In the top right corner of his HUD an alert popped up. He quickly switched over to the channel the various survival groups were using. Then moving over to the bottom of the vine rope he stashed all of his gear behind a rock.

    Then he quickly and quietly moved through the forest with his makeshift scythe spear in hand. His bow and arrows were tucked away in a makeshift quiver on his back. Finally his knife was still in the makeshift holder on his belt.

    As he arrived near the group he spotted the issue that had arisen. There was a pack of tall chitin covered Kitinol. The core of their body was five feet in the air with long sharp legs that were stabbing into the ground. The body had a bunch of armor chitin on the front and bottom. But as he was coming from behind the line of Kitinol he could see the gapes in the back of the body where it was likely weakened so it could move.

    The surviving group were using spears to keep it back while the backline threw stones. It was working for the moment as the Kitinol only had four legs. So they could keep them off balance with their spears if the Kitinol approached too far forward.

    Jace kept his distance before he found a suitable tree and climbed part of the way up. Once he was up he pulled out his bow and fired off a few arrows. The first arrow bounced off the shell of the Kitinol.

    He frowned and adjusted his aim before he let loose another arrow with a humm from his bow snapping to position. The arrow flew through the air and slid in between two plates of Chitin and a spurt of blood was spat out.

    The Kitinol itself flinched for a moment before tilting its body upwards and screeching. Its armored mouth opened for the first time with a screech as its multiple tongues snapped through the air and its mouth full of pointed teeth were revealed. It began looking around trying to find where its pain originated when one of the survivors from the group threw a spear which went through its head and killed it.

    As it collapsed to the ground the other three tall Kitinol began looking around in confusion. Which resulted in them losing their footing and falling. The survivor group took the chance and smashed it with rocks and spears, killing it quickly.

    The next one quickly turned tail and began running through the forest, likely back to whatever nest it and the others had managed to carve out. But as it ran it passed by Jace so he jumped from his position on the tree to a spot on its back.

    The Kitinol only had a moment to make some sort of yelping noise before his makeshift spear was digging into its back. Then it collapsed to the ground and Jace was thrown off. He took the moment to glance at the last Kitinol that the survivor group and decided they were probably going to be able to take down.

    He looked at his makeshift scythe spear and noticed the scythe part was shattered. Jace frowned for only a moment before he noticed a few from the survivor group were coming towards him.

    Jace quickly ran back to his vine rope. He pulled on his bag and then quickly began scaling the mountain cliff face. As he climbed he listened in on the radio.

    "We were just attacked by a group of Kitinol, Long legged type. One of them got away and was heading north. Not in a direct path of any other group. I sent some scouts to track it down but stay alert just in case. Official records might not be useful on this planet with the highly mutated species we have encountered." He could hear Salem''s voice over the radio as she talked.

    "Yeah, it seems like we are getting noticed more and more by the local wildlife. We have to build up our defenses more. Personally I plan to knock down nearby trees to get line of sight further into the forest. Does anyone have any word on our six missing comrades?" Another person asked over the radio.

    "No but we have just found a few arrows and a spear that definitely was not ours. Seems like one of those missing six came around to help us. As soon as we are able to, we will send people to follow their tracks." Salem responded before continuing, "on another note the spear they used was made out of what looked like a giant mantis claw. Has anyone seen anything like that?"

    There was silence as Jace kicked himself as he neared the plateau. He forgot to erase his tracks. Once he saw that some of them were coming his way he panicked and prioritized speed over stealth.

    Once she had determined the response was a resounding no she spoke again. "In that case at least one of the missing six is up on that mountain."

    "Well we will keep that in mind for later. For now we need to focus on keeping together what we have rather than investigating why certain people are missing. It should be stated that they likely have their own reasons. So for now stay the course, do not take unnecessary risks for figuring this out." Another calmer voice responded.

    Jace pulled himself up over the edge. Glancing at the tiger that was waiting near a tree. Its head shot up when it saw him. He sighed and took a breath before walking towards his tree. He had finished what he needed to do for the day. So he might as well cook some food and get some rest.

    But six people for six groups, I suppose it worked out rather well for them. Each person that was probably given a second mission had one group to protect. It did also mean they would have to stay near their respective groups. Which would be difficult for him considering there is a mind reader in the group he would be protecting.

    There was something bothering him. It was about what they said about not seeing any mantis-lizards. Because that means there was a good chance that the environment at the top of the mountain was drastically different from the lower areas.

    Not necessarily more or less dangerous. It was more like the danger would be different then what they faced. He would have to investigate the wildlife in the lower areas more closely. Either way he might want to leave a sign warning them about the type of dangers on this plateau were all stealth based.

    He would do it tomorrow before he went down the mountain again. Maybe he should hunt some more food for this tiger though. It seems insistent on staying with him. So he would have to start accounting for it when he made his plans.

    As he arrived at his tree he stopped in his tracks as he looked around in confusion. His makeshift fire had been disturbed and there were large footprints going around his tree. Jace approached his tree cautiously while heightening his senses and turning off the radio again.

    He calmly set down his bag as he looked around. As soon as his bag sat on the ground he dashed over to a cluster of trees. Nocking an arrow as he moved, intent on getting the first hit off.

    As he arrived he found one of those large bone covered creatures with a bone mallet. It was hunched over but flinched in surprise as he came around a tree. It was likely waiting until he rested to attack.

    There was a whistle followed by a thunk as the arrow bounced off the bone creature''s armor. He was not that good with a bow, he had only been getting lucky so far. But it seemed his luck had run out.

    Jace had to dive backward as the bone creature overcame its surprise and swung its bone mallet at him. As he dove back he managed to evade the blow but the explosion of rock caught him off guard as the ground cracked and chipped, while throwing up rock where he hit the ground.

    It is an impressive level of strength. But its recovery was awful as it stepped forward to lift the mallet up with both hands so by the time Jace had recovered from rock shrapnel the bone creature had managed to lift its bone mallet.

    Jace tossed his bow to the side as he pulled out another arrow and his knife. He would have to get in close in order to take this creature out. It would be dangerous with this creature''s strength. But if it started knocking down trees he would have a whole different problem.

    It growled and charged for him revealing its blood red skin and forked tongue as it did so. Along with its sharpened teeth and rather large mouth.

    Jace ran to it in response but as it swung at him he slipped into a roll and went by the creature. Using the rough terrain to stop his momentum and spin himself around so he was behind the creature.

    Once he was behind it he raced to its back and shoved the arrow through a gap in its back armor while his knife went into its neck. It began screaming in pain. Before it could react, Jace started channeling electricity from his hands into its body. Being extra careful to not overload any electronics on his person.

    After a half a minute it went limp and Jace pulled out the knife. He began walking to his tree grabbing a leaf to clean his knife while the tiger happily bounded forward and began gnawing at the bone armor. It was probably trying to cut it open to get into the meaty parts underneath.

    Jace rolled his eyes as he ignored it and went to prepare for the night.

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