The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 139

Chapter 139: Attacking The Nest
Clara stepped out of the shadows her ferret hid her in with her arms crossed.

“Well, we’re officially screwed,” she said flatly. “Want the details, or should I just skip to the worst part?”

Owen let out a long sigh, rubbing his temples. “Let’s hear it. How bad are we talking?”

“Really bad,” she replied “there’re hundreds, no, thousands of those things in the nest and that’s not even counting the ones outside the nest.”

Reid, whose mind was already processing the information, asked “What about its defenses? Any blind spots?”

Clara shook her head. “If it has any blind spots, I didn’t see them. But I couldn’t go in too deep since the closer I got to the mother Voidspawn, the more I felt the Voidspawns could sense me.”

“But what I’m sure of is that the mother Voidspawn is in the center and the voidspawns closer to it move in a specific pattern” she completed.

Owen muttered a curse under his breath. “So, we’re walking into a fully functioning hive-mind with zero blind spots?”

“As far as I saw,” Clara confirmed “pretty much.”

“What about outside the nest?” Owen asked “how many more Voidspawns are patrolling the perimeter?”

“Lots,” she answered. “The area near the nest is practically crawling with those things. I don’t think we can move in without being spotted.”

“I see,” Owen said with a nod, absorbing everything Clara had just told him. He let out a sigh before adding, “We’ll stick to the plan.”

“Lisa and Marcus will handle the ones outside while Reid and me will handle the ones inside the nest,” he continued.

“Clara, back them up,” he instructed before turning to Ethan. “You’re still in charge of cutting off any form of communication between them.”

Ethan thought for a moment before saying “I’ll do what I can, but if their hive-mind is purely biological and not reliant on energy signals, cutting them off completely might be impossible.”

“We just need a window,” Owen said. “Even disrupting their coordination for a few minutes could make all the difference.”

“Then we’ll need to get close,” Ethan said.

“Let’s get moving then,” Owen said.

“What about the—” Before Marcus could finish his sentence, a ghostly glow enveloped them, turning their bodies translucent.

“That should let us get close enough,” Owen said.

His forged beast had activated an ability which erased their presence and made them invisible, almost like ghosts.

“This feels weird,” Clara said as she raised her translucent hand to eye level.

“The skill doesn’t last long, so we’ll have to start moving” Owen said, “Marcus, Lisa, you’ll wait for Ethan to do his part. Reid and I will enter the nest immediately after.”

Lisa and Marcus exchanged a nod before moving ahead. It didn’t take long for them to reach the nest, passing multiple Voidspawn along the way.

Just as Clara had stated, the place was crawling with Voidspawns. This was strange because when they had previously been separated and had to regroup, they hadn’t encountered any Voidspawns.

This meant one of two things, either the Voidspawns were hiding in the nest the whole time or the mother Voidspawn spawned them in the last few hours.

“We’re in position” Lisa reported through the earpiece Ethan had handed to them all, after regrouping.

“Copy that, ” Owen quietly said “hold your position while Ethan doe his thing.”

Owen’s forged beast’s skill was still affecting them since they weren’t that far ahead.

Ethan stopped behind a tree and got to work with his cyber slime.

The forged beast started releasing signals for [Neural Sever] but instead of targeting a bond, it targeted their linked minds.

The slime kept the skill active for a few minutes before Ethan informed,

“Done, they won’t be able to inform the ones inside the nest of our presence nor will they know what’s going on inside.”

“Good job,” Owen said and proceeded to tap his earpiece “you two can move in now.”

Lisa and Marcus didn’t waste a single moment. As soon as the go ahead was given, they sprang into action, immediately summoning their forged beasts.

Marcus summoning his Golem and Rhino alerted the surrounding Voidspawns, but it didn’t matter, before the voidspawns could react, a stream of lightning rained down upon them.

Them attacking the Voidspawns disabled Marcus’ forged beast’s ability but again, it didn’t matter.

Bang!

Clara, having just gotten into position, fired a shot that pierced straight through a Voidspawn before detonating inside, sending its goo splattering everywhere.

“You ready, Reid?” Owen turned to him and asked.

“Yeah, let’s do this” Reid replied and they immediately moved, heading directly for the nest.

The nest was a cave like structure, with a big enough interior which allowed four people to easily move side by side.

But despite its size, the atmosphere inside was stifling. The further they walked in, the more the air grew heavy, pressing down on them.

Reid’s grip on his sword tightened “Feels like we’re stepping into the belly of the beast.”

Owen chuckled at how accurate that analogy was, especially considering the fact that this place was also crawling with Voidspawns, mostly ones without hosts.

They soon encountered their first hurdle, a team of Voidspawns with different primals as their hosts, blocking their path ahead.

They growled at the two, clearly recognizing the difference in power but not wanting to back down. But before the voidspawns could attack, Reid called out,

“Beel”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a vortex appeared behind the creatures, pulling them in.

The Voidspawns screeched as they struggled against the gravitational pull of Beel’s [Black Hole].

Their claws scraped against the cave floor, leaving deep grooves, but it was futile. One by one, they were sucked into the abyss within Beel’s maw, vanishing without a trace.

“Tasty” Beel seemed as satisfied as someone who had just eaten a five star meal.

“Did I do good, Papa?” Beel asked, turning to Reid with eager eyes, clearly looking for praise.

“You did great,” Reid said, patting Beel’s little head. “Owen and I didn’t even have to lift a finger.”

“That was easy,” Owen said, stretching his arms and letting out another tired yawn.

As if jinxing them, the cave started rumbling and one by one, other Voidspawns started appearing. These ones were a lot bigger than the ones Beel just ate.

“Ooooh, second servings!” Beel chirped excitedly, it was already preparing to devour the new wave of enemies.