Chapter 127: 127: The Middle Stratum

The mangrove forest appeared before me, spanning for miles below the chasm in a lush dense jungle that floated above the water. The forest was well lit, crystals dotted all over the cavernous ceiling illuminated the forest from above, their bright glow casting light over the forest canopy.

Below, the water shone brightly from the crystals in their sunken depths, illuminating the tuberous mangrove roots in green.

I stood warily over the edge of the cliff, observing the large forest below, before peering down at the cliff.

Unfortunately, I couldn't appreciate the spectacular scenery, because unlike before, my vision had improved, and I could now clearly see the massive monsters that were moving through the forest below.

The cliff was steep, the dark rocks meeting with the water of the forest at the bottom before continuing down for miles and I could also see large bodies of strange marine monsters swimming inside the water. I tried to see just how far it went, but I detected movement right below.

There was a gigantic centipede monster above the water, steadily crawling up the steep cliff. And there wasn't just one either.

I discovered the walls were riddled with holes, and there was even a massive cave, with that centipede crawling in to join what looked like twenty more centipedes of similar size in a massive writhing pile.

Okay…so even the wall was infested with bugs. Nothing so bad, r-right?

But then, I heard a loud crash coming from the forest and before my eyes, an enormous hairy spider with excessively long limbs appeared and I felt the soul leaving my body at the sight. 

Far bigger than any of those I'd seen above, its bulbous hairy body stood high above the trees, its long spindly legs stabbing down through the roots to touch the water below.

The simple act of moving its legs felled trees in its path, leaving a trail of devastation through the forest like it was nothing. My heart pulsated in my snake chest. Why did I not see any of these creatures before? Curse my poor eyesight!

I only had fond memories of this place and forgot that higher levels of ether also meant more evolved, larger monsters. 

And it wasn't just the huge monster spider giving me second thoughts. Down here, I wasn't big at all! Anything could casually eat me, from the creatures in the water, to those on land and I wouldn't even be enough for a snack!

Okay, calm down. I activated [Mimic] and watched my scales blend into my surroundings. I was only here to practice magic. Yeah, just magic. 

I wasn't here to hunt at all and I don't need to encounter any of these creatures. I could just explore around without being seen. Which wasn't difficult at all.

With that thought, I relaxed and saw the centipedes below the cliff settling down inside their cave, not knowing I had my eye on them, and the gigantic spider continued moving through the forest unhindered. 

I watched its figure shirking into the distance the further into mangrove it went and my fiercely beating heart slowly relaxed. 

There was no need to venture into the forest for now, unless I wanted to become food for them,  and since there were centipedes below me, I decided to go up.

The steep wall of the cliff looked unforgiving to climb but I wanted to see where the top met with the middle stratum's ceiling, so I accessed the Atlas.

My tunnel from the cave to the cliff was illuminated, and as a result I could see the cliff ending in a plateau that was not that far up, so I began my climb.

But before leaving, I made sure to cover the entrance to the tunnel I just made with more rock debris. I couldn't risk something following my trail back to the cave. 

Halfway up my steep climb, I spotted something wriggling across the cliffside and I nearly yelped out of my skin. But when I focused on it, I saw it was only a large worm. I added 'only' because unlike the creatures I'd seen down there, I was much bigger than it and it gave me more confidence.

Maybe not everything down here was gigantic after all.

Ah…but if that was the case, didn't that just make every small creature prey?

I shivered.

I appraised the worm and its stats made me sigh with relief.

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LV11 Ivenium Carmivern                                                     

Specie: Ailith Terrestris

HP:94/94          Defence: 78

MP:37/37          Intellect: 15

SP:88/88          Magic: 28

Attack:75          Agility: 105

Skills:

[Egg Laying:LV1] [Endurance: LV4]

[Exoskeleton: LV4] [Scent: LV10]

[Corrosive Acid: LV3] [Grip: LV8]

[Regurgitation: LV3] [Dig: LV6] 

[Echolocation: LV8] [Bite: LV4]

[Tail Spike: LV3] [Stealth: LV1]

Title:

[Gross Feeder] [Kin Eater] 

Resistances:

[Poison Resistance: LV2] 

[Rot Resistance: LV1]

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It was pretty weak, so I ignored it and continued to climb.

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However, the worm spotted me even with my [Mimic] activated and immediately gave a disgruntled screech. 

I wanted to smack the stupid worm. If its sound attracted a flying predator, or those centipedes below, I would be screwed too! 

And on that thought I looked down and saw movements before multiple limbs extended from the centipede's cave.

I immediately turned around and fired my poison sphere at the worm knocking it off the cliff and falling down with a splat.

