Chapter 167 [Pulangti of the Swamp]

Chapter 167: Chapter 57: [Pulangti of the Swamp]

CROAK! A brownish-green toad sprawled across a damp rock. Its throat sac slowly inflated and deflated as its massive yellow eyes gradually focused, glaring at a tiny, flesh-colored thing wriggling in the mud before it.

It sluggishly shifted its wet webbed feet. Suddenly, with a THWACK, it shot out its sticky, long tongue, latching onto the fleshy little bug.

SPLASH! The soggy mud exploded as a set of jagged teeth slammed shut. A massive mouth clamped onto the toad, swallowing it whole in a single gulp.

Amidst the muffled splashes of mud and stagnant swamp water, seven or eight nearby toads and bizarre aquatic fish scattered in a frenzy, but the scene returned to an eerie calm just seconds later.

The ripples on the water’s surface dissipated, leaving it as smooth as glass once more. The mud and loose dirt slowly settled as the tongue appendage—mimicking a fleshy bug—poked out of the soil again, wriggling in the muck to lure its next victim.

"A beautiful ecosystem," Samael murmured. He stood in waist-deep stagnant water, quietly watching a giant black mosquito fall into a pitcher-like carnivorous plant, its wings snapped off by the prickly, interlaced cage of leaves.

[Scanner activated.]

[Chemical Ecological Plant Type 7, Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Specialization]

[Depending on the biological tissue consumed, it secretes three complex proteins with hallucinogenic anesthetic, anticoagulant, and neurotransmitter-blocking effects, respectively.]

[Requires a high-humidity environment for growth.]

"Truly abundant... It’s just a pity that if this one is relocated from its native habitat, it probably won’t survive," Samael whispered.

Despite his words, he casually dug up a plant and handed it to a Rot Root Ball on the nearby shore.

Over twenty taro-shaped Rot Root Balls with single horns, completely caked in mud, scurried between the swamp’s sludge, solid ground, and tree roots. Balancing an assortment of plants Samael had just scanned on their heads, they sprinted wildly toward the Underground City. Their haul included several edible succulent rhizomes, seven or eight different types of mushrooms, a type of high-sugar beet, papyrus for paper-making, and reeds rich in tough fibers.

In addition, the Rot Root Balls used their broad roots to weave nets, carrying several fat, ugly, but edible fish that resembled pale catfish with claws. These fish could survive in oxygen-deprived waters and could even briefly leave the water to crawl on the shore.

It didn’t matter if they couldn’t catch fish in the lakes of Lahador; the swamps of Pulangti also teemed with fish, which seemed much easier to breed on a large scale. The Underground City was currently drawing in groundwater, using the root networks of the Rot Root Balls for ecological purification, and water storage was already halfway complete. As long as these fish were farmed on a massive scale, their food problems would be solved.

"The plant and animal resources in this swamp ecosystem are almost greater than those of Anshiba’s Gray Moss Far Field and Lahador’s Mist Lake combined," Samael said softly. "It wouldn’t be bad if we ever had the chance to live here."

"I disagree," Talia’s irritated voice rang out from behind him.

Samael turned his head.

"Aren’t you going to come closer and take a look?" he called out.

Pinching her nose and furrowing her brow, Talia stood at the edge of the swamp, watching Samael study the flora and fauna in the waist-deep stagnant water.

A young Earth-Devouring Demon Insect wandered around her feet, producing CRUNCH CRUNCH sounds as it gnawed on rotten wood with its spiral fangs.

"You don’t have a sense of smell, but I do." Her usually smooth and delicate face was scrunched up from the stench of the bog. "Can’t you smell it at all? This bizarre rotting odor in the swamp?"

Samael shook his helmet.

"And you can’t feel this wet, slimy mud, either?"

"I have a sense of touch, but I can’t differentiate much with it," Samael shrugged.

"Oh, no wonder other Ghost Knights can live in this hellhole too," Talia teased.

"I’ll definitely have to take another bath when we get back... Even though we don’t have much clean water right now, they still built a simple washroom in the initial building complex for a quick rinse." Frowning, she waved away the massive mosquitoes buzzing around her head. "Stop studying the plants and animals and get up here. Let’s find the Burrower Empress and get out of this dreadful place."

"Ah, yes... A washroom is necessary. Environments like this might harbor pathogenic bacteria... though I’m not sure how strong the Demon Race’s immune system is, or if they even get sick." Samael struggled to pull his legs out of the waist-deep stagnant water but failed.

The underwater sludge had a powerful suction, and his Nether Copper Body was far too heavy, sinking his calves almost entirely into the muck.

Awkwardly, he reached out his filthy hand armor toward Talia.

"Please, you need to wash up when we get back too, alright?" Talia reached out, grabbing his mud-caked Nether Copper hand armor, and forcefully yanked him out of the stinking, stagnant sludge.

"We’ll talk about it when we get back. The plant and animal gathering is mostly done and went quite smoothly. Our food problem is solved... Next up is finding Burrowers in this area." Samael scraped the mud off the soles of his boots on a Rusted Copper Tree Root by the shore, shaking his legs out with a CLANK CLANK.

The peat underfoot was incredibly soft and as soggy as a waterlogged sponge. With every step, a puddle of dirty brown water seeped out.

The muddy swamp was located south of the High Grass Plain. The terrain here was low-lying, almost level with the groundwater. There was also a small stream to the east that flowed from the lakes of Lahador into the swamp, but there were practically no outlets for the water to escape. Poor drainage caused the area to be covered year-round by pools of water of varying sizes, leaving the soil moisture level near saturation.