Shiny metal legs, sleek and elegant, were making their way with well-timed and rhythmic steps. Unchallenged and unposed, almost as if gliding through the terrain, the spidery citadel was speeding smoothly towards the Holy Empire’s border. The citadel proper was staffed with a surprising amount of fresh Aurelian recruits. Awed and inspired by the Spidery Magnificence of the Giant ‘ENEMY’ Spider humans flocked in hordes to sign themselves up for the war effort. Well, perhaps they sought the thrill of riding inside the massive spider, or perhaps they wanted a piece of glory which undoubtedly would soon follow.
The citadel wasn’t the only place to house fresh ‘guests’. There in the spidery head, the command centre, a bunch of unique individuals had gathered around the screen.
One of them was undeniably an angel. She was radiant and beautiful, her blond hair was hanging loosely behind her back touching the pristine white feathers of her wings. Her toned body was draped with a light pure white tunic. A woman like her seemed out of place in an otherwise dark and spidery place like this. Yet, she smiled like an adolescent girl on her favourite ride. Her hand was clutching the hilt of her sheafed blade at her side with anticipation; she was positively giddy with excitement.
Another one was a spider with considerable authority. His broad and tall spidery figure was draped in expensive clothing decorated with gems and golden thread. As if it was not enough, thick golden chains hung loosely from his neck. The chains were layered upon each other and there were so many you could consider the set as a type of chainmail. The spider wasn’t exactly an angel, but he was just as shiny if not more; he was known as Lord G Bling.
Right next to the spider was his wife, Lady Crimson. She was petite and elegant, and extremely good-looking, that is if you liked fiery-looking women. Everything about her was hot and fiery: her dress, her long hair, her eyes. From afar it was possible to confuse her with a burning flame because, no doubt, her favourite colour was red. But despite her blazing appearance, if you looked carefully, you would notice that her face was soft and her smile, even if faint, was welcoming.
In her hands, was a tightly wrapped bundle. And in the bundle was her newborn child, but also the future of the Aurelian Dutchy. The first ever individual born from the union of a spider and human, and according to the System her race was Aranea – not quite a spider but not a human either. She had the iconic four yellow spider eyes and a set of tiny mandibles, yet she only had two legs and arms just like a human would, on her head was a tuft of fiery red hair, and while there was some obsidian chitin on her body, most of it was your usual skin; indeed she was a wild blend of the two, a human and a spider.
The named commander of the spidery citadel, the Chaos Queen, eyed her guests with curiosity, after all, all four were rather unique and interesting in their own way. And while yes, she was a commander here, the adults however were the ones making the next set of decisions; or advicing as they put it themselves.
“With this fortress, we shall have no problem in breaching the Imperial Walls.” Lord G Bling alluded to the defensive wall the Empire had hastily erected on the entirety of the border with Earth magic.
Elisabeth, the Radiant Angel, fluttered her wings excitedly. “The wall was never an issue for the spiders, nor me for that matter. But a hole for the rest of Aurelian troops to pour in will be appreciated.”
“So I guess, we’re going on offence?” Lady Crimson asked while rocking her baby ever so slightly, a wicked smile flashed across her face. “High time to test my newest brew…” She paused dramatically and looked at everyone. “Searining Concoction of Ruinuos Consuming Hell – SCORCH!!!”
“Searing Con… Conc… SCORCH!!!” Chaos Queen exclaimed with sparkling eyes of excitement.
“That sounds menacing…” Elisabeth shuddered. “With this spidery fortress, do we even need that?”
“We do.” The Lord G Bling chirped matter of factly. “We’re projecting power here. The more the better.”
“Yeah, that will teach the Empire not to mess with us. Ha-ha-ha!” Lady Crimson cackled maniacly.
“Hee-hee-hee!” The baby laughed clacking her mandibles clearly also in approval.
“Hmm…” The angel cupped her chin thoughtfully. “If it is so, then shall I bless the attack potions with my Bless?”
“Bless?” Lord G Bling questioned curious.
Elisabeth smiled proudly. “A new perk I’ve acquired only recently. It sort of enchants the item giving it a boost in power. Just like this.” She pulled her sword out of the sheaf. “[Bless]”, it glowed in brilliant... Darkness.
“Oh!”, “Ah!”, “I see!”, the observers clapped at the spectacle approvingly.
