Book 11: Chapter 31: Troll Claw

Dragging Mastashia onto the shore, Qin Lun felt completely exhausted. Although there were no Water Wraiths to trouble them in this swamp, the lake seemed to have some magic that drained their strength. Even just a few hundred meters felt like they had trekked over a hundred kilometers.

“Sand?” Qin Lun lay on his back on the shore, adjusting his breathing. He casually grabbed a handful of the soil beneath him and realized the ground here wasn’t wet or muddy, but covered with fine, loosely scattered sand.

“Let’s go!” After resting for a while, Mastashia recovered before he did. She reached out a hand and pulled him up.

“This is…?” The two looked up ahead, a hint of joy appearing on their faces. The Highland Elf was right—they had indeed reached the southern canyon entrance of Troll Claw, deep within the Death Lands.

A steep cliff stood before them like a city wall, covered with moss-like plants they hadn’t seen in a long time. Although the jagged black rocks on the cliff face looked frightening, compared to the sound of paddling behind them that seemed to urge them on, it felt surprisingly welcoming at that moment.

“Where’s the entrance?” Qin Lun and Mastashia hurried their steps, catching up with the group ahead.

“Could that be the canyon entrance? It looks so creepy to me!” Winnie tugged at Rick’s arm, her delicate eyebrows furrowed as she muttered.

Qin Lun focused his gaze and immediately felt uncertain. The entrance before them didn’t seem like a good place. It was more like a conical crack in the cliff—narrow at the top and wider at the bottom. It was only about one and a half meters high and less than half a meter wide, barely allowing one person to pass through. Inside, it was pitch black, impossible to see even a hand in front of one’s face.

“Maybe this is some kind of monster beast’s den and has nothing to do with the canyon entrance. Should we search along both sides of the cliff for the real entrance?” Lago suggested hesitantly.

Hearing the paddling sounds growing closer, Qin Lun couldn’t help but glance back. His expression tightened, and he shouted, “There’s no time! Everyone, get inside quickly! The Ghostface Squid is here!”

Everyone exchanged bitter smiles. This sea monster was incredibly persistent—it had followed them all the way to shore and still wouldn’t give up. There was no choice; even if this was a beast’s den, they had to hide inside for now. They could only hope the space inside was large enough to accommodate all of them.

At least, judging by the size of the entrance, any monster beast inside would probably be easier to deal with than the giant beast behind them.

Rick took the lead, bending down to enter the cliff crack with his greatsword. Rand followed second, a small flame flickering on his fingertip—he needed to light the way for the Knight. Winnie could no longer maintain her Light Spell, so he had to manage this way for now.

Once inside the crack, they found it quite narrow but very deep. Although the ground was rugged and covered with sharp rocks, it twisted and turned, extending into the mountain.

“Owwwooo…” Not long after they entered the cliff crack, a faint, unwilling roar echoed from behind. Clearly, the Ghostface Squid had finally caught up.

“Go to hell, haha!” Lago turned around and shouted loudly. A sense of relief from their narrow escape spread through the team, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

“What a shame, we lost all our supplies!” Winnie rubbed her empty stomach, a wave of weariness washing over her. After relaxing, she felt extremely hungry.

In fact, it wasn’t just her. Seeing Winnie’s action, everyone suddenly felt they couldn’t hold on any longer. They all sat down on the ground to rest and recuperate.

“Heh, I still have some food here!” Qin Lun flipped his hands, and a chunk of meat as thick as a gasoline barrel appeared in his arms. It was actually the Ghostface Squid tentacle that Rick had cut off earlier.

“Haha, it couldn’t eat us, but now we’re going to eat it!” Lago laughed heartily, stood up, and began clearing the ground, intending to build a stone grill.

“Too bad there’s no firewood here. Do we have to eat it raw?” Winnie looked around, her face full of regret. The female Mage’s strength was completely spent. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t eat something like this, but now she had no choice.

“Let me handle it!” Qin Lun handed the Ghostface Squid tentacle to Rand to hold and pulled a brown plant seed from his pocket. He looked around, scraped together a pile of fine soil from the rock crevices, and buried the seed in it.

As a green glow enveloped Qin Lun’s palm, the plant seed began to sprout and grow, quickly turning into a vine about one meter tall.

“Rand, your turn!” Qin Lun smiled and pointed at the plant.

Firecracker flipped his hand and controlled a ball of blazing fire, roasting the plant into charcoal. Everyone helped place the charcoal into the stone grill Lago had built. Soon, the aroma of roasting meat filled the cliff crack.

Even though it had been detached for quite some time, the Ghostface Squid tentacle still had high resistance to fire. Fortunately, it was already half-cooked. After roasting for another half hour, it was finally edible.

“This tastes awful!” Winnie frowned, struggling to tear off a piece of the cut meat. The Ghostface Squid tentacle chewed like rubber, extremely tough. As the flesh of a Legendary Creature, it wasn’t delicious at all.

