Chapter 77: Chapter 75: Supercharged Jaguar-Scorpion!

Too late!

We couldn’t stop this. What is wrong with us?

The ghostly jaguar-scorpion plants its tiny feet firmly in the center of the glowing mandala, and the fierce white-hot glow travels up its skinny legs, then spreads throughout its body.

[What do we do?] I ask Peridot.

Peridot hisses, coiled and ready to strike. [I don’t know! Let me ask Master Niall. You should alert your human!]

Oh. Right.

[Kaline!]

My paws sweat on the old wooden floor, and I think I’m going to skid if I don’t keep my feet on the ground.

Her voice is strong in my mind. [BLAZE! I’m coming.]

[PLEASE bring Maartenwitz and Tomas. And get Vedette if you can.]

Niall squares off against the mesmerizing scorpion creature. “Whatever you are, you’re no match for us.”

The jaguar-scorpion rears up, clicking its pincers together and shooting sparks from its tail.

Niall and Peridot link together and conjure up a shimmering shield, fencing in the jaguar-scorpion. Summoning up my energy, I fire off Shooting Stars. So does Lobo. So does Demos.

What will the response be? How will this largely mute menace handle our resistance?

CRASH.

The scorpion rams the energy barrier, which ripples and wiggles like a plastic shield. However, it’s a lot sturdier than plastic. Unbroken so far. The jaguar-scorpion emits a smell of electricity and a faint whiff of something even nastier .

[Let me out!]

His eyes dance crazily on its eyestalks. He is angry!

[Not a chance.] Demos bares his teeth. [You are in OUR house.]

[MY house.]

The jaguar-scorpion waves its pincers in a dominant way. A lethal, elegant dance.

[I have been here longer than anyone.]

The revelation shakes me to the core. Lobo howls, startled, and Demos growls. Peridot’s hiss is contemptuous. She doesn’t buy it.

Niall stands defiantly. “You cannot have been here long. Someone would have known.”

Kaline gasps behind me. “Sweet Gods! What IS that?”

Maartenwitz mutters something under his breath that sounds like a curse. “A jaguar-scorpion. Rather a nasty one, if I’m any judge. Seeing one is most ill-fated.”

“What is it doing here?” Kaline raises her voice. “Why is it here?”

Her fear is a bucket of cold water flowing through the bond. Smart girl. She is right to be afraid.

“That I don’t know,” Niall answers, with a steely glare at the jaguar=scropion. “Why ARE you here? Whoever you are.”

Kaline trembles, bringing her hands up. She was not afraid of orcs, or thieves. But this scorpion terrifies her. That makes me see red. How dare this creature do this to my Kaline.

The jaguar-scorpion practically sneers. [The little girl is afraid. I will sting her.]

I growl. [You do and it will be the last sting of your life. I will rip off that stinger and feed it to you.]

Demos gives an approving “uff” and Lobo woofs supportively.

The insect slams against the invisible barrier once again, and Niall folds his arms smugly. “Thought you’d break free that easily, did you?”

[Why is that halfling disrespecting me?] The jaguar-scorpion looks even paler, if that’s possible, its spots standing out. [Let me go this instant.]

[NO.] I bare my teeth. [We’ve put up with you long enough.]

Technically, we didn’t even know he was here.

Tomas is protective. “There have been strange unexplained poisonings throughout the years. Of course, so many of those were thought to be merely rumors…but maybe they were true.” He eyes our malevolent scorpion.

The bad bug hefts its tail, a signal of impending doom. [Those poisonings are the least of what I can do.]

[HAH!] Peridot hovers over him, out of reach. [I can crush you.]

WHOOSH.

Multicolored energy beams, so bright they hurt the eyes, shoot toward Peridot, and she screams as they graze her.

Niall shudders, gritting his teeth. “PERIDOT. It’s not worth it. Save yourself.”

Vedette arrives, and immediately channels power through Demos, making the barrier fiery and full of Shooting Stars. When did she learn to do that?

Knocking into the barrier, the jaguar-scorpion hisses in agony. [YOU WILL PAY!]

The blinding energy beams vanish, and Peridot drops down on the scorpion, her coils winding around him, squeezing. Wild and wracked with pain, he struggles mightily in the iron grip of the python’s coils.

I glower at the insect. [Now, TALK. Who are you?]

He writhes in humiliation as well as pain. [Get this pathetic creature off me.]

Lobo growls. [Not until we get answers.]

Kaline steps forward, prompted by Vedette. “Serves you right! Tell us. Did you hurt my father? Did YOU poison him?”

