For normal people the morning starts with coffee, for Bondrewd it started with a new headache. The hunting party was already assembled, the 'praying hands' of 10 stood near the entrance and checked their gear. Everything was planned according to the standard scheme: four of them had smoke grenade launchers, another 4 had stun dart cannons in their hands, the rest had 2 flamethrowers, just in case.
"Lord of Dawn" humbled his team with a stern look, but he was worried about one important fact, where to catch the new scorpions, the scouts, as part of 3 groups, left 4 hours ago, and there was no answer. The possibility of all 3 groups being destroyed seemed unlikely to Bondrewd. The only thing left was that they had found nothing. "Lord of Dawn" wasn't the type to fret over every little thing, but this case was different. He was on the right path to his goal, delay could if not prevent it from being realised, then at the very least slow his progress towards it.
"That's it, if the scouts don't arrive within ten minutes, we'll follow their route". - Bondrewd thought, as suddenly her radio picked up the barely audible crackle of an old speaker. The man tried to establish a connection, but there was no response from the other side. After a couple of minutes and several unsuccessful attempts, he was answered.
"This is the 3rd scout group, mission accomplished, we found a nest of scorpions 1 hour to the northwest, 3 individuals."
"What took you so long, where are the other groups, and also report the status of the group."
"We were attacked twice by monsters, one was killed, the first group was completely destroyed, we saw them fall into a cavity when the ground crumbled under them. I can't say anything about the second group."
Satisfied with the report Bondrewd gave the order to move to the target, in passing clarified the exact coordinates of the location of the group of scouts. "Praying Hands" 2 rows came out of the small hangar and accompanied by Bondrewd went on the road. Even though he himself could easily get as many scorpion carcasses as he wanted, the man had other goals. Firstly, he wanted to observe how his subordinates would cope with the task, and secondly, for a banal backup, after all, they were more than sensitive to losses now. And if he wanted to personally go to the 6th level of the abyss, he had to be sure that his subordinates would cope with the task of catching new "capsules".
And they kept on walking, the endless white plains stretched out before them, occasionally succeeded by small hills, the dry wind blew towards them, kicking up a heap of dust, and though they were all wearing helmets, this caprice of nature did not improve visibility.
After two hours' journey they were at their destination, and stopping on a small hill, the group saw a small open area, speckled with lowlands, in one of which, as Bondrewd expected, the scorpions were hiding. A brief inspection of the area yielded results, and in the hollow at the leftmost, a piece of red shell was visible from under the sand. Bondrud hurriedly gave his instructions.
"We act according to the plan, grenade launchers smoke out the creatures with grenades with soporific gas, then retreat, and when the rabid creatures follow them, the group with tranquillizers completes the work, flamethrowers on the backup."
The group checked their gear and moved out to the explored crater. Bondrewd stayed on the high ground and watched the situation from here. It was about to start.
Smoke grenades synchronously flew into the shelter of monsters, the result of the first volley did not take long to wait, the furious beast jerked out of its shelter and ignoring the smoke, rushed to the attackers at all available speed, the group made another volley and quickly shuffling his feet began to retreat. As the creature approached their position, the second group jumped out of the sand and began firing from all sides. The half-metre spikes confidently pierced the chitinous shell of the scorpion, and the cry of pain of the wounded beast spread across the valley. The scorpion did not think of giving up and rushed towards the nearest shooter, ignoring the constant fire, the beast was rapidly reducing the distance, and it seemed that in the last 30 metres that separated it from the target, nothing would be able to prevent it from killing the hapless shooter.
But fortunately for the "hands" Bondrewd did not eat his bread in vain and thought out this situation in advance. Not reaching the shooter some 10 metres away, the monster began to stop abruptly, because of the wall of fire that suddenly appeared in front of him. In an attempt to slow down and slow down the creature lost its balance, flipped over and fell on its side, the fierce roar of the beast signalled the end of the fight. The beast fell silent and did not move again.
Bondrewd counted about 20 pins sticking out of the carcass in all sorts of places, but on the whole he was satisfied with the result, the second target was found quite quickly and there were no difficulties with it either. But the third one was a bit of a challenge, the group couldn't find its position, and their commander on the hill couldn't help them much either. The group wandered around the territory for about an hour, hoping to find at least a trace of the coveted trophy. But to no avail. Bondrewd ordered a retreat and the "hands", like plastic soldiers, always loyal to their commander turned round and went back.
Lord of Dawn's sense of danger said that something was wrong here. That wrongness was discovered rather quickly when one of the "hands" walking through the sand fell through it up to his knees. The rumble of the ground caught the group by surprise and everyone scurried away. This beast was smarter than its fellows and let the invaders get closer, relying on surprise.
