It finally was the day of the hunt. First thing after breakfast, I swung by the bowyer to have my bow checked. It had spent the weeks I had been sick with the ghost fever unused and awkwardly stacked in a corner of my room. I didn't expect Rolim to find anything wrong with it, Niu made bows were very resilient to all sorts of punishments, it was more for my peace of mind.
"Good morning, Liscura," Rolim greeted me, "what can I do for you today?"
I unstrapped my bow and laid it flat on his counter.
"Can you check that everything is good? It was left strung while I was sick."
"Of course," Rolim picked the weapon and examined it. "It looks to be in good condition." He flexed the arms with his hands and ran his hand against the string. "Still springy. The string could use a replacement, you've been using it for a while after all."
"I'm on the roster for a hunt today," I said awkwardly. I couldn't really afford to leave my weapon at the shop.
"Don't worry, it won't take long," he disappeared inside his workshop. "I have everything I need here," he shouted from the back.
"I'll wait then," I said.
I watched the other villagers pass by. I waved and winked to Eroan, the clumsy blacksmith apprentice, who quickened his step. Caeda, one of the new clothiers who worked with my mother stopped to congratulate me on my recovery, invited me to peruse her special collection if I ever wanted to have a union ceremony. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
After a few minutes, Rolim came back.
"Alrighty," he said, "like it's brand new. Here's a new batch of arrows as well."
He handed me the bow and I quickly swapped out my arrows for the new ones.
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I met back with Velatha and the rest of our team near the village gate, it looked like there were only six of us today.
"Sorry for the delay," I said, "had to swing by the bowyer."
"We are waiting for the last group to depart," said the huntress in charge of supervising us, Syllia. "But now that everyone is here I can form groups. Fenian and Saida will go hunt the pack of boars roaming near the crystal spring clearing. Next, Liscura and Velatha will go to the taratect nest. Aelrie requested more anti-venom ingredients and scouts have reported their population is growing worryingly fast, torch any nests you find. Finally, Alaion and Virion will be with me, we will be at the cliffs to investigate sightings of a panther."
"You know the drill," she continued, "use your flares if you get into a bad situation."
I checked for the emergency flares in my pouch, the two small wooden sticks worked like a combination of a magnesium flares and radio distress beacon. The guards were equipped with small medals to track down any active flare. An ingenious application of enchanting.
"Ready?" Asked Velatha.
"Yup," I said, "let's get these last few levels taken care of."
While we waited for the last group to leave. Vel and I went to the scout's headquarters to get the location of the nests. The scout on duty at the front desk gave us the location of the single nest they had found. We also went to the quartermaster to request a few incendiary arrows in case they were necessary. I had fire stones on me but they weren't all that useful at range.
When we returned to the gate the guards gave us a nod and we were off running. There was a small clearing with a path heading out, part of a trade network between the various dark elf villages dotted about the twilight jungle.
Vel and I took off south, we used the massive pillar at the center of the cavern to orient ourselves, and went around the village. The wooden wall was mostly a formality in terms of protection. The real safety came from the magical barrier.
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The density of webs between the trees had been increasing for the last hundred meters. I moved with caution, taratects were primarily ambush predators and their webs were everywhere. I spotted one hiding higher up in a tree, its off-white carapace would have been barely visible thanks to the relative darkness and its high stealth skill. Thankfully, dark elves had a counter to this in the form of enhanced senses and their dark vision, which made the penumbra of the twilight jungle as clear as day.
I clicked my tongue and pointed it out to Vel. She nodded and immediately spotted another one, this one was monitoring an obvious web, likely meant to funnel prey towards the first.
Three others completed the trap, whatever wanted to advance forwards in this section had to go through them. Velatha and I quickly signed a plan together. The best way was to pick off each spider one by one and do it without triggering any of the traps.
I unhooked my bow and readied an arrow, Vel did the same and we aimed for the pair on the left. They were likely monitoring each other's trap which made taking both of them at the same time a priority. With a silent count to three I let my arrow loose and it struck through, piercing through the thinner carapace of its head. The spider died immediately and fell down with a barely audible thud. I heard the system chime up but I left the notification hanging, it was a bad idea to read them in combat.
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The second pair of watchers barely had time to chitter before they were dispatched as well, only one remaining. Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy. The last spider had apparently clued into our strategy and had descended from its perch. It thankfully announced its presence with a chitter before attacking which gave Velatha enough time to dodge.