However, once it was swallowed, everyone felt waves of heat rising from their stomachs, and their fatigue gradually faded. This thing indeed contained a lot of biological energy and wasn’t poisonous. After eating just a little, everyone felt full.

Only about half of the gasoline-barrel-sized tentacle remained. Qin Lun contentedly stored it back in his Storage Space and smiled at Hill and Rand.

“Notice: Apostle 70053, you have collected data on an unregistered Legendary Creature. Additional Exploration Rate obtained is less than 0.201%, cumulative settlement upon return. Temporary settlement item reward: The remaining Ghostface Squid tentacle will be categorized as an Apostle recovery item.”

Ghostface Squid Tentacle (Legendary quality): This is a top-tier recovery treasure roasted from a Legendary Creature. It can simultaneously restore 50% HP and 70% Stamina/Energy Points, effective over five minutes (currently seven portions remaining). First consumption of this Legendary food permanently increases Apostle’s Constitution by three points, Strength by one point, and Agility by one point.

“I should have picked some up too back then!” Rand rubbed his stomach, saying regretfully.

This was the first time they had seen recovery food with such high percentages, and it also permanently increased five attribute points at once. The remaining seven portions, if sold in the marketplace, could clearly make up for the loss of the “Meteor Fall” Magic Scroll.

“Heh, forget it. I saw it back then—aside from the piece Qin Lun picked up, the other severed limbs were too large to fit into Storage Space,” Hill patted Rand’s shoulder, comforting him.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone regained a bit of spirit, but no one intended to continue further. Lago responsibly patrolled the area, setting up some small traps, effectively turning this place into a temporary camp.

This cliff crack seemed very deep. Although it might be the canyon entrance, no one could guarantee there weren’t other dangers inside. In their current state, it clearly wasn’t suitable to travel further. Resting overnight and making plans later was better.

As everyone fell asleep exhausted, peace returned to the crack. A faint moonlight reflected from the distant lake, making the surroundings seem peaceful and serene. The previous life-and-death struggle felt like it never happened, now seeming like a dream.

The night passed uneventfully. When Qin Lun opened his eyes again, a bright beam of light made him squint. After daybreak, he realized they hadn’t ventured far into the crack last night; they could still hear the waves from the distant lake.

“You’re awake?” A pair of women’s leather boots appeared before Qin Lun, though they were so covered in mud their original color was unrecognizable.

Qin Lun looked up and saw it was the Highland Elf Mastashia. He smiled and asked, “Are you feeling better now?”

“I’m fine. The Ghostface Squid meat we ate last night seemed to have a detoxifying effect!” Mastashia replied happily, pointing above their heads. “Look up there!”

Qin Lun squinted and looked up. Besides the jagged, protruding rocks, he couldn’t see anything special, so he spread his hands at Mastashia.

“Never mind, I should have known you’re a newbie!” The Highland Elf pursed her lips and explained on her own, “I checked around earlier. This doesn’t seem like a cave, but rather a canyon crack between two cliffs.”

“So, we found the right place?” Qin Lun’s eyes lit up. Actually, last night in their panic, they had only used this place as a refuge from the Ghostface Squid’s pursuit. They hadn’t expected it to actually be the canyon entrance to Troll Claw.

“Yeah, I’d only heard before that there was a canyon entrance to Troll Claw deep within the Death Lands. I never imagined the terrain would be like this,” Mastashia muttered. “I really don’t know how the Troll tribes in the mountains pass through here to enter and exit the Death Lands.”

“Maybe there’s a larger entrance around the beach area,” Qin Lun said uncertainly. “By the way, you mentioned earlier that Troll tribes frequently enter and exit the Death Lands… Aren’t they afraid of being hunted by the Ghostface Squid?”

“I don’t know about that. The Ghostface Squid is highly intelligent. If the Trolls regularly provide it with some offerings, maybe the two sides reached some kind of agreement!” Mastashia tilted her head in thought, giving a vague reason.

As they spoke, the others gradually woke up, rubbing their bleary eyes and looking at them.

“Should we continue forward, or go back to the beach and look for other entrances?” Rick stretched his limbs and asked the two.

“Let’s continue forward. Mastashia said this is a crack between two cliffs. It might lead into the mountains,” Qin Lun pondered for a moment and said. “Going back out to search is too dangerous. That Ghostface Squid suffered such a big loss; it might still be lurking nearby.”

“Alright,” Rick shrugged. He was just asking. Remembering last night’s close call, even with his courage, he didn’t want to face that behemoth again.

Having regained some energy, the group set off deeper into the crack. Mastashia was right—this crack wasn’t a cave. It was incredibly deep. Even though it seemed extremely narrow outside, after walking a while, they found the path ahead widened.

Most importantly, Winnie no longer needed to maintain her Light Spell. As the path widened, there were no rocks blocking the sky above them. For the first time in many days, a warm ray of sunshine fell on their shoulders.