“The SCORCH ammo I’ve prepared is stored in the warehouse. The one next to the main cannons.” Lady Crimson turned to look through the screen. “If you want to help, I suggest you hurry up.”
Elisabeth looked at it also. “We’re already here? It’s way too quick. Where is the warehouse?” She asked slightly in a panic.
“I’ll show you.” The nearby spider offered helpfully and ran towards a hole.
The spider helper was of a little spider variant and fit through the spidery hole with no problem. The same couldn’t be said about the angel.
“My wings! I got stuck!”
It was not the wings which were in the way, but no one said anything to correct the angel.
“I’ll help.” Chaos Queen slithered to help. “[Tail Swipe]!”
*Smack*, “Ahh! My rear!”
Despite all the shouting, surprisingly it worked and the angel was inside the spidery hole, which actually was an express spidery slide to the spidery warehouse.
“Ahhh!!!” Elisabeth shouted, the scream grew quieter with each passing second until it disappeared.
“Look.” Lord G Bling pointed at the screen. “I can see Aurelius and his men. We should stop and pick them up.” He looked at the nearby control panel. “What button was it again?”
“I’ll help!” Chaos Queen slithered to a wall with many levers and many buttons.
Expertly so, she lowered one lever and then another, and then slammed a combination of buttons.
“Are you pressing them at random?” Lord G Bling questioned.
“No! SSS!”
Perhaps she was, regardless of such truths, the spider stopped.
…
Elisabeth was back in the control centre, she was sweaty and her feathers were ruffled.
“It seems I’ve made it!” She brushed with her hand to straighten her wings.
“Chaos Blessed?” The Chaos Queen hissed out in puzzlement only to be ignored completely.
“I guess, we could have given you more time. But the shock factor wouldn't be the same.” Lord G Bling noted.
“…” Duke Aurelius simply nodded. He had been here for a good hour already yet he was awfully silent the entire time.
“Did you get the Aurelian Army inside?” The spider asked.
“…” Nod.
“All of them?”
“…” Nod.
“Then, we shall open this with a bang.” Lord G Bling looked at the Chaos Queen meaningfully.
“Deadly Laser!” She slammed a rather large button with all of her might.
Duke Aurelius perked up at the name of the weapon and he wobbled closer to the screen to see what it would do.
“…”
Nothing happened of course, not yet, both Aurelius and Elisabeth looked at the juvenile chaos lamia with ‘???’ clear on their faces.
Meanwhile, the laser finished powering up. The Chaos Queen grinned at the confused two. “S-s-s! [Deadly Laser]!” A button was slammed again.
A blinding flash reached the screen first and then it was followed by the sound of an explosion.
“Wow!”
“…”
“S-s-s!”
And the little Aranea girl clapped at the show of lights.
And that was that, but there were more. The thing was that the Giant ‘ENEMY’ Spider could simply walk over the puny imperial wall and then deposit the Aurelian Army further away for the assault on the fortress. Just so a single shot was wasted, yes, but It was done to strike fear into the nearby humans; this was done to show a tiny fraction of its power.
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Now the Imperials knew what was coming, it was an ENEMY they couldn’t even begin dreaming of defeating. And it had laser weapons!
…
Even before a deadly attack had yet to strike the wall, panicked shouts had spread through the defensive wall like wildfire!
“Monster!”
“Calamity!”
“Calamity!”
“Giant ‘ENEMY’ Spider.” A scout on the watchtower identified correctly. “How are we even…”
Everyone was already trembling at the monstrous sight. This wasn’t something a mere mortals could defeat!
“Pull yourselves!” A nearby Paladin shouted activating his Leadership skill.
The commanders all over, they all used similar skills to keep the levied men from routing.
The paladin entrusted with the defence of the wall raised his bright glowing sword with authority.
“We humans, we stand united against this Calamity. It is one against many, we have the upper hand here! And remember, with the guidance of the Holy Light we can do this! It is because the Light always triumphs over the Dark! [Bolster], [Morale Boost]! We’ll make sure the ENEMY won’t make a single step past this wall!”
“Yeah!” The men roared in unison.
They were frightened no more, they would face this giant monster, and as always, they would come victorious.
“Yeah!” They roared again.
