All of them were startled when they heard Ian's words.
Martin, Ruby and others leaned over.
Dean saw that one of the white eggs was affected by the previous battle. It was broken and fluid was flowing out. The color of the fluid was turbid and it was viscous.
A small animal was wrapped in mucus inside the white egg. It was the size of a small human baby. However, it looked very weird as it seemed to be mixture of many beasts. Overall, it looked like a lizard. It had long tail but there were about 8 three-legged calves on its abdomen. There were two bone spurs raising from its spine. There was a small hall in the middle of those spurs. It seemed the monster was using those to breathe.
Its head was triangular and looked similar to a snake's head but much larger. In addition, its body was covered in translucent scales.
Dean's eyes narrowed as he was aware that this creature's body shape was different from silencer's body. Although they saw a silencer in its mature stage which was totally different from its larval stage but there were way too many differences. Moreover, he had seen the larval and cub stage forms of the silencer on the atlas. It was totally different from this little creature.
Martin's face changed as he slowly whispered: “It's not silencer... We have strayed into the nest of another monster.”
"Another monster?" Ruby was startled.
An unknown premonition rushed into Ian's heart as he listened to Martin and stared at the small monster within the white egg. He saw the tail of the curled creature gently move for an instant. It seemed as if it was illusion but he was aware that it moved. He raised his hand and gestured the rest to move back: “It's alive.”
Dean stepped back as he also saw it. He kept his distance with Ian and others to avoid being attacked by them.
Luna's eyes lit up: "This creature isn't recorded in the atlas. Most probably its a new variation! We can get great rewards if we take it back!"
The others were moved by her words.
Martin whispered: "The problem is that we have to figure out why there is a nest of another monster underneath the silencer's nest!? These are not eggs of pecker or bloodgiver unless..."
Ian's face slightly changed: "Unless, it is another monster's nest..."
Martin nodded: "Yes. Don't forget the big guy sleeping above us. If I'm not wrong the that guy had hunted silencer and bloodgiver as a food for its children. Most probably, pecker was fortunate and lucky enough to escape to the foot of the mountain where it met us...”
Ruby, Luna and Rosemary didn't take his words into heart.
Luna looked at him: "Do you mean to say that the big guy sleeping above us is more terrifying than silencer?”
Martin's face was gloomy as he stayed silent.
Ruby retorted: "If it is as you say...Then why is it sleep above but not here? Why would it sleep and let us inside its nest?”
"I'm not sure about that, I can't figure it out." Martin frowned.
Ian pondered: "There may by another possibility. Another monster had dig a nest under the silencer's nest. It would protect its nest via silencer and prevent other monster to hunt its eggs."
Martin and others were surprised.
"Maybe." Martin nodded.
Ruby added: "If it is so then it means that monster will come here again. Could we wait for it and kill it when it comes down? Afterwards, we can chisel the passage out through the trajectory that it came in."
"We won't have to travel from above if that's true." Rosemary replied.
Dean saw that he was sidelined so he added: "Not necessarily.”
"Well?" Ian and others looked at him in wary.
Dean asked: "Why would silencer make its nest above another monster's nest? How could another monster sneak under silencer?"
"This ... ..." Ruby wanted to refute Dean but couldn't find a reasonable answer.
Luna added: "Perhaps, silencer was aware of this but it was killed before it could dig deeper."
"Well, it's possible." Ian nodded.
Dean frowned. Luna's argument didn't have loophole so he couldn't refute. But he couldn't agree with her in his heart. He felt that some kind of information was missing and that was the key.
Martin looked at Ian: "Let's take this little creature and get back to the giant wall.”
Ian nodded and looked at Ruby: "Eat our supplies."
"No problem." Ruby take out his backpack and began to eat everything. He had eaten a lot before the task but everything was consumed in the battle against the pecker.
The sounds of Ruby chewing food echoed in the hot cave.
Ian and others stood and observed the little monster.
Dean was on the other side as he observed the place to check for the missing information. Suddenly, he saw an egg in depth of the nest by the other eggs. It was different from the others.
He took few steps forward and bent over on instinct. He saw that there was a hole on the side of the egg and it was empty.
There was no mucus no monster! Totally empty!
His face turned cold as he shouted in hurry: “Be careful! There is...” He couldn't finish his thoughts as screams interrupted him.