“I think… we should leave,” Simba Di murmured after a long silence.
This place reeked of strangeness, and the longer they stayed, the more oppressive it felt. Even being underwater hadn't been this unsettling.
Whether it was the soft glow beneath their feet or the oil lamp in their hands, they only illuminated a radius of about ten steps. Beyond that lay only darkness. In Simba Di's eyes, this light didn't bring comfort, but rather a dangerous premonition. It meant they were completely exposed in the light, yet knew nothing of the threats lurking in the dark.
The truth was, they still hadn't seen the true boundaries of this cave.
“Leave?” Rex's voice trembled slightly. “What are you talking about… I swear, this is a sight even Lord Thunder hasn't seen. Ancient relics? No… it's practically a ruin!”
“Ruins don't move, and we can always come back later,” Simba Di said, racking his brains for a convincing argument. “Your assistant, and the Association of Things… they're all waiting for good news from you.”
The mention of the Association of Things seemed to sober Rex up a bit. “Y-you're right, I should bring this good news back and share it with everyone.”
“Then let's get moving.”
“W-wait, we've come all this way, we can't go back empty-handed.” He pulled a bishou from his waist pouch and began chipping at a stone tablet. “Don't worry, it won't take long. You should stuff something in your pouch too, at least as proof that we found something.”
Reluctantly, Simba Di complied. After all, the other man was essentially his employer. Having taken on this job for twenty gold dragons, he naturally had to bear the corresponding risks.
Perhaps this place only looked strange, he told himself. It was dark, sure, but maybe there was nothing there.
“Scrape, scrape, scrape—”
Each swing of Rex's bishou produced a metallic drone, which was particularly jarring in the silent cave.
Simba Di also noticed that each time the bishou struck the tablet, the light emanating from the point of contact grew much brighter, almost dazzlingly so.
He shook his head, pulling his attention back.
Simba Di really wasn't in the mood to waste his energy on cutting stone tablets. The haphazardly stacked walls were also littered with odd stone tools, probably left behind by the carriers. They had simply decayed into their current state over time. He casually picked up a few and stuffed them into his pouch, which he considered fulfilling his end of the bargain.
“Scrape, scrape, scrape—”
The Fjordlander was still focused on chiseling at the tablet, and he already had five or six pieces of rubble about the size of fingernails by his side.
“Hey, that's probably enough…” Simba Di was about to urge him again when he suddenly caught an off-key sound.
It was still a scraping sound, but more fragmented, as if several Rexes were chiseling at the tablet…
Was it… an echo?
No! He realized that their positions hadn't changed. How could there have been no sound before, and now there was suddenly an echo?
“Rex.”
“Almost done, this is the last piece.”
“Stop for a moment…”
“Give me half a quarter hour—”
“Stop!” he nearly roared.
Rex was taken aback. The bishou froze in mid-air, and the piercing scraping sound ceased.
But the fragmented scraping sound persisted, and it seemed to be approaching them.
Now Rex also sensed something was amiss. He stuffed the stones into his pouch while looking around nervously. “What's that?”
As he spoke, white light suddenly flickered alternately in the distance.
In the light, Simba Di saw what was coming—a fully grown desert scorpion. Its pincers were the size of an arm, and its raised tail stinger was almost waist-high. The shimmering green tip was undoubtedly filled with venom. Once
stung, without an antidote, one could only survive for half a quarter hour.
Damn it, the chiseling must have disturbed it! He braced himself and held his waist knife in front of his chest. “Slowly back away, and don't take your eyes off the scorpion.”
For an outstanding Mojin warrior, a desert scorpion wouldn't be a difficult opponent. They were unintelligent, slow, and their stinger was both their most threatening weapon and their weakness. As long as it missed once, a sharp waist knife could sever the tail hook in two.
The problem was, he wasn't an outstanding warrior by any means.
Although he had received related training since he was a child, he had never participated in a joint hunt, nor had he ever actually fought a desert scorpion.
He could only try.
Once Rex had completely disappeared behind him, he said softly, “Now look down, and don't move no matter what happens.”
“I… I understand.”
Having received a response, Simba Di also turned sideways.
The moment their gazes broke contact, the desert scorpion attacked—although he couldn't see it, the rapidly approaching scraping sound indicated that it was charging towards him.
This was the desert scorpion's habit: it liked to look for opportunities during a confrontation, and would attack as soon as it found a flaw in its prey's attention.
Stay calm!
Simba Di lowered his waist slightly, placing the knife on his left side and gently resting his right hand on the handle. This was the starting stance for a Sandman to draw his knife—seemingly not facing the enemy, but the entire area on the right side of his body was within the range of the blade's strike!
When the scorpion's crawling sound was almost in his ear, he suddenly moved a step sideways, then drew his knife!
A faint light flashed.
Before he could even turn his gaze back, a slight resistance had already traveled to his hand.
It was the sensation of the blade slicing through hollow reeds.
With a crisp snap, the desert scorpion's tail hook, which had pierced into the stone tablet, was split in two.
Simba Di turned the blade and directly chajin the carapace seam behind the scorpion's head.
The target shook its secondary feet weakly and soon collapsed.
“Amazing…” Rex breathed a sigh of relief. “No wonder you're a Mojin Sandman who makes a living by hunting…”
“It's not over yet!” Simba Di interrupted. “The sound earlier didn't sound like it came from just one desert scorpion!” Where was it? Where would the enemy appear from? He looked around vigilantly—this place was full of stone tablets, so no matter which direction it came from, there should be light!
But all around was only darkness.
Except above.
Damn it! He suddenly realized his oversight. In the darkness, the soft glow was striking, but new light appearing in a place that was already illuminated could easily be overlooked.
As Simba Di looked up, a dark shadow had already pounced down.
The target was the Fjordlander behind him!
In a hurry, all he could do was turn around and kick Rex away.
The desert scorpion landed almost grazing the latter's body.
Relying on the instinct of many years of training, Simba Di didn't even look, directly chopped down with his knife, and split the scorpion's head in two.
“Whew,” he breathed out. “Luckily I made it in time… Hey, are you okay?”
“Cough cough… I, I think I’m…”
However, before he could finish his reply, more scraping sounds came from behind the walls. At first, he could still hear the intervals, but after a few breaths, they were so dense that they resembled a tide, and there was also a muffled rumble, as if some enormous creature was crawling towards them.
The two exchanged a glance, and their faces turned pale.
“Run, run!” Simba Di grabbed the Rex who was still falèng and turned to run towards the cave entrance.
A moment later, dazzling light burst from behind them, illuminating the entire cave like daylight!
In this increasingly bright radiance, Simba Di saw an incredibly large desert scorpion. Its eyes alone were the size of platters, and its carapace was even
rough and thick like a reef. These characteristics undoubtedly revealed the identity of the creature—it was one of the offerings to the rumored three gods, the Ironclad Giant Scorpion that ruled the earth!
Under the pressure of its enormous body, the walls made of stone tablets became incandescent and translucent, even blinding to some extent.
So that was it.
Simba Di finally understood why the green grass could grow everywhere in the cave even though there was no light, and where the light that occasionally leaked from the sea cave at night came from.
The Ironclad Giant Scorpion actually used this place as its nest.