Heaven's gate

Silas, who was unaware that his actions had awakened a terrifying foe, was too keen on hunting down the fleeing crabs. Silas, who knew that the crabs might be trying to move to the narrow valley, immediately started to make his way there.

Inside the hole, the crabs which were moving were in a miserable state as most of them had lost their claws and limbs, and the rest were struggling to carry them, their expressions grim.

They knew that their enemy would be on their tail now since the sneak attack had failed miserably, unable to cause much damage. This was an oversight from them as they had underestimated how strong their enemy was. Even though they felt that they had prepared enough, they still could not put any dents through that beast's defence.

To be honest, it can't be said as their fault. These noctisnappers are known to be extremely strong, even capable of pinching monsters much stronger than them to deaths. and have more advantages with their massive numbers as well. Their shells, strong as iron plates, provide them with incredible defense, and their claws capable of crushing stones into powder.

These are some of the reasons why their neighbors dare not mess with them easily.

The narrow valley, which Silas used to harvest berries, became too narrow for him now as he had grown too big to comfortably fit in, restricting his movements. But Silas was not ready to give up as he began to scratch the walls with his claws, and the whole valley started to tremble, and rocks fell down.

The crabs, which were rushing towards their lair, were shocked upon hearing the movement and quickened their pace.

Like a mantis preying on a cicada, unaware that the magpie is right behind, Silas, who was trying to prey on the noctisnappers, did not know a monster was rushing towards him.

Silas had already dug the valley walls a few meters deep, expanding the size of the valley, and now had more space to move around.

Suddenly....

Silas felt a chill down his spine as his back was drenched in cold sweat. Silas turned his head slowly and saw a pair of eyes staring at him with interest.

Silas shrank his neck back as it was that giant centipede which he had seen previously. Now being closer, he felt that he was still too small compared to this giant, and his newfound confidence started to sway slightly.

But all of a sudden, Silas heard a female voice in his ears, "Kid, do you want a beating, trying to destroy my territory?" Silas, who heard the voice, was shocked as he turned around, trying to find from where the voice was coming.

Silas, who was trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, suddenly heard many footsteps behind him approaching quickly.

Soon, hundreds of crabs flowed out from the holes in the wall, surrounding both Silas and the centipede.

Among them a crab which looked much older had barely any strength to move came outside of the crowd, looking at Silas as if he had killed its family.

It then turned towards the giant centipede, gesturing with its claws as if saying something. It pointed at Silas with its claws. As it continued to speak, its actions grew faster and faster as if its blood pressure was increasing. After a couple of minutes, the old crab breathed out heavily as if it had vented its pent-up emotions and looked at Silas with lingering resentment. Silas stood there awkwardly, unsure of what he had gotten himself into.

"Ummm Ummm..."

The centipede, which was listening to the crab, nodded its head slowly and gave Silas a sidelong glance. As if this was not enough, the crabs that had been brutally attacked by Silas reached their destination slowly, with their comrades who had broken limbs and claws being carried. As soon as the elder crab saw this scene, his eyes became bloodshot as he was ready to jump on this beast, even if he had to give up his life, but he was held back by the rest of the crabs.

The little crabs eyes turned moist seeing such a scene.

The centipede gave Silas a sharp glare, which made Silas shrink back. The leader of the attacking battalion came forward, and the scene replayed again, but there was more helplessness in its eyes rather than the anger shown by the elder crab. Facing Silas head-on, it knew the difference and was not sure if their impulsive attack might cause their tribe some disasters in the future.

The centipede, after a couple of seconds thinking hard, could not recall any tribes similar to Silas's appearance in its memories. Hearing the crabs' complaints one by one, the centipede gave Silas a glare. Silas, trying to ease the situation, awkwardly tried to smile, showing his teeth like a human. Seeing this, the centipede and even the crabs gave him a weird look, as the smile did not look like a smile at all.

After contemplating for some time, the centipede looked at Silas. Silas gulped, seeing the centipede's eyes staring him down.

"Little guy, bring me to your tribes guardian. I want to meet him" the centipede stated.

Looking at Silas, the centipede easily saw through him, knowing how young he was. The centipede wanted to meet his tribe's guardian to reprimand him about how they unleashed such a pest into its territory and to demand compensation as well.

Silas, who obviously spawned out of nowhere, did not know where his tribe's guardian was.

Seeing how he was unable to answer her question, the centipede sighed as she mumbled, "Obviously a stray."

Silas's mouth twitched a little as he wanted to refute but stayed quiet.

"Okay, here's the deal. I could turn a blind eye to all the things that happened if you can provide appropriate compensation to the noctisnapper tribe and for wasting my time. I won’t ask for much—50 rank 1 nether stones for the crabs and 50 for me, the punishment is light this time because none of the noctisnappers tribe members died and their broken limbs and claws can be regrown after some recuperation"

Hearing this, all the crabs' eyes brightened. Even if they could trade all their produce, they wouldn't be able to gather that much in a decade, and with so much nether stones they could enhance their strength significantly.

But Silas, who heard about the nether stones, was even more confused as he did not know what they were. Should I be left to dig in an underground mine to get this stone? Silas’s face dropped as he thought about how a majestic and prideful lion would be left to grovel in the cave mining.

The events happening today were beyond his understanding. All this while, he had thought these were mere beasts without much intelligence, which had led him to act unscrupulously.

It was a good thing there were no other beasts nearby the other fruits that he had consumed; otherwise, he did not know what they would do to him.

Seeing the obvious confusion, the centipede could guess what was going through his head.