〚You have killed LV11 Ivenium Carmivern!〛

〚You have earned 88XP〛

I was not letting a stupid worm get me killed.

I breathed a relieved sigh when I saw the centipedes' multiple limbs return to its cave and continued my climb. 

However, I soon spotted another worm along the cliffside and I instantly prepared another sphere just in case it screeched. But instead, the worm began to chew the rocks of the cliff, before disappearing inside.

I blinked in surprise. What hard teeth! 

I felt the cliffside rumble as the worm drilled its way under the ground towards me. I could make out its heat trace under the ground and decided to climb even faster. 

So when a hole opened up in the cliffside and the worm's round toothy maw appeared with a screech, I immediately cut off the sound by slicing through its face with my compressed poison sphere.

〚You have killed LV9 Ivenium Carmivern!〛

〚You have earned 72XP〛

It was indeed much easier to keep its shape in that form and I continued to scan across the cliffside for any other possible worm ambushes, but there were none. There were also no noticeable movements from below, so I continued my climb peacefully. 

I finally reached the plateau and climbed up. However, what I saw up there was far worse than what I imagined. 

There were more worms on the plateau, their wet bulbous bodies basking on the flat rock face. They all looked up at my arrival, sightless faces promptly burrowing under the ground with jagged maws to come after me.

Since I was already discovered, I couldn't back out. There was only one way, which was THROUGH them!

I whipped out my poison spheres, shooting them into the ground wherever my [Heat Sense] picked up their traces. The rock face rumbled as the rocks split apart revealing their bodies that had been sliced apart, but I didn't stop there. 

I activated my [Shadow Shroud], extending my tail outwards to impale any that tried to sneak up from behind me. I heard the hiss as the prongs released inside the body of a worm and when I yanked it out, a chunk of its disgusting flesh came away with it, leaving a hole in its body.

I felt my speed had increased, or rather the worms were too slow for me. The furious creatures screeched with pain as my poison opened large gashes across their bodies, and I continued my assault, firing out shots at lightning speed to cut down more of the wounded creatures until there was none left moving. 

〚You have killed LV13 Ivenium Carmivern!〛

〚You have killed LV11 Ivenium Carmivern!〛

〚You have killed LV12 Ivenium Carmivern!〛

〚You have earned 384XP〛

The system dings went off in a flurry as the bodies dropped like flies.

Standing triumphant over the dead, I could hear the calls of various creatures in the greenery below, like cries cheering me on and a savage grin spread across my face.

From the height of the plateau I could oversee the entire middle stratum. The flat plain was a lot larger than I initially thought, with the mangrove forest only being the edge of its true beginning. Further in, the water was more scarce and all there was dense jungle I could not see the end of.

Somehow even though the labyrinth was full of ravenous creatures, I couldn't help thinking it was strangely beautiful.

"It's amazing how big it is." I exclaimed in awe.

'Was this acceptance, or had I finally gone crazy?' I thought, as I gushed to Sensei. I hadn't quite made peace with my slithering existence yet, but this wasn't completely bad.

Sensei chuckled. «You seem to be in a good mood.»

I was surprised that I was. There was a kind of beauty in the simplicity that was found living as I was. There were no convoluted rules, aside from keeping what you killed, which was easy to understand. And I seemed to have found my place here quite easily.

"You're just jealous because I was right about the nestlings and you were wrong."

Of course, it was still dangerous in a way that I could come under a creature's claws at any minute, but this realisation did not scare me anymore. I just had to continue winning to carve out my place here, amongst the monsters and other rabid beasts. 

Crush them all underfoot if I had to and continue to live in comfort.

Sensei spoke with caution. «I admit I was wrong about them. But you have to be careful not to project your feelings for your siblings onto them.»

"I won't." I snapped angrily. 

Why did he have to bring them up when I was finally able to let go and move on?

Sensei sighed. «I agree I was wrong, but I won't apologise for looking out for you. At the time of the quest, it would have been foolish to try to lead them when you weren't that much stronger than they were. If they levelled up as a group like they are now, your life would have been in danger.»

Hmph. I couldn't help feeling smug.

Although I understood his reasoning, I understood the nestlings better. 

It shouldn't have been easy to lead them, but somehow it was, and I had faced little to no resistance. This was mostly due to the presence of Ophelia and Typhon. 

Otherwise, it really shouldn't have been this simple.

I revelled in my victory. Because of those two, although the nestlings demonstrated impressive results, none had tried to challenge me, and this was because they supported me. 

And if not for my amazing personality, why else would Ophelia and Typhon adore me so much?

As usual, Sensei was just a killjoy who couldn't understand my impressive charisma and he was simply upset that I'd proved him wrong.

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