Chương 171: Gateclaw Oasis

"Dammit, it's filled to the brim with monsters!" Liora complained.

"Monsters? What kind of monsters? The sharks again?" Renir asked, since he still couldn't see the oasis as well as Liora.

"No, not the sharks. They look like giant scorpions with huge claws, and I mean, really huge. Like big tower shields, they look really tough," Liora said.

"I'm not sure if my talons could get through that."

"Shame you didn't take the drilling skypierce upgrade. It would have made short work of any defenses like that," Renir noted.

"Not helpful, Renir!" Liora grumbled.

"Sorry, sorry. Fly closer. I got an idea of what monsters they are, but I'd rather you make sure by reading their label." Liora flew closer, but not too close. Just enough for the System to display the label. [Gateclaw Scorpion – Level 45] The name was displayed in yellow, indicating they were slightly stronger than Liora, but not by much. The problem was that there were many of them. At least two dozen swarmed the oasis. Several of the scorpions stood by the entrances, their large claws settled into the sand.

It basically looked like a wall had been erected around the oasis.

"There's no way others would be able to get to the oasis with these guys blocking the way. What do we do?" Liora asked.

"Normally I'd say to just find another oasis…"

"But we can't. Princess Caspian needs her bath," Liora grumbled, slightly exasperated by the needy merman.

"Yeah… He's already struggling in the humanoid form. If he stays out in the desert in his merman form for too long, I'm afraid we'll have a roast merman. Neither you, nor Cee can generate water, and there's only so much Cee's tidesilk can do."

"Okay, so how do we deal with these guys? Can we scare them away somehow?" Liora asked hopefully. One of the scorpions, she could likely handle without much issue. But two dozen of them working together? No, that was a different matter entirely. The monsters clearly knew how to coordinate with each other.

"Scare them away, she says." Renir laughed.

"Offer a solution instead of laughing. Something that doesn't involve burning or freezing them to death," Liora snapped.

"Freezing would work wonderfully, but yeah, we don't have that. You're going to have to approach this carefully, together with others. Most likely from above. Attacking them from the front will be impossible. The more scorpions work together, the stronger their shield, and this group is quite significant."

"From above? So I Meteor Impact them?"

"It could work the first time if you hide yourself, but once these guys realize you can attack them from above, they will just use their shields for defense. Not to mention their stingers. The venom of the gateclaw scorpion is one of the most potent out there. Their battle strategy is simple, but very effective—don't let anything injure you, poison it, and watch it slowly die."

"But I have Ailment Resistance."

"At Adept level. It's too low to resist the potent venom of these scorpions. You would need the upgraded version of this skill to even stand a chance," Renir said.

"You mustn't get stung. Your Purify might not even be enough to cure it." Liora shuddered.

"I suppose it's a good thing we have Caspian."

"Good thing indeed. Now, I suggest you fly back to others and explain the situation. Only by working together with everyone will you be able to get to this oasis." Having discussed the situation with others, Liora was once again advancing on the oasis. Caspian had reverted to his merman form and looked more miserable by the second as he had been strapped to Smokey's back using Cee's webs. Na'ikiri wasn't looking that great either.

They had given her food, but they didn't really have anywhere to store water, so they couldn't give her any. Apparently, antkings could go on without water for much longer than other creatures, but they too had their limits.

"Okay, everyone, here's the plan!" Liora said as the group observed the scorpion from some distance.

"Cee, Smokey and I will drop on those from above, doing as much damage as we can while they are caught by surprise."

"I'm going to weave webs in the center of the oasis, lay as many traps as I can to gain advantage of the terrain," Cee said, then looked at Smokey.

"And this little one will act as my guard."

"You think his scales are tough enough to protect him from those stingers?" Lioras asked Renir.

"It's hard to say. If he were a higher level, then I would say that nothing could pierce Smokey's scales. But he has only just evolved, and he is still Level 1, so it's possible that a well-aimed stinger could get through. Especially around his wing membranes." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Caspian, we'll be counting on you to heal us if something happens," Cee said to the merman.

"Wait… am I not staying behind?" He wheezed out. The sun was really doing a number on him in his merman form. Even the tidesilk clothes weren't enough to protect him anymore. They needed to get him into the water. So Liora had a perfect plan for that.

"No. What if one of us gets stung? Renir says that their poison is so potent it could kill us in minutes. We need you close by."

"Are you just going to carry me around?" The merman turned slightly green from the thought.

"Don't worry! It'll all be good. I'm going to take care of it," Liora said mischievously.

"Okay, let's get going. Time's a-wasting. Caspian, tell Na'ikiri to wait here," Cee said. He relayed the words to the antkin, who nodded while looking nervously at the oasis. It was clear that she didn't believe that they could deal with these scorpions. But they had already ironed out the details. It would work. Liora grabbed Caspian and lifted him off Smokey's back. Cee took up his place, and the wyvern began running, occasionally jumping, until he was finally able to lift himself in the air.

