Skill-Eater: Prison World Saga-Chapter 24: Ambush Predator

Finding the lair of their quarry was a promising development, but the hunters weren’t ready to make their move.

They needed to make sure the beast was home, then learn everything they could about its capabilities—both the natural properties of its body and the skills at its disposal. The most reliable method was to wait for prey to pass through the grove and then watch what happened.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any sizable critters heading toward the spring, although there were some deerlike animals grazing a bit further down the prairie. Normally, this would have marked the beginning of a stakeout, but Riller had a better idea.

Instead of waiting in the region for hours or even days, the man decided to try out a new use for his Scout Drone. Although the flying device was the same color as the sky and quiet as a whisper, he thought that he could use it to spook the grazing creatures, causing them to flee in the direction of his choosing.

He summoned his drone and circled around until it was behind the herd. Then he lowered the device to the level of the grass and sent it streaking straight for them—angled so it would displace the stalks and mimic the approach of a charging predator.

The deer saw the drone coming from a hundred feet away. Just as Riller had been hoping, they darted for the closest cover—the grove of trees in the distance. A few seconds later, they entered the thicket. Riller watched through the drone, while Edge and Trapper pulled out their spyglasses.

They didn’t wind up needing them, because what happened next was visible to everyone. Shortly after passing through the tree line, two of the deer stumbled when transparent trap webs caught their legs and impeded their movement.

The rest of the herd came to a skidding stop, overcome with panic as they turned and ran back the way they had come. Whatever had spooked them earlier was nothing compared to the dire threat lurking within the grove. They came scampering out of the overgrowth, trailing strands of webbing that shimmered in the sunlight.

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While most of the deer would live to see another day, the pair that had entered first weren’t so fortunate. The next few seconds would seal their fate. For a tension-saturated moment, nothing happened, as the bound animals struggled to break free.

The larger deer screamed—limbs flailing as it fought to escape from its silken cage. Every movement only served to entangle it further. The smaller animal must not have hit the main web, because it was slowly pulling away from the grove, struggling with everything it had to sever the strands clinging to its limbs.

Edge watched with rapt attention, as a surge of vicarious adrenaline went surging through his arteries. However, it wasn’t the bound creature that the massive predator went for, but the one that was desperately trying to get out of the webbed area. One second, it was fighting for every step within what appeared to be an empty grove. The next, something huge came charging straight at it like a bolt of chitin-plated lightning.

The beast had so much Speed that Edge couldn’t get a good look at it until the moment it struck. It came to a skidding stop in front of the terrified animal, revealing its full form to the hunters watching from a distance.

It was an arthropod the size of an Earth rhinoceros, although it looked even bigger due to the spread of its spindly legs and its long, segmented tail. Its chitin armor was a royal purple hue, with stripes of bright violet accentuating its joints. The creature’s natural armor was thick—designed to take heavy hits and distribute the force across a wide area.

It looked like it was part scorpion and part spider, with a bit of beetle thrown into the mix. Since he didn’t know its proper name, he decided to keep things simple and think of it as a scorpion for now.

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The beast had four weapons that Edge could see. Its mouth, two massive claws, and a prehensile tail. He was certain that its sting would be venomous. Although, with the magic of Ord flowing inside it, its skill-bolstered natural weapons could present threats in almost any conceivable form.

Fast as thought, the scorpion’s flexible tail lashed out. The deer tried to dodge, but the attack was so quick that if Edge blinked, he would have missed it. Even if the creature had been able to evade the strike under normal circumstances, it had no chance at all with the webbing restricting its movement. Once, twice, then a third and final time, the barbed appendage went plunging into the side of the terrified herbivore.

At that point, the scorpion turned and approached the deer that was trapped within the main web. The creature was quivering in fear—bound so completely that it couldn’t even flinch when the massive beast arrived in front of it. This time around, it didn’t use its stinger, conserving venom after expending so much in its prior attack. Instead, it raised its bladed claws and lunged. The first carved a deep gouge into the creature’s flank. The second took its head clean off.

Edge turned his attention back to the first deer, which had stopped moving, except for its eyes. He realized that it wasn’t breathing, and it collapsed a few seconds later—dead from suffocation since its lungs couldn’t draw breath.

“Paralytic agent,” Riller said. “Something comparable to my Poisoned Arrows, but even stronger, likely due to the dose. We might be able to shrug off a sting, two tops with our natural Durability, but more than that and we’ll suffer the same fate as that deer.”

By now, the scorpion had grabbed both creatures and wrapped them in silk. It reached out with two legs, then hauled them up into the canopy, using its webbing and a branch to create a makeshift pulley.

Soon, they were out of sight, and the beast went to work repairing the damage to its sensory and sticky webs. When it was done, it climbed into the treetops, ready to ambush the next creature that was unfortunate enough to pass by below.

“We didn’t get to see any of its skills in action,” Trapper said. "But we still learned a lot. Now that we know where it is and have a way to make it show itself, we should be able to plan out an ambush from range. The beast can’t use any skills if it’s dead, and if we attack from a distance, we should have time to retreat if we need to. We’ll keep watching and see if we can learn more. But given the dynamics of the situation, we’re probably going to have to make our move without a complete understanding of its skillset.

“It’s not ideal, but we have the advantage of numbers, surprise, and tons of tricks and tools that it has never seen before. One major mark in our favor is that it migrated from the frontier, which means that it won’t be familiar with the tactics and traps that hunters employ. Even if it’s smart, it won’t be able to counter moves that it’s never encountered, and we won’t give it a chance to learn.

“Let’s pull back a few miles to be safe.” Violet nodded her agreement. “Then discuss our options at length and brainstorm on how to slay it. Our best bet is to launch an ambush from concealment and disable or kill it before it has a chance to recover.”

The crew hiked until they were far enough away from the scorpion’s lair, then sat in a circle while eating lunch. Each hunter added their own observations, along with any ideas they had for taking the armored predator down.

In the end, they decided that the best move was an alpha strike, combining their strongest ranged attacks with one of Violet’s inventions. After using another animal to draw the scorpion out of hiding, Riller would attack with Wind Shot and Eagle Eye to form a skill combo.

Jumo had his new Piercing Javelin spell, and Trapper would use Snipe to bolster the magitech rounds from her crossbow. She would open with lightning to impair the beast’s movement, then switch to frost bolts to freeze its joints.

Everyone else would attack with something that Violet had whipped up after their battle with the garax—arrows and bolts that had sacks attached to the tips instead of bladed tips. Inside was a special type of paint that was incredibly sticky, easy to spread, and hard to remove. If anyone managed to hit the creature’s face, they could blind it, securing a major advantage before the battle began.

Although they were hoping to avoid a direct confrontation, if it came down to a brawl, Edge, Blue, and Jumo would engage the scorpion while the other hunters whittled it down from range. If anyone got stung, they would retreat to the wagon and make sure that they didn’t get dosed again until Trapper treated them with Cleanse, which would expel the venom from their body.

In a worst-case scenario, Trapper would use Quagmire and everyone else would lay down flashbangs and smoke bombs while they beat a hasty retreat. The crew spent another hour going over the details, meticulously laying plans for various contingencies, until at last, they were ready to make their move.