Chapter 101: Lures
At the activation of Rayven’s skill, he soon found traces of gathered mana. There were faint clusters of mana across the rubble, each one like a buried core.
’There... four of them. They feel different though...’ He mused.
He then pointed at different piles of stone. "They’re hiding. I can see four. Waiting to ambush... or maybe scared and hiding from you all."
Drosk smiled after hearing his words. He knew that they really had to give Rayven a larger share of their total rewards later on.
Everything had become so easy because of Rayven’s sensitivity to mana.
"Good. Saves us a lot of guessing."
"Alright..." Victor said, raising a wrapped sword. "Let’s crack them open. Stick close and don’t get careless. Though they’re weak, their stone spit can sting your eyes."
The group moved as Drosk directed. He and Victor took the lead, stepping up to the first rubble pile Rayven had pointed out.
"On three..." Drosk muttered.
They both swung down hard!
Thud! Thud!
Their blades sparking as steel clashed against stone. The pile shuddered, and then it burst apart.
Soon, a small golem, barely the height of a child, rose out of the broken pile. Its body was made of some mineral plates that clacked together as it moved.
It was like a defective golem in Rayven’s eyes.
Soon, he also noticed that it had glowing cracks running across its face like eyes.
"Grrrk!"
The thing let out a grinding sound and swung its stubby arm like a club.
’Ahhh... It really looks weak.’ Rayven muttered, but he still made sure to be careful and watched over the stone spit they could use.
Getting hit in the eye really sounded terrible.
Rayven then saw how Victor stepped in, deflecting the strike with his blade, while Hale darted forward from the side and slashed with her short sword. Emma followed with a stab to the creature’s back.
The combined strikes broke through its rocky shell, and in just a few moments, the golem crumbled, leaving behind scattered fragments and a glowing marble-sized core rolling on the ground.
’That’s it?’ Rayven mused.
Victor then picked it up, turning it over in his palm. "First one down. Not a beast core... but worth far more."
"Don’t toss the fragments aside either..." Emma added, crouching to gather pieces of stone. "There could be some gems on them as well. Alchemists pay well for them."
They repeated the same process with the other piles. Each time Rayven pointed, they struck, and each time a golem rose in a burst of rubble.
The second one was actually faster, it used Stone Spit, and it nearly hit Hale’s face, but in the end, Drosk finished it off with a heavy downward slash that split the creature in half.
The third one had a tougher body, and it seemed that its stone plating was thicker than the others. Emma’s short sword barely chipped it, but with Drosk and Victor hammering from the front and Hale stabbing from the side, it eventually collapsed...
Rayven just watched it all happen, but his teammates didn’t mind it. They knew that Rayven had limited mana after all. They were already satisfied that they were able to find those little golems and earn some more money.
Finally, the last one was found...
As it rose, fragments spilled aside, revealing that the rocks weren’t just ordinary stone.
This time, there were actually gold-like specks that were embedded in the shattered pieces.
Emma gasped. "That’s not iron... That’s ore. Gold traces!"
Drosk struck the golem down with a heavy swing, and when it fell apart, the stones it left behind were clearly different from the rest.
Victor crouched, brushing dust aside with his fingers. "Not pure veins... but enough to refine. Lucky haul."
They gathered everything carefully.
Four golem cores, chunks of colorful gemstone, and now fragments with golden traces mixed in.
Rayven weighed his satchel on his shoulder and glanced at the others.
He had to admit, even without him doing much fighting, he felt the thrill of discovery.
"This is already a nice haul... However, it’s not enough... We can find more." Drosk said...
"Still... Not bad for less than an hour’s work."
Victor nodded. "If the rest of the chamber’s like this, we’ll be leaving with more than we hoped."
The group packed their haul and continued. Drosk led them toward the next marked path...
"There..." he said, tapping the parchment. "There’s a chamber here where a rare flower grows. It blooms at random. Sometimes days, sometimes hours. If we’re lucky, we’ll catch it today. We’ll pass through a few chambers, but I think we can go there."
Victor smirked. "That flower is worth more than 30 gold... So even if it’s dangerous, many adventurers would look for it from time to time. Let’s hope luck’s on our side."
"It’ll take us about an hour to reach it..." Drosk added, folding the map away.
"Stay sharp. The way passes through other chambers. Don’t drop your guard."
Everyone moved carefully in case they encountered Razorwing Stalker or a swarm of Skitterfang...
However, after some time, the silence was broken as they heard screams...
"Help!"
"Push them back!"
The group quickened their steps as they heard the voice of some adventurers.
Indeed, another party of adventurers was in trouble.
They soon found six of them fighting desperately in a wider cavern. Their backs were nearly against the wall as a tide of skittering creatures closed in.
Skitterfangs.
There were about 15 of them, and they looked really hungry!
The adventurers were already bleeding, and their formation was breaking under the sheer numbers.
One man screamed as a Skitterfang latched onto his leg and was tearing into his flesh.
"Damn... they won’t last long..." Victor muttered, tightening his grip on his sword. He was unsure whether they should help or not.
"Let’s use the lure to save them... This costs 80 silver each, but we can just ask for compensation later..." Drosk said as he took out the lure from his pocket. This would switch the attention of the Skitterfangs, and it might give some opening for the others to escape...
However, with the number of Skitterfangs, he probably had to use 3 or 4 lures.