The scorpion jumping out at us during my guard shift was certainly a surprise, but we had faced far deadlier monsters, so I wasn't overly concerned. I didn't feel the need to jump into the fight since Thomas seemed like he had it under control, that was until he yelped out as Jareth was gearing up to finish the monster off.
The noise was definitely not a good sign, especially since we were already facing off against a monster known for powerful venom in its' stinger. But I couldn't find anything that could have stung Thomas, granted I was only able to see within the limit of the campfire light since I didn't have night vision like Thomas did.
A few moments later and I could tell things weren't going well despite the timely tourniquet he had applied on his leg, his actions after were even more alarming as he slowly lurched towards me looking deathly ill. The last thing he did was drop right in front of me with bulging toxic green veins and a purple complexion from the presumed venom or poison.
For a substance to act that quickly on someone of Thomas's constitution was alarming, luckily Mira had supplied us with experimental antidotes for most venoms and poisons. With Thomas dropping as he did, I understood there wasn't any time to waste, and so I withdrew a vial of the restorative and attempted to administer it to him.
It didn't seem to be making it past his throat since it had already swelled up, so I was stuck with dumping the violet liquid into his mouth and then massaging his throat muscles to work its way through his throat and into his stomach. The effect was as sudden as the venom itself was, and there was a noticeable reduction in the coloration of his face and veins the moment he swallowed.
As this was going on, Jareth had managed to demolish the emperor scorpion with a final bash with his mace being wielded with two hands for maximum power. Not a moment too soon either, since as soon as Thomas became unconscious, his summons were forcibly dispelled back to him. Now it was just me and my summons to fight off this mysterious enemy.
I wasn't going to slack now, and so I withdrew Musashi and brought out Hemlock, all the while keeping holly in the air and Violet staying safe on my shoulder as added protection and to gain experience for the young dragon-kin. This proved to be a wise decision as a horde of black scorpions skittered towards us with the sounds of armor clashing against one another. The only upside to this was that the swarm was made up of tier 2 monsters, and the one leading the group was a small tier 3 Empress scorpion on a larger scorpion acting as her guard and transport.
They were crawling in from around where Thomas was at before he passed out, and we would likely be overrun if we didn't put up some barrier between them and us. There was no use trying to outrun them, especially with Thomas incapacitated for now. Luckily Hemlock had such the solution for this, after all, the strength of a tier 4 was nothing to scoff at.
My scarlet drake waited till the foremost scorpions were near and then let loose a large burst of noxiously purple mist that caught a decent chunk of the group within. Within seconds the poison ran through them and dropped them like puppets with their strings cut off. It was quite the sight to see dozens of scorpions drop at once, and have the rest halt in place.
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Unfortunately, this poison barrier could only be used sparingly since she would have to build up her reserves before using it again. Seeing that the immediate threat was dealt with, I sent her to rampage through the rest of the swarm and cut their numbers. I kept Violet and Holly back with me for protection, but we were as safe as we could be behind the barrier until it dissipated, my best guess would give us about a minute before they could start trying to move through it.
It was quite the spectacle as a purple dragon-kin ripped through a mass of black carapace with many monsters being sent flying or just flat out crushed. There wasn't anything they could do to retaliate either as their stingers and claws were unable to breach Hemlock's defenses. Holly and Violet weren't holding back either as they shot projectiles through the mist at soldier scorpions near the Empress scorpion. It wasn't nearly as impressive or damaging, but they did have some effect and served as good target practice and experience with fighting.
The scorpions were stuck as a result of their numbers and any tactics were ineffective as there was nothing they could damage, with the only damageable targets behind a deadly barrier. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and so the mist dissipated until there was barely a tinge in the air. This seemed to cheer up the severely diminished swarm, and they all charged as one with what was left of their numbers.
I had noticed the barrier depleting and so I called Hemlock back from her rampage in order to guard us. At this point, there were about 50 scorpions left from what was likely around 250 in total. We were both at a disadvantage in certain respects, but our overwhelming strength should see us through this.
Both sides were cautiously approaching each other until streams of acidic venom sprayed towards us, which Hemlock positioned her body to block. Nothing was able to break through her tough skin and scales, but any of the droplets that fell quickly ate away through the dirt revealing how corrosive they were. It seemed to be a last-ditch attempt at causing some harm, and quickly the little insects scurried away as fast as they could.
Unfortunately for the Empress, she was near the back of the retreating group and was quickly apprehended by Hemlock, who thoroughly thrashed the assassin type monster. It wasn't that the queen scorpion was weak, it's just that she was built for covert assassinations and not straight combat. She had a deadly poison as could be seen by how Thomas reacted, but it didn't matter much if the stinger couldn't break through the skin.
I left the rest of the retreating horde in favor of securing the corpse of the empress and binding her to me. She would make a fine addition to my collection of summons, she would be the perfect spy due to her small size and even better would be her assassin type abilities with her volatile venom.
Looking closer the pink crown on her head gave me the perfect idea for her new name. I said to the body of my new summon as I was binding her to me, "For now on, your new name is Queenie." With that, I now had a new summon which would only widen my repertoire of summons and abilities.
After that, I started to collect the bodies of the regular scorpions with Holly and Violet to sell later. Hemlock was guarding Thomas as he recovered from Queenie's poison, but I didn't know how long that would take. The good news is he already looked significantly better within an hour of administering the antidote, so it seemed to be effective.
As a surprise for Thomas, I was preserving the Emperor scorpion for him to bond with if he wanted to, but I didn't see him refusing such a thing. It was, after all, a highly valued and powerful summon, and it was his kill in the first place. All that was left was to wait for him to recover and the sun to rise to we could begin returning to the city.
We had gotten what we had desired at a high risk, so now it was time to return and recover. There were too many close calls tonight for my comfort, not to mention having to deal with a weakened partner was not desirable in such a dangerous area.