After marking the thirty seventh tree, we were well and truly away from the cave.

I stopped to bask in earthy scent, making sure to wriggle around in the dark sand to disguise my scent, before traveling through the low shrubs, like I'd done for numerous times now.

We had travelled in silence for the most part, only stopping to take note of our surroundings and to leave a scent trail, but according to Morgana we were very close.

She dropped down from my back and masked her own scent by furiously wriggling on the ground, throwing bits of debris all around, clearly still in a bad mood.

The dark fae stared at us curiously, before reaching over to grab a nearby leaf and proceeded to rub it all over her in a rather comical way to mask her scent.

But after doing so repeatedly, her face was now covered in green.

Pfft.

[What?] she asked when she saw me looking.

[Nothing.] I shook my head and turned away.

We were surrounded by dense misty jungle and I kept my [Heat Sense] active to look out for any creatures in our vicinity.

Strange calls filled the air and there were shadowy shapes moving up high in the trees, but so far we'd managed to skirt around any approaching monsters and avoid any battles.

And now that our scents were fully masked, it was time to move again.

[Why is the wavy serpent upset with you?] The dark fae asked.

[Is she now?] I glanced at Morgana who refused to meet my eyes.

She was scanning her surroundings, but to me it looked more like she was sulking, and I sighed. [Taking away a brat's toys will do that.]

The dark fae tilted her head in confusion. [What's a brat?]

[Anything smaller than me.] I replied. [Now stop talking, it's time to go.]

Morgana slithered onto my back once more, and the dark fae flitted about trying to make conversation between us, but Morgana was not in the mood for idle talk and I was too focused on reaching our destination, so she settled down to rest on my head in defeat.

[You're both no fun!] she grumbled disapprovingly causing Morgana to hiss at her, which made her fall silent.

Following Morgana's directions, we soon arrived at the stash point, filled with scorpion corpses.

There were scattered bits of scorpion limbs all through the lush greenery in what looked like a battlefield.

Some bodies were whole, but their carapaces were cracked in places with some parts of their limbs missing, like they had been pulled out from their sockets. The ground was also filled with writhing bottom feeders and a rust coloured liquid staining the ground.

It was a complete massacre and I had to stop and hide before peering more at the scene – because we were not alone.

There were numerous live scorpions scattered among the dead ones, but the difference was so obvious. The live ones had vibrant yellow shells, while the dead ones had pale yellow shades that were almost grey.

The creatures approached the bodies of their fallen brethren, their snapping pincers giving off an irritating vibration as they communicated. They seemed to be observing their wounds, but none made any moves to touch them.

From what Artemis described, this seemed to be the place they had fought against the scorpion creatures in teams.

So had Morgana's team done this? Or was it a combined effort?

The captain in question, peered at the scene with a blank look, seemingly annoyed they had caught up so quickly, before slithering away towards another direction.

The dark fae informed me that Morgana's stash was hidden away from there so we followed her.

However, when we arrived at the place, we saw the sands she used to bury the bodies had been dug up, with parts of the buried creatures exposed. Some were even missing, like some other creature had gotten to it first and made off with the majority of them.

That made Morgana furious.

But did she really think the blood from the nearby battlefield wouldn't attract other scavengers?

It was inevitable after such a chaotic battle and she should have hidden them much further away.

However, I did look at her a little differently now.

Because of this thievery, the scorpion creatures quickly discovered what was left of her stash and were currently swarming around it, giving us no opportunity to plant the fake scent.

There was no point in staying anymore as the location was already compromised, and so we moved on to Ophelia's stash next.

Ophelia had stashed them in three different places so that even if one was discovered, it wouldn't be the end for the rest. And she had hidden them much deeper in the ground.

I couldn't help thinking she was a smarter captain for planning for contingencies, and because of this we were able to mark all of the corpses in her hiding spot, making sure to uncover them so that their scents would be picked up much easier, and then we moved on to the next spot to do the same.

