Spirit Taming

Chapter 516: Professor First

The three section body with larger sharp pincers was enough to make Professor Wright grin. She was an expert in insect type beasts. But she was not going to offer a single bit of help against the screeching mites. She was sure that the group would have their own plans.

"These things are crawling all under the rocks to our left side. I think they are going to make this entire area their nest." Isa looked closely. She could vaguely sense the movement below their feet too. That these screeching mites were crawling around and moving the earth energy. Her relationship had been closer with the crystal golem allowing her a better handle on earth energies.

"They should be. They make their homes within the lava by cooling the lava and making rock tunnels and caverns. They are exactly the kind of beast that I was warning everyone about when we were coming here." Clark made himself more prepared by taking a battle stance.

One of the screeching mites had noticed the group attempting to climb the stone that was clearly part of the screeching mite's territory.

With an ear piercing scream, the sound of steam escaping the screeching mite's mouth was enough to make everyone flinch. Even Clark showed a clear distaste for the sound that made him feel like his bones were shaking. The next thing he knew, four more screeching mites had pushed their way out of crevices within the lava rocks. They had been so close but the group hadn't known exactly where they were.

"Shut up!" Ralph growled as he slammed down his ax ahead of Clark. The ax easily slashed the screeching mite's back section off. Clark would have reacted to the sneaking attack, but he had already drawn his spear back and flung it forward.

The black lightning spear pierced the screeching mite directly ahead of the group ensuring that they would have a path upward. More screeching mites were showing themselves as the group prepared to face them on the way. No one noticed that professor Wright was completely unnoticed by the insect type beasts that had appeared here.

"How can these things be called mites too? The metal mite beasts we saw were nothing like this. They were like spiders or weird tick things." Grace was grumbling too. It seemed that she had picked up something for Ralph since they spent so much time together. But her question was valid.

"It's evolution over time. These beasts are like the wood termite beasts we know as pests around Nova. but the metal and rock mites were more like beetles in a way. Both have similar names but grew completely differently." Clark retrieved his spear and immediately put it to use against one of the two screeching mites that had appeared ahead of Reese.

Reese had already arced his sword down to cleave the head off of one screeching mite. He could have easily attacked the second one, but he would not have gotten the kill. But since there was a better angle, Clark had attacked leaving both of them now free to attack the others as they came out of the rocks.

These beasts were much weaker than what the group would have thought. However, if the group was at all normal, then they would have struggled with this battle since there were so many more screeching mites arriving. The single screech had called out an additional fifteen from the crevices of the lava rocks.

Their exoskeletons were somewhat soft, but that was just perception. The group had fought much tougher beasts. The shells that these screeching mites grew around their bodies were nothing by comparison. Not to mention that these screeching mites also were the lowest of their species. There were stronger ones deeper within their nest.

"Ahead should be a flat spot. We are already halfway up this stupid lava rock thing." Brad could tell that there was a good spot to battle on top of the lava stairs they were climbing. His encouragement was enough for the group to double their efforts.

That was, until they heard a more twisted screech as a larger screeching mit broke through a piece of lava stone that the other mites had easily crawled through. Its size was clearly double that of the others while its pincers were serrated like a saw blade. The only other differences were the scars along the exoskeleton made of earth. It had been in many battles.

"And that is a soldier screeching mite. We should make a move soon." Clark prepared the black lightning spear. But he was already too slow.

Jerold had managed to sneak ahead using the invisibility of his armored chameleon. His presence had been totally missed by every screeching mite nearby along with the soldier screeching mite that he was right next to.

The single appearance of his dagger left the soldier screeching mite with only a brief glance at a flash of shiny metal before it had pierced the mite's head. It didn't even have the chance to screech again since Jerold hadn't stopped with one piercing attack. He had used his higher control and speed to stab the dagger in to the soldier screeching mites' head seven times.

As a perfect result, the soldier screeching mite collapsed on to the ground without even another breath. "We should keep moving. I bet that will alarm more." Everyone was very impressed with the sneaky and speedy attacks that Jerold had just showed up with. But they also made their moves to push ahead.

The slight shaking of the lava stone below them proved Jerold's point as they lifted themselves up the large lava stone steps that had formed as lava burst from the ground. Clark turned around to help Ella and Isa up the step only to see that there were about forty of the screeching mites behind them now.

Nothing they wouldn't be able to handle, but it was a sign that they had alerted a larger nest than what they all expected.

"Crim, would you mind using your dragon breath?" Clark calmly asked this out loud to warn everyone as Crim left the winged armor form that he had been in to protect Clark. "Devi, go have some fun instead of watching my back. We are going to climb the rest of the way up."

With the approval of Clark, Devi waited for Crim to suck in a deep breath of air before the sudden burst of dragon flames were breathed out in front of them.

At the deepest level of these flames, they were fueled by dragon energies. This was drastically different than the flames that would be fueled by fire energies. Due to this, the pain and burning from Crim's sudden flame breath was enough to make the screeching mites experience pain that they had never felt before.

The screeching kites did exactly as their names told everyone they would do. They began screeching in pain before the twisted laughter of Devi seemed to drown them out. It was clear that Devi had just been presented with a feeding ground for soul energy. Every chilling bote was the perfect attack to end one of the forty screeching mites that had decided to bother the group.

Clearly feeling the bonds between him and his partners, Clark was very proud to know that Crim had grown significantly. He could easily maintain his strength after that dragon flame breath. Normally, it would have exhausted him. But now, Clark knew that Crim could easily let off another two dragon breath attacks if need be.

Along with that, Devi was getting incredibly amounts of soul and death energies. They were allowing him to use some of the other gathered energies and alter his strength right as he battled. It was a harvest festival for him since he was always so reserved and carefully. He cared more about Clark's safety than most anything else.

Devi had taken the perfect mentality to protect his partner. He felt every bond and emotion that Clark did. In that respect, he trusted that Clark would be strong and safe without him for the moment while he dealt with his own battle. The two were one in the same.

The time that this bought was ideal for the group to push themselves up to the top and discover the flat lava fields they had imagined after Brad had warned them that this was the case. They had somewhat easily made it to the top of the lava rock stairs that they had been trying to climb. However, Professor Wright had just stepped in front of them.

"Sorry about this. While I know you can all handle yourselves, this is a personal hunt of mine. I will be taking the screeching queen." As Professor Wright stepped forward, a larger body came to sight in front of them. They had all just climbed right to the entrance of the screeching termite nest. They just hadn't realized it because of all the beasts behind them.

Professor Wright appeared to finally be taking a battle head on for the group to watch.