134: Fungal nests in water

Qiao Yu attempted to generate a Level 2 Fungal Nest directly on the surface of the lake, but he still received a response from the System stating it could not be established.

This gave Qiao Yu a bit of a headache. Could it be that he could only accumulate Mycelium bit by bit to form a black tide before he could generate a fungal nest on the lake's surface?

However, the accumulated Mycelium would just be eaten by the Perch-eyed Water Monsters. What was he supposed to do?

As Qiao Yu was thinking, he saw one of the Fungus Monsters he had created run to the lakeshore to drink water.

Although the Fungus Monsters were created by Qiao Yu using fungus, they basically all possessed independent thinking abilities, equivalent to a newly generated monster with shared memories, just in a different physical shell.

This was unlike the monsters Qiao Yu sold to the organization; those were completely individual monsters without a shred of self-awareness, purely relying on instinct or the rider's objectives to carry out actions.

This monster currently drinking water was also relying on the instincts within its original genes. Just as it reached the shore, the Fungus Monster—which was about the size of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle—was swallowed into the belly of that King-level Perch-eyed Water Monster.

“Is there really no way to deal with these monsters in the water? No wonder neither the military of various countries nor the people from the Two Great Dojos are willing to provoke aquatic monsters.”

Resistance in the water was far too great; even bullets couldn't effectively damage biological organisms underwater. Human Martial Artists were the same; limited by the water's resistance, the power a human Martial Artist could release in the water was likely less than a tenth of their normal strength. Not to mention having to swim to maintain effective movement—once you enter deep waters, you are completely at the mercy of the water monsters.

Qiao Yu felt the connection between the consciousness of the monster just swallowed by the Perch-eyed Water Monster and the collective consciousness growing thinner, and he rubbed his temples.

“Wait, can I use the Fungus Monster's own body as a support point to form a stable floating island on the water's surface? That way, I can establish a fungal nest on top of it.”

“But that monster just now was eaten by the Perch-eyed Water Monster as soon as it reached the shore.”

“That's how it is for small monsters, but what if they were large monsters? If I let Lord Level monsters enter the water together, perhaps they could use the opening where the water monster can't eat them all at once to quickly establish a Level 2 Fungal Nest on the surface?”

Qiao Yu suddenly thought of this method, which was an inspiration given to him by the monster drinking water just now.

Qiao Yu first generated over a dozen Lord Level Black-crowned Golden Eagles in the fungal nest within the city, then had them fly toward Taihu Lake. With the boost of several times the speed of sound, the Black-crowned Golden Eagles soon arrived at Qiao Yu's location.

He then had these dozen or so Black-crowned Golden Eagles line up in rows and columns, spreading their wings to connect with each other, forming a single sheet.

After the dozen or so Black-crowned Golden Eagles connected, they looked like a giant UFO, with an area likely reaching a hundred square meters.

The 'UFO' composed of hundred-meter-wide Black-crowned Golden Eagles slowly drifted down onto the lake surface. Seeing such a bizarre scene, the Perch-eyed Water Monster in the water immediately felt alarm bells ringing in its heart.

It constantly adjusted its position, but it was a King-level Monster after all. Facing such a situation, it didn't think of running away immediately. Instead, it gathered water columns and sprayed them toward the 'UFO' in the sky.

In just a few seconds, it continuously fired several water columns. The columns struck the bodies of the Black-crowned Golden Eagles; while they didn't penetrate them directly, they left several deep, sunken craters.

Seeing this situation, Qiao Yu could only raise his estimation of the Perch-eyed Water Monster's strength level once again. A monster's digestive capacity was usually several levels higher than its own Realm.

Since this Perch-eyed Water Monster could injure the black god Black-crowned Golden Eagles with just its attacks, it was estimated that the strength of this King-level Perch-eyed Water Monster had likely reached the middle level among King-level Monsters, already capable of causing effective damage to the black god fungus.

Under the continuous replenishment and repair from Qiao Yu's consumption of the fungal swarm, this hundred-square-meter black giant net steadily covered a corner of the lake surface.

The moment the giant net covered the lake surface, Qiao Yu immediately issued a command to the System. The giant net, which was still in monster form, now completely transformed into a black tide composed of black god fungus.

A Level 2 Fungal Nest was generated on top of the black tide in an instant. The air vents within it allowed the fungal nest to submerge completely into the lake, perfectly hiding its form, yet without sinking to the bottom.

Meanwhile, the Perch-eyed Water Monster beneath the surface continued to spray water columns incessantly, and even repeatedly slapped the fungal nest with its massive tail, attempting to crush this structure that had appeared out of thin air.

However, the density of a Level 2 Fungal Nest was clearly not comparable to the monsters generated from genes just now; its defensive capabilities could be said to be maxed out.

Even with the Perch-eyed Water Monster's continuous attacks, it could only blast small, uneven pits and holes into the surface of the Level 2 Fungal Nest.

Qiao Yu pressed his advantage, having the Level 2 Fungal Nest generate more Black-crowned Golden Eagles to repeat the process. He first covered the surface of Taihu Lake with giant nets and then established new fungal nests.

In this way, the Level 2 Fungal Nests grew wildly at an exponential rate. Under the cover of night, the activity on Taihu Lake did not cause much of a stir; only the very first deployment had been somewhat loud.

All other movements were carried out beneath the lake, leaving no trace visible on the surface.

Even when daylight came, the turbid silt in the water could be used to hide the fungal nests.

In the blink of an eye, Qiao Yu had established hundreds of Level 2 Fungal Nests underwater.

When the Perch-eyed Water Monster saw so many black, unknown structures rising out of thin air beneath the water, it went into a state of acute stress. It desperately used its fish tail to frantically slap the surface of the fungal nests, yet it still couldn't cause much damage.

Seeing that slapping was ineffective, the Perch-eyed Water Monster turned to use its bloody maw—which was as large as the front of a truck—to frantically gnaw at the underwater fungal nests.

This time it actually worked. Under the biting of the King-level Monster's sharp teeth, many holes were pierced into the fungal nest. Bubbles from those holes constantly rose to the surface, making the water look as if it were boiling for a moment.

Seeing that biting was effective, the Perch-eyed Water Monster pressed its advantage, continuously rolling and biting at the same spot, destroying the fungal nest bit by bit until finally, a corner began to go missing from the bitten area.

The Perch-eyed Water Monster greedily devoured the fragments of the fungal nest it had bitten off, a human-like sense of satisfaction appearing in its eyes.

Just as it wanted to continue biting, it discovered that the corner of the fungal nest that had been missing was instantly replenished. For a split second, the Perch-eyed Water Monster thought it had seen wrongly.

It continued to bite—a corner went missing, it was replenished. A corner went missing, it was replenished again. After repeating this hundreds of times, the Perch-eyed Water Monster felt that even its digestive capacity couldn't handle so many fungal nest fragments.

Finally, just as it was about to give up, a large area of fungal nests within the lake triggered a chain reaction.