That was then, *Explosion*, the paladin commander was violently ripped out of his feat and thrown into the air. He spun in the air wildly, his vision was filled with flying bricks and parts of his comrades. By some wicked stroke of luck, he landed whole atop the freshly strewn bricks. The only thing that saved him was not his gear, which was straight out of the Holy Emperor's treasure vault mind you, but the vitality he gained by maxing the level of his class, Paladin lvl 10.
He stood up still hearing an awful ring in his ears. His eyes landed on a massive crater where the wall should be. “How am I even alive?” The destruction was devastating, and the casualties… well it’s best if he didn’t dwell on those.
He gripped the HolyLight Sword, a treasure entrusted to him to deal with the threats exactly like this. Well, this ‘threat’ was exceptionally big, but he believed that if he pressed hard enough he should be able to take at least a leg before he died. The ENEMY was approaching the hole in the wall rapidly so to oppose the menace he gripped his divine grade weapon tighter.
“Huh?” Something didn’t feel quite right.
The hilt he held so tightly crumpled in his grip and the blade itself shattered on the ground into many pieces.
“Huh!!!” Divine grade items were indestructible! “What is going on?” He struggled to understand.
That was when he realised, that his otherwise enchanted armour held none of the previous enchantments. It seems that the explosion had a devastating side effect; the enchantments were rendered broken!
The spider was already at the crater and then it simply stepped over it and the rest of the wall. Whoever was still alive, and with their enchantments still in place, fired a bunch of magic or arrows at the spider, yet they did exactly 0 damage to it. Go figure!
“[Dodge]” the paladin did a heavy roll to a side, barely dodging a massive metal leg of the spider.
He was right under the monstrosity, at its belly where the monsters would be at their weakest. Only then did he realise the sheer size of it, and the fact, that there was no weakness. The underside of the massive spider was lined with many turrets, each manned by either a spider or one of the corrupted humans.
He froze feeling the attention of the turrets. He knew what would come next…
“[Scorch]!” A distant voice rang from one of the turrets.
And soon… it was over.
…
No one expected the wall to fall so quickly, yet it fell. A sound of alarm was sounded telling the men to flee to the defensive fortress. It was erected here precisely to counter threats like this. The fortress here had a defensive magical barrier, and not a shabby kind, it was the same as in the Holy Capital itself, the Celestial Forcefield. It was known to be impenetrable. Even better, it was possible to make attacks from the inside of the barrier!
The Imperials rushed to fill their post in the fortress. The Archers would fire their arrows, the Mages their spells, and the Engineers would use their war machines; eventually, they would chip away that scary-scary health pool of 1,000,000 HP! – that was the plan.
The spider citadel approached the fortress foolishly, getting right into the striking range of the mages. A plethora of elemental attacks rained on the spider. However, in equal numbers, the creatures nesting inside the spider fired their Dark spells. The magic projectiles collided in the air shaking it with multicoloured explosions, however, most of the magic made it past each other. The imperial magic found its target successfully while the spidery magic pittered out at the imperial barrier.
The Enemy took damage, albeit only the slightest amount, yet it was the hope the Holy Empire needed. If it’s HP dropped it meant that it could be defeated, and with Celestial Forcefield in place, they will do just so!
The giant spider opened its mouth as if in anger, and a huge cannon emerged from its mouth.
The barrier will protect them! There was nothing to fear!
“Slay the monster! End the calamity!” The Imperial Mage Corps leader pointed. “The barrier will protect us! Attack!” He spurred his men.
A beam of purple light shot out of the Enemy’s mouth and collided with the barrier. A folly! An act of desperation!
“Ha!” The leader mocked the futile attempt. “…” but… the barrier... “The barrier?! It shattered!!!” He shouted out in disbelief.
Something impossible had happened, and the Terror was back in everyone's faces. Yet, not everything was lost, the walls were here, and so were the towers, and the mages and the archers. They still could fight and they will.
“It seems its main attack needs time to recharge!” and if so… “We need to take it down before it does!” He commanded.
Spurred by desperation the attack mages fired their bolts with increased vigour, and others blocked the incoming Dark Bolts with hastily erected Barriers.
It was a stalemate almost! Until…
“[Scorch]!” A thunderous amalgamation of voices reached the distant tower he was in.
The Imperial Mage Corps leader looked trying to detect magic, yet it was a physical attack of sorts. To accompany Dark Bolt, thousands of physical projectiles were shot out of many turrets.
