Chapter 1118: Silence

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang slammed hard into the crystal layer. Because of its "car accident" experience, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang stood up and dashed "forward" the moment it landed.

"Wrong way!"

Su Xiao shouted. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, somewhat dazed, saw Su Xiao charging toward it and immediately performed a 180-degree turn.

Bang!

Su Xiao kicked Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang right in the rear. The force of the kick was extremely precise, and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's forward speed picked up instantly.

Crack, crack, crack...

The sound of shattering crystals approached from behind, accompanied by terrifying heat. Amu, who was running at the back, had its rear end scorched to the point of smoking.

Ahead was a corner. Maha, who was carrying Alluka, was the first to round it, but he suddenly slammed on the brakes, sending crystal shards flying.

Su Xiao also rounded the corner, and his vision was filled with pink.

"Shh."

Maha made a gesture for silence and walked forward quickly, trying his best to avoid making any noise.

The location they were in now was a karst cave, about a thousand square meters in size and five or six meters high.

Everyone entered the cave, and Amu, at the very back, also lightened its footsteps.

The volcanic ash surged in the rear, but strangely, it did not pour into the cave, as if blocked by an invisible barrier. Looking closely, one could see the ash surging upward, which was why it didn't drift into the cave.

Temporarily safe, Su Xiao began to observe the situation inside the cave.

Hundreds of conical stalactites stood on the cave floor, all of them a solid pink color. Hanging from the cave ceiling was a large expanse of pink tentacles, dense and filling most of the cave's space.

These tentacles looked like the root system of some plant; they were about the thickness of a finger, translucent, and had a soft texture, swaying gently like willow branches.

Pink liquid dripped from the tentacles onto the stalactites below, which was how they were formed.

The entire cave was filled with a sweet scent—a cloying, sugary smell.

Su Xiao pointed at the tentacles and looked at Maha, asking what these things were.

Maha gestured for silence again and pointed at the tentacles, implying that they must not make a sound or touch them.

Maha's answer was vague, so Su Xiao attempted to detect the origin of these tentacles using the Apostle's Eye.

【Detecting...】

【Detected target as plant/creature, determining rank...】

【Determination complete, 82% of target data obtained.】

Data as follows:

Name: Abaye

Category: Plant/Animal.

HP: 100%

Mana: None (Plant form has no mana)

Strength: 21

Agility: 86

Stamina: 83

Intelligence: 13

Charisma: 5

Skill 1, Potent Paralytic Toxin (Active lv. 40): Abaye's tentacles can secrete a potent paralytic toxin.

Skill 2, Independent Consciousness (Passive lv. 20): When Abaye is in plant form, it possesses a collective consciousness; if it transforms into biological form, it gains individual consciousness.

Skill 3, Photosynthetic Decomposition (Passive lv. 36): Abaye can use its tentacles to entangle prey and perform a check. If the check is passed, it decomposes everything it entangles—objects/creatures/plants—and converts them into nutrients.

Note: If the prey is paralyzed, the Photosynthetic Decomposition (Passive) check is automatically passed.

Skill 4, Sound Sensitivity (Passive lv. 38): Abaye is a sound-sensitive plant/creature; it can determine the location of prey through external sounds.

Skill 5:???

Skill 6:???

Su Xiao's brow furrowed. It was clear from the data that this plant or creature was extremely troublesome; being entangled by it would have severe consequences.

Was it enough to just not make a sound? Of course not. If they wanted to continue forward, they had to find a way to deal with Abaye or find a clever way to pass through.

Abaye occupied the entire cave, its tentacles hanging about a meter from the ground, with stalactites below.

The possibility of passing through on the ground was slim; the floor was covered in a layer of pink, viscous substance—likely the potent paralytic toxin secreted by Abaye.

Su Xiao took an iron rod from his storage space and attempted to touch the pink liquid on the ground with it.

Hiss~

The pink liquid instantly corroded the iron rod. This stuff had strong "corrosiveness."

The hissing sound wasn't loud, but the surrounding pink tentacles suddenly curled up. Noticing this, Su Xiao immediately threw the iron rod away.

The moment the iron rod hit the ground, it was entangled by the pink tentacles that had stretched out, tightly wrapping around it.

Two seconds later, the iron rod was eroded into dregs, its surface becoming very rough, like chewed-up sugarcane.

Several tentacles lashed toward where Su Xiao had been standing, as it had made a sound there. After finding nothing, they gradually retracted to their original length.

"Gulp~"

Killua swallowed hard. He had a very intuitive feeling that if he were entangled by these tentacles, he would be instantly decomposed and absorbed, ending up as a pile of bone dregs.

According to Maha's previous description, he had been blocked by "Abaye" the last time he ventured deep into Kukulu Mountain. As for how he left, the answer was simple: he returned the way he came.

Although the crystal cave behind them had shattered, it would gradually regenerate. As long as volcanic ash drifted through, the cave would regenerate in about a week. The gas emitted by Abaye, when combined with the ash, produced those pale red crystals. As for the shape of the crystal cave, that was left to fate.

Maha had been trapped here for a full month the last time he entered, but fortunately, he had carried enough food to endure it.

Maha took a notebook from his large backpack and handed it to Su Xiao, signaling him to read it.

The contents of the notebook were Maha's research on "Abaye," a semi-plant creature. He had risked his life to obtain a section of Abaye's tentacle when he left last time.

Abaye had three weaknesses.

Fear of Fire: An instinctual fear, though fire actually posed little threat to Abaye.

Fear of Sunlight: When exposed to sunlight, Abaye would be in great pain and rapidly transform into a biological form.

Fear of Sharp Weapons: Abaye was extremely tough; tearing or dragging caused little damage, but it was very vulnerable to slashing from sharp weapons.

Seeing Abaye's third weakness, Su Xiao understood why Maha had chosen to cooperate with him. Setting aside the fact that Maha didn't trust him, the fact that he was willing to pay eight Soul Crystals (Large) had puzzled Su Xiao for a long time.

Before arriving here, Su Xiao had suspected that Maha might turn into an old schemer at any moment, but now it seemed that possibility was low.

Maha didn't know how many times he had been stuck by "Abaye," which was evident from how skilled he was at entering the volcanic crater.

Su Xiao pointed at Maha, then at the Zhan Long Shan at his waist, and finally at Amu.

After a moment of thought, Maha nodded.

Su Xiao's meaning was that he would be responsible for attracting Abaye's attention and slashing a path through the vast expanse of tentacles. During this time, everyone else had to stay away from him.

Once Su Xiao found a way out, Amu would throw the others across to avoid contact with the ground. Maha would lead, checking the situation on the other side; if it was safe, Amu would continue throwing the others.

Given the quantity and scale of Abaye, brute force clearly wouldn't work. As for killing it completely, the possibility was slim unless they used large-scale thermal weapons—but who would dare use those in a volcano?