"How come these insects are no longer attacking us?" Rhizen expressed his doubt, spitting out a couple of mashed insect remains that he had casually tested the taste of.
In preparation for his plans, he had been training in a variety of ways. And, developing resistance to poison and consuming everything edible was one such thing. Thankfully for him, his grandmother was a practitioner of the orthodox medical way, having him ingest countless medical herbs and other substances since young.
His body gained resistance to a variety of things. Due to that, he seldom fell sick.
So, even though he found himself in a dangerous cave, he wasn't flustered. He was surprised, cautious, but fear wasn't what he felt. After all, his life wasn't truly in danger…yet.
So, he still maintained his calm, asking after observing the actions of the insects once Compass Carburettor flashed the light from his mobile phone.
Upon hearing the question, the other two turned silent as Neena could feel her heart thumping, 'Is he onto me? But, if I retract my ability now, it would only prove that something is amiss. And, unlike me, he doesn't even seem flustered by this situation. Dammit!'
She gritted her teeth silently before sighing, creating an excuse on the spot, "I have coated a herbal paste on my bag. It's something I had done using a gradual process for many weeks. We can't smell it, but it is somewhat effective against insects. But, this is the first time I noticed such a reaction."
She then created another excuse to make her explanation seem reliable, "Maybe this is the first time they are coming across such a smell and hence the reaction is so noticeable?"
"Hmm, that might be possible." Compass Carburettor nodded, saying as he took out a pouch from his bag, "I too have something prepared myself. Though, I have no idea if it's mine or yours that is effective. My grandma gave this to me when I said I wanted to trek this mountain."
'Thankfully, Compass is pretty naïve.' Neena smirked mentally, thankful for having a simpleton whose only good point was his handsome looks in their mix.
That was why when she schemed anything, she hinted at Compass Carburettor, using his naivety to make him speak up on her behalf. As for whether Rhizen noticed her actions or not, she didn't have a guarantee.
But, based on how he acted, it seemed he hadn't seen through her ruse yet.
"As long as this effect lasts long enough, we'll be safe." Rhizen commended as he looked up, frowning, "It is impossible to proceed through the tunnel. It's practically vertical in our reach. Unless the both of you are parkour specialists that can scale vertically up using a gap between two walls, we can't scale up."
"Can you move up?" Neena asked in concern, saying, "If you can, we'll help you reach the tunnel. Once you reach the surface you can call for help."
"Unfortunately," Rhizen sighed as he looked at the height of the ceiling that reached seven feet, saying, "I can travel for at most three to four metres like this. And beyond that, my arms don't have enough strength to last."
"Let's see if there's another way out." Compass Carburettor said, pointing deeper into the cave, "Since so many insects live here, there should definitely be another way. As long as it is wide enough, we'll be able to escape through it. Even otherwise, we'll be able to return and work something out."
"Well, there is no use in standing here to waste our time. Let's get a move on," Rhizen said, turning around as he took out a flashlight from his bag before strapping it on his forehead.
Upon seeing their surprised looks, he looked at them in shock, "What would you do if you fail to descend the mountain before nightfall? You need a flashlight, right? Haven't you prepared one for such an emergency?"
"Ahh!" Compass Carburettor acted like he had an epiphany as he too took out a flashlight from his bag and strapped it on his forehead. And, unlike the one from Rhizen, his flashlight was a wide-angled one.
It illuminated everything in a five-metre radius around them. Beyond that was dark as the light wasn't focused like Rhizen's.
As for Neena, she only had a regular hand-held flashlight, one that she sparingly used to conserve battery.
Upon seeing the insects continuing to scatter while they moved, Compass Carburettor laughed mentally, 'The longer we are here, the more beneficial it is for me.'
The cave seemed to span longer than they had thought, winding constantly. And after some distance, it widened to span a larger area as Rhizen frowned, gazing up to see the protrusions, "A Stalactite cave? This should have existed for tens of thousands of years. To think we stumbled upon it by accident."
He then said to the other two, barely concealing his excitement, "As long as we publish this discovery first, the three of us could profit enough to not worry about money for at least a couple of years."
"For a cave's discovery?" Compass Carburettor obviously acted ignorant.
"Yes," Rhizen nodded, "The mineral deposits here are untouched by humans. So, it allows geologists to study the way in which this terrain formed in greater detail. It has tremendous scientific value."
After ten minutes passed in such a fashion, Compass Carburettor activated Info Scanner, smirking, 'That's great. It's not much, but Neena is consuming about a Mental Energy every minute.'
Even though it wasn't much, but it slowly whittled down her System's reserves. And besides, Compass Carburettor wasn't risking his life to do this. Thankfully when they fell, none of them hit their head or twisted their ankle, coincidentally.
And coincidentally, none of the insects that had climbed over them bit them. As for Neena, she wasn't fortunate, having actually suffered a fracture from her fall. But he didn't know about that.
After all, her System instantly healed her, causing her to behave like she too had survived the fall without much issue. If Compass Carburettor had taken a look at her the moment they fell, he would have been surprised to find her skin riddled with bite wounds.
They were caused by the insects. But, Neena's System healed them all while also detoxifying the poison.
If not for the fact that she was a System Host, she would have died by now for trying to aim for Rhizen's life so many times.
Author's Notes: January Month's Mass Release Quota
Target: Top 75 GT Ranking
Reward 1: 10 regular chapters
Reward 2: 18 Privilege chapters
Magic Castle: 2
Spacecraft: 5
Golden Gachapon: 10
[Tier 3 Privilege has 15 chaps with a 50% Discount]
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