Chapter 99: The Skitterfangs
Victor’s voice had then attracted the Skitterfangs’ attention.
All at once, their heads snapped toward the intruders.
There was no need for another word... As soon as they were noticed, the battle began.
The three Skitterfangs shrieked, their mandibles threw the half-eaten shells as they uncoiled from the ceiling and dropped with incredible speed.
"Spread out!" Drosk ordered as he readied his sword. Just like Victor, he had decided to use it with its metal scabbard for now...
The beasts hit the ground with a thud...
Then, their armored legs scurried rapidly over the shells on the ground as they pounced at Hale immediately, forcing her to roll sideways and slash with her short sword.
Since she was also an archer, her precision strikes were the best among all of them. Her blade scraped sparks against its joints, and although it didn’t crack open the joints of the Skitterfang, it definitely felt the danger from her short blade.
Victor, on the other hand, was already moving. His wrapped sword swung down on another Skitterfang, also aiming for the joint of its foreleg.
Crack!
The sword didn’t hit where he wanted to, but still, he was able to somehow hit its head!
The creature screeched and started staggering back.
Emma had also gotten closer with surprising agility, her short sword thrust hit the side of the same beast. The blow didn’t pierce fully, but it left a jagged crack in its carapace.
"Now!" Victor roared.
He then turned struck the weak spot Emma had made, and with a grunt of strength, forced it deep.
Thud!
Black blood or matter spurted out as the Skitterfang spasmed and collapsed...
Fighting three Skitterfangs seemed quite easy. However, Rayven knew that if there were a swarm of them, it would definitely be dangerous.
Still, Rayven learned how to deal with the Skitterfangs.
Meanwhile, Drosk met the second beast head-on.
Rayven watched as Drosk’s sword was still so fast and struck the creature’s mandibles to keep them from latching onto him.
He feinted left, then slammed his shoulder into its body, knocking it off-balance. Hale appeared from behind and slashed across its underbelly where the armor was supposedly a bit thinner. The Skitterfang shrieked, but Drosk ended it with an easy downward stab through its head.
Thud!
The head of the skitterfang splattered just like that.
The third Skitterfang dashed back, then suddenly leaped toward Rayven after finding an opening...
Rayven noticed all of this since it was a lot slower than he thought... He even forgot to act like he was using his Mage Staff and just casually used his spell.
"Mana Flick!"
[ 1 Gold Coin deducted. ]
[ Current Balance: 237 Gold Coins ]
A sharp force of mana was released in front of him, striking the beast’s eye.
Yes, his Mana Flick was so accurate, even against the moving target.
The Skitterfang screeched, blinded for a moment...
"Over here!" Emma shouted, drawing its attention as she darted forward.
Hale then followed, flanking its side. They moved in tandem as their short swords stabbed...
Chinks formed along its leg joints, and it was enough for them to end this.
Soon, Victor walked forward, and his sword shattered the Skitterfang’s head.
Thud...
"Three down... Not bad teamwork." Drosk said as he looked at the three Lesser Beasts.
As Silver Rank Adventurers, this was surely an easy task. Even just one of them should be able to deal with it, though it would be a lot slower.
The only problem with the Skitterfangs was truly their numbers. If they got unlucky like before, facing 30 or even more at once, they might be in danger...
If that happened, they could only trust the mage who had joined their team.
"Good work... Let’s clean this up."
They got to work immediately, prying open the shells with practiced movements.
From each corpse, they carefully retrieved a small crystal, about half the size of a fingernail, that was still pulsing faintly with mana.
"Lesser Beast Cores." Emma muttered as she took all three and stored them in a small pouch. She was the one assigned to store all the Lesser Beast Cores.
They also salvaged special fragments of carapace, sharp mandibles, and stored them in cloth pouches.
Rayven smiled at this as he turned to look at his surroundings. Well, he knew this was the perfect time to test his treasure-hunting ability.
"Detect Mana Source."
[ 1 Gold Coin deducted. ]
[ Current Balance: 236 Gold Coins ]
With the activation of the spell, his vision changed... Now, he could see threads of mana converging below the chamber floor.
They were not treasure chests... but something else...
"Wait." He held up a hand. "There’s something under us."
The others froze. There weren’t any notes about this area. Previously, this place was just like a garbage dump of the skitterfangs. There shouldn’t be any skitterfangs within this area...
Furthermore, there weren’t any hidden passages or other things found in this place by previous Adventurers. It was just a place filled with broken shells of the Skitterfangs as if they were shedding here from time to time.
In the meantime, Rayven traced the glowing lines with his eyes until they pointed him toward a mound of broken shells near the wall.
Carefully, they brushed aside the fragments until the truth was revealed.
Smooth, translucent ovals could be seen beneath the debris. Each was the size of a man’s fist...
"Eggs..." Emma breathed. "Skitterfang eggs."
There were three clusters with four eggs each!
A total of twelve eggs nestled together in a sticky webbing of silk and soil...
Drosk’s eyes suddenly lit up as he recalled those three Skitterfang eating shells!
He couldn’t help but connect them to these eggs...
’Is this actually their nesting site?
’Perhaps, they had just killed the mothers of these creatures.
"Twelve..." Drosk muttered...
"Carrying them will slow us down... but the Guild will pay a fortune if they’re intact."
"I’ll carry them..." Rayven offered without hesitation. "I’m not fighting up close anyway. It’s safer with me..."
Then, of course, he also used his Appraisal to check its Market Value.