Chapter 10- Decisions and Clash

"Sweet home Alabama..." Humming in the telepathy network, Jared continues down the cave with Char still on his head.

"I'm coming home with you!" After hearing the same song on repeat from Jared, Char responds in sync, although not getting the words right. As they are singing, Char dances around, her legs tapping out of rhythm on Jared's navy exoskeleton.

"Alright, Char, set one up here too!" Pointing at a small tunnel in the cave wall with one of his antennae, Jared watches as Char hops off his head, scurrying into the tunnel that's just large enough for Jared to fit inside before rapidly crawling in circles. 

"All done!" Running back over her seat, Char looks down at Jared with pride in her beady, black eyes. Looking at her handiwork, Jared notices the translucent, sticky web entirely blocking the tunnel. It was a perfect trap for whatever was small enough to fit through there.

"That's the fourth tunnel we've run into in a while. It seems like the area near the pool is a perfect spot for our base!" Having thought about his "Stronghold Creation" skill, Jared has been trying to determine the best spot to designate as their base. "With an acidic pond protecting our backs from intruders, we'll just have to watch the one direction!" Content with his decision, Jared decides to clear out the nearby tunnels of any creatures nearby.

"Yay! We can make an awesome base with my webs! Pew! Pew!" Somehow, Char's personality seemed to grow increasingly flamboyant the more she talked with Jared. As she makes the 'pew' noises, she lifts her abdomen, pretending to shoot a web over her head towards the ceiling.

"Haha, yeah, we will!" After a few more minutes of forward travel and having Char set up one more trap in a tunnel, Jared and Char arrive at a larger cave in front of them. 'Looks like our cave is just a small offshoot of this one.' Thought Jared. Sitting about 2 meters off the cave floor, the tunnel that the duo were standing in had a clear view around them.

"Hm? Char, stay still, okay?" Jared orders telepathically.

"Okay!"

Hearing some thuds in the cave in front of them, Jared stares around carefully, making sure not to miss any movement. 'There!' Noticing three small ants shuffling down the cave in a single file line, Jared focuses on them. Bodies only slightly larger than Jareds', they were clearly a different species of ant. With light brown bodies, thicker mandibles, and stubby legs, these ants were clearly on a mission.

Watching their movement, Jared stares as they walk towards a rock about twice the size of any of them. Slowly and carefully surrounding the rock, Jared watches in confusion and then horror as the rock slowly stands up, four thick, scaled legs being revealed by its movement. As its eyes open, two yellow, glowing, lizard-like vertical pupils are shown off, eyeing each of the three ants around itself. It slightly opens its mouth, a red, thin tongue slithering out, tasting the air, sliding in between the large, cragged, rocky teeth inside.

Without hesitation or fear, the ants make the first move. The ant closest to the lizard-beasts' face snaps its mandibles fiercely, attempting to hold the attention of its foe. Simultaneously, the two other ants charge forward, biting onto the front left and back right legs, respectively. With a horrifying crunch, their mandibles easily pierce through the scales protecting the legs, drawing lots of blood and maiming the lizard.

Screeching and hissing in pain, the beast immediately retaliates. A yellowish light pierces out from both of its eyes, slamming into the "distractor" ant. Seemingly having no effect, the aforementioned ant attempts its own charge. However, after two steps, the ant's body seizes up, starting from the point of impact, and its body slowly turns into stone.

'Is that petrification? Thank god we didn't rush into this cave; that lizard-beast would have killed us easily!' Feeling like he was sweating, Jared used one of his antennae to pat Char's body, feeling her trembling from fear.

Before he could comfort her any further, however, the beast let out another hiss. This time, lifting its front right leg, its body spun rapidly, its jagged claws clashing with the ant biting his back left leg. 

*CRSHK*

With another disgusting crunch, the claws quickly crushed the ant, splattering its insides across the wall behind the lizard. Unfortunately for the beast, that rapid movement causes the other ant to tear out a massive chunk of its leg. Before it could turn around and deal with the ant, however, it scurried off quickly with the chunk of flesh, disappearing into a hole in the cave wall.

As the lizard scans the cave in anger with its glowing yellow eyes, it pauses, locking onto a large hole in the wall.

"Oh shit, Char, we gotta go!" Noticing that they attracted the attention of the beast, Jared yells out telepathically, preparing to run.

*CRUNCH*

*HIIIIIIISSSSSSS*

Before he could turn around, however, Jared heard a familiar crunching sound followed by a loud hiss. Looking back, Jared noticed another ant biting onto the beast's neck. This ant's mandibles were covered in a light yellow "film," seemingly increasing its crushing power. Enough to draw blood but unable to finish the job, the ant holds on as tight as it can. Unfortunately, with one swipe of his claws, the beast smashes that ant as well, small shards of stone making noises as they collide with the cave walls.

'Stone? Oh, I see; the petrification is only temporary... still a dangerous skill. What was that yellow film?- Oh shit.'

With the attention of the wounded beast back on Jared, Jared turns around, running as fast as he can back into the tunnel.

"Char! Start shooting some sticky webs across the tunnel behind us, we have to stop that lizard, or else we're screwed!" Giving Char some basic orders, Jared continues to run, hoping to create enough distance to lose their new "friend."