High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1159: Chapter 221 Worms

”There are no zombies, and no vampires.”

The Black Cat coughed dryly and whispered in explanation, ”It was just some corpse-eating beetles... They just sprang from those dead rabbits and gave me quite a fright...”

His voice grew softer and softer until it was barely audible beneath the incredulous stares of the two witches.

If it weren’t for his dark fur concealing any blushes, he would have bet his cheeks had turned the color of ripe crabs.

At this moment, the corpse-eating beetles that had been startled from the rabbit carcasses had already quietly returned to their feast, continuing to gnaw on the bodies without making a sound. Only occasionally would a part of the rabbits twitch slightly, whispering tales of their post-mortem woes.

Annoyed and embarrassed, the Black Cat blindly rummaged through the rabbit corpses, searching for those feeding beetles, killing each one he found without mercy or hesitation.

Thinking that he had planned to roast and eat rabbit earlier, the Black Cat felt his stomach churn. Setting aside whether the roast would taste good, the mere possibility of swallowing a belly full of beetle eggs and getting sick was quite terrible.

”You’re actually scared of bugs?!” Elena’s tone was full of sarcasm.

With his back to the witches, the Black Cat stiffened his neck and retorted, ”That’s... that’s just being cautious... a cautious stress response. Do you see me scared now? Am I?”

With that, he hooked out a beetle from inside a rabbit’s ear with his claw and flattened it with a slap. The sound of the beetle’s crushing carapace accompanied by the splatter of its pale-yellow bodily fluids created a strangely satisfying sensation.

”I’m not scared at all,” the Black Cat said, suppressing the urge to wipe his paw, and then added, ”Of course, if you’d help, we’d get this cleaned up much quicker.”

The Gypsy witches gave him a speechless glance and stepped back a few paces to avoid getting splashed by the beetle juice.

”Just a few bugs, can’t you handle them yourself? You are a cat, after all.”

Korma had already returned to the makeshift desk and was rapidly calculating on the parchment with her feather pen. Hearing the complaint, she said irritably, ”Bugs, bugs... that word sounds so plump and juicy, like it’s cat food.”

”They’re corpse-eating beetles,” muttered the Black Cat, smashing another bug into a pulp with disgust, ”That word doesn’t sound appetizing at all.”

”And they’re poisonous.” Elena returned behind the Black Cat, dropped a glass bottle, and quickly retreated again.

The Black Cat turned to look.

”What’s this?” He looked at the somewhat viscous pale yellow liquid inside the wide mouth bottle, catching a whiff of a pungent odor.

”Kerosene,” the Gypsy witch explained simply, ”The beetles from the Silent Forest are highly toxic, and contact with them can lead to skin necrosis and other symptoms. Washing with kerosene can disinfect to some extent and alleviate symptoms. Of course, the best solution would be sunlight, but...”

She looked up uncertainly at the pale sun and the moon side by side in the sky, ”The thing is, it’s unclear whether the sun here still has any disinfecting properties.”

The Black Cat didn’t catch what she said next.

As soon as he heard the bugs were toxic, he lifted his paw and examined the pad that had been squashing beetles, pondering. He vaguely remembered someone mentioning this. Despite having smashed beetles all this while, his paw remained perfectly healthy without any itching, necrosis, or mutations.

Still, just to be safe, he soaked his paws in the kerosene as a precaution.

Apart from making his paws sticky, there didn’t seem to be any other effect.

”Shhhh...”

An unusual rustling noise reached the Black Cat’s ears, making them twitch. He looked around; the sound was not from Elena walking or Korma writing—it was more like rain or the sound of a group of silkworms munching on mulberry leaves.

Looking up, the sun and the moon were both shining clearly in the sky—there were no clouds, let alone rain.

”Do you hear that?” it cocked its head, its tone somewhat serious. Its intuition told itself something was happening.

The two witches’ work was interrupted once more.

”What?” Elena had just finished cutting the cards in her hand, her gaze somewhat confused.

”Nothing,” Korma answered less politely, not even lifting her head as she huffed, ”I’m not a cat, how could I possibly hear noises that even a cat can’t make out?”

That statement seemed logically sound.

The Black Cat furrowed its brows, dropped the pile of dead rabbits in front of it, leaped to the edge of the camp, and peered out through a bush. The lush forest was peaceful, not even a rabbit in sight. But the rustling sound was becoming clearer.

Without looking back, the Black Cat simply raised its voice and called out, ”Stay alert, you two, I’m going to check it out.”

With that, it darted straight into the depths of the woods and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The two witches looked at each other.

”He just ran off like that?” Korma gripped her feather pen, her expression somewhat shocked: ”Didn’t we agree that all actions would be commanded? In such a strange place, isn’t he afraid of being caught by a monster and skinned?!”

”I reckon, getting a cat to sit still and curb its curiosity is a very difficult task,” the Gypsy Witch reasoned thoughtfully, ”After all, it’s not a dog; it doesn’t have the tradition of guarding and protecting a home.”

”The bugs on him haven’t been cleaned off yet!” Korma emphasized.

Elena sighed and put away the Tarot Cards in her hands.

”Fortunately, we’ve already calculated most of the data.” She stretched lazily and stood up again, ”I’ll handle the remaining bugs, I think I might be able to clean them up faster with magic. And I can also change the Talismans around the campsite...”

Before she finished speaking, the bush nearby suddenly made a ’whoosh’ sound.

The Black Cat that claimed to go check things out half a minute ago bolted back to camp in a panic, as if its tail was on fire.

As it ran, it howled:

”Bugs, lots of bugs!”

”The bugs are chasing us!”

”Run!!”

”There’s no end in sight!”

Accompanied by its clumsy howling, the ’rustle’ around the camp seemed to become much clearer instantly, turning into a ’whoosh’.

The witches’ faces turned pale.

Swarms of bugs surged over, and the image of them tearing, biting, and tumbling clearly formed in everyone’s minds.

”Don’t panic! Our camp’s Barrier should block similar attacks.” Korma scrambled to pack up the documents and instruments on the table while instructing, ”No Face, reinforce the Barrier! Black Cat, stay alert! I’m going to open the door!”

By opening the door, she meant to establish contact between this Secret Realm’s miniature world and the outside World. This required the corresponding Spell, rituals, and several minutes of preparation time.

Fortunately, the exploration team’s camp was set up around the exit, which greatly simplified their evacuation.