The world slowed down for Grud as the swarm closed in on him and the lines of hunters beside and behind him. When the first few centipedes came into striking range of the hunters most were speared by the rows of hunters, but unlike most of the beasts they fought so far, the centipedes were tenacious creatures and refused to die to anything less than having their head pierced or caved in.
Grud, who spent two months fighting beasts, especially recently with the increase of pack beasts' attacks, had become very adept at attacking vital areas with his enhanced reaction, speed, and strength.
The same could not be said for his fellow hunters, who did not have enough strength or Grud's metal spearhead to consistently pierce the centipede's carapace, and half of their spear thrusts slid off the smooth and rounded carapace of the centipedes.
The front running centipedes were dispatched but a few of the hunters in the front were already bitten and after a few seconds, they were a trembling mess who was shouting in pain due to the poison of the centipede's bite coursing through their body, they were quickly dragged to the back line and replaced just in time for the next wave of centipedes to clash into their lines.
Learning from the first clash, most of the hunters discarded their spears and took out their stone axes and hammers or used their spears as a staff to bludgeon the incoming centipedes, but unlike other pack predators the hunters had fought so far, the centipedes had no problems crawling on top of their dead or still fighting kin to get to the hunters.
This resulted in most hunters facing multiple centipedes stacked on each other in subsequent clashes, which resulted in more hunters being poisoned and dragged to the back by their fellow hunters.
Seeing that surrounding the cave entrance to battle the centipedes was not a feasible strategy anymore, Chieftain Dhun shouted out orders, "Back lines! Carry the wounded into the woods, we will hold them back and follow you later! The rest of you, fighting retreat!"
Hearing this, Grud stopped concentrating on killing blows and started swinging his spear in wide arcs to knock back any centipedes while retreating slowly.
After buying some time for the wounded to escape, Dhun gave the order, "Break into groups and draw them out!"
As soon as the command was given, all the hunters broke off into groups of three to four and split off in all directions. The moment one centipede started to crawl on top of the other, the hunters would back off and deny the centipedes the ability to stack and swarm the hunter they were attacking.
As for Grud, the swarming tactics were less effective for his group due to his strength and speed, and also because he was in Dhun's group after forming up next to him just before the centipedes started attacking
Together, Grud, Dhun, and two other hunters from the Spirit Moon tribe made short work of the centipedes assaulting them, but regardless of their slaying prowess, Grud's group had to keep pace with the retreat of the groups beside them or risk getting flanked.
This drawing-out tactic took the better part of half an hour before the centipedes disengaged, deciding that their losses were too great, or they had strayed too far from the cave. Either way, it was good news for the tiring hunters who were exhausted.
A quick look around told Grud that a quarter of their number were injured or poisoned with around five deaths that Grud caught sight of as they were fighting, hunters who were not careful or just unlucky being caught and swarmed before other hunters could do anything, but the real casualty count would have to wait until all the groups reunite.
After waiting for a few minutes just in case the centipedes came back for another round, Chieftain Dhun let out a sharp whistle, a few seconds later his whistle was replied with whistles from across the woods
As the groups that were nearby gathered towards Chieftan Dhun, Grud along with any hunter who had knowledge of the healing arts got to work.
"The final count is nine dead, thirty-three poisoned, and five of those poisoned will most likely not last the rest of the day." Grud said as he gave his report to Chieften Dhun. This report was met with a tired sigh from Dhun as he asked, "Is there any way to save the five who are dying?"
Grud nodded, "Maybe…. From what I learned from my shaman training, there are a few types of leaves and flowers that could help fight poisons in general, I already sent some hunters out to gather as much as they can, but the problem is that I do not know what type of poison these centipedes use, it may take me awhile before I am able to narrow down the right herbs to use."
Grud looked down at the men who were seething in pain as they clenched their teeth in agony, 'I have been bitten by a normal centipede before, sure, it was pain and there was swelling, but these men have dark veins showing through their skin from around the bite marks. Those gathers better come back fast.'
