The search was on, but the entire party was painfully aware of how bad things could get. So far, they had no way of going deep inside the valley. All of the caves or entrances they found were too small for a person to pass through, and it wasn't like they had the option of increasing the paths. Or, at least, that wasn't a good option. If they started to dig randomly, there was a real possibility they would end up finding another source of water that could flood the passage. Another issue was the danger of stumbling upon one of the monster's nests. Their objective was to find and defeat the Steamweaver and not the other creatures. There was also a possibility that if they attacked one of the other monsters, all would become aggressive. So far, Hera and her party were nothing more than an invasive species. A nonaggressive invasive species, but that was it. The moment they showed they were a danger to the other creatures, the monsters might see them as a problem that must be removed. Everyone here understood that this might not be how things would play out if they were outside. If they attacked one of the monsters, then it would take some time before others of its kind to see them as enemies. However, inside a dungeon, that changed. If they attacked a random creature that wasn't related to their quest, others of its kind would also become aggressive because of it. This wasn't a hard rule that was applied to all of the dungeons, but something that could happen in enough of them for it not to be considered unusual.
Because of that, they were being careful with their chase. Adriel was using his three drones to get a map of the area while Hera told all of the snakes from her Viper Pit to look for the Steamweaver. If one of them found it, they would warn the Empress about it. Everyone was still walking together but on high alert. Especially when they passed by a pool of hot water or an open cave on the side of the valley. No one knew where the Steamweaver would pop up from.
"Hey, Hera. Why didn't you use your poison?" Bonnie asked as they moved.
"I didn't want to risk killing it," Hera looked around, with her entire court out and an eye out for the snakes she sent searching for the Steamweaver.
"Yeah, but couldn't you use something different? You can make various poisons, right? What if you made a poison that wouldn't deal any damage? Then you could track where the poison was, couldn't you?"
"Sort of. I can make the poison not deal damage when I'm close. But if they move away, I lose control over that, and since my poisons can mutate, it's hard to know if that will result in something that could kill it. For the tracking part, the more… stuff? Between me and the target, the harder it is to recognize it. It can get to a point where I don't even realize I'm sensing the poison. It's like one of those sounds that you can hear, but you only realize when they are gone."
"Ah… I see. Yeah, if it's going through the middle of some caves and water, things can get weird," Bonnie nodded, but a noise made her snap to the side, thinking that the monster was about to show up. Instead, they only saw a Centepybara moving out of a cave with its children following along. It would have been almost cute if it wasn't for the extremely long bodies of those creatures. There was something about seeing a mammal with the body of a snake that gave everyone the feeling of watching a body horror movie, even if there wasn't anything wrong with the bodies themselves.
"While we wait for a ping from the drones or the snakes. Should we keep heading down?" Adriel suggested, "Maybe we can find the Steamweaver's nest or something like that."
"Hang on, Let me add one thing," Helena used her new skill, the shadow puppets, and created a small army of about 50 small black snowmen with chubby feet and arms, but the buttons, eyes, and nose were all made out of light, before telling them all to search for the Steamweaver. She also called her Wasp Guard, who was now just a being of shadows but had a mix of light in the frame. Almost like the yellow of a wasp was replaced by beams of pure, condensed light. This 2-meter-tall guard with four legs gave her an idea, and she told it to just carry her around while she worked.
"I'll check the high ground too," Alex said, and she simply stepped out of the ground, taking advantage of the new skill that allowed her to run in the air currents. The big drawback was that she had to keep moving for it to be active, but the benefit was that she could create the air currents herself if she needed.
Adriel and Hera tried to tell her not to do that since it could put the assassin in a bad spot. Especially if the Steamweaver had a way of taking her out of the sky. Unfortunately, they took too long to say anything, and Alex was already moving around before they got even a word in.
It took them another hour or so of searching until one of Hera's snakes gave a ping. It wasn't directly about the Steamweaver but about a place it had found. On the lowest point of the valley, where a small stream crossed between both sides, there was an entrance. It was a nest, or at least a hoard of strange objects. From some oddly shaped gemstones to weird branches of trees and even a couple of fruits that seemed to have grown in a unique way. Not because they were mutations but because they were either stuck between vines or pressed against the wall.
"This is its treasure?" Blue asked.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"I guess… And the mana around here does feel similar to its mana, so I think we are in the right place. I just don't know where the actual nest is," Hera said. She called her snakes, and they all gave her a ping at the same time. She could see that they were in a cave nearby. The cave was not small by any means, the entire party, plus Hera's court, Helena's Wasp Guard, and Adriel's drones, could all stay here quite comfortably, but the entire place was a mess.
The objects were scattered around, almost as if someone had come here and tossed everything while searching for something, but there was no signal of a proper bed. Something soft or warm for the Steamweaver to lie on top of. That was like a missing piece of this place, and without even a mark on the ground to show where the monster would sleep, it was hard to tell if anyone actually lived there or if this place was just a storage unit.
