284 Lethal maze
The insect, whatever it was, moved too fast. Nero had only just processed that something was about to happen, and the attack had already happened. By the time he turned around, he saw that Liam, the Neophyte who could make barriers with his innate ability, had his entire right foot in the ground, as if he had fallen into a hole.
"Jump!" Nero roared, sensing more vibrations from the ground. Nero himself did not exactly jump but just lifted himself off the ground, stabbing his spear into the ground and using it as a poke. Simultaneously, he channelled all his Cryoflame and used it to blanket the ground with his flame.
The others jumped just in time, either due to Nero's warning or their own judgement, just in time to avoid being stabbed by a dozen, skinny insects that burst from the ground.
Nero recognised what they were. They were called Beach worms, and were quite common in some areas on the edge of Ventura lake.
The worms were extremely agitated upon missing their targets, and became even more frustrated when Nero's freezing flames began to attack them, while simultaneously freezing the ground, making it harder for them to move.
Nero began planning his next step when a number of flying blades flashed through the air, slicing every single worm in half, killing them.
Just as fast as the battle had begun, it already ended. The worms were dead, the ground was frozen in case more wanted to attack, which didn't seem to be the case, and they were mostly unharmed.
The group rushed towards Liam and pulled him out of the ground, which ended up being a lot simpler than expected. When he was pulled out, though he looked incredibly frightened, he ended up being completely unharmed.
Out of habit, the moment he felt threatened, he created a barrier coating his skin using his innate ability, which is why the Beach worm only managed to tear through his shoe, but not his foot. Upon being unable to get what it wanted, the worm eventually let Liam go.
Just to be sure, Daisy checked up on his leg to make sure he was alright.
"Well that was scary," said Gideon as he allowed his flying blades to return to him.
"It was a result of oversight," Nero said, studying the ground. "We need to extend our scans into the ground as well. The next foe that pops out of the ground might not be so easily taken care of."
"I can take care of that," Dave volunteered. "But I should mention that the way I can do that is by extending my innate senses range through some augmentation cards. That means, I'd only be able to sense an enemy that poses a danger to me. Also, it will drain my aether faster."
Vanessa and the other researchers huddled over one of the corpses of the worms, still writhing but entirely dead.
"There's no report of such worms being spotted in Perilith before," one of them mentioned. "These might be a migratory species."
"That, or leaving an open, dirt road without any grass nearby gave them an easy hunting ground so they concentrated over here," another one mentioned. "Noman, can you preserve this specimen? I'd like to study it more when we return."
Nero turned to look at Noman, not hiding his interest in his ability. Considering how rare it was, there was no need to pretend that he wasn't interested in it, not to mention it made sense that he wanted to learn more about his teammates ability.
At the very least, it started out in quite an interesting way.
Noman brought his hands together, pinching his forefinger and thumb on both hands and joining them together, as if holding something exceptionally thin. When he pulled his hands apart, a yellow, shimmering string appeared between his hands which he wrapped around the most complete corpse of the Beach worms he could find. Then, as if pinching the string with his nails, Noman cut the string, and allowed it to fall freely.
The string began wrapping around the corpse even tighter, until eventually they shone in a flash of bright light. When the light faded, in place of the worm was a card with a picture of the worm's corpse instead. Noman picked up the card and handed it to the researcher, who seemed unsurprised by what happened, and just stored the card.
"That's quite convenient!" Nero exclaimed with genuine admiration. "Can you convert anything into a card? That must make transporting goods considerably easier."
"No, it's not so simple," Noman said, shaking his head with clear disappointment. "There are significant limitations on what I can seal."
He did not elaborate, and Nero did not ask him to either. The others in the group were also clearly impressed by his ability, which no doubt played a significant role in him achieving the title of prodigy at such a young age.
After gathering samples of the worms, as well as taking some recordings of the patterns they left behind on the ground after the attack, the group moved on. Liam was clearly startled by his previous encounter, and though the worm itself had not hurt him, he had ended up dislocating his leg and spraining some muscles.
Fortunately, Daisy's generic healing quickly took care of both, leaving him as good as new, so the group could continue forward without any hindrance.
Their formation had changed a bit, though, with Dave falling right behind Nero and Clarissa, focusing on scouting out any dangers ahead.
The dirt road carved out by the Arcanists made the initial leg of their journey quite convenient, but that soon ended as they took an early detour to avoid a pack of dogs who were hiding in the tall grass that lay directly ahead of them. Instead, they veered to the side, reaching a thin stream of clear water flowing down the hill.
It looked clean and fresh, but had already been tested. The water, much like most other things in Perilith, was highly poisonous, and could act from mere exposure to the skin. Nero could not help but dip the tip of his spear in the water, recalling his cooperation with Wendy and her venoms.
The group could not step through the stream, but they didn't need to. Instead, they just followed it down for a while, since most things avoided the stream.
Yet in following the stream, they elected to face a different kind of foe than the dogs. Hundreds of Stonefly larvae began travelling up and down the stream, gathering near the group, jumping out of the water and leaping at the group as they came close.
But this was an obstacle they were ready for. Liam summoned a large barrier to their side, blocking all the larvae, while the others used their cards to attack from a distance. Nero used Air bullets to attack from a distance since the larvae didn't seem strong.
He was right, only because their strength had been restricted to the Neophyte level. They shot out tiny water bullets which packed quite a punch and were poisonous as well, but it was pointless. Liam's barriers were not so easily broken, and with a Recovery token providing him with plenty of aether, he had no worries about how to use it.
But this was a never ending fight, for as long as they stayed close to the stream, the Stonefly larvae would keep attacking. Eventually, they made their way away from the stream, walking through a field where the grass was not nearly as tall as other places.
The reason for that was the herd of deer roaming about. They were dangerous, for they wielded devastatingly powerful abilities, but at least they would not attack as long as the group stayed away from them.
Although the distance to their objective was relatively short, reaching it was like navigating a lethal maze where the slightest misstep would cause death - or at the very least an intense fight.
But the group proved themselves formidable. Nero was no pushover, but the others took this opportunity to display their own skills, allowing them to not only pass through the wilderness of Perilith, they ensured that none of the researchers were harmed, or even had to fight.
But the real obstacle proved the very outcrop itself. As soon as they arrived close, they realised the reason why no cursed or uncursed creature came close to it.
Despite seeming harmless, the red stone gave off a searing heat that stopped the entire team in their tracks long before they could get close.
"Any thoughts?" Noman asked.
"I could try using my flames, but that might mess up the samples," Nero said.
"I can try cutting pieces off from a distance," Gideon offered.
"Try that first," Vanessa told Gideon. "Using Nero's flames to get close should be our last option. It truly might compromise the samples. Noman, can you seal these stones?"
"I guess we'll have to find out," he said, pinching his fingers as Gideon summoned his blades.