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Chapter 318 - The naga people
🕑 Added 2021-09-25 13:00:06 +0000 UTC"Hey, isn't that a roly-poly shell?" Blue pointed to what looked like a large boulder dangling from a web.
"Isn't that just a rock that fell in?" Alex asked.
"No, look. That's the head, that's the tail, and those are the small limbs," Blue pointed the parts to the group.
"I guess you're right. But I didn't know they got that big," Shane was looking at the corpse. The roly-poly was much bigger than any monster they had seen so far. One of those should be enough food for five spiders or a very big spider.
They've been walking for a while, and the only thing they could see was the various webs that remained around even with no one to care for them. Even if they wanted to move faster, there were too many holes that seemed to be used by the spiders as traps or homes. Every time the group got close to one of those shafts, they had to stop and proceed with care to be sure there wouldn't be any monsters waiting for them. If the creatures here moved away because of food, there was a chance that they were still starving.
"Guys, do you want to keep going, or should we go back? It's late, and it takes hours to reach the outpost," Helena asked when she noticed the time.
"I'm ok with sleeping here. Hera and Silah can make a bunker for us to be protected, and we can take turns on watch just to be safe," Shane replied.
"Yeah, but what about food? Do we have enough, or would we need to hunt?" Alex asked.
"Hunt what? The spiders?" Bonnie gasped.
"Yeah, they are big. There should be a lot of meat," Alex nodded.
"Are you crazy?" Bonnie took a step back.
"She's not wrong. Spiders are very tasty," Mylo added.
"I'm not eating spider!" Bonnie said.
"Fine, we can go after scarabs or a roly-poly. They should be juicy," Blue said with a smirk.
"Blue, stop that," Hera turned to Bonnie, "We should have enough rations for another two meals, but that means we need to go back tomorrow or we start hunting spiders. I get what you mean, it feels weird, but they are so big that the meat shouldn't be any different from what we are used to. Well, unless it tastes like chicken, don't people say that everything tastes like chicken?"
"I never heard that one, but you know what, I think I understand it," Silah nodded.
"To be fair, you haven't experienced much of the food that we have to offer. I mean, you never even had sushi," Helena turned to Silah.
"Is that the food made out of raw fish?"
"Among other things, yes," Helena replied
"That one seems weird," Silah tilted her head to the right.
"Guys, quiet. We have movement in front," Hera whispered to the group. About fifty meters or so in front of her, there was something large crossing a corridor.
The party started sneaking as best as it could. Even so, it was hard to keep themselves hidden when they were the only source of light in the area. Something else moved in the darkness. It stopped in the intersection and moved around. Its several eyes glowed, reflecting the light coming from the human's spells, and it moved along the intersection in a hurry.
"How many eyes a scarab has?" Alex asked.
"Just two, I think. Maybe four if they are from some weird species," Bonnie replied.
"Yeah, that's definitively a spider then," Alex sighed.
"Did you saw how big it was?" Shane was trying to see what was going on in the intersection.
"Medium size, maybe. It didn't seem like it was taller than any of us, well. Maybe Silah," Alex turned to the dwarf, "Sorry."
"Don't be. It's a fair point. You guys consider that a medium spider while I say that's a big one," Silah tried to make a joke to lift the tension, but it didn't land.
"Everyone get ready to attack. That's the second monster we saw passing by. There should be more," Helena said.
The group nodded and kept moving. Hera already got her chakram on one hand and her handaxe on the other. When they got close to the intersection, Mylo stepped in front of the group and pointed up. On the wall to the other side of the valley, a swarm of spiders was moving around. They didn't seem to be bothered by the humans, but after a quick glance, it was easy to see a couple of them watching the new invaders. Hera stared at the spiders and used her [Observe] along with the affinity sight spell.
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Trapper Spider - Level 16 (Earth Affinity)
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Trapper Spider - Level 17 (Earth Affinity)
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Among that cluster, which should have around 20 or 30 spiders, most of the monsters were level 16, and just a few larger spiders were one level above that.
When the group got closer, the monsters started to move faster, almost as if they were running away from them. However, the few bigger spiders came to meet the creatures that were encroaching into their territory. Without any warning, the spiders attacked, sending their webs toward the humans. Hera instinctively created her stone wall, not to let anyone be caught by the webs. The string from the spider's bottom glued itself into the rock and pulled it apart with a tug, destroying the barrier in one fell swoop. Before the monsters could do anything else, Bonnie sent in a couple of fire fists to greet them. The flames ignited the web and ran through it, reaching the creatures who quickly cut off the connections. Then, the spiders moved to the walls, walking upwards to vanish among the shadows. Moving like that, the monsters could still see the party while staying hidden from sight.
"Now that's unfair, don't you think," Helena smirked and waved her hands, creating a thin layer of shadows around the party.
"What's that?" Bonnie looked around, but aside from making the lights slightly dimmer, nothing seemed to have happened.
"It's an illusion. The light we are making only shows up for us. Anything outside the barrier sees only darkness. I can't keep that up for a long time, but we can at least have an edge here," Helena explained while searching for the spiders.
"So let's, do this," Silah tossed a large chunk of metal to the side. It landed outside the barrier with a loud crash.
In response, one of the spiders jumped at the metal, exposing itself to the group that bombarded it with spells. Killing the creature before it could even react.
