“I think we are close. Very close.” Masin had a smile on his face now. Of course he would. They had managed to trap the monster in the middle of a large tar pit they constructed. Weed had the honored role to play decoy and lure the scorpion up since he was proven to be the swiftest. Though Weed had his apprehensions and protests, Tasha the snake commented about the last race they ran together. It was a four to one vote, four in favour of Weed the decoy and one against. Needless to say, Weed voted against the idea. In the end, Weed had no choice but to accept the plan.
It was a simple plan that almost went smoothly for once. Well almost. Weed also had the unacknowledged credit for the plan. He drew inspiration from the sticky tar that the deceased Yaluk left his boots on. The dwarves at once agreed to the idea. Tar was a common nemesis to scorpions and miners. Once stuck, always stuck.
Initially, they looked for a natural pitfall one which they could fill with tar and save on time. However, to find one near the lair was difficult. In the end they decided to dig. Masin stood as look out and the other four began digging.
Sarkaan and Tasha grunted in amusement when they saw Weed pick up the shovel. They didn’t think Weed could help much in digging. Once Weed began, the dwarves were left staring. The dwarves grew even more astonished and impressed when they saw Weed digging and mining.
Due to all the digging he did in the Northern Mountain Range, Weed’s skill level had already reached the Intermediate level. Weed was more efficient and faster in digging through the ground than most of the dwarves in the city would be.
Sarkaan was amused. The elf not only ran faster than him but was probably better at digging as well. ‘Just who is this elf? He won Kendelbreu’s trust in an instant, he glows in the dark, he runs faster than the wind and digs better than a dwarf mole?’
Sarkaan approached Weed as he was digging and asked him, “Elf, once we are done with this, would you like to form a crew with me?
TRRING!
-You have been offered a job in Sarkaan’s mining crew!
-You will be paid 25 silvers per day for every day you work in a mine.
- You will also be shared a percentage of the crew’s profit!
Weed replied, “I’m honored that you would make me such an offer. But I’m sorry but I cannot take up your offer.”
TRRING!
-You have declined the job offer
“...” Sarkaan left it at that.
Once the pitfall was well over 10 meters deep, they began collecting the tar. The found barrels left inside the old mine which they used to collect the tar in. The hole itself was covered using old timbers that were probably destined to be a support and leathers from his own inventory. Rabbits, Foxes and Wolves fur he had plenty. Weed used each items thinking to compensate it with a black diamond baby scorpion later.
The final touch was sprinkling a layer of earth over it to make it look natural. Weed put a stacked stone to mark the beginning of the pit and the same for the end of it. It was a masterful construction. Without the markers he would not had known there was a pitfall there. There was constant questioning about the need to be so thorough, however Weed had the final say since he was decoy. He didn’t want to take the risk of having the trap fail or falling in the pit with the monster. He also pointed out how he contributed the most in this venture therefore he was temporary leader, however this argument was not only dismissed but trampled upon by the dwarves. Though divided, the four dwarves united against the idea of an elf self proclaiming to be leader of the dwarves.
Finding the scorpion was not too hard. Weed only need to make god awful loud noise to be noticed. After banging his Harbringer version six’s side on a rock for a while, Masin’s nose finally gave the signal. “ITS HERE!”
Just as dramatic as it’s last entrance, the earth trembled before a huge amount of earth erupted into the air. The scorpion crawled out and went almost right at Weed who was standing close to the trap. Weed only needed to run through the trap while the monster chased behind him. The plan was simple, Weed was going to run over the false cover whereas the scorpion would follow him and fall in. Placing his faith in the dwarves and their continuous claims of being masters of construction (and not mining). Masin who supervised the construction assured that it would support him easily as he ran past it quickly. He was standing on the center of the pit with Weed when he told him that. Only the monster’s weight would cause the collapse.
