Chương 58: 57. Blue Scorpion Nest

Scorpions of the desert always travelled in packs. Appearance aside, it was more appropriate to call them ants with pincers and stingers than anything else. I could clearly hear them scurrying further down the tunnel thanks to my Listener card. If we were lucky, Harlequin wouldn't have recreated a full nest. If not, this had the prospect of being a long and exhaustive fight. Seeing without needing light was a true boon. Even now, I wished I had been capable of that during my previous run.

A lot of pain could have been avoided. If Avon were here, he'd probably say that past suffering created the foundation for a better future. I partially believed in that. Suffering led to caution and self-preservation, but the advantages drove people forward. Thankfully, I had the benefit of both. I looked over my shoulder. Everyone in my group was using some sort of night vision ability. Normally, that would put us well ahead of everyone else.

Given the number of other pact holders, it was difficult to assume that was the case. In the distance, a pair of large scorpions emerged into the tunnel. Their actions told me that we were approaching the interior of the nest. Each of them was larger than a small tank and just as armored. BLUE DESERT SCORPION GUARD Level: 10 Cards: Thirteen of Swords, Ten of Chalice, Eleven of Chalice Special: Unbreakable Weapon: NONE We had come across our first sentry, and he was already a level ten.

The stakes had to be pretty high for Harlequin to have gone this far. No one ever knew what the rule-masters got out of competing with each other. Other than ridiculing the losers, they didn't seem to gain anything. According to all the rumors I had gathered throughout the years, there were between six and twelve rule-masters, each in charge of a few groups. I had asked several deities on the matter, but all of them refused to give a clear answer.

Supposedly, the challenges to them were "friendly contests" to determine their skills. I had known participants to deliberately fail in the hopes that Harlequin would take the blame. Their attempts had been short-lived. I raised my hand, indicating there were two enemies ahead. Everyone stopped in place. I could hear the sounds of arrows being placed in a bow, then I heard them being released. Several arrows flew by me, flying straight at the first scorpion.

Striking the shell, they bounced off like twigs hitting glass. The creature's armor really was unbreakable. The next hit its left eye. The insect moved backward, waving its pincers in anger. Poison shot out of its tail, aiming to hit its invisible enemy. The liquid splattered on the stone tunnel floor. Serp, I thought. Can you kill that? Don't want to, the sword replied. Use your other blades. Can you do it? He was acting uppity again. Given our current difference in strength, maybe he thought he could afford it.

Of course, there was one thing that he didn't take into consideration. Unlike the divine blades, if I died, he'd vanish along with me. It's just an insect, he said with near disgust. It's easy to kill. That was all I needed. Arrows kept flying, though to little avail. The wounded scorpion charged forward, holding its pincers in front of its head. Cathy kept shooting. Each hit bounced off its hardened shell. If I hadn't taken all the red curses, I was convinced that the hemophilia was meant for her.

One bad shot and her goddess was sure to inflict a wound that would never close. Hold back. I thought, raising my hand again. Cathy continued shooting. After this, we were going to have to establish an adequate series of signs for the others to follow. Using my pair of blades, I unleashed an arc attack, combining it with a thread slice. The thread of aether made a line in the cave walls as it went on.

Upon slamming into the scorpion's pincer, it continued slightly more, but was unable to completely break through the shell. Not enough. I put the blades away, then summoned the Serpent Blade. Don't you dare, old man! Serp protested. I'm not— Before he could finish, I covered him with a layer of acid and threw her straight at the crack created by my previous attack. The enemy insect picked up strength, charging at me even faster.

Judging by its reaction, I could assume it was no longer content with simply covering us in poison. It wanted to snip us to bits instead. Serp struck the spot, sinking several inches in. The wound didn't seem serious; it didn't even look like a real wound. Yet, I already knew that the fight was over. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, the insect stopped in place. Its legs twitched, as if it were struck by an invisible bolt of lightning, then it shook violently. This is really disgusting! Serp complained.

Better than stone, I replied. If you're lucky, it might even drop a treat. The scorpion guard behind caught up. Moving to the side, it went straight at me, probably wondering what sort of skill I had used. That proved to be a mistake. Part of Serp shot out from the first scorpion's shell, striking the second one in the soft underbelly. Now, both creatures were frozen in the tunnel. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Holy shit! What did you do?" Carl asked. At least he had the decency not to shout. I raised my hand over my shoulder again, hoping that he'd interpret the sign to shut up. By some miracle, he did. For several seconds everyone stood there, ready to continue the fight.

"They're dead," Marcus was the first to speak.

"We're good." With his intuition, it was safe to assume that he was right. Sadly, that meant that they wouldn't be dropping any loot, nor were they considered strong enough to complete the deity's request. I unsummoned Serp, then went up to the dead insects. The smell coming out of them seemed rather strong. There was a good chance that they had released the intruder pheromones, informing the rest of the nest to get ready. This worked in my favor.

Using the Symbiont card, I copied their identification pheromone markers and started releasing them. As far as the majority of insects were concerned, we were now no different from a rather large patrol.

"Can we get the claws?" Carl asked. As much as I would have liked, I didn't have the ability to openly mock him. Shells of this nature were impossible to shape, and even more difficult to remove. With the correct cards, maybe we could have managed something, but that too would be pointless. Common armor wasn't particularly useful this trial, it only limited speed and mobility without providing any significant benefits.

"They're no different from the goblins," Cathy said.

