Chapter 374: Dance Baby~

Through the open section of the hollow tube, transparent mist seeped out. The mist dispersed like the wind, spreading in the direction Jyorta pointed the open section towards. He aimed it at the ceiling of the path, having noticed the nests of the Floating Spiders when the Two-Faced Firefly lit up the area.

The mist spread towards the ceiling, getting inhaled by the residents within the nests. Jyorta calmly stood in patience, using his stronger psychic arm to create a sphere around it. The two-layered defensive front was to resist the ensuing chaos.

'Five…four…three…two…one…and bam!' Jyorta immediately crouched to the ground, filling the volume under his domain with his aura personification of hallucination, creating a scene where a large rock existed in the area. This was to prevent the Floating Spiders from bumping into him.

Screech!

Numerous screeches resounded from the ceiling, alerting every other Frenzy Beast in the path. The Two-Faced Fireflies were startled awake, escaping from their hiding spots as they unleashed their light in a flurry. The entire path was immediately brightened up as Jyorta adjusted his barriers to remain invisible under the changing ambience.

He gazed above, watching numerous bumps form on the silk layer above him, a sign of infighting. Some Floating Spiders drilled out of their homes, trying to escape as numerous mandibles clamped on their abdomens, dragging them inside.

Helpless screeches resounded from all directions; the ensuing scuttling sounds made his skin crawl. Jyorta craned his head upward, noticing that the Floating Spiders battled only within their nests. Without any hesitation, he dashed forward with all his might, trying his best to minimise the sounds of his sprint.

The Two-Faced Fireflies lit up the entire path as they flew around in panic, allowing him to dodge all the webbed traps the Floating Spiders had laid. When he came across places where the entire breadth of the path was covered by the traps, his stronger psychic arm turned jet black as he corroded a way through. Thanks to their infighting, they were unable to react to the breach.

The scuttling sounds and the vivacious screeches were starting to die down. After all, Jyorta had only activated the Tier 3 Relic for less than a second. Moreover, his objective was only to create some disturbance to pass through layer 1. And, activating it even once consumed more than twenty percent of his psychic energy. The drain was so massive he dared not use it unless necessary.

"Huff…puff…the gap between Tier 2 and Tier 3 is even wider than between Tier 1 and Tier 2." Jyorta panted, gasping for breath as he arrived at the end of layer 1. Running for almost 300 metres in an uneven terrain with a strained mental condition—trying his best to avoid bumping into any Frenzy Beast—was exhausting.

He used his psychic arm to push forth a triangular corner of the web wall, sliding through the gap. It was what he had been using all along to exit layer 1. After the first time he corroded their ends, the Floating Spiders had patched it up.

But, in his successive explorations, he opened up the place again, ensuring the dimensions were the same as the first time. The Floating Spiders mended the gap four times before they gave up on fixing it. After all, the gap didn't pose them any troubles or weakened the web wall's structural integrity.

Moreover, any Frenzy Beast that tried to pass through would have to first touch it, which would cause it to get stuck. On seeing that it too served as a fairly effective trap, the Floating Spiders left it as is. That was brought about by Jyorta's understanding of them.

As Jyorta had a sound knowledge of them and was careful in passing through, he managed to use the route each time without alerting them. Once he stepped foot on the flight of stairs, Jyorta heaved a sigh of relief.

Layer 1 was the most mentally straining as he couldn't use his eyes while the traps of the Floating Spiders couldn't be perceived through his Esper senses. Now that he was past it, he was a bit relieved.

'Now, I'll head to the third layer as soon as possible.' Jyorta placed a hand on his stomach, sensing the healing salve he had ingested slowly digest, creating an influx of psychic energy that filled his Brain Crystal.

It slowly, but steadily replenished his expended reserves. Jyorta scooped out another tiny portion using his psychic arm and gulped it. That was a method he thought up to have a consistent replenishment of psychic energy.

After all, this was his last exploration. He didn't wish to encounter a situation where his psychic energy reserves would run dry. Jyorta descended the flight of stairs, soon noticing the last couple of steps covered by sand.

Hot air blew past while the entire layer was bright, as if the sun shone directly on them. 'How much energy and resources are they expending to maintain this elaborate setup?'

