Seed of Titan-Chapter 139: Swarmed

Max eyed Drai’s expression and eventually said, "Tell me, what did you do?"

After a brief hesitation, Drai informed Max of his investigation, including his findings and how he fought the beetle swarms before returning here.

Once Drai was finished, Max immediately stood up.

"Hurry and pack up your things. We’ve gotta go," he instructed as he took out a leather sack and hastily shoved various items into it, including the cutlery near the fire pit.

Drai followed suit, storing whatever important items he could grab into his bracelet.

"Can your storage hold this?" Max asked, pointing at his sack that was almost full.

"I think so," Drai replied, following which Max tossed him the sack, which Drai immediately put away.

Max reached for another leather sack, but his ears suddenly perked up.

"They’re coming! There’s no time—let’s get going!"

Max quickly entered the crevice, with Drai following closely behind.

Drai wasn’t sure why they were in such a hurry, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

When they emerged outside, Max glanced to the left, in the direction of the gorge, before running to their right.

"Try to keep up. Use your skill if you need to," Max said before speeding up.

Drai sprinted after him, but he was obviously not fast enough, so he enlarged himself to match Max’s pace.

Not long after they were gone, a massive cloud of insects arrived at the base, covering the whole rock formation. A section of it poured into the cave and decimated everything inside before coming out again. Right after, the swarm departed, following Drai’s scent.

In the distance, Drai was running with all he had. Max, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be exerting himself much. But looking at his stern expression, it was clear that he wasn’t taking this matter lightly.

"Where are we going?" Drai couldn’t help but ask as they passed through an unfamiliar area. They were already farther away from the base than Drai had ever gone to explore during his stay.

"Misty Forest," Max replied.

Drai recognized the name—it was a relatively small region outside the valley’s perimeter, which supposedly belonged to the forest biome, one of the three major regions bordering Funky Valley.

"Are we moving there permanently?" Drai asked again.

"Maybe... We’ll see."

Drai decided not to question further, trusting Max’s judgement. He also secretly praised Max’s excellent speed and endurance, which were very rare for mages.

Just then, countless buzzes could be heard rapidly approaching from behind.

Drai glanced over his back but couldn’t really see anything despite the moonlight. But he didn’t doubt that a swarm was chasing after them.

The buzzing grew louder, and soon, a cloud of insects loomed over them.

"Tsk! Prepare to fight!" Max shouted as his hands glowed red. A second later, he flung two fireballs toward the swarm.

Halfway there, the fireballs exploded into smaller flames that sped toward the cloud.

Flames engulfed parts of the swarm, followed by shrill screeches and sharp clacks. The swarm quickly dispersed, casting an extremely wide net over Drai and Max.

Max waved his hand, conjuring dozens of thorns that shot toward the net. Unlike his previous attack, this one didn’t have a straight trajectory, but rather curved and spiraled, which ended up impaling hundreds of insects before the thorns disintegrated.

In retaliation, multiple small groups separated from the net, diving toward Max and Drai.

Max pointed at the ground, conjuring earth pillars that shot out, smashing the attackers to bits. Meanwhile, Drai’s hands blurred as he punched, smacked, and stabbed the few that managed to dodge Max’s attack.

As the dead insects rained down, Drai noticed that there weren’t just moss-green beetles—there were also various other insects, such as hornets, red scarabs, and ants.

At this moment, Max conjured a giant leaf over them. Immediately, there was a large splat, and the leaf began to sizzle. Max quickly cast a few more leaves before another series of splats hit them.

Glancing above, Drai saw that the sizzling leaves were rapidly melting, leaving gaping holes on them.

"Acid?" Drai mused.

"More like putrid beetle puke," Max remarked, looking a bit tired. Perhaps casting spells while running had taken a heavy toll on him.

Noticing Max’s condition, Drai said, "Let me fully transform. I’ll get us out of here in no time."

"...Alright. Go ahead, I’ll latch on to you."

Drai nodded before rapidly growing in size. He focused on his strides, making sure he wouldn’t accidentally step on Max.

The transformation agitated the swarm. Countless insects zoomed toward his giant back, while a few others launched their projectiles. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Drai grimaced, feeling his back stinging and burning. Just then, white threads latched onto his shoulder, and Max soon pulled up.

"Full speed ahead. Follow my directions," he instructed as he perched on Drai’s collarbone.

"Gotcha. Hang on tight."

With his giant strides, Drai was able to pull slightly ahead of the swarm. He continued sprinting forward, occasionally veering under Max’s command. At his rear, a massive cloud followed, but it was slowly lagging behind.

A few minutes later, the ground began to slope upward.

"Come on... Just a bit further," Max remarked.

Drai’s heavy breathing didn’t allow him to reply, so he kept quiet and speedily trekked the slope. Soon, Drai noticed that the landscape had shifted—the ground became grassier and the vegetation became lusher. Tall trees were also emerging, slowly becoming more dense as they went further up the slope.

By now, the swarm had fallen behind, but its buzzing still hounded them, so Drai didn’t dare to slow down.

[Warning—one minute left until Colossal Augmentation is terminated.]

’One minute left, huh?’ Drai thought upon reading the notification. ’Heh, if it were before, I would’ve probably panicked. But now that I have my cooldown recovery, this isn’t such a big deal anymore.’

Recalling the gigantic tree that had bestowed him with such a miraculous fruit, Drai couldn’t help but grin.

’I really can’t thank the Siproot enough. I wonder what Mom and Dad would think if I built it a shrine and made it an honorary ancestor...’

At this moment, Max pointed ahead, shouting, "There!"

Drai looked in the direction that Max was pointing at and saw a dense forest that was covered in fog. He quickly steered his strides and headed there.

Just before they entered, Drai deactivated his skill because the trees were too dense for his current form to pass. Max also jumped down and ran beside him until they finally entered the foggy forest.

Hiding behind a tree, they waited with bated breath, keeping their eyes in the direction where they had come from.