[Floor 2 of the Dungeon]
A dead area, or almost that.
An infernal heat, and an almost endless desert.
Monstrous creatures coming out of the ground, attacking the hunters.
Those profane larvae were more horrendous than they imagined.
"How disgusting." Catharina murmured.
This crawling being was indescribably repulsive.
Luan fought against the urge to vomit.
These creatures were at least 3 meters long. Their mouths were their entire front, full of teeth, similar to the mouth of a sea turtle, only worse.
If that wasn't disgusting enough, the profane butterfly larvae were even worse.
Their wings seemed to be made of human skin full of veins and painted with blood. Their eyes were dreadful, red and split in two.
Their teeth were even bigger, as well as their mouths, capable of easily swallowing an entire ox.
Honestly speaking, the urge to turn back and return from where they came was great.
"Let's go to floor 3 as quickly as possible." Luan finally said.
"You took the words out of my mouth." Catharina said categorically.
For her, that was one of the most repulsive things she had ever seen.
And she had already seen several Brugnar – Another dreadful creature – in pieces with organs scattered...
That only lost to those monsters who cruelly slaughtered her mother, and then almost enslaved her.
Luckily, they saw value in her, and even more luckily she managed to escape and find Luan. Or rather, he found her.
"The venom sacs of these profane larvae are worth a lot of money, but..."
Catharina interrupted him, adding: "I'd rather avoid these things."
"Exactly." Luan took the bow, placing it over his shoulder, ready to use.
These creatures could come out of the ground, you never know when it would be useful.
"Let's walk in a straight line in this direction." Luan pointed.
It was easy to get lost in a deserted place. Fortunately, the people of the city had already created various ways of signaling, and also shared maps at a low price.
For now, it was easy to know the direction, since they only needed to go in a straight line when leaving the dungeon.
But, if someone got lost, there were flags spread at certain points, which made orientation easier and allowed them to easily locate their position.
To reach floor 3, they only needed to follow the red flags.
Luan let Catharina pull the cart alone while he nocked an arrow on the bow: "Until the first flag, I will clear the path for us."
"I'm counting on you." Catharina replied: "You can leave the second shift to me!"
"Very well." He nodded.
The cart was light, it didn't need two people to pull it. It only had their own things, as well as some bags with Brugnar eyes.
Honestly speaking, it would be ideal if at the beginning of the dungeon there was the option to choose which floor you wanted to go to.
But that would be dreaming too much, wouldn't it?
"Get down!"
"Shoot, shoot!!"
The shouts of hunters echoed here and there.
In the end, as repulsive as they were, the venom sacs of the Profane Larvae were worth good money.
And, it had its pros and cons.
There was no antidote for the Brugnar explosions, but for the venom of the Profane Larvae there was.
If they were well-prepared, it was more worthwhile to hunt the Profane Larvae.
Not to mention that, it is said that the Profane Larvae give triple the EXP compared to the Brugnar.
Even knowing all of this, before, for them, hunting the Brugnar was still a better option.
*TREMOR*
When the ground began to shake, instinctively they knew what it was and fled.
*CRACK!*
"GARHHHHHHHHHH!*
From the ground, a profane larva came out screaming.
Luan's eyes narrowed.
*Whoosh!*
At the sound of the arrow whistling in the wind, Luan took another arrow from the quiver and shot again.
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh!*
Four arrows in total, two missed the target, but the other two hit.
"GRRRRRRRRHHHHHH!"
The scream of the profane larva became more dreadful. Twisting its large body in the air, with part of it still sunk in the ground.
That wasn't enough to kill it.
Taking a fifth arrow, he pulled it well, and released when he predicted where the head of this cursed worm would be.
*Whoosh!*
*BENG!*
Between its round and deep black eyes, the arrow hit, embedding more than half into the head of this creature.
"ARHHHHH!"
Screaming in pain and suffering, the profane larva twisted in the air a few more times, until it fell hard with its head on the ground.
*DUUMM!*
Catharina moved.
In the blink of an eye she was in front of the creature and, with a quick and precise cut, she cut off the head of the profane larva.
And, without Luan asking, she opened the creature, removing the venom sac.
The blood of the profane worm was purple.
It was somewhat poisonous, being able to even paralyze a Lv1.
With blood control, Catharina kept the blood away from her.
She brought the venom sac carefully and placed it on the cart.
"You were great." Luan raised his thumb.
"It was nothing much." She remained indifferent.
Luan thought of something.
"How about this?" Luan suggested: "I attack them with arrows, and you finish them?"
"That was exactly what I was thinking." She gave a simple, but cold smile.
...
For the next few minutes, they were attacked a total of 16 times.
It could have been a bigger number if they hadn't deliberately avoided the profane larvae.
Until then, they had not fought against a profane butterfly larva.
Unlike the normal ones, these did not hide in the ground and were easy to avoid.
"We're halfway there..." Luan could barely wait to leave this infernal desert.
Suddenly, their instincts flared up.
Not far from there – they saw a group with 7 hunters.
Nothing strange until then... But behind that group of hunters, there were 2 profane butterfly larvae and 10 profane larvae.
"Get out of the way!" shouted what seemed to be the leader of the group.
"Trying to use us as bait to escape?" Luan murmured, exposing their plan.
"Catharina..."
"Run, right?" On her lips, a cold smile formed.
"That's right."
Without hesitation, the two began to run, pulling the cart together.
Their speed didn't even compare to that of the group of 7 people.
After all, there is a glaring difference between Lv1 and Lv2.
Although they didn't want to get tired before even reaching floor 3, even confident in defeating all those larvae... They were not willing to be used as bait by others.
Meanwhile, the group that was attracting several larvae fell into despair.
"They are running away!"
"Damn, they're Lv2!!"
"What do we do now?"
"What else? Let's find the next target. I don't believe everyone is Lv2...!" shouted their leader.
But, if someone was so treacherous like that, would the people who saw what they did before dare to stay close to them?
Obviously not!
That was exactly why they chose Luan and Catharina as targets.
They seemed strong, but easy prey.
After fighting to the death, they intended to go and finish it – taking everything!
"Shit!"
Suddenly, the ground shook. As experienced hunters, they knew what that meant.
*CRACK!*
Right in front of them, a profane larva appeared, and when they lost speed, dodging... The two profane butterfly larvae caught up to them.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Help me! Save me!!!"
One of them, wearing leather armor, was practically swallowed by one of the profane butterfly larvae.
When the mouth closed, the creature's sharp teeth chewed the hunter, as if it were chewing a piece of juicy meat and then raised its body higher and swallowed the hunter whole.
"No, no, N-AHHHHHHHHHH!"
The second profane butterfly larva arrived in front of a huntress and bit half of her body.
She didn't even have a chance to resist, even using a fire attack, it was like throwing a cup of water trying to put out a fire.
"They're done for, run!!"
They were not only cruel to others, but also to themselves. First of all, each of them only cared about their own safety.