271 Expected Development

Six insect-like creatures surrounded us. Their guttural growls vibrated against my chest. Heda instructed us to look for a spot underneath the creatures' inflated bellies. It was the only place we could actually strike. 

Every hit against the monsters recoiled, for their hides were made of something stronger than steel. Although I tried reinforcing my sword with energy, I couldn't pierce the things. I couldn't even make a dent on their armored hide. 

If I had Sylens's Fragment, I would have sliced their hide's time energy and made short work of them. Unfortunately, Sylens couldn't perceive the energy as well as I did. He couldn't open the creatures deep enough to extract the crystal ball that powered them. So we moved to the next best tactic.