Chapter 705: The Valley of Webs

For the sake of safety, before setting off, Qiao An cast a spell to bless himself and his companions with the "feather fall technique" one by one, so as not to stumble and fall.

The four of them slid down the steep slope and it took more than half an hour to reach the bottom of the slope.

At this time, Gulu had already scouted around the valley where the bottom of the slope was located, and brought back some new discoveries.

The terrain around the valley is flat, and towering stalagmites can be seen everywhere.

The soil is moist and fertile, the surface is covered with a thick layer of moss, and clusters of mushroom rings can be seen everywhere.

Such an environment is undoubtedly very suitable for the survival of insects, rodents and parasitic light-averse plants, and these lower organisms also provide abundant food for more ferocious predators, thus forming a rich and diverse ecosystem.

According to Gulu's observation, in this dark valley, there is a kind of mutant spider at the top of the food chain.

These spiders are as big as a wheel, with a round body that is black and shiny, eight jackknife-like slender legs and feet covered with thorns, and sharp mandibles with a faint blue color, which may be highly poisonous.

Gulu didn't dare to get close to observe these terrifying big spiders, and hurried back to his master to seek shelter.

Joan told his companions what Gulu had observed, and the four of them were fully alert and explored the depths of the valley along the sloping slope.

The miner's lamp casts a straight search beam, sweeping back and forth through the darkness.

Disturbed by the light, the underground moths that feed on mushrooms flapped their wings and soared into the air, and occasionally swarms of bats flew past.

The moths living in this valley are all as big as plates, and their bodies are covered with off-white fluff.

The bats seem to be about the same size as moths, but they specialize in hunting and killing such large moths, and show no interest in the four human explorers who broke into their homes.

Joan noticed that between adjacent stalagmites in the valley, there were almost always more than one huge spider webs.

The sticky threads used to weave this web, each as thick as an adult's thumb, look almost like transparent cables.

If the bats and moths chasing each other collide with the spider web, they will be stuck tightly, and they will not be able to escape even if they struggle desperately.

The spider silk trembled violently, startling the mutant spiders lurking in the dark, and they crawled out from the cracks in the rocks one after another.

These giant spiders swing their eight slender and flexible legs, and quickly climb onto the web along the thick spider silk. It is still a straw that is as sharp as a dagger, piercing deeply into the prey and injecting venom.

After just a few seconds, the prey is paralyzed by the venom, paralyzed and unable to move on the spider web.

In addition to causing paralysis, spider venom also contains special digestive juices that quickly dissolve the flesh of moths or bats into a sticky paste.

The mutant spider sucks the half-digested blood and flesh from the prey through a straw, and makes a "sigh" sound when eating, as if drinking a bowl of thick soup.

Within five minutes, the flesh and blood of the prey was drained, leaving only a thin, brittle shell stuck to the spider web.

After a full meal, the mutant spider shook its increasingly plump belly, extracted spider silk from its belly button, and repaired the damaged spider web.

The scene before them made Audrey and Hailar feel their scalps go numb.

In the eyes of the girls, the big fluffy spider is even more terrifying than the dragon. If it wasn't for the sake of face, they might have already retreated.

The four of them walked lightly, avoiding the area densely covered with spider webs, trying to avoid disturbing the mutant spiders.

However, when they tried their best and finally came to the pass leading to the depths of the valley, they couldn't help being dumbfounded.

Two cliffs rose from the ground and closed at the top, leaving only a narrow passage leading into the valley.

However, this only passage has been blocked by dense spider webs, as if there are countless heavy curtains hanging, blocking the sight of explorers.

Joan, Hailar, and Zion were forced to stop at the entrance of the valley, thinking about how to break the spider web blockade.

Considering that the spider web is flammable, Hailar took out two large bottles of "blazing glue" from his backpack, and planned to throw it over to ignite the spider web, and burn it clean.

Joan was worried that the fire would attract a large group of mutated spiders to attack, so he waved her hand to signal her not to rush to set the fire, and cast a spell to see what secrets were hidden in the depths of the valley covered by many spider webs.

The three-dimensional image generated by the "navigation compass" is not limited by the field of view, and can show the topographic features in the valley.

According to the zoom ratio of the map, Joan estimated that the straight-line distance from the entrance to the end of the valley is about 800 yards.

This path is not too long. The wide area is comparable to a square, and the narrow area is like a sheep's intestines. It can only be passed by one person.

Through the three-dimensional navigation map, Joan can also see that not only the entrance of the valley is blocked by spider webs, but the narrow area inside the valley is also covered by dense spider webs, making it impossible to move an inch.

The only drawback of the navigation compass is that it can only map landforms, but cannot show the specific location of local living creatures.

For example, in this underground valley entwined with spider silk, there are inevitably a large group of mutated spiders entrenched inside, but it is impossible to see it on the navigation compass.

To learn more about the ecology in the valley, the navigation compass alone is not enough. Joan needs to use a prophecy spell that can project his observation perspective into the valley.

"Apacenya!"

Joan softly recited a mantra representing "Foresight and Discovery".

The 3-ring "Eagle Eye" attached to the prosthetic eye can be cast up to 3 times a day.

Joan spent all of today's usage times in one breath, and compared the map generated by the navigation compass, he set up three magical observation points in succession inside the valley blocked by the spider web.

Three observation points, evenly spaced along the path through the valley, were about 200 yards from each other.

After casting the spell, Joan can switch his perspective to these three observation points at any time, and observe the situation around the observation points nearby.

Next, Joan shifted his perspective to the first observation point closest to Taniguchi.

The moment he switched his perspective, he felt dizzy.

When the mind regained consciousness, he found that he was already in the valley, his body was so light that there was no sense of existence, as if only a pair of eyes were left hanging in the air.

Joan looked around, and there was silence in the dark valley.

The airflow blowing from nowhere blows the cobwebs hanging between the cliffs layer upon layer, like white sails blowing in the wind.

Near each spider web, Joan could always find at least one huge poisonous spider, which seemed to be patiently waiting for its prey to come.

Joan glanced around the first observation point, and then switched to the second observation point two hundred yards away.

Probably by coincidence, the second observation point happened to be set in the middle of a wide spider web, and there was a big spider lying on the opposite side.