Chapter 383

  Jake took a quick glance around and then crossed the cavern toward one of the walls. The survivors in his path hurried to get out of his way, making room for him.

  He stopped before the rocky wall, which was uneven and jagged, with sharp protrusions and deep crevices. While it wasn’t a perfectly flat surface, it was still suitable for what he had in mind.

  With a mental command, he retrieved a formless black mass from his inventory, which was somewhat larger than a basketball but much heavier. He pressed it against the wall. The tumor instantly adhered to the rocky surface, and when he let go, it remained attached.

  Stepping back, he watched as the tumor gradually spread across the wall, creating a flat splotch of Corruption. A few seconds later, the process was complete: the black mass had expanded fivefold into a smooth patch.

  In his peripheral vision, Jake could see the nearby survivors exchanging appalled looks, asking one another, “What the heck is that thing?”

  He also noticed some of them gripping their weapons tightly, staring at the patch of Corruption with a mixture of fear and confusion etched on their faces.

  Their anxiety grew with each passing moment, and Jake could tell it would skyrocket when they witnessed the next stage of the process unfold. Some might even lose control and open fire, so he glanced over his shoulder at the group of survivors and said, “It’s okay. Don’t freak out. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

  To his dismay, his words had the opposite effect on them. The survivors grew even more tense, stepping away from the Corrupted wall, with some even aiming their weapons at it.

  Seeing this, Samantha stepped in, saying, “Lower your weapons. Stay calm, everyone.” She turned her head to shoot a quick look at Jake, raising her eyebrow as if silently asking him whether their nervousness was warranted.

  Jake said to them, “You have nothing to be afraid of.” He wanted to add that if he had anything against them and wanted to kill them, they would already have been dead. However, recalling how people had reacted to a similar comment earlier, he opted to keep it to himself.

  Turning his attention back to the patch of Corruption, Jake established a mental link with the Mana Core located in his main lair. With a thought, he selected a Transfer Maw from the list of available structures and positioned it within the patch of Corruption before him.

  The black splotch immediately began to change shape, turning into something else. The transformation process was quick, taking only a few seconds. Jake could hear the survivors murmuring behind him, trying to make sense of what was happening.

  This was the first time anyone had witnessed him create something. The Transfer Maw was still closed, so they had no idea what it was yet, but he had a feeling they might freak out once it opened.

  He decided he should make another effort to put them at ease. Glancing over his shoulder at them, he said one more time, “I’m gonna summon my crawlers now. When they appear, don’t freak out. Stay cool. They’re not going to hurt us. They only do what I tell them to.”

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  He then turned his attention back to the Transfer Maw and, with a mental command, requested some of his crawlers in the main lair to enter the Transfer Maw located there to be teleported to his current position.

  The Transfer Maw before him immediately opened, revealing what looked like an enormous circular mouth filled with sharp teeth.

  “Guys, are you seeing this?!” someone exclaimed behind him. “What the heck is that?”

  Jake didn’t bother to repeat his earlier words about staying calm. He continued staring into the Transfer Maw, waiting for his crawlers to show up.

  A few seconds passed before two long, multi-jointed legs emerged from the maw and landed on the ground, followed by the monstrous face of the first crawler and more legs.

  “What the heck is that thing?!” someone screamed behind him. “Guys, we gotta kill that thing!”

  Samantha shouted, “No! Don’t open fire! Stay calm, everyone!”

  As more of the crawler continued to emerge from the Transfer Maw, Samantha stepped closer to Jake and asked, “Is that what you were talking about?”

  “Yep. That’s one of my crawlers.”

  “What is going on right now exactly? Where is this creature coming from? Is this some kind of teleportation magic?”

  Jake simply nodded, not willing to explain how his lairs worked.

  Finally, the first crawler fully emerged from the Transfer Maw. It stood motionless before Jake, waiting for further commands. It was larger than a grown-up human being, looming over both Jake and Samantha, staring down at them.

  “It’s a freaking monster,” someone said behind Jake.

  “Look at the size of that spider!” another exclaimed.

  “How did it even squeeze out of that hole?” a third voice asked, directing the question to no one in particular.

  “I don’t like it,” Marcel chimed in. “We shouldn’t allow such monsters into our place, Sam.”

  The resistance fighters were obviously on edge, but at least they managed to keep their cool and refrain from opening fire. Jake mentally directed the crawler to retreat to the far corner of the cavern, away from the humans, and wait there.

  For the next several minutes, more and more crawlers emerged from the Transfer Maw. Jake directed them all to the same corner of the cavern. When he believed he had enough creatures at his command, he instructed the Transfer Maw to close.

  The humans kept their distance from the corner where the crawlers huddled. One of them turned to another and asked, “Are we really expected to go on the attack with those disgusting things?”

  Jake turned to Samantha and announced, “I’m heading to the mines now. I’ll start by taking out the mechs on the lowest level and then work my way up, dealing with the bandits and rescuing every group of captives I find. Your people can either follow me or stay here and wait for me to get the job done if they’re too scared. I don’t really care either way.”

  Without waiting for her reply, he turned away from her.

  He then instructed his crawlers to enter the tunnel leading out of the cavern and directed them to make their way to the lowest level of the mines, having already mentally shared the layout of the underground maze with them.

  Without another glance at Samantha and the other humans, he followed his huge arachnids into the tunnel.

  Cryptborn.