Within fifteen minutes, the hunters Grud sent out came back with what they could find from Grud's description of the plants. Not having a mortar and pestle on hand, Grud found a wide, relatively flat rock and another hand size rock and got to pounding on the herbs, leaves, and grasses that came pouring in.
After some testing on those who were poisoned but still coherent enough to answer if they felt the cure was working, Grud found that a combination of Juma Leaf and Spiny Root worked best in neutralizing the poison. Sadly, this was discovered too late, by the time the poultice was applied, two of the five who were dying passed away.
After confirming the remaining three in critical condition were stable, Grud got to preparing more poultices for the centipede poison while other hunters assisted him in getting more ingredients and applying them to the poisoned hunters.
—
Dhun was pissed, eleven were dead and thirty-one were rendered unfit to fight for the near future. 'I should have thought of bringing more shamans or medicine men along on the expedition. If Grud was not around, we would have a lot more dead or still in pain due to the poison.' Dhun thought to himself as he stood around the rough sketch of the Rock Skull tribe's grounds along with the older hunters.
While he was pondering the next course of action, a hunter from the Rock Skull tribe spoke up, "Now that we know how these giant centipedes attack, do you think it is better to attack now? Or do we wait for the main bulk of the tribes to come back us up?"
Dhun rubbed his beard as he thought about it and said, "What are the chances that these giant centipedes are like the normal smaller ones and are more active at night?"
As Dhun looked around while waiting for the input of the gathered hunters, a hunter Dhun recognized as one of those who entered the cave spoke up, "I mean… they were all crowded in that cave when we went in, so it would be a safe guess that they only come out when it is dark."
Dhun hummed a low growl of dissatisfaction, "That means we are going to have to kill these centipedes before dark, and it is already afternoon, we do not know how long before the hunters that were poisoned recover, and even if we left this place now, I do not like the odds of the centipedes not catching up to us."
The hunters around murmured as they nodded in a grim agreement, "We cannot wait for the poisoned to recover. There are less than half of us now but we will need to get this done fast while it is still bright, so unless anyone has any good ideas, lets-"
Before Dhun could finish his sentence, Grud's voice came from behind him, "Emm, I think I have a good idea…." Dhun turned around to see Grud holding up a leaf.
—
Grud was keeping busy by sorting out the different herbs, leaves, and grasses that the hunters had gathered from his description, 'I should have been more specific about what I asked them to collect… well I guess it can't be helped due to the urgency of the situation.' Grud thought to himself as he separated some leaves he recognized, 'Sky Mind leaves, Shaman Dhuk did ask me to keep an eye out for some of this for him whenever possible.'
Seeing this leaf, Grud thought back to when Dhuk introduced smoking these leaves to him during his shaman training in the evening during their travel to the Ancestor Rock, and like the leaf's namesake, Grud felt like his mind was flying through the sky as his vision twisted and turned into captivating shapes and images, but sadly for some reason, when he tried smoking Sky Mind leaves a second time, there was no effect no matter how much he smoked. Still seemed to affect Dhuk though.
Grud was brought out of his thoughts as his enhanced hearing picked up the conversation Chieftain Dhun was having with the other senior hunters.
Hearing the problem they were in got Grud's mind thinking, and as Grud thought of possible solutions for their current predicament, his eyes wandered to the small pile of Sky Mind leaves that looked similar to the Juma leaves he was using in his cure for the centipede poison.
That was when it clicked, 'After Dhuk smokes Sky Mind leaves, his eyes become unfocused, and can barely walk in a straight line, what if….'
Before Gurd could fully think through that thought, he was already making a beeline for Dhun and came up behind him, "Emm, I think I have a good idea…." Dhun turned around to face Grud and then squinted at the leaf he was holding up.
"A Sky Mind leaf? Are you getting high?" Dhun asked with an unamused voice. Grud waved his hands, "Wait, wait, hear me out. The hunters brought me these leaves thinking it was the Juma leaf, But what if we smoked the cave with the Sky Mind leaves?"
Grud saw Dhun cocked his eyebrow in confusion for a couple of seconds, which turned into a predatory smile, "You may be on to something." Dhun said as he looked back to the Sky Mind leaf.