Chapter 45 - 45: So freaking many. . . Why. . .

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I started to come down the ladder. After about half way down, I started to hear a weird noise. It sounded like something banging on the walls. I looked up to where the others were, and I put a finger to my lips, telling them to be quiet. I turned my head back down, and finished climbing the ladder.

{Guys come down very quietly. Orion, you float down, and Onyx land very softly.} I told both of them.

{{Got it!}} They both said at the same time.

The next one to come down was Orion. He walked to the edge of the opening, and he jumped through the hole in the floor. Once his wings were past it, he opened them up enough to glide down softly. Onyx jumped down right after Orion was out of the way. He landed with a little bit of noise, but not much. Sadly though, the noise down the tunnel stopped.

". . ." I just stared right at Onyx. . .

{{What??}} Onyx commented.

While Onyx was looking at me, Titus and Arialle started coming down the ladder too.

I turned around, and took my bow off my shoulder. I took an arrow out of my quiver just in case something came out of the tunnel ahead of us. Luckily I had Ranger's Perception, or else this would have been a pain in the ȧss to see anything right now. There are no lights down here, so we wouldn't be able to see very much. I'm not too sure about what Titus has for abilities, but I know Arialle can see a little bit without any form of lights.

[[Arialle: What is going on?]]

[[Arthrall: There is something down here, it was making a noise earlier, but thanks to Onyx the noise went quiet.]]

[[Arialle: Great. . .]]

[[Arthrall: Indeed, go stealth that way it can't see you, but make sure you are very quiet.]]

I motioned for Titus to follow me. I started walking forward so that way I could look around the corner. Once I was close enough, I motioned for Titus to stop. I knew Arialle would stop, even if I couldn't see her right now. I went to poke my head around the corner. All of a sudden, a blast of air obliterated the corner of the wall I was next to. The shrapnel from the wall pelted my face, luckily I closed my eyes once I felt the air hit the wall.

"Fuck!" I yelped.

"What was that??" Titus whispered.

"Back up! Whatever it is, it is coming right for us." I told them.

We backed up from the corner of the wall a little bit. While backing up, I took out a second arrow out of my quiver. I notched both of my arrows onto my shortbow, and waited for whatever it was to come around the corner. When it did I was quite surprised due to the size of it.

[Name -- Wind Scorpion

Level -- 11

Health -- 350/350

Strength -- 20

Dexterity -- 40

Intelligence -- 11

Wisdom -- 10

Skills -- 2

Skill -- Wind Spike -- You can shoot out a spike of air, that attacks a point in front of you.

Skill -- Sonar Pulse -- You send out a wave of sounds, in order to see around you.]

"Attack it you two, just make sure to watch out for its Wind Spike ability." I told Orion and Onyx.

So they went charging in, Onyx popped his Panther's Intimidation, and Orion shot off a couple of his Wind Blades. It didn't take them too long to finish the scorpion.

{Hey, did the System upgrade or something??}

[What do you mean?]

{Well, before I wasn't able to see the abilities of the enemies, but now I can.}

[Give me a moment, I'll check it out.]

"Well that was easy." Titus commented.

"Honestly, it was a little too easy." Arialle mentioned after she came out of stealth.

[So, the System isn't responding to me right now. I have no idea on why either. . .]

{What?!}

[I don't know, it is like it is blocking out what I'm trying to do.]

{This is freaking great. . . Oh well, just don't worry about it for now. Kind of explains why I haven't had any messages pop up since we have been in this cave. I can view anything right now, but like if I kill something, it doesn't tell me.}

[I'll keep trying, but it might have to wait till we are out of here. . .]

{Alright, that is fine.}

[[Arialle: What do you mean?]]

[[Arthrall: It isn't telling me I've killed anything in here.]]

[[Arialle: That is weird, thanks for telling me at least.]]

[[Arthrall: No problem.]]

"Hey Titus, how well do you see down here right now?" I asked.

"Could be a lot better, I can currently see about 20ft in front of us." He commented.

"What about you Arialle?" I asked her.

'Um. . . I can see about the same distance. I don't have an ability to see in the dark right now. I was told I would get that around level 12.' She told me.

"Alright, then looks like I'll be the one looking around. Unless you think you can do it in Stealth mode Arialle." I commented.

"I mean, I can definitely try if need be. Up to you." She told me.

"Alright, go up and scout ahead. Let me know what you see." I told her.

Arialle, nodded her head then went into stealth mode. Titus and I waited for about 5 minutes before we heard anything from her.

[[Arialle: Arthrall, there are quite a few of them scorpions around up here. Just from me looking around, I see about 20 or so of them. I'm not even at the end yet either.]]

[[Arthrall: Alright, thanks. Come back to us, we will discuss what to do.]]

[[Arialle: Ok, on my way.]]

"So. . . We have a lot ahead of us right now. . ." I commented to Titus.

"We do? How many are there?" He asked.

