I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 334: 334:Injuries.

Space folded and he appeared several meters to the creature’s side. The sudden spatial displacement made his recovering body protest, but he ignored it.

The burrower couldn’t stop its momentum and slammed into the wall.

Silver moved at that opening. His sword stabbed beneath its foreleg. The blade entered the softer gap Insight had identified.

The creature screamed.

He twisted the sword deeper determined to end it but the burrower spun. Silver couldn’t withdraw fast enough.

Its rear body slammed into him. He was sent flying and his sword tore free. He hit the ground unable to catch himself.

The creature turned, blood pouring from beneath its foreleg.

Silver pushed himself up. His ribs screamed, shoulder bled and leg hurt.

The burrower charged again.

He gripped his sword with both hands as he waited. The creature’s remaining eye focused on him. He stepped sideways but it corrected mid charge.

He moved again but the beast followed. Silver suddenly changed direction again, and the burrower lunged.

He ducked beneath the armored head. Its injured foreleg couldn’t support the turn properly causing the beast to stumble.

Silver saw the opening and drove his sword upward. The blade entered beneath the jaw. The burrower jerked trying to move back but he pushed.

[Primal Strength Lv2 Activated.]

The sword went deeper. The creature thrashed heavily on the sword but Silver held on. A claw scraped across his thigh, pain exploding through his leg.

Silver shouted but didn’t release the weapon. He twisted the blade even harder and deeper. The burrower’s movements became weaker.

He pulled the sword free and the beast collapsed. He stepped back while watching it twitch helplessly on the ground.

He didn’t trust that it wouldn’t suddenly wake up. He looked toward where his handgun had fallen but it was too far. So he raised the sword again.

The burrower’s remaining eye moved as it watched him. He brought the blade down through it and the creature finally stopped.

Silence returned in the tunnel.

He stood there, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from his shoulder, another line ran down his thigh, and his ribs hurt badly enough that every breath was unpleasant.

He stared at the dead creature, then slowly sat down.

”Tier Four.” He laughed once and immediately regretted it. ”Ow. That fucking hurts.”

Silver rested for several minutes before moving again. He eventually retrieved his handgun from the narrower passage.

The weapon was scratched but still functional. He cleaned the dirt from it, then returned to the corpse.

He activated Insight one more time.

[Ironclaw Burrower ~ Deceased.]

[Tier Four Core detected.]

He cut the core out. The moment it entered his hand, his irritation eased slightly.

Tier Four cores were valuable. This was enough that any complaints he had basically disappeared as he playfully threw the core in the air before storing it.

”At least you paid rent.”

Silver retrieved the medical kit for some first aid. His shoulder came first; the claws had cut deeply but hadn’t reached bone.

He cleaned the wound, applied antiseptic, used wound sealant, then wrapped it. His thigh was easier but the injury along his ribs worried him more.

He opened the system assessment.

[New Injuries Detected.]

[Shoulder laceration: Moderate.]

[Thigh laceration: Minor.]

[Rib trauma: Moderate.]

[No new fractures detected.]

[Internal bleeding: None detected.]

Silver released a breath.

”Good, atleast I don’t have any internal bleeding.”

He took another dose of flesh recovery medicine, then ate, drank, and rested. He briefly considered turning back toward the spring.

But going back would mean hours of lost progress and, more importantly, nothing waited for him there except safety and another dead end.

Silver looked upward.

”No.”

He stood. Pain protested but he ignored it.

The climb continued. The next few hours were quieter. He encountered worms twice, and avoided both groups.

He found another nearly vertical section and used the rope. At another point, the queen’s path crossed a narrow ledge above a deep fissure.

Silver anchored the rope before crossing. He wasn’t taking unnecessary risks.

The network module came out again.

[Searching for External Networks...]

Silver watched.

[No External Signal Detected.]

He sighed.

”Still too deep.”

The climb continued. Eventually the tunnel began widening.

Silver noticed the change gradually; the ceiling rose, the walls moved farther apart and the air felt different.

He slowed.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

A large empty space appeared ahead. Silver’s expression changed.

A chamber.

He continued carefully. The queen’s route opened into an enormous cavern.

Silver stepped inside.

His headlamp couldn’t illuminate the entire space so he increased the intensity. Light stretched across the stone.

The cavern was massive.

Unlike the narrow tunnels he’d spent hours climbing through, this chamber had a broad open floor extending far beyond the queen’s trail.

Natural stone pillars rose toward the ceiling, while several passages disappeared into different sections of the cavern.

Silver stared in astonishment.

”Finally.”

The queen’s markings continued. They crossed one side of the chamber and disappeared into another elevated tunnel.

Up again.

That was the route he should follow, Silver knew it, but his attention remained on the cavern floor. This was different from the lower tunnels. It was open, had multiple passages, more space, and potential routes.

He activated Spatial Sense. The cavern extended farther than his comfortable range. Several tunnels branched away, some appeared to climb,one extended almost horizontally, and another curved around somewhere beyond his range.

His eyes narrowed.

The queen’s route had already cost him hours, and nearly his life. Maybe this chamber offered another option.

Silver looked toward the elevated tunnel carrying the queen’s trail, then toward the open cavern floor.

He hesitated.

Following the queen remained the safest route in terms of navigation, but not necessarily in terms of survival. The open floor might connect to something better.

Silver checked his handgun, then his sword. He looked across the cavern.

”I’ll take a look.”

He wasn’t committing, not yet. He would explore far enough to determine whether any of the lower passages were useful. If they weren’t, he could return and continue following the queen.

He placed a luminescent marker beside the queen’s route so he wouldn’t lose it, then he stepped onto the open cavern floor.

After hours squeezed between stone walls, having so much space around him felt almost unnatural.

Silver moved carefully since his body hurt like hell. He passed the first stone pillar, then another.

The cavern stretched ahead.

Silver’s headlamp swept across the ground. Something thin reflected the light.

He stopped.

A single pale strand stretched between two rocks. He frowned and moved closer. His eyes focused on it.

It was a thread but upon closer notice, he discovered that it was a Web.

He slowly raised his head. Another strand hung from the ceiling, then another. He looked farther into the cavern and found more.

A tiny shape moved across the wall with eight legs. Silver stared at it.

The small spider disappeared into a crack. His skin immediately prickled. He looked toward the darker portion of the cavern.

For some reason, fighting a Tier Four burrower suddenly seemed considerably less unpleasant than discovering exactly what lived down here.

He tightened his grip around the handgun and continued forward, considerably slower than before.