Magic or not. “Shoot them down!” He commanded.
The physical vessels was shattered much like glass, however, the content inside just continued towards the imperial fortress. Worse, it was unaffected by magic. A square container whizzed past the commander's head, only inches away, even in that split of a second he recognised what it was.
“A potion bottle?” He turned around in its direction. “But why?”
The funny-shaped potion smashed against one of the barriers. And then… *Explosion* – everything caught fire. Not only did it ignore the personal Barrier, but worse, the purple flame burned brighter as if fueled by the existence of the said barrier itself. Naturally, Water mages fired their spells to put the flames down.
“Don’t…” The warning came too late.
The flame engorged itself on magic! Now, it clung to everyone, refusing to be put down. The flame roared and crackled as if angry, it was so loud that it even overpowered the dying cries of the burned-alive. Mages tried all sorts of things, but nothing worked, actually it only fuelled the Dark Flame’s anger. It was angry and it was ravenous, and unlike the natural flame, instead of giving light, it consumed it. Soon the entirety of the imperial fortress was shrouded in complete darkness, it burned in the cold merciless blaze.
“Gah!!!” The commander was enveloped by fire. “Urgh!” He collapsed and trembled. “So… so Cold!”
The cold blaze burned sapping him dry out of mana… and then out of life itself.
…
Deep inside the fortress, a small group was attempting to fight off the ever-encroaching blaze. They weren't warriors or mages, or anything like that, aside from a single Cleric they were just servants, simple men and women with barely any levels at their belt. The gathering of servants was desperately trying to put the blaze out, to douse the fire which prevented them from reaching the emergency escape tunnel.
A woman poured a kettle full of water on the blaze. “it is not working!” She said the obvious.
They tried all sorts of things with no luck. The only saving grace was that the flame was smokeless so there was no risk of suffocating.
“But why is it so cold!” A man complained.
They might not suffocate, but if this continued, they would freeze to death.
“This is not natural!” The cleric looked at the ice forming where the kettle water was just moments ago. “Ah!” Her HolyLight Staff burst into purple flames spontaneously. “I wasn’t even close to fire!” She threw it away in alarm.
“Amazing! Now we have no light!” A man complained.
It was just as he told, the staff was the only item capable of dispersing the unnatural darkness the purple flame was spreading.
“We’re doomed!” A panicked voice cried from somewhere deep inside the darkness.
“This… whatever it is... is Cursed!” The cleric yelped in frustration. “But if so… [Smite]!” She tried purely out of desperation.
“Sss!” The flame hissed in discontent.
“It worked?” She jumped in amazement. “It worked! “[Smite]!” She launched a ball of light towards the flame.
With a few more spells the corridor was clear of flames. It was still cold but with the Dark Flame gone she could finally light a candle to disperse the darkness.
She did just so. “Come on.” She looked at the tired faces right behind her. “The exit is just this way!”
*Explosion*, the entire fortress shook again. At the end of the corridor, seemingly on plain bare stone, a new blaze burst into life again.
“Let's hurry!” She urged while the path was clear.
Guided by flickering candle flame they ran down the steps into the escape tunnel. The tunnel was narrow but it was straight. Afraid that the all-consuming flame would catch up to them they sprinted through near blinding darkness. While they were at it the temperature was rising ever so slightly, and soon they emerged out of the tunnel. They escaped the Cold the Darkness and the Dark Flame itself.
“We did it!” A servant exclaimed.
“Yes!” Everyone cheered.
“Shush!” The cleric cautioned. “No! Not yet!” She pointed at the distance.
The imperial fortress was burning in a purple inferno, and there in the midst of the cold tongues of the Dark Flame, the Giant ‘ENEMY’ Spider was standing victorious. It looked at the last remaining tower with contempt and then flicked it to ruin with nothing but a simple push of its massive metal leg.
Everyone shrunk as if afraid to be noticed.
“We should have never challenged the spiders…”
“…”
Nothing else needed to be said. The small party crawled like insects away and towards the safety.
The servants behind her were ignorant but the cleric knew just how important her new ‘mission’ was. First, she had to warn others about the Giant ‘ENEMY’ Spider, but also about the cursed Dark Flame. Especially about the latter, and not the former, it was so because as a Cleric she detected a hint of Divinity leaking out of it; or the opposite of it. And if her worry was true, the Holy Light itself was now in danger!