The Holy Emperor looked at the peculiar man they just have summoned. Was this it, was this their Hero? Was this the Exterminator he’d prayed for? Well, the summoned was an odd one for sure, and the nakedness was not an issue here; they had prepared for that. The nearby priestess was on the move to hand the hero his Holy Robes, yet with a “Wait,” the Emperor stretched an arm to stop her.
There was something wrong with the man right in front of him. For one he had a rather demonic-looking left arm, It was coiled with purple veins giving the impression of some sort of corruption reaching right to his heart. Moreover, right on top of his head, he had a set of horns.
“He’s not human.” The Holy Emperor said the most obvious of all.
Indeed, the gathered also soon realised that fact. Many were left speechless from disbelief.
“Demon…”, “Demon Lord…”, cautious whispers escaped their mouths.
Right on time, “Monster King,” one of the Scribes dispelled the wrong assumption.
“What?! No way!” The Emperor exclaimed despite already knowing who the summoned was. “He’s the Spider King…” The Emperor uttered the better-known monicker.
With those words, the slightly confused ‘Hero’ must have also realised in what sort of predicament he was. Just like his moniker implied the Spider King dropped his human disguise and promptly shifted to his true form; It was spidery and monstrous. Luckily, it was exactly what the Emperor needed to spur still-stunned observers into action. The deliberations of ‘Why?’ or ‘How?’ did this even happen were left for another time.
“Apprehend him!” The Emperor wasted no time in issuing the command.
The nearby mages were mostly Sundered hence unfortunately useless. And since no one expected this, the Cathedral lacked the usual plethora of Imperial Guards. But what they had was the nearby party assembled for the future hero: Rogue, Priest, Ranger, Wizard, and Warrior; the five were the best the Holy Empire could offer. If you thought about it, It was very ironic - the Hero’s Party was here to slay the one they were meant to serve. As seasoned veterans would, they were already on the move to promptly deal with the issue.
Understandably, the Emperor wasn’t a fighter, so he took a step back. At first one step but then another and then another; he was urging himself to safety. He didn’t think much about this simple action, but perhaps he should have. Panic soon spread through the cathedral, after all, it was rather full of non-fighters or those rendered incapable of such. Much like the Emperor, they all were very keen to get somewhere safe. And soon, it was Chaos, people clocked the exit trying to squeeze and push past one another. Worse, they prevented the necessary Imperial Guards from coming inside! The guards struggled to come in, and the people to come out, both couldn’t be done at once; it was very stupid!
Anxious he looked back to see how the Hero’s Party was fearing.
“[Shield Wall]”, the warrior slammed his shield down to protect his allies.
“[Piercing Shot]”, the rogue loosened an arrow.
“[Fireball]”, the wizard fired from his staff.
“[Ligh Barrier]”, the priest sealed her party preventing offensive Dark magic.
It was a wise strategy, they ganged up on the Spider King while keeping their distance, yet it was all but a clever ruse. The rogue was currently invisible and sneaking behind to deal a decisive blow.
The Spider King, being the monster he was, snatched the arrow right from the air and deflected the ball of offensive magic to the side with his other hand.
“[SpinWeb]”, he launched a net of purple web towards the warrior.
“No!” The priest exclaimed. “Dodge it!” She yelped a warning.
In retrospect, they should have expected a literal Spider King to be able to shoot webs! Light Barrier was useless against that, and the heavy warrior wasn’t able to dodge it on time.
“Gah!” The warrior struggled against the binding web. “Drain!” He voiced his negative status effect.
It didn’t work as expected, yet still, the rogue made his way undetected.
“[Assassin Strike], [Piercing Trust]!” He combined the two for something truly deadly.
*Clash*, *Clang*, *Chaching*.
“Huh!?” The rogue exclaimed in bewilderment, both of his masterwork daggers just went and snapped in half.
“That was sneaky!” The Spider King yelled accusingly at the rogue. “If not for my Obsidian Armour I would be in trouble. [Disintegrate]!” The spidery arm aimed for the rogue.
Indeed, the sneaky rogue was unprotected by any barriers and that Dark attack would land just right, if not for “[Phantom Step].” He dodged the blast with expert grace.
“Oh?!” The Spider King sounded surprised. “Never seen that, is that an upgrade to Dodge?”
Unbeknownst to the Spider King, the rogue had bought enough time to burn the draining web off the warrior. The burly man in question was no longer cowering behind a shield but launching himself towards their enemy.
“You yap your tongue too much spider!” The priestly woman glared at him. “[Bless],” a bolt of light shot from her hands.