"Lena, does that barrier works the other way around? Light from the outside won't reveal us either?" Shane asked.
"Yeah. We will be just a black spot if something shines there."
"Great. Everyone get ready to attack," Shane loaded one of her explosion bullets and aimed up before pulling the trigger.
The projectile flew high up and exploded in the middle of the valley, creating a flash of light and revealing four spiders in the wall. Everyone tossed out their spells at the monsters who were dizzy. Two of them died instantly thanks to the combo attacks, and the remaining two fell from the walls. The impact wasn't enough to kill them, but Blue and Mylo were waiting for the monsters. They took advantage of the wounded creatures and finished them off in a quick move. Mylo using his staff as a blunt weapon, and Blue created a large handmade out of clouds and slammed it against the remaining spider. The attack was surprisingly effective, but it wasn't enough to kill the monster. Blue started preparing another spell, but Silah moved quicker. The chunk of metal on the ground shifted and transformed into a large lance that pierced the spider's head, finishing it off before it could react to anything. With all the assailants dead, the group turned their attention to the ones in the intersection, but the spiders had left.
"Should we go after them?" Alex asked.
"I don't think we have to. I mean, look back there," Hera pointed to the direction the spiders came from, "there is a path that might lead us to the corner of the room, and they didn't seem to be running away from something just, moving."
"Still, they can be running from something," Blue added.
"I think they would be moving faster," Bonnie shrugged.
"Also, monsters are everywhere. I get being careful, but we can't keep stopping to discuss if there is a big thing or not at every turn. Unless we see some unmistakable signs of danger, we need to keep going," Shane cut everyone off and started walking to the path Hera pointed.
"What's the problem with having a discussion?" Bonnie asked.
"We lost way too much time. I mean, c'mon, we almost had a full day of exploring lost because you want to stop and talk about what to do next. We are in the middle of a labyrinth. We need to move."
"Shane, we are not doing this on our own this time," Mylo stared down the explorer.
"I know, and I know that if it was just us, we would be taking even more time to deal with the monsters, but they were supposed to help. All the time we are saving, we end up wasting because you people want to stop and talk," Shane scoffed.
"You people?" Helena asked.
Shane's eyes went wide, "No! I didn't mean it like that,"
"Relax, this was just a joke to help lighten the mood," Helena chuckled, "Anyway, I agree with Shane. Being careful is good and all, but we have a large party. It's fine if we move faster and are a bit more reckless. There are too many eyes and spells scouting our surroundings for something big to get the drop on us."
"I don't like it. We should be careful either way," Bonnie said.
"I don't mind going faster, but when something like this happens, we should still stop and talk," Hera kept walking towards the path she saw. There was no need to have this discussion while staying still. Alex was already getting to the valley, and the last thing they needed was for someone to get ambushed.
"Fine, I'll agree to stop when we find something, but only if it's something big enough," Shane said, knowing that this was the best deal she would get.
"Does that counts?" Alex was pointing at something in that new side path.
The group quickly hurried over. In that valley, there were several different structures, various fronts of buildings could be seen. Some were smaller and some bigger, but all had one thing in common; Either embedded on the columns or as a stand-alone piece, there were sculptures of the naga. They were much more snake-like than Shane made them out to be. It was like someone had put arms, shoulders, and, for some reason, abs and put them on a snake. Their heads didn't have anything that could be described as human, but that didn't mean that they were mindless beasts. Inside the first structure, the party found bones, small piles of gold, and other long rotten offerings. This area was clearly a place used to lay their dead to rest. However, there were no coffins. Each of the bodies was coiled up in a spiral and placed in a small metal pyre, with an altar on the ground in front of it.
"This is… kind of beautiful in a way," Hera gasped.
"Yeah. I mean, We've seen things about other civilizations that are not around anymore, but I think that this is the first time we found a mausoleum like this," Shane was careful not to disturb anything that could once have been a gift for the deceased.
"Do you have any idea what this means?" Helena pointed to some writing on the back wall of the crypt. Whatever letter was used by these creatures wasn't something any of them had ever seen before. It looked like a bunch of gashes in the stone.
Shane got closer and placed one hand in the markings, "I can't tell what it means, but this is their version of writing. Snakes can see in infrared, and because of that, some of their writing is made with something that changes the temperature of the letters to convey the meaning.
"Really?" Bonnie walked over.
"Yeah. I can translate some of it, but it might take a while if you guys don't mind," Shane added.
"Now, how is the one telling us to wait," Mylo teased.
"Bite me," Shane scoffed.
"Maybe later. You stay here. Do your thing. Someone come with me. We guard the outside," Mylo left the mausoleum.
It was a small space, and with Shane, Bonnie looking at the remaining and Silah focusing on the structure, Hera felt like this place was already crowded and headed out to stay on guard with Mylo. Blue and Alex quickly joined in. As incredible as this find was, they weren't the type to actually be able to help in a situation like that.
"Thank you," Mylo said to the three women.
"No problem. I would just be in the way inside there," Blue shrugged.
"Not that. Thank you for helping Shane find this. It's her dream."
"If you want to thank us, big guy, maybe you can buy Bonnie a drink," Alex winked at the man. He just laughed and found a place to sit down, "You should sit too. This is going to take a while."
##### Author's Note ####
My search history is a mess now... At least I'm not scared of snakes.
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