Although Levi's plan was sound and he seemed confident in it, Jamal was still ordered to use his spiritual arrow to scout around them every once in a while. After all, Mantis wasn't the only one in the forest.
Fortunately, no one appeared in his arrow's field of vision.
When he relayed the news, Shia ordered everyone to start searching the area for natural treasures again. She still hadn't lost hope even when the center of the forest turned out to be a bust.
Since the forest was quite humongous with hills, lakes, and rivers, it would be hard to meet Shia's party randomly although Mantis' party had more than a hundred Daywalkers.
In addition, everyone was too focused on finding natural treasures to bother themselves with antagonizing Shia's party.
Mantis couldn't make such an order when the contract details involved only finding the treasures.
Thus, hours went by in peace, and before long, the sun was showering everyone with its final rays of light.
"Prepare your nightwear straps and light sticks."
Mantis ordered with an irritated look, knowing that it was near impossible to find Shia anymore unless they dropped everything and completely focused on her.
As the night veil fell over the forest and the moon cast its gentle light from the slight gaps of the clouds, only small dots of light were seen spread out across the forest.
Sometime later...
"Is it just me or is the forest somewhat too peaceful?" Masai murmured while looking around him, not spotting a single roaming nightcrawler.
"Are you doubting my agency's capabilities?" Mantis frowned coldly, "You think we are some kind of second-rated agency that doesn't clear the enti...."
Skritch-skritch...
Suddenly, a faint rustling noise echoed in everyone's ears akin to tiny legs skittering over dried leaves.
"Shshe."
Mantis silenced everyone with a finger near his mouth and leaned closer to the noise. As he focused on it, it started to get louder and louder until it resounded akin to the thundering steps of a thousand army!
Then, they appeared, a sea of horrific big spiders charging in their direction, covering their entire field of sight!
"Ru...Run..RUUUN!!"
Absolutely petrified, Mantis let out a high-pitched scream while sprinting at the top of his speed in the opposite direction of the spiders!!
"WHAT THE HELL!!"
"HOW COME THERE ARE SO MANY SPIDERS!"
Masai and the rest of the squad didn't linger for even a moment as they took off after Mantis while summoning their signature weapons.
All of them shared similar expressions: horror, disbelief, and confusion.
Unfortunately, no one was there to clarify their questions as this exact scenario was repeating across the entire forest!
Meanwhile, Shia's party was still working tirelessly, turning everything upside down, but to no avail.
"I am starting to think that those flowers have gone extinct." Arthur wiped his forehead in annoyence.
"They are called treasures for a reason, Arthy. If they were..."
Levi's smile suddenly turned upside down after spotting a bizarre moving spiritual wave at a rapid speed.
When he focused hard on it, he finally managed to see some distinctive features of spiders.
He stood up immediately and warned with a solemn tone, "An uncanny number of spiders are approaching us. We have to leave, now!"
"Wait what?"
"Spiders? It can't be? This region isn't known to harbor any spider archtype."
Sergio and Jamal commentated in confusion, but Levi had no plans to explain the situation. He called for his brother and Arthur swiftly took hold of him, giving him a piggyback. Then, he sprinted in the opposite direction, not waiting for anyone to react!
When sh*t hit the fan, the Larson brothers only cared about protecting each other.
After Shia saw his extreme reaction and knew that he wasn't the type to mess around, she swiftly summoned her weapon and took off after them.
This left Jamal and Sergio to glance at each other in a daze for a few seconds. But then, their ears picked up on the creepy rustling sound; an unfamiliar noise in a silent forest.
"WAIT FOR US!!"
Scared shitless, they dropped everything and chased after their party, regrouping in no time.
ARGH!! NOO!!! SAVE MEE!!!
Before Shia could ask Levi about what he saw in detail, a distant symphony of cries and screams engulfed the forest, sending chills coursing down everyone's spines.
"What's going on?!" Arthur asked, agitated.
"How the f*ck will I know?!"
Shia replied with a grim look while glancing behind her, noticing thousands of crimson dots through the darkness. They were too close to their comfort.
Meanwhile, many thoughts were roaming through Levi's mind, trying his best to keep his cool in such a dangerous situation.
As he listened to the agonizing and despairing screams echoing across the forest, he understood that it was impossible for the timing to be this perfect; that all of them were ambushed at once.