The warrior had cleared the distance with his Relentless Charge in no time and was already mid-swing with his weapon. The Bless was aimed towards his weapon, enchanting it with the power of the Light, and presumably weakness of the Spider King.
“[Overpower]!” The warrior supercharged his attack but also, “[Celestial Cleaver]!” He unleashed a skill only possible due to the timely support of the party’s priest.
“For Oberon…” The Spider King winced at the unavoidable attack.
Yet, before it could land a malevolent grin spread across his face. “[Shadow Step],” He turned to a cloud of shadows for a split second and then emerged metres away from the warrior. “Ha-ha-ha.” He laughed mockingly. “I have my own version of the Dodge too.” He looked to gloat at the rogue. “Huh? Gone again? That is sure annoying.”
The rogue reappeared at the rear of the party.
“Wizard, give me some of those potions.”
“Are you sure?” He asked but by that point, the rogue was already quaffing down one potion after the other.
“Argh!” The rogue groaned. “The Toxicity hits like a hammer, but…” He disappeared again.
And while that was happening, the ranger and the warrior were keeping the spider king busy with their attacks.
“You got too close,” the Spider King smiled at the warrior, “[Erosive Touch],” a spidery hand reached.
“[Auto Shield]!” The warrior invoked just in time. He was saved but his shield crumpled to dust. “This is overpowered!” He spat a complaint.
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The Spider King swatted yet another Piercing Arrow out of the air. “Tell that to your crappy System. The very thing which summoned me here!” He didn’t sound too happy about that either.
The wizard was finished handing in the potions but it was the priest who gave the signal with a shout, “Now!”
The warrior and the ranger drank their potions. Their veins turned dark and bulged out together with the swelling muscle. The following happened all at once:
“[Multicast], [Bless].” The priestly woman showered everyone in brilliant light. “[Calestial Barrier]” And as a bonus she gave her party a temporary Light barrier.
The ranger pulled on her bow with increased strength, her eyes burned fierily. “ [Power Draw], [Eagle Eye], [Overhelm], [Barrage] …” She paused to take a deep breath, her hand was trembling from all the condensed power already. “[All-Sundering Voley]!!!” She released her ultimate move.
The warrior charged wielding his twice-blessed longsword, the already burly man was seemingly twice his previous bulk. “[Warrior Spirit], [Limit Breaker], [True Strike], [Overpower] …” He paused to gather his inner strength and unleashed his special strike. “[Blade Of Justice]!!!”
The mage gripped his staff tighter, magic was condensing and crackling around him already. “[Arcane Conduit], [Phonix Essence], [Supercharge]…” He gathered Fire but also Light essence around him to fire his unique spell “[Ignition Nova]!!!”
Surprisingly so, the rogue manifested metres above the Spider King's head. “ [Hiden Strike], [Assassinate], [Oddbreaker] …” He paused readying his spare but no less deadly dagger. “[Endgame]!!!” He ended it with his original finisher.
All four attacks came all at once, and all were enchanted with Light element. Of course, the Spider King could try to dodge, or to shield, or to deflect, but he could only do one at a time… In other words, he could negate one, perhaps two of the ultimate-special-unigue-finisher moves but not all four!
The Holy Emperor was observing the fight with bated breath. It was incredulous how long the Spider King had lasted already. You see, the summoned would always come in the Weakened state with bottomed pools of 0MP and 0STA. The Spider King was no exception to that rule yet still… “Negative Mana.” The Emperor was impressed by the ability of their adversary. “-200MP and he’s still going.” That was the amount to kill your standard Mage twice already. “Monsters come… with monstrous abilities…” He reflected on this truth.
Anyway, by the looks of it, the menace will be dealt with here and now. “Perhaps I lucked out on this.” He considered it. “Maybe it’s exactly like the Holy Light intended?” After all, they did summon the Spider King in the Weakened state. “He is at his most vulnerable. And we have all the power.” He looked at the final moment. “Here it comes. The end of Dark…”
The Spider King wasn’t just standing there, of course, he would struggle, or try to.
“[Implode Core]!!!” He roared in desperation.
Strange and unknown magic swirled around his spidery body as if to shield it, but just like the name implied…
*Explosion*, an overwhelming force detonated from inside within. It was bright and thick in purple, it blew out everything in the nearby vicinity. Men and women, their weapons and arrows, their spells and attacks, and even air itself were expelled away from the spidery monstrosity.