Leaping out of the sand, it poisoned one grenade launcher in flight with its carcass. The first flamethrower wanted to intervene, but the creature swung one of its tails away from him and the hapless soldier went flying into the ravine. But the creature was not going to stop, having spotted the second flamethrower it rushed towards him, apparently trying to break the distance he forgot that the creature was much faster than him.
The blow to him was swift, but made in haste, and caught only his leg, from which fresh blood was beginning to ooze. The scorpion was about to finish off his lying vis-a-vis with a blow of his tail, but the latter went sideways with the last of his strength. The third blow was on its way and there was no chance to dodge it, as suddenly a flash of light illuminated the area and a huge yellow beam flashed towards the creature. The result of the shot was sad, the scorpion's body was filled with an impressive sized hole, melted at the edges. The beast died instantly, after such wounds do not live, even if you are a 4-metre carnivorous monster.
The hapless hunters looked towards the hill where the black figure of their commander stood, from whose hand a light smoke could be seen.
"Mission accomplished, take one carcass and leave, other groups will return for the rest." On the whole Bondrud was satisfied with the outcome of the operation, there were no losses, and what had happened was an invaluable experience for the future: weapons would be improved, tactics would be refined, and trails would be scouted. This thought made the man optimistic and he was in high spirits, he decided that tomorrow he would go to the 6th level.
They reached the base without incident, but spent 4 hours on it, after all, the carcass was not easy. Having ordered to prepare the "capsule" Bondrewd went to his office to prepare for the descent.
5 hours later...
The capsule was ready, and since Lord of Dawn had scheduled its descent for tomorrow morning. The room was empty, with only one of the "hands" wielding a mop, removing the bloody mincemeat from the floor.
The tremors shook the room, and no, it was not a suddenly awakened scorpion, but a real mini earthquake, and the tremors were getting stronger, unable to keep his balance, the caretaker fell to the floor, the light in the room suspiciously flickered, and soon disappeared. The tremors lasted for another 5 minutes and the room shook.
The earthquake ended as suddenly as it had begun, the hapless caretaker rose from the ground and mumbled confusedly.
"I... can't see, fuck." And while he was swearing at the same time trying to find a way out of the room, he banged his helmet against the wall. The sudden impact caused the caretaker to fall on his arse again. After 5 minutes of swearing and groping all the walls, the exit was found and the "hand" went out into the corridor.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, one small worm of a couple of three centimetres - a mixture of a worm and a scolopendra, got out of the ventilation and climbed down the wall. The little parasite smelled meat, fresh meat, he found his target - a huge carcass, climbing on the supports of the mount he slipped on the body of the scorpion and penetrated the hastily sewn wound, and then the little bugger began a long-awaited feast.
The next day...
Bondrewd was lying in the capsule, his subordinates were already stitching him inside the monster's body. The descent should start any minute now. ''Lord of Dawn'' pushed aside all doubts and just waited.
"Beginning the descent." said one of the "hands" into the radio channel. The chains loosened and the carcass rushed down, everything was going normally, but Bondrewd's sense of danger wailed from every crevice about the imminent threat.
"Capsule" was already half way down, "Lord of Dawn" through the small viewing window saw something he didn't want to see at all. The little parasite was panicking all over the interior of the capsule, desperately trying to get a grip on something. When the little bugger succeeded, it did not stop, but began to gnaw into the flesh harder and harder.
Then everything was quick: the scorpion woke up, Bondrewd did not know where the little bugger had bitten the "capsule", but the scorpion woke up as if it was not in an artificial coma at all, and started kicking like mad, the "hands" had already interrupted the operation and started pulling the capsule back, but their attempts were in vain. The chains broke, and the "capsule" flew downwards...
The rumble of the fall was audible, even on level 5, at the place of the fall there was nothing left but the mangled body of Bondrewd, or rather his remains, which somehow stood out against the bloody debris. In the mind of the maimed man sounded only one question.
"Why?"
The six-legged lizard, who was clearly interested in a free lunch and was already actively trying to gnaw the head off the Lord of Dawn, did not give him time to think more. The predator did not succeed in decapitating its victim on the first try. He continued to eat the body of Bondrewd, while the man's soul went somewhere upwards....
An unknown amount of time later...
The bright light blinded the man, he was on a flat stone plateau, and just stood there trying to blink as suddenly his attention was drawn to someone's obviously fake cough, Bondrewd instantly got into a fighting stance and asked on automatic.
"Who's here?"
"We, the ones who have been waiting for you for a very long time."