"Stand up fellows. We have company."
Exel spoke in a soft voice and the students who heard him creased their brows. Before they could avoid it as a prank, they saw him gripping on their double-edged axe.
The atmosphere became tense as the students followed his lead. Though there was nothing other than grass in their vicinity, the sensation of an approaching danger could not be dismissed by their hearts.
"Professor?"
Zona asked as she gripped her magic staff. Her voice had concern and fear regarding the situation.
"The fact that you could not see these beasts were within my expectations.
After all, Glass Scorpions are masters of disguise."
Lee had a tone unfitting of the situation. All of the students saw a faint smile on his face.
'Professor has no problem dealing with these beasts. But we have.'
This was exactly the thought of each one of the thirteen students. They were aware of the level of control the professor possessed. They were sure that beasts like Glass Scorpions would never pose a threat to him.
"Glass Scorpions. The D.I.V is 3.8. As the name goes, they have glass exteriors capable of changing colours. Keep your eyes open."
(A.N. D.I.V stands for Danger Index Value. An approximate scale of measuring the level of threat a monster posses. Both adventurers and cultivators use this scale.)
Lee Shen spoke and gave the students some basic info about the beast. The mentioning of D.I.V made the students go vigilant. The additional information about the beast's camouflage ability made them grit their teeth in anger.
The height of the grass ranged to a maximum of 4 inches. Unfortunately, it was more than enough to hide the presence of the tiny, 3-inches tall Glass Scorpion babies!
"Fire Sweep!!"
A feminine voice shouted out loud as a girl detected the presence of these tiny predators. A fiery arc materialised in front of her and swept away from her. The grass near her began to burn and gave off an unexpected sound.
*crackle*
The scorching fire was not a concern to adult Glass Scorpions, but babies had to escape this threat. Unfortunately, the fire swept past them quickly and fried them all. Their feeble exoskeletons could not withstand the heat.
Hearing this sound, the remaining student began to use their elements to create a barricade around them. Water, Ice and Earth disrupted the oncoming tiny predators and the Wind blew powerfully and either blew them away or made them immobile.
[They are getting the hang of combat.]
Lee was sitting on a branch of a tree at the edge of the grassland. He sat as his legs swung to and fro carelessly. Not that he was careless, but he knew that there are no threats in the area.
But the fact that the offsprings of Glass Scorpions came in waves of thousands surprised him. After close inspection, Lee spotted small burrows on the ground hiding between the dense grasses. These pathways acted as the entrance to these kids.
Before long, the texture of the terrain had changed. The rampaging elements greatly inspired fear in the hearts of the arachnid babies and they retreated to their underground homes. The lack of any green leaves to hide also urged their retreat.
Lee got down from the tree and walked to the students. This time they were not exhausted as they were before. This indicated that they had much better control over their Mana. yet, the damage done was not small!
"I'm-"
Before Lee could complete his words, the ground beneath them began to shake. Lee felt the intensifying tremor and notified the students to move away from the spot.
Hearing his command, the students fled the area and tailed Lee. They ran to the edge of grassland and crouched down to observe what the reason was.
*CRACK!*
A loud crack could be heard as the ground was split. A large amount of soil was raised like a barricade and an enormous stinger could be seen above them. Even from a distance, they stinger looked enormous!
[That is a giant Glass Scorpion. Larger than an adult arachnid. Probably the leader of the colony.]
'Scorpions have colonies?'
[This species of scorpions are highly social. They overpower large preys in numbers.]
Lee quietly took a step back and gestured the students to do so. The students did not make any noise as they slowly retreated to the trees.
Climbing the trees, all the 13 students could see the size of the giant Glass Scorpion. The prefix 'giant' was not for nothing. The sheer size that could rival a Giant was intimidating.
Students could not help but gulp down their saliva. If they had stayed at the same spot, they would have died in the most terrible way possible.
Following the chief of the colony, many adult-sized arachnids exited the cave. They began to spread out to find the murderers of their offsprings.
[Somebody is here.]
D notified that some people other than them are here. As Lee Shen observed, about 7 cultivators exited the opposite side of the grassland and came running at the bunch of scorpions.
These cultivators had heard the commotion the students of the academy had made. They came here in expectation of catching them. Instead, they saw a solo giant Glass Scorpions. Unfortunately, their carelessness did not detect the presence of adult arachnids.
Screech!
The chief Glass Scorpion made a menacing screech and the adults followed his lead. The chorus stunned the bunch as they tried to retreat to the trees.
But they were late!
The Glass Scorpions were excellent hunters. The had mastered the art of jumping on their prey from a short-range.
----
The war was over within a few minutes. The cultivators who ran straight into the mouth of these ruthless beasts died in agony and excruciating pain.
The students saw how the events turned out to be a lopsided slaughter. Clearly, the cultivators were stronger. They were powerful enough to break the exoskeletons of these reptiles.
But....!