With the spider right at my feet, I stomped on its abdomen, much to its displeasure, and sunk my dagger deep into its brain. I felt the leg convulse under my feet before it stopped struggling altogether.
"Let's harvest the parts and continue," I said. Vel nodded and went to take care of the first group.
I lifted my foot and flipped the spider over, we were after the venom glands. I carefully carved behind the fangs with my dagger and extracted the whole organ. I dropped the two glands, covered in hemolymph, in small glass containers and repeated the process with the second group.
> Your group had defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 12, Rank 1)]
> Your group had defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 10, Rank 1)]
> Your group had defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 13, Rank 1)]
> Your group had defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 9, Rank 1)]
> Your group had defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 15, Rank 1)]
> Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group (2 members)
> Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
> Essence Absorption collected 5 ES
One step closer to our goal. The penalties were annoying, as always, but were necessary. The system awarded experience bonuses or penalties based on the danger of the encounter and working in a group was obviously safer. It was worth it in the long run however, mostly because you couldn't gain experience when you were dead.
I also took some time to collect some of the silk for the clothiers. It was a vital component for making clothes comfortable and breathable. They used an alchemical process to liquefy and re-spin the thread into existing fibers to mix their properties.
"The nest should be about two hundred meters that way," Vel said.
"Let's watch out for a perimeter defense," I said
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Vel and I picked off two more groups and a pair of workers before reaching the clearing which hosted the nest, the latter confirming the presence of a queen which was an anomaly. Taratect queens were higher level monsters that should not be able to exist in the village barrier. Something was definitely up here.
> Your group has defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 8-14, Rank 1)] x 5
> Your group has defeated [Juvenile Taratect Hunter (Level 9-12, Rank 1)] x 5
> Your group has defeated [Juvenile Taratect Worker (Level 6, Rank 1)]
> Your group has defeated [Juvenile Taratect Worker (Level 8, Rank 1)]
> Experience gain reduced by 20% for fighting with a group
> Experience gain reduced by 10% for fighting a familiar enemy
> Essence Absorption collected 12 ES
>
> Reached Level 18 (Rank 1)
> Gained: 2 ES
If a queen was present, the nest would be host to mostly workers, working to feed the queen and tend to the eggs. The hunters would be out and about getting food and letting workers bring some of it to the nest.
My estimations for experience had also been very optimistic. Or maybe I hadn't accounted for how much impact a level difference made. The system was frustratingly obscure on those points. We took a quick break before tackling the nest and I used that opportunity to purchase the other perk.
> Purchased Essence Well for 24 ES
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After some observation from a high vantage point, there seemed to be around a dozen workers milling about the nest. The twisted tree they had chosen as their nest was covered in webs and the interior was likely even worse.
"Our best bet is to torch it from here and pick off the stragglers," I said.
"Good idea, I'm not stepping too close to this," Vel said, "let's shoot an incendiary each. You aim for the top, I'll target the bottom entrance."
I nodded and pulled an incendiary arrow from my quiver. They had a small wooden ring on the shaft inscribed with runes, channeling mana inside would ignite it and burn for as long as it had mana or the wood was completely destroyed. The weight changed the path of the arrow but at only fifty meters, the loss was acceptable.
From a quick look, Vel was ready as well. I touched the ring and pushed a good amount of mana into the enchantment, there was a few seconds delay before the enchantment would trigger. I took aim and fired at the bottom of the webbed canopy. The arrow caught fire mid-flight and hit more or less on target.
The problem with untreated spider web was its high flammability. The fire spread quickly throughout the tree. Several workers and a few hunters came out in a panic and we picked them off fairly easily, most of them burned in the inferno.
Suddenly, a larger spider burst through the canopy and landed in the clearing.
> [Juvenile Taratect Queen (Level 23, Rank 2)]
The queen had joined the party. Her carapace looked a bit singed but not much more.
"Continue taking care of the stragglers," I said to Vel, "I'll distract the queen."
"Be careful," she said, "I only just got you back."
I gave her a peck on the cheek and dropped down from our perch. The queen had already been advancing on our position and I gave her more reasons to follow me. I fired three arrows in quick succession, the first scratched the thorax, the second managed to strike the base of her right pedipalp, and the last one lodged itself in the base of a leg. Two lucky shots.
The queen chittered and advanced on me with her head raised. I took off around the clearing to lead her away from Vel and she took the bait.