Poisonous Insect Valley 2
Both Grandfather, the Lord of All Poisons, and Commander Gu Pae agreed that something enormous had to be out there.
Even an insect otaku like me still had enough social sense to read the room. So I kept my delight locked away and put on a matching look of grave concern.
"This is truly a serious matter."
If an otaku wants to live a successful double life, you've got to nail the ordinary-person cosplay. The problem is my mouth keeps wanting to curl into a grin.
While I struggled to bury that giddy feeling, Grandfather announced he would scout ahead himself before we pushed any deeper into Mt. Aenoe. Better to check with his own eyes what was waiting for us—after all, he was the strongest among us.
"I'll take a look around myself. The rest of you withdraw to where the Yun River and the Amo River meet. Birds are still flying over that way."
"Across the river, you mean?"
"That's right. Over there."
I followed the direction of his finger. A little downstream from the river we had already crossed, where the two currents crashed together in white water, birds really were wheeling over the far bank. Looking closer, the divide was stark: on our side of the river, not a single living thing stirred, while across the water, birds and insects drifted freely through the air.
Something had drawn a line along the river itself.
I nodded at once and herded the party toward the opposite bank. Grandfather was right—there was no sense taking chances.
"Understood, Grandfather. Everyone, fall back to that side."
"Yes, Young Master So-ryong! What are you standing around for? Move!"
"Yes, Commander!"
As we retreated across the river again, I turned the question over in my mind. What sort of creature was waiting for me out there?
Something that claims everything from this bank all the way into Mt. Aenoe as its territory?
The more I thought about it, though, the stranger it felt. Mt. Aenoe was not some solitary peak rising from flat plains; it sat near the end of a mountain range. And the vast grassland spread before it was enormous.
I had not met every poisonous creature of this region, but the ones I had encountered all seemed built on the foundation of ordinary animals from my previous life, then pushed into some remarkable evolution. The Azure-Spotted Centipede was an evolved centipede; the stone lizards were evolved lizards; Yo-hwa herself was an evolved spider.
On that basis, I could not think of a single creature that would claim such an immense stretch of land as its exclusive domain. Nothing in my memory had that kind of territorial nature.
"No matter how I look at it, it's just too big."
I muttered the thought aloud without meaning to. Beside me, my elder sister tilted her head.
"What is, So-ryong?"
"Ah. Grandfather thinks some great poisonous beast may be out there, but something about it doesn't add up."
"What doesn't add up?"
"The Azure-Spotted Centipedes don't hunt ordinary prey—they absorb the natural energy of the land. And except for the ones that had gone underground because the mother was brooding eggs, they would have driven everything else away. But here… look. From that far bank all the way toward Mt. Aenoe, there's not a single sign of life. Whatever claims this place as its territory, the range is simply too vast. If nothing lives here, any beast that has to eat would starve. Unless it feeds on energy the way the centipedes and stone lizards do, of course."
-Chirp?
-Gloop?
"Not you lot."
At the mention of their kind, five little heads poked out of my clothes, thinking I had called them. Worried they might get jealous, I quickly tickled each of them under the chin and tucked them away again.
-Tap-tap.
Something rapped my shoulder. I turned and found Yo-hwa thrusting her head toward me as well.
"R-right, we can't leave our Yo-hwa out."
Only after I had stroked her head too did I catch the conversation between my sister and Commander Gu Pae.
"If So-ryong is right, a creature that actually eats would never empty a land this thoroughly. That does seem strange."
"Hearing Young Master So-ryong explain it, I have to agree."
"Exactly. The way animals and plants live together is called ecology, and when those ecologies intertwine we call it an ecosystem. What we're looking at is deeply unnatural. In a proper ecosystem the insects you can't even see become food for small beasts, which in turn draw larger predators. When you see nothing at all, it means whatever is responsible would eventually starve itself."
"Ecosystem?"
"So-ryong, you sound like a Taoist sage sometimes."
We were still talking and watching the Mt. Aenoe side where Grandfather had vanished when a figure came flying toward us on lightfoot. Grandfather landed at the river's edge, vaulted the water in a single bound, and spoke with a grim face.
"Nothing all the way to the mouth of Mt. Aenoe. I wouldn't be surprised if Poisonous Insect Valley itself is empty as well. What a disaster."
Damn it.
Reality crashed down with his words. Some unknown behemoth had stripped Mt. Aenoe—and quite possibly the entire Poisonous Insect Valley—clean. All those legendary poisonous creatures the valley was supposed to hold had either been eaten or driven off. Which meant we could no longer harvest the other specimens I had come for. We would have to catch this thing no matter what.
I had taken a few species on the way here, but nowhere near enough to satisfy me.
Fine. One way or another, I'm bagging that big one!
"Whatever it is, we can't go home empty-handed. We'll have to catch it."
Grandfather nodded.
"Seems we have no choice. First we'll make camp on this side and begin a proper search. Do you have any clever ideas? You're the expert on poisonous creatures, after all. Haha."
"R-right. The expert."
Memories of the Golden-Haired Bee King incident made my smile a little stiff. Still, the first step toward finding the culprit who had created this barren wasteland was obvious: map the exact size and shape of the lifeless ground. Once we knew its outline, we would know where the creature was most likely hiding.
"Let's start by recording how far and how wide this empty land stretches on a map, Grandfather."
"You think its lair will sit at the center?"
"Yes. No matter how large the territory, most beasts keep to the middle of their range."
