Redhead Cricket

Tzi Tzi Tzi Tzi!

Han Sen looked towards the deeper recesses of the cave. A red light was quickly approaching them.

When Han Sen saw it more clearly, he was quickly relieved. It was not a red light, it was, in fact, a redheaded cricket.

The felon was one meter in length, its body was like steel, and its wings had gold markings emblazoned on them. It was skittering towards them on its six legs. The four up front were small, whereas the two in the back were large. The head and the back of the creature possessed two beardlike whips, and the head itself glowed brightly like a shining ruby.

When the gold wings flapped, it made a strange sound that was painful to hear.

The power of its back legs was shocking to behold. It immediately leaped up towards Han Sen, and it looked at him with anger.

"Crap! It's a super creature. Run!" Han Sen grabbed Bao'er and took off running, with a surprising lack of concern for Ling Mei'er.

Ling Mei'er wasn't keen to hang around, either, and she followed after them. But she was slow, and she quickly found herself falling behind Han Sen. The monster would be sure to catch her.

Han Sen heard the sound of something banging around up ahead, and it was then that he realized the cave narrowed to allow only one person to pass through at a time. Snake King was outside, slamming into the stone to widen the way.

But by the time its work was done and it could get to Ling Mei'er, she'd be dead.

Seeing the red cricket behind Ling Mei'er, looking like a hellborn devil with its serrated teeth grimacing in pursuit, Han Sen imagined it'd be capable of tearing through steel with ease.

Han Sen jumped backwards, up and over the struggling Ling Mei'er's head. He gave her a pat on the back which pushed her out of the way of the cricket's incoming attack.

Han Sen saw the redhead cricket's teeth nip and gnash at each other in its sordid mouth, making squelching sounds as it did.

Quickly, Han Sen then jumped over the cricket's head and patted its back, too.

He had given it a slap with Super Spank engaged. But he was only able to make its sequence structure tremble a little, and it felt as if Han Sen was bringing his hand against thick, unbreakable steel.

Han Sen landed ten meters behind the cricket. After the hit, the completely-uninjured cricket turned around to look at the bold human.

"Come this way. Chase me, you stupid bug!" Han Sen flipped the bird at the cricket and took off running, back deeper into the cave.

Tzi Tzi!

The redheaded cricket squealed, leaping after Han Sen.

When Ling Mei'er saw what Han Sen had done and that the cricket was going after him, a mesh of emotions crossed her face. She was touched by his courage.

Unfortunately, despite how fast Han Sen could run, the cricket would eventually catch up to him, too. And so it did, shortly after.

Han Sen was able to summon a Grenade Mushroom to throw at the cricket, but it would have been a pointless move. He only had ordinary variants of the explosive 'shrooms, and they'd likely do nothing to the super creature in hot pursuit.

"Bao'er, give me the Grenade Mushrooms you possess!" Han Sen shouted as he ran.

Bao'er complied and quickly gave all her beast souls to Han Sen. Han Sen was shocked at what he received. There were eleven. Ten of them were sacred-blood grenades, and one of them was a super grenade.

Han Sen hadn't expected this to be how he received his first super beast soul as a demi-god. It almost made him angry. He'd spent half the day receiving only ordinary beast souls, but Bao'er had amassed sacred-blood and super beast souls with ease.

But there was no time to mourn those sour results right now. The redheaded cricket was right behind him, ready to strike Han Sen's backside.

Han Sen lobbed one of the sacred-blood grenades directly into the cricket's hungry maw. It rattled down its windpipe until Han Sen heard a low boom. After that, the cricket was gone from sight, vanished in a heavy white mist.

The shockwave blew Han Sen away, and he was sent hurling into a wall.

"One-time use beast souls are stronger than the average variety, that's for sure. That power was almost equivalent to that exhibited by super creatures." Han Sen stood up, merrily narrating to himself.

But the smile on his face was quickly lost, as the cricket emerged alive, staggering out of the dust. The mushroom had not damaged it. There was no blood, and its lifeforce showed no sign of being any weaker than it was before.

Han Sen got back to the chase by quickly running away. The cave was a labyrinth of complicated pathways, and Han Sen had to use this to his advantage. If he didn't evade the cricket with care, it'd surely catch up and bring him to a grisly end.

The cricket was determined to hunt Han Sen down, though. Nothing swayed its resolve, despite Han Sen lobbing a sacred-blood Grenade Mushroom every time he found himself in a dangerous spot. It helped to slow the creature down.

After an hour of this running, Han Sen had almost run out of grenades. He was down to his last: the super Grenade Mushroom.

The cave ahead suddenly widened, and Han Sen took off for this expansive cavern.

Han Sen ran through it as quickly as he could, and then took off flying towards the Holy Vines he could see creeping across the stone high above.

The cricket was able to fly, and it came after him just as it had been.

Han Sen reached the ceiling of the cave with the cricket at his heels.

Han Sen was going to be swallowed by the rampaging creature if he didn't move fast, so he swirled through the air in an arc like a swooping bird to avoid it.

Boom!

The redheaded cricket hit the cavern's ceiling, and the vines reached out like snakes, lecherously tangling the insect up.

Han Sen didn't want to stick around, as he was unsure whether or not he was immune to the Holy Vine's aggression like Bao'er was.

Han Sen saw the cricket squeal and struggle the best it could, unable to get itself free.

"That Holy Vine is powerful. Not even super creatures can escape its grip." Han Sen was shocked.