novelraw Chapter 91: A Night in the Cave
Chapter 91: A Night in the Cave
The flames gradually died down, leaving behind charred husks of scorpions scattered across the cavern floor. The stench of burnt chitin hung heavy in the air. Unfortunately, other than the scorpion brood’s corpse, the other remains were far too damaged and scorched to be salvaged—neither worth selling nor suitable for absorption with my Absorb Plausibility skill.
With the light of our lanterns pushing back the shadows, we advanced deeper into the cave. The tunnel sloped downward before opening into a wide, dome-shaped hollow. Jagged rocks jutted like teeth from the ceiling and walls, casting long, crooked shadows. The floor was uneven, strewn with sand and the remnants of countless shed carapaces. Dozens of cracked shells and broken stingers lay scattered across the ground, clear evidence that this place had been the breeding ground of the monsters we had just fought.
“Looks like this was really their nest all right,” Michelle muttered, her voice low as she nudged aside a broken claw with her boot. “No wonder they kept swarming.”
Boris scratched his chin with a faint grin. “Heh, at least we cleared them out. Now it’s just stone and silence.”
I scanned the chamber, keeping my senses sharp. The air here was cooler than outside, though it still carried the acrid stench of venom. With no other monsters stirring, it seemed safe, but staying for long wouldn’t be a good idea because the venom might spread through the air. We’d need to clean up and set a perimeter first before anything else.
Worse still, the chamber wasn’t entirely empty. Small scorpions no larger than ordinary ones skittered across the sand and rock below. If they swarmed us while we slept, even their small stingers could prove troublesome and even deadly. Perhaps it was better to remain closer to the entrance, where the air was cleaner and we weren’t resting so close to the heart of the nest.
I shared my thoughts with Boris and Michelle, and they agreed without hesitation. First, we gathered every usable scorpion carcass into our inventories. Then, we hauled out several of the larger shells and positioned them at the entrance of the chamber, forming a crude barricade. Smaller fragments were then stacked just outside the cave’s mouth, layering the barrier. With the makeshift walls in place, the lingering stench and airborne venom would stay sealed within, while the heat from the desert sun outside would be partially blocked.
“This should do,” I said, dusting my hands off. “The shells will shield us from the heat and make it harder for anything to sneak in. Now all that’s left is to set up camp.”
“Agreed.” Boris nodded, clearly satisfied with the simple but effective solution. “The odor of these scorpions should help ward off any monster from approaching. This reminds me of the old days when I had to spend weeks in jungles. We gathered soldier ants, crushed them to bits, and applied them on our bodies to ward off other insects and animals.”
“I see…”
Michelle slung her bow over her shoulder and pulled supplies from her inventory: compact bedrolls, dried rations, and a small pouch of incense that gave off a faint herbal smoke meant to deter weaker monsters. “Just in case, I’ll set these incenses here. It should help scare away the smaller scorpions.”
Boris stretched his shoulders. “Good idea. The last thing we want is waking up with a stinger in our backs.”
I nodded in agreement and set my bedroll a short distance from the entrance, where the air was cooler and clearer. The faint desert breeze that seeped through the gaps between the shells was still warm, but compared to the sweltering furnace outside, it felt almost refreshing. Michelle carefully arranged the pouch of incense in a wide semicircle, while Boris busied himself stacking extra rocks along the barricade to make it sturdier.
Once everything was in place, I lit a lantern and set it near the center of our little camp. The light pushed back the encroaching darkness, casting flickering shadows across the cavern walls. While tending to the light, I pulled up the scenario interface to check our progress.
Scenario #6 [Endless Desert]
This is the land where the sand never ends. The dunes shift with the wind, erasing all trace of your path. Food and water are scarce, and the monsters here are born of heat and hunger, stalking the living until exhaustion claims them. Survive the searing days, endure the freezing nights, and uncover the secrets buried beneath the endless sands—if you can.
Mission Type: Survival
Difficulty: E+
Time Remaining: 42 hours 51 minutes 4 seconds
Reward: 3,000 Soul Coins
Penalty for Failure: Death
Extra Conditions:
1. Kill 50 desert-dwelling monsters. (53/50)
Reward: Gimmel-Tier General Lootbox
2. Kill 100 desert-dwelling monsters. (53/100)
Reward: Two Gimmel-Tier General Lootboxes
3. Discover the Oasis of Memory. (0/1)
Reward: Unique-Grade Armament Voucher
It was already late afternoon, with more than five hours gone since the start of the sixth scenario. Still, we had made good progress—over half of the second extra condition’s requirement was already complete.
Satisfied, I sat down with the others, rations in hand. Weariness settled heavily over us, the day’s battles and endless trek under the hot sun weighing down on our bodies. Despite the lingering stench of venom and the faint, unsettling skitter of tiny scorpions deeper in the cavern, the camp felt secure.
We ate in silence, conserving what little energy remained, then stretched out on our bedrolls. There was no need to push ourselves further today. Rest would be our weapon against the desert’s merciless temperature. As such, we decided to rest early for today, so we would continue the hunt and find that Oasis of Memory tomorrow.
***
I was jolted awake by gentle hands pushing against my shoulder. Blinking the heaviness from my eyes, I turned and found Michelle crouched beside me with her lantern brightening my face.
