Weapons That Can Be Used on the Dark Continent

The Poison Mist Centipede had nearly thrust its entire head into the opened shell of the Meat Sucking Bug, feasting greedily, when it suddenly pulled its head out. The antennae on its head reached toward Gelman.

Bloody chunks of flesh fell from its horrifying mouthparts onto the ground.

It found me this quickly?

The Lantern by Gelman's feet showed "Cooled Down." This time, he did not choose to return immediately. Instead, he continued walking toward the centipede.

The Poison Mist Centipede used its antennae to probe the scent of this Unknown creature. Seeing him approach, it paused in confusion for a moment before crawling down from the Meat Sucking Bug.

I'll try using speed.

Gelman conjured a Blunderbuss and a Meat Saw, then suddenly sprinted to the side and circled around to the Poison Mist Centipede's left.

The Poison Mist Centipede had poor eyesight and could only rely on its antennae to track Gelman's movements, so it reacted half a beat too slowly.

Gelman raised the Meat Saw and viciously chopped down on one of the enormous walking legs!

"Splat!"

The dull blade of the Meat Saw struck the joint of the Poison Mist Centipede's leg with the brutal force of a butcher hacking through a pig's shank bone.

One of the Poison Mist Centipede's legs was severed!

A beastlike shriek came from its mouthparts as it twisted its segmented body, turned around, and tried to bite Gelman.

Gelman could see its mandibles still slick with viscous blood and smell the foul stench. Without hesitation, he raised the Blunderbuss and fired at its mouthparts.

"Bang!"

The Blunderbuss blast shattered one of the Poison Mist Centipede's mandibles. In pain, it writhed its flat, elongated body, its howls still eerily beastlike.

After firing that shot, Gelman did not greedily press the attack. Instead, he swiftly retreated, opening up a considerable distance.

As it turned out, he had made the right choice.

Just as Gelman moved more than ten meters away, the Poison Mist Centipede once again shook its body with a "rustle, rustle, rustle," much like a rattlesnake shaking the keratin rings at the end of its tail.

A black, smoky poisonous mist spread out, containing enough toxin to poison a Meat Sucking Bug the size of a car.

I knew you'd use poison... Gelman had anticipated this.

The poisonous mist emitted by the Poison Mist Centipede was both a hunting method and a means of self-defense.

However, its eyesight had already been poor, and now the poisonous mist even interfered with its antennae's senses, putting it at a disadvantage instead.

Is this what they mean by weaving your own cocoon?

Gelman took a Remote Bomb from his Backpack, planted his feet in a bow stance, and hurled it with all his strength into the pitch-black poisonous mist.

After hearing it hit the ground, he picked up the remote and pressed the detonation button.

"Boom!"

The sudden explosion and the orange flames shooting into the sky silenced the entire Arid River Valley for a moment.

The poisonous mist was either dispersed or mixed with the gunpowder smoke.

Gelman heard no movement, but he did not rashly approach. On the contrary, he stepped back a few more paces in case the wind changed and blew the poisonous mist toward him.

The flames and smoke soon dissipated, allowing Gelman to make out the Poison Mist Centipede's silhouette.

The train-sized beast lay overturned on its side as if it had derailed, curled into a flattened ball. Black blood gushed from the huge gash blown open by the bomb.

After only a brief stillness, its densely packed legs began moving again, like a cockroach found in a corner after it had been flipped onto its back.

Gelman clenched the hand holding the Meat Saw's handle into a fist and rested it on his waist, tilting his head slightly. "So it really wasn't going to be that easy?"

The creatures of the Dark Continent were said to be terrifying.

But humans were no less terrifying, especially with all the weapons they had invented.

As long as they did not encounter creatures with overly Pervert abilities, humanity still had a place on the Dark Continent.

Bombs were among humanity's most frightening weapons. They had continued to be improved and upgraded since their invention, with no sign of becoming obsolete.

Among the Remote Bombs Gelman could get his hands on, this was the only model with decent yield that he could carry on his person.

Even so, it had only injured part of the Poison Mist Centipede's body.

Do I really have to risk another wave of poisonous mist and finish it myself with the Blunderbuss and Meat Saw?

He had brought a Gas Mask.

Just as Gelman was weighing whether it was worth it, he heard the sound of wings beating through the air.

"Whoosh—"

He looked up and saw another giant beast flying in from the opposite side of the river valley.

It was a moth flapping grayish-brown scaled wings. Its size was equally beyond imagination; with its wings spread, it was even slightly larger than the Poison Mist Centipede.

The Poison Mist Centipede's antennae twitched, as though it sensed death coming to claim it. It desperately twisted its segmented body, trying to release more poisonous mist.

However, first, it had already produced a massive amount of poisonous mist in a short time to deal with the Meat Sucking Bug and Gelman, and was now running short; second, this giant Ripple Moth also had a way to deal with poisonous mist.

It flew into the air beyond the reach of the poisonous mist and slowly, powerfully beat its scaled wings.

A whirlwind was stirred up by its wings, effortlessly dispersing the poisonous mist.

The Gale Ripple Moth was in no hurry to strike. It kept fanning whirlwinds at the Poison Mist Centipede while displaying the ripples on its wings, like the pupils of a savage beast's eyes.

The Poison Mist Centipede seemed terrified, constantly releasing poisonous mist, only for it to be blown away each time by the Gale Ripple Moth's whirlwinds.

As this cycle repeated, the amount of poisonous mist the Poison Mist Centipede could shake out grew smaller and smaller.

Gelman had finally seen through the hunting methods within this food chain.

In order to hunt and evade natural predators, the Meat Sucking Bug had evolved a camouflage-colored outer shell.

In order to hunt the Meat Sucking Bug and evade the Gale Ripple Moth, the Poison Mist Centipede had evolved poisonous mist.

Now, the Gale Ripple Moth, one level above the Poison Mist Centipede, had evolved scaled wings capable of stirring fierce winds in order to prey on it.

Gelman gradually understood how one could truly gain a foothold on the Dark Continent.

Besides calmness, composure, Nen abilities, weapons from the human world, and so on, he could also make use of the existing food chain.

By fanning away the Poison Mist Centipede's poisonous mist, the Gale Ripple Moth had created a hard-won opportunity for Gelman.

He took out the rope originally meant for climbing the river valley cliffs from his backpack and strode toward the Gale Ripple Moth and the Poison Mist Centipede.

As the distance closed, Gelman seized the moment and swung the climbing rope from his hand. The hook at its end caught precisely around the Gale Ripple Moth's neck.

With a powerful tug, he yanked the enormous Gale Ripple Moth violently toward the ground.

Caught off guard by Gelman's ambush, the Gale Ripple Moth crashed into the Poison Mist Centipede on the ground like a meteor!

"Bang!"

The two colossal beasts collided, kicking up a cloud of dust in a sorry mess.