Jake had now realized, though not without frustration, that his Shadow Guide was leading him to the woods full of Digestors that he had fled in extremis earlier. He hoped he wouldn't run into the Slug and his Mosquito minions, because otherwise it would be difficult to save the two women.
There was a real risk that these woods were a lair for these infernal creatures. Perhaps the Slug was just one of many minions out there and had left the woods in the hope of hunting more freely. If that was the case, it was spooky.
He couldn't go back there empty-handed. If the bullets from his assault rifle had limited effect against this giant mollusk, he simply had to take some precautions and appropriate measures.
At the first shrub thick enough to prune a few spears, Jake put himself to work. With his machete sharpened by the Grey Aether, he pruned six spears in less than a minute, then used the remaining scraps to cut a few more pikes.