We'll have to check the terrain, of course, but usually they settle in the heart of their domain.
So we sent the warriors out to scout. By evening they had returned, and as they marked the boundaries on the map something odd began to take shape.
"This… doesn't look right."
"It really doesn't."
Grandfather and my sister both sounded puzzled. I studied the map and found myself nodding. It was genuinely strange.
"It starts at Mt. Aenoe. To the north the mountain range cuts it off; to the west the river forms the border. South-east along the river, though, it just keeps going with no end in sight."
The eerie lifeless zone we had charted began at Mt. Aenoe and stretched endlessly southeast in a long, thin corridor. Warriors reported living creatures beyond the river to the west and north, but east and south the barren land simply continued without a boundary.
For a living creature's territory, the shape made no sense.
"At first light we'll follow the river and see how far it goes. As long as we stay on this bank and don't cross, we should be safe."
"That does seem best."
I spent the whole night turning the strange shape over in my head and still could not understand it. In the end I barely slept, and the moment dawn broke we set out at once. From time to time Grandfather crossed to the far bank to reconnoiter.
Two days. Two full days, and still no end to the territory.
"We've been following the river for two days just to pin down the shape, and yet…"
"I know, Grandfather. It's huge. Too huge."
We all stared across the silent grassland. While we stood there, the warriors who had prepared the meal and my sister began handing out food.
"So-ryong, here—eat something. You little ones, come to Mommy so Daddy can rest."
"Thank you, Hwa-eun."
She used the words "Mommy" and "Daddy" so naturally now that any earlier awkwardness had completely vanished. I took the jerky she offered, tore off a bite, and stretched out in the grass. Overhead, dragonflies danced against the sky.
Lots of dragonflies here. Because of the river, maybe? Wait—
The sight of them sparked something. I sat bolt upright and turned to Grandfather.
"Grandfather, could you go back the way we came and check how many dragonflies and the like are flying on the far bank?"
"Dragonflies? You've thought of something. Very well."
He had been dissolving a piece of dried rice cake in his mouth; he chewed thoughtfully, then retraced our path. About two hours later he returned with his report.
"For half a day's travel back, dragonflies are flying on both sides of the river equally. That means…"
His voice trailed off. I nodded, and he immediately gave the order.
"Split the party in two! Those whose lightfoot is swift and whose martial skill is strong, step forward!"
"Yes, Supreme Patriarch!"
The warriors sorted themselves at once. My sister hurried to my side.
"What's going on, So-ryong?"
She looked bewildered at having the meal interrupted so abruptly.
"Beasts on the ground are one thing, but creatures that fly—dragonflies and the like—come and go as they please, don't they?"
"They do."
"Even if something terrifying is nearby, if they can't see it, flying insects will return almost at once. Even if they sense something we don't, the moment that something moves on, they'll swarm back."
"Then…?"
"We've been assuming some creature claimed this land as its territory. But it looks more as though something is moving ahead of us, traveling in that direction."
That was why the empty zone never seemed to end. The unknown behemoth was still on the move, always just ahead of us.
Grandfather, Commander Gu Pae, a handful of the Poison Blood Squad, and I finished our meal and launched into lightfoot at once. We bound our bodies with straw rope to keep our weight as light as possible. Whatever was ahead of us kept pulling farther away; we needed more speed.
"Then I'll leave the others in your care."
"Of course, So-ryong. I'll look after the little ones. Go on ahead."
-Squeeeze!
-Chirp!
-Kishh!
"It's all right. I'm not going alone—I'm just going first. You stay with Mommy and follow at your own pace."
"Let's move, So-ryong!"
"Yes, Grandfather!"
We crossed the river immediately after eating and formed up for the run. When traveling in a group at lightfoot speed, it was easy to lose track of the surroundings, so we always moved in formation.
I took position right behind Grandfather, running level with Commander Gu Pae. The landscape whipped past. The only sound that filled my ears was the soft murmur of the shallows along the riverbank.
"Hah… hah…"
"Is it too much?"
"No. I can manage."
Ordinarily I would have been complaining, but something was waiting for me up ahead. I was not about to collapse over a little running.
We pressed on until the evening light began to stain the river's surface the same deep red as the sky. Ahead of us rose a dense jungle of subtropical plants and the banana-family trees my sister and I had seen once before, packed so tightly they formed a wall of green.
"Thick jungle ahead! Keep a sharp watch on every side! Poisonous creatures aren't like people—they can hide and strike without giving any warning you can sense!"
"Understood, Supreme Patriarch!"
"Understood, Grandfather!"
So this was the Yunnan jungle I had only heard about. Grandfather's warning made us even more cautious, but the dense canopy that blocked every line of sight forced our pace to slow. Eventually Grandfather stopped and seemed about to suggest we halt the pursuit for the night.
"We'll stop here for today and continue when—"
He broke off.
-Shhhhhh…
A strange sound reached us.
-Shhhhhh…
-Shhhh…
It was the sound of vast foliage thrashing in a wind—no, the sound of a bamboo grove whipped by a gale. The noise came from directly ahead. Drawn by that eerie susurrus, we pushed a little farther through the jungle and emerged into a sight that stopped us cold.
A colossal basin, stained the color of fresh blood, spread before our eyes.
-Shhh…
"Th-this… ants?!"
What filled our vision was a seething swarm of blood-red ants, each the size of two human fists pressed together.