I Love Destroying Worlds' Plot

Chapter 1213: 18.51 First Grey Star - Is that a crab or a spider?

Death Forest, Middle Region

The trees and grasses danced in the wind and breeze, and the sunlight nourished their growth. In this peaceful forest, four men fled from a pack of large crab spiders, which were pursuing them. This particular Legend-grade ingredient, which is ranked third class, was a gigantic spider, twice the size of an adult human, with six spider legs and two crab-like pincers up front.

It lived in a wet cave and was rarely disturbed. Its habitat was in the middle section of the Death Forest.

This group of young men was taking a break in a cave when it suddenly started to rain. They unintentionally entered the habitat of crab spiders, which are both crabs and spiders. They live in caves, and, while they pretend to be stones when they sleep, people detest waking them up.

Simply put, they wanted to utilize the enormous rock that resembled a bowl to dry their clothing over the fire, and who would have guessed that it was actually a sleeping baby crab spider that Lu Ming had nearly burned alive?

What happened a few hours ago?

Mo Yuhan discovered the group inside a cave; they were all squeezing the water that had saturated their clothes. Ji Yoonjun had started a small bonfire to keep them warm, but the noise from the intense downpour outside caused the temperature to drop right away.

”Achoo! This forest is truly ridiculous. When we thought it was too hot, it would suddenly rain like it was the end of the world,” Lu Ming complains.

Mo Yuhan was also sniffing as he also felt the sudden drop in temperature. As for Su Jin, he was already shaking in the cold and looked so pitiful.

Ji Yoonjun said, ”Xiao Jin, change your clothes to something dry. Youʼll catch a cold this way. Let Lu Ming dry your clothes.”

”I-I-I f-fine...” Even Su Jinʼs voice was shaking as he spoke.

Lu Ming, seeing how pitiful his lover was, created a few fire wisps and surrounded the group, making sure to use his qi to suppress the fireʼs burning effect and let it float around the four of them. Su Jin, feeling a little warm from the fire wisps, changed his clothes, despite Ji Yoonjun and Lu Mingʼs constant prodding, and they all changed after Su Jin, gave all of their wet clothes to Lu Ming.

Mo Yuhan said, ”Hey! Donʼt forget to dry my clothes too!”

”Shut up or burn it to charcoal!” Lu Ming said. He threw some fireballs toward Mo Yuhan, which the latter blocked with ice.

A loud shriek echoes through the entire cave, startling the group. Su Jin, who looked closely at the rock, realized what they had done. Lu Ming heated the stone and allowed the clothes to be heated over it until they got tired. Who would have thought that in the next moment?

KRIIEEEK!!!

”What the hell... is that stone alive!?” Mo Yuhan cussed out.

Fortunately, Lu Ming placed all of his drenched garments in his space ring and watched this scenario; Ji Yoonjun, who felt about a hundred presences attracted by that scene, turned watchful. Everyone was astonished, but they yelled till they saw legs emerging out of the stone.

Ji Yoonjun said, ”Something is coming. Go out of the cave. The rain has stopped!”

Running out of the cave, the four of them observed big, crab-like spiders emerging from its depths; some of it surrounding the stone that Lu Ming had nearly burned, and the spider gave a few gentle pokes to reveal a trembling baby crab spider.

Lu Ming mumbles, ”So that thing is alive.”

”Run! Crab spiders might be nocturnal, but they would be extremely in a bad mood when awakened in the morning. Moreover, we hurt a baby crab spider. Their whole herd will...”

Before Su Jin could finish speaking, the entire group saw that nearly a hundred crab spiders had emerged from the cave. Nobody could have predicted that so many would emerge from a cave this small, but what they did not realize is that the caveʼs depths are like tunnels leading to the subterranean.

Although crab spiders are still classified as spiders, they share traits with crabs, such as their ability to sleep under stones or the earth.

Lu Ming carried Su Jin in his arms and shouted, ”RUN!”

Ji Yoonjun would sometimes pull an elemental arrow in a hurry, and a hundred arrows would fall from the sky. The three of them run while being chased by hundreds of crab spiders. Crab spiders have a hard exoskeleton, especially the bones on their back, which look like the crab.

Since they move slower when climbing than real spiders, they are the best at crawling, and they do not have silk webs to capture their prey. Ji Yoonjun had to target one point with three arrows for it to pass through, which meant he could only hit twenty to thirty crab spiders with each arrow.

In addition, Mo Yuhan froze the ground, causing those crabs to slip, but their numbers were too great; when the ground was coated in ice, these crab spiders began to jump. Drawing an arrow while sprinting consumes too much energy, and he still needs to gather qi to replenish what he has spent.

Mo Yuhan complained, ”Fuck! Is that even allowed!? Arenʼt those things on your back heavy!?”

Su Jin, who was being carried, had it simple: he would stretch out his hand to store the dead crab spider as they passed by, and Lu Ming would also toss in some wind blades to prevent melting the ice Mo Yuhan produced among the three.

Mo Yuhan said, ”Go to a water source. As long as there is water, I can freeze them all!”

”This way, I hear water flowing in this direction,” Ji Yoonjun said.

Lu Ming said, ”You can hear even that!”

”You should learn to. The water source would mean a way home in some places,” Ji Yoonjun said.

