The Messenger Spiders have spared this future city of their Queen for now, acting as her Eyes but have gone unnoticed by the general public. Before long, rodents and small wild predators like stray dogs began to disappear throughout the city without anyone complaining. The cats, on the other fang, were left alone due to being under protection by a dangerous God. If the streets were clean, then why would the food be alert about their situation? What if the streets themselves were clean from the food? One day that would happen, approaching like the noisy locomotive trains that departed to and from this territory’s Kingdom Capital up north.
A certain Messenger Spider’s home suddenly rocked violently as the ground caved in beneath it, making its descent rather uncomfortable as it shot more webs than it had in the past month in order to escape the ongoing collapse. Food screamed and became crushed by the dropping rocky streets, then lay unceremoniously silent. They were not even fit to survive getting crushed from their own concrete.
One of its Seven Gods has caused the collapse, summoned by the Queen from the Mountains. It missed the action! It fumed, but it also suddenly sensed something new and extremely dangerous wandering down in the tunnels. It was like it, but more Savage, one which lurked below and made it shudder. Those Savage Spiders were the Queen’s children, gathering below in the crater. They should be admired for their true closeness to Her, but also avoided since they swelled with too much Pride inherited from their own beloved Queen for the small spider to handle. This humble Messenger Spider decided it would go elsewhere and admire its kin’s work from afar, settling its sight on the Church itself. There it would find something to do and sure enough, none other than the Queen’s Daughter has showed up on the hunt.
It will watch with great interest and pleasure, despite being certain that the Daughter would relay her own report to the Queen.
— Skill: Message activated. Active Memory Fragment Recording::::
Dean of Sharra hobbled between the aisle ways, clutching his glowing crucifix. His forehead was a well of sweat and his robe was drenched with blood. His own. The creature got through his security and even attacked him. He was lucky he planned ahead for an ambush, but how did this happen to him on the night he was supposed to depart back to his home? The one night Brother Yengir goes with that Beast Tamer, the train home gets delayed? Oh, Goddess, he lamented. How could you curse me so? A sudden shifting made the shadows flicker like a candlelight waning in the wind, only there was nothing but the moon illuminating the whole Church. Forgive me!
Dean unleashed a magical beam of Light straight at the shifting shadow.
“The, the, t-the Light’s Convergence compells me to answer your Darkness, fiend! I-I s-shall fear not!”
The ray of light blasted seats and wooden pillars to pieces with ease, consuming a small fraction of his Mana pool. Where were the Saintesses? Blue hair and pointed ears flickered in his ears, as the face of that beautiful half-elf invaded his mind. W-Why did he think of that savage Noble’s servant in times like these? Her blue hair was enchanting and her stern face could be imagined in some kind of soothing type of way… By the Light…!
His plump bum bumped into the altar, lit up by the stars above. The statue resting upon it rattled, startling him.Forgive me Goddess, Dean prayed, but he secretly wished She would save him instead. He wasn’t always this chubby, he swore to no one in particular. Out of shape or not, Dean puffed out his chest. He had enough power and Status to rival even that Church Sage Sara! Ha! Yes, fight me! I’ll—
A thud interrupted his inner pep talk, but be was not afraid anymore!
“By the Law of the Status - you shall be cleansed!” He launched another Light beam at the would-be assassin. His beam struck true, as usual, but he did not see any experience points burst from the body. Horror filled his eyes as the top half of the corpse flipped over in the fading light. It was the Holy Sage Sara’s torn apart face, wide eyed and frozen in her final moments. He didn’t kill her, did he? The Spiders did!
Strands of something soft tickled his neck and he realized his attacker was hanging directly behind him! Light!
He realized the state of the Church’s pews were in shambles, drenched with the blood of his fellow members. Goddess of Light, he felt tired and guilty. Why?
A glint of blue hair swished in the moonlight’s luster, as light steps approached him. It can’t be the Master’s servant…!
“Oh, are you done playing, Mister?”
The subdued voice of a young girl wriggled itself into Dean’s ears, but it was abundantly clear to him that this was not a Human he was about to speak to. Nor was it the half-elf. Tiny steps came out into the light and a beautifully dressed girl emerged, but he felt like hundreds of eyes were upon him simply just looking at her gaze. Everything about this creature was blue, besides her skin and her small sinister smile. He clutched his crucifix tighter, enough for his hands to bleed, as he desperately backed away.
“B-Back, foul beast!” He didn’t want to do this at first, but he was ready to unleash the forbidden Skill that would eliminate all before him. Rot shall end you! Just you wait!
The young girl flicked her hair as she tilted her head. She was assessing him with unblinking eyes. His heart sank. Was she using Appraisal on him? Can monsters be capable of such a thing?
“You have knowledge on the Uralta Seals, Mister. Can you please give it to me?”
Uralta Seals? The scroll’s location was hidden in the network of tunnels between the Statue he bumped into and the Bohun Manor. The ring on his finger would activate the entrance beneath it. This was that Spider posing as a woman at all, he realized. He heard about it from Lord Alland! Appraisal Skills and Magic was Brother Yengir’s specialty, but Dean could also pull off a few tricks. He wasn’t so useless even at this age.
“Oh, Goddess,” he prayed. “Do not forsake me, I beg thee!”
— Skill: Appraisal activated.
The green bolt jabbed its way through the fake girl’s body, indicating that the spell worked. Reveal to me your weakness!
— Aqua, level 15
Class: Arachne [Legendary]
A Part of Charlotte’s Brood
Buffs: Perfectly Ultimate, Death-Distortion Touch, Immune to Holy, Basic, and Body Elements, Presence of the Divine Spider Queen, Savage III, Chaos Infused, Irregular, Space Stone’s Protection
No weaknesses detected.
Appraisal has been blocked!
“C-Charlotte’s brood…!” Dean has never heard of a Arachne, but that Legendary tag spelled doom despite its low level. Charlotte was that bastard child of Lord Bohun! Could it be that she is a…! The buff list was beginning to wear his mental state down, but the charms in his pockets helped him remain calm.
“Ah, so you found out, Mister,” the monster known as Aqua commented. Dean bumped into something immovable. His back was against the wall. “And now I know where the scroll is! Thanks, Mister!”
She seemed childlike in her brief happiness, but paused. Her eyes changed from blue to gold, as blue webs suddenly surrounded him and the girl. His Appraisal magic he forgot yo deactivate revealed to him that they were laced with Chaos Element’s destructive energy.
“Let me go!” Dean begged it. He had to buy time in order to launch his Rot Attack.
“But I can’t let you go,” Aqua shifted in a small confusion.
“Why not?” Dean questioned it. “I-I’ll not tell a soul! I swear!”
“If I do Mother would be upset,” Aqua seemed to contemplate his lie seriously. “You really won’t?”
“T-That’s right, little girl,” Dean felt a sliver of hope shine upon him like the moonlight between the blue strands. His palms glowed, illuminating his bloody crucifix in a gold aura. His beloved Goddess really had his back! “Praise be! Skill: Rot Blast!”
The laser will smite this devil Witch apart, and he will join the ranks of the Witch Slayers. He will— He realized his world was splitting apart into individual slices and not the other way around caused by the moonlight. His magic was not going? He couldn’t move anything! What was happening to him? He suddenly saw his own body from behind, falling into small perfectly cut cubes to the ground. Razor sharp, tiny strands of Chaos magic infused webs chopping his vision and body apart were the last things he saw. Aqua looked at the meal she sliced up and plucked the ring off his corpse’s fingers without another word, leaving the Messenger Spider a nice plump meal to snack on. Surely the Arachne overlord wouldn’t mind if it did some cleaning, right?
— The Recorded Memory Fragment has ended.
Well, with that notification aside, I was no longer surprised that the Church had a secret pathway and tunnels under the city! I am expecting them to have all manner of secret areas by now! What was surprising to me, however, was the massive jet black head hologram of the Spider filling this entire room! Its body was hidden, but it must be even bigger! This big fuzzy-but-not-actually-fuzzy Fuzzy Butt was supposed to be me? I nervously turned around and noticed that the human noble ladies were not dead. A double surprise! They were staring at it, taken over by what must be an overwhelming sense of fear. Yes, fear me and die, you foolish Dark Arts practicing cretins!
“It’s… You’re…” Lady Mei’s voice faltered. Her Mana Pool was at 25%, which must mean she was on the brink of collapse! The hologram faded away, but the burning red skull on its head was the last to disappear.
“Amazing,” Reya said in awe, catching her friend. She passed out casting that little smoke show?
A triple surprise attack!?
“I uh,” I reeled. What do I even say?! O Wisdom, O Geer’Sha! “I’m not sure that the Dark Arts even—“
“You’re the Spider Queen, aren’t you? The Witch of the Old Way!” The girls were gathering a bit to close, but they were not afraid like I thought. “We’ve read about the Spiders awhile ago, but still! That’s so… Cool!”
Eh? Mei, who seemingly wasn’t passed out all along, raised her hand in a thumbs up gesture of approval while leaning back on Reya. The girls were circling me? I watched Red Dress stand up and smile at me.
“Now, ladies,” She said ominously. I liked the spooky atmosphere, but I wasn’t sure what was happening until she spoke again. “We can now start the next step in our Dark Arts Advancement! We can begin a cult! With you at the center!”
I peered down, noticing that I was in the middle of the smoking pentagram used in the ritual. A cult of my own, huh? Humans worshipping a Demon Lord has been a thing in my old realm, but they were usually persecuted and hunted down by the other Humans. Yet, a strange tingling sensation filtered into me as the girls were kneeling and doing whatever cult things they planned on doing. Human allies seemed peculiar or highly specific, but these seemed willing. Perhaps I could use one of these for a Pact?
“This is, well, a lot for me,” I pretended. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
“We’ll spread the word, but you must be careful!” Reya clutched my arm with red eyes full of concern. “We are but a humble cult for now, but even then, the flames can start! Lie low, Witch Charlotte, for now. We’ll seek you out when we can play again!”
— The targets’ Faith in you has increased, granting them bonus Stats and increasing your Divinity.
— The Divine Spider Queen’s influence grows.
— Coven: Charlotte’s Fan Club has been established.
What kind of name is that? That doesn’t sound like a menacing cult name! Whatever, I supposed that was the tingling sensation I got. Covens and cults, what’s the difference if not the levels of Faith they have? Was this a good thing for the Spider’s plans? I departed, wondering if Aqua has found the scroll depicting the Ward Spell’s inner workings. I hadn’t heard from Hailey, but based off of her terrifying stats I assumed she was busy slaughtering the Bohun-Leonreim coalition. Ah, yes, I see it now. Weaken Father’s army, then swoop in and take this town for the Spiders. No, we’ll be taking this whole territory! If I don’t have a Height of my own, I will…
— A̶̧̡̰͕͉̝̘̫̾̔̂̾̃̓͘͜ S̸̢̖̀̽͗̏̽̾͘͠ C ̵̜̠̱͉̯͍̄̒͑̇̃̽͋̎̈́̈́͝É̴̠̤̦͍̦̯͖͐͑̊̚͜͜͜͝ͅ N ̴̧̢̜̤̮̲̙͍̭̺̹̻̤͉̒͒͗͒̈́͗̚D̷̥͚̳͈͎̤̲̬̥̱̬̼͇̳͛͌͋͝͝ —
Yeah, that’s right. I will ascend in my own way, Wisdom! With the help of the Spiders, a few Heretics and now this little band of strange human women, of course. We could really get somewhere! Perhaps this was what the Pride’s Attitude Improvement has done to me. I felt more focused and —ugh— optimistic now, but with this newfound confidence I realized that it was way more easier to think and talk than actually do. Humans were designed by the Goddess to survive a lot, be hard to squash and persist through tough times. I might have the Forest for now, but I’ll have to regroup and find out what the Fuzzy Butts are up to. I peeked around and noticed there were a few bobbing lights in the distance held by humans passing by.
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Curses! I can’t cackle now, I would look ridiculous!
— Wisdom’s Intervention activated. You always look ridiculous.
Shut it! I scowled at the screen. That’s it! I shall tell Father I’m departing to the Leonreims immediately! A new screen flashed in my mind. It was a message from Aqua! A Scroll appeared inside it, like my own Spellpages, but as I reached to inspect it a droplet of congealed magic splashed out from it on my palm. Runes? I lifted my hand and looked at the blob more closely. These seemed more like…
— Wisdom’s Intervention activated. Analysis completed. This magical construct has been revealed to be and registered as a manas codex. This matter interacts directly with the System itself, instead of being a byproduct of Runes released into the Material World from a deployed Skill or Spell. The Scroll itself appears to be a list of recorded observations made by an entity that simply labeled itself as “S.” None of this information is relevant for the User, but this codex appears to be 1 out of 8 nodes of an unknown [Error: %Missing Information%] construct. Collecting more of these maba codices will improve the following Skill, that I was able to extract from the Scroll.
— Skill: Light’s Deconstruction [Origin] obtained from the Mana Codex [1/8]. Allows the user to manipulate the Light Runes of Wards and Seals at a great Mana Cost.
Change of plans, I supposed. I am going to test this baby out on the ward blocking the Uralta Seal before I depart to Tiltoast! Wisdom was right, though. The Magic Codex thingy that was the Scroll confused me, but I had high hopes that she was explaining it to me in the least confusing terms!
Activating Mage Link was quite useful now, since my evolution has improved a lot of things on the side! I could see a lot further and didn’t get a headache while doing so! And all it took was slaughtering a bunch of Nobles (skipping over the fact that my own fuzzy butt killed me, of course) ! Still, I worried as my steps rivaled the falling raindrops in noise. I felt like a lot of details were missing since I died in the middle of evolving and I haven’t been able to sit down and look at it all properly. The dark and ominous runes pooled at the edge of the street I was on, surrounded by the screaming Light Runes from the Church member’s Wards. They seemed weaker now, but I figured that was because a lot of them died tonight. Maybe the guy in charge of the Ward got killed in the middle of the fights.
“Watch it!” Someone yelled at me.
“No,” I simply told him with a smile. The man I bumped into fainted as he succumbed to the debuffs I gave him.
The ruins were unguarded, except for the Wards put up by the Church members. I tapped the barrier, noting that it was simply a stronger version of the Wards that Green Dress used on me for her prank. Well, Wisdom, all I have to do is use this Skill, right? I pulled out a mana potion out of my bag. The Quick Slots had my wand and the bottle that Marine entered, but I forgot I needed to get my broom in here as well! I could zoom out in case the dark Runes were up to no good. I’ll retrieve it from Father’s Manor after this. Then again, I grinned as I laid my free hand on the flat buzzing Ward’s barrier. I am also up to no good.
— Skill: Light’s Deconstruction activated.
Instead emanating prismatic and pretty bubbles that a Light elemental Skill would normally manifest while activated, a red jagged web wrapped around my arm from my shoulder and pierced the barrier, looking like silky embroidery if it wasn’t so prickly. I felt fatigued and taking a step through the barrier was taxing, so I quickly drank the mana potion. You weren’t kidding about that, Wisdom, I sighed.
Something was off about this place and it came to the attention of my ears first. The Ward surrounded a circular monolith in the center of these ruins, while many stones shaped like fingers jutted out of the dirt. The finger statues were not growing out of the ground, I guessed as I inspected a shattered one. Grass was underneath where it fell from. My ears were picking up something odd. Crying? I noticed someone or something had its eyes on me, but I didn’t know what.
— Spiritual lifeforms detected. Beware of ambushes.
Eh? A glow caught my eye and as I turned, a statue’s gaping jaw was upon me.
“You weren’t this close when I first came here,” I rebuked it, leaning against the tip of the stone Finger. Its visage was that of a woman with big bird wings, with an elongated jaw and sharp teeth. Blood, or a red liquid, drained out of its eyes despite the thing being a statue. Audible weeping came from it. “Weeping… Angel? Cute.”
Another blood curdling shriek came rushing to my right side, but a single Light Skill tore it to pieces while I held the first Weeping Angel’s gaze. It appeared that these Spiritual Lifeforms only moved while I wasn’t looking directly at them. A gimmick that would make one inferior to me scared, but they were quite loud. One by one, more pitiful screaming creatures charged at me, but they were not strong enough to persist through my own spells.
Each exploded in bloody chunks of rock, shattering like broken vases spilling flowery organs and pottery on the grass. Too easy! Soon, the ruins were silent again except for the crying one I held in my sinister and totally all powerful gaze! I noticed smaller human body parts were sloshing out of them. That’s odd, I thought as I snapped my attention back to the first Weeping Angel to lock her in place again. Who beat me to the Scroll? Did the Owl Circle get here already? And they didn’t even need a Scroll?
“I promise the One you’re guarding no harm,” I told the bleeding statue. “If he’s in there, that is. Can you understand me?”
The statue’s jaw quivered, but the rest of it remained unmoving even amongst the piles of broken pieces that used to be its friends. The bell tolled over the city, indicating that the sun was going to rise soon. As my eyes shifted ever so slightly towards the noise, the Weeping Angel lunged at me.
“Ah, ah, ah! Bad statue!” I poked her nose with the handle of my wand, the Ocean of Death. Her bloody teeth were almost about to bite my head. “I guess since you don’t want to cooperate I’ll just have to restrain you somehow. Go Webs! Go!”
I attempted to wrap my webs gently around the stony creature, but as soon as I broke eye contact it sliced itself apart while rushing at me. More blood splotched my skin and hair. I felt strangely guilty for breaking the One’s little toys. I wanted to save one for further experiments. Such statues could be used for additional security in the labyrinth, but I supposed it would have to wait. For now, the Uralta Seal’s entrance awaited me with a mechanism indent on its door. It was shaped like a hand, but I analyzed it with Mage Link first. A small inscription notified me in my Status.
— This requires a bloody finger to open. If one dares to open me, I shall take the trespasser’s finger instead.
Well, I’m glad I checked first. Losing a finger would hurt, and also it’s rude to bite those! I scolded the inanimate hand slot in my mind. The Statues were full of body parts, presumably belonging to the victims of those Weeping Angels so I decided if it just was hungry for a finger it didn’t mind who it belonged to. I was bound to find one amongst the bloody messes somewhere, right? I stood over a pile of blood soaked stones and found one. A hand sat in the middle of the puddle — a small lonely island of flesh.
I picked it up and it made a satisfying pop as I snapped the index finger off. This’ll do.
— Erickson’s Severed Finger acquired.
Eh? The tomato-thrower got in here? Come to think about it, he was the one who sent Twig’s invitation to me first. This must mean that they somehow got in here and became food for the Statues! Does that mean Twig is in the middle of all of this sloshing soup? He was a lot more stealthy than the run of the mill human, but it could be a possibility. No matter! I marched up to the hand— well, finger— slot. Searching through a gooey mess was not something I was up to right now! Open wide, O finger eating door!
The slot suddenly opened an additional slit in the middle of its indent, surprising me. A slit within a slot?! Who thinks of that? A beam of light scanned the severed finger of Erickson, then suddenly the finger vanished from my hand.
— COME, O’ CHILD, THE FORBIDDEN ONE. LET US TALK. —
If a normal person heard a spooky voice like that before entering a dark pit they would turn around, I thought at the notification. You really have to work on your hospitality! You’re lucky I’m not a normal person— I had to break a bunch of your furniture just to get here, Mister! I took a breath, realizing that the air stunk and tasted funny, and continued my march.
The room opened up into an open tomb, with an odd circular disk lying in the center below the spiraling stairs that snaked along the walls. Odd lights illuminated thin lines etched into the ground, traveling up into odd magical circuits on the disk. A corpse was lying on top of it, and seemed to be the object all the magical traces were traveling to. Wait a minute, I stared at it as my feet found solid ground from the stairs.
“Twig?” I looked at him. His face looked dead or he was good at pretending to be. I poked him, but he slumped over again. Definitely dead, I sighed. “I assume you’re the One who killed my toy?”
The magical circuitry whirred as they slipped inside of the corpse, bringing Twig to life but I knew it wasn’t actually him inside it any longer.
“O, why the long face, Charlotte?” Twig-Who-Is-Not-Twig spoke to me softly. “Was this vessel’s former owner and you close? He is no longer here — his is soul lost within the walls of this seal forever. This body has been given to Me. I hope you shall be at peace with that, Forbidden One.”
“Nope,” I pouted.
I was upset, truth to be told, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. Like losing a beloved doll, I supposed, a childhood lost too early stung as long as you were a child. Or something. Was this grief? The Twig Imposter simply stared blankly at me, devoid of anything that the old Twig would do.
“So what are we going to talk about?” I asked it. “You are the One, I presume?”
Swirls of ghostly cyan leaked out of the One’s eyes as he smiled. Now that was weird, I suppressed a groan. At least I know how it feels like when I smile, I supposed.
“I have come to bestow upon thee history, upon the Wishbringer’s request before I pass from this world completely.”
”Well, let’s hear it, then,” I sighed, noticing a new alert popping up in my mind.
— Skill: Distress Call activated, but was cut short. Active Memory Fragment Recording::::
Brother Yengir moved along stoically, his fists covered in Spider acid. The Light was with him, always, and for this reason the acid did not harm his flesh. The S Ranked Adventurer, Balaris of Sharra, slashed off blood from his blade. After noticing Yengir looking at him, he grinned and his fangs showed. For a Human, he appeared to be more beastly than civilized, but the Goddess granted him the Beast Tamer class.
“Was that one not strong enough, Master Balaris?” Brother Yengir asked. With a swipe of his hand, he revealed his Status. The translucent screen floated before them, and Yengir waited patiently for the beast human to speak.
“It was, but,” he laughed. “You and I make too much of a good team.”
“A-Apologies,” Yengir sighed. They have been hunting the level 50 Spider Assassin for a few hours, but upon inspecting its partially destroyed body he did not see any Pink Stripes on it. More squeaking and hissing reverberated from the brush, sending them on full alert.
“Rowan’s about to fly back anytime, now,” Balaris remarked. “I guess I’ll have to scoop up a Worker. For the Light’s work, of course. It’s a temporary position.”
The Status revealed his seventh Tamed Beast slot, which was empty.
“The damned snake was killed in action,” he scoffed as they moved through the forest.
“T-That would mean…” Yengir stammered. That monster was high leveled and had an Assassin Class. Balaris stopped, so the monk did as well. His ears twitched for a moment, as if he was listening to someone speak though Yengir could not detect who.
“Yes, that devil-child killed my useless snake,” Balaris sighed. “Fear not, your Honor, for I have stronger ones in my arsenal.”
A huge winged beast descended upon him, making Yengir flinch. The Killer Bat simply perched on the Beast Tamer’s powerful arm, making unintelligible screeches. Master Balaris nodded and activated a Skill that enveloped the Killer Bat in mist. To his relief, the monster disappeared.
“A Demonic Beast?” Yengir looked at him suspiciously. He grinned.
“A rare one,” He laughed. “I found him near the Gilded Forbidden Lands. Must have been a remnant from that blast. He had an ugly name already, Frampton or whatsit, but I replaced it with Rowan. It’s a more fun name, huh? Anyways, there’s a Worker up ahead. Careful, though. They’re usually not alone.”
“I’m ready,” Brother Yengir nodded.
They came upon the beast facing away out in the clearing, but immediately a sense of wrongness overwhelmed him the moment he set his eyes upon it. Balaris must have felt it too, since he raised his hand as a caution. The thing was a Worker Spider, however, beyond its ominous chittering and fang tapping, was its blue stripes glowing brightly in defiance to the night surrounding it. There was not only a Pink swarm roaming around, but now this… Blue Swarm?
The Spider hissed and Yengir’s throat tightened. It detected them? Instead of attacking, the Worker Spider turned to them and made an odd motion with its front legs. It was waving at them? The Spider awaited for them to do something, but suddenly vanished in a teleportation Skill, but that was the least surprising thing about the blue Spider.
“By the Goddess,” Balaris breathed. “It wanted us to see it.”
Yengir was not listening to the Adventurer, but instead he was gawking at what he just apraised.
— Nameless, level 60
Classes:
UNKNOWN UNKNOWN
Dream Constructed Spider of Marine
UNKNOWN
O PRYING EYES, DO YOU DREAM OF BLOOD?
Yengir’s head swam as he pulled out the Appraisal Skill. What was this creature? It had an impossible level…! It was almost as if it was speaking to him! Something blinded his vision and for some reason, his ears sharpened. A voice? A notification flashed in his vision without a warning?
— BEHIND YOU!
“Look out!” Yengir called out. The woods behind them thundered as they crashed. The large body of the Spider Soldier responsible for the destruction came down upon them at incredible speeds. Behind it, dozens of brown Spider Workers scuttled by into a burrow. He turned to Balaris, who had a wicked grin on his face. “It’s protecting the Workers.”
— Nameless, level 40
Class: Spider Soldier [Uncommon]
Buff: Blessing of Geer’Sha, Powerful Friends, Giant, Unstoppable, Savage I
“Screw the Workers,” he laughed. “This one will do.”
“I’m with you, Master Balaris,” Yengir charged his fists full of Light. The Spider Soldier sized them up, but they remained steadfast in the wake of its train sized legs stamping the ground.
“Good!” Balaris activated a Beast Summoning Skill. “Get him low, Elias!”
The Beast Summoning Skill released a spell circle, ripping a hole in reality as the Cat monster Elias hissed. It was half as large as the Soldier, but more agile. It was meant to distract the target as it pounced on the Spider, so Yengir moved in with a leap of his own.
“[Falling Wind Strikes]!” Yengir’s breath and fists left a trail of Wind runes as the Soldier stood tall. It hissed, crushing Elias and moved its body to defend. Yengir pulled back, realizing it was planning a counterattack and sure enough, a fang from above him nearly fell like a lightning bolt upon where he would have struck. Why is it intelligent enough to change tactics instead of charging at him?
“Elias!” Balaris cried out. He was speaking to the mush on the ground where the spotted cat used to be, but instead of crying he readied another Summon. “You’ll pay for this! Come to me, Calba!”
The ground shook and a roar echoed louder than the Soldier’s hissing. It still stood tall, readying another charge. Its fangs were disgusting, wriggling as they swung at Yengir. He couldn’t block against them and since it was Unstoppable, he could only hope that whatever Calba was could lower its life enough for them to capture it.
The silhouette of torn up wings blotted out the moonlight as Calba descended upon them. This Adventurer tamed a Golden Wyvern! He marveled for a moment, but he heard him shouting over the beast’s beating wings.
“Look out, Your Honor!” Balaris called out. Yengir knew what he had to do.
“[Wind Kicks]!” His foot came in contact with the Soldier’s swinging fang as it advanced towards him, letting him get enough momentum to launch himself out of the blast zone.
Calba unleashed a Wind Ray, slicing half of the Soldier’s legs off. As the Wyvern pounced on the Soldier, it glared at Yengir defiantly. Was it going to attack him? A low growl shook the ground, but Balaris released the Skill just in time before Calba lunged at him.
“Sorry about that,” he helped the Prelate up. “I try not to use him often, since he’s almost my level.”
“It’s no problem, Master Balaris, but,” he glanced at the struggling Soldier. It was in a pitiful state, gurgling out nasty acid as it whimpered. “We weakened it too much, no?”
“Eh, we can always try again later,” Balaris moved to stab its head, but stopped. Brother Yengir was used to that look by now — the Adventurer was speaking directly to the Spider. His face scrunched into an odd disdain, then confusion as he turned to Yengir. “Say, what was that bastard child of Bohun’s name again?”
“Hmm?” Yengir scrolled through the list of Appraised Children in his head, stopping upon the ominous devil child’s name. “Her name is Charlotte Bohun.”
A slight grin marred the Adventurer’s face as he stabbed the Spider.
“It said her name,” he slashed the blood off of his blade before sheathing it. “O Queen Charlotte, deliver us.”
Realization fell upon the Brother and the Adventurer at the Spider’s final words.
“We must tell Lord Bohun this at once.”