Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix-Chapter 1138: Not needed

"... It looks like they don't think that we are sitting ducks here," Asche said while tapping her fingers.

Asche wasn't the only one who was rather tired of waiting, but she was the only one who complained about it. She didn't have much to do, and she wanted to use her bow to kill some monsters, after all.

"Apologies for the delay," Esmeralda suddenly said. "We are having a hard time reaching a consensus because the other two groups have reached some of their goals as well."

"... Did they find survivors and resources?" Roan asked.

"Yes, that is why you need to be a bit more patient until we see how things will play out with them," Esmeralda replied.

"That was rather fast…" Sakaki said. "Anyway, I suppose that is a good thing. We won't have to waste too much time here. Maybe."

It appeared that the other groups exploring the underground tunnels, initially discovered by Rain, had also achieved their objectives. However, Rain couldn't shake the feeling that their success might not have been entirely due to their own efforts.

"How did they manage to reach that far?" Rain wondered.

Rain imagined that their presence might have been detected, leading the other groups to their goals. Despite the nagging suspicion, they lacked sufficient details, and the headquarters seemed busy with the ongoing developments.

For now, all they could do was wait patiently for further instructions. The underground labyrinth beneath the sand held more secrets than they initially thought, and it seemed the other groups were uncovering them at a similar pace.

The uncertainty of the situation hung in the air, adding a layer of tension to the team's downtime as they continued to encase the subdued monster in a thick layer of ice.

"... The other groups are heading to your location alongside the people that they found," Esmeralda suddenly declared after a couple of hours. "Please, be cordial when interacting with them."

Everyone looked at each other and then nodded. They finally had to look forward to something, even more so when several hours had passed without anything happening. Those were participating in this kind of mission were waiting for more, after they had seen the footage of the previous battle.

As the anticipation built up among the team, they were caught off guard when the other groups arrived alongside a small group of inhabitants from that planet. The unexpected element was not the arrival itself but the appearance of the inhabitants they brought along. They had humanoid figures with upper halves that closely resembled humans, with distinct heads, torsos, and arms.

However, the surprise lay in their lower halves, which were reminiscent of scorpions, featuring a segmented and exoskeletal structure.

Their hands, instead of typical human fingers, sported pincers, adding an otherworldly touch to their humanoid upper bodies. The carapace covering their lower halves was a striking shade of yellow, creating a vivid contrast with the more human-like features above. It was probably of that tone because of the color of the planet as a whole and could act to make them blend in as well.

The inhabitants moved with grace, their scorpion-like tails swaying with a natural rhythm.

As everyone took in this unexpected encounter, a mixture of curiosity and caution painted their expressions. The team prepared to interact with these mysterious beings, uncertain of the implications this meeting might hold for their mission in the underground tunnels beneath the shifting sands.

Those people looked quite shocked when they saw the giant centipede completely encased in a thick layer of ice. They couldn't believe that only so few people were able to capture the beast. Before long, a muscular man who had his hair tied up in a knot stepped forward and then said something, and he didn't look pleased. His mouth opened a few times, but the sound that came from it was a bit weird.

"Their language works more on conveying feelings through the type of sounds they emit rather than having words that mean something," Isa explained. "Regardless, with my dragons' eyes, I can see that he is angry because your attack will make other giant centipedes come to this area and that they have a hard time escaping from one as it is."

"I am working on deciphering their language already," Sakaki said. "They need to talk more to fill a decent database, though."

Everyone ignored Sakaki's words. What Isa said was more important… there were other centipedes… in that case, they had to deal with that one as soon as possible and lay traps against others as well. This time, the headquarters reached a consensus fairly fast.

"We can't capture and bring those things here, so we will have to make it do by analyzing the bodies or some parts of it," Esmeralda said.

"I heard that the relic of the javelin can use his powers to gather information about some bodies and objects. Can't he gather as much information as possible before the next battle?" Regis asked.

"I will need a stupid amount of mana, and even so, I won't have much time to do so," Sakaki said. "If we kill this thing, it is unlikely that the others will give us the chance to do the same with them as well. If we focus on gathering as much information about this one, Rain won't have much mana for the next fight."

"The groups are together, and they have experience dealing with monsters of the same type. His help won't be that necessary," Regis declared.

"I agree, he should focus on feeding Sakaki with his mana," Sealyn added and her words stung quite a bit."

Rain didn't want to take another support role… it was boring, but he couldn't act like a spoiled brat, so he followed his orders. Besides, that was truly the best option. Before long, he used the javelin to pierce the ice until it reached the head of the monster, and then some small electric torrents began to spread around it…