Chapter 2456 Death Knell Beetle

"Don't go! Don't go! Of course not!" Elder Gu was terrified and shook his head again and again, "This is no joke, I haven't lived enough!"

Joan smiled considerately, waved goodbye to the Dungeon Beast, manipulated the "Peeping Eye" to explore the way ahead, and continued to explore in the direction pointed by the Dungeon Beast.

The Glass Eye flew through the rugged underground tunnel for half an hour. The terrain in front of it became open, and there were indeed two forks in the empty cave.

With the help of the "myth link", Joan observed the fork in the road through the magic eye.

Messy scratches are clearly visible near the left intersection of the grotto, most of which are traces left by the frequent entry and exit of the death knell beetle, while on the right side a hundred yards away, the entrance of the tunnel is almost completely covered by the "Eye of Air Spores", scattered around the Broken bones and nails suggest potential danger.

Qiao An switched the observation angle back to the main body, pulled Elder Gua directly to the cave where the fork in the road was located, shook the Styx robe, and the flesh and blood body turned into a ghost, and floated silently to the area where "the eyes of air spores are overgrown.

"Little mage! Are you really going to provoke the beholder?" The old swamp man hurriedly chased up to dissuade him, "Although you are already a level 15 mage, don't forget that the ten eye stalks of the beholder can be released at will. Different magic rays, the ability to cast spells is equivalent to that of a quasi-legendary warlock!"

"It is said that the beholder can also open a supernatural barrier called the 'anti-magic cone', which is like an enhanced version of the 'anti-magic field'. If you are covered by the 'anti-magic cone', no matter how powerful your mana is Can't even use it!"

"Of course I know that." Joan turned her head and said to Gumoduo, "If the beholder's main eye opens the 'anti-magic cone', then her own magic rays will also be suppressed, and she can only fight hand-to-hand."

"So what about hand-to-hand combat? We still can't beat the beholder!" Elder Gu said with a wry smile, "The beholder is treacherous by nature, and he will definitely set up all kinds of sinister and vicious traps in his lair, raise a large number of slaves, plus The beholder's own hand-to-hand combat ability is not bad, and if there is a conflict in its lair, even the legendary powerhouse may not be sure of victory! Little mage, I beg you, please, don't play dead!"

"Elder, don't be so nervous, okay. I didn't plan to explore the Beholder Cave today. I just wanted to observe the terrain and record the coordinates here. Maybe it will come in handy in the future."

Joan took out the "navigation compass" and showed him the map coordinates just saved.

Of course, the old boggard could see that this daring little mage hadn't completely given up on exploring the Beholder's Cave, otherwise why bother to write down the coordinates of this place, he sighed and didn't want to say anything more.

Joan put away the "navigation compass", returned to the entrance of the tunnel on the left, and remotely controlled the "monitoring magic eye" to enter the depths of the tunnel for investigation.

The tunnel was about two hundred yards long, and ended in a honeycomb-like nest, where large beetles were busy coming and going.

Although they are Coleoptera insects, the behavior of the death knell beetle is closer to that of ants. They are good at using their powerful jaws to dig out the sand, continuously expand the space inside the nest, and dig tunnels to the outside world.

The death knell beetle looks similar to the picture in the literature. It has a bright red hard carapace and a huge chitinous protrusion extending from its forehead. " way to communicate with the same kind.

Joann didn't understand why this creature was named "Death Knell Beetle".

The "bell" will only sound when it is struck by external force, and the horn is a wind instrument. Judging from the way it sounds, this creature is named "horn beetle"—or "horn bug" like the burrowing beast ——More appropriate.

Thirty-six glass magic eyes were scattered in every corner of the nest. Joan kept switching the viewing angles, and initially estimated that the total number of death knell beetles in the nest was between one and two hundred, and most of them were nymphs with a body length of no more than five feet. , From current observations, the number of adults only accounts for about one-seventh of the entire population.

Judging from the age distribution of the death knell beetle population, Joan suspects that this supernatural insect spends most of its life in the nymph stage. Once it is fully mature, its lifespan will be limited, and it must fulfill its mission of mating and reproduction as soon as possible— Among insects in nature, this phenomenon is not uncommon.

Is a creature that is about to die after adulthood really suitable as a druid's animal companion?

Qiao An was deeply suspicious of this, so he asked Elder Gu for advice.

"You don't have to worry about this. The soul contract that our druids have made with our animal companions can transform the animal companions from ordinary animals or insects into magical creatures. As long as I am still alive, my animal companions will not die of old age." The old swamp man explained with a smile.

Joan nodded knowingly, switched the viewing angle to the insect nest again, and activated "advanced inner vision" through a glass magic eye to detect the immature death knell beetle nearby.

...

Reconnaissance target: Death knell beetle (nymph) (medium-sized supernatural insect, Coleoptera) × 75

Life Level: Level 6

Attributes: Strength 18, Dexterity 12, Constitution 18, Intelligence 1, Wisdom 11, Charisma 11

Abilities: Insect traits, darkvision, sense of smell, absorption of sonic damage, burrowing, sonic scream (30-foot cone spread, causing 5-level sonic damage), other (unidentified)

...

Just as he was concentrating on the investigation, Joan vaguely heard the crisp sound of glass shattering, and couldn't help but tremble. He quickly counted the "peeping magic eyes", and sure enough, one of them had just been destroyed.

In fact, it was just an accident.

The death knell beetle did not realize that its lair was being monitored, but communicated with its kind in the distance through the sound waves emitted by the trumpet-shaped antennae above its head, and the unfortunate glass magic eye happened to be in the sound wave diffusion area, and the fragile glass bead suffered Can't stop the sound wave impact, bursting on the spot.

The trumpet-shaped organ of the death knell beetle has both the functions of sounding and listening, and its hearing is extremely keen. When they heard abnormal movements, they turned around and surrounded them. The horn above their heads was buzzing, probably discussing how a pile of broken glass sprang out of nowhere in the nest. .

After a brief but intense debate, the Death Knell Beetles seem to have reached a consensus that this abnormal incident is regarded as an ominous omen, and it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation of the outside of the nest to find out whether there are other uninvited guests sneaking in secretly. .

Joan hurriedly controlled the remaining thirty-five glass magic eyes to fly to a secluded corner to hide, but the death knell beetles were obviously more familiar with their lair than him, and soon several magic eyes were exposed and were bombarded by the "sonic scream" into shattered glass.

There are various signs that the lair has been invaded by rogues. The death knell beetles became agitated and rushed into the tunnel leading to the outside of the lair in order to expand their patrol area.

Thank you book friend: tce, reward 400 starting coins this week