We all hold our collective breath. Maartenwitz looks ready to grab some bug spray, while Tomas is only too willing to help. He eyes the jaguar-scorpion warily, watching for any escape attempt.

The scorpion clicks his pincers. [He is here in my home. What does he expect me to do?]

I feel pure rage, burning in my gut. [We need an antidote! And you need to pay.]

Kaline’s scream of rage reverberates in the secret room. Her fury sweeps everything away, devouring all thought. And my own fury feeds into it.

[WHY?] I’m grasping at a reason not to kill this scorpion, assuming I could. But I’m not fighting alone. [WHY? He’s no threat to you. No one even knew you were here!]

[This is MY HOME.] The jaguar-scorpion is indifferent. Cold. [MY territory. All of you will die. You will–AAAGH!]

Kaline has struck him with a blast that goes wild. Running on primal rage, she doesn’t think. She just acts. And no one restrains her. In fact. Vedette joins her. Niall, too. Maartenwitz and Tomas, while not possessing magic, roll up their sleeves. The creature’s foul deed is an attack against the House of Riddlehoeven that they serve.

Hair spreading out wildly, Kaline shouts, “You poisoned my father! DIE!”

Vedette shrieks. “This is OUR HOUSE, not yours! You’re an intruder. A…A…squatter! COWARD!”

Now, all bets are off. The barrier folds and fades before the wrath of the jaguar-scorpion. He hates being challenged. For that matter, he hates people. Judging from the way he swipes at Peridot with his stinger, he doesn’t much like snakes, either. Or wolves, because he also turns on Lobo. without success. Bears? Who needs them? His stinger lashes out at Demos, who rolls aside. And as for tigers…

It’s my turn to face his beady black-void eyes. I swipe at them with my claws.

The foul creature screams when I get him in one eye. Then two.

[YOU WILL DIE!]

Kaline calls out, “Blaze, I could kiss you! The rest of you, GET HIM.”

Something swipes at me. Demos hurtles into me and we both go down. It’s all a blur. Of course, we get up again.

Thrashing around, the scorpion rolls outside the magic circle, and suddenly, it doesn’t look so frightening. It still could kill us, but blinded, it can’t maneuver. Its sense of direction and its feelers try to compensate, but the rest of us are on it, and Peridot, of course, has hung on, looped around him like a belt.

“CRUSH HIM,” Niall orders.

He doesn’t have to tell Peridot twice. A squeezing sound, then a puckering sound, and then…

CRUNCH!

Shells and pincers and legs explode everywhere. The unnamed jaguar-scorpion can’t even scream as it meets a fitting and brutal end.

System sounds almost gleeful. [Achievement Unlocked: Defeat Jaguar-Scorpion! +15 XP]

Peridot remains attached to the jaguar=scorpion’s remains until everyone pronounces it dead. Lobo has alerted Minette from the beginning, of course, and she storms in before too much time passes, eyes flashing, looking rumpled from being at her husband’s bedside.

Her gaze sweeps the room, and she sinks to her knees a few inches from our foe, from the lifeless wreckage of dull carapace and appendages. The stinger lies like so much abandoned trash close by, and Minette gazes at it, trying to comprehend this small thing that caused so much suffering.

As for me, wrapped up in Kaline’s arms and bursting out of them but not budging, I want to eat the stinger. Of course, that is a horrendously stupid idea. And besides, Minette should decide what to do with it.

She pulls on thick leather gloves and picks it up. My jaw drops, and I drool on Kaline’s fingers, which Kaline takes no notice of. “We must test this and make an antidote.”

Niall reaches for it. “It probably carries a hefty curse. Evil like that always does. It’s as if the venom itself is infused with it. Venom on its own is bad enough, but venom with hate and resentment and greed…That’s what this was, Mistress. A greedy creature who wanted what never belonged to him.”

Minette surrenders the blasted thing to Niall, with a delicate shudder. “Just make an antidote. We healed my husband and Gussie, but I want that evil out of their bodies.”

Vedette and Kaline stick close to their mother. “It’s over,” Kaline says, but her voice shakes.

Minette kisses both her girls. “I am so, so proud of you both, and your beasts, and Lobo and Peridot and Master Niall. All of you. But you both especially.”

As the warm moment lingers, I stand beside my beast brothers and sister, and one nagging thought refuses to depart.

How did this monster get in the house? How did he stay hidden for so long without anyone being the wiser? And, most importantly, did he have anything to do with ex-Lady Rosabel and her beast thefts? We must find out.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep