside down from the hull\'s underbelly.

The mammoth creature measured six meters in length, and it bore a striking resemblance to a mantis. Sharp barbs covered its body, and its swollen abdomen and scythe-like forelimbs mimicked that of a mantis. However, instead of a head, a peculiar bud-like structure took its place.

Despite seemingly having no eyes, the creature could sense Charles\' presence. Reacting at an alarming speed, it charged at Charles.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out incessantly, and purplish blood spurted out of the round wounds on its body. However, the creature seemed undeterred and continued moving.

Suddenly, its bud-like head unfurled to reveal not a mouthpart but a shapeless mass of grayish-white, slimy pustules.

The chain swiftly retracted, and Charles vaulted upward, narrowly avoiding the creature\'s pustules.

Clank!

The creature\'s razor-sharp forelimb descended with a downward slash. It effortlessly sliced through the chain connected to the deck and then continued its trajectory toward Charles.

Everything happened so fast that before Charles could even blink, the gleaming scythe was already alarmingly close to his face.

At the critical moment, Charles moved his right finger slightly to trigger the Tentacle Ring. A translucent tentacle shot out and reached for the blade.

Hearing a phantom snap in his head, Charles could also feel the same phantom pain of a severed finger from his hand.

The invisible tentacle was cut down quite easily, but its brief resistance offered Charles a split second to reposition himself, and the blade only managed to take away a small lock of hair from Charles\' fringe.

As soon as its attack ended, Charles launched a counterattack. He clutched the blunt side of the scythe and swung it downward with his weight. Just when the blade neared the creature\'s bulging abdomen, Charles pushed off against the scythe and propelled himself toward the monster\'s belly.

He slammed his left palm on the insect shell, and the sharp spines immediately pierced his hand, anchoring him in place. Using this agonizing grip as leverage, Charles swiftly whipped out the Lightning Rod with his right hand and thrust it toward the creature\'s underbelly.

Bzzzttttt!

The tip sparked, and electric arcs danced over the monstrosity. Charles wasn\'t spared either, as wisps of white smoke emitted from both him and the creature.

Overwhelmed by the immense electrical attack, the creature succumbed to its injuries. The insectile legs released their grip on the ship, and both the creature and Charles tumbled toward the inky dark sea below.

Of course, Charles had no intention of perishing alongside the monstrous insect. The creature was fighting alone, but Charles had allies.

The disciples on the Sky Battler descended rapidly. They caught Charles in mid-air and soared back toward the airship.

Upon returning to the deck, the lingering aftermath of the earlier battle engulfed him. He recognized what a close call it had been, and a single wrong move would have him cleaved into two halves.

"Well, it didn\'t end too badly. No matter where that thing came from, at least it has been taken care of," Charles mused as he staggered to his feet and looked around at the group.

To his left, a male disciple fared much worse than him. His left leg was bubbling grotesquely and rapidly decaying while violent spasms coursed through his body.

Charles surmised that the man had probably come in contact with the monster\'s strange appendage.

Watching the decay spread to the man\'s chest, Charles turned to the disciple attending to the injured and whispered, "Don\'t prolong his suffering. Shall you do it, or shall I?"

As the disciple turned his head away from the injured, Charles aimed his revolver at the injured man\'s head and ended his agony.

He then took a quick headcount and realized that their group had also suffered a significant loss in the battle. Three disciples had perished, and two were incapacitated.

"I hope the path ahead will be smoother, or we won\'t have enough lives to sacrifice."

The disciples soon gathered their emotions and rapidly attended to their fallen comrades. The Sky Battler then continued its ascent into the rift.

The moment they entered the crevice, the luminance overhead radiated with a stronger intensity.

Under the bright illumination, Charles noticed that the surrounding rock walls weren\'t smooth. They were dotted with craters and crevices intermingled with some underground constructions and tunnels. The design reminded Charles of modern-day underground car parks and train tunnels.

After observing for a short while, Charles decided not to look anymore and shut his eyes. The overwhelming brightness stung. Even with his eyelids closed, a searing red obscured his vision.

As Charles gently massaged his eyes to alleviate the discomfort, a voice sounded out nearby.

"Priest, what is that?"

Charles\' eyes snapped open upon hearing the question and turned toward where the voice indicated.

A massive white flower, spanning more than thirty meters, was adhered to the wall. Its luminescence throbbed rhythmically, alternating between dim and bright.

The priest shook his head, "I\'m not too sure. Perhaps in the Land of Light, all flowers look like this."

As the airship continued its ascent, the walls surrounding them spotted more and more giant flowers.

"Are my eyes seeing things? Why does it seem like those things are moving?"

Charles shook his head. "No, those things are moving."

Scrutinizing the flowers that flickered, Charles was struck with a strange sense of déjà vu. He found them so familiar and felt like he had encountered them before.

As he sifted through the memories of his past adventures, his pupils suddenly shrank sharply upon realization. He recalled this rhythmic twinkling.

These were not flowers! There were living creatures! They were the stars living on the underside of the rocky terrain overhead!

At the same time, the vast petals around them were swiftly enveloped by cyan, spiky insect shells. The monstrous creature rapidly turned around to reveal their previously hidden menacing scythe-like forelimbs and peculiar bud-like heads.

Just as Charles braced himself for the incoming assault, the mantises fluttered their transparent wings in unison. The various rhythms of their wingbeats intermingled and melded into a chilling message in the language of the Subterranean Seascape.

"Surface dwellers, leave! Your presence above will only bring calamity!"