My Life In A Fantasy, Women-Dominated World

Chapter 164: Nightcrawlers...?

Time bled by faster than Aaron could’ve thought.

Before he knew it, he was already storing the third tribe’s gold shrooms with the stealth elder and Alyssa hiding inside the tinted glass cabins on his shoulder.

None of them wanted to be associated with this large monster, so they made sure to hide properly.

But that wasn’t what he was worried about.

He noticed something weird, that all the mushfolks were scurrying to hide in their mushroom houses, not even trying to defend their town against him.

This wasn’t normal.

No matter how much he overpowered them, the Stealth tribe and the Strength tribe both put their lives on the line to defend their town and gold shrooms.

Then why was this Ranger tribe giving up so easily?

The only difference he could notice was that the sky had darkened by now, a large moon replacing the shining sun as the visibility dipped down to zero.

But luckily, Aaron was a proud owner of nanotech orb.

As long as he knew the knowledge behind it, he could use several different types of technology using the orb.

And the night vision goggles was one such technology.

Using the principle of it to form a pair of swimming goggles on his eyes, he was now capable of viewing the scenery around himself with somewhat decent clarity.

"Why are you running?" Aaron grabbed a random Ranger tribe member, his voice booming into the poor man’s mushroom ears.

"LET ME GO! PLEASE! THEY WILL COME ANY MINUTE NOW!" the mushfolk screamed in panic, thrashing and resisting against Aaron’s grip.

"Who will come any minute now?" Aaron asked in confusion.

"LET ME GO OR KILL ME! THAT’S A FATE MUCH BETTER THAN DYING TO THEM!" The mushfolk refused to listen as he continued to struggle.

On his shoulders, both the Stealth tribe elder and Alyssa stirred from their nap.

"Oh fuck, it’s night." The stealth elder said in an ominous tone.

"Sir Aaron, you need to steal the shrooms faster and find a refuge. Let that man go, he will die from stress faster than he could tell you any useful information. I am here." Alyssa pulled his earlobe to attract his attention.

Aaron hummed, releasing the Ranger tribe member from his grasp as that man began to fall down to the floor without anything to help slow his fall.

But mid fall, the man stirred in the air, spinning slightly and swiping his hand at a tall mushroom building, causing a thin arrow to shoot out.

The arrow seemed to be a part of that ranger’s body, connected with a thin string which he used to swing safely on to the ground like a budget spiderman.

Then that ranger abandoned that string and arrow, dashing to the nearest building and hiding inside.

A cold intrusive thought in Aaron’s mind bloomed, whispering that he should try uprooting that mushroom building and watch the small mushfolks running around in panic.

It was an interesting thought but he didn’t act on it, knowing that despite the size of bugs, these people were still a living race.

Instead, he collected the goldshrooms and stored them together before standing up fully.

"What are they all so scared of?" He asked himself, or rather, to the two munchkins on his shoulders.

"Nightcrawlers." The stealth elder said briefly.

"Nightcrawlers! They are the predators of the night, with the power to pop out of the shadows of the Heaven Trees!" Alyssa squealed in panic.

Aaron didn’t know what the heaven trees were, but if he had to guess, he would say that the tall trees around them were those.

Those that reach the highest points and drown the world in their thick canopies.

"Are they dangerous to me?" Aaron asked with a tinge of fear.

He had been roaming around these weak mushfolks for quite a while, revelling in his supreme strength that was incomparable against these fungi...

But, he hadn’t quite forgotten that small bee he met when he started this trial.

That small thing was capable of fully blocking his attack, so he had no plans to get cocky and underestimate these elusive ’nightcrawlers’.

"Dangerous... I cannot tell. You both are too strong for us mushfolks, but I would say your strengths are pretty comparable?" Alyssa said after a brief moment of thought.

However the stealth elder had other thoughts.

"You may be able to beat them in strength, but can you cope with their nightmares?" she said ominously.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that light a fire or anything that produces a decent amount of light first."

Aaron didn’t dilly dally anymore, leaving the Ranger tribe behind as he picked up his speed, dashing away.

After putting a decent distance between himself and the tribe, he began to pick up the dried, dead branches of the ’heaven trees’, using those and arranging them in the shape of a campfire.

Once that was done, he began scourging for some dead grass and leaves, stuffing them under the wooden structure.

Then came the difficulty.

How was he supposed to light a fire with nothing?

Such a problem would’ve been disastrous for others, as their only option would be to search for flint or rub branches.

But luckily, he wasn’t part of those ’others’.

He had a unique cheat and he didn’t hesitate to make the best use of it.

Transforming his nanotech orb into the best firemaking stones he could imagine, he started the fire by igniting the dried leaves.

Fire spread slowly at first and then brighter... until the campfire was lit fully and he found a place to sit beside it.

"Now, shoot." He said impatiently, looking at his left shoulder where the stealth elder was sitting.

"Hmm." she hummed, "Nightcrawlers are the spawns of darkness and evil, coming out under the moonlight and on the grand quest of devouring anything that’s alive.

The scariest part is, they don’t just kill their preys, they destroy them... both mentally and physically.

Their powers could induce the worst nightmares while their physical strength should be on par with yours.

So you tell me... Can you deal with those?"