He flew straight to the oasis, while Liora flew from the side. Once she believed she was at a distance where the scorpion with their poor vision could see them, Liora activated Decoy Fade and had her decoy fly away from the oasis. To make the scorpion believe that the weird bird saw them, but decided to leave the oasis. It seemed to have worked, as the scorpion kept their position, blocking off the entrance to the oasis.

So when Liora suddenly dropped Caspian straight into the oasis water, they all whirled around in shock, producing a high-pitched hissing noise. Liora didn't give them time to realize what had happened. She dove down on one of the scorpions, striking it with her Meteor Impact. She aimed for its head, well away from that nasty stinger. [You have defeated <Gateclaw Scorpion – Level 49. Experience gained.]"Good! It actually worked.

I was worried that this Skypierce upgrade wasn't all that good," Liora said, flying up, well out of the range of other scorpions. They followed after her, hissing and dashing their large claws together in agitation. Liora flew low, allowing them to follow her. In the meantime, Smokey and Cee landed on the other side of the oasis. The spider got to work instantly, making webs around the pool of water to protect Caspian, who was peeking from below the water's surface, glaring daggers in Liora's direction.

A few of the scorpions noticed her and advanced on Cee, their mandibles clacking. Smokey let out a terrible growl and blocked their path, occasionally rearing up and spreading his wings to make himself look more menacing. It was actually quite effective. The scorpion hissed angrily, but didn't dare to approach him or Cee carelessly. Meanwhile, Liora took off to the skies, ready to Meteor Impact another one of the scorpions. Unfortunately, just like Renir had predicted, it didn't work.

The scorpions all raised their shield-like claws, and Liora struck one of those. She had hoped to perhaps make a crack in the shield. But no, it remained undamaged.

"What is this thing made of?" Liora muttered. Several scorpions used the opportunity to try to sting Liora with their stingers. But she turned into her magpie form and swiftly avoided them. She then used her Resonance Mimicry, checking how weak these guys would be to her auditory attack. It didn't do anything. In fact, the scorpion retaliated with their own auditory attack. Their screech-hissing grew louder and louder as more and more scorpions joined in. Liora felt herself feeling nauseous.

"Fly up!" Renir commanded, although his voice sounded somewhat distant through the hissing. Liora flew high, and as the effect of their hisses lessened, her mind cleared up.

"What was that?" Liora asked.

"You're not the only one who can use sonic attack to their advantage. But your Sound Resistance trait saved your hide. Look at Smokey and Cee," Renir said. Liora looked down and saw that both Smokey and Cee were staggering on their feet. The closer the scorpions came with their hissing, the more confused they seemed. At one point, Smokey just threw up.

"They're advancing on them. What do I do?" Liora panicked. Her Meteor Impact and any other physical attack would be countered by their powerful shields. Would her magic do any better? At that moment, Caspian appeared from below the waters and began singing. His voice sounded like that of angels, and it quickly overwhelmed the horrifying screeching of scorpions.

"Attack now! Caspian has Smokey and Cee covered," Renir noted. Liora nodded, and Air Slashed at one of the scorpion's tails. It cut into it, but it wasn't enough to sever—the scorpion's exoskeleton was just too tough. Holy Light didn't seem to be doing much better.

"How do you normally fight these things?" Liora grumbled.

"Freezing them to death?" Renir said.

"How am I supposed to—" Liora stopped and looked down on Renir.

"You can imbue my attacks with ice attributes, can't you?"

"Only a few. My magic reserves are still low, and a lot of mana is lost when I transfer the specific attribute to your attacks." Liora clicked her tongue. A few attacks wouldn't be enough. They needed something to affect all of those scorpions. Then an idea struck her.

"Renir, put your everything into this next attack. All of your ice power!" Liora commanded and positioned herself in front of Smokey and Cee. Caspian was still singing, which protected Liora from the scorpion's hissing. Liora activated Wind Blast, which Renir imbued with ice magic. The result was similar to a blizzard. Cold air and snow engulfed the scorpion, making them shriek in pain. No, not just shriek. They straight up turned and ran out of the oasis. Liora wondered if they would return after a while. But no.

They ran into the desert and never looked back.

"Those guys really don't like cold," Cee noted, then looked ruefully at her webs.

"Aww, and that I had this whole plan of using Bedrock Mandala. I wanted to level up that skill."

"I wanted those glimmerstones and experience. But we only got one guy," Liora said, looking at the only scorpion she had managed to kill.

"You two are crazy! You should be grateful they left. Now let's call Na'ikiri. She must be thirsty," Caspian said. Everyone rejoiced at conquering the oasis, but Liora couldn't help but look after the fleeing scorpions. It felt too easy.

"Renir…" she began, looking down at the gem.

"Yeah. This likely isn't over," he confirmed her suspicions, although neither of them knew exactly how this problem would grow.