Following Ji Yoonjunʼs direction, their group sprinted till they finally heard the sound of water flowing; they had been running for so long that exhaustion was on the verge of them.

Su Jin said, ”Weʼre close. There must be a river nearby!”

When they arrived at the shore, they looked up at the people around the river and exchanged looks. There were two human cubs playing in the water, with an inflatable swimming ring around their waist. There was a large dog at the river that resembled a wet rag bathing. There was a huge black dragon playing at the waterfall that fell backward; and there were two human adults cooking by the river.

Lu Ming recognized everyone at first sight and saw his elder brother among the group.

”Big brother, save us!” Lu Ming shamelessly shouted as they ran in their direction.

”What the hell are you guys doing?!”

Lu Shang frowned and was ready to chastise his foolish brother when he noticed what was coming after them. Leica hurried to the front of the river to protect Ye Jingxia and Anxia, who were swimming in it.

Leica said, ”These are Crab Spiders, a 3rd-class, legendary-grade ingredient. But arenʼt these things nocturnal?”

”So are these crabs or spiders? Can they be put in a hotpot or not?” Lu Shang asked in confusion. The Lord gave them an errand to catch anything that could be put in a hotpot. If it is such a huge crab, then itʼs worth it.

Su Jin, who knew more about ingredients, shouted, ”Big brother, those taste more delicious than gemstone crabs!!!”

”A crab of this size, 10 is enough. The rest... Scram!” Lu Shang said as a powerful draft of wind appeared in the middle of the crab spider herd and pushed the rest of it away from the river. As for the ten crab spiders left, Lu Ming and the rest hunted them.

Leica commanded, ”Turn them over and freeze its legs.”

Ten crab spiders were eventually turned over like an unturnable bowl, wriggling ceaselessly, thanks to the assistance of Lu Ming and Ji Yoonjun, who kicked them and forced them to turn over while Mo Yuhan concentrated on turning their limbs into ice. The two cubs, whose glowing eyes watched all this happen, clapped their hands amusedly.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Ye Jingxia said, ”Big Brothers! Youʼre amazing!”

”Kyaha~ Good. Good.”

The two children did not know much about hunting or how clumsy they were just now, but because they finally caught the crab spiders, this still seemed great for them, and Lu Ming and the other three were delighted by such praise.

”Really? Haha! Of course, Iʼm the best!” Lu Ming said as he laughed.

Mo Yuhan said, ”No way! They are praising me, not you! They are my niece and nephew.”

”They are my niece and nephew too!” Lu Ming said.

The two uncles started fighting in front of the children; they received a hit on the head from Lu Shang.

Lu Shang said, ”Calm down and clean yourselves!”

As for Ji Yoonjun and Su Jin, they have long joined Ye Jingxia and Anxia in swimming in the warm portion of the river, while Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan were mercilessly thrown into the cold river by Lu Shang. He looks downcast at the two brats covered in mud from rolling and running as they fight on the ground.

AAHHHH!! PLOPPED!

Leica, who was helping with shampooing Ye Jingxiaʼs hair, asked, ”So what happened for you to be chased by a herd of crab spiders? Those things are usually mild-tempered unless you accidentally wake them up.”

”Well, it suddenly rained, and we went to the cave to wait for the rain to stop. To dry our clothes, AʼMing wanted to use a heated rock to do the work, but... that stone he found happened to be a sleeping baby crab spider, and we were chased all the way,” Su Jin said as he covered his face in embarrassment.

Lu Shang, who was also listening, felt that the training he had given the brats before was wasted and wanted to throw them into more spartan training so they would not just throw their lives unknowingly like this. Thankfully, the crab spider is only a 3rd-class legend-grade creature that has no means to instantly capture its prey.

Just thinking about the details of what happened inside the cave made him feel even more foolish. Why did they not check the vicinity? After all, this is the Death Forest, where every place is as dangerous as the next.

”Those useless brats! Leica looks after the pot for a bit. Iʼm going to teach those stupid brats a lesson,” Lu Shang said as he grabbed Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan, who were enjoying the river, and went deeper into the forest to train them.

”Ah! Save me! Xiao Jin!”

”No. no. Iʼm sorry~”

The other two turned a blind eye at the scene.

Leica waved his hand at them and said, ”Be careful on the way! Come back for lunch!”

”I will!” Lu Shang replied.

Just a short while after the brothers entered the jungle, Lu Ming and Mo Yuhanʼs shouts could be heard, along with noises of explosions and something falling and breaking. Their echoes could even be heard from the riverbank.

Su Jin looked in the direction worriedly and asked, ”Will they be alright?”

”They should be fine,” Ji Yoonjun, who didnʼt care for those two, nonchalantly said.

Leica smiled and said, ”Help me cook more. They would definitely be famished when they return. Donʼt worry, AʼShang knows their limits.”

A few hours before lunchtime, Lu Shang reappeared as if nothing had happened, leaving Mo Yuhan and Lu Ming covered in bruises and mud and unable to move their legs due to exhaustion, hunger, and thirst.

”Water. Food.” The two men on the ground plead. Only the kind Su Jin came over and helped Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan drink water.

Lu Shang said, ”Clean up and eat. Afterward, we will continue.”

”Yes,” Lu Ming and Mo Yuhan responded and looked at the sky like it was the end of the world.