Chapter 280: Crest to Trough (1/2)

It was dark all around, the air still, suffused with a mild chill. A hollow cone extended to the top, blanketed by a hemispherical dome. The walls were made of sand, slightly hardened with saliva.

It was hardened to the extent capable of maintaining its structural rigidity against the natural phenomenon. The moment anything artificial affected it, the ceiling would collapse, bringing down the cause into it.

Prowling at the bottom, with its body covered by a thin layer of sand was a Crust-Mantle. It was larger than the others, its presence grand. When the ceiling collapsed, it was just about to lunge at its prey when it noticed its brethren falling.

It swiftly climbed up, going above its brethren while inspecting its condition. On seeing that it was perfectly fine, the Crust-Mantle was confused for a moment before deciding to see things for itself. Moreover, unlike the others, it was a Tier 2 being, top of the food chain on the layer it resided.

Every day, it resisted a certain feeling that prompted it to proceed down. It would go down and return the moment the feeling subsided. After all, the layers below were incredibly dangerous for it. But here, it was at the peak.

The Crust-Mantle climbed out and immediately unleashed its aura, preventing any Frenzy Beast from attacking it. It looked around, failing to find any Frenzy Beast in its vicinity. Its brethren lay at the bottom, heaving ragged breaths, looking tired.

The Crust-Mantle was confused, unable to glean the reason as to why it was like that. It activated its Tier 1 Skill, failing to find any abnormal sound that hinted at the presence of a third party.

But suddenly, its instincts warned it, causing it to clamp its mandibles while making a turn. Though, the moment it did was when its body froze in fear, its form hurriedly kneeling on the ground. It even buried its face partway into the sand, expressing utmost subservience.

Its body trembled, the exoskeleton rattling, producing a sound akin to seashells crashing into each other. As time passed, it lifted its trembling head, noticing an image that almost sent it into unconsciousness.

It was a grass stalk, the stem bigger than its body, its form reaching the ceiling. Its front part drooped low, almost approaching half its height while a part of the step touched the ceiling. Hanging on the tip was a flower bud, resembling a hibiscus.

The flower bud was facing a different direction. Only now did the Crust-Mantle notice another of its brethren present in the flower bud's line of sight. It was similarly kneeling, burrowing most of its body into the sand as a sign of respect and devotion, but mostly in fear.

Slowly, the flower bud turned its way, gentle in its approach. The Crust-Mantle immediately tensed up in response. The moment the tip of the flower bud trembled, its body shivered with greater intensities.

Suddenly, it made eye contact with the tip, shuddering in fear. From within the tip emerged a vine, sporting leaves at discrete locations. The vine curved in the air, making its way towards the Crust-Mantle.

The Crust-Mantle felt something pierce its head, its fear surpassing its zenith. Its instincts warned it to escape but its reason prevented it from doing so. It remembered the deepest memory it could recall, something vividly etched in its mind, unable to be forgotten despite everything it tried.

Even with its lacking intelligence, it knew not to defy the vine. The moment it did so would a disaster ensue. It was something it knew, came across, and even witnessed. Therefore, it gazed in silence as the vine drilled into its head.

A couple of moments later, its consciousness blacked out. Pulling out a spindle from its head, Jyorta looked at the dead Crust-Mantle before it. Based on his experience, he triggered its deepest memories using the aura personification of hallucination.

Moreover, he used the memory he had obtained from the first Crust-Mantle he had encountered, using that as a base to null its foe's resistance. Finally, when it died, and its soul started to collapse, he easily invaded it and obtained all its memory fragments.

Of them, he only took in the memory fragments that had been stirred up due to the scene the Crust-Mantle had witnessed. Now he knew for sure that the memory fragments he selected were related to that incident.

'Using that incident, I can easily kill the Crust-Mantles. It is almost too easy; the psychic energy I expended now is less than what I had used against the Tier 1 Floating Spider earlier. Moreover, this is a Tier 2 Crust-Mantle.' Jyorta used his spindle to drill at a certain location under one of the Crust-Mantle's hinge joints.

There, the muscles paved way as his spindle penetrated, soon reaching the heart. After a couple of seconds of drilling, he retracted the spindle and fished out a Heart Crystal. Through the aura the Crust-Mantle had emitted when it surfaced, Jyorta grasped its Sync Rate.