96 Chapter 96: Crimson Spiders (1/2)
When I woke up, the first thing I heard were the light snores of Dong Fang Yue Chu close by. He was bundled into his sleeping bag, curled into a ball, and mumbling something under his breath as he slept. Given that he took the second shift after I did, I thought he needed a bit more sleep. Getting up groggily, I climbed out of the tent.
”Hey, good morning.”
Theodore was just finishing his shift. He was taking the last 2-hour shift, and was sitting by the remains of the campsite, the embers still glowing lightly in the brightening forest. He poked at it with a stick, and then glanced up at me.
”Are the others up yet?”
”Dong Fang Yue Chu isn't. Should I wake him?”
”Nah, that's fine.”
”I've been up since a while ago.”
The two of us spun around and caught sight of Pearl exiting her tent, which she had all to herself because she was a girl. It was also because of her gender that she didn't take any watches, and had the benefit of sleeping more than the rest of us guys. Naturally she looked more refreshed and energetic than the rest of us.
”Thanks for keeping watch, guys.” Pearl bowed her head lightly.
”No problem,” I replied, while Theodore waved her gratitude away.
”Don't worry about it.”
”So, what's the plan today?” Pearl stretched herself as she approached us. The two of us glanced away when her uniform pulled tightly over her curved form, but she didn't seem to notice. Or perhaps she was doing it on purpose. ”I assume we're going to continue looking for the mission token today.” She glanced around before retrieving her smartphone and consulting the holographic map beamed from its screen. ”The question is, where should we look?”
I raised a hand. ”I actually have an idea.”
”Oh?” Theodore looked at me curiously. ”Where?”
”That way.” I pointed toward the direction where I saw the sparkling stuff last night. I had made sure to mark it out on the campsite, scratching an arrow in the dirt. In the bright light of the rising sun, it was less visible, but I could still make out the sparkle. ”I caught sight of that sparkling thing last night, and it doesn't look like any sort of monster.”
”Nice catch!” Pearl beamed as she studied the area I pointed them toward. ”That certainly looks like the mission token we are looking for!”
”That's what I thought too. Doubtless, Instructor Feng Hai and the other teachers must have placed traps, obstacles or located it right next to a monster's nest, so we have to be careful when approaching.”
”…yeah. I see something moving in that direction.” Theodore nodded grimly. ”Seems like this task isn't going to be easy.”
”At least they didn't move in this direction and attack us at night.” Pearl glanced around a little anxiously. To be in such close vicinity to monsters…then again, that was the whole point of posting sentries. If a monster came near our camp, we had to wake the others up and prepare for battle. It also helped that we had drawn a defensive formation around our campsite, which produced a barrier that protected us from the attacks of low-ranked monsters. The sentry was supposed to look out for much higher-ranked monsters that had the ability to break through the barrier – otherwise we could all just safely sleep within the barrier without the need for posting sentries. Unfortunately, this was Sen Lin Forest, and high-ranked monsters were known to inhabit this place.
Sen Lin Forest was a place where Emergence happened frequently, after all.
”We have a barrier set up,” Theodore reminded her. ”Those low-ranking monsters can't sense us inside the barrier. To them, we are completely invisible.”
”The convenience of modern magic,” I muttered. Then I pushed up my glasses and turned toward the two tents where Dong Fang Yue Chu and Craig slept in. ”Should I wake the other two up?”
”Good idea.” Pearl nodded as she glanced in the direction of the sparkling mission token. ”Let's get this over and done with as soon as possible.”
*
As I suspected, the mission token was located behind a monster's nest. The moment we stepped into the vicinity, a ton of Crimson Spiders began to scuttle out from their nest, chittering away. Even though they were relatively small – about the size of Dobermans – in such large numbers, they posed an immense threat.
”Rank F monsters,” Dong Fang Yue Chu remarked in relief. ”That's not so bad.”
”But their numbers are pretty annoying!” Craig grumbled as he slashed a path through the approaching Crimson Spiders. His crimson spear turned into a red blur as he hacked and cut through the scuttling horde, legs and pieces of bodies flying all over the place. Gritting his teeth, he whirled about, turning into a fearsome tornado as he butchered a few dozen Crimson Spiders in under ten seconds. ”They just keep coming!”
”Agreed,” Theodore said as he hammered a crater into the dirt, pulverizing scores of Crimson Spiders, but more of them continued to emerge from their nest. Evidently, we seemed to have disturbed an entire colony of them.
”Guys, step back!” Dong Fang Yue Chu instructed. The two vanguard glanced at him before they obeyed, retreating to a safe distance. Stepping forward, Dong Fang Yue Chu raised his hands and finished casting his fire spell. A huge wave of flames washed over the horde of Crimson Spiders, incinerating a good amount of them. ”I'll take care of all of them in one shot!”
I had my bow out, but as usual, there was little for me to do except watch. Other than taking potshots at Crimson Spiders that were coming dangerously close to Craig and Theodore's positions, I didn't do much. Pearl also hung back – as our healer, she was arguably the most important person in our group. If any of us got seriously injured, then it was her job to begin emergency treatment. Fortunately, it hadn't come to that…yet.
I watched as the majority of the Crimson Spiders burned, despite their high resistance to flames. However, Dong Fang Yue Chu was too powerful, his flames reaching superheated temperatures that roasted even the heat-resistant Crimson Spiders.
However, it was precisely because of their high heat tolerance that a good number of them survived. More than what Rank F monsters usually would in the face of Dong Fang Yue Chu's raging inferno.
”Careful!” Pearl warned, having remembered the characteristics of Crimson Spiders. ”They are fire-type monsters! As such, your fire spells are not very effective against them!”
”We anticipated that,” Craig assured her with a grin. ”But Yue Chu has done more than enough! He cleared out at least half of the army! Theodore and I can take it from here!”
”Wait! Hang on! At least until my fire spell finishes!” Dong Fang Yue Chu shouted hurriedly. Craig raised an eyebrow.