"That''s forty three for me! How many for you?" Gil was counting and bing unhappier as he realized that they had been doing this all night. The moon was just starting to set yet here they were, still hunting the cyclops silkworms.
"I''m at thirty seven. I saw Midnight and Onyx have hit their twenties at least too. This is like a wave of them or something. I thought we would be done earlier with this pest." Walker was also very unhappy. This had woken up just about everyone at this point. The sounds of arrows being shot in to trees and other night guards running around camp had been the cause of waking those that had earned their rest.
"How many did you just say? There are that many of these ugly things?" Remey was the most disgusted. It wasn''t that the cyclops silkworms were that bad, but they were too many and not the cutest monsters in the world. Not to mention that they didn''t even make enough useful materials out of their body to really be that big a deal.
Before Remey could get any more annoyed, the group heard the sound of scraping metal and Su''s angry shout before the m of her shield. "What is this thing!?" the m of the shield echoes again and again before they were a dense thud.
Rushing over, the rest of the group found that Su had a small chunk out of her shoulder armor. On the ground was a broken and still twitching moth with eyes on the wings. "That is an overseer moth. That''s what these things grow in to. It''s probably the home territory and all the drama tonight attracted it. I would also go to bet that they are here because of this thing. It might be some breeding season or something." Walker looked at the overseer moth very annoyed.
Not only would Su need to get her armor fixed because one of these moths had the strong mouths just like the cyclops worms, but she was also very angry. They had all their rest interrupted early while also damaging their supplies. "We should have everyone get up and begun breaking down camps. We are clearly in the wrong area to camp." Walker made the official call. It would also help get rid of more of the cyclops worms as they came at them.
There were more calls in return of other dragonkin, archers, and a mage that had also taken down the overseer moths. This proved that there was an unusual situation going on. The all around appraisal had said that these moths were territorial. Why would many be in one spot unless they were somehow producing more of the cyclops worms? That was the best exnation.
"Walker, I know you are going to hate this, but since the moon is setting, moths should be a little more active, right?" Gil seemed like he had another point so Walker just nodded his head. "Then that means we will have to deal with whatever hunts these overseer moths?"
"I wish you didn''t say that…but you''re right. We might encounter another monster that can easily resist the bites of cyclops silkworms and the overseer moths. We''ll have to be prepared." With this in mind, Walker started to make the eternal orb change again in to a staff form. He wanted to have some mana at the ready in case he had to deter another monster with a little more magical force. He also wanted to take control of the campfires and put them out a little faster, and by manipting the fire elemental mana he could do that.
He had no sooner pulled the fire elemental mana toward him with the eternal orb staff form that he saw the sun starting to slightly break over the horizon. That wasn''t what had his focus though. It was the tops of the trees that did. The small reflective pieces of silk that the cyclops silkworms had left behind and what was now crawling over them.
''Trapeze spiders
The trapeze spider is known for using the silk of other monsters to walk through the trees. They adore hunting the cyclops silkworms worms and the overseer moths. They do this by using their own silk to trap them.
The trapeze spiders have unique pointed and oily legs that can grasp the silkworm threads and weave them in to different shapes. By doing this they can wrap the things they create and use themter. They are also known as fabric hoarder spiders since their nests will haverge amounts of the cyclops silkworm threads.
They are often hunted so that they can be used as trapped monsters that would weave threads. others are hunted for their sharp legs that can be used as rough spears by the rock goblins. This is often only done during the colder seasons when the spiders are slower and spend time in their solitary dens so that the rock goblins can outnumber them.''
With this all around appraisal, Walker shouted out the important information before creating a wave of mes that he pushed through the air toward the spiders above. The sudden shock of heat burned the fine silkworm threads while scaring the trapeze spiders. Some fell from the trees and were pounced on by midnight and Onyx while others desperately clung to the trees and didn''t move. They knew they had been targeted by a predator.
The lucky part was, the trapeze spiderscked venom. They were only hunting monsters they could cut apart and consume. They also used the hunted monster''s own threads as a way to hunt making them a very unique species of monster that depended on one prey. Overall, this was a very unique situation to be seeing, but it was not a great one due to the many spiders the size of small children in the trees.
"This is odd." Alice was very unhappy to be facing spiders like this right after the cyclops silkworms and seeing an overseer moth. Her song of sword had been sung for a moment before she realized that the brighter light she was summoning up with her words was scaring away the spiders.
"Alice, good find! Walker, they are afraid of light to work with Alice!" Alma didn''t hesitate to pass on the information even though Walker had already seen it. The single shout was also information for everyone in the line of camps to pass on to one another.
The next song that Alice started began to gather the early moring light that was just starting toe around them. The distance was still dark and dim but it was enough to help Alice''s song and for Walker to begin to channel.
The light orbs that Walker made with the assistance of Alice glowed a bright white causing the trapeze spiders to retreat further in to the trees. It also left behind arge amount of the cyclops silkworm silk for them to be able to take. It was a win win when it came to the situation they were in.
Walker had to move down the line of camps leaving light orbs as he went. Surprisingly, the light affinity dragonkin that were around had the ability to add their mana to the light orbs due to their affinity and rtionship with light. They had also been able to use the light elemental mana inbat, so adding some of the mana to the already created skill was absolutely no issue. Walker could also see that Rise smirked after he returned from a quick run down the line of camps.
After this sudden rush and defense, Walker felt that the horizon became brighter and brighter faster. The morning sun was soon illuminating the trees showing off even more strands of silk that they hadn''t noticed. The trapeze siders had been forced to retreat to their dens where they were away from the light. Many had gone hungry while many of the cyclops silkworms were still left defeated by the soldiers that Walker led.
"Well, we will not be sleeping here again." Su made a very firm point that everyone supported.
"And you all thought it was bad that Walker and I were messing with frost. Those things were wild." Gil was checking his bow while he wondered just what was going to happen if they had to camp in this area again.
"We are not camping here. It''s already decided. Let''s gather this silk then move out. No point in wasting it." Alma was short since she wasn''t happy to be woken up by the ugly cyclops silkworms. However, Walker saw that she was d that Gil and him had maintained a good watch. Overall, it was a very strange way to wake up extra early. But it was a win in the end since no one had been hurt and Su''s armor could easily be fixed. It did make them more wary of the skies in the early morning though.
….