Psychic Parasite

Chapter 304: I’m Dying; Call my Brother.
He had become a Tier 1 Crust-Mantle, one that had obtained its Frenzy Parasite recently. Standing atop the sand mound were four Tier 1 Crust-Mantles, including it. The mound was three metres in height.

Standing before them, with the same line of sight was a massive Crust-Mantle, a being at Tier 4. It looked at them, motioning with its eyes towards a half-dug corner. ”Dig a straight line for xxx xx.”

The Crust-Mantles used a new language, something that hadn’t been used by any other Frenzy Beast. As he was comprehending the memory, despite having never heard the language before, the meaning was automatically translated through a variety of impulses.

It was the experience, will, meaning, etc. in the memory fragments. Through them, words popped into his mind, allowing him to understand their chirping sounds.

There were some parts he couldn’t understand though. Based on what popped into his mind, it was a unit of distance the Crust-Mantles used. But, unlike the scaling humans used, their sense of distance was based on the sound. It was a strange unit that was based on the reduction in a sound’s amplitude as it was reflected from an object.

Jyorta failed to make sense of it. But thankfully, he didn’t need to do anything. The scene played out by itself; he was just in a state of lucid dreaming, unable to control his actions but was aware of everything that happened.

His Crust-Mantle form took the lead, crawling to the pointed area before it started to dig using its mandibles. It broke the soil, eating the parts that fell from the clanking of its mandibles. Acids were secreted in its stomach, absorbing the necessary nutrients from the soil while reacting with the remainder.

Sometime later, his Crust-Mantle form pooped out a brown sphere, a quarter the size of its head. Without any delays, it continued to dig, proceeding further and further into the tunnel. When it had tired out, it returned to the sand mound while scooping all the brown spheres it had pooped out.

Tier 2 Crust-Mantles arrived at the area, grabbing all the brown spheres before disappearing further into the tunnel. It was a long tunnel, the ends of which seemed infinite to its poor senses. After resting for a while, it returned to its task.

The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle would occasionally come and give it instructions, changing the path their group of four had to dig through. What started as a straight line soon turned into a cluster of winding pathways that intersected at many joints, turning into a complex maze.

His Crust-Mantle form travelled long distances, digging without a single complaint. The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle soon arrived, speaking with praise, ”Your Tier 1 Skill is useful in a different location, head there.”

The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle pointed at a scent trail that led through many winding tunnels. Jyorta’s Crust-Mantle form followed the scent trail like an ant, travelling for a day without rest, finally arriving at a large tunnel.

The air was dry, with occasional sparks from the volatile substance in it. The heat was unbearable for even the Crust-Mantle, beings that lived in hot places. Five Tier 1 Crust-Mantles lay on the floor, resting, looking exhausted.

Seeing its arrival, a Tier 4 Crust-Mantle beckoned it, motioning it to check the walls, ”Use your Tier 1 Skill to check the sturdiness of the walls here. If there are cracks or any weaker areas, notify me immediately.”

It then pointed at a section of the wall, ”This is your base of reference. Anything below this in unsatisfactory.”

The walls of the tunnel were seemingly hardened under intense heat. When Jyorta’s Crust-Mantle form neared it, faint mist seeped out through the gaps in its exoskeleton. It bore the pain, activating its Tier 1 Skill while facing its back towards the wall.

The tendril-like protrusions on its back acted as feelers as they moved over the walls, inspecting its hardness and toughness. It moved around, making a round of inspections, marking some spots with its mandibles.

The walls were tough; it could barely manage to scratch some faint marks on it after a lot of effort. After marking the deficient areas, it began to scale up the walls, resisting the heat through its robust defences.

When the heat turned unbearable, it returned to the ground, resting for a while before continuing with its task. After a long time had passed, it walked further into the tunnel and beckoned for the Tier 4 Crust-Mantle.

The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle looked at the markings on the walls, expressing its disappointment through the screech it let out, ”This is not good, there are too many mistakes. At this rate, it would collapse within 10 years.”

It then looked at Jyorta’s Crust-Mantle form, ”Continue with your task.”