"If they were anything more, they would have vanished and dropped something for us."

"You mean these are the bottom-tier monsters?!" Carl asked, his voice in near panic. Thanks to the Observer and Listener cards, it was obvious he was faking it. His pulse and breathing remained calm in contrast to his pitch. It was obvious that he was getting better at it, though.

"Look out for royal guards," Eleonor said.

"They're the ones with drops. If we're lucky, they'll be considered strong enough to count." That wasn't entirely correct. The royal guards were just that—larger and stronger guards. There was no chance we'd stumble upon any of them in corridors this narrow. The guards were only in the large chambers. Glass scorpions were a far greater danger. A lot more fragile, as the name implied, they were one of the few magically inmate monsters in the reaches.

I couldn't call them practically intelligent, but they weren't brainless either.

"Are you for fighting one of those?" The goth looked at me. I nodded.

"What else might we face?" Cathy asked. Judging by the glare she gave Eleonor, the two still didn't get along.

"I'm not sure." The goth looked at me.

"What do you think we'll face?" Right this moment I wanted to grab her throat and slam her into the wall as painfully as possible. There weren't many people who could get under my skin, and two of them were currently in the group. Unlike Carl's constant buzzing, Eleonor behaved like a sinusoidal, always peaking at the worst possible moments. Maintaining my calm, I pointed at my head.

"A boss," Carl said, proving my point regarding him.

"A queen," Eleonor corrected.

"We'll be facing a queen. Not bad for someone with five curses. A queen is tough but is bound to put us on top." From what I knew, a queen was no different from any boss-level monster. She had to be tough, or Harlequin's door wouldn't have sent us here, though in terms of rewards and scoring she was pretty average, not even a Grand Arcana holder. I walked past the scorpion bodies and pointed forward. The others followed. It didn't take us long to reach the first intersection of the nest.

From this point on, we were entering the equivalent of an underground maze. Depending on the size of the nest, there might be multiple entrance tunnels connecting to different spots in the desert. Some speculated that the entire desert was one big nest with hidden chambers far deeper underground where the queen of queens resided. Whether that was true or not, I had no idea; all the strong participants had vanished before they could share the tale. Using my divine blades as a guide, I continued along the tunnel.

The Symbiont special proved exceedingly useful. The scorpion guards considered us of their own, moving out of the way to patrol a different section of the tunnels. From time to time, we'd enter a larger chamber, where pale Scalper Skeletons were shredding carcasses of less fortunate inhabitants of the desert. They couldn't be called workers—blue scorpions didn't work—but they held the same role in the nest hierarchy. I went up close to one to copy its pheromones.

The creature's remains were in too poor shape for me to determine what sort it had been, but based on the aether glow still present on its bones, it couldn't have been harmless. Either it had already been wounded by something else, or it was extremely weak against poison. Naturally, just then one of my curses kicked in. Having diarrhea wasn't fun in ordinary circumstances. Having it kick in in a chamber of scorpions made matters a whole lot worse.

Concentrating all my strength on the appropriate muscles, I soldiered on. The worst part was that with my lips sealed, I couldn't tell the rest what was going on. The fucking smell! I shouted at myself. That animal carcass must have been the trigger.

"Are you alright, champion?" Eleonor whispered in my ear. My lack of concentration had prevented me from catching her use of the thief card. I could bet that she knew perfectly well what was going on with me.

"We can rest if you want to." I could hear the smirk as she spoke. In my mind, I saw myself using Serp to skewer her. One single wound and there was a good chance that she'd die on the spot. Sadly, that, too, was going to attract more attention than the rest of us could handle. You bitch! I pointed to one of the chamber exits with my divine blade.

"Sure," she all but chuckled.

"If that's what you wish." Gritting my teeth, I used the Two of Chalice to heal my guts as much as possible. Some of the pressure subsided, leaving an obvious reminder that this was nothing more than a stopgap measure. Fuck you, Ele! And fuck you, Harlequin! We continued walking. The number of guards was significantly less in this part of the nest, suggesting that we had moved from the outer perimeter to the inner maze. By this point, I could barely hold it any longer.

The moment I spotted the first empty side tunnel; I directed everyone there. A few agonizing minutes later, we reached a dead end.

"Did we get lost?" Cathy asked as I stopped. I shook my head.

"Why did you take us here, then?"

"His curse is acting up," Eleonor said, adding fuel to the fire.

"He needs to take a shit." All eyes stared at her, then at me.

"Is she serious?" Cathy asked in near shock. I used a blade to scribble my answer on the cave floor.

"Harsh," Marcus said in the most dispassionate tone possible.

"Will that attract attention?" Tactless as always. I nodded, then went to the tunnel's end and started taking off my trousers.

"Hey, a bit of tact." Carl, of all people, crossed his arms.

"There are women here."

"We're safer this way," Eleonor said.

"If he stops releasing scorpion pheromones, we'll stand out more than his shit." I was just about to think of a picturesque gesture in response when the ground collapsed beneath me. Gravity pulled me into a large oval chamber. ROYAL PENTA-SCORPION Level: 20 Cards: Gravedigger, Thirteen of Swords, Ten of Chalice, Eleven of Chalice Special: Unbreakable Weapon: NONE Pup! I mentally shouted. It wouldn't be the first time I had been dragged into a dream, only my dream beast didn't appear.

Instead, a massive crimson insect was waiting for me at the bottom of the chamber.