Back around the time Diane left Ezra...
"Kik-kik-kik-kik!"
"Kik-kik-kik-kik!"
"Kik-kik-kik-kik!"
Numerous Young Ghost Crawlers screamed aggressively as they charged through the deep part of the tunnel, their many legs striking against the stone floor while their bodies moved through the darkness.
Diane continued advancing straight toward them without hesitation.
There was no fear in her tired, half-closed light-blue eyes, and even though the number of Young Ghost Crawlers rushing toward her continued to increase, her pace didn’t slow down.
The creatures opened their mouths spitting their venomous saliva toward the incoming Diane.
Clap!
Diane’s hands came together after she threw a set of glass bottles filled with water from her Space Bag while continuing to run at the same fast pace.
The moment her Frost Alchemy Circle formed completely, she separated her hands.
At the same time, the Alchemy Circle split into two.
Diane slammed both palms against the tunnel walls on either side of her.
Light-blue Cognis, taking the form of thin streams of lightning, flowed from her hands and traveled straight toward the glass bottles of water.
Crack!
The lightning struck.
The glass bottles broke instantly.
Water spilled from the shattered containers and was immediately affected by the influence of her Cognis.
The liquid spread through the tunnel.
Immediately, the water began turning into a cloud of steam.
The thick steam spread across the passage, covering Diane’s surroundings as the venomous spit flew directly into it.
Thud.
Thud.
The venomous spit froze almost instantly.
Instead of continuing forward, each mass of venom turned into a chunk of frozen spit before dropping onto the ground.
Diane didn’t stop.
She continued passing Cognis through her hands while keeping her palms against the tunnel walls as she ran.
Small patches of ice appeared wherever her palms scraped against the stone.
The cold spread from her hands and moved through the steam cloud, filling more of the tunnel with freezing air.
And it wasn’t only the venomous spit that began turning into frozen objects.
The incoming Young Ghost Crawlers were also being affected.
As they moved into the cold fog Diane had created, their movements gradually slowed.
One after another, their bodies became heavier.
The gaps between the sections of their armor-like bodies began freezing.
Their eyes slowly became covered by frost, reducing their vision, while the cold continued spreading through their bodies.
Some of the Young Ghost Crawlers tried to push forward anyway.
Their legs moved.
But their movements were no longer as quick as before.
The cold had already begun taking control of their bodies.
Diane finally released her hands from the walls.
Her movement was smooth with how she reached into her Space Bag and took out her slim sword.
The blade reflected the faint light from the Frost Alchemy surrounding her.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
In a single movement, Diane sliced through numerous Young Ghost Crawlers.
Her body moved with a fluid speed as the slim sword passed through their frozen bodies.
One creature fell.
Then another.
The cold fog still remained throughout the tunnel, continuing to affect the other Young Ghost Crawlers.
Every time Diane reached one of them, she would calmly swing her sword to the left.
Her foot would turn with a sharp step.
Her body would follow the movement.
Then the sword would cut down another almost-frozen Young Ghost Crawler on her right.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Diane moved almost as though she were dancing through the tunnel.
Her slim sword scraped against parts of the dark stone walls during some of her movements, producing brief sparks that illuminated the area for only a few seconds before disappearing again.
She didn’t need to rely entirely on the weak light.
Diane passed Cognis through her body, enhancing her sight while also using her own sensory ability to detect the incoming Young Ghost Crawlers.
Even in the darkness, she could see them effortlessly.
She continued moving.
The Young Ghost Crawlers continued rushing toward her.
But the cold fog had already slowed them.
Their bodies were becoming stiff.
Their vision was being blocked.
And Diane was moving faster than they could react.
Finally, Diane broke out of the tunnel packed with Young Ghost Crawlers.
Her feet landed on the ground outside.
She stopped for only a brief moment.
Her tired-looking eyes lowered toward the slim sword in her hand.
Blood from the Young Ghost Crawlers covered part of the blade.
Some of it had also reached her hands and parts of her clothes.
Diane stared at the blood for a moment.
She clearly didn’t like the fact that her clothes were getting dirty.
Her expression remained mostly plain, but there was a faint displeasure in her eyes.
She didn’t waste time cleaning herself.
Diane reached into her Space Bag, taking out the lantern that belonged to Emily.