Saying its piece, it sprinted further into the tunnel. A long time later, it dragged a Tier 3 Lava Turtle, motioning for it to look at the cracks, speaking in a language commonly used by the Frenzy Beasts, ”The places with horizontal markings have formed cracks while the ones with circles are weaker than the established standard. Please correct them all.”

The Lava Turtle slumped on the floor, behaving as if it had become exhausted beyond the limit. It even went to the extent sprawling its tongue outside its mouth, twitching on the floor as saliva drooled out.

”I am dying. Call my brother, he will take my place.” It said with a weak tone.

”You have thousands of brothers.” The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle retorted.

”Anyone of them will do, I am not working,” The Lava Turtle replied. ”When I die, place my shell in the most glorious of places. I am counting on you, my comrade.”

”…” The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle looked at the Hunter Clams living on its shell, sleeping in peace. If the Lava Turtle was actually in a state of dying, they would have been in a state of unrest and would have tried every possible means to save it. Seeing as they were peacefully resting, it meant the Lava Turtle was blatantly lying.

The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle gazed at the Lava Turtle’s face. Facing its stare, the Lava Turtle upped its acting, playing dead, acting even better than actual dead beings. Time passed in such a manner; the Lava Turtle continued to play dead.

The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle began to walk deeper into the tunnel, purposely stating its thoughts out loud, ”I remember a powerful Lava Turtle telling me to inform it if a Lava Turtle died. I think it mentioned something along the lines of burial by fire…”

”Blazing popsicles, this wall looks incomplete.” Displaying agility beyond normal, the Lava Turtle stood before the wall, using its tongue to lick at the marked place. The air surrounding it faintly rumbled, creating gentle waves of wind.

Unranked Skill—Ingrained Earth!

Its tongue turned reddish-orange as the Lava Turtle licked the marked regions, seeping its energy into the wall. The energy condensed into lava, filling up the cracks before solidifying. The Lava Turtle continued as such while its eyes darted to the Tier 4 Crust-Mantle, watching its actions.

The Tier 4 Crust-Mantle spoke after watching it work, ”I was told to escort you to the dug path after this. You are in charge of solidifying the walls this time.”

No sooner had it said its piece did the head of the Lava Turtle spin, its body plopping on the ground. ”My end is near. I think this is the best spot to place my shell. Don’t wait for me, comrade. Go do your work, find help from my brothers.”

Its neck trembled while its head gently touched the ground, rubbing the surface a couple of times before it rested. Its limbs retreated into its shell while its head too followed suit. Before it could fully head inside, it heard the Tier 4 Crust-Mantle speak once again, ”The powerful Lava Turtle from before also said that those who finish their tasks on time will be exempt from any future work. Also, the better the finish, the longer they will be exempt from work.”

Its limbs popped out while its body shot towards another marked section on the wall, activating its Unranked Skill in earnest. Faint heat undulated from its body while a large volume of energy gushed out.

The energy seeped into the walls, modifying its structure, hardening it to a level greater than the established standard. It also imbued in it a bit of an elastic property, to absorb shock better, preventing it from cracking easily.

The heat radiating from the walls returned, used up as fuel by the Lava Turtle to better its structure, thereby consuming less energy. The Lava Turtle showed dextrous abilities, mending every tiny detail the Tier 1 Crust-Mantle had marked.

When it was done, it walked to a part of the tunnel that had been recently dug up. The tier 4 Crust-Mantle and the other Tier 1 Crust-Mantles followed it. Their tasks were to check the end product for any defects using their Skills.

The Lava Turtle stood on ground that had been solidified, facing its head towards the dug-up parts. It opened its mouth, spewing out a copious amount of energy like a torrent. The energy seemed to have a weight of its own, curving towards the ground like a waterfall, turning into lava mid-way.

The lava morphed into a human figure that fell face-first on the ground, splashing forth as lava. The lava spread on the ground, causing a lot of smoke and steam. The Lava Turtle vomited out even more lava, turning it into human figures one after another.

Each human figure fell on an empty region, splashing forth as lava. One human figure ran on the ground, cackling like a clumsy idiot before crashing into the wall. It was as if the Lava Turtle had a certain desire based on the way it manipulated the lava, using a lot of redundant actions.

Seeing its actions, Jyorta’s consciousness frowned, feeling anger.