Chapter 30: Carapace

Wood was a professional.

Whether as a “guard” or an “adventurer,” he was the most experienced in the team.

Even for a brief rest stop, he meticulously set up thorough warning traps around the area.

But sometimes, his professionalism made the traps too precise and rigorous.

When I and the others heard a warning sound and tensed for battle, only to find the trap triggered by harmless woodland critters,

I felt weary but not annoyed. I didn’t let frequent alerts dull my vigilance, like the “boy who cried wolf” from my past life.

Being tired was better than dying silently to some monster’s claws.

The scene of the dwarf Erji’s skull cracking under a goblin ambush was still vivid.

“Snap… jingle!”

At dusk, in the mist-shrouded dense bushes, a branch snapped, followed by a sharp, ringing metal bell.

Trap triggered!

I sprang up, gripping my beheading longsword tightly, eyes locked on the sound’s source while staying alert to my surroundings, wary of anything sneaking behind.

No slack.

The half-elf and his guard reacted similarly.

The instant the bell rang, Hai’an grabbed his wooden longbow, nocking an arrow, its sharp tip aimed at the swaying grass in the distance.

Wood’s figure, previously visible, dimmed suddenly, as if cloaked in a blurry shadow, his presence plummeting.

In contrast, Larry and Doris were half a beat slower.

One chubby, from a rich family; the other frail, repeatedly startled.

After a full day in the Mist Forest, they were exhausted, stamina drained.

But their attitude was earnest enough.

Even knowing it was likely another rabbit or deer, they grabbed weapons and assumed combat stances.

“Crackle.”

The campfire flickered,

the air filled only with the soft sound of burning wood.

Night was near, the mist thickening, making the dim twilight seem listless.

Visibility was far worse than daytime.

The complex environment kept the team from rushing forward, standing warily in place.

“Thud… thud…”

I leaned against a tree, expression taut.

My black pupils reflected the distant bushes’ outlines, my nostrils flaring with each breath.

This time felt different.

Past trap triggers saw timid herbivores bolt at the bell, their fleeing footsteps fading, sometimes with a sharp, panicked cry.

But now, it was the opposite.

After the bell, the rustling paused briefly, then resumed.

It even seemed to pinpoint our location, moving straight toward us.

The crisp snap of branches, the odd thud of something heavy, mixed with the grating noise of rough objects scraping…

Like intensifying, shrill background music before a horror movie’s climax, my heart raced as I watched the swaying bushes.

Finally, with a piercing screech that could rupture eardrums, unique to insects, four crawling, menacing figures emerged.

Rough, wave-like carapaces, thick as rock, encased their bodies; four robust, powerful pincers extended outward, joints studded with sharp spines;

bean-sized compound eyes glinted faintly, segmented mouthparts quivering in the screech, revealing pale, sharp fangs and a contracting esophagus dripping viscous saliva;

most striking were the feather-like antennae sprouting from their heads and the fin-like, branching tails.

“Rust Beasts!”

Wood’s low roar, tinged with shock, came from nearby,

“Damn it, why here…”

“Prepare to fight!”

As he spoke, a wooden arrow with white fletching tore through the air, slicing the mist.

As a bowman, Hai’an had aimed the moment the bell rang.

After Wood’s call to battle, he launched the team’s first attack.

But the dim, blurry environment threw off the half-elf’s shot.

Despite aiming for the rust beast’s tiny eyes beneath its thick carapace, he missed.

“Clang!”

The metal arrowhead struck the yellowish-brown chitin, sparking in the dusk.

It scraped, deflected.

Leaving only a dark brown scratch on the beast’s rough carapace.

Battle erupted!

Four five-foot-tall rust beasts charged with shrill screeches.

First was Larry, closest to them.

Whether emboldened by the blonde girl behind him or shamed by his earlier panic against the bug swarm, the rich kid showed surprising courage.

Raising his single-handed hammer, ignoring the pale fat spilling from his tight gear, he charged.

The gleaming iron hammer smashed toward the rust beast’s narrow head.

“Bang… ah!”

A sharp clang echoed in the woods.

Followed by a scream of pain.

Against the hammer, a product of human craft, the rust beast’s chitin cracked finely on contact.

But… that was it.

The next second, the recoil jolted Larry’s right side, from fingers to arm to chest, numbing it instantly.

The hammer slipped, falling to the meadow.

Larry, face twisted in pain, stumbled back.

But two legs couldn’t match four pincers.

“Hiss—”

The grating bug screech sent invisible waves through the air, its sharp mouthparts gaping, death’s aura thickening.

At this critical moment, Doris, hiding behind Larry, summoned all her strength and hurled another single-handed hammer!

“Clang!”

By chance, it struck the rust beast’s fragile mouthparts, halting its body.

Larry scrambled back, crawling with all limbs.

Greenish saliva dripped from the beast’s smashed mouth, splashing the hammer.

“Sizzle…”

With acrid smoke, the metal hammerhead, capable of cracking insect shells, softened and charred like meeting its nemesis.

“Careful! Rust beast venom corrodes metal!”

Wood, vanished from sight, shouted urgently.

“What!?”

Gripping my polished beheading longsword, ready to charge in support, I froze.

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