This made him realize that the spiders were following orders and that this entire ambush was organized by an intelligent entity.
'In public records, the Harrowing Forest Shadow Castle nest was under the leadership of a nightcrawler from the Groot-Goat archetype, which meant most of the nightcrawlers under him should be of a similar archetype for easier control.'
Levi understood that nightcrawlers respected each other's authority following two options; either they were of the same archetype or the tier difference was beyond three.
In simpler terms, a Tier 4 nightcrawler could command with absolute authority a Tier 1 nightcrawler of any species, but if they were of the same species, just being two tiers higher would give them the same absolute authority.
That's why most nightcrawlers' nests were usually filled with similar archetypes for easier management.
'This means those spiders didn't belong to the nest and are under a whole different entity. In other words...'
Levi's skin felt cold all of a sudden after it finally hit him.
'We are being hunted by a Lurker Spider Queen...'
Even Levi, who was almost always composed and fearless, couldn't help but feel dread creeping up on his heart.
He had read that Lurker nightcrawlers were a minimum Tier 5 since they needed to be powerful to protect themselves from other nightcrawlers too.
To be hunted by a rogue Tier 5 nightcrawler? This was scarier than going on an expedition!
"We have to leave the forest, now!!" He shouted, his face as pale as a sheet of paper.
"Did you find something?" Shia frowned.
Just as Levi was about to give her a brief version of his findings, his spiritual vision detected a pincer assault of another wave of spiders, coming from the front and sides!
It was like everywhere he looked, the only thing in his field of vision was disorganized shadowy spiritual waves. Though the numbers varied extensively.
"We are surrounded! Head east and prepare for battle!"
Hearing Levi's orders, Arthur didn't even question his brother. He changed his direction abruptly, using a boulder to kick off it, and launched himself with minimized monument loss.
Such a maneuver would have ruined any normal person's knees, but Arthur's muscles weren't purely for strength purposes as he was as extremely flexible too!
Shia and the others swiftly caught up to them and took the lead, forming the same battle formation with the Larson Brothers in the center.
In a few moments at best, everyone finally saw what Levi warned them about as a dozen giant hideous hairy spiders entered their illumination strip range!
"It's Flesh Eating Spiders!"
Sergio's expression turned ugly immediately. He knew that those little bastards loved eating the flesh of their prey while still alive.
Most nightcrawlers prioritized killing their prey first to ensure a comfortable feasting experience, but those monsters couldn't care less.
"Pierce through them!" Shia shouted, "Jamal!"
Knowing what she wanted, Jamal pulled the bow from his back and aimed at the biggest gathering of spiders in front. Then, he fired an arrow of concentrated spiritual energy at them.
"PIERCING SHOCKDART!"
Before his agitated holler could reach the ears of his party members, the arrow pierced through the first spider, the second, the third, and everything in its path!
BOOM!!
Then, a split second later, a thundering shockwave was emitted in its path, hurling the closest spiders away, and throwing them against trees!
"The hell!"
Arthur watched with his jaw dropped at the cleared path before them.
During most of their battles in the forest, Shia took care of everything, leaving Jamal to use his energy purely to scout. Only now, did he realize that Jamal was capable of carrying his own weight too.
"The path is clear, but the other waves are joining together." Levi shared with a solemn tone, "If they were to catch us, it won't end pretty."
The constant cries and screams of other Daywalkers supported Levi's claim, leaving everyone with ugly expressions at such a disturbing development.
"This is beyond the norm, we have to call for reinforcement."
Without waiting for permission, Sergio requested Astra Ai to declare an emergency and request reinforcement from the closest outpost.
Although they were in a private agency, they were entitled to receive governmental aid in such emergencies. Alas, the answer he received drained the color out of his chubby face.
-Astra's services are offline, please reconnect.-
-Astra's services are offline, please reconnect.-
Each time he called for her, the same message resounded in his ear. Not daring to believe it, Sergio pressed a button on his earpiece and a tiny hologram appeared at the side of his vision. When he saw an X mark on the signal bars, his soul almost left his body.
"Did you call for help?" Shia inquired.
"The...the signal is off..." Sergio stuttered, pure dread engulfing his expression.
The moment everyone heard him, they swiftly checked their own devices and ended up with the same discovery.
"Someone is jamming the signal..."