Chapter 169: The Insect Tide Boils

They were still thirty to forty meters from the altar, surrounded by a dense crowd of various spiderpeople. Wu Qingsong had to suppress his anger as he stealthily guided the few walking corpses toward the altar.

The wolfpeople continued to bow and chant, surrounded by a circle of eerie instruments and bloody offerings, seemingly preparing for some ritual.

Growing anxious, Wu Qingsong hastened his pace. However, just then, the leading spiderperson corpse was suddenly overwhelmed by a strong spiderperson. It prodded the corpse a few times with its front pincers before viciously stabbing into the body and lifting it.

Chaos ensued around them.

Without hesitation, Wu Qingsong issued rapid orders. All four corpses, including the one that was exposed, sprang into action. They attacked nearby spiderpeople with frenzied stabs and bites, quickly moving on to another target after dropping their victims.

The captured corpse bit back at its captor, injecting venom into its body. The two tangled on the ground, sparking further commotion. During this chaos, Wu Qingsong carefully guided the remaining two corpses, steering clear of the chaotic outbreak and rushing toward the altar at full speed.

Sharp howls suddenly erupted near the altar as a spiderperson with bizarre spots on its abdomen climbed onto a stone pillar, seemingly directing the surrounding spiderpeople.

Without hesitation, Wu Qingsong reached out to Liuli, “Kill that spotted spiderperson. Eliminate everyone around the altar.”

“Meow~!”

The body of the spiderperson carcass split in two, and a massive catwoman hissed as she charged at the unique spiderperson. Numerous spiderpeople lunged to block her, but she effortlessly grabbed their legs and hurled them at other spiderpeople.

The spotted spiderperson quickly fled deeper into the cave, but the catwoman swiftly leaped over the spiderpeople, grabbed one of its legs, and slammed it hard against the cave wall.

With a crack, its abdomen hit a rock and burst open like a water-filled balloon, halting the movement of all spiderpeople momentarily. The next instant, it was as if a red-hot iron had been dropped into a cup of water, the entire cave to erupt into a frenzy.

Wu Qingsong was bitten by a wolf-spider creature. He struggled to stab one of its eyes with his short sword, causing it to frantically stab him with its pincers. At that moment, a silver object swooped down and cleaved its body into two halves.

“Ling!” Wu Qingsong shouted as he rushed toward her.

Three silver lights swiftly orbited around her, slicing all the spiderpeople that came within three meters of her. Wu Qingsong immediately charged toward her.

The catwoman’s cries kept coming from the altar.

“Charge through!” Wu Qingsong yelled.

The spiderpeople were almost piling on top of each other, swarming in densely, while more spiderpeople continuously dropped from the openings above. Ling had to use her maximum strength and will to control the four boomerangs, furiously carving a path through the mass of spiderpeople.

The spotted spiderperson that Liuli had killed might have been an important figure among them, possibly even their queen, which drove them into utter madness.

Wu Qingsong kept shouting Liuli’s name, but his voice couldn’t cut through the sharp cries of the surrounding insectoids.

Their progress forward became increasingly difficult. The rapidly spinning boomerangs turned into a flesh-grinding machine. Countless chunks of corpses were littered around them. Wu Qingsong could only be grateful that the spiderpeople’s bodies were not as hard as those of the antpeople, otherwise, it was uncertain how long Ling’s abilities could endure under such strain.

All he could do was desperately capture and purify soul fragments. Though currently unusable, being prepared was always wise.

“Meow~!”

They finally reached Liuli, who was still nimbly jumping around, evading the spiderpeople’s desperate and frenzied attacks. She grabbed them, using their bodies as weapons to kill nearby spiderpeople or smashing them against cave walls.

“Don’t get entangled with them!” Wu Qingsong yelled with all his strength. “Liuli, quick. Destroy that red crystal!”

Liuli then stopped engaging the spiderpeople around her. She dodged their attacks and quickly made her way toward the altar.

A few reckless spiderpeople she grabbed were hurled toward the red crystal, which seemed to be protected by some force. They were all repelled just before making contact, falling back among their kin.

“Be careful!” Wu Qingsong called out, unsure if Liuli could hear him.

Fortunately, Liuli was not as rash as he feared. After another spiderperson rebounded off the invisible shield, she began scanning the surroundings and soon set her sights on the stalactites and columns within the cave.

She grabbed two spiderpeople, using them as hammers to smash the base of a column. They burst open instantly, their shells cracking and flesh splattering. Then, Liuli grabbed what appeared to be the most robust wolf-spider among them, swung it, and struck it fiercely against the column again.

Under the impact of immense force, the base of the stone column finally cracked. Liuli dropped the remnants of the body she was holding, meowed, and pounced on the upper part of the column, shaking it vigorously.

Spiderpeople rushed at them again, but in the next instant, the huge column swung wildly in place, smashing dozens of spiderpeople out of the way, instantly clearing a space.

“Good job,” Wu Qingsong couldn’t help but shout.

This action reminded him of a certain famous monkey.

In the next moment, Liuli lifted the column and smashed it hard against the red crystal. A shadowy figure finally appeared between the column and the red crystal, but soon, the column cracked and completely disintegrated into countless pieces.

“Meow~!”

Liuli didn’t get discouraged but instead grabbed the rocks that had fallen to the ground and continued to smash them against the red crystal. Just like when she attacked the shield of the undead mage, transparent ripples kept appearing where the rocks hit, becoming weaker and weaker.

Wu Qingsong and Ling took this opportunity to rush toward her, but at that moment, the surface of the red crystal suddenly turned redder and began to undulate like water waves.

“Be careful!” Wu Qingsong shouted loudly, rushing forward to shield her.

A dark red light shot out, hitting Wu Qingsong and knocking him backward, crashing into Liuli and causing her to retreat more than a dozen steps before finally stopping.