Luckily the detonation had a forgiving radius, thus the cathedral was spared from collapsing. However, the nearby enchantments, be it on weapons, or protective Holy Robes, or HolyLight Candles, and so and such, they simply ceased to be. And the normal garb and clothes of mundane nature, those just crumbled to dust. The skin of the unlucky nearest, and the weakest of the lot, was torn off by the wild magic exposing flesh to ruthless Magical Burn. Some were killed right that instant, others rendered unconscious or otherwise incapacitated. But those with power and high levels, they were mostly just knocked off with a dent to their HP. All of the Hero’s Party survived but everyone else nearby had no choice but to weather the merciless wrath of that strange magic; even the Holy Emperor itself.
The only one who remained on his two, well, six feet was only the Spider King. “Chaos Blessed?” He furrowed his brows looking nonplussed. “Why did it activate again?”
The Holy Emperor didn’t know what exactly the spider was on about but from the slew of sudden System messages he deduced that must byte a type of some sort of evil and dark curse.
[Warning! You’ve been afflicted with Corruption]
[Warning! All skills temporarily disabled]
[Warning! You’ve been afflicted with Chaos Blessed]
“Ahh!” The emperor clutched his golden sceptre tightly. “It Hurts! It HURTS so much!” He didn’t feel blessed at all, rather the opposite.
[Warning!] Chaos energy swirls inside you]
[Warning! The System is under attack!!!]
[Error!],
[Error!], [Error!], [Error!], […], it kept blaring inside his head.
All he could do was fight the pain and pray. Pray for the Holy Light to save him.
Hope was not lost, the Hero’s Party were back on their feet and there was another rather lucky outcome. The detonation cleared the entrance from the desperate and frightened opening way for the Imperial Guards. One platoon at first but there were many more stationed just around the cathedral.
“Yes…” The Emperor grinned through pain feeling illuminated. “We’re not trapped with him, he’s trapped with us!!!” He had an entire Imperial Capital to throw at this single spidery menace. “Kill him!” He ordered the already rushing guards.
The Spider King glared at the Emperor. “So it is as I thought!” He sounded disappointed. “I thought I heard apprehend at the beginning. So I thought I’ll tire this lot out and we can talk it out, but I guess that…” He glared at the Rogue. “… that Endgame finisher was there to kill me!”
While Spider King was ranting like some sort of supervillain, the Holy Emperor checked the spider’s status.
The Emperor ignored all the system errors to voice his findings. “-1000MP,” he spoke with a pained but still satisfied smile. “If Negative Mana won’t kill you, the Imperial Guards will!”
“Meh.” The Spider King scoffed at those words. “You think a number low like that matters to me? You think I showed my true Power? You don’t even know what I’m capable of! I wanted to talk at first, but now… I guess it’s time to show you my…”
The already Corrupted air of the cathedral grew a few levels heavier, and in response to that, the last remaining flicker on the now disenchanted Holy Candle flickered out. The otherwise bright and beautiful glass-stained windows were shrouded by an oppressive cloud of pure blackness. The insides of the cathedral were plunged into an abyss of darkness. All no doubt just a part of yet another curse. The Imperial Guards were already rushing through the entrance but there was still ground for them to cover, meaning they wouldn’t make it in time.
The Spider King continued, “… my [Unbendable], [Indestructible], [Unyielding], [Spidery Magnificent]…! He paused to ready his super-mega-ultimate spidery attack.
Even in this overwhelming darkness, while the Spider King was busy chanting, a flicker of light was burning ever-bright. It was the members of the Hero’s Party, but more precisely their Priest. The party, already back on their feet, positioned themselves between the Spider King and Holy Emperor as if to protect him.
“Holy Emperor, you must escape!” The priestly woman urged. “Somehow I’ve resisted the Corruption and I still have my Divine spell!” She tried to smile but it came out forced. “It’s one of a kind! it will be enough to kill him but…” She paused to gather the last of her remaining strength, yes, she hadn’t used her ultimate finisher!
Intent on interrupting the Spider King’s combo she had to do without the supplementary magic of her own, hence so she cut her chant short, “[Judgement Day]!!!” She fired her Divine spell before the spider, however, such power came at a cost; a cost she was ready to pay. “Urgh!”
Meanwhile, the Spider King raised his spidery arms with a flourish. “Observe my power, witness my Darkness!” Purple lighting crackled in between the clawed spidery fingers. “[Summ…] Gah!” A pillar of blinding light descended on him.
The Divine spell the priest had cast so urgently was an upgrade to the Holy Smite. While it dealt no damage to normal enemies, it did 100x to anyone with Dark magical affinity. Needless to say, it would be enough to evaporate the spidery menace here and there.
This was the end! The Light triumphed over the Dark! The Holy Empire was… Saved?