How Long Was It Going to Keep Struggling?

Following the sturdy, massive back shell of the White Stone Crab, Ian and King leaped down and landed steadily on the ground.

"Click--"

Sensing its master falling off its body, the White Stone Crab raised its huge pincers and squeezed them in the air, seemingly wondering why its master was no longer on its head.

It was just a subconscious action, but combined with its enormous size, it was quite intimidating above Ian and the others.

"Big White, stay here and wait quietly, don't try to scare me with your pliers!"

In the Forest, hidden in the shadows by the crab's enormous size, Ian frowned, opened his mouth, and shouted upwards.

Although the other person has now become my loyal and adorable pet.

But seeing a huge crab claw swinging overhead through the gaps in the trees still made me a little worried that something that big might suddenly fall down.

Seeing Ian interacting with the crab, Kim didn't say much, but squatted down to observe the surrounding plants and soil.

"Any discoveries?"

Soon, Ian came over and asked curiously.

Jin rolled her eyes at him and said irritably.

"How could we have made a discovery so quickly? These are just necessary investigations. The soil is a bit damp..."

As he spoke, Jin held the object to his nose and smelled it, then looked ahead and said calmly.

"At least three different types of organisms should live in this area."

Ian's eyes widened in surprise.

"You could smell that?! That's amazing, Jin!"

Jin calmly raised his finger and pointed to a large tree in front of him, where a creature resembling a centipede, about 2 meters long, was slowly crawling towards the top of the trunk.

Ian looked in that direction and was immediately speechless.

"I really thought you had such a keen sense of smell..."

Jin shook his head.

"Actually, it wouldn't be difficult to identify the creatures here by their scent, but there's no need..."

Ian's gaze lingered on the centipede slowly crawling upwards, and he asked curiously.

"I don't quite understand why you would say that at least three different types of creatures live here?"

Jin glanced at Ian, somewhat helplessly, and spoke seriously.

"Ian, while you are very strong, you also need to improve your combat awareness. Observe that creature more carefully."

Ian was taken aback by Kim's words.

He was aware of his weaknesses, of course, but he never expected that Jin would see through them so easily.

Following Kim's instructions, Ian narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the centipede.

Upon closer inspection, some barely noticeable details were discovered.

"There are bite marks on the tail and scratch marks on the fifteenth segment of the back..."

Ian said in a low voice.

Jin nodded.

"That's right. Judging from the bite marks, it was an attack by a rodent, while the scratches seem to be... the work of a feline."

Although Ian only had a vague understanding of this, he nodded in agreement...

"That's right!"

Hmm, although he doesn't know how Kim came to that conclusion, he trusts Kim's judgment.

However, Ian still voiced his doubts.

"Judging from this, the wild animals living here aren't much larger, which is completely different from what Netero and the others were worried about..."

Ian pointed to the huge, silly-looking centipede not far away.

Although it was indeed larger than the ones on Hunter's Continent, it wasn't extremely large, and while it could injure it, it couldn't kill it.

This indicates that the creature that harmed it was of similar size to it, or even smaller than the centipede in front of it.

It must be said that Ian had a strong impression of the Dark Continent.

I was still focused on the terrifying strength displayed by the Chimera Ants, feeling that all the creatures here, like the Chimera Ants, possessed terrifying developmental potential and were extremely powerful, selected by the natural law of survival of the fittest.

Therefore, upon first arriving and seeing these seemingly ordinary creatures, all preconceived notions vanished.

At least... so far, he hasn't seen any particularly large creatures on land.

Upon hearing Ian's words, King hesitated for a moment, but he still confirmed it.

"Don't be careless, Ian, perhaps we just haven't met yet..."

"Netero wouldn't make a mistake in this matter. Given their strength in their youth, the fact that their team came here must mean they encountered some unshakeable force, which would have led the president to subsequently prevent everyone from coming to the Dark Continent."

"Although the chairman didn't explicitly state what he saw at the time, in my opinion... the kind of terror that could shake the conviction of a strong person like him is undoubtedly something we'd better avoid."

Ian nodded in agreement.

"That's true, otherwise we probably would have had to turn back immediately."

"That's not bad either. If I keep encountering these ordinary plants here, I think... it would be nice to turn this place into my backyard garden."

Jin's lips twitched slightly.

"I'm afraid only someone like you Ian, would think this way..."

Kim could only express his envy.

After all, not everyone possesses Ian's ability to traverse such vast distances at will.

"Whoosh!"

With a sudden wave of his hand, Jin created a condensed blade of Nen that pinned the slowly crawling centipede to the thick tree trunk.

"Heh--"

The centipede's body trembled, its head firmly pinned down, yet its body still twisted and struggled desperately.

Kim and Ian leaned closer and examined the centipede's body closely.

Jin observes the texture of the centipede's exoskeleton and its mouthparts for attack.

Organisms are constrained by their environment, and in the evolution of defense and attack, they will inevitably exhibit certain characteristics of natural selection. By observing these two points, one can roughly determine what kind of creature is the natural enemy of this giant centipede.

Ian, meanwhile, stared wide-eyed at the other person, deep in thought...

I wonder what this huge centipede would taste like if skewered and grilled, and whether the meat would be tender and delicious...

If Kim knew what Ian was thinking at this moment, he would probably be very shocked.

No... this kind of thing...

You actually thought of eating?!

The sky gradually darkened, and a dark cloud drifted in from afar.

Not long after.

A fine drizzle began to fall in the Forest, the raindrops pattering on the leaves with a soft "whoosh" sound.

In front of the thick tree trunk.

Ian and Kim ignored the drizzle and walked directly into it, focusing their attention on what lay ahead.

"Half an hour has passed, hasn't it?"

"Kindness..."

"Your Nen blade isn't good enough?"

"Impossible!"

"That means... there's something wrong with this guy. His head's been pierced, so why is he still moving around so much after all this time!"

Jin felt somewhat helpless.

He hadn't expected the giant centipede in front of him to be so resilient. Even though its head had been pierced, it should have lost nerve control over its body and died soon.

But they observed for a full half hour!

This guy was acting like he was putting on a show, pretending to be about to die every now and then, and then suddenly writhing and struggling energetically, trying to escape.

"It seems that one of its advantages is its extremely strong vitality..."

Looking at the centipede, Jin came to this conclusion.

Just then...

"Boom!"

At the edge of the sky, a thunderclap boomed, and bright purple lightning ripped through the sky, striking the distant Forest.

This caught the attention of both Ian and Kim.

Just then...

On the gradually dampening ground, a lush, green, tooth-like vine suddenly attacked Ian and King.

Although their attention was focused on the centipede.

However, they naturally reacted quickly to this kind of minor attack.

"Bang!"

Kim kicked the other man away, while Ian stood calmly in place. With the [Disaster-Repelling Sticker] on him, he didn't believe he would be hurt at all. He'd let Kim do the talking.