Jyorta wondered as he crouched before the sand, gazing at it while inspecting it through his domain. With his increased range, he could scout farther. With a radius of 388 centimetres, almost bordering 4 metres, the range and depth he could perceive allowed him to notice all the traps in the sand before him.

Very few traps were laid below that point. After all, the large layer of sand over them prevented them from collapsing when a prey moved above. Jyorta looked at the various dunes, gazing at the wind that made wave patterns over them, 'I guess this is a necessary expenditure. Only through this would we become strong enough to face the actual Wilds.'

Aura Personification—Hallucination!

Jyorta aimed it through a fair area, hoping for a Frenzy Beast to take the bait. Traversing the sand on foot was an idiotic venture that was bound to physically exhaust him. Maybe if he were an Amplifier, he could grit through it. But as an Esper, he would be exhausted beyond the point of moving—halfway through the layer.

Jyorta sat on the steps, transmitting his hallucination through various areas. He waited patiently, finding no Frenzy Beast surface. The sand contained its own aura, resisting his aura. Based on his previous trial and errors, he judged that even his strongest aura beam would lose its effect within a metre through the sand.

So, Jyorta was put in a passive spot. His only option was to seep his aura personification through the gaps in the sand structures, possibly trying to seep it into the traps, at the bottom of which the Frenzy Beasts lay in wait.

He failed to spot any One-Horned Rhino in the vicinity, possibly hidden by the dunes farther away. If there was even one, his job would have been easier. One-Horned Rhinos usually lived above the surface, so his aura could reach them through the air which had lower resistance.

But, it wasn't an easy feat thanks to the auras lingering in the air—that were unleashed by the beasts in and from the layers further below. So, to overwhelm them and still transmit the effects of his aura personifications, Jyorta would need to expend a greater deal of his aura, which he didn't wish to do so at such an early point.

'It would be a bit risky, but if it's like this, then I'm only left with one choice.' Jyorta climbed the flight of stairs once again, coming face to face with the wall of web. He gently opened the triangular corner of it once again, noticing the other side was still fairly lit. A couple of Two-Faced Fireflies were flying rather near, lighting up the area.

Jyorta gazed at a Spiked Lizard that was about to sleep, having had its fill using the earlier chaos. A couple of Floating Spider legs were laid around the rock it slept upon. Jyorta aimed his finger towards it, unleashing a weaker aura beam, inlaying the aura personification of hallucination into it.

It was the targeted attack he had trained after seeing the advantages his aura beam possessed. The aura beam fell on the Spiked Lizard, swiftly encapsulating it within its effect. The Spiked Lizard stood up, sliding down its rock as it began to crawl towards the exit.

It moved slowly, like a rock, in the same manner lizards travelled before hunting their prey. This manner of movement made it aligned with the ambient aura, preventing the other creatures from noticing it easily.

The Spiked Lizards weren't well versed in the aspect of concealment, but they were still hunters, possessing their means to remain undetected by their prey. The Spiked Lizard soon passed through the hole that Jyorta had kept propped up using his psychic arm.

After it passed through, he gently returned it to normal, heaving a sigh of relief after noticing the Floating Spiders hadn't been stirred up. It seemed they were still wary from the previous indiscriminate attacks and were unable to work together for the time being.

Using his hallucination, Jyorta manipulated the Spiked Lizard to descend the flight of stairs, watching it step foot on the sand in the second layer.

"Alright, go!" Followed by his shout, the Spiked Lizard made a jump and landed on a nearby sand dune. It felt a bit weak under the sun, having evolved into a denizen of the night. Still, it wasn't adversely affected, its movements one of normalcy.

Jyorta modified his barrier to shield out all the sounds, watching it in anticipation. The Spiked Lizard sniffed at the sand for a couple of minutes, seemingly searching for something. The next moment, it let out a shrill screech.

The screech was louder than before, echoing all across the second layer. It also rattled the wall of web in layer 1, alerting all the Floating Spiders in the area into action.

The Spiked Lizard put the entirety of its long tongue outside its mouth while it lifted its front, carefully balancing its weight on its hind legs. It rose its forelegs horizontally to the ground as it wagged its tail, creating small dust clouds.

Followed by intermittent sounds it screeched, it flailed its forelimbs, spinning its tongue above its head. The Spiked Lizard had begun to breakdance.