One of the Iron Guard Battalion soldiers beside Wolf dashed forward, drawing the short sword at his waist.
A heat wave burst forth.
The tempered, half-extinguished dark red glow covered the entire blade.
Sizzle.
When the short sword struck the Crawler, it unexpectedly failed to cut in at once.
The extreme heat instantly left a charred mark on the Crawler's body.
But the Crawler did not die.
It let out a shriek and crawled backward.
The other Crawlers had clearly been frightened by the scene as well. Instinctively, they crawled back several steps, widening the distance between themselves and the group.
"Captain, this won't do. They really are hard to kill."
The man sheathed his short sword, frowning slightly as he spoke to Wolf.
"Since they aren't a threat for now, should we ignore them and keep moving?"
Wolf asked Lu Yuan.
"Mm. Light two more lamps."
As the group passed through the Crawlers' territory.
The figures on the ceiling followed them all the way to the edge of the area, then stopped, clinging there as they watched the group depart.
They continued downward.
The passage began sloping toward the Water Collection Chamber, and the sweetness in the air grew stronger and stronger—so strong that it could be clearly smelled even through their scarves.
[Environmental Perception: A powerful Source of Pollution detected... Recommended to stay away...]
Lu Yuan tightened his mask.
It was coming.
By now, the walls on both sides were completely covered in thick layers of gray-green Fungal Hyphae.
The Iron Guard Battalion at the front found it increasingly difficult to clear a path.
After prolonged use, the dark red patterns on their short swords began to fade. The area each strike could carbonize shrank from half a meter at first to only twenty or thirty