The clicking grew louder and closer. The undergrowth rustled.
"Positions," Apex hissed, his own body tensing, amber eyes fixed on the thicket.
Vireo's heart hammered against his ribs. He instinctively lowered his stance, wings slightly spread for balance, hind legs strongly planted, mirroring the others. Peyote, despite his earlier eagerness, looked suddenly serious, his playful demeanor vanishing.
Then, it burst from the foliage.
It was a creature unlike anything Vireo had ever imagined. Roughly the size of a baby dragon, it was covered in thick, chitinous plates like an insect, but moved with a reptilian grace on six powerful, clawed legs. Two long, barbed antennae twitched above a pair of eight, oily black eyes. Its mandibles, sharp and serrated, clicked menacingly, the source of the sound they'd heard. A long, segmented tail, tipped with a wicked-looking stinger almost like Vireo's, whipped back and forth.
"Six-Legged Scuttler!" Barchan yelped, taking an involuntary step back. "I've read about these! They're nasty!"
The Scuttler didn't hesitate. It lowered its head and charged, aiming straight for Peyote, who was closest to the opening it had created.
"Peyote, move!" Scoria roared, lunging forward. She met the Scuttler head-on, her smaller frame bracing against its armored charge. There was a sickening crunch as her shoulder slammed into its plated side, momentarily knocking it off balance.
Apex was instantly in motion. "Boulder, pin its tail! Caliche, aerial assault – aim for the joints in its armor if you can! Vireo, Barchan, Peyote, support Scoria, try to flank it!"
Peyote, recovering from his initial shock, let out a defiant screech and darted to the side, snapping at one of the Scuttler's legs. The creature hissed, a sound like escaping steam, and swiped at him with a clawed foreleg, narrowly missing.
Vireo, his fear momentarily forgotten in the surge of adrenaline, followed Peyote's lead, trying to get around the creature's other side. He saw an opening and snapped his jaws, but his teeth skittered harmlessly off the thick armor. This thing was tough.
Above them, Caliche swooped and dived, her more agile forms allowing them to distract the Scuttler from the air. Caliche unleashed a short, precise burst of fire that struck one of the Scuttler's antennae, making it recoil with a shriek. She raked her claws across a less armored section near a leg joint, drawing a thin trickle of dark fluid.
Boulder, with a mighty roar, stomped down hard on the Scuttler's thrashing tail, his immense weight pinning it to the ground. The creature bucked and thrashed, its stinger lashing wildly, but Boulder held firm, grunting with effort.
The Scuttler, enraged and partly immobilized, focused its rage on Scoria, who was still grappling with it, trying to find a weak spot. Its mandibles snapped dangerously close to her snout.
"Need a hand!" Scoria grunted, digging her claws into the earth for leverage.
Apex, seeing his chance, reared up and brought his powerful forelimbs down on the Scuttler's back with a resounding thud. The chitinous plates cracked under the force of the blow. The creature let out a high-pitched, agonized screech.
It kept thrashing, but now had an opening in it's carapace. Vireo took the opportunity to strike the monster with a deadly venomous sting. He was afraid the scorpion-like monster would have an immunity from his venom, since they are native to the deserts of Ventifact and are a commonly sold food there. However shortly after, the monster finally stopped thrashing, succumbing to the venom.
Silence descended, broken only by the heavy panting of the dragons.
"Everyone alright?" Apex asked, shaking his head, golden scales a little ruffled.
Scoria pushed herself away from the Scuttler, breathing heavily. "Just a few scratches. That thing packed a punch." She looked at Peyote. "You okay, kid?"
Peyote nodded, still a little wide-eyed. "Yeah. Thanks, Scoria."
"Phew," Apex huffed. "It's good having a venomous dragon here." His turned his gaze, "Thanks Vireo."
"Anytime," he said with a smile hiding his terror. He felt a tremor run through his own limbs. That had been intense. More intense than he was imagining when on this little expedition.
Caliche stared at the corpse in slight disgust. "So, what do we do with it then? Just leave it? Or eat it?"
"I don't think they taste that great personally," Boulder grunted.
"That's fine," Barchan dismissed. "More for me then." Sand dragons were immune to each other's venom. Even the ones without stingers or fangs, so even though there was venom in the corpse he cut some meat off with a claw and ate it.
Barchan, wiping his jaws, declared, "Not bad. A bit crunchy, but filling." He licked his claws clean.
The adrenaline from the fight slowly faded.
"Alright," Apex said, his voice regaining its commanding tone. "That was a good reminder to stay alert. Let's keep moving, but we go even slower now. Single file, more distance between us. And keep those eyes scanning."
They began walking, the encounter with the Scuttler making them more wary. Peyote, however, soon found his enthusiasm returning, his earlier scare supplanted by the ever-present image of Cloth Monkeys. "D'you think the Scuttler scared all the good animals away from this area?" he whispered to Vireo, who was walking beside him.
Vireo flicked his tail. "Maybe. Or maybe the Cloth Monkeys are smart enough to hide when big scary things are fighting." He was still a little shaken himself, the Scuttler's image unpleasantly vivid in his mind. The thought of being on the receiving end of that stinger, or those mandibles...
"Yeah, you're probably right," Peyote conceded. "They probably have little secret hiding spots!" The frill on his back wiggled. "Oh, I can't wait to see one!"
The jungle grew denser here. Giant ferns brushed against their legs, and tangled vines hung from the canopy. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth. Every rustle in the undergrowth made Vireo jump, but it was usually just a colorful lizard skittering away or a large, iridescent beetle. Then they got to a more hilly area in the forest.
"This is still so weird," Barchan commented. Scattered leaves and strange flora dominated their vision.
A moment later, Peyote tripped on something. "ACK-," he let out a cut off scream and caught himself before he completely fell.
"Watch the roots," Apex informed.
"Wait!" Scoria gasped looking at the spot. "I don't think it's a root." She kneeled down and began brushing the dirt off of a strange surface. A layer of stone was uncovered. Little inscriptions were etched into it. They could recognize a few words and letters. An "A" here, and an "or" there mixed in with the text. But most of it was unreadable.
Apex examined closer "What in the-"