Armor_Crock

"This is no good!!" Baron said at the top of his voice. "They are catching up to us. The longer this takes, the more imminent our deaths would be,"

"It's now or never," says Allyn.

At that moment, he released the dead Skycruel, throwing it on the floor.

This got their attention, and the Spiders battled for the chance to eat the flesh.

"What! that was the plan?" Baron wasn't expecting Allyn to do that.

"Yeah, that was my plan,"

"We are supposed to keep that corpse hidden," says Baron, "If those birds find this, they certainly won't take it lightly."

"And that will help with keeping our presence a secret,"

"How so?"

"The Skycruel are not immune to death, so it shouldn't be surprising finding one getting killed by a group of Spiders," said Allyn; "That also means we won't be suspected."

With their successful strategy, both Allyn and Baron took a different way back to their teammates.

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"Good! They are here," says Cassius.

"There were more of them?" Baron asked. He is talking about the Spiders laying lifeless.

"These are just the ones who didn't take the bait earlier. We had to take them out ourselves,"

"I see,"

"This is bad!" Allyn mutters.

"What is bad?"

"You shouldn't have killed them," says Allyn. "It is forbidden," he added.

"We don't exactly have a choice," Diesel felt a little annoyed due to Allyn's words.

"I understand, but we have to hide this. I had a small talk with some citizens of the Cruel city, and from their words, killing any creatures in the Skycruel's territory is illegal. This means they will find out we were here and come after us,"

"F*ck! is that for real?"

"Yeah, it is,"

"We may need you to use your Void storage device to keep them hidden, as this is the easiest way," Claudex suggested.

Allyn does not have unlimited in-game storage space, but at least over 8 slots are remaining.

"Wait!! before you do that," Diesel ran towards the corpses with his knife and ripped their heads open, he pulled out glowy crystal-like objects from it.

"What is that thing?" Allyn asked.

"What does it look like?"

"Just answer the question,"

"Seriously?! you do not know what an energy core is?" Diesel said in disbelief, "Every creature possesses this treasure,"

"Oh, that makes sense," says Allyn.

It's good he's learned this from Diesel, as his next quest has something to do with taking a beast core which would earn him money.

"Here, you can have this." Diesel handed an energy core to Allyn. He also did well to distribute the rest with the others.

The core is larger when viewed up close. Without being told, Allyn can tell how valuable this object might be.

Storing all the corpses in his in-game, the group continued onward. Their journey is far from over and they are well aware of this.

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Minutes later>>>

"Hmm?"

"How did this happen?"

"I am as oblivious as you are,"

Among the trees, two large Aves are staring down at the gruesome scene of a fellow bird serving as nutrition to hungry Spiders.

"It seems he must have fallen victim to these creatures,"

"Do you believe that?"

"That's the plausible explanation,"

"So, for some messed up reason, the Spiders sneaked up on him and caught him off guard. Is that what you are saying?"

There is a flaw in what the first Ave said. With their sharp sense of hearing, it should be a little problematic to sneak up on them, especially for an unintelligent creature.

"So there is more to what meets the eyes,"

"Yes indeed, if this is what I think it is, then they should be ready for what's coming their way,"

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The next destination involves crossing a stream, which would prove problematic. In this area, according to Baron, their new obstacle is many times more dangerous than the giant Spiders.

The creatures lurking in this environment are called Armor_Crock and there are several numbers of them. They are also very active during the day and loves sleeping.

The best time to make their move is during the middle of the night, when they would be asleep… probably.

Under the leadership of Baron, the group decides it would be best to set up a camp and wait. They will also help replenish their energy once again.

Since the land is filled with all sorts of dangerous beings, every member will take turns in keeping watch while the others take their nap. It is Allyn's turn to keep watch and with help of the Mecha_suit, this was an easy job.

_________________________

You've eliminated an opponent!

XP point: 304 XP

Remarks: Executioner

________________________

Until now, Allyn hadn't noticed his interface…

His being called an executioner has to do with how he had killed a Skycruel by severing its head.

"I'm becoming a monster," Allyn mumbles.

He recalled murdering two humans he had encountered hours ago, and due to the Experience Points he received from doing so, he only felt little grief from his action.

Allyn keeps telling himself there is nothing wrong with what he had done, and maybe there isn't.

[Health 78% - 79% - 87% - 95% - 100%]

At long last, after hours, Allyn could feel the damage inflicted on his chest gradually repairing itself as his health slowly increases. This took quite a long time, longer than he would have wanted.

"It's almost time," he mumbled while surveying his surrounding for any movement or sounds.

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Waking the team from their slumber, their journey continued under the watch of the full moon. In a few minutes, hordes of massive wild beasts could be seen scattered around, all of which are currently asleep.

"Why are they so big?" Diesel shivered.

"We have to move past them as crossing the river over there is our goal," Baron whispers

"Shit!" Allyn cursed.

"There is no need to be alarmed, they are enjoying themselves and will not be bothered by us... as long as they don't see or smell us," Cassius tried to be optimistic... he isn't doing very great at that.

"Smell us?" Allyn's survival instinct kicks in.

"Yeah, their sense of smell is no joke,"

"You've got to be kidding me. We smell like f*ck. What makes you think they won't wake up due to the nasty odor we are emitting?"

"Because we came prepared for this," says Baron. Dipping his hands into his bag, he pulled a bottle.

"With this, we should be untraceable," he said while spraying it all over his body.

Everyone followed his example and was now ready to take their chances...

"We have a few minutes before the effect of this spray dies down... and you don't want that to happen,"

"Then let's get moving!!" thoughts of death terrified Diesel.

With every careful step, Allyn and the others carefully tiptoed across the sleeping reptiles…

Swimming through the river proved more problematic as they needed to be careful to not make any sound, doing this while still having to swim as fast as they can.

*Grroowwll!!*

Diesel could not feel his legs the moment he had that sound.

"Keep moving, that's the creature's way of snoring," says Claudex.

"Thank goodness." Diesel's boiling blood finally calms down. It seems he's not dying yet.

Slowly but steadily, they are getting close to the other side...

*SPLASH!!*

Cassius mistakenly lost his balance. This brought unnecessary sounds that are loud enough to wake one beast.

An Armor_Crock casually opens its eye to get a glimpse of what's disturbing its nap time. However, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, it went back to sleep.

"F*ck! you almost got us killed!"

"Sorry," Cassius felt ashamed of himself.

Before the reptile opens its eye, they had all instinctively gone under the water and slowly swim away from its point of view. They successfully made it to the other side in one piece.

"Well, we all made it out alive, that's all that matters," Baron spoke to the team. Yet, no matter how strong he tried to be, he got terrified as well.