The dark underground space, the huge skeletons, and the hordes of shell creatures that crawl down the skeletons. Such a sight would not seem interesting to anyone's eyes, and normal people's reactions are nothing more than two. Either they were shocked by the sight and let fear eat away at their consciousness and turn into a mass of things that only knew how to make meaningless noises in place, or they could still maintain a certain level of sanity and make quick decisions to escape from these things. But neither the witch nor the kraken are ordinary people, and their extraordinariness lies precisely in the fact that they have seen too many similar scenes, and after the initial shock and psychological fluctuations have faded, the two quickly regain their cool heads.

They slowly stepped back, trying to distance themselves from the things that had been peeling off the massive pelvis. This attempt soon proved to be unnecessary, as the target of the barnacles seemed to be out of place in the first place. In general, barnacles cannot move on their own in the air, and their musculature and body structure do not allow this. So it is clear that the barnacles that appear here are different from the normal species, as evidenced by the fact that they protrude worm-like organs from their shells in the process of climbing, and at the same time withdraw the suction cups that they use to cling to other objects. Countless greenish-gray shells formed this tidal wave, which was large in number and orderly in its progress.

The witch and the kraken looked at each other, and it didn't take long for them to make a decision, they wanted to see where the party was going and what they were doing. However, these barnacles are not very sentient in their perceptions, and they are completely unaware that their movements have been targeted by two tall shellless creatures, and they are still following their predetermined route. In this progression, it is not difficult to see that the barnacles at the front of the team are larger than the barnacles that follow behind, and their shells and the yellowish muscles protruding from the shells are several times the size of the latter. At the same time, Fettis also observed that the shells of the largest barnacles had a different color from the others. It wasn't the color of the shell itself, it looked more like it was smeared with mineral powder from nearby rocks, and it felt like oil paint on a person's face. This discovery intensified the witch's curiosity, and she began to have a suspicion, though it was not yet certain.

The barnacle procession is not fast, but it is similar to the normal walking speed of a person, maybe a little slower. However, for their size, such a speed can definitely be considered high. According to Fioni's calculations of his own heartbeat, the team had been advancing for three hours since leaving the pelvis without any rest. When they finally stopped, the two realized that their destination was not far from where the team was resting. It was the boundary of a salt line, and perhaps a chain reaction caused by the collapse of the vertebrae, a few stones landed on top of the salt line, obscuring the trace. Fortunately, the toad monsters have gathered on their side of Lothar, and this breach has not yet been discovered.

"Gada!" the lead barnacle struck the stone in front of him with his own shell, and then climbed up. The other barnacles stood silently in place, as if asleep. Fionni and Fettis were a little confused by the sight before them, and according to their thoughts, the barnacles apparently realized that the salt line was something to protect themselves from the toad monsters, so the purpose of their trip should be to clean up the stones that covered the salt line. But the witch soon realized something else, according to her understanding, these salt lines were time-sensitive, so how did the barnacles grasp the nature of the salt line in this short period of time, and even organize such a team to protect the damaged salt line?

"This is the first time I've seen the deep sea. Fitis's low exclamation of exclamation pulled Fettis back into her thoughts, and she glared at the Siren, blaming him for his carelessness. But when the witch herself looked at the barnacles, she almost let out an exclamation. The reason is very simple, the barnacle that climbed on the rock made an inexplicable line of marks on the stone at some point. And these traces are undoubtedly some kind of writing that was previously unknown. Barnacles can write? No, barnacles actually have words! This fact is even more incredible than the previous visual impact, and it feels like accidentally turning over a rock, only to find that the ants below are talking about quantum mechanics in a serious way.

One thing, which Fioni and Fettis can be completely sure of now, is that the things in front of them, no matter how similar they may be to barnacles, are definitely not ignorant crustaceans. With this in mind, they are much more receptive to the next move of the barnacles. They saw that after the barnacles on the rocks stopped writing with their secretions, the stationary barnacles began to spontaneously group up towards the rubble. It didn't take long for the gravel to be covered with barnacles, and it was at this time that several unpleasant shadows appeared in the darkness not far away. It was a toad-like monster.

"What to do?" Fioni asked his companion a little nervously, he had come to like the barnacles with their sapience a little, and he didn't want these funny crustaceans to be hurt like that.

"Wait, I want to see if they're capable of fighting. Fettis also had a keen interest in barnacles, but the witch's way of thinking made her more interested in learning about these magical creatures than knowing them. So she didn't plan to help right away, even though the number of toad monsters she could see in her field of vision right now wasn't very large, and it was completely within the range of what she and Fioni could handle. But the witch wanted to see how the barnacles reacted when they encountered an enemy, and had a hunch that it would be fun.

The toad monsters didn't hesitate for long, although they were reduced to clear water when they stepped on the salt line, but obviously the salt line obscured by the stones could not do this, and the monsters slowly approached the gap in the salt line, and also approached the barnacles on the stones. Barnacles seem to have spotted the ill-intentioned approachers, and they are leaning close together, pointing their shells at their enemies, in this way trying to make it difficult for the toad monster to retreat. However, Toad Monster's determination was not so easily discouraged, and the first Toad Monster tried to reach for a barnacle, which was a smaller barnacle. Although the little one's sucker was stuck to the stone, its strength was still not comparable to that of a monster born from the bone marrow, and with a "snap", it was pulled up.

The toad monster pointed the side under the small barnacle shell at himself, as if hesitating to eat such a food he had never seen before. Suddenly, a stream of water erupted from the cavity of the small barnacle and hit the monster's eye, which immediately let out a scream and threw the barnacle out of his hand and slammed it into the stone. The shell shattered at the sound, revealing the soft body within. "Quack!" the wounded monster shouted, beckoning his companion to take action against the enemy who had hurt him.

Seeing that the barnacles were about to be torn off by the toad monster, a shark-toothed scimitar slashed through the air impartially and accurately stabbed into the head of one of the monsters!