Nest

Jone realized that climbing the waterfall would be a bit challenging, but that cave caught his attention.

It didn't seem to have formed naturally, and he imagined there might be something interesting inside.

"I'll go for the simple." Jone said as he began to run quickly towards the waterfall and then jumped as high as he could. Red claws appeared in both of his hands as he landed on the wall beside the falling water.

His claws pierced the rocks, and Jone began to climb until he reached close to where the small cave was.

Shortly after, he looked to the side and could see the entrance of the cave, but to enter, he would have to pass through the water falling from the waterfall.

Jone then held onto the wall with just one hand while he put his other arm under the water, and as he thought, the water didn't harm him, but he had to make an effort not to fall.

"Maybe I'll hurt a bit if I fall, but I won't die, so it's fine, I guess," Jone thought as he began to climb to the side, trying to reach the cave.

Soon his body was completely under the water as he moved with all his might not to fall. Quickly, Jone reached the cave and jumped inside.

"What a horrible smell! Did something rot here? What a foul odor."

Jone exclaimed, covering his nose as he reached the cave. There was a strong smell that he had never experienced before.

"Tsk, not even the corpses of the beasts I killed had such a bad smell," Jone said, disturbed as he looked around the cave.

The entrance was small, but inside, it was slightly more extensive.

At the end of the cave, the only different thing Jone saw, besides the rocks, was a hole in the ground at the end of the cave.

Jone approached and stood beside the hole. This hole was large enough for a person with arms wide open to fall through.

"Where does this lead?" Jone looked down, extremely curious about where this place led.

"Is this water?" He spotted water below; the hole led to a great depth. Jone picked up a stone and threw it into the hole.

After a considerable time, he heard the loud sound of the stone hitting the water.

"A lake? It seems there's a lake down there, but this color is a bit strange."

The water below was murky and looked dirty.

After thinking for a while in silence, looking at the hole, Jone jumped.

Quickly, Jone fell down the hole while his mind was focused.

'Three'

'Two'

'One'

"Now!" Jone exclaimed as red claws emerged from his nails again. The claws pierced the rocks as he spread his legs to hold onto the walls and not fall into the water.

"It worked!" Jone exclaimed while letting out a sigh of relief.

He looked at the lake closely and saw that it was completely dirty. An even worse smell reached his nose, almost making him vomit.

"What the hell is this? The smell here is three times worse. What is this place? Luckily, I didn't fall directly into the water, or I would have died from this stench."

He looked at the lake while focusing his gaze on the water. Then, a bit of energy from his dantian was sent to his left eye.

Jone stared at the lake attentively as he suddenly understood why this place smelled so bad.

There were eggs under the murky water—countless eggs, all brown. The dirt in the lake was the remains of dead beasts that had been rotting for who knows how long.

"Shit, I shouldn't have entered this place."

Before he could regret it, Jone heard a terrifying, high-pitched scream that hurt his ears.

Jone felt the walls he was holding onto tremble as a giant brown worm suddenly leaped from the water.

"I need to escape!" he exclaimed, turning to climb and leave this place. But before he could, he felt his right eye pulse, sensing an extreme danger.

Jone didn't hesitate and let go of the wall with his hands and feet. If he did nothing, he would fall into the lake.

He instantly pulled out the scythe from his ring.

'Lunar Scythe 1° Stage'

Quickly, the gray energy from his dantian ran through his entire body as he felt lighter, more agile, and had full control of the scythe. Then he cut with the scythe upwards as fast as he could.

The scythe's blade stuck to the ceiling of the cave as Jone hung, holding onto the scythe's tip. In the second, after Jone hung on the ceiling, a green liquid passed by his body and entered the hole where he had been standing before.

The stones in that place started to dissolve rapidly in that terrible liquid.

"Damn, that was terrifying," Jone thought as he took a deep breath.

Then another terrible scream was heard, this time even louder and from someone who seemed completely irritated.

A small amount of blood began to ooze out of Jone's ears.

Jone looked at the worm and felt a slight shiver; it was completely enormous, over fifteen meters long, and its width was equal to the hole Jone had descended.

There were thousands of teeth around its disgusting mouth, which was green due to the liquid it used to attack Jone.

"Is this… a giant corrosive worm nest?"