Time continued to trickle past.
The Warriors holding the door were shuffled out two more times, but there continued to be no sign of activity from the depths of the cave. Ye Xi would occasionally shoot a nervous glance behind him, wanting nothing more than to see how the excavation of the new rock was going.
Alas, he was an ordinary person, and an entire group of Warriors was working on digging out the rock. A provisional Warrior like him would be of little help…
Courage came off his shift to rest and leaned against the wall, his aching arms hanging at his sides. He said to Ye Xi, "The rock walls inside won't be so easily excavated. I know full well just how tough those walls are."
One of the tribe members passed an open water bag to Courage, who took it and greedily took several big gulps from it. He saw that all the tribe members were rather worried, so he soothed, "This boulder we use to cover the entrance isn't that fragile. It should be able to last for a while…"
Clack.
A soft cracking sound came from the boulder.
Ye Xi and Courage went stiff, both turning their heads in disbelief.
A small and twisting crack had appeared at the top of the boulder.
The tribe members present had been watching the boulder this entire time, and when the crack appeared, they gasped.
An almost imperceptible pause appeared in the shaman's chanting.
The chief, who was doing his best to hold the door, had failed to notice, the veins on his neck bulging. And the shaman's chanting had yet to cease.
Ye Xi immediately called out, "Hurry! The Warriors who are resting should immediately head into the cave and help with digging out the stone. The Warriors here can hold on for now! Hurry and go!"
The Warriors resting on the ground seemed to wake from a dream, jumping to their feet and rushing deeper into the cave, ignoring their aching bodies.
Crack!
Another crisp crack, and another break on the boulder.
Even the Warriors holding the door noticed it this time, and they looked up in shock.
Ye Xi called out, "Keep pushing! Don't lose focus!"
There were no more Warriors at the entrance besides the eight holding the door. The moment they lost focus and lessened their strength, the insect flood would break through the defense line and surge into the cave.
Clack.
The cracks spread from the top of the rock to the center.
Ye Xi stared at the rock, tightly gripping his bow, his hands soaked in sweat.
The women hugged their children tightly, sorrowful looks on their faces as they fearfully stared at the cracks.
The men gripped weapons and clenched their teeth, determined to fight to the death with the insects.
They had no intention of running deeper into the cave, because even if they ran all the way inside, it would be pointless. The insects would flood into every nook and cranny.
Everyone stared at the cracks.
Ye Xi held his breath, placing his bow onto his back and untying the bayonet from his waist so that he could hold it in his hand.
The boulder might break apart at any moment, allowing that endless horde of giant insects to flood inside. The bow would be useless there, but the triangular bayonet might give him some hope of fighting back.
There was no chance of survival against the insect flood, so if he could kill at least one before dying, it would be worth it.
The air was stagnant, and there was no sound besides the chanting of the shaman.
Thump! Thump! In this silence, Ye Xi could hear his heart beating.
Ten seconds later, there was no movement from the boulder.
Twenty seconds later, there was no movement from the boulder.
Sixty seconds later, there was still no movement from the boulder.
In this suffocating tension, that horrifying cracking sound had yet to occur again.
Ye Xi felt a sliver of hope.
Perhaps there was still time…
At this moment, hurried footsteps came from behind him!
Ye Xi's eyes brightened as he turned around.
Crackcrackcrack!!!
A string of cracking erupted from the boulder.
Ye Xi turned back in disbelief and saw that the boulder was now covered in a spiderweb of cracks!
The hurried footsteps were still coming!
"HURRRRY!" Ye Xi crazily roared!
"Rry…rry…."
"Rry…rry...rry..."
His voice echoed off the walls.
CRACK!!!
Debris exploded from another crack.
Calm Bulrush and the other Warriors were red in the face as they carried over a massive rock, their eyes wide open as they madly ran!
Thump!
A boom came from behind Ye Xi.
Ye Xi turned around in despair.
A large hole had been broken through the center of the boulder, and a savage insect had poked its head in!
The cracks in the boulder could now be called a crevice, and it seemed like it would be just another second more until the boulder was obliterated and all the insects squeezed their way into the Mud Mountain Tribe's cave. But the Warriors with the new boulder were still several dozen meters away!
Ye Xi turned ashen.
No way! No way! Why!? Just a little longer!!!
The shaman suddenly thumped his cane against the ground.
Thump!
The earth gave an audible thump in response.
The shaman stared at the entrance, his chanting becoming abnormally loud and piercingly sharp.
The insect that had been about to charge through the crevice into the cave suddenly froze.
The Warriors holding the door suddenly felt the outside pressure vanish.
"Stand aside!!!"
The Warriors with the new boulder charged out from the back, yelling at the Warriors holding the door when they were only ten-some steps away.
The Warriors holding the door immediately stepped away.
Thump!
The Warriors worked together and put the new rock in place.
The shaman stopped chanting and gasped for breath, his complexion paling.
The moment the chanting stopped, the insect flood charged at the cave entrance, instantly turning the old rock into a pile of debris.
The old rock had just shattered and the new rock had yet to be embedded in the edges of the cave entrance, so the insects tried to squeeze their way in through the cracks.
The Warriors combined their strength and pushed the new rock outward.
Boom! The rock met with the walls of the mountain.
It had finally been blocked up.
Ye Xi stared at the rock firmly placed in the entrance before finally breathing a sigh of relief. He felt his knees go soft and slowly sat down by the wall.
For a moment there, he had given up, not having expected shaman power to save the day and temporarily stop the attack of the insects.
Ye Xi turned to the shaman.
The shaman refused the food and water brought over by the tribe members. He closed his eyes and sat down on the ground to rest.
All of the tribe members were looking at the shaman, their eyes brimming with admiration and trust.
After a few moments of rest, the shaman opened his eyes again. "This rock can probably hold for one day, but there's no telling when the insect flood will retreat. After some rest, the Warriors should go back into the mountain and dig out another rock."
"Yes, shaman!" the Warriors replied in unison.
The tribe members looked at each other, their eyes shining with the joy and excitement of having survived.
…
The despair-inducing insect flood lasted for three days and three nights before finally receding. In these three days, the insects attacked incessantly. Unlike humans, they did not need to rest at night. On the contrary, nightfall seemed to intensify their attacks.
The Mud Mountain Warriors were as exhausted as could be. If not for the shaman constantly chanting blessings that allowed the Warriors to recover, they would not have been able to hold out this long.
In these three days, the ordinary tribe members had fared no better. The tribe's store of food had already been mostly consumed in the earlier period.
The Warriors consumed a great deal of strength to hold the door, and the tribe could not allow them to go hungry. Thus, all the food was given to them. Besides the children and elderly, who were given a small portion of food, everyone else had only water.
Ye Xi refused to receive special treatment. Just like the others, he went three days and three nights without food.
One would not starve to death without three days of food, but Warriors without strength would lead to everyone's doom.
In this period, the shaman was probably the most hard-pressed.
The Warriors could take shifts, but the shaman had not rested once.
In these three days, Ye Xi had examined the shaman's complexion, worried that he would collapse. But the shaman managed to endure, standing tall until the insect flood receded, upon which his body finally swayed and he sat down on the ground.