After lighting it, the lantern gave off a small but useful source of light that pushed back some of the darkness around her.
Diane began moving again at a fast pace.
She used her senses to search through the surrounding tunnels.
Then she turned toward a tunnel on the left.
She entered.
Her eyes moved across the area.
There were different shapes of monsters inside the food storage.
Some had already been captured.
Others had already hatched from their eggs.
Diane stopped.
Her eyes immediately noticed the Wraith Larva.
They were already feeding on some of the captured monsters.
The monsters were paralyzed.
So, they couldn’t move and they couldn’t even properly resist.
All they could do was remain there and watch as their bodies were slowly eaten by the numerous Wraith Larva covering them.
Diane’s expression remained calm.
She turned away.
This wasn’t the place she was looking for.
She moved into another tunnel.
"Not here."
Her voice remained soft and tired.
She continued searching.
Eventually, she reached another food storage.
More captured monsters were inside.
But there was still no sign of her group members.
Diane looked around.
"Is it because I can’t sense their heat signatures due to the paralyzing venom, or because of the webs?"
Her eyebrows lowered slightly.
She frowned.
The question was important.
If the heat signatures of the captured humans were being hidden by the venom or the webs, then simply searching for them through her sensory ability would not be enough.
Diane walked back out of the tunnel.
She returned to the main area.
This was the central part of the nest, where the Elder Ghost Crawler laid its eggs.
The Young Ghost Crawlers would then take the eggs into the different tunnels that had been built throughout the underground area.
The captured food would also be taken there and placed with the eggs.
There were captured monsters on the walls above Diane as well.
She raised her lantern slightly.
The small light moved across the stone.
Her eyes searched through the area.
But none of the captured creatures matched the physical shape of a human.
Diane lowered the lantern.
She looked around the tunnels again.
She could hear the sounds of Young Ghost Crawlers already making their way toward her.
At the same time, far in the distance, she could hear the battle between Ezra and the other creatures.
The sound of gunshots continued echoing through the underground nest.
The battle was fierce.
Diane could tell from the number of shots she was hearing.
"I have to focus more."
Diane closed her eyes.
She passed more Cognis into her sensory ability.
Her senses spread wider.
She focused on almost every tunnel around her.
The heat signatures of the environment became clearer in her perception.
She could feel the cold temperature of the walls.
The rocks.
The ground.
The different small living creatures moving through the tunnels.
But the webs were different.
They didn’t have any heat signature.
Diane noticed this immediately.
It was another new discovery concerning their research into the Ghost Crawlers.
The webs themselves couldn’t be detected through heat.
Still, the heat signatures around the storage areas gave her enough information to make a slight distinction between what was inside each place.
She continued sensing.
Patiently.
She didn’t rush.
Minutes passed.
Finally, Diane opened her eyes.
She had found them.
Her Cognis passed through her veins and flowed toward her legs.
Her body lowered.
She changed direction.
The tunnel containing her captured group members was no longer a guess.
She knew where they were.
Diane moved.
Boom!
Her body flashed forward with the lantern still in her hand.
She looked like a small light missile moving through the tunnel.
At the same moment she moved, numerous webs struck the position where she had been standing only a moment earlier.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The webs covered the ground.
The Young Ghost Crawlers had now reached the laying nest.
But Diane was already gone.
She was faster.
Much faster.
She didn’t spend close to a second reaching the place where her captured group members were being stored.
Her body moved through the tunnel like a missile.
Left.
Right.
She changed direction whenever the tunnel turned, using her speed to pass through the narrow passages without slowing down.
The lantern swung slightly in her hand as she moved.
Its light jumped across the stone walls.
Then she finally reached the storage area.
And the moment she arrived...
Slash!
Slash!
Diane’s slim sword moved.
She fluidly sliced through the bodies of the Wraith Larva that were already about to begin eating Agnes.
The Wraith Larva fell away from her body.
Agnes’s eyes remained frozen in place.
Her body couldn’t move.
It was clear from her expression that she was in pain from the bites of the Wraith Larva.
Her face was tense.
She looked as though she was doing everything she could to stop herself from forcing out a loud scream.
But even then...
Her body was completely frozen.
She couldn’t move her arms.
She couldn’t move her legs.
She couldn’t even properly turn her head.
So, what could she do in the first place?
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