Kase came over, grabbing the shaft of the spike with one hand and holding his companion down with the other.

"I still need to..."

Before Orelia could finish her sentence, the Half-Orc decisively and cleanly pulled the Bone Spike straight out. Colin sucked in a sharp breath from the pain.

"Kase! What are you doing?"

"Didn’t you tell me to pull it out?"

"You were supposed to give Colin some beer first! Don’t be so hasty! Are you just messing around? Forget it... I guess it’s my fault for not being clear." Orelia said, her usual timidity vanishing as she spoke with utter seriousness.

Kase grunted.

Her sudden outburst left the Half-Orc at a loss for words.

Colin quickly pulled a Weak Healing Potion from his pocket and downed it.

It tasted like blood, just without the metallic tang and with a bit of sugar. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad enough to make him want to throw up.

As the Potion went down his throat, the wound on his shoulder began to heal and scab over, visible to the naked eye. A faint, tingling itch spread from the injury.

The other Adventurers nearby also gathered around.

"What now, sir?" the Mage from earlier asked. "Do we need to wait for him to recover from his wound?"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the Adventurers standing around looked at Colin, silently waiting for him to make the next decision.

"Forget that. We need to give chase, now," Colin said, catching his breath.

"Those Scorpion-tailed Lions might fly back to the village and attack your companions," Hunter Glenn, standing beside him, said. A few Arrows were missing from his Quiver. From the style of the fletching, it seemed that most of the wounds on the Scorpion-tailed Lions’ wings were his handiwork.

"Flying requires stamina and wings," Colin said. "If the group left in the village can’t even handle these three exhausted creatures with damaged wings, then we’ll have to leave them to their fate."

"Well said."

Glenn nodded.

A few people found his question a bit baffling, but paid it no mind.

The other two parties had Priests as well. After they used Divine Arts or medical supplies to tend to the wounded, Hunter Glenn took the lead again. The whole group, Shields raised, followed behind him in a great throng.

They climbed out of the small valley below and ascended a mountain ridge.

As they advanced, most of the people in the party kept their eyes on the sky.

There wasn’t a single trace in the sky. Even if those Scorpion-tailed Lions could fly, they would have to hide in the clouds. If they had tried to escape or attack the village, they definitely would have been seen.

After walking a little further, Glenn stopped and pointed ahead. "It’s over there."

In truth, he didn’t even need to point it out. By now, the Scorpion-tailed Lions’ lair was quite obvious.

It was a rock cave beneath a giant boulder on the mountain peak. A few clumps of withered bushes grew around the entrance, and in front of the cave was a high cliff, which seemed perfect for the Scorpion-tailed Lions to take flight from.

At the moment, the cave entrance was silent, as if nothing was there at all.

"We’ll take it from here. You stay at the back of the group, and make sure you protect yourself," Colin said to Hunter Glenn.

With that, he turned to the Adventurers around him. "In a moment, just treat those Scorpion-tailed Lions like you would any other animal, like a lion.

"Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that they’ve abandoned their lair and gone elsewhere. Their wings shouldn’t be able to carry them very high, so we’ll just have to see where they land and track them from there."

"Like a bear hunt," Kase said, waving the Ice Short Spear in his hand.

Colin nodded. "Just like a bear hunt."

Once the plan was laid out, the group immediately headed into the cave.

The Adventurers with intact Shields went first, forming as tight a shield wall as possible. Those without Shields or with a Casting Ability walked behind them, ready to provide support at any moment.

The small teams each took out Torches, lighting them to illuminate the path ahead.

Colin gripped his Hand Half Sword and followed behind Kase, moving forward step by step.

Orelia followed behind them, holding a lit Torch high.

The cave was like a crack beneath the giant boulder. The corners near the entrance were filled with weathered bones and droppings, with a barely walkable path down the middle.

The deeper they went, the thicker the stench of blood and the unique funk of wild beasts became.

They hadn’t gone far before the group saw the mangled corpses of the three people who had been carried off earlier. But by unspoken agreement, everyone pretended not to see them, so as not to shake the party’s confidence.

As he moved forward, Colin looked around.

He could clearly see several scrape marks on the walls.

’They look like places where the Scorpion-tailed Lions sharpened their claws or Bone Spikes,’ he thought.

As they advanced, a corner appeared ahead of the party.

The shield wall adjusted its formation and carefully rounded the bend.

The instant the first man with a Shield stepped out, three Bone Spikes shot toward him in unison.

The immense force knocked him straight to the ground, his Shield now sporting three new Bone Spikes.

With swift reflexes, Colin dragged his companion back behind the shield wall while glancing at the Scorpion-tailed Lions’ tails. The creatures’ long tails were about half empty; they should each have about ten Bone Spikes left.

Perhaps because they were on the ground, the creatures’ aim was much better.

The continuous crack of whipping tails echoed inside the cave.

The shield wall advanced inch by inch as the Scorpion-tailed Lions roared and whipped their tails.

They deliberately targeted the same Shield with each volley.

When prepared, most Adventurers could withstand two volleys. It took a total of six Bone Spikes to completely destroy a single Wooden Shield, but the monsters couldn’t retrieve their spikes. Moreover, a good portion of their ammunition was wasted on the impenetrable Insect Shell Shields.

In this battle of attrition, it was clear the Scorpion-tailed Lions’ supply of Bone Spikes wouldn’t be enough.

And unlike before, the initiative in this battle was no longer in their hands. The monsters had been backed into a corner and could do nothing but make this final struggle.

The shield wall closed in, little by little.

Realizing close-quarters combat was unavoidable, the monsters spread their wings slightly and charged recklessly toward the shield wall, intending to crush it.

Their deformed human faces twisted grotesquely as a deafening roar erupted from mouths lined with three rows of teeth.

Taking out his Casting Materials again, Colin did as before, aiming Tasha’s Hideous Laughter at the Scorpion-tailed Lion charging toward him and Kase.

This time, however, he could feel his mind meeting immense resistance. That faint, elusive connection flickered in and out of his thoughts, like a strand of spider silk dangling before his eyes, sometimes visible, sometimes not.

The monster’s giant maw, filled with sharp fangs, drew closer and closer.

Just as the Scorpion-tailed Lion was about to slam into Kase, Colin finally grasped that wisp of a connection.

A bizarre, cackling laugh suddenly erupted from its blood-red, stinking maw, and its forward momentum was instantly broken.

Kase tilted his Shield, effortlessly dodging his opponent’s lunge, and immediately retaliated with the Short Spear in his hand.

Colin didn’t hesitate.

He aimed for the Scorpion-tailed Lion’s neck and swung his enhanced Emerald Flame Sword.

The flaming blade struck the enemy’s neck. Its reddish-brown mane instantly caught Flame, only to be quickly doused by the gushing blood.