Lanek paused on a nearby rooftop as he felt waves of pressure emanating from the monastery behind him. He turned to find Lira glowing brightly, almost too brightly to look at directly. From his vantage point, he was also able to see the devastation caused by Ivan’s explosive runes, but he had expected that as he had assisted in carving many of them for Ivan. However, none of them knew what Lira would be capable once her last node was in place, not even Lira herself.
With a deafening crack of thunder, lightning began arcing down from the clouds striking any of the large spiders that entered the plaza with pinpoint precision. Each strike resulted in the death of not just a single spider, but several score when you counted the carpet of smaller spiders scuttling along.
The lightning rained down rapidly, but Lanek wasn’t concerned about Lira running out of mana or draining the monastery’s reserves. She had been given free reign to drain as much mana as she needed as long as she didn’t didn’t touch the power reserves for the water or defense systems. Considering how linked to those systems she was now that her nodes were connected, she could easily monitor their levels.
However, Lira soon had to change tactics as the main body of the large spiders neared the plaza and the monsters began slipping past her attacks. The energy around Lira began swirling, the lightning strikes now striking her rather than the spiders. Thankfully, she had warned Liv and Ograch to get away from her before preparing this attack.
Lanek watched as more lightning bolts struck the spiders, this time emanating from Lira at a much slower pace than her previous attacks. The violence of this attack more than made up for the slower pace as once these bolts struck their targets, they arced out and passed from enemy to enemy. Whole swathes of spiders fell before these strikes, the spiders unable to dodge the arcs as they were so tightly packed due to their numbers and the crawling swarm of their small kin.
He turned from the display, trusting his people to hold, especially with Lira’s power. The dranrid returned to his advance, launching a salvo as he came within range of the second matriarch, forcing her to focus on him rather than the monastery. The matriarch shrieked at the strike, but not in pain. She was calling forth her own children, two huge tunnels opening in the ground to allow them passage onto the surface.
Lanek regarded the matriarch, feeling her many eyes locked on him and radiating smugness. She believed that he would not be able to stand against her hordes. He could hear them skittering as they neared the tunnel entrance.
Oh, this thing wants to play. Lanek kept his eyes locked onto the matriarch, one hand coming up to launch a concentrated salvo into one of the tunnels, the tight spread ensuring that every one of the 32 projectiles entered the hole in the ground before exploding. As the tunnel collapsed and chimes began pouring in from the System, he raised his other hand in a rather obscene gesture toward the matriarch.
The matriarch screeched, this time in rage, but Lanek was already on the move. As he maneuvered toward the second tunnel he pulled a core from the satchel at his waist and replenished his mana. The first spiders were beginning to exit the tunnel when he launched another salvo, collapsing the tunnel and preventing the monsters from joining the matriarch.
Now that he had her undivided attention and had stopped her horde from joining the fight for the moment, Lanek utilized [Identify]. He hadn’t been able to before due to the distance between them, but with her scuttling toward him, that wasn’t an issue anymore.
Spider Matriarch
lvl 60
The matriarch is the ultimate evolution of her monstrous line, capable of breeding massive hordes as long as enough food is available. When a matriarch moves, it is often in search of food to grow her swarm, which leads to a vicious cycle if she is not stopped quickly. Matriarchs have been known to lay waste to entire kingdoms once their swarms become too much for the local armies to stop. This can then become a threat to neighboring kingdoms as the corpses of the fallen kingdom fuels the swarm’s growth.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The matriarch’s power lies in the coordination and strengthening of her forces. Her mere presence will make the spiders within her range act as a simple extension of her will while also increasing their strength and speed.
Alright, I definitely need to keep those tunnels closed. This is going to be hard enough without her bastard children joining in.
The matriarch’s charge had nearly reached him when he made his move, leaping to her right and rushing along the rooftops. She was fast, but Lanek was faster and it would take her a while to turn to face him due to her massive bulk. As she turned to try to track him, she saw him draw a stone from his pouch and launch it at the nearest leg joint. She couldn’t dodge in time, but the matriarch wouldn’t have bothered if she could have for what threat was a simple stone to something like her?
As it turned out, a significant one. The stone struck the joint perfectly before exploding, the force insufficient to sever the leg but more than powerful enough to breach the chitin. Lanek launched himself at the breach in the matriarch’s armor, slamming his sabre into the soft flesh to hold himself in place while he stabbed as quickly as he could while holding his chain whip as a dagger. He was hoping to inflict poison or bleed status effects, reasoning that even if the matriarch herself was venomous that didn’t mean that she was immune to every single type of poison or venom. Sure, it worked that way in most video games, but nature didn’t typically follow that logic.
While stabbing into the joint, Lanek suddenly felt Kazuma leave his vessel, which was enough of a warning for him to withdraw his blade from the leg and leap away. When he landed on a nearby roof, he saw that Kazuma had intercepted a man-sized spider as it tried to leap on him from behind. The spider lay on the ground, twitching as it died from the numerous tears in its flesh.
Dammit, where did that come from? Is there another tunnel? Did the other matriarch send reinforcements? Lanek thought frantically as he resumed running while ordering Kazuma to take on his mist form and scout the surrounding area for more tunnels. While he ran, Lanek spotted movement within one of the buildings seconds before another jumping spider emerged onto the street and leapt toward him.
He struck it down with Sanguineus’ vessel while traversing the rooftops but received a pulse of warning from Kazuma. Following the direction of the pulse, he found Kazuma standing over another dead spider, this time it had emerged from a different structure. Fuck, it the tunnels are opening up in the buildings, I won’t be able to spot them until the spiders are already out. Only one option, I guess.
Lanek rushed back toward the monastery, but did not return to the building. Once he had exited the area, Lanek stopped to launch a widespread salvo at the buildings around the matriarch. If he couldn’t seal the tunnels directly, he would bury them in rubble. Yes, the monsters could dig themselves out, but it would take time.
Sorry, Lira. Lanek thought as he absorbed another core and launching another pair of salvos. He continued this process three more times until the matriarch was limping with two of her legs shattered from the explosions and the neighborhood reduced to ruins. When he reached for another core, a sharp pain tore through him, centered on his heart. Falling to his knees, he clutched his chest in primal fear. His entire recent life on Earth had revolved around avoiding a heart attack due to his poor health habits, so the pain in his chest triggered a sort of existential dread within him.
He tried to rise to his feet to face the matriarch once again, but his legs would not listen to his commands. Lanek could hear her getting closer, but he couldn’t escape in his current condition. He reached for the core again, absorbing it into his body. His entire body felt like it was on fire, the agony coursing out from his heart, threatening to knock him unconscious.
WARNING. Mana overuse detected. Further use of mana is not advised.
Well, no shit. Not like I have a choice. I can either risk dying from this or let the spider take me, and I’ll be damned if I let the matriarch take me without a fight.
Glaring up at the approaching monstrosity, Lanek screamed in defiance before unleashing his salvos once more. The matriarch recoiled in surprise at the tiny creature’s continued resistance before rushing forward to finish it off once and for all. As she approached, more explosions tore into her and the surrounding area, but Lanek was weakening.
He could barely raise his arms and blood was pouring from his eyes and ears. There was a vibration growing within his body, but in his state he could not tell if it was a hallucination or if it was actually there. A shadow fell over his body, the matriarch having finally closed the distance and raising one of her giant legs to crush him.
Suddenly, she felt her instincts scream at her to move, to run from this creature. However, she had barely had time to register this warning when Lanek’s mouth opened, flames burning in the depths of his throat.
“Game over, bitch.” Lanek’s body burst into flames even as he raised both arms and released two final salvos at point blank range into the matriarch’s soft underbelly.