10 Midnight Fright

The underground camp was huge. After some cleaning up, the soldiers installed torches that illuminated the area. A bonfire was also set up right in the middle, so the smoke could exit from above.

Zhang Yang assigned manpower to night rotation and ensured that there were enough torches and firewood before letting the soldiers eat dinner.

After dinner, he arranged for Wu Yuan, as well as the other 11 elite soldiers to rest near him.

It wasn't that he was timid and afraid of death, but because if accidents happened at night, he could instantly activate the Level 2 Protection—it would be fine if ordinary soldiers died, but not if the elites came to any harm.

Zhang Yang was rather exhausted at that moment. After making the arrangements, he quickly went to sleep. Thanks to his B- soul, he didn't even have nightmares and had a wonderful rest.

Until some time later.

"Ahhhhh!"

A harsh scream suddenly echoed, waking Zhang Yang from his sleep. He quickly reacted, activating the Level 2 Protection before going to check on the situation.

The bonfire was still there. The torches were burning and nothing seemed to be wrong with the soldiers. The only issue was that there was one dead person—an ordinary soldier had just been killed. His eyes were widened in horror as a tree root punctured his back and through his heart.

But other than that, nothing moved.

"Did anyone see anything?"

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Zhang Yang nervously asked. He had arranged a total of five teams to be on night duty, with five soldiers per team. This already involved a lot of people. With the illumination of the flames, one could clearly see the underground space.

"I-I didn't, Village Chief. Zhao Shitou went to take a leak and was stabbed to death by that thing the moment he turned around," a soldier on night duty replied with a pale face.

"Is that a tree root? Go and take a look."

Zhang Yang's heart beat like a drum. Some horror film clips that he had seen couldn't help but flash in his head.

Damn, I haven't learned any ghost-hunting skills yet.

Several soldiers boldly walked over, as if there was nothing there, except for the root that had just grown out of the mud.

One soldier raised his sword and attempted to cut the root off. But at that moment, the mud splattered. Another tree root suddenly emerged from the soil and pierced his neck!

Beads of blood sprayed into the air. He wasn't going to live.

This horrifying scene happened right under everyone's eyes. It was simply terrifying. As it was too sudden, Zhang Yang, who was thinking about different horror scenes, almost screamed out loud.

Wu Yuan retreated, yelling and pulling the dazed soldiers back to their senses. At that moment, they witnessed countless tree roots drill beneath the mud in all directions, before forcing their way out of the surface.

The tree roots seemed to have come to life. They frantically swayed and extended like a demon with countless tentacles.

"Goddammit! Fight! Cut them down!" the furious Zhang Yang hysterically shouted.

What the hell is going on?

How come nothing like this happened when the spiders settled down here? But when I live here for a day—hell, only half a day—this happens?

The fantasy world can be so unruly at times. Where's the balance and fairness? Has it been devoured by a dog?!

The battle turned white-hot as soon as it began. Although the soldiers were incredibly brave, the sinister tree roots that came alive were even more ferocious. Not only that, but the trajectory of their attacks were also really tricky as they drilled away and emerged from every direction!

Without a choice, Zhang Yang sent the elite soldiers, who temporarily contained the tree roots. Yes, it was only temporary because even after the tree roots were cut off, they regrew at a fast pace. Zhang Yang couldn't contain himself any longer. He retrieved a sword, ran up, and frantically hacked at them.

Soon after, some soldiers were wounded and dead. They fought, retreated, and were forced to gather in one spot. Not only that, but they also had to guard against the roots burrowing out from the ceiling.

Why the hell are those tree roots so vigorous?

More and more tree roots infiltrated the underground space. Torches were extinguished and the bonfire was crushed. The entire space was in pitch-blackness and only the soldiers' dying scream echoed.

There were a total of 38 men in Zhang Yang's Level 2 Protection, including himself. The space was so restricted that they couldn't even fight, especially in this dark environment.

Fortunately, those crafty tree roots couldn't shatter the Level 2 Protection. They wandered and extended outside the energy shield. Zhang Yang used the lighter and saw countless gnarled roots merging into an impermeable cage, trapping the 38 of them entirely.

There was no way out. The tree roots were still growing and they filled up every last gap. If this were to continue, the tree roots didn't even need to shatter the Level 2 Protection. Just the lack of air would be enough to end the lives of the 38 men.

This is terrible. What exactly is the reason? Why were the spiders unharmed when they lived here?

Zhang Yang was desperate. No, he was still able to maintain the most basic calmness. He knew that the tree roots wouldn't appear without a reason.

There must be a reason.

The two spider lords must have had some ways to repel and contain the tree root demons. After Zhang Yang and his soldiers occupied the space, they also unknowingly destroyed that method.

"Wait, is it because of the spiders' venom?"

As this thought flashed through Zhang Yang's mind like a shooting star, he instantly understood the situation.

That's right. The reason why the spider lords could settle here unharmed must be because of their venom.

Zhang Yang remembered the first time he saw the spider nest. The deep pit was covered in a few hundred meters of asphalt-like black substance, and the interior of the nest was also coated with it at every corner too.

Within 300 meters, there were no trees that could survive. And even farther than 300 meters away, there were a large number of trees hideously tangled.

That was caused by the venom's erosion and it was also the most important line of defense that the spider nest had to resist the tree root demon.

But after Zhang Yang occupied the place, he had his soldiers clear out a large area of the black asphalt-like substance and also thoroughly cleaned this underground space.

That was tantamount to destroying that line of defense.

That explained why within a few hours, after Zhang Yang finished hunting in the forest and led his soldiers back into the underground camp, he saw that the trees that had suddenly become vibrant. As a matter of fact, the trees actually began their attack at that moment.

So even though this battle seemed abrupt, it wasn't actually all that much.

Zhang Yang was chagrined that he didn't even consider this until now, which resulted in so many soldiers' death.

But what should I do? Apply the spider venom to the swords and spears?

Impossible.

The 38 of them were packed like sardines in the twenty square meter space. There was no way to apply the venom. If anyone was poisoned as a result, it would be more than worth the loss.

"Move over. Let me pass."

After some quick thinking, Zhang Yang came up with a simple solution. He didn't apply the venom, but threw it at the tree root demon instead. Anyway, the venom wouldn't hurt the soldiers who were inside the Level 2 Protection, but should be able to scare off the tree root demon.

Forcing his way to the edge of the energy shield, Zhang Yang adjusted his posture as much as he could and retrieved all of the 50 units of Black Spider Venom from the Village Building Order. The venom seemed to be loaded in a soft poison sac that resembled a big balloon. Without any hesitation, he threw out the sac.

At the next second, he and the soldiers heard a deep, odd voice and the ground began to rumble, which felt more like an earthquake. Countless dirt and stones fell from the ceiling and buried them alive.

The mysterious voice continued to resound, as if in pain or anger, but it didn't seem to be useful in any way.

After a few minutes, the space outside the energy shield quieted down. The owner of that voice seemed to be dead, but the Village Building Order didn't capture anything as there was no kill information.

But Zhang Yang couldn't wait any longer. If they didn't break out of the energy shield, they would be suffocated alive.

"Dig a passage!"

Everyone dug upward like madmen. After 10 minutes, they successfully dug out of the ground like wretched groundhogs and then, they all froze.