However, as we approached the last place, I sensed the scuttling movements of something lurking nearby. The sound of its footsteps rang out like those of a multiple legged creature, but [Heat Sense] revealed it to be just one.

I hadn't even uncovered the last stash – how were they already on the way?

A perceptive scorpion perhaps?

Since it was just one, I continued to uncover the corpses to leave a scent. However, soon the sound of footsteps started to come from multiple directions, and I peered out from behind the marked corpses, towards the line of the trees.

The dark fae was still with me, but somehow Morgana had slipped away without me noticing and now, I couldn't find her.

[Where did she go?] I questioned the dark fae.

[I saw her heading towards the trees...]

What?

Why would she do that?

The scuttling sounds were coming closer and they had to be more of the scorpion creatures!

Since the corpses were already out in the open with the ape's scent marked on them, I took off into the forest after Morgana.

However it proved to be a false alarm.

What I found instead was a large, hairy, green and purple spider, with about five of its smaller spiderlings.

The dark fae shrieked loudly and I smirked at her reaction.

But looking at the ugly spiders again, I wasn't so amused anymore.

Haven't we been through this once already?

I hissed at the creepy spider and to my surprise, a string of sticky webbing shot out from its behind, aimed directly at my face.

I swept to the side, dodging it with ease, however when I looked back, the large spider and the smaller ones were already scuttling away!

What the hell?

To aim at my beautiful face and then run away? They had no shame!

I pursued them immediately, completely mad with rage.

Although my speed had been halved, I quickly caught up to the large spider before it could run off, quickly proving that it still wasn't a match for me.

The spider tried to escape by shooting out a scattered pattern of webbing, but I tripped its multiple legs with my body, constricting it tightly, before laying a bite.

Multiple webs shot out of its body as it struggled to get free, but I made sure to stay away from its gnashing jaws until its struggling ceased.

〚You have defeated LV13 Melior Karhkkov!〛

〚You have earned 98XP〛

«Well done.» Sensei dryly said. «You've finally overcome your fear.»

Hmph! Of course! A mere bug was no match for me.

Unfortunately, by targeting the larger one first, I let the smaller spiderlings get away.

«But do you think it is the time to chase down an already fleeing creature when your captain is missing?»

Oh shoot, Morgana!

But I soon heard the rustle of leaves behind me, and as they parted, my precocious captain came out, with a still wriggling, hairy leg of a spiderling in her mouth.

The gross sight sent tingles down my spine but she quickly scarfed it down and looked at me like she wanted a compliment, and I nearly gagged.

I peered at the bushes behind her, where I counted the ripped body parts of four different spiderlings. I supposed she did a good job…but she still wasn't getting out of her punishment.

We traced our positions back to Ophelia's stash, but the presence of a large heat trace let me know we were not alone.

The spot was teeming with scorpion creatures and the massive overhead shadow that covered them was that of a huge scorpion nearly four times as big, with a pitch black hooked stinger and a tough spiked carapace.

It came close to the pile, seemingly taking a whiff of the scent before reaching into it to eat all the flesh of the dead, even as the smaller scorpions watched.

The creature was indeed terrifying to look at, and Morgana visibly shrank as she glimpsed the foreboding creature, and I spread out my [Shadow Shroud] to form a wall of darkness in front of her, to provide a temporary shield.

However, when I asked her if this was the same creature that had attacked her, she said it was different. Ophelia had taken off one of its limbs, and this one had a complete set.

Unless it had very quick regeneration, then there were more of its kind…but just how many?

I couldn't imagine my cave surviving after getting overrun by a creature this big, not to talk of multiples of it.

I continued to watch it eat and soon it whipped around, its tail smashing through the side of a tree, before taking off into the forest.

The horde of smaller scorpions followed behind it and they all went in the direction we had come from, connecting it with the over forty scent markings I had made.

No way. Did it actually take the bait?

The creatures continued to move without stopping and I was glad I had left the ape's severed limb in Ophelia's scorpion stash, otherwise, it would have come to our location first.

The plan was coming together far better than I expected.