The bit about the plan they did not anticipate was of course how closely the scorpion would be tailing behind Weed. The scorpion was right at Weed’s heels when the floor of the trap gave way. Weed could feel the pull of gravity as the floor beneath his feet fell. Summoning all his strength, Weed pushed against the falling planks of wood and leapt to safety. As if the tar in the pit wasn’t enough, the three dwarves poured barrels of sticky tar over the monster.
The scorpion screeched and struggled but all its efforts were futile. It was completely stuck. Although the dwarves had been quibbling since they lost their comrades, the sight of the struggling scorpion left them in good cheer. They did not attempt to kill the monster despite it being immobilized. Its shell was like an indestructible armor. Killing the baby scorpions was easier.
“I think it is just around the corner.” Masin whispered as he guided them to the nest. They were stopping near a bend in the cave. Weed’s enchanced hearing could hear the familiar scraping sounds. A lot of it, accompanied by clickings too. Without any need of being told, all of them drew their weapons. Tasha, Tinaquarrier, Masin and Saarkan had already been wearing their exceedingly heavy dwarven armor. They now completed the set by adding a large hammer on one hand and a stout metal shield on the other. The open face helmets they put on looked very heavy to Weed. He was stuck to carrying his only weapon. Harbringer version six and no heavy armor. For once in unision, they were allowed to be loud.
“CHAARRRGEE!”
With victory almost at hand, the dwarves underwent a transformation. Masin who was afraid for his life through out the jounrey now led the charge forward. Weed was glad to be on the back when he saw the number of the ‘baby scorpions’. There were hundreds of them. Their size vary from smallest the size of a rabbit to one as large as a fox.
-15 HP Damage
-16 HP Damage
-18 HP Damage
-23 HP Damage
-30 HP Damage
-37 HP Damage
-25 HP Damage
-27 HP Damage
-29 HP Damage
-Critical Hit!-
- Black Baby Arachnid Scorpio Killed.
- Loot - Black Scorpion Tail.
- You have leveled up! Now level FF/14.
It took time, but Weed managed to eventually kill off one. Weed sneaked off to the side after collecting the japtem. He was letting the dwarves do the work this time. He earned it. They were also doing much better than him. It took them a single blow to kill one while he need to rain continuous blows to kill even one.
‘This is odd. No black diamond.’
The feeling of something missing again crept into his mind. The loot he clearly said Black Arachnid Scorpio Tail.
‘Maybe I need to kill some more. Maybe it’s drop rate is really low.’
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Weed did kill a lot more. He also sneakily looted a good amount of what the dwarves killed. Without their knowledge to his own pile of loot. He doubted they would notice. All four were screaming their defiance, hammering their point home with their weapon and booted feet on some occasion.
‘Something is wrong here. No black diamond still.’
Weed had killed over twenty of the dangerous critters. Also, looted about the same number. Still nothing. He moved from smaller ones to the larger ones, the loot was the same; scorpion tail. It took the five of them a while to finish off the whole lot of baby scorpions. With the floor finally visible and quiet, all five of them then began scouring the floor for the fabled diamond. There was a growing sense of disappointment looming on their faces. There were scorpion tails everywhere but no diamond. Weed then noticed something strange, while Tinaquarrier, Masin and him were searching the floor, the other two were scanning the walls.
“Hey, over here! There is a door here!” Tasha shouted. Weed was most suspicious, it felt like those two never came here for the baby scorpions to begin with. Almost as if they knew that there was no black diamond loot to be earned from killing the baby scorpions.
Tasha was on the other side of the large expanse that made the lair of the scorpion. Some bits of bones clearly dwarven origin were strewn around. Weed took care to be respectful and avoid stepping on them even though he was in a game as he didn’t want to upset the dwarves.
“Help me up. It is too heavy.” said Tasha as he tried to pull the door. The door was made from thick metal with studdings on the edges that connect the hinges. There was no hole where the lock usually goes. Just a plain barrier.Sarkaan helped Tasha out. Other than those two, everyone was confused. Nobody expected to find a door in the monster’s lair.
“Where on Versailles did that come from?” Tinaquarrier asked.
Weed’s mind suddenly made the missing connection. It was all a scam in gigantic proportion.
“Son of a... you two knew about the the treasure too!” Weed cursed.
“You don’t know what you are talking about, elf.” Tasha said as he pulled out his daggar.
“Get back.” Sarkaan shouted as he pulled out his hammer.Saarkan’s tone was very different from his usual rather meek personality.
Weed did not think too much about it earlier when he saw the scorpion killing crusade. Masin and Tinaquarrier were good fighters, but the two liars were a lot better.Tinaquarrier and Masin were not responding to their little confrontation. They pushed past the two (who didn’t attack as no one wanted to spill more blood) and kicked the door open to get a good look of what was inside.
There were chests stacked neatly on one corner of the room. The other corner held bars of metals stacked equally neat. Even if Weed was not a dwarf, he could guess what the whole set up means.
TRRRING!
-You have found Kendelbreu’s treasure!
Weed looked unsurprised at the pop up message.
“Its the old man’s treasure?” Tinaquarrier asked as he stared at the vast invaluable and priceless treasures.
Even Tasha and Sarkaan were at a loss of words, they had no idea it was so much. Masin too was still rooted on the spot when the earth trembled again.*STOMP* *STOMP*
Weed who was least interested in the treasure hadn’t stepped into the room, he took few steps back. The earth exploded into the air and a giant black scorpion crawled out.
“DID IT ESCAPE?” Weed shouted out.
The dwarves were panic stricken as well, they did not anticipate this.
As Weed looked closely, it didn’t resemble the previous scorpion.....there were no signs of it being trapped in tar either.....FUCK! Weed thought as he stepped on baby scorpion carcass. Some scorpions have mating partners....
“RUN!” Tasha shouted.
Three dwarves managed to escape but Sarkaan was done in. He stood closest to the scorpion got stung to death.
As the ran back out the lair they met their old foe, the trapped tar covered scorpion had escaped. Covered in tar it slowly crawled towards them. It had walked into its lair and saw its babies all dead. The screech it emanated was so loud that all of them were forced to put their hands on their head. The floor and ceiling of the mine vibrated.The tar hampered the scorpion’s ability to jump. It now walked like a regular scorpion or a spider. Weed was not sure since it looked like a crossbreed.
The rest did not need to be told twice. They were scattering across the large room. The treasure room remained open and forgotten at the moment. If one scorpion was not bad enough, two definitely didn’t help. It was every dwarf and elf for himself.
The mother scorpion targeted Tasha first. It was probably because his body was slathered in the resulting gunk of the baby scorpion the most. Tasha pulled out his daggars, ready for a duel to the death.
“I am sorry Tina...” Tasha could be heard shouting. However, Tinaquarrier and Masin were a good distance ahead of him now. All of them could only hear the victorious screech and the last scream of pure fear.
“Dump your armor!” Weed shouted behind him while running.
The large monsters were not satisfied with Tasha or Sarkaan alone. The parents were determined to find the remaining killers of their children.
As Weed ran way ahead of the rest of the party. He could not even hear the rest of the party anymore.
‘Dammit. It dug through the floor!’ Weed thought as he passed the tar pit where the original / first scorpion was supposed to be trapped. It now had another hole beside it with tar stuck to its edges. From there, he relied on his memory to get himself out.
*pant**pant*
Weed now stood right at the entrance of the mine. He had taken several wrong turns and had to refer back to his map.
‘Am I the only survivor?’ Weed wondered as he looked back.
As if in answer, one naked Tinaquarrier hurtled through the exit. Masin also naked too ran past Weed. Weed didn’t have the time to think why they were naked or why were they still running. His feet already felt the stomping motion of the angry mother and father scorpion giant...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Authors Note:
1. Will be edited soon. Please do expect a lot of mistakes as we worked .....very late to write this.
2. Thank you so much V4LKYR13 for accepting my pleading request for help :twisted: to write this chapter! While all I had to do was check the language...
3. These two chapters have been the most fun to write. Also the fastest written chapters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------