Chapter 179

179 Run, please! part The answer came with a loud shriek that threatened to burst everyone’s ears. The critter emitted a sound so penetrating, even the heroes were left in a daze for a few seconds. The rock scorpions, having no ears whatsoever, were left unaffected and carried on their onslaught against the defenseless heroes.

Thankfully for them, Famine was able to withstand the terrible shriek by countering with one of its own. The wolfish beast grabbed a stunned Ryu by the collar and threw him in the air, knowing full wellthe extent of its master’s capabilities.

Ryu landed on top of his loin and the amarok jumped towards the white worm with a powerful tackle that caused enough damage to tilt it over. But the giant worm was far from done and it attempted to counter with an acid strike, but when it opened its maw to fire the acid bolt, Risa made her way out the disgusting worm with only minor burns.

Her body was a bit reddened, steam came out from her skin and she carried a foul stench with her, but she was mostly unscathed. It didn’t take a genious to notice the role of the red cape in this matter, contrary to the black leather cape Ryu was wearing, Risa’s cape was made from a much rarer creature with the special ability of being completely immune to acid. Nevertheless, it did nothing to prevent the psychological trauma that most people would face after being swallowed alive but such horrid creature, but Risa held a victorious smile on her face.

After climbing down the amarok, Ryu attempted to buy a few seconds for Risa to rest, drawing his bastard sword and swinging it with all of his might and speed. Over and over the blade bounced off the creature that seemed to be taking little to no damage.

“This isn’t working”

“No shit, let’s retreat”

Risa gasped for air showing clear signs of exhaustion.

They turned they backs on the worm and ran as fast as they could towards the rest of the group, only to find out Anne was lying on the ground. Her limbs became swollen, and her breath jagged, the poison inside her body was still acting its effects and now she was starting to feel and excruciating pain. Still, being the battle hardened warrior that she was, she didn’t let go of her weapon.

.....

Poisoned, sick or hurt, an adventurer could heal with proper rest and a healthy diet, but there was nothing even a veteran adventurer could do against a beast without a proper weapon. The minute an adventurer loses their weapon, the only possible course of action is to retreat.

Bob was tired of holding the shield up without any means of fighting back, but thankfully, Luke was there to help his friend. He remained by Bob’s side for as long as he could, abusing his single strike skill to fend off the beasts.

Ryu had to make a decision, and it had to be quick. It didn’t matter how strong heroes were, in the end it all came down to the amount and quality of their weapons.

“Famine, run around luring as many scorpions as you can, then lead them over to that thing”

Just before the amarok turned around, a fluff the size of a watermelon jumped down the beast. It was mochi the cat, who had been napping on top of Famine’s from the start. He walked towards Ryu brushing past his legs as he usually did whenever he wanted to be held on its master’s arms, but Ryu was on high alert checking his surroundings while the rest kept the rock scorpions at bay.

Then, Mochi noticed something small slithering down Ryu’s sleeve. It was the wurm hatchling, that never parted from its master. Curious, like any regular house cat, the moon cat came close to the small snake like creature and sniffed it, only to be greeted with a sharp bite on its nose.

Now completely awake, and in pain, Mochi finally realized the situation they were in. He looked in despair anyone he could climb to be kept safe from the terrifying creatures that closed in by the second, but everyone was too busy fighting for their lives. Mochi saw the amarok running in circles around the big wurm with a helpess expression if anyone ever saw one in a cat.

His bristly fur shined in the moon dazzingly for a second and suddenly, Mochi, the fearsome moon cat that once killed an armed guard to protect his master, ran away hoping on top of the rocks scrambled on the field.

As fate would have it, one of those rocks was not a lifeless mineral, but a full grown rock scorpion, the broodmother.

“Run now!”

Risa made way for everyone to break through the now thin line of enemies. Needless to say it was all thanks to the amarok’s efforts, since killing the scorpions was extremely difficult and tiresome because of their sturdiness and luring them turned out to be a much better alternative.

By the time they were at asafe distance, they were able to see the disproportioned battle between the broodmother and the giant white worm mass. The huge scorpion was too big for its own sake, and it moved so slowly it would have been really easy to dodge or even outrun, but things were different for a bloated worm whose only means of defense were either crushing smaller creatures or spitting an acid that was completely ineffective against rock scorpions.

Two huge monsters fought in an epic battle right in front of everyone’s eyes, but Ryu’s gaze was centered on the amarok that remained luring and herding enemies towards the battleground.

Ryu bit his nails in worry, having sent the amarok to do something so dangerous was eating him away, but much to everyone’s relief the beast was able to return safely towards the group.

The clash in between those creatures was enough to make the ground tremble, scaring even the battle maniac Risa with their might, but however srong they were, it was a stalemate. The worm’s acid was useless against the scorpion broodmother and the scorpion’s poison was useless against the worm.