A Pirate's Spring Awakening

"So these are the guards? A decent method."

But these mere insects weren't enough to make him retreat. The greatest threat these beetles posed to him was through the various orifices on his body. Bellamy closed his eyes, folded his ears shut, and clamped his legs together, sealing off his most vulnerable points.

"Iron Body."

The next second, the tide of beetles swarmed over him, completely submerging him. Bellamy could only feel countless fingernail-sized insects crawling frantically all over his body. As they crawled, these insects extended their massive mandibles, desperately trying to tear at his flesh.

Unfortunately for them, the primary characteristic of Bellamy's "Body of Steel" was its hardness. Moreover, he had tensed up with Iron Body, resulting in a level of toughness that was simply despair-inducing for his attackers. The harder these insects bit, the faster they died. After a cacophony of chittering and gnashing sounds, a large patch of beetles with broken fangs lay on the ground.

However, the sheer number of these insects was immense. One wave fell, and in the blink of an eye, another massive swarm lunged forward. This clearly couldn't continue. Just as Bellamy was preparing to use his fists and feet to forcibly slaughter them all, he suddenly felt his body begin to move.

The insects, engulfing Bellamy's form, began to crawl rapidly towards the depths of the secret passage. They didn't seem to care whether Bellamy was dead or alive; the beetles appeared to be merely attracted by the aura of a living being, which had drawn them out of their nests. If this speculation was true, then what was the deal with all the desiccated corpses in the passage? If these beetles emerged and carried living things back, logically, there shouldn't be so many corpses in the tunnel.

Could there be other monsters here?

Thinking this, Bellamy immediately unleashed his Observation Haki, scanning his surroundings with maximum intensity. Sure enough, he discovered something strange. "What is this thing!"

Within his Observation Haki's perception, a slender, fluorescent blue tentacle stealthily emerged from underground, speeding towards him. Wiping away the beetles near his eyes, Bellamy stared in that direction but saw nothing. This tentacle could only be perceived by the mind, not observed by the naked eye.

If the aura of the living was what lured the beetles, then were the desiccated corpses in the passage killed by "it"? Bellamy's vigilance instantly rose to its highest level.

The tentacle moved with incredible speed, reaching Bellamy's side in an instant and stabbing down towards the top of his head. As it was about to strike, Bellamy felt a bizarre sensation, as if his very soul was about to be sucked out. This thing was incredibly sinister.

Bellamy didn't dare to be careless and quickly dodged. After missing its mark, the tentacle swiftly moved again, once more aiming for his crown.

"Voidwalker Palm!" Bellamy thrust out a palm, only to find that the strong gust of wind passed right through the tentacle. This thing seemed to be immune to physical damage.

They went through several rounds of attack and defense like this, with the tentacle unable to even touch him. Yet, "it" showed no signs of frustration; no matter how many times Bellamy dodged, the tentacle relentlessly tried to pierce the top of his head.

Gradually, Bellamy began to notice that when "it" attacked, not only did it cause no ripples in the air, but even within his mental perception, no fluctuations appeared. If his Observation Haki hadn't actually seen "it," such an unheralded attack would be almost impossible to evade.

"What an insidious method." Even with Observation Haki, if caught unprepared, one would most likely be hit. Bellamy's caution had prevented him from being silently ambushed.

"Should I try using Armament Haki?" He thought about it carefully and decided it wasn't necessary. Once detected, this tentacle posed virtually no threat to him; there was no need to risk unknown dangers by making contact with it.

The tide of beetles carried Bellamy's body, advancing rapidly through the secret passage. After a long while, a colossal cavern appeared ahead. The cavern floor was densely covered with beetles, like a veritable ocean of insects.

Bellamy dodged another tentacle attack, violently shook off the beetles crawling all over him, and leaped into the air.

"What a massive cavern." He was now in an unknown location, who knew how many meters underground. A cavern this large couldn't possibly have been manually excavated. The most likely explanation was that it was a naturally formed underground cave system that someone had discovered and then connected with various tunnels.

Bellamy scanned his surroundings and immediately spotted over a dozen tunnels leading off in various directions. There was a noticeable airflow in these tunnels, clearly indicating they were connected to the outside world.

"So, what is this place for?" To expend so much effort to create such a secret underground location – it definitely wasn't for something as simple as just killing people. Nobles in this world didn't need to go to such lengths to eliminate someone.

Yet, apart from these dozen or so tunnels, this huge cavern contained nothing but innumerable beetles and that incredibly bizarre tentacle. Bellamy found nothing else.

Just as he was puzzling over this, another fluorescent blue tentacle suddenly shot up from below, speeding towards him.

"There's more!" There was more than one of these insidious tentacles.

Before Bellamy could be surprised for long, a third and then a fourth tentacle emerged from beneath the sea of beetles. Now he understood. "There's something under the beetle sea." The secrets of this place were evidently concealed by this ocean of insects.

If that was the case, then he just had to clear them away.

Effortlessly dodging the tentacle attacks, Bellamy spun around and unleashed a Tempest Kick. The tentacles weren't actually slow, but their point of attack was too consistent. All four tentacles were trying to pierce the crown of his head; such an attack pattern could never hit Bellamy.

The power and explosive force of his Gear Third form far exceeded his normal state. This kick tore through the air, directly blasting a huge gap in the sea of beetles. The secret buried beneath was finally unveiled.

"So many bones!" Beneath the sea of beetles lay countless skeletons. There was no telling how long this place had existed, but based on various details, it had to be at least a hundred years. If people had been continuously sent down these dozen or so tunnels for a hundred years… the number of skeletons piled up below would be a truly terrifying figure.

Bellamy delivered a dozen more kicks, forcibly clearing a large area of the beetle sea below. What appeared before his eyes was a mountain of bones.

"Hiss…" Seeing this bone mountain, Bellamy couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath of cold air. He made a quick mental calculation: the skeletons piled here very likely exceeded a million. And that wasn't even counting those in the tunnels.

What in the world was going on with this country?!