Chapter 88: The Scent Of An Impure
Reeeeeeeeee!!
The Tarkkankan continued to squeal loudly as its fleshy body squirmed on the ground. Sophie backed several steps away while keeping a careful eye on the monster.
There was something unnerving and yet familiar about this Insectoid race that cause Sophie to just observe carefully instead of attacking.
She quickly sorted out the information about this species from the inheritance given by her aunt and a contemplative expression surfaced on her face.
Tarkkakans were bred specifically for scouting and even sometimes as a delicacy for high level Insectoid races.
Their impressive tunnelling abilities allowed them to cross great distances within a short period of time.
They tracked down prey using a sensory antenna located at the top of their head to detect movement on the surface.
Poor vision and a bulky figure made them easy to outmanoeuvre once they emerged from the underground.
Reeeeeeee??
The Tarkkankan swung its head in Sophie's direction but made no attempts to close the distance between them.
Sophie inched closer and the creature started to crawl in the opposite direction while its flesh jiggled.
It seemed almost.... scared...
Sophie was not too far off the mark with that train of thought as Tarkkakans were sensitive to the presence of higher-level Insectoid races.
Sophie's scent was giving the beast a sense of bloodline suppression.
But the scent smelled....
Impure.
Reeeeeeee!!!
Struck by an unexpected increase in confidence, the beast suddenly squealed and pounced towards Sophie with an unexpectedly fast burst of speed.
Its jaws opened wide and the razor-sharp teeth hidden in its maw glistened sharply in the sunlight.
Stab!
If Tarkkakans could make facial expressions, then this poor creature's face would be one of horror.
Two of Sophie's spider appendages extended outwards and pierced through the impressive defense of the creature as if it were no more than paper and accurately penetrated its heart.
Sophie was not even conscious of the action as she planned on activating her movement technique and escaping.
Her spider appendages withdrew from the creature's body as the Tarkkankan collapsed unwillingly to the ground.
Sophie flicked her appendages a few times to get the greenish yellow blood off her limbs but saw that the still-beating heart was attached to one.
Hungry....
Sophie's eyes immediately shifted to red as an overwhelming craving for the organ engulfed her rational mind.
She wrapped her hand around the heart and carefully brought it to her mouth.
What she did next caused several observing exam administrators to throw up as the hybrid girl placed the whole heart in her mouth and swallowed it with relish.
It was actually...... pretty tasty!
If Sophie had to describe the flavour, then she would say it was an odd mix between pork and beef but with an almost gooey texture.
Suddenly Sophie felt a pleasant burst of energy flowing into her dantian as the Spider Whisper Art started to circulate automatically.
Crack!
Several meridians in Sophie's body began to widen as the qi strands flowed at a much faster rate than before.
The power swelled until Sophie could sense that she had broken into the third stage of the qi spirit realm.
Sophie closed her eyes and groaned softly in pleasure as the comfortable feeling gradually disappeared.
Flexing her hands, she could tell that something had changed in her body.
The Spider Whisper Art certainly had secrets and Sophie vaguely felt that she had not even come close to realizing its full potential.
Sophie shook her head to snap herself out of the daze and started to head towards Astrid and the rest.
The Tarkkakans were clearly tracking down students based on their ground movements so staying still or flying would allow them to avoid detection.
It sounded like a simple solution but very few candidates would recognise the beasts much less know to stay still.
But something was still bugging her.... aren't Tarkkakans pack animals?
Only one had surfaced so where had the rest gone?
"Fuck!" Sophie shouted in realization as she dashed frantically towards her roommates.
If the Tarkkakans were not targeting her then their potential victims would be Astrid and the rest of the group!
Cloud Treading Dragon!
Sophie rapidly consumed the newly formed qi in her dantian and moved quickly before it was too late.
She managed to find the trio after ten minutes of running and saw that Astrid was curiously poking a dead Tarkkankan with a stick that she had found on the ground while Rachel flew in the air and was scouting out the surrounding area.
The corpse of the beast was badly mutilated by flames which indicated that it had suffered a gruesome death in the hands of Astrid's fire spells.
Qiana had moved from inside Astrid's arms to on her back but a faint reddish tinge on her ears could still be seen.
"Hi Sophie!" Astrid waved cheerfully as she noticed the hybrid girl first. Sophie was about to reply when the rumbling noise beneath her feet caused her expression to rapidly shift.
"Astrid climb up a tree with Qiana and don't move a muscle!" Sophie yelled.
"Rachel keep flying and don't land!" she barked out two quick commands.
It was a testament to how trusting Astrid was as she immediately whispered to Qiana to hold on tight before climbing up a large tree using her claws to gain a better grip.
Sophie's warning came at the right time as the ground started to shake as hundreds of these worm-like Insectoids burst out in a frenzy.
Astrid gazed at the pinkish blobs of flesh coating every visible surface of the ground and felt her blood run cold.
She was able to defeat one of these creatures in about three minutes but could not fight against a group.
The sounds of squealing was heard from the beasts below as each of them raised their heads to try and find the lost prey.
There was clearly the lingering scent of food.... but where had the food gone?
One of the more intelligent Tarkkakans attempted to scale a nearby tree but its blubbery body was unable to climb successfully.
"What are those things?" Qiana whispered in a disgusted tone.
"A species of low-level Insectoids that use those antennas to track down prey from movement," Sophie explained.
"We should be safe as they are pretty clumsy on land and they can't detect us if we don't move."