"Well Arialle told me that there are over 20 of them, and she hadn't even made it to the end of the tunnel yet." I said.

"Holy fuċk. . ." Titus commented sadly.

"Yeah, this is going to be fun. I might have to physically attack them, or else I'll run out of arrows. . ." I said while looking at my almost empty quiver.

"I didn't think it would be this bad, and what sucks is we can't leave either." He mentioned.

"Yeah. . ." I commented softly.

"Hey guys, I'm back." Arialle suddenly said.

"Jesus. . ." I said while I was startled.

Titus just turned to a different shade of grey.

"You ok there Titus?" I asked him.

"No. . . I'm not. . . I just had the hebe jebes scared out of me. . ." He whɨnėd.

"So, what is our plan?" Arialle asked.

"Well, so far we haven't really come up with anything yet. I mentioned that I won't be able to shoot them considering I'm low on arrows right now. Do you still have that sword you let me borrow when we first met?" I asked her.

"Yeah I do, I always keep one with me." She told me.

"Do you mind if I use it till we get some more arrows?" I asked.

"Sure, let me find it." She replied.

While she was searching for the sword, I started looking through my bag. To be honest I wasn't really looking through it, I was looking through my inventory. I was trying to see if I had anything to help me with the scorpions, but sadly I didn't really have anything that could help me.

"Oh, here it is!" She exclaimed.

"Awesome!" I commented.

She took the sword out of her bag, and handed it over to me. I took the sword and inspected it.

[Steel Sword

Rank -- Common

Level -- 5

Experience -- 320/320

Damage -- 31-45

Strength -- +10

Dexterity -- +5

Constitution -- +6]

"This will have to do. Thanks." I commented.

"You are welcome. Now, the first set of scorpions are about 20ft down to the right of us right now. They were walking towards us, but stopped. They ended up going back the other direction." Arialle told us.

"Alright, then let's go, and kill some scorpions!" I mentioned.

I put my shortbow back onto my back, and put the arrows back into the quiver.

{Orion and Onyx, walk in front of me just in case we get attacked before we see them.}

{{Will do Arthrall.}} Orion commented.

{{Yay!! We get to kill more scorpions!}} Onyx said excitedly.

I just started walking while shaking my head. We turned around the corner quietly and slowly. I was able to see the scorpions, but they couldn't see us yet. By the time they could see us, Orion had already jumped up, and started gliding towards them. Onyx started to run towards them, while the rest of us started jogging. Orion started fighting the left one, while Onyx took the right one closer to us. I took out my sword that Arialle let me borrow, and I started swinging it at the scorpion. While I was fighting the one Onyx had, Arialle and Titus went for the one Orion was fighting. 

The one that I was fighting tried using its Wind Spike on Onyx and I. I quickly dodged out of the way, and Onyx jumped over it. I swung my sword towards its tail to try and cut it off. Sadly though, it actually was able to move out of the way. It then hit its tail on the ground, which I thought was weird. It happens twice. That is when I realized it wasn't trying to attack the ground, it was using its second skill.

"They are blind!" I told everyone.

After I told everyone, I faked swinging my sword to the left of the scorpion. It scooted out of the way of it, but it didn't realize I didn't swing it at it. I had feinted my swing, then I took and stabbed it right down on its head. Sadly. It wasn't able to notice my feint, or else it would have dodged my stab. It tried moving with my sword impaled on it, but it was already dying. It didn't take it too long before it stopped moving. I took a look towards Orion's side to see how they were doing, but it looked like they were about to finish theirs off also.

"Well, at least we know about their abilities fully. It seems that they are truly blind." I commented.

"Indeed, it went a lot smoother than I thought it was going to go." Titus mentioned.

"Well, let's keep going then. There are still quite a few left." Arialle said while walking past me.

We followed Arialle for about 30ft before she slowed down. She put her hand up for us to stop. She ended up showing three fingers while pointing around a bend to our left. I nod towards her, then I slowly walk around her to look around the bend. There they were, with their backs to us. I motioned for everyone to follow me. Once we were close enough, we attacked them. I was able to cut off the tail of the rightmost one, which pissed it off severely. Titus took the middle one by himself, and Arialle took the left one. Onyx decided to go and help Arialle, and Orion pounced on the one Titus was fighting. It took us maybe five minutes to finish all 3 of them. We were honestly quite tired, or at least I was.

"Anyway we could backtrack a little bit, and get some rest? I'm actually quite tired." I asked them quietly.

They both nodded, so we went back the way we came. We ended up walking to where the ladder was at.

"Alright, lets rest here for a little bit before we head back to fight more of them." I told them.

"You alright there bud?" Titus asked me.

"Yeah, just this is the second time I've ever actually used a sword. The first time was luck." I commented.

"Yeah, luck isn't even half of it." Arialle said while chuckling.

". . ." I just looked at her with a straight face.

"Alright, I'm closing my eyes for a little bit. Keep watch." I told them.