Hera told her snakes to look around for any passages or something that could be hidden somewhere around here. Liking that idea, Helena did the same, but this time, she dismissed her previous shadow puppets and made a new set. All of them were, instead of snowmen, armored wasps, or mecha wasps might be a better word for it. They had lances as their stingers and large shields as well as wings. Some of them had different types of armor with matching weapons, like drill hands, long spears without a shield, and even one bigger version, which was still just around 15 centimeters tall, but already three times the size of the others, who only had wings six legs carrying a very wide torso and a large pair of wings. All of them were created with the same mix of light and shadow that the new Wasp Guard had.
"Is this what you were working on?" Hera asked as she noticed the shadow and light robotic wasp army.
"Yeah. I figured it was better to lean on the theme," Helena replied with a smirk.
"That… is not a bad idea, actually," Bonnie nodded, "Focusing on a theme might give you some skills with good synergy."
"Yes, and since we already have an Empress here. I can be the Queen Bee. Well. Queen Wasp."
"Feel free to do that. I have no problems about not being the only royalty in the group," Hera chuckled.
"See, everything will be… oh?" Helena stopped speaking and noticed a small group of her mecha wasps gathered around a crack in the corner of the room, beyond some of the oddly shaped fruit that was already rotting.
Hera approached and tried to see beyond it. Unfortunately, the gap was too small for anyone to pass, and even her snakes were too large to go through that opening. Daskka was an option, but she really didn't like the idea of sending her herald on her own. Instead, she used a pulse spell to try to see what was on the other side. Unexpectedly, she felt the Steamweaver with its ears against the opposite wall and some twigs and branches on the corner. From what she gathered, this should be its nest, the actual place where the monster would sleep.
"It's behind this wall," Hera told everyone, "And I mean it, the monster."
"Let me," Mylo stepped forward.
"Hang on," Bonnie said from the back, "Alex, can you just go outside then back in?"
The assassin frowned but did as she was asked, just moving back and forth between the entrance. Satisfied, Bonnie made a small trail of steam with a spell and tried to push it beyond the threshold of the entrance. There was some kind of barrier blocking the steam, and the researcher turned to the rest of the party, "Ok, if we can bring it here, or at least let me see the entire cave, I can make this barrier wrap around the entire nest. That way, if it wants to run, it needs to be in its physical form."
"Oh, good. I have a thing for that too. It's already loaded," Shane patted her launcher.
"Can I do my thing?" Mylo asked, getting a confirming nod in response. The fighter stepped forward and slammed his right foot on the ground, triggering his [Earthquake Step]. It was a solid idea to make it look like the entire cave was coming down, but after a few moments, it was hard to tell if it worked. Hera even used another pulse only to see that the Steamweaver was still with its ear to the wall, trying to see what was going on on the other side.
"I think your skill only works if they can see you do it," Shane smiled and placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
Mylo groaned and stepped away.
"Mind if I do something stupid then?" Hera suggested.
"Go for it. My best idea would be an explosion, and I don't think it's a good call when we are underground, even if the exit is right there," Shane sighed.
Hera took a few steps back and used her [Venomous Arsenal] to create a spear on her hand that was equivalent to a very rare weapon. It had a snake for the handle with the mouth opened where the blade would appear. The weapon had that same ominous orange color as all of her poison spells. She grabbed the weapon and used her Pulse spell again to make sure she wouldn't hit the Steamweaver right away. Having a good enough idea of the position of the monster, she tossed the spear, activating the [Weapon Break] at the same time.
The strike blasted open the back wall, revealing the rest of the cave. At the same time, Blue yelled, "I'm here! Fight me!"
That caused the Steamweaver's eyes to glow red and lunge at the controller. Taking advantage of the situation, Bonnie wrapped around the entire cave in the barrier that would stop the monster from running away. What followed was nothing short of a massacre. There were way too many people in the cave for the monster to move around without being caught by something, and thanks to Shane's mana siphon that was fired just after the back wall crumbled, it couldn't even change shapes. Between strikes from Mylo's staff, countless spells, a storm cloud appearing inside the cave, half a dozen floating weapons, lasers, blades of wind, and a maddening number of shadow wasps attacking it from everywhere and anywhere, the monster could barely try to move, much less attack. Eventually, the group had to stop attacking to check the mission. The Steamweaver was too beaten up, and they were worried that any more would lead to its death. However, no notification appeared. Rallying, the monster tried to break through the encirclement, but it was stopped once more. It continued trying even when its assailants didn't seem to want to fight anymore. After trying everything it could think of, only to be stopped by one of the many members of this group, the Steamweaver gave up, collapsing to the ground, ready to accept its fate.
That's when the notification informing them that they had completed the quest appeared for Hera and the others.