“Maxim, it’s time to switch,” she said quietly.
“Right.” I nodded, sitting up.
Before we had gone to sleep, the three of us agreed to take turns keeping watch through the night. Boris had volunteered for the first shift and insisted on taking extra hours. Michelle followed as the second watch, and now, with her turn finished, it was mine.
I pushed myself up on my feet, stretching the stiffness out of my limbs. The cavern was dim, the lantern light flickering across the barricaded entrance. Boris was snoring softly a few paces away, his massive frame sprawled out like a boulder. Michelle’s bow was still slung across her shoulder, but her tired eyes told me she had done her part well.
“Get some rest,” I murmured.
She nodded, finally allowing herself to relax as she crawled into her bedroll. Within moments, her breathing evened out, leaving me alone with the cavern’s silence.
I checked the barricade first. The stacked shells and rocks still held firm, the gaps sealed tightly enough to keep smaller scorpions from slipping through. Then I moved to the smaller barricade at the cave’s mouth, where a faint, chilling desert wind whispered through the cracks. Beyond, the dunes stretched endlessly in the moonlight like a barren, desolate expanse.
For a while, I simply stood at the entrance, listening. The desert carried its own kind of silence—not the hushed eeriness of forests, but a cold, lonely stillness that seemed to swallow sound itself. I sat down against the wall, lantern by my side, my gaze fixed on the pale emptiness outside.
My thoughts wandered to the nature of the sixth scenario. Being a desert, it was likely that the next few scenarios, perhaps to the tenth, would continue in this fashion, happening in the same desert. It was no wonder divine warriors in Fantasia struggled to complete these scenarios. The monsters were dangerous enough, but it was the merciless environment itself that slowly ground away their strength and will.
Hours slipped by slowly. Occasionally, the faint skitter of tiny scorpions echoed deeper within the cave, but none dared approach. The incenses were still active, repelling smaller pests. Soon, the first hints of dawn crept into the desert sky, painting the horizon with pale gold. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding; the night had passed without incident.
“Morning already?” Boris rumbled groggily as he sat up, cracking his neck.
“Yeah,” I said, rising to my feet and brushing sand from my clothes. “Let’s get ready. Today, we finish all the extra conditions.”
Hearing my statement, Boris laughed heartily. “Gahaha! Fired up already? Then let’s eat before we set out. A full stomach will give us the stamina we’ll need to cross this damned desert.”
I couldn’t help but smirk at his unshakable optimism. Despite the fatigue and the battles from yesterday, Boris carried the same energy as always—like nothing could wear him down. Teaming with him was perhaps one of my best decisions.
Michelle stirred from her bedroll at the sound of his laughter, rubbing her eyes before sitting up. “Breakfast sounds good,” she said.
So, we set about eating our rations—dried meat, hard bread, and a few fruits stored from earlier scenarios. Michelle brewed a light herbal tea from leaves she carried, the gentle aroma softening the acrid stench still lingering in the cavern.
She mentioned once that her father used to make herbal tea, and she had learned the craft just before being transported into Divine Will… She always had a trance-like look whenever she made the herbal tea, her mind wandering somewhere.
When breakfast was finished, we packed our belongings back into our inventories. The barricades of shells and rocks were left behind; perhaps we would return to camp here again, and they would serve as a deterrent against other creatures trying to reclaim the nest. At last, we approached the cave’s entrance. Beyond, the desert shone under the pale morning sun. The temperature was still tolerable, the heat not yet at its fiercest, making it the perfect time to press on.
Ordinary divine warriors would have stayed hidden here, waiting for the scenario’s time to run out. But that wasn’t our way. We weren’t about to waste precious hours sitting idle when the desert still had monsters to hunt and the Oasis of Memory yet to be found. Besides, we should cap our levels as soon as possible to prepare for the upcoming Battle of Divine Will.
“All right,” I said firmly. “Let’s head out.”
Michelle gave a sharp nod, whereas Boris grinned as usual. Together, we stepped into the golden dunes once more, our footprints trailing behind us as the morning sun climbed higher. The desert was deceptively beautiful at this hour, the sand glinting like molten gold, heat mirages rippling in the distance.
It was Michelle who spotted it first as we crested a tall sand dune. She shaded her eyes with one hand, pointing ahead with the other, her voice tinged with hope. “There. Doesn’t that look like water?”
I squinted in the same direction. Beyond the wavering haze, I could see something glimmering—an oasis, or at least something resembling one, nestled between low dunes. There were even faint silhouettes of palm-like trees around. Truthfully, we packed enough provisions to last us a week, so we didn’t really need to find a water source. However, knowing that there was one sent a sense of relief all over my body.
“Finally,” Boris said with a wide grin. “If that’s real, then we’re lucky.”
But the desert rarely gave without taking. As we made our way down the slope toward the supposed oasis, Michelle suddenly froze. “Wait… look.”
From the horizon, a wall of swirling sand rose like an advancing tidal wave. The sky darkened as the storm grew larger, devouring the dunes in its path. The wind struck us harder with every heartbeat, grains of sand stinging against our skin.
“A sandstorm!” I exclaimed through